Gundam Seed - Tumblr Posts

Something I learned by ear at 3am this morning 😂

Started watching gundam seed again. I used to really like this show but I’m finding it hard to watch lately.

Anyway..

Playing in stereo using my new evh chorus pedal so use headphones or stereo speakers if you can. :)

This is my customised Bandai HG GINN High-Maneuver 2. Please take a look at https://itisagunpla.com/bandai-1-144-hg-zgmf-1017m2-ginn-type-high-maneuver-2/ for more details and photos.

I’m mildly annoyed it took me this long to realise that, in a series full of them, the Mobile Armour mode of the destroy Gundam is essentially a redesign of the Big Zam from the original mobile suit Gundam. The positron reflectors substitute for I-fields, the "Aufprall Dreizehn" High-energy Beam Cannon replacing the Large Mega Particle Gun. Even the anti-air claws on the big zam are represented with the Destroy’s flying arms. Finally, it’s name, the Destroy Gundam is apparently a reference to the second episode of the original series, which had that as its title.

I mean, I know it had a bunch of influence from the Psycho Gundam I and II, but I’d just never clocked the Big Zam as an influence before.

paperbluenet 

I feel like another problem SEED has in regards to its Gundam’s is that there’s a lot of them around, and how they’re classified is an absolute *mess*.

SEED has a lot of gundams, and the classification for them is that they have an advanced operating system that forms the acronym GUNDAM. There are however, roughly six different systems this applies to, so what a Gundam is is still somewhat inexact. I seem to recall the original series making a heroic effort to sell phase shift armour (the fancy anti-ballistic armour) as the gundam’s main selling point but this gets abandoned partway through.

It feels like a lot of the reasons as to why there are other gundams in seed work in a vacuum, but then they went and chose all of them:

Five original units, four were stolen, one remains (Duel, Blitz, Buster, Aegis and Strike).

One unit, with multiple equipment packs (Strike).

Upgrades/Dark reflections of the original three unit types (Calamity, Raider and Forbidden).

Big fancy upgrades to the main two units using new tech (Freedom and Justice).

Suit Built by/for the Main Antagonist (Providence).

Duplicate unit of the main Gundam assembled from spare parts (Strike Rouge).

Like, any one or two of those would probably have worked just fine, but they chose all of them. So it just becomes this arms race of “who’s Gundam is the most Gundam” without any real point of reference.

Thing is, Freedom and Justice are actually a step up from the rest, since they’re fitted with Neutron-Jammer cancellers, allowing them to mount nuclear reactors, and by extension achieve much better performance. It’s just that by the time they’re introduced there’s no real way to accurately *show* that, since every other gundam’s already regularly shown taking out scores of foes.

I’m under the impression that the reason as to why SEED has so many Gundams (from an out-of-universe perspective) is because they sell better than the non-Gundam models, so Seed had a lot of them right out of the gate.

To expand further on the thought “does introducing more gundam’s in a spin-off cheapen the original?” I’d have to say…… kinda?

Honestly I’ve read enough side materials that I’m used to it at this point, and Gundams are attractive prospects, both in-universe and out, but it does evoke some pondering. But they can be contrasts with the mainline characters, and they can further expand the world and show

I tend to look on it on a case-by-case basis. Generally it’s down to if I can squint and see it make sense in universe. Sort of like a “well, I guess I can see that”. Some of the examples I’m gonna talk about here also benefit from being implicitly or explicitly weaker than the “main” Gundam’s.

First up, Gundam 00f. Concerning the actions of Celestial Being’s support team, fereshte during the actions of the series.

Adding a total of five new Gundam’s to the series, not counting the “black” variants (since they’re explicitly hollow reproductions) (Astraea, Sadalsuud, Aubhool, Plutone and Raisel)

Generally, I think it works well, since the aforementioned gundams are prototypes of the ones seen in series, being weaker than the ones used by the main characters. They show progression from the 0 Gundam and shed more light on Celestial Being as an organisation. The gundams used by Fereshte are only as effective as they are due to the pilot’s experience and the fact that they don’t draw as much attention to themselves.

New mobile report Gundam Wing G-Unit (sometimes called Gundam: the last outpost). About the Space Colony M-OV and it’s mobile suit development during the main series.

Adding a total of seven new gundams to the series (Geminass 1&2, LO Booster, Aescelpius, Burnlapius, Hydra and Greipe)

Though I do love it……. Seven Gundams is too much, even if you be charitable and don’t count the LO booster. I’m willing to overlook the Geninass units (they look like Gundams and are made of Gundanium alloy, but in-universe it’s either coincidental or the creator had inside knowledge on Operation Meteor) and the Hydra (it’s presented as an answer of sorts to the Epyon, and it’s pilot absolutely strikes me as the sort of person who would build a Gundam to spite Treize), but the other three just feel excessive, considering the amount of time and resources it would take to build them (even including the fact that they’re quite modular).

While it is a nice expansion, I can’t say it adds much to the world of Wing other than the existence of a colony somewhere and maybe a look at how OZ manipulated the colonies.

(I’m also ignoring the retelling that’s supposed to be coming out, since I know nothing about it other than it adds two more Gundams)

Gundam X Astray. A Gundam SEED sidestory and continuation of Gundam Astray.

Astray is a weird side series to me. It feels like the reason why it’s about Astray units is that they realised they had too many Gundam’s and needed something different.

Anyway, this sidestory adds 4 new Gundams (Hyperion Gundam unit 1-3 (though only 1&2 show up) and the Dreadnought Gundam (or the X Astray)).

Honestly, I think this one uses the Gundam’s really, really well. Spoilers follow regarding the mobile suits and their pilots.

The Hyperion Gundam (Piloted by Canard Pars) is a Gundam built by the Eurasian Federation of the Earth Alliance in order to break the Atlantic Federation’s monopoly on mobile suit technology which they gained from the G-Weapons in the original series. I love this, because it shows the Earth Alliance as not being a monolith. It’s shows their individual members jockeying for power, how they engage in realpolitik against other members, and generally helps the Earth alliance come across as a lot more varied than in the show (all the good people die, then all the racists take over). But the Eurasian Federation isn’t actually that good at making mobile suits - they can make something roughly equal to the G-weapons on paper, but they add the umbrella of Artemis tech to it, since that’s really what they are good at. As a result, it’s a very powerful unit- for all of five minutes before the power runs out.

The Hyperion Gundam (the one with the big red cross on its back) is the prototype unit that was a proof-of-concept for the Freedom and Justice. And it’s piloted by a pacifist, Prayer Reverie. But what does he want to do with this colossal weapon? He wants to take it to Earth, and use the tech inside (N-Jammer Canceller) to end the energy crisis. Hey, an actual peaceful use for a weapon of war, that’s pretty good. Also, Prayer isn’t that good of a pilot - but the Dreadnought’s so strong, he doesn’t really need to be. It illustrates how big of a deal the N-Jammer Canceller tech on a mobile suit is (Notwithstanding the fact that the dreadnought can just fly there, it doesn’t need a ship or anything).

I unfortunately haven’t read enough of IBO Gekko to weigh in on Argi and the Astaroth specifically, but I think that Iron-Blooded Orphans handled this really well too. As you said, without the Alaya-Vijyana Gundam frames aren’t really that monstrous, but they are still generally a cut above regular mobile suits due to the twin reactors. However, they’re very, very limited in-universe. There were only ever 72 made, and I believe it’s stated somewhere that only ~30 of them survived? It’s a nice solid limit on how many there are and where they can show up, and that’s not even considering the fact that Gjallarhorn must control a few of them through the Seven Stars (doesn’t remove them, but it limits where they can be). By explicitly calling them out as being a finite thing, it really sells them as being special. But since it happens right at the start, we already know, it doesn’t get sprung on you later. In addition, since we know that they fought in and, more to the point, survived something like the Calamity War already sells them as powerful things in the right hands. They have pedigree, they have mystique and they’re rare enough for those to matter. Lastly, it’s made pretty clear by how Akihiro and Shino fight that a good part of the reason why Barbatos is so effective is because of Mikazuki. The spin-off units are still effective, but Barbatos is an absolute demon. It really sells Rustal using Dainsleif’s on them as even more pragmatic than it was originally.

@gremoria411​ - hope you don’t mind, I’m going to pull out the response to your comment as a post since I’m not sure I can answer in the word limit!

Would you mind expanding on how you believe Wing and Iron Blooded Orphans effectively managed multiple Gundams in a single show?

It’s not a fully-formed idea, but what I mean is something like this:

In Gundam Wing, the Gundams retain their special status right the way through to the end of Endless Waltz. They’re unique, deadly, practically indestructible and it’s a really big deal that Wing Zero and Epyon even exist, because it’s well established you can’t easily build more of them. Dumb as the word is, the idea behind gundanium is pretty smart. These things are never going to be mass-produced and they’re not going to be equaled in battle, either, because the reason they can blast through hundreds upon hundreds of mobile dolls is literally built into them at the conceptual level.

Iron-Blooded Orphans plays with the same kind of thing regarding these machines being a cut above everything else, but ultimately establishes the opposite situation: Gundams weren’t originally ‘rare’ (72 'suits is a very high number by IBO standards), they’re palpably not exceptionally resistant to harm, and in most people’s hands, they don’t perform that much better than the machines they’re fighting. The thing that turns them into kill-everything monsters is gate-kept behind very severe conditions, so it never feels like battles will become trivial by simply having more of them in play.

That last point is why I felt it worth mentioning. What struck me about SEED is that by the time you have Calamity, Raider and Forbidden on screen, it is very hard to take them seriously. They’re Gundams (implicitly, I know the term is not actually used widely in SEED) and unique (not mass-production models like the Astrays), so they should feel like a big deal. But they don’t. They get their backsides handed to them *repeatedly*, because the narrative has to pile on the specialness of Freedom and Justice so they stand out in a swarm of similarly ‘main-character-coded’ ‘suits. It’s trying to have its cake and eat it in terms of how significant Gundams are.

It’s interesting to consider how the different shows chose to handle that, with the extreme ‘only a single Gundam’ model from the 79 series and Turn A at one pole and G Fighter’s complete genericising of the term at the other.

(There’s probably another axis to this thought which is ‘does introducing more Gundams in a spin-off cheapen the original?’ For Wing, the answer is obviously ‘yes’, because of the aforementioned rarity and the colonies not being able to roll them out by the hundreds. For IBO, it’s ‘no’, because the uniqueness is offset on to the pilots. Argi Mirage rolling around in Astaroth isn’t a big deal because Argi is so far below Mika’s level, it’s almost funny. A SEED spin-off could introduce as many Gundams as it liked [and I believe they did] to no effect because the term is already relatively diluted.)

Ah! Something that I have just realised.

In regards to the Gundam Hyperion and Dreadnought Gundam from X Astray, my description of them may have misrepresented what the plot is actually about.

*Spoilers follow for the plot of SEED X Astray*

The plot of X Astray primarily concerns their pilots Carnard Pars and Prayer Reverie. Lowe Guel and the rest of the characters from SEED Astray show up, but they’re really not there for much other than to effect repairs to the Dreadnought and Provide Prayer with a nice home base and someone to talk to.

Canard Pars (left, in a rare moment of calm) is a failed attempt to create the Ultimate Coordinator, which would eventually result in Kira Yamato. Because of this, Canard wants to find and kill Kira , in order to prove once and for all that he isn’t a failure. He’s essentially your standard “fighting is all I know” character. Since the ultimate coordinator project was destroyed by blue cosmos, Canard gets picked up by the Eurasian Federation of the Earth Alliance and is used as one of their test pilots. His obsession with defeating Kira leads to both an obsession with power, and him fighting with any Gundam-type unit he comes across.

Prayer Reverie is the pilot of the Dreadnought Gundam. I *think* he’s one of Al Da Flaga’s clones, like Rau le Creuset (he states he’s a clone of a EA pilot with incredible spatial awareness) but I can’t find a source that explicitly backs that up. Prayer’s kinda weird honestly, since a lot of material treats him as an actual bona-fide newtype, in a setting that doesn’t *have* newtypes. Regardless, he’s presented as a counter to Canard - he also has the genetic disposition towards combat, hence why he’s the pilot of the Dreadnought, but he’s chosen a life of pacifism. Canard wants to fight him to steal the N-Jammer Canceller, which would enable the Hyperion to run its Umbrella of Artemis infinitely, and thus become nigh-unbeatable, granting him the power to match Kira Yamato.

Most of the manga is spent establishing who and what the players are and building up to the final confrontation between Canard and Prayer. This includes the Eurasian Federation ceasing Development on the Hyperion Gundam’s and (attempting to) betray Canard due to the events of the main series happening:

1. The Atlantic Federation recover the Data from the Strike, leading to the deployment of the mass-production Strike Daggers as the main force of the Earth Alliance. This essentially invalidates the Eurasian Federation’s Hyperion project, since there’s no point furthering development on the units when they already have the Strike Dagger.

2. The Earth Alliance (specifically the Atlantic Federation) acquires the N-jammer canceller technology when Rau le Creuset leaks it to them from ZAFT. This makes the Eurasian Federation’s efforts to recover the Dreadnought Gundam Pointless (Canard wants it for power, the Eurasian Federation wants it to increase their standing in the Alliance) and makes Prayer’s plan to take the Dreadnought’s N-Jammer to earth to solve the energy crisis a moot point.

So, while the Eurasian Federation Jockeying for Power and Prayer’s efforts are certainly part of the manga, they’re not exactly the main focus.

They are however, baked into the mobile suit backstories, which is why I like the Dreadnought and Hyperion as additional Gundam’s to SEED (well, that and the fact that SEED’s already got a lot of additional units running about).

@gremoria411​ - hope you don’t mind, I’m going to pull out the response to your comment as a post since I’m not sure I can answer in the word limit!

Would you mind expanding on how you believe Wing and Iron Blooded Orphans effectively managed multiple Gundams in a single show?

It’s not a fully-formed idea, but what I mean is something like this:

In Gundam Wing, the Gundams retain their special status right the way through to the end of Endless Waltz. They’re unique, deadly, practically indestructible and it’s a really big deal that Wing Zero and Epyon even exist, because it’s well established you can’t easily build more of them. Dumb as the word is, the idea behind gundanium is pretty smart. These things are never going to be mass-produced and they’re not going to be equaled in battle, either, because the reason they can blast through hundreds upon hundreds of mobile dolls is literally built into them at the conceptual level.

Iron-Blooded Orphans plays with the same kind of thing regarding these machines being a cut above everything else, but ultimately establishes the opposite situation: Gundams weren’t originally ‘rare’ (72 ‘suits is a very high number by IBO standards), they’re palpably not exceptionally resistant to harm, and in most people’s hands, they don’t perform that much better than the machines they’re fighting. The thing that turns them into kill-everything monsters is gate-kept behind very severe conditions, so it never feels like battles will become trivial by simply having more of them in play.

That last point is why I felt it worth mentioning. What struck me about SEED is that by the time you have Calamity, Raider and Forbidden on screen, it is very hard to take them seriously. They’re Gundams (implicitly, I know the term is not actually used widely in SEED) and unique (not mass-production models like the Astrays), so they should feel like a big deal. But they don’t. They get their backsides handed to them *repeatedly*, because the narrative has to pile on the specialness of Freedom and Justice so they stand out in a swarm of similarly ‘main-character-coded’ ‘suits. It’s trying to have its cake and eat it in terms of how significant Gundams are.

It’s interesting to consider how the different shows chose to handle that, with the extreme ‘only a single Gundam’ model from the 79 series and Turn A at one pole and G Fighter’s complete genericising of the term at the other.

(There’s probably another axis to this thought which is ‘does introducing more Gundams in a spin-off cheapen the original?’ For Wing, the answer is obviously ‘yes’, because of the aforementioned rarity and the colonies not being able to roll them out by the hundreds. For IBO, it’s ‘no’, because the uniqueness is offset on to the pilots. Argi Mirage rolling around in Astaroth isn’t a big deal because Argi is so far below Mika’s level, it’s almost funny. A SEED spin-off could introduce as many Gundams as it liked [and I believe they did] to no effect because the term is already relatively diluted.)

Hm weird thought.

So Al Da Flaga in Gundam SEED.

(Right is the best picture we have of him, but left is more representative in my opinion)

He commissions multiple clones of himself from Dr Hibiki in order to inherit his wealth and power, and the way Rau puts it, in order to achieve a form of immortality.

Thing is, how many clones does he commission?

Because we know that Rau le Creuset(Top Right) is his clone, who eventually ended up killing him and from who we know most of our information about him (Rau is in the middle of his Big Villain Speech when he says most of this, but he’s essentially recounting his origin so I trust what he says here). Rey Za Burrel (bottom left) is also a clone and was made later, most likely as a replacement for Rau once Al found out he was a flawed clone. Thing is, Al was dead before he had much of a chance to impact Rey’s development (Mu doesn’t remember Rau, so Rau must have murdered Al and burnt down the estate when they were both quite young), so it’s implied that Rau and Durandal were the primary influences on Rey’s life, as shown in this image:

Mu La Flaga (top left) is, by all accounts, Al’s biological son, who he hated because he believed that Mu’s mother had tainted him in some way (though I’ll be honest, I’ve accidentally read Mu as the successful clone multiple times prior).

And then, finally, there’s Prayer (bottom right), who’s a “clone of an EA pilot with excellent spatial awareness”. Which sounds to me like the EA found a Al clone and accidentally read it as a clone of his son Mu (which would imply that disinheriting Mu was pointless, since he’s already a really close genetic match). I mean, that makes more sense to me than the EA commissioning a one-off clone, something they despise on the same level of coordinators, just to reproduce a single good pilot. However, I can’t find anything that explicitly states this, so it’s just weird.

But apparently Rey was just one of multiple clones? So prayer could have been part of the same “Batch”? And/or there could be a bunch more Al Da Flaga clones running around, this turning them into an expy of Puru?

Huh. I’d never actually clocked SEED Destiny screwing over every Female character as a thing but now I think about it, yeah it does kinda do that.

With the exception of Murrue Ramius and Lacus, who come out looking pretty positive, they all display a lack of agency - Cagalli’s just the most obvious since her personality shifts drastically from the Original Series.

Gladys, while amazing, is unable to enforce discipline on her ship, not least due to Supreme Chancellor Durandal favouring her pilots with special treatment. Speaking of Durandal, they’re established pretty early on to be having an affair (I’m genuinely unsure if she’s still married or not, we never see a husband except in a flashback) which, while not lessening her achievements, does throw into question the possibility that Durandal had a hand in them. She’s a much better commander than Murrue Ramius was at the start of the original series, but consequently she has less room to grow. I’m really iffy about her ending, because other than wanting to be with Durandal, I’m not really sure why she was there. Maybe if her and Rey had some scenes together earlier it would’ve worked better?

Lunamaria’s established early on as the Lancer to Shinn’s hero - she shoots, he fights up close. Problem is, her battle records very poor, granted due to the use of stick footage, but barring her early duel with the Gaia she only ever seems to miss shots and take hits. It’s established early on that’s she’s a poor shot (due to coordinator-related genetic mishaps), but then why would she be a Ranged specialist? She displays some excellent skills early on, such as spying on Athrun and looks like she’ll see through Durendal’s Destiny plan. However when Athrun deserts with Meyrin and Shinn (supposedly) shoots them down, this all goes out the window. Yes, she’s under a lot of stress because she thinks her sister’s dead, but she just fights alongside Shinn at the battle of Messiah, where Athrun has to save her from Shinn. Does it effectively communicate how far Shinn’s gone? Yes. Is it an example of what war does to people? Yes. Does that make it any less batshit that Shinn was ready to cut through her to get to Athrun? No, no it does not.

Meyrin Hawke, then. Y’know what, I actually think she makes it out of this pretty well. She’s kinda in the background for most of the show, but she successfully distracts soldiers away from Athrun during his defection and effectively helps him escape to the mobile suit hangar. Yes, Athrun has to get them out afterward, but of the two he’s the better pilot and she knows it, so I’ll let that slide. I only wish we’d seen more of her.

Stella Loussier next. Honestly, I have less of a problem with her because a) she’s a Four Murasame Expy, she was never getting out of the series alive and b) most of the Extended’s deaths are played as tragic, hers just has the most focus. Though “never shoot the cockpits” Kira killing her is a detail worth criticising. Since Kira last series (and in this series too) took so much care not to shoot to kill, so much so that Shinn and Rey use it as a strategy to bring down the Freedom some time later, so it feels especially jarring that he’d kill Stella, and even more so that he just…… wouldn’t care about it. Stella’s lack of agency is part of the tragedy of her character, showing how war dehumanises those who fight it, and possibly showing what might have happened to Shinn after orb has he not had someone looking out for him. I will admit (slight sidenote) it is frustrating to me that Neo Roanoke just sorta…. Never had any sort of consequences for his actions, because he was actually an amnesiac Mu all along, and that makes it ok. Like yeah, he wasn’t in his right mind and Neo’s essentially dead……. It just feels like there should be *something*.

Meer follows Durandal’s orders for the entire series, then when she’s no longer useful, she’s used as bait for Lacus then killed to motivate the Archangel crew. I don’t even have much to say on this one. It’s just tragic.

Cagalli……. Where to even start with Cagalli. Cagalli feels the worst case out of the entire cast because a) she was a competent (if stubborn and hotheaded) fighter in the original series, being a member of desert dawn and putting Kira in his place more than once. Then Orb Happens, and she has to watch her homeland and father burn in front of her because their key principles failed them. This is a genuinely harrowing moment for her, but she pushes through and resolves to prevent further bloodshed. She Fights at the Second Battle of Jachin Due in the Strike Rouge and ENTERS SEED MODE, one of only five characters able to do so. She gives an excellent account of herself considering her lack of experience, only really being stymied because there’s a lot of good pilots at Jachin Due.

How does she fare in Destiny? Well, she starts off as a diplomat with Plant, then accidentally outs Athrun to the entire Minerva, which likely contributed to his later decision to rejoin the ZAFT. She is manipulated into accepting a political marriage to Yuna (see: asshat), and is only bailed out by Kira at the last minute. She later deploys in the Strike Rouge in order to try and keep out of the conflict during the battle of Dardanelles, only to be stonewalled by Yuna. She finally regains control of Orb prior to operation fury, when she takes command from Yuna. She then fights in the Akatsuki in Defence of Orb during operation fury, which it must be said is an excellent mobile suit. It promptly loses a fight to the Destiny Gundam. Once Orb is liberated, she remains there, while the Three Ships alliance taking the Akatsuki with them. And throughout this, she continually despairs at the state of Orb - quite rightly, since it is actively heading down the same path as it did prior, and she fears it being devastated again. It’s entirely possible that she has PTSD in the wake of its initial destruction in the first war. The issue is that the plot seems to bend over backwards in order to screw Cagalli over and leave her without agency. She has to be bailed out of her wedding by Kira, because she’s too swamped by the Seirans’ to get out of it herself. She is unable to stop Orb from entering the conflict, even though it’s obvious to everyone that’s what she’s trying to do, with Yuna stopping her. She’s only able to retake and defend Orb with the backing of Kira and Athrun, and even with the cutting-edge Akatsuki, she has to be bailed out of a losing fight with Shinn.

Like, taken individually it’s not really a problem, but when you look at them all together you start noticing how widespread the problem is.

Eh. Maybe if/when that Seed Movie finally comes out things’ll be a little better.

OK, I have two overall things to say about Gundam SEED: Destiny (I’ve been sick, binging this nominally staved off extreme boredom; spoilers to follow).

Number 1: Arthur Trine is doing his best, damnit, and I hope he got a cup of tea and a sit down once everything was other.

Number 2: what an incredibly frustrating show.

In many ways it is leaps and bounds ahead of its predecessor, freed from literally repeating the same set-pieces of the original Gundam to tell a story that, honestly, has something approaching a meaningful point. Chairman Durandal is a compelling antagonist and the way he and Teen!Le Cookset gradually break the series’ pseudo-protagonist to their perspective is narratively interesting. The underlying message in what he does – about how those in power pick out enemies that will best serve their ends and present themselves as the reasonable ones – is definitely worth exploring. And the show even manages to address the Gundam-overload issues from SEED, by more clearly delineating the point of each machine and staggering them a bit more competently.

However. It inherits the problem of its length exceeding its content, leading to more stock-footage abuse and, far less forgivably, *three* clips shows, only one of which (the last, focused on Meer) has any actual merit. It also continues SEED’s determination to screw over every single female character who isn’t Lacus. For the record, I *like* Lacus: she’s a nice execution of someone having a ‘typical’ presentation wrapped around a core of stainless steel conviction, which is something I always enjoy in fiction. However, Cagalli in particular is an utter waste of potential, not being allowed to mature, gain focus, or make a single bloody decision without Kira or Athrun’s input, to the point where it’s actively aggravating to watch.

This is where we hit the limits of the genre and demographic, of course, and once again makes me appreciate literally every female character in IBO because Gundam generally is so very *not good* at this. (Obviously G-Witch is ahead again on the score, thankfully, but IBO is probably the best-case scenario within the ‘fiction aimed at boys’ problems that plague its predecessors.)

Shinn is similarly annoying. It’s not a bad thing he’s abrasive and the endpoint was always going to be him winding up a broken, weeping wreck because he’s too stupid to recognise anything beyond his own feelings. But his trauma flashbacks hit parodic very early and he’s far too irritating to be worth sitting through his screen-time. Like Kira, only the problem is the presence of personality rather than its total fucking absence.

My biggest complaint, however, is reserved for the variety of ways SEED:Destiny buggers up its good ideas. I’d have liked it a lot more if ‘Logos’ hadn’t actually been a thing. ‘Shadowy conspiracy doing [bad thing] from the shadows in the name of profit’ is the kind of message that gets slung around a lot in real life with no justification whatsoever and it really doesn’t help counter the people who do that if you hinge your plot on ‘no the Illuminati actually do have a giant laser on the moon.’ The cleverer and more cutting twist would have been to reveal there was no actual group called Logos and while the people Durandal named might have had interests in common, he was really just lumping them together for his own convenience.

You know. As scapegoats. Like the way this goes in reality, with the matters that this show is sticking its oar in and trying to Say Something about.

But no, because once more, this is a story interested in emotional reactions and personal epiphanies over any sort of systemic question because, well … that’s typical, isn’t it? Frustrating but not unexpected. Eureka Seven does nearly everything SEED/SEED:Destiny attempts better and that is hardly the first case of that happening with a Gundam show. Possibly this is just galling me more than usual because there are so many [swerves around the obvious pun] traces of a more interesting story here.

Oh well. Mu steadily getting his memories back was fun and I shall be taking the final epilogue to mean he, Murrue and Andrew settled down to a life of coffee-fueled polyamory. Yzak yeeting himself on to the right side of the final battle through sheer indignation was actually kind of funny. And I will give it credit, this did feel like one of the more meaningful ‘final battles to destroy a giant super-weapon’ out of the many, many times Gundam has done that (including in SEED, for gods’ sake). If nothing else, I appreciate the chutzpah of having Durandal rock up in an off-brand Death Star, right down to a recoloured Emperor’s chair.

Whatdyouknow. I actually did have something to say about this one. I think that just leaves Victory for main series I haven’t watched (I finished G Fighter; it was joyfully ridiculous). That probably won’t be changing any time soon. Ranking wise … SEED:Destiny probably sits around equal with 00 for me.

Given that I’ve been talking about it a bit lately, I should probably give my opinions on Gundam Seed (and Seed Destiny), shouldn’t I?

While I like both shows, my principal comment about them is that they’ve aged rather oddly. The stock footage and stylings dates them somewhat (not that that’s necessarily a bad thing), but several of the topics they bring up (the cycle of violence, discrimination and designer babies) I think are just as relevant now as they were then.

I think that the Cosmic Era has a fascinating world, with ripe opportunities to explore all these topics and more besides. I love how each faction is clearly defined and how they have clear motives to hate each other, making war an inevitability between them, with everyone else just trying to survive. Because it works so well into the feeling of powerlessness. Of war as this inevitable, world-destroying thing. It helps that both sides are antagonistic to the protagonists, furthering the view that war has no clear winner and that each side will sink to extremes.

And then, having made this wonderful world in which to play around in, the series proceed to do none of that.

I get that there’s different priorities, it just feels like there’s so many interesting topics here that just get ignored. Coordinators are essentially applied Eugenics, there’s stuff there. They haven’t been legal long, so a lot of them were made illegally. Maybe by the ruling elite, with the money and influence to make it happen and ignore the laws, possibly posing a class debate? Nope.

We hear tales of coordinators being made for specific purposes, like combat. Would this lead into a possible caste system, where different “strains” of coordinators have friction with each other? Nope.

Oho! But coordinators aren’t sustainable past a few generations! After that things start going wrong and the become less and less viable, leading to things like organ failure or sight loss. Surely this is - nope, it’s only brought up in side materials and never resolved.

And that’s all just with coordinators as the sole topic. There’s other medical avenues, mobile suit development (think all the fancy newtype tech in UC), themes of dehumanisation, realpolitik between nations and different factions of the government. How did the Nuclear Jammer Cancellers impact Earth? There’s all these details that could be explored, so Kira and friends just grabbing the biggest stick they can find and browbeating everyone else into oblivion kinda just feels lacking (I know I’m oversimplifying here, I know).

I’m also not really the biggest fan of the mobile suit designs. I’m not really sure why. I think it’s because they all share just a few too many design elements that I think they end up looking too similar? I do love the Infinite Justice, simply for the novelty of having a Pink Gundam (it helps it’s cqc focused), but other than that I struggle to really focus on any of the gundam’s (maybe the Aegis) other than the Providence. But Seed Destiny making units patterned after the old Zeon ones really works against it, since I just prefer the old designs.

In a nutshell: The Cosmic era has so much potential, but the plots we get out of it really feel like they’re not making the most of the setting, and the Gundam MS designs are just so-so.

(I’ll do another post talking about some of the ms designs I like)

So I mentioned recently (while rambling about SEED and SEED Destiny), that I’m not really a fan of most of the Gundam Designs from the series, exceptions being the IJ, Providence and Aegis. However I do like quite a few of the grunt designs.

First up, the Ginn.

Gundam SEED was intended to update Mobile Suit Gundam for a new generation. How successful it was is debatable. But Y’know what I think they got right? The Zaku-analogue. The Ginn shares the same basic features as the zaku, but integrates the commander horn into a lovely hawk, and has wings to emphasise its mobility. It’s armour looks almost contemporary with modern equivalents, but it’s all blended together in this visage of a knight. The monoeye retains its trademark expressive nature, and the design has that wonderful quality of being equally pleasing as a single mobile suit or a team of grunts. The sword is just the icing on the cake, since it enables some very fun poses and (at least in the beginning) emphasises phase shift armour.

Many of its variants are lovely too. The High mobility types (I (left)& II (right)) take the concept of an upgraded Ginn in two different directions, with the first adding new parts for a more complex look, and the other remodelling existing parts and adding a more samurai flavour, looking like a command variant of the original. The long range reconnaissance type is loaded with extra equipment, while the ceremonial decoration type - while functionally just a repainted regular unit - contain one of my favourite small details about ZAFT - since they had no formal culture they were drawn from, they simply ran a computer simulation as to which colours would best inspire the emotions they wanted for ceremonial duties. Which is honesty such a thing for them to do.

The CGue and GuAIZ (which I shall continue to pronounce “Gooey-as” despite being informed that it’s “Gwaze”, as in “graze”) are essentially just bulked-up improvements on the Ginn. I’m not really sure how to describe my fondness for the CGue, other than it feels sleeker and more fragile- like you’d need to be an ace to use it. The GuAIZ makes me think of the Gelgoog, but (unlike many of the Seed Destiny units) has an identity beyond that. It’s delightfully bulky and round, with the olive green distinguishing it nicely from surrounding units. Also, kudos for giving it a shield claw, a weapon I didn’t think I’d like as much as I do.

The BABI made this list alone for the seriousness with which everyone says it’s name. While it has very little focus in the anime itself, it’s design is interesting enough to be memorable. It’s essentially a flying brick covered in guns, with a very knightly design. Because of this, I find it evocative of the Gyan in the same way I find the GuIAZ evocative of the Gelgoog. It’s this wonderful mash of imposing seriousness and colourfully toyetic. I find the leg vents oddly pleasing as well.

I am rather fond of the M1 Astray aswell, but I’ll likely cover that if I ever chat about the Astray Series.

I gotta say, while I am, I suppose, looking forward to Gundam SEED Freedom, after having thought about it for a little bit I am curious as to where they’re gonna go with this.

So, we know ZAFT’s probably gonna be the main villain again, since they’re what’s shown in the trailers (and honestly if it gets us a new HG Ginn I’m not gonna complain too much).

Anyway, putting that aside, we do know that Kira, Athrun (because of course) and Shinn (we see a clip of the Destiny in the trailer) are gonna be in the new movie. We also can guess that Kira’s gonna have a shiny new mobile suit/upgrade to the Freedom, since he’s got a new Helmet, and presumably a new cockpit, AND they specifically didn’t show us any shots of a mobile suit barring the Ginns or old footage, implying that it’s a whole new machine.

This is interesting, because I’m really, really curious about what it might be. Perhaps some sort of Perfect Strike Freedom? Or Amazing Strike Freedom? Or perhaps it’ll take influence from the Stargazer and be star themed? Like some sort of Freedom Galaxy Cosmos?

Honestly though, I imagine it’ll stick fairly close to the Freedom and Strike Freedom (I’m imagining a strike freedom covered in Witch From Mercury-style drone weapons in addition to the funnels), but I am distinctly curious how they’ll model it. Bandai’s been really pushing the Seed revives since they made them, like the Impulse and Strike Freedom get used for parts a lot, so I’m wondering if it’s going to be an entirely new mold, or if they’re just gonna make a few new runners for the Strike Freedom.

I am probably going to be interested in Athrun’s new suit though, since I do very much like the Infinite Justice.

Since I did a post talking about all the Mass-Production units I liked in SEED/SEED Destiny, so I should probably talk about the Gundams I did like, especially now that I’m thinking about it with the new movie trailer.

Generally, I don’t have a high opinion of much of the Gundam-type mobile suits in the Cosmic Era, principally because I find they all look rather similar (that’ll happen when they’re all developed from the same five suits by only two factions). I’m also gonna be focusing primarily on suits that appeared in the animated series, since sidestories typically can afford to be a bit more “out-there” with the designs. The first three are the designs that I genuinely like and appreciate, whereas the last two have asterisks attached.

First up, the Infinite Justice. Narrowly makes it into the top spot for me. A good part of it is the novelty of having a bright pink Gundam, I admit. But I do love how, where the Strike freedom decides to add funnels and more guns with which to shoot people, the IJ instead gets a bunch of blades. Like not only is it pink, but it’ll also cut you. It’s still well-armed in the ranged department though, having a beam rifle, “fortis” beam cannons and a bunch of beam boomerangs. I do like the original justice Gundam as well, but the Infinite Justice just feels like a fuller vision of the concept, without being tied into resembling the Aegis too much, in contrast to the Strike Freedom, which felt like they nailed it first time and had to add a bunch of extra stuff on.

The Providence is a solid second, because I like the concept more than the execution. The background for the Providence is that it was supposed to be a heavy assault suit, but they had to retrofit it with the Dragoon tech in a hurry, hence the cabling on its chest and the system’s overall lack of integration. I love the concept of this, and the heavy weaponry it retains makes me imagine a sort of Full Armour Gundam 7th-style unit. I *think* that the whole Dragoon system on its back thing is supposed to give the appearance of a halo? So Rau is a sort of angel of destruction that Kira must stop? It doesn’t work, but I think that’s what they were going for. Providence is a pretty cool name though. I’m not really sure about the integrated beam saber/gun thing on its left arm, but its not bad. The Providence also gets a bump because I quite like Rau as a character, and this is his final unit.

Grabbing third (and bringing an end to the ranking) is the Akatsuki (specifically the Oowashi Akatsuki). The Akatsuki itself is this lovely melding of SEED’s Gundam Aesthetic with the Hyaku-Shiki, and I think it looks gorgeous. You can obviously see the Strike influence, but it’s blended together with elements closer to the Astray series and it all works rather well. Its sensibly armed with a shield and rifle with optional bayonet in addition to beam sabers. I should note that I specifically prefer the atmospheric-based Oowashi pack to the space Shiranui one. This is because the Oowashi pack actually looks like something - wings and two beam cannons evocative of those on the F91. The Shiranui’s just a big box with some funnels stuck on. I do like how the Akatsuki’s great against beam weaponry but crap against physical though, since it’s a nice reversal of fortunes compared to the start of SEED.

Now if only Cagalli actually did anything with it.

The Calamity is a bit of a cheat, since it’s at least partially here because it can become the Sword Calamity. I like a lot of artillery suits, and the Calamity is just my favourite here, mostly because of how sensible it’s weaponry is. Guns in the shield, beam weaponry fitted on the suit itself to take advantage of the generator, then a nice, lovely plasma-sabot bazooka to round out the armament. The only thing it’s really missing is a beam saber. It also makes the most of its integrated weaponry - most of its handheld and the backpack’s replaceable, but that “Scylla” cannon isn’t going anywhere. I also quite like the head. If we had had the Calamity instead of the Buster, I’d probably prefer it.

The Legend Gundam’s here because A) it’s got a nice head. And b) we saw virtually nothing of it in series. It’s here because I end up liking it when it (very-rarely) shows up in side content (like videogames), but it regards to the anime itself, it could charitably be described as “being there”.

Y’know, I give seed a lot of guff for its mobile suit designs. About how so many of the Gundam’s look so similar, how a lot of the suits are just knock-offs of U.C. ones, how they tend to be reduced to a “bigger-stick” design philosophy. But Y’know what I really appreciate?

Hip-mounted railguns. A solid projectile weapon in an age of beam weapons, a extra gun to break up what could be a fairly plain hip design and it enables a bunch of cool poses, since it’s a hands-free weapon so they can be basically anywhere.

Another Gundam SEED Freedom trailer. How lovely.

I’ll fully admit that I watched the dub for Seed, so I don’t recognise the voice at the start there, but consensus seems to be that it’s Durandal? Shinn, Luminaria and Athrun are all confirmed to be in the new movie, with Athrun seems to be off doing his own thing compared to the rest of them. At a guess, I’d guess that Kira and his team seem to be operating under Orb’s authority, since they seem to be saluting a lot? They do seem to be reporting to a member of Orb nobility (the little kid in the green throne). Then again, it could be that Terminal’s just developed into the Cosmic Era’s answer to Celestial Being, of 00 fame. So maybe Athrun’s outside the system? I’d put money down on him and Kira coming into conflict again, especially since the latter half of the trailer seems to be playing up that Kira’s going to do something foolish, and Athrun lacking a non-pilot uniform at present.

It seems like the plot’s going to involve Durandal’s legacy? Though honestly it seems equally possible that it’ll just be brought up offhandedly. The PLANT Supreme council seems to have a new meeting place, with Lacus present at a meeting, so I imagine the focus’ll be more on them.

(Honestly this was the easiest reference image I could find for the characters) So, character wise we’ve a mix of new and old. Agnes Gieberath is the main new one, it seems (and honestly given her prominence I’d expect her to have a new Gundam along with Kira, Shinn, Athrun and presumably Lunamaria). Honestly the only thing we know about her is that she exists, nothing on personality or backstory at this point, but she’s likely one to watch. Yzak and Dearka are back, which is nice (I’m quite fond of post-character-development Yzak). We have the three Dom Trooper Pilots on the end that were essentially Lacus’ muscle in Seed Destiny. I fully expect them to either have character development or be killed off (Hilda might survive). That just leaves the final three new characters of Toyah Mashima, Albert Heinlein and Alexi Konoe. I don’t have much to say on the latter two, save that Konoe gives me a traitor vibe and if Heinlein doesn’t have something close to a German accent in the dub then I’ll be severely disappointed. But Toyah Mashima?

My, he seems to have a very familiar design. A small blonde kid that seems to resemble Mu La Flaga? Hmmm, sure that’s not gonna be relevant in any way. Probably nothing.

Still no word on the Gundam’s though. They wouldn’t be hiding them this much if they weren’t new in some way, so I’m betting they’re waiting until the model kits come up for order.

I will be honest, it’s slightly weirding me out how they’ve changed all the female characters lip designs though. It’s a very small change, but it just makes Lacus’ pout in the trailer unintentionally parodic. It’s not a problem as such, but all the male characters still have the old designs, so it just seems to differentiate them for no real reason. Eh, I’m sure I’ll get over it.

Alright, new Gundam Seed Freedom Trailer (and other materials)

We now know what most of the new Main Character Mobile suit designs are - we have the new Rising Freedom Gundam (shown above) and Athrun’s new suit, the Immortal Justice Gundam, which seems to be patterned more off the Aegis this time around (the red colour scheme and it’s a little bulkier).

I’m going to wait until the movie actually comes out for my full opinions on the designs, but notable features are:

The Rising Freedom seems to be based at least partially on the Destiny Gundam, as seen with it’s forearms, chest and shoulders (makes sense).

The Gelgoog Menace, which is almost certainly Lunamaria’s new suit, appears to be a directly upgraded Zaku Warrior, presumably with a greater emphasis on close-combat.

Shinn’s apparently back in the Impulse, almost certainly so they can reuse the model design.

I think that the Immortal Justice is going to be a transforming unit (the Rising Freedom kind of is already).

While the Gyan Strom certainly appears to be *checks notes* Agnes Gieberath’s new mobile suit, I should call out that there were two of them alongside the Immortal Justice in the trailer, so it might be that it’s a limited-production suit handed out to ZAFT’s best? It’s possible that Yzak and Dearka might also be piloting them.

The Shi-ve and Rud-ro of the Black Knight Squadron (boring name) *seem* to be patterned after the Crossbone Vanguard? Though that might just be the head fins. Otherwise, I find the Rud-ro’s rather generic looking.

From what we can tell, the Black Knight Squadron is going to be backing ZAFT (we see DINNs in the background in the trailer) and is composed of these characters (going off the matching colours and approximate numbers):

(I would go through them all but honestly I think only two at most are going to matter).

My final point is; What’s with everyone using old equipment? All I’m seeing in the trailers is GINNs, DINNs, ZuOOTs and 105 Daggers. The Impulse is maybe excusable, but it’s odd. I’d buy that ZAFT reproduced an upgraded GINN after the second Bloody Valentine War, but if they’re all using outdated equipment then it really doesn’t sell them as actual threats to the Protagonists. Yes, they should still be stopped, but it makes it feel like the conflict between the two forces is background, when the Tragedy of War is kind of Gundam’s whole thesis statement.

(Though again, I’ll probably complain a lot less is this gives us new kits for the GINN and DINN)

Meer Campbell is such a funny character. Imagine you're posting your silly little cover songs in Gundam tube and people are like omg you sound JUST like Lacus Clyne and you're like pretty happy with that and suddenly the president shows up at your house like hey do you wanna commit identity theft? And you're like okaaaaaaaaaaay :D

SEED Destiny, while not in itself a bad show, has the tendency to magnify a lot of SEED’s flaws as a whole, so stuff that was infrequent enough in the original series (like the stock footage) can become a lot more noticeable in hindsight. In addition, Destiny affects the ending of the original in such a way that it can lead the original series to feel less satisfying overall (particularly since Destiny’s ending is - very broadly - quite similar to the original’s).

SEED is also very character-driven (the line I hear a lot is that it was basically written as a soap opera), which is something of a two-sided sword. If the characters work for you, then all the better, but if they don’t then it can be difficult to summon the enthusiasm. It can also lead to the feeling that the series comprises of “The Protagonist and his Allies” and “everyone else”, so Gundam’s vaunted grey-and-grey morality becomes less so. I’m given to understand that SEED’s character focus is a big reason of *why* it was so popular when it came out, but it wasn’t expected to become THE big AU, at least domestically. SEED Destiny was greenlit shortly after the first with a view towards being to the original what Zeta was to 0079, but this meant that the creators then had to them unpick the (pretty damn good) ending of the original, so Destiny has a difficult time reconciling that.

I also see a great deal of criticism aimed at the character dynamic of Kira and Lacus (which again, becomes more pronounced in Destiny). Lacus is an ardent pacifist with strong personal convictions and a lot of influence (soft power, if you will), Kira is, by the end of the original series, an ace pilot par excellence, who can shoot down enemy mobile suits without killing the pilots. So it creates the dynamic of Lacus,being the character who hopes and dreams for a world free of conflict, and Kira, who’s the biggest beatstick in the Cosmic Era. Kira also spends much of the series trying to find a solution to the cycle of conflict perpetuated in the series, and the numerous deaths weigh heavily on his conscience. Becoming a pilot so good that he can non-lethally carve his way through entire fleets isn’t really an actual solution to that problem, it just enables Kira to be a one-man army.

Lastly (and this is likely just my personal bugaboo), the existence of coordinators in the cosmic era is a massive thing that spurs many practical and philosophical questions, and there’s a lot of emphasis put on it throughout the original series. But all SEED seems interested in answering is “Genocide: how much is too much?”

In a nutshell, SEED is fine by itself, but Destiny, while not particularly bad, has a tendency to accentuate its flaws.

Okay now that I’m like, 7 episodes from the end of SEED, can someone explain to me why exactly it’s so insanely maligned among English-speaking circles? Because it’s pretty good/okay, so either Destiny royally fucks things, or you all are filthy liars.

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.

Tsk. I hoped the resemblance would be greater. Oh well.

Gonna turn this fucker into a Zeon suit because I’m having cognitive dissonance with liking a seed model, also the movie was ass but fun

I love Athrun, because his entire character to me is just him trying to do the right thing as the world goes to hell around him until he eventually has the thought “fuck, Kira was right all along wasn’t he? Again. DAMN IT”.

When Kira goes to Cagalli, Lacus, Shinn, Murrue, etc etc. for emotional support it's because they're genuinely good at offering advice, empathy and a shoulder to cry on. When Kira goes to Athrun for emotional support it's because seeing one of the most important people in his life is inherently uplifting, because it sure as fuck isn't for Athrun's emotional management skills.