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The Official Gundam Thread of Gunpla, Origins, and 35 Years of GUNDAMUUUU!

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D

distantmantra

Member
kHzywFw.jpg


Son of Cervantes said:
I saw a knockoff of Gundam Airmaster some years ago. Looked like it was based off of the model kit. It looked so bad.
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I saw TONS of Seed knockoffs at the big Aloha Swap Meet on Oahu years ago. Crazy colors, cheap paint, etc.
 
D

duckroll

Member
Blader said:
I think Unicorn is a lot like Build Fighters in the sense that I'm sure the marching orders from Sunrise were very manufactured and cynical ("Capitalize on their nostalgia for extra $$$") but the people actually involved are clearly huge fans of the franchise. I remember the novel's author said that he was a big ZZ fanboy.

I would characterize Tomino's latter UC work like F91 and Victory as very workmanlike because he's just slapping the same template onto only a slight different cast and setting again and again because that's what works for him/Sunrise. 0083 also felt very paint-by-the-numbers in that sense, and even though it kinda deviated from the normal set-up, it's still pretty hollow.

Unicorn uses a lot of those same tropes too, but what I like about it is that it's actually pulling together and reusing a lot of various loose ends in new ways (the real Mineva, the last Ple clone, the watering-down of the Newtype philosophy) rather than inventing new stand-ins for old characters and plot points. UC is a cool setting but Gundam rarely takes advantage of that. Unicorn is one of the few examples that actually uses that worldbuilding as part of its story.

My major issue with Unicorn is that Banagher is a pretty bland protagonist, and his arc definitely feels workmanlike in the sense I think you're talking about.
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I don't disagree that a lot of UC stuff feels totally hollow too. 0083 in particular in a show which I got much less fond of as time passed and the "OMG AWESOME MECHS" feeling started to fade. Bad story, bad characters, pointless perspective of a pointless period in the timeline, just an excuse to shove popular tends and designs down fans' throats.

As for Unicorn, I think a lot of my frustration with it is centered on the earlier parts of the story - as you said the protagonist is really the most boring part of the show. It doesn't help that it takes so long for it to come out that I haven't really caught up on some of the more recent ones. I'm looking forward to watching all of it from the start when the final part is out. Maybe I'll have a fresh new perspective of the overall work then.
 
C

CorvoSol

Member
Ken said:
woah, someone not a fan of ENSIGN KOU URAKI?
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I should think that everyone who actively invests in the carrot industry would hate that short-sighted fool.



Anyway, I think my main problem with Banagher is actually how forced his relationship with Audrey felt. Like, I'm having a hard time coming up with a relationship in Gundam that felt more forced than that that did not include Quess in any way.
 
E

EvilKatarn

Member
duckroll said:
Neither. The BB Neo Zeong is a new upcoming retail BB kit. The BB Sinanju is already out. You buy both separately and combine them.
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Aww man, really? I was hoping it'd include both because the Neo Zeong is 1600yen, double price of a regular BB kit.

...although it is double the size of a regular BB as well.
 
R

redhairedking

Junior Member
I was at Barnes and Noble the other day and I saw they had a small display of Gundam model kits. They didn't have anything I was particularly interested in, but they did have some of the tiny Assault Kingdom figures. I picked up the Strike Freedom and Infinite Justice. I apologize for the quality of the pics. I was being an idiot and couldn't get the stands figured out and I just used my phone.
tumblr_n2tarmoif01qaqdx1o1_1280.jpg


tumblr_n2tarmoif01qaqdx1o2_1280.jpg
 
T

Tookay

Member
Blader said:
I think Unicorn is a lot like Build Fighters in the sense that I'm sure the marching orders from Sunrise were very manufactured and cynical ("Capitalize on their nostalgia for extra $$$") but the people actually involved are clearly huge fans of the franchise. I remember the novel's author said that he was a big ZZ fanboy.

I would characterize Tomino's latter UC work like F91 and Victory as very workmanlike because he's just slapping the same template onto only a slight different cast and setting again and again because that's what works for him/Sunrise. 0083 also felt very paint-by-the-numbers in that sense, and even though it kinda deviated from the normal set-up, it's still pretty hollow.

Unicorn uses a lot of those same tropes too, but what I like about it is that it's actually pulling together and reusing a lot of various loose ends in new ways (the real Mineva, the last Ple clone, the watering-down of the Newtype philosophy) rather than inventing new stand-ins for old characters and plot points. UC is a cool setting but Gundam rarely takes advantage of that. Unicorn is one of the few examples that actually uses that worldbuilding as part of its story.

My major issue with Unicorn is that Banagher is a pretty bland protagonist, and his arc definitely feels workmanlike in the sense I think you're talking about.
Click to expand...

Well said. Pretty much sums up my feelings on Unicorn.

It uses some of the same tropes and nostalgia-bait, but the people involved clearly are a lot better at finding new things to say with them. The world-building and philosophical discussion is a lot better than anything that's come out of Gundam in ages (pun somewhat intended).
 
S

Scavenger

Member
Bandai Entertainment has risen from the dead. Their Youtube channel is active again and all episodes of Gundam 00 season 1 can be watched dubbed. Not all eps are available with subs.
 
C

CorvoSol

Member
Andrew J. said:
Gundam Build Fighters 16

I hope Aila will be OK marrying into the royal family of an alien planet.
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Now, you'd think that would mean she was about to be coming into a better standard of living, but pffffffffffffft. Reiji is that roommate in college before he's even college age.
 
B

Beth Cyra

Member
Went to the local hobby shop and they actually had a decent selection.

Grabbed a Master Grade Wing Gundam Zero Ew, MG God Gundam and a HGUC Delta Gundam Kai.

Zero and God will bring my 90's leads to near completion and I just love the look of Kai.
 
C

CorvoSol

Member
Zeta Gundam 15

"Oh that person I just briefly saw for ten seconds seems like a real cold blooded killer and I didn't sense any peace from him at all but he sure looked like the type to enjoy combat and blood shed! I could see it in his eyes that were completely obscured behind sunglasses and would not have been visible at all under any circumstances as he passed my line of sight for a full second!"

*Amuro and Kamille look visibly disgusted*

"Did I say something wrong?"

Shove off Beltachika.
 
B

Blader

Member
CorvoSol said:
Anyway, I think my main problem with Banagher is actually how forced his relationship with Audrey felt. Like, I'm having a hard time coming up with a relationship in Gundam that felt more forced than that that did not include Quess in any way.
Click to expand...

Most of Newtype relationships are forced because their whole set-up is contrived and happens literally within their heads. I think what especially hurts Banagher/Audrey is that they're apart for most of the series.

So, for instance, Kamille ends up pulled to any of the doomed Newtype ladies in Zeta, and while that's completely contrived as a starting point, the relationship builds on their continuing interactions and becomes...well, less grating, at least. Banagher and Audrey don't really have those interactions because they're in opposite places most of the time, so their dynamic is mostly just that initial "I have to protect her because Newtype reasons" contrivance.
 
C

CorvoSol

Member
Blader said:
Most of Newtype relationships are forced because their whole set-up is contrived and happens literally within their heads. I think what especially hurts Banagher/Audrey is that they're apart for most of the series.

So, for instance, Kamille ends up pulled to any of the doomed Newtype ladies in Zeta, and while that's completely contrived as a starting point, the relationship builds on their continuing interactions and becomes...well, less grating, at least. Banagher and Audrey don't really have those interactions because they're in opposite places most of the time, so their dynamic is mostly just that initial "I have to protect her because Newtype reasons" contrivance.
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Yeah, it's definitely a victim of Newtype relationship nonsense (which I think sort of bogs all of UC down forever.) but it is especially bad because at first Audrey's all "Uh who the hell are you?" and then she's away from Banagher the whole time but suddenly they have a relationship I'm supposed to care about?

Like, at least when we see Kamille and Fa dancing at the end of ZZ it makes sense because they've known each other their whole lives and been through crap so we can just sort of let it be. Or when Judau and Roux are sort of suddenly together at the end of ZZ they'd spent the whole show together.

Really well written relationships are hard to find in Gundam and I think Banagher and Audrey sort of just suffer from all the negative aspects of Gundam relationships piling on top of them.
 
D

duckroll

Member
EvilKatarn said:
I still think the head looks far too round and weak. Needs more sharp corners and shit. Like the RG Zeta.
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The Exia's head is supposed to be round. That's part of what makes it look unique. The circular motif is part of the original design, and it has always looked this way. The curves are more pronounced in the RG redesign, and it looks great imo.
 
X

X05

Upside, inside out he's livin la vida loca, He'll push and pull you down, livin la vida loca
duckroll said:
Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck. The RG Exia looks really great. They even have actual shiny silver parts for the swords. Something the MG Exia doesn't. I think the Ignition Mode MG does, but fuck those LE crap. Lol. All the haters making fun of the kit during the test shot phases can suck it! This kit looks amazing.

http://bandai-hobby.net/site/gunpla_rg.html
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Man, I've never done any Gunpla but I totally want to get that one
 
C

CorvoSol

Member
donkey show said:
Whoa whoa whoa. His name is not Kio Asuno, so no.
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For as much hate as Kio gets, I felt that Flit was far, far worse. At least Kio got to call Flit out on his shit. Nobody prior to that moment had done so. If more people in AGE had done that Flit might've not been Hitler.

Shinn is still probably the worst, though.
 
B

Blader

Member
Thinking on it, I can't believe Sunrise gave the greenlight for Origin like this. I know everyone loves Char, but everyone loves Char piloting red mobile suits. Why would they ever give the ok for a series with basically no potential for Gunpla sales? If they're only pre-One Year War stuff, then the most you'll see as far as mechs go are early Zakus and Guntanks.

Son of Cervantes said:
Kira Yamato is the worst, by far.
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Absolutely. Even Shinn in all of his stupidity is a more interesting character.

I think Flit was a great character and a significant turnaround from your typical Gundam lead...until the very last episode, where the writers ruined literally the entire show as quickly and comprehensively as possible.
 
M

Megalosaro

Banned
CorvoSol said:
For as much hate as Kio gets, I felt that Flit was far, far worse. At least Kio got to call Flit out on his shit. Nobody prior to that moment had done so. If more people in AGE had done that Flit might've not been Hitler.
Click to expand...

Flit and his space Hitler stuff was the only interesting thing about AGE
 
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