Gundam 0080 - Tumblr Posts
Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket by Haruhiko Mikimoto (’Cellu Works’, 1991)
The Gundam MS Era artbook has such a haunting feeling to it. These static images captured in the times of the OYW.
You know when you mention something, and it just kind of sticks with you for a bit?
Anyway, the YMS-18 Kämpfer Prototype was one of many new units designed and build by Zeon during the closing weeks of the One Year War, first appearing in the original model kit manual of the Kämpfer (below left, Green), then the design was updated for use in Zeonography (below right, Blue), which then went on to appear in Ecole Du Ciel.
The Kämpfer prototype was quickly developed into numerous different variations for different roles, of which we know of two at time of writing - the MS-18E Kämpfer, as seen in War in the Pocket (more on that later) and the MS-18F type, which has a whole sentence dedicated to its existence, from which we know it was armed mostly with Beam Weaponry.
Design-wise, I prefer the original design to Zeonography, mostly because I just find the green to be really nice, it’s an excellent distinguishing factor when compared to the original and it’s just a lovely colour in general. I like the more angular head and chest, since they help distinguish it from the streamlined regular Kämpfer (and also imply heavier armour to the critical areas, which the Cyclops team unit lacked). I also like how we’re not given a loadout for it - the original Kämpfer had a bunch of hardpoints and was designed to shed its armament to reduce dead weight, the only inbuilt weaponry being the beam sabers. The prototype Kämpfer being a unit that was built to be developed into other mission-focused designs means that this open-endedness is a benefit to the design team, since weaponry would be swapped out as needed. Zeonography just giving it a Light Machine Gun that was specifically developed for it feels like a step back from that elegance of design. (Note; prior to Zeonography it was typically depicted with the Kampfer/Efreet’s shotgun and/or the Rick Dom II bazooka’s. I’m more forgiving of that since they’re both used by a variety of suits, as opposed to being for the Kämpfer exclusively (plus the shotgun doesn’t look nearly as unwieldy as the LMG)).
The MS-18E Kämpfer was developed from the Prototype Kämpfer and was famously used by the Cyclops Team during Operation Rubicon (the attempt to capture or destroy the Federation’s new Gundam-type mobile suit, the NT-1 “Alex”, as shown in Gundam 0080). Notably, the E in its model number stands for “Einhauen”, meaning one strike in German, signifying its intended purpose - a high-speed assault mobile suit. Its role was to get in, destroy as much of the enemy materials as possible, then get out. To this end, it had numerous hardpoints for the mounting of weaponry which it would shed as each ran out of ammunition, minimising dead weight and allowing it to use its thrusters to their fullest - the reason that it incorporates so much projectile weaponry is so that the generator can be devoted almost entirely to the thrusters - the beam sabers being the one exception (and even then, there’s an illustration of a Kämpfer with a heat hawk). It was even designed to be easily assembled and disassembled in blocks, aiding its use by command teams behind enemy lines. It’s a very, very specialised suit and this is perhaps why I like it so much. However, this persistent focus on speed and offense came at a cost - it had very limited armour even in critical areas and it suffered from a short operational time due to how propellant-hungry its thrusters were, and due to its ammo-based fighting style. Perhaps appropriate for something built for speed, the Kämpfer’s pilot would need to use its arsenal to the fullest in order to destroy enemy targets before a counterattack could be mounted, lest the Kämpfer itself be overwhelmed.
Design-wise, gorgeous. Obviously. I don’t even really feel the need to explain why I like this one honestly, just look at it. Honestly 0080 in general is chock-full of winning designs, but the Kämpfer’s just emblematic. It’s blue, it’s smooth, it’s focused. It’s just an absolute stellar design from an already stellar design series.
The MS-18F Kämpfer High Mobility type is boring. It’s the Kämpfer with the shoulders and backpack of the Gerbera Tetra. I’ll admit this is boring fully because I dislike pretty much every officialised “kitbash” design that isn’t “we cobbled it together with what we had”. They’re just extremely dull to me, because they’re just parts from one suit slapped on another, with barely any effort made to actually integrate the two. Because two mobile suits made in different time periods by different companies would have absolutely no problems working together with near-zero modification. I see what they were going for, since both the Kämpfer and Gerbera Tetra are assault suits designed to get in, do damage, and get out, but the execution’s just so unappealing.
Right, enough grousing. The Kämpfer high mobility type is a customised variant of the aforementioned MS-18F, which was used by a Zeon remnant group (I don’t have a name here) based on the moon, and was piloted by Michelle Kano. It incorporates experimental cutting edge parts slated for the Gp04 Gerbera, part of the Gundam Development Project, and was deployed against the Engage Zero, the other super-secret prototype unit of the Gundam Development Project (or competing design, or extra unit. Honestly its precise relation to the project is unclear). The High Mobility Kämpfer is armed similarly to the Gelgoog Marine Commander Type, the only real exceptions being an optional long barrel for the beam rifle, and a unique set of chain mines with a long rectangular design, for more efficient storage.
(As an aside, I wonder why Zeon Remnant Groups and The Sleeves are considered Terrorists, but Axis Zeon and Char’s Rebellion aren’t.)
The MS-18NF Titania I already covered in my Code: Fairy Zeon MS post, which I’ll link to below. But in a nutshell; Standout Good Design, really good addition to the Kämpfer series, love the form and armour design. Nitpicks are that the in-universe rationale behind its creation is dumb, and I’m not sure where it’s getting the extra thrust from.
EDIT: I didn’t include the Titania in the aforementioned Kämpfer variants, since it’s a custom job by Noisy Fairy, who only received the base frame. (This js emphasised by its model number MS-18NF -> MS-18 Noisy Fairy)
Lastly, The Kämpfer Amazing is a Gunpla from Gundam Build Fighters, built by Allan Adams and PPSE for Meijin Kawaguchi (aka Tatsuya Yuuki), based on the original Kämpfer from 0080. Design-wise it’s an ever-so-slightly sleeker redesign of the original, with brand new weaponry, also designed by PPSE. A general theme with the Kämpfer Amazing is trading out ballistic weaponry for beam weapons, since it replaces basically all of the Kämpfer’s original weaponry with beam equivalents. It retains the beam sabers, but gains a set of beam pistols, which can mount into other parts to become beam rifles and it also gains a set of throwing knives. The small, fin-like protrusions on the main body are actually small heat blades. Finally, the Kämpfer Amazing mounts a set of Amazing Weapon Binders on its back (shown above), which both function as beam cannons and provide a place for two other weapons, which are decided prior to battle. Weaponry such as beam machine guns, a minigun, a rocket launcher or parts for the aforementioned beam rifles (Yeah, I know they’re all called “Amazing X”, but that’s not really as descriptive as I’d like).
I love the Kämpfer Amazing’s design. It’s ever so slightly behind the regular Kämpfer for me, but it’s still just amazing. I like how it’s only slightly sleeker, and the focus on rifles and exchanging weapons for the situation is nice. It really plays into how it moves, and I like how the beam weaponry’s effective but not excessively so. It’s built to have options, but the pilot’s what matters, the Kämpfer just lets them reach their fullest potential. It’s not just reliant on a superweapon or fancy system. But it’s just one of those designs that feels well constructed, and it’s kind of rad that it has all that weaponry but doesn’t feel like it’s too much. That said, it feels very much like how I imagine a MS-18F would be, which is a bit odd. I would also like to call out that I like how the Amazing Weapon Binders have additional thrusters - it provides an explanation for the weight offset, and is a neat way of adding additional thrusters to the design.
Hey, does anyone have any opinions on Gundam Ecole Du Ciel? I’m kind of toying with getting back into it after having bounced off the first time.
(I know the prototype Kämpfer’s in it, but that’s really the only thing of note I remember).
How to get into Gundam
Because fuck it, I was gonna do one of these sooner or later anyway.
So you want to know what this Gundam thing’s about, maybe you like the mecha design, maybe you caught part of an episode one time and want to catch up, or maybe you saw a nice piece of Chamuro fanart and want to go to the source.
But there’s so many shows and timelines that it can be quite daunting on first look, so this guide is intended to give a rough overview.
I would however like to stress two four things beforehand however:
This guide is not intended as “The One True Way” or anything. There’s no harm it coming into it a different way, and these are only my own opinions.
There’s nothing stopping you from just watching one show and leaving it there. You don’t have to watch every single show going, even I’ve only seen most of these, not all. Gundam typically has variations on similar themes - it’s very nice watching multiple shows because they complement one another, but it’s not necessarily required.
I am very much an insider looking out here, so let me know if there’s any details I’ve missed.
I’m not gonna recommend these on a “if you like X, then watch Y basis”, mostly because I don’t personally find genre recommendations helpful, so I’d recommend picking based on promotional material (vibes, if you will).
I’ll be using this chart, supplied by the excellent@l-crimson-l, to illustrate everything.
Gundam as a whole can principally be divided into three sections: Universal Century (or UC), the Alternate Universes (AU’s) and the Build Series.
The AU’s are below the light blue line, near the bottom of the Chart, the Build Series is within the bright green line at the top-right corner of the chart and UC is the big line in the middle. We’ll talk about each of them individually.
The AU’s
The Alternate Universes were conceived as a way to get away from the continuity-heavy nature of Universal Century and provide an easy jumping-on point for new fans. The AU’s are standalone and require no prior knowledge, and are thus an excellent place to start. Honestly, I’d recommend quickly searching some promotional materials (like posters) and just going with the one you find most appealing based on that. They are (in production order):
Mobile Fighter G Gundam (1994)
New Mobile Report Gundam Wing (1995)
After War Gundam X (1996)
Turn A Gundam (1999)
Mobile Suit Gundam SEED (2002)
Mobile Suit Gundam 00 (2007)
Mobile Suit Gundam AGE (2011)
Gundam: Reconguista in G (2014)
Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron Blooded Orphans (2015)
Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury (2022)
There’s side series and movies and other things besides, but these are the mainline shows, if you will. I have specific notes on a few of them:
Witch From Mercury - It’s of a shorter length than is usual for mainline shows, so consequently it’s a much smaller time investment than the others.
Mobile Fighter G Gundam - While undeniably rad as hell, I would recommend watching another AU first. G Gundam differs from its stablemates in a few key areas, and I find it helps to have a contrast to fully appreciate those differences.
Gundam AGE - is probably the only one I wouldn’t recommend. I didn’t like the art style and the technical explanations just got on my nerves, so I stopped watching.
Turn A and G-Reconguista are technically part of UC as well, but it’s not really crucial information so don’t feel like you have to watch UC first (I’m only including this detail for completionism).
I’ve found all the AU’s I’ve seen to be pretty good, so I’d say that which one you start with really just comes down to personal taste.
The Build Series
Is just kind of doing its own thing. The Build series is basically Buy Our Toys: the series. It’s got a far lighter tone, and I’ve had cause to compare it to pokemon prior. It’s also chock full of references and in-jokes to the other series.
Build Fighters and Build Fighters Try are the ones I’d recommend - they’ve got actual stakes and the fight scenes are really good.
Build Divers and Build Divers Re:rise I can’t recommend - I just find Build Divers aggressively boring. Build Divers Re:Rise is just okay - neither standout good or particularly bad. Its main flaw is that it’s a sequel to Build Divers.
The OVA’s are pretty much bad across the board - I’d particularly recommend avoiding Gundam Build Metaverse.
Universal Century
Universal Century is the big main timeline of Gundam, and is the timeline the original Mobile Suit Gundam from 1979 takes place in. There’s a tendency among certain fans to place UC as the one-above-all of Gundam, but I wouldn’t really go that far. It’s all pretty good, but I wouldnt really say one timeline is better than another (save personal preference, anyway).
Because UC is so big, it can be subdivided a couple times. The primary division is “Mainline” UC versus everything else. Basically there’s four-five shows in Universal Century from which everything else flows. As long as you know roughly what happens in these shows, then you can watch basically anything else in UC and have a good idea of what’s going on. These are (in order):
Mobile Suit Gundam (1979) - sometimes called Mobile Suit Gundam 0079.
Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam (1985)
Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ (1986)
Mobile Suit Gundam: Char’s Counterattack (1988)
With Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn (2010) as a nominal fifth (honestly I feel like you could argue either way).
The rest of the shows are:
Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket (1989 Three-Episode OVA)
Mobile Suit Gundam F91 (1991 Movie)
Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory (1991 Thirteen-episode OVA)
Mobile Suit Victory Gundam (1993)
Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team (1999 Twelve-episode OVA)
G-Saviour (2000 Live Action Movie) - nobody ever talks about or acknowledges this one, it’s just here for completionism.
Mobile Suit Gundam MS Igloo (2004-2009 Three OVA’s with three Episodes each)
Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin (2015 Six-Episode OVA, adapted from the Manga of the same name)
Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt (2015 Eight-Episode Series, adapted from the Manga of the same name)
Mobile Suit Gundam: Twilight Axis (2017 episode, adapted from a light novel of the same name. Later rereleased as Gundam Twilight Axis Red Trace, with additional footage)
Mobile Suit Gundam Narrative (2018 sequel movie to Gundam Unicorn)
Mobile Suit Gundam Hathaway (2021 ongoing movie series, very much adapted from the novel Hathaway’s Flash)
Most of the other series relate to events in the aforementioned “mainline” shows in some way, but a lot of the sidestories set during the One Year War require very little introduction (Thunderbolt, 0080 and 08th MS Team). Similarly, works set in “Late UC” (F91 and Victory Gundam) carry on from the other series thematically but don’t have any plot connections, so they can all be watched without any background knowledge of the rest of the Universal Century.
Compilation Movies
Just a quick note here - many of the Gundam series have compilation movies, where either a whole series or part of one are compressed down into a movie. While each movie compares differently, they usually boil down to this: Compilation Movies usually have worse pacing, but really nice animation.
One of the great things about Gundam is that different shows offer variations on themes, so seeing how different characters react to similar situations, or how different settings change their approaches can make it incredibly rewarding.
I haven’t seen enough of SD Gundam to make any sort of recommendations there, and Manga is something I might touch on another day.
EDIT: Oh hey also: You can watch a good chunk of these on YouTube, for free, officially. The Official Gundam.Info YouTube channel rotates the series shown on its channel periodically. I think it’s got F91 and SEED on there currently? But it’s had Wing, 00 and Witch From Mercury before. Also all of the Build Fighters series are there.
So yeah, that’s a thing.
Huh, there’s an idea. I wonder what the overall casualty rate for Gundam Pilots is?
*The Following Contains Spoilers for pretty much every Gundam series, though I’ll try to keep them non-specific*
I’ll list each series, the number of Gundam’s in that series, and the amount of Gundam pilots that don’t make it to the end of the series. (Watch me regret this when I get to the really Gundam-Heavy series). However, I’m not including:
After War Gundam X and Turn A Gundam - I haven’t seen either of these yet.
G-Saviour
Igloo - No Gundams.
Gundam the Origin - Feels like cheating.
Gundam Thunderbolt - 1 Gundam Pilot in the OVA versus 9 at present in the Manga, which is still ongoing. It feels awkward to qualify.
If a pilot appears in multiple series, I’ll count them separately for each series, but they only get one mobile suit per series. For Example, Kira Yamato appears in Two Series, and has three mobile suits. Thus, he only counts twice.
In regards to what counts as a Gundam -
“Why is that?”
“Because I said so”
Delling Rembran, father of statistics, everyone. “What is a Gundam” is a delightful question, but it isn’t the focus of this exercise. My definitions of “Gundam” and “Gundam Pilot” exist because I needed a metric, they’re not really designed to stand up to much scrutiny. I’ve worked with enough statistics that I’m aware you can usually skew them without too much bother, which is also why I don’t feel too bad about leaving out Turn A and Gundam X.
Lastly, I’ve almost certainly missed something here, so feel free to message me and I’ll adjust it accordingly.
Mobile Suit Gundam 0079 - 1 Gundam (RX-78). 1/1 Pilots Survive - 100% Survival Rate.
Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam - 6 Gundams (Three Mk-II’s, Zeta and Psycho Gundam’s 1&2). 2/5 Pilots Survive - 40% Survival Rate.
Mobile Suit ZZ Gundam - 4 Gundams (ZZ, Zeta, Mk-II and Psycho Gundam Mk-II). 3/4 Pilots Survive - 75% Survival Rate.
Mobile Suit Char’s Counterattack - 1 Gundam (Nu) 0/1 Pilots Survive - 0% Survival Rate.
Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket - 1 Gundam (NT-1 Alex). 1/1 Pilots Survive - 100% Survival Rate.
Mobile Suit Gundam F91 - 1 Gundam (F91). 1/1 Pilots Survive - 100% Survival Rate.
Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory - 3 Gundams (Gp01,2 and 3). 1/2 Pilots Survive - 50% Survival Rate.
Mobile Suit Victory Gundam - Could someone who’s watched Victory lately come back to me with how many Gundam’s are in that series (and their pilots), because I’ve genuinely no clue off the top of my head. I know it’s at least Six (V, V2, Other V2, then at least three Victory Gundam Hexa’s).
Mobile Fighter G Gundam - 50 Gundams (Fuck that). 22/38 Pilots Survive - 57.89% Survival Rate.
New Mobile Report Gundam Wing - 11 Gundams (Wing, Deathscythe, Heavyarms, Sandrock, Shenlong, their upgrades and Epyon). 6/6 Pilots Survive - 100% Survival Rate.
Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz - 5 Gundams (as above, minus Epyon). 5/5 Pilots Survive - 100% Survival Rate.
Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team - 4 Gundams (Three Ground Types and EZ8). 3/3 Pilots Survive - 100% Survival Rate.
Gundam SEED - 11 Gundams (5 first gen, 3 second gen, Providence). 4/9 Pilots Survive - 44.44% Survival Rate.
Gundam SEED Destiny - 11 Gundams. 6/10 Pilots Survive - 60% Survival Rate
Gundam SEED C.E. 73: Stargazer - 4 Gundams. 3/5 Pilots Survive - 60% Survival Rate.
Mobile Suit Gundam 00 - 14 Gundams. 5/11 Pilots Survive - 45.45% Survival Rate.
Mobile Suit Gundam 00: Awakening of the Trailblazer - 4 Gundams (00 Quanta, Zabanya, Harute and Raphael). 5/5 Pilots Survive - 100% Survival Rate.
Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn - 3 Gundams (Unicorn, Banshee and Delta Plus). 2/2 Pilots Survive - 100% Survival Rate.
Mobile Suit Gundam Narrative - 2 Gundams (Phenex and Narrative). 1/2 Pilots Survive - 50% Survival Rate.
Mobile Suit Gundam AGE - 5 Gundams (Four AGE’s and Legillis). 3/5 Pilots Survive - 60% Survival Rate.
Mobile Suit Gundam Twilight Axis - 1 Gundam (Tristan). 1/1 Pilots Survive - 100% Survival Rate.
Mobile Suit Gundam G-Reconguista - 3 Gundams (G-Self, G-Arcane, G-Lucifer) 4/4 Pilots Survive - 100% Survival Rate.
Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron Blooded Orphans - 12 Gundams (Barbatos, Gusion, Kimaris, Flauros and Bael). 1/6 Pilots Survive - 16.67% Survival Rate.
Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury - 10 Gundams (Aerial’s, Lfrith’s, Schwarzette, Pharact and Calibarn). 5/11 Pilots Survive - 45.45% Chance Survival Rate.
Total Number of Gundams - 163
Overall Pilot Survival Rate - 85/138 Pilots Survive- 61.59% Chance Survival Rate.
(As above, not counting Turn A and Gundam X). That is lower than I expected. I believe it’s because most series either lose around half their pilots or few-to none at all. So either the series that keep all or most of their small amount of pilots will push the average up to over halfway, or the series that kill half or more of their pilots will pull the average down.
Highlights and anomalies.
All those odd little decisions that mess with the metrics of this exercise.
Pilot Survivability - Any cases where the survival of a character is ambiguous, but a later work clears it up, I went for the later interpretation, since I’m looking at overall survivability, so Milliardo and CCA Amuro get to count as alive and dead, respectively.
What is survival? - continued sentient existence, flesh not required. I really wasn’t expecting this to come up as much as it did. Tieria Erde (00) and Ericht Samaya (Wfm) both continue living as a virtual consciousness, so are classed as surviving for the purposes of this exercise. In the same vein, Kamille Bidan is counted as surviving (because I’m personally fond of the idea of him getting better).
Best Available Pilots - due to the precise shakedown of pairing pilots to mobile suits, both Lieutenant Quattro Bajeena and Lasse Aeon are on this list, under Zeta and 00, respectively. Quattro because he pilots one of the stolen Gundam Mk-II units briefly, and Lasse because though the 0 Gundam’s “main” pilot to my mind is Ribbons Almark, he already has the Reborns Gundam, and thus Lasse qualifies for the 0 Gundam.
SEED Destiny - I was really bad at remembering how many Gundam’s and how many pilots for this one. I fully forgot about Andrew Waltfeld and Mu La Flaga, and about how many Destroy Gundams the Earth Sphere alliance pulls out later in the series. I eventually just split the difference and added Andrew Waltfeld and a single Destroy Gundam (It was something like a 0.2 percent difference to the overall survival percentage).
Gundam 00 and Innovades - You can single-handedly mess up this entire excercise if you expand your qualification of Gundam to encompass the GNZ suits used by the Innovators in Gundam 00, since that includes the Gaga. You know, the suit that has a 95% casualty rate across literal hundreds of pilots? I’m not saying you should, but it was on my mind as I made this list.
Mobile Fighter G Gundam - was more complicated than expected. I was fully aware SEED Destiny would be tricky, but I forgot about G Gundam in the process. I’m reasonably confident in my count of Gundams - I only counted the Devil Gundam and Master Gundam once, not the Kowloon or Ultimate Gundam, and I didn’t count any of the combined units (like the Grand Master Gundam). I’ll list my Gundam Fighter math in a re-blog, since this is already a bit long.
I truly do not understand where the idea that most Gundam protagonists die came from. I’ve even seen self-proclaimed fans warn newcomers that almost every Gundam protagonist dies, when that is patently not true!
Kazuhisa Kondo