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Fluid Since: Jan, 2001
#101: Jun 9th 2011 at 11:30:42 AM

Still, with some decent writing they could probably make it worth watching despite being all about the merchandise.

Or, failing that, they could just start taking potshots at toy companies.

Thorn14 Gunpla is amazing! Since: Aug, 2010
Gunpla is amazing!
#102: Jun 9th 2011 at 11:45:48 AM

Before the Gunpla anime I would have believed that was possible.

But now...?

Arilou Taller than Zim from Quasispace Since: Jan, 2001
Taller than Zim
#103: Jun 9th 2011 at 12:12:00 PM

I doubt Modern Sunrise is as well...hateful as Tomino at his worst

Hateful? How?

"No, the Singularity will not happen. Computation is hard." -Happy Ent
Thorn14 Gunpla is amazing! Since: Aug, 2010
Gunpla is amazing!
#104: Jun 9th 2011 at 12:52:01 PM

Tomino was not a happy person during that time. I'll leave it at that.

Also

The new series will have three generations of "father, child, and descendant" as the lead characters who pilot the Gundam unit to fight against an unknown attacking enemy (UE) and save Earth. The first main character is Furitto Asuno, who developed the Gundam AGE-1 mobile suit (humanoid mobile weapon) equipped with the AGE System (a self-adapting computer). The second main character is Asemu Asuno, Furitto's child. The third main character is Kio Asuno, Furitto's descendant who inherits the Gundam. The Gundam AGE-1 can be augmented as the Gundam AGE-1 Titus for more power, or as the Gundam AGE-1 Sparrow for more speed.

Other characters include Emily, Furitto's friend since he was 7. Guruudekku is a Commander in the Earth Federation Forces and the captain of the battleship Diva. Mireesu is a Lieutenant (junior grade) in the Federation Forces aboard the Diva.

The chest is the remote control sensor The "pilot" controls Gundam with their smart phones Gundam evolves during battle

Iaculus Pronounced YAK-you-luss from England Since: May, 2010
Pronounced YAK-you-luss
#105: Jun 10th 2011 at 1:02:21 AM

Hrm, a learning, remote-controlled Gundam? Sounds kind of A Boy and His X. Hopefully, they'll come up with ways for the operators to fight alongside AGE, like in Heroman.

What's precedent ever done for us?
Arsidias Since: May, 2009
#106: Jun 12th 2011 at 2:49:03 AM

My Gundam Opinions. Listed in roughly the order I watched them, though I’ve lumped movies with series for ease of reference.

WARNING: This list contains some spoilers.

Gundam Wing (and Endless Waltz): Honestly, if you asked me, I couldn’t tell you what happened in this show. I understood it at the time, but the intervening years have stripped my memory. The complex politics were actually a pretty big selling point for me, it seemed somehow ‘deeper’ that way. I was a little amazed by the callous way the heroes treated their robots. Heero barely even gets to use the Wing Gundam, and abandons it at a moments’ notice. Everybody switching mobile suits willy-nilly, that was what stood out to me the most when I first saw the show. I was used to each character having ONE machine, even if I had barely any experience with mecha anime at the time. Even still, looking back on this show, it seems somehow more ‘legitimate’ and grounded in its setting than any other Gundam series. Probably a case of nostalgia goggles, but who knows?

First Gundam (and the movie trilogy): After Wing I wanted to see where it all began, at first I only got disc one from Netflix, planning to put the others in my queue if it caught my interest. I almost didn’t continue, but the ‘hook’ at the end of the disc one’s last episode, where Char called Garma for help, convinced me to keep watching. I’m glad I did. I hate M’Quve. One of the major reasons the Compilation Movie trilogy is superior is that his role is greatly reduced. Far too much time spent on Earth, but once they got back into Space, I was hooked again. I really liked the trippy 2001-esque sequences near the end, as Amuro’s abilities developed. I felt it was a bit of a cheat that Amuro never again displayed the same level of psychic ability he had at A Boua Qu. The movies are a great way to revisit the series, but they don’t work very well as individual movies. Frankly, they’re too long and too scattershot, a consequence of being compilations. I know the conclusion was rushed, but I think the Gundam plotlines that have been rushed have been the best ones. Also, I think a swordfight between the bad guy and the good guy is the perfect way to end any story, especially a sword fight in zero-g. The novels get points for sparing us the ‘earth’ portion of the story, and for fleshing out the world a little more.

Chars Counterattack : I had no idea what Axis was, ditto Anaheim Electronics. Nobody warned me that Zeta Gundam was required viewing beforehand. The fights were pretty amazing, but the resolution with the psychoframe was poorly explained and poorly executed. I didn’t even realize that Amuro and Char had died until much later. Also, I hate Quess. She’s on the same level as M’Quve.

Gundam F 91 : Felt like a retread of First Gundam, not that that’s a bad thing. Animation was good. Character designs were blindingly 90s, reminiscent of the BK kids club (anyone else remember that?). Like the compilations, it suffered from being a bit too long and scattershot, most likely due to its origin as a full series. Ironmask wasn’t too good of a villain, and honestly, by the end of the film I had lost interest.

G-Saviour : Reminded me of Phantom Menace, couldn’t say exactly why, just something about the way live action was awkwardly blended with CGI. Not terrible, but certainly not wonderful. It barely felt like Gundam at all. The underwater scenes made me think of Cancer from Wing, and that was about the last Gundam related vibe I got. Still, I long for a post G-Saviour UC series, so that I can feel like things are moving forward.

Zeta Gundam : After forgetting about Gundam for a bit, this show got me back into it. Unlike pretty much any other Gundam show, this one never seemed to drag. Even the inevitable trip to Earth was short and sweet. Everybody got their moment to be a badass, my favorite characters returned, and the story was well plotted and paced. Still, the introduction of the Jupiter colonies without explanation threw me for a loop. And the ending featured a lot of bizarre stuff that came out of nowhere, like Zeta Gundam’s sudden SOUL POWER, which even surprised Kamille, who designed the Zeta Gundam. Paptimus also developed sudden new powers that even he seemed unaware of. There was also no real sense of closure. And no, setting up a sequel isn’t a good excuse for that.

War In The Pocket : Short, sweet, lovable. Six episodes might actually have been too much. I could see this story working incredibly well as a standalone movie. If they ever make another live-action Gundam, an adaptation of this would probably be the best choice. Of course, they never will, so what does it matter?

Mobile Suit Gundam 00 (and Trailblazer): A few too many twists and turns for my taste. The mecha designs were cool, but busy. By the second season the show had almost become a carbon copy of Zeta, with the A-Laws standing in for Axis and Katharon and Celestial Being standing in for Karaba and the AEUG respectively. One annoying tendency was to PUT IMPORTANT SCENES AFTER THE CREDITS. Christ! Even in the fucking movie!

Gundam Seed : When Andrew Waltfeld came back, I died a little inside. I remember when Ryu bit it in First Gundam and I didn’t take it seriously. He was in the opening credits; of course he was coming back. Then I started to have misgivings, and I checked the web. To my utter surprise, Ryu was gone for good. I just wasn’t used to seeing that kind of thing in anime. In the world of cartoons and comic books, death was completely weightless, and yet here in Gundam it actually meant something. And then Seed let their Ramba Ral survive. That’s not kosher. Mwu coming back was barely a shock once a precedent had been set. On a more general note, it really bugged me how after a dozen episodes of SLOWLY INCHING towards the federation base, Kira goes all the way to the PLANTS and back over the course of two episodes. It nearly gave me whiplash.

Gundam ZZ : I liked Puru. I alos like that they finally acknowledge that the teenage protagonists should be in school. The ZZ is a step back from the Zeta, design-wise. The show REALLY started to drag during the trip to Earth. I actually gave up on it for a while. By the halfway mark, I completely forgot that the heroes were even still part of the AEUG. They were working with the Earth, and nearly all their personal had been swapped out. This was where the Gundams started to lose their specialness. We went from one superior suit to a whole team of Gundams, with the Mk. II, the Zeta, and the Double-Zeta all in operation together. I like to call the show Zeta Zeta Gundam and pretend it’s a fraternity.

G Gundam : It was not nearly as wacky and lighthearted as I had been led to believe. Granted, it was still pretty darn wacky, it’s just that the Internet had led me to expect Excel Saga levels of zaniness. Domon is actually one of the more brooding and subdued Gundam protagonists, barring his outbursts in the heat of battle. The Earth is a nigh-apocalyptic ruin, and even the much ballyhooed Tequila Gundam had a deadly serious ‘sick little sister’ plot to go along with its ridiculous design. The designs, at least those not obviously meant as jokes, were sub par. I was especially disappointed by the Maxter. Really? That’s the Gundam to represent America? Sheesh. I guess they can’t all be winners when you have over a hundred Gundams. This was where the Gundams completely lost their specialness. Nearly every suit we saw was a Gundam.

Turn A Gundam : My favorite designs of the franchise. The Mobile Sumo (silver colors) is my all time favorite mobile suit. When I hear the rumor that it was the original design for the Turn A, I get incredibly depressed that it was passed over. Not that the Turn A isn’t a great design too. The RX-78-2 has been recycled without any meaningful change too many times (Seed Destiny was the greatest offender). The setting is cool and unique to Gundam, feeling more like a Miyazaki film that a typical mecha anime. The general relaxed atmosphere and ever-present biplanes brought Porco Rosso to mind. I had a lot of fun with this series.

Victory Gundam : From the internet buzz, I was expecting Hostel with Gundam trappings. Instead I got a pretty typical Gundam show. The Shrike team was really just Matilda times ten, with Oliver serving as Woody. To me, the scene where Amuro calmly counts off his kills while fighting outside Side 6 is just as ‘dark’ as anything in Victory. The same goes for the episode of ZZ that begins and ends with Mashmyre holding a funeral for all the people Judau killed (and that one is Played for Laughs !) This show has the same problem as ZZ: it draaaaags in the middle. I was very, very close to giving up when we finally got to the obligatory conclusion in space. I just love the big space battles. I think perhaps Tomino has problems with pacing in general. Also, the three part launching system is just too much. At least the top and bottom sections of Amuro’s Gundam weren’t their own independent fighters.

Gundam Seed Destiny : Shinn was set up as our hero, ended up more like a villain, and then became completely irrelevant. The dub was nice after all those fan subs. I especially liked Kira’s voice, just something about it. I liked seeing UC suits in modern animation style, and the subplot with Stella gave me pleasant memories of Kamille and Four. But, like so much in Destiny, it didn’t really GO anywhere. Plot lines are set up and then ignored for a while before being picked up again. Both sides had Gundams, and both sides had a ‘hero Gundam’ in RX-78-2 colors. I like a little more distinction between the two sides. Like G-Saviour, it doesn’t deserve the hate, but it’s nothing special. Unlike G-Savior, some of the fights were pretty cool.

Model Suit Gunpla Builders Beginning G : So much UC fanwankery! Not to mention blatant advertising. I expect this type of thing will be the future of Gundam, but this is a fun one-off. I blame Yu-Gi-Oh for this disturbing trend in anime.

Gundam X : Great show. Reminded me of G-Gundam, only with more serious mecha designs. The Satellite Canon was basically a Super Robot finishing movie, a la the Shining Finger, and Caris felt like an amalgamation of Domon’s various friends, especially Sai. It seemed weird to me that Enil and Sai were all buddy-buddy near the end considering she aided and abetted the plan to strip him naked, rob him of his free will and use him to power a doomsday device (granted the nudity is just a Gundam thing in general). If I had to team up with someone who did that to me, I’d at least bring it up. Garrod is up there as far as Gundam protagonists go.

Favorites:

Favorite Mobiles Suit : Standard Mobile Sumo (Turn A Gundam). The Guntank is also worth mentioning. Despite being labeled as more of a ‘super robot,’ it’s the only design from First that seems like it could actually function in the real world. From the tank tread bottom to the gun hands to the ‘face’ being a windscreen over the head-mounted cockpit, it seems like it could be a functional, real world device. Addendum: just ordered a Silver Sumo 1/144 online, tracking says it'll come tomorrow.

Favorite Gundam : The Zeta has the coolest ‘face’ design out of the standard Gundams. It looks just a little bit freaky, and it feels like a big improvement over both the Gundam and the Gundam Mk. II. The Turn A is another favorite. Again, it’s the weird face design that really does it for me.

Favorite Opening Sequences: Double-Zeta had two of the best. They were a breath of fresh-air after Zeta’s legally mandated instrumental credits. Victory Gundams O Ps were both up there as well. Turn A’s first OP also gets a mention. Still, Anime Ja Nai is probably my absolute favorite. We’ve got Amuro, Char, monkeys, and the lyrics actually reference Gundam. It’s an all-around winner.

Favorite Ending Sequences: Forever Amuro is, hands down, my favorite ED of all time, OF ALL TIME. It’s just such a perfect song for Gundam. I was pretty upset that the movies took out the instrumental version from the scene where Amuro chases his dad around. The first Gundam 00 ED comes in second. The powerful opening and the image of the four doves descending to Earth is just too perfect. The rest of that ED is a little bit meh, though.

Favorite Battle: Very hard to pick. The concluding at A Boua Qu definitely felt the most epic. Even though I hate the Zeong (don’t kill me!), that battle is still one of the all time greats. And unlike the final fight in Char’s Counterattack, it doesn’t end in a vague anti-climax.

Least Favorite Mobile Suit: The Zeong. Having no legs isn’t a problem (I love Guntank). It’s those antlers, and the rocket punch, and the general non-menacing appearance! This is supposed to be Char’s ultimate machine, please give us something we can take seriously! The perfect Zeong actually looks pretty cool, but I’m just a sucker for those bulky lower legs. Even the perfect Zeong is ridiculous from the waist up.

Favorite Series: The First Gundam Movie Trilogy, or if limited to TV series, Zeta. Despite starting out with Wing, I somehow became a UC fanboy, maybe because there’s more UC than anything else.

Least Favorite Series: Victory Gundam. I know I’m opening myself to Internet Backdraft , but it was the one series I enjoyed the least. It almost killed my quest to watch all the Gundam.

Favorite Protagonist: Amuro is the one who grows the most over the course of the show, but Garrod is just downright cool.

Favorite Antagonist: Char, of course.

Favorite Female Character: Emma Sheen. She’s cute and she’s a badass, what’s not to love?

This may be the longest forum post I’ve ever written. But after watching all this Gundam, I felt like I had something to say. If you’ve made it this far, congratulations!

Needless to say, I’m a man who loves his Gundam. I can’t wait for Gundam AGE to start airing. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to start in on Stardust Memory.

edited 16th Jun '11 9:48:41 PM by Arsidias

Driscoll Are you frustrated? from Mit meinem Kaiser! Since: Nov, 2010
Are you frustrated?
#107: Jun 13th 2011 at 1:18:36 AM

Heh, because of how little sense Char's Counterattack makes to me and most of my friends (even in context), we jokingly refer to it as Char's Midlife Crisis.

edited 13th Jun '11 1:19:26 AM by Driscoll

WHAT A HORRIBLE NIGHT TO HAVE A DIALOG BOX INTERRUPT GAMEPLAY.
ninjaclown Since: May, 2009
#108: Jun 13th 2011 at 1:48:23 AM

It pretty much was. As much as I appreciate it for it's refusal to back down from horrid space war atrocities, it completely felt thrown off. Char didn't seem like the same Char who gave that famous speech in Zeta Gundam. Camille lampshades this often in crossover games.

Arsidias Since: May, 2009
#109: Jun 16th 2011 at 9:38:27 PM

Finished Stardust Memory, about halfway through 8th MS team.

Kiki really reminds be of Puru. Red hair, bare midriff, Precocious Crush on the main character, name is the same syllable twice, violent tendencies, the list goes on.

Stardust was like a full Gundam series in miniature. Fall into a cockpit of a Super Prototype , fight your Blonde rival, get on the White Base stand-in, fight on Earth for a bit, go to space, then the big final battle where the villain wants to drop something on Earth/use his great big laser weapon (this series actually managed to have both). It's worth noting that out of ALL the Gundam, 0080 included, this is the only time I've found myself actually rooting for the Zeon.

Recon5 Avvie-free for life! from Southeast Asia Since: Jan, 2001
Avvie-free for life!
#110: Jun 16th 2011 at 9:40:22 PM

Well, we have a suave, competent and charismatic Zeon versus... let's say not one of the most outstanding Feddies in the history of Gundam. I'd say this one goes to the Empire.

edited 16th Jun '11 9:40:46 PM by Recon5

Arsidias Since: May, 2009
#111: Jun 16th 2011 at 9:46:28 PM

Also, six episodes in to 8th MS Team, I haven't even heard a throwaway line explaining why there are extra Gundams running around.

GM s existing before they existed is an acceptable break from continuity, but extra Gundams running around while Amuro was fighting Ramba sort of takes away from the original series, IMHO.

Recon5 Avvie-free for life! from Southeast Asia Since: Jan, 2001
Avvie-free for life!
#112: Jun 16th 2011 at 10:09:15 PM

The Ground Gundams were originally meant for mass production but apparently even they proved a bit too much for the Fed's pennypinchers so the series was scrapped and existing units given to a slightly-more-competent-than-normal squad.

It's the Federation SOP, which you'll see a lot of you explore the OYW Expanded Universe.

Arsidias Since: May, 2009
#113: Jun 17th 2011 at 3:00:49 AM

So seeing Kiki's breasts is fine, but Aina gets Censor Steam> WTF>

Arsidias Since: May, 2009
#114: Jun 17th 2011 at 10:47:32 PM

I only just now realized that "Jabrow" from the OAV dubs is the same place as "Jaburo" from the series dubs.

Arsidias Since: May, 2009
#115: Jun 19th 2011 at 8:30:49 PM

OVA/ONA Wrap-Up:

Seed After-Phase Between the Stars: Incredibly pointless.

C.E. 73 Stargazer: Much too compressed, a little hard to follow as a result, not bad, not amazing.

Seed Astray Red/Blue Frame: Feels like something from the 90s, not the early 2000s. Neither episode was very substantial, but the Red Frame one had some nice character moments.

MS Igloo: The Hidden One Year War/Apocalypse 0079: The first two series followed a pretty strict formula. The last two episodes, which covered A Boua Qu, were legitimately great. After the great visuals from this OVA, I'd love to see a fully realized CGI Gundam series. The battle in the penultimate Apocalypse episode may be my new favorite Gundam battle.

MS Igloo 2: Gravity Front: Different characters every episode made it hard to really invest in it. WWII symbolism was off the charts, even in comparison to the Nazi iconography in the first 2 series. The Shinigami angle was a little too silly for my tastes. Keep in mind, I was there for the dolphins in X, all of G, the cow in Turn A, but *this* was just too much. Still, I love Guntank, and the Guntank episode was pretty fun.

0083: Stardust Memory: Like a condensed version of a full length series. It hits all the beats, but does it much quicker than the standard 50 episode affair. The first time I've ever legitimately rooted for the Zeon to win.

08th MS Team: This is one of my favorites. Miller's Report came with my Gundam Movie Box Set, and it was less than impressive, so i wasn't too enthused about this series. I was surprised to find that this was one of the best Gundam series I've ever seen. I've seen this style of love story in Gundam, a million time before (it repeated on an endless loop in Zeta Gundam), but this series actually makes it feel fresh, and seeing the One Year War from a different perspective (yet again) was a fun experience.

SD Gundam Mk I: Well...that was odd. Why does Kamille have stars in his eyes? And it's great to see Judau and Char together, even if it is just for a comedy special. Likewise, seeing Amuro Kamille and Judau interact was a treat.

As of right now there's nothing left except more SD Gundam, the evolve shorts, and Unicorn. Unicorn isn't on DVD yet (not everyone has a BD player, Bandai) so that's not happening for a while. I honestly don't think Evolve 'counts' after seeing the first few episodes. They're more like highlight reels than short films. Likewise, from what little I've seen of SD Gundam I'm not gonna 'count' it either. In my mind, I've legitimately watched all the current Gundam, with Unicorn and AGE to look forward to in the future.

Driscoll Are you frustrated? from Mit meinem Kaiser! Since: Nov, 2010
Are you frustrated?
#116: Jun 21st 2011 at 7:42:37 PM

About the Gundams running around in 08th MS Team; the RX-79[G] Gundams that Shiro and his squad are running around in aren't any better than the RGM-79[G] GM's the rest of them are using. The Gundams from that show are prototypes build from leftover parts from Project V (which build the original Gundam, Guncannon, and Guntank from the first show). The Ground GM's in the show are a limited mass-production version of the Gundams with about the same performance, but is cheaper to produce. Both of them use the same Lunar Titanium that the original Gundam uses, so they're still expensive to create. The Federation ditches mass-producing them because they roll out the original GM which is much cheaper than any other MS the Federation was fielding at the time, mainly because it forgoes the expensive Lunar Titanium for a much cheaper Titanium alloy instead.

I can come up with two reasons why the main team had Gundams in the show:

1. Out of Universe: It's a Gundam show! It's kinda weird to not have any in a show named after them

2. In Universe: The Federation probably decided to design them styled as Gundams because at the time Zeon was afraid of them. Sending out a bunch more mobile suits that look like them has a positive moral bonus on the Federation side (WE HAVE A GUNDAM ON OUR SIDE!) and would also terrorize Zeon pilots that saw them (IT'S A GUNDAM!).

WHAT A HORRIBLE NIGHT TO HAVE A DIALOG BOX INTERRUPT GAMEPLAY.
Arsidias Since: May, 2009
#117: Aug 18th 2011 at 8:13:16 PM

In 8th MS team, they didn't even MENTION that the Gundams were prototypes until Shiro and Aina were stranded in the mountains. Every other Gundam series gives their Gundams a big build-up right away.

Anyway I really want to watch more Gundam, but there is no more. I tried Dragonair...it just didn't cut it.

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