Your thoughts on the Gundam series

[VF5SS]

Well I think the important thing about 00 is the characters all possess a certain gravitas about them. When Graham Acre stands up and proclaims that he will defeat the Gundams using only the pride he has in his FLAG FIGHTAH! people stop and take notice. When Sergei reached out and grabbed the Exia and nearly tore its head off you knew he was a man to be respected. And mother fucking Ali Al Serges (mighty is he) showed up on the battlefield cackling like a madman, you sat down and let him chew the scenery, well maybe rape the scenery is more apt.

[Commander 598]

It had Lockon Stratos. Really you didn't need anything else.

AMP is THAT WAY ->

And mother fucking Ali Al Serges (mighty is he) showed up on the battlefield cackling like a madman, you sat down and let him chew the scenery, well maybe rape the scenery is more apt.

IT BREAK MY FORMATTING, YOU RETARDED FUCK

Not in any particular order, but it had considerably superior animation quality, what with being the first Gundam series to be shown in HD. SEED's animation was very much average, and the character designs are, in a way I can't relaly explain, weird looking. Despite the fact that they're all ridiculously bish, the various Gundam Meisters had character designs I could say are actually fairly good, if none which are not all that fresh. Regardless, they're less generic than Kira Yamoto or Athrun Zala.

SEED's character designs have been described as all being the same face, just with different hair, etc.

[Commander 598]

Also, it's not really a matter of it being in HD that makes it's animation better, it's the fact that SEED blew most of it's animation budget on the OP/ED, or so I've heard. I'd say just about everything in Gundam but MSG/Z/ZZ had better animation than SEED, possibly even them depending on just what your definition of "better animation" is, mine being actually animating battles. F91's combat sequences make me feel all tingly inside.

[VF5SS]

You know you can just post text links to the huge format breaking pictures.

[Ryushikaze]

It just annoys me to no end that SEED had a billion different suits, and the designs which were not total crap were seemingly lifted directly from UC. SEED is just creatively bankrupt and I think we should probably talk about some of the positive aspects of the Gundam metaseries.

Seriously, check the Astray sidestory. The main character finds a few prototypes for the astray suits that appear later in the series, a mercenary gets the other one, and they (and the villian who has the third of three) proceed to kitbash the hell out of these three suits.
Also, the characters are genuinely interesting, if not the deepest bunch out there.

[Ryushikaze]

And since I can't edit this in...

SEED's character designs have been described as all being the same face, just with different hair, etc.

That's not just 'been said', it's been shown pretty comprehensively that that's the case. I've no clue where the image is any longer, but there are several images where simple hairswaps have been done with a 'before and after' thing, and demonstrated that most of the faces are the same.

[Ford Prefect]

Well I think the important thing about 00 is the characters all possess a certain gravitas about them. When Graham Acre stands up and proclaims that he will defeat the Gundams using only the pride he has in his FLAG FIGHTAH! people stop and take notice. When Sergei reached out and grabbed the Exia and nearly tore its head off you knew he was a man to be respected. And mother fucking Ali Al Serges (mighty is he) showed up on the battlefield cackling like a madman, you sat down and let him chew the scenery, well maybe rape the scenery is more apt.

I can agree with that. Someone mentioned to me recently that while the 'good guys' have the technological advantage, the bad guys make up for it primarily by being totally badass. Graham says some pretty kooky shit whenever he talks about the Gundams, but it just adds to his eccentric uberace status. Basically, when the 00 'villains' showed up, their first appearances left me with strong impressions. Rau le Crescent was just obviously a Char in his first appearance in SEED, and he wasn't very interesting, either.

That's actually something else cool about 00 - it took Graham twenty six episodes to put on a mask.

SEED's character designs have been described as all being the same face, just with different hair, etc.

They also look like they have snouts. I can handle some stranges noses (behold Macross Plus), but they're pushing it.

Also, it's not really a matter of it being in HD that makes it's animation better, it's the fact that SEED blew most of it's animation budget on the OP/ED, or so I've heard. I'd say just about everything in Gundam but MSG/Z/ZZ had better animation than SEED, possibly even them depending on just what your definition of "better animation" is, mine being actually animating battles. F91's combat sequences make me feel all tingly inside.

Obviously it's just that the animation is worse, but because 00 was for HD, it strikes me that they'd go all out on cel detail and fluidity. It's much closer to the quality of, say The 08th MS Team, for example. SEED just looked shoddy.

And if they used all their money on the OP, they wasted it.

[Ryushikaze]

I can agree with that. Someone mentioned to me recently that while the 'good guys' have the technological advantage, the bad guys make up for it primarily by being totally badass. Graham says some pretty kooky shit whenever he talks about the Gundams, but it just adds to his eccentric uberace status. Basically, when the 00 'villains' showed up, their first appearances left me with strong impressions. Rau le Crescent was just obviously a Char in his first appearance in SEED, and he wasn't very interesting, either.

That's something else Destiny did poorly. To replace Rau le Crescent, they tossed Mu La Flaga in a mask for around 30 episodes and said he'd been brainwashed. It was just as blatant as Rau's 'char'ness

That's actually something else cool about 00 - it took Graham twenty six episodes to put on a mask.

And it seems he did it because his face is scarred, not for some 'you can't see my face, who am I, hur hur' nonsense.
It's worth pointing out that while Graham's "char"-ness was apparent from his first appearance, it wasn't informed like with Rau. He was a somewhat obsessed, charismatic ace. Zechs was much the same, even with his 'hur hur mask'ness

[Manus Celer Dei]

That's actually something else cool about 00 - it took Graham twenty six episodes to put on a mask.

And it seems he did it because his face is scarred, not for some 'you can't see my face, who am I, hur hur' nonsense.

Although it is worth pointing out that the producer of 00 has said in an interview that Graham definitely died at the end of the first season. That'll probably turn out to be some metaphorical shit though, given what we see in the teaser. Bah!

And on the subject of taking Gundam outside of the solar system, the Turn A Gundam novelisation mentions that the Turn A and Turn X were originally designed for Newtypes to use in interstellar warfare.
It also said they were built using Devil Gundam cells from G Gundam, so who knows what the fuck that's about.

Still, the idea of Turn A-style Gundams fighting a massive galactic scale war across the Milky Way is pretty fun, even if it makes absolutely no sense thematically.

[Commander 598]

You know you can just post text links to the huge format breaking pictures.

Doesn't break my formatting. Honestly their not that big either, but whatever.

And it seems he did it because his face is scarred, not for some 'you can't see my face, who am I, hur hur' nonsense.

To be fair to Char, in the MSG novel has a [self inflicted] scar and tells Lala that he got it fencing Garma at the Academy and that's what the mask is for.

That's not just 'been said', it's been shown pretty comprehensively that that's the case. I've no clue where the image is any longer, but there are several images where simple hairswaps have been done with a 'before and after' thing, and demonstrated that most of the faces are the same.

This one?
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b329/ ... eed9ka.jpg

[Ryushikaze]

Although it is worth pointing out that the producer of 00 has said in an interview that Graham definitely died at the end of the first season. That'll probably turn out to be some metaphorical shit though, given what we see in the teaser. Bah!

Or it could be that he suffered Brain Damage and isn't the same person psychologically. On the other hand, it was said that Lockon died and Lockon would be returning in the second season, so it seems we're being intentionally dicked with with regards to info on the second season.

And on the subject of taking Gundam outside of the solar system, the Turn A Gundam novelisation mentions that the Turn A and Turn X were originally designed for Newtypes to use in interstellar warfare.
It also said they were built using Devil Gundam cells from G Gundam, so who knows what the fuck that's about.

All previous Gundams (excepting the SDs and maybe X, though I think there are some shots of it in the archive) are part of the past of Turn A gundam, with G occuring second to last. It's silly, but you do need DG-esque tech as the base for the Turn's gimmicks.

To be fair to Char, in the MSG novel has a [self inflicted] scar and tells Lala that he got it fencing Garma at the Academy and that's what the mask is for.

Well, Char had a legitimate reason for hiding his Identity- He couldn't let the people he wanted to kill know who he was the son of, and his face would give that away too quickly (hell, several people figured it out pretty quick without the mask), hence the mask and name change. Same, though for different reasons, with Schwarz and Zechs. Rau le Cruce WAS Rau, even with the mask. His past was common knowledge to his superiors, and his enemies had no clue what his past was (except Mu, but Mu suspected even before he saw Rau in person). It made no real sense in universe and it didn't serve the plot in a reveal since it was damn obvious from ep 1 he had a history with Mu.

This one?
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b329/ ... eed9ka.jpg

One of them. There were a number of them.

[Ford Prefect]

And on the subject of taking Gundam outside of the solar system, the Turn A Gundam novelisation mentions that the Turn A and Turn X were originally designed for Newtypes to use in interstellar warfare.

Though in the end, ∀ Gundam was still set in the Earth sphere, as far as I am aware. Before the Turns destroyed human civillisation, they probably were tooling about at the far reaches of our solar system and beyond, but that's never really explored. I think a setting which was set across the whole system could have some interesting politics and driving forces, though obviously travel would take some time.

[VF5SS]

There was one proof of concept trailer for the Gundam Big Bang project that featured faster than light travel. Gundam Mission to the Rise.

[Ford Prefect]

There was one proof of concept trailer for the Gundam Big Bang project that featured faster than light travel. Gundam Mission to the Rise.

That was kind of cool. What's the story behind Mission to the Rise?

[VF5SS]

It was a short created for the Big Bang Project. Somehow it managed to be a lot better than all of G-Saviour.

[Ford Prefect]

It was a short created for the Big Bang Project. Somehow it managed to be a lot better than all of G-Saviour.

I'm actually kind of intruiged by that. It would have been interesting to see them do more on that. That said, I don't think it would be hard to be better than G-Saviour.

[Commander 598]

G-Savior wasn't all that bad, for a B-movie about giant robots in space...

[Spanky The Dolphin]

Speaking of G-Saviour and going back to the "what would you do" thing, how about a UC series set at about the same time (~UC 0225) but takes place almost entirely inside the Asteroid Belt?

Something like that would allow Gundam to "branch out" away from the Earth Sphere, while bypassing the problem of incredibly increasing transit times. And mobile suits would have obviously been repurposed as mining equipment. Just shake in a civil war or revolution and you're good to go.

[Saxtonite]

Maybe it gets better or something, but I just can't get past how stupid the ZAFT helmets look*.
.

The later half of the series is better than the first half.

[Ryushikaze]

G Saviour is a bad movie, but a fun one. It also ticks of B-movie cliches very efficiently.

Speaking of G-Saviour and going back to the "what would you do" thing, how about a UC series set at about the same time (~UC 0225) but takes place almost entirely inside the Asteroid Belt?

Something like that would allow Gundam to "branch out" away from the Earth Sphere, while bypassing the problem of incredibly increasing transit times. And mobile suits would have obviously been repurposed as mining equipment. Just shake in a civil war or revolution and you're good to go. :)

Mobile suits already are repurposed from mining and construction equipment, or at least the early models before the adoption of biambulatory systems were.
However, the idea of 'guerilla fighters' in asteroid mining companies using their balls to drive off their enemies just warms the dark cockles of my heart.

[Spanky The Dolphin]

Unless Bandai and Sunrise have since done some retconning, the version* of MS origins in UC I'm familiar with specifies that mobile suits were developed by Zeon scientists specifically as anti-ship space combat weapons, and only said they were construction equipment as a cover story following leaks and during demonstrations. The only MS I'm aware of that originated as construction equipment is the Ball, which was sort of a wartime improvisation, long after the EFSF started Project V (besides IIRC, some sort of "Gunball" proof of concept thing).

I think it was only in Wing where mobile suits as a whole directly originated from utility machines.

*I'm easily about 4-5 years out of the loop when it comes to the wider Gundam canon and continuity.

[Ford Prefect]

Speaking of G-Saviour and going back to the "what would you do" thing, how about a UC series set at about the same time (~UC 0225) but takes place almost entirely inside the Asteroid Belt?

Something like that would allow Gundam to "branch out" away from the Earth Sphere, while bypassing the problem of incredibly increasing transit times. And mobile suits would have obviously been repurposed as mining equipment. Just shake in a civil war or revolution and you're good to go.

I like that idea. It would allow for some fairly unconventional combat, given that it would be a bunch of miners in repurposed mining mobile suitss fighting each other with minining equipment*. It would be something of a change from cutting edge technology fighting cutting edge technology - hell you could have one side of miners get their hands on a combat capable Zaku which is practically invincible in comparison.

*Drills are a man's romance.

[VF5SS]

You mean sorta like Double Fake?

[Saxtonite]

since we're already on the subject; I had a question/thought about Gundam Seed Destiny. In the series some parts of Eurasia attempts seceding and it takes ZAFT to finally push the Earth Alliance out; I wonder if this is based off or influenced by the fast that currently, Russia controls much of the European Union's natural gas and Oil and that Europe does not really put much focus on or really resist Russia on many things or move against Russia given the Russians use that as blackmail against the European Union. what do you think?

[Ford Prefect]

You mean sorta like Double Fake?

Is that pump action beam shotgun? I think it is. It's things like this that make me remember just how vast the amount of Gundam media actually is.

since we're already on the subject; I had a question/thought about Gundam Seed Destiny. In the series some parts of Eurasia attempts seceding and it takes ZAFT to finally push the Earth Alliance out; I wonder if this is based off or influenced by the fast that currently, Russia controls much of the European Union's natural gas and Oil and that Europe does not really put much focus on or really resist Russia on many things or move against Russia given the Russians use that as blackmail against the European Union. what do you think?

This is probably pushing it in terms of influence. Hell, I don't even really see how the two are related.