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tinyozlion · 1 year

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The ZERO System- Why you shouldn’t let a battle algorithm determine your life goals

-Arrival (2016)

The ZERO system is a program that interfaces between a pilot and a Mobile Suit.

The purpose of the system is to enhance a pilot’s natural abilities by increasing their reaction time and accuracy, even allowing the pilot to “feel” the response of their Mobile Suit as though it were an extension of their own body, and to provide an adaptive, real-time battle plan that suggests the most advantageous course of action based on accumulated battle data and iterative projections of likely outcomes.

How exactly the ZERO system does all this is a little unclear– but we do know that it’s open-source, DRM free, and runs off a floppy disc.

The future is the 90’s!

--To start off with a quick overview, there are two mobile suits installed with a permanent copy of the ZERO system: the Wing Zero, which has it built into the cockpit, and the Epyon, which displays the system data via a flight suit helmet (technically the Epyon’s system was reverse-engineered without the benefit of the original ZERO program, but its effects are identical). There is also a modified version of the system that was utilized to coordinate the movements of Libra's mobile doll fleet– a novel use of the technology that elevated the otherwise limited AI of the Dolls to monstrous effect by giving them the intuition and oversight of a human mastermind.

But! Something worth noting is that the ZERO system isn’t the only battle-enhancing algorithm for mobile suits!

In a brief but significant moment in episode 10, we learn that OZ has a machine-learning program all of its own, and it's installed on the (then newly developed) Taurus mobile suits.

“There is a problem with the Taurus. It has the ability to learn from accumulated battle data. I’d like to trust OZ’s control system, but there’s still the chance that the machine will ignore the pilot’s commands and move on its own. If the command to kill overrides the pilot, the consequences could be significant.” –Doctor J

Who wrote the program for the Taurus suits? The most likely answer is Chief Engineer Tuberov, the man responsible for the Mobile Doll AI system, which is no doubt the successor of the Taurus AI. However, there was a lot of cooperation and cross-pollination of ideas between the original creators of mobile suits; Tuberov, Howard, and the five Gundam scientists were all involved in the earliest days of MS development, so it's not inconceivable that Doctor J is aware of the dangers of the Taurus’ AI because he helped develop it.

And Doctor J has good reason to consider the Taurus AI dangerous, because if it’s anything like the ZERO system, it’s the absolute last thing you’d want a power-hungry global military organization to have access to.

It’s not safe in the wrong hands; hell, it’s not even safe in the right hands. There’s a reason ZERO wasn’t installed on the finalized Gundams, and was left buried inside the files of a discarded blueprint.

- ----------------- -

The ZERO system is a GAN : it uses the data sets of previously recorded battles and the pilot's biological feedback to generate potential outcomes for a given fight, and then evaluates those results based on their likelihood and probability of success, in a zero-sum game where "success" is always defined by the total elimination of enemies.

Like all algorithmic processes, it amplifies certain results based on what data it's given and how it is trained; it's possible to use ZERO to predict the most likely, or most advantageous course of action for a pilot's future-- as long as that future is combative. And because the system is only trained to recognize Win States, Enemies, and Vulnerabilities, every future is going to be combative.

It's not trained to look for alternative solutions to combat, or make predictions about a life NOT spent inside a mobile suit-- it can only continue to generate pass/fail scenarios that lead, by the most efficient means, to the ultimate win state: the elimination of all enemies, all future enemies, all potential enemies.

--Whatever the mechanism is that allows the ZERO system to interface with a pilot’s brain, it is possible for a good pilot, who is aware of the system and is prepared for its effects, to mitigate how much control the system has over their mind and body, and successfully moderate the interposition of the machine's priorities and their own-- but it takes an enormous amount of mental and physical conditioning to override ZERO, and the strain on the pilot is significant.

The ZERO system gives a pilot the best chance of success by grabbing them directly by the brain chemistry, heightening awareness, speeding up reflexes, and inducing an almost trance-like state of hyperfocus that eliminates “distractions”, and ignores any physical and mental barriers that might get in the way of victory.

Unfortunately, what constitutes a “distraction” in the eyes of the machine is not always in line with the pilot’s conscience, and what it considers a “weakness” is often the biological feedback of strain and bodily distress. If left unchecked, the system overwhelms the pilot and can make them keep fighting through unsafe levels of exhaustion and injury, and in extreme situations, over-stimulation from the system itself can cause brain hemorrhaging.

While assessing all of the potential outcomes of a given battle, it takes into account every likely scenario up to and including the pilot’s own death. It will tell you if you’re likely to die. It will show you all the ways you are likely to die. If you let it dig too far into your nervous system, it will in fact let you feel how you’ll die, pumping your adrenaline levels up to the screaming pitch you’d experience if it were actually happening.

Even if a pilot is technically capable of withstanding ZERO, the psychological effect of using in the first place comes with its own insidious dangers. The temptation to let the machine ride is a powerful one; it makes you faster and stronger than everyone else, it lets you see things before they happen, it allows you to stop thinking about complicated questions of right and wrong and simply focus on the most immediate action necessary for survival and success, it takes away the confusion of competing moral imperatives.

ZERO grants a human the clarity and singularity of purpose of a machine.

For those seeking refuge in numbness, this is a soporific that allows a pilot to take retributive action against their perceived enemy without feeling, removing grief and replacing it with vindication; and for those who are insecure, or weak and hungry for power, it is fatally intoxicating.

ZERO can only show a pilot the quickest way from point A to point B.

It does not take into account any factors besides efficiency. It does not have a conscience, it does not have external priorities, and it does not value life.

If you give it a problem to solve like “how do I win”, no solution is off the table-- it will remove any and all obstacles in the way of victory, and by far the most common obstacle is the fact that most people have things that they care about, and things they are unwilling to do.

For instance, the safety of one's allies and innocent third parties is not a parameter the ZERO system is equipped to recognize.

If using your beam canon is the most effective way to clear the battlefield but you're not using it because there's a Colony in your line of fire-- well, that's easy to fix. If your concern for an ally is holding you back from fighting without reservation, that's an easy fix too.

- ----------------- -

The scientists responsible for creating ZERO knew what a monstrosity it was that they had built, and did not implement it in the finalized Gundams. But once it was unleashed on the world anyway, they surmised that the only way to use the system wisely was to become on one’s own terms what ZERO would have tried to force you to become anyway: a soldier with a clearly defined goal, who is strong enough and skilled enough to complete their objectives, and who has nothing holding them back-- therefore, someone who the machine could not easily manipulate.

During their time in space, the Gundam pilots are isolated, scattered, and lack a clear purpose. Their Colonies betrayed them and their loyalties continue to be used against them-- in that atmosphere, the convenience of a system that can select the most advantageous target is obvious, but at the same time, a struggling pilot operating alone is at the greatest risk of being overwhelmed by it. This is why the Doctors advise the pilots to become "perfect soldiers"-- or else, go insane.

Important Clarification: This is a “perfect soldier” in nearly the opposite sense of how the Romefeller Eyebrow Brigade would define a True Soldier! What the Doctors mean by a “perfect soldier” is simply a fighter with a clear objective and few tactical weaknesses that could be exploited.

The ideal example of this "perfect soldier" is obviously Wufei:

Wufei already thinks in terms of absolutes; he acts according to the strictest assessment of who is Evil, and therefore an Enemy; he fights almost exclusively alone, relying on his own considerable strength to achieve his goal of enacting justice; and he habitually shuns any close attachment that might complicate his path forward.

It's no wonder that when Wufei pilots the Wing Zero, all the system does is confirm what he already held to be true. His goal was always to eliminate anyone trying to escalate militarism, which means defeating both Treize and Zechs, and as a slight compromise, cooperating with his fellow Gundam pilots as a team.

It’s as though Wufei’s brain was already running on the ZERO system. And since he’s already equipped to make his own tactical decisions in the field, he has no need of an external system to tell him what to do. ZERO has nothing to offer Wufei, and there is nothing for it to exploit.

But it's not just Wufei who can resist using the system: even Quatre-- who is in most ways the polar opposite of Wufei, and who at his lowest point fell prey to the ZERO before anyone realized what it was-- is eventually able to master the system. Once Quatre is armed with the knowledge of what the system is intended for and knows exactly who he has to fight, he is able to use it in a way that maximizes his natural tactical abilities, and resists all its negative effects. And upon gaining ZERO's insight, Quatre realizes that he, too, no longer needs it.

- ----------------- -

So what it boils down to is this: A pilot with superior skills and a firm resolve can operate effectively without the ZERO system, and a pilot with superior skills an NO firm resolve, or with too many vulnerabilities, will find themselves struggling against it to their detriment.

Either way, it is up to the pilot to navigate the available outcomes presented by their surroundings, and choose the best course of action according to their logic and intuition-- and wouldn't this still be true with NO artificial source of input?

The ZERO system may enhance human abilities by brute force, but the processes it accelerates are already present within the pilot. In fact, it’s hardly more than a limited, mechanically-accelerated version of what the senses and nervous system do already.

Like all current examples of machine learning, it presents the illusion of an objective, autonomous process that can stand in for human input. But it isn’t a true “artificial intelligence”-- and even if it were, it would not “transcend” or replace the need for human input. It is only a means of sorting and arranging data sets that come from humans, and must be interpreted and acted on by humans, in order to have any physical effect.

--We know a lot more about the dangers of algorithms and machine-learning and automation now in the 2020’s than we did in the 1990’s, but between the ZERO system and the Mobile Dolls, I think Gundam Wing did a damn good job of illustrating them.

Ultimately, it is always a human who makes the decisions, and is responsible for the consequences. Surrendering that responsibility to a machine is not only morally reprehensible, it is in fact, not possible– a human built the machine, and a human made use of the machine, and a thousand, thousand collective moments of human decision-making led to whatever outcome the machine facilitated.

The world hasn’t yet arrived at the techno-singularity, either in the present or in A.C.195, and those who are eager to pass the blame prematurely to “AI” are usually those who wish to avoid being held accountable for their actions.

Perhaps it’s no surprise that the only person to use the ZERO system for something other than combat is Treize. For the confined leader of OZ, the system is a magic eight ball to scry the future with.

At the time of creating the Epyon, the system did not show him a viable path forward, or at least, not one he considered acceptable. Treize interpreted this as meaning he had NO future, but I can’t help but wonder if he was asking the wrong sort of question for a predictive battle algorithm to answer.

...Or maybe, the answer he got was “Ask Again Later”, which, actually, would have been correct.

#gundam wing #ZERO system #Wing Zero #read to the end for a surprise!#parsing post #gundam wingtionary #wingwatcher's toolkit #art by me

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thisweekingundamwing · 22 days

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This Week in Gundam Wing 25-31 August 2024

Here’s the roundup for August 25th - August 31st, 2024!

Remember to give your content creators some love! Be sure to join in on the events at the bottom! And remember to send in any new works you see or make this next week!

~Mod Hel

Fanfiction/Ideas/Snippets:

@janaverse

Tainted Sleep https://janaverse.tumblr.com/post/760346843437760512/tainted-sleep-it-was-inevitable-heero-supposed

Sims Universe, Heero Yuy, drabble, NSFW

it was inevitable, heero supposed, that he would have a sexual dream that night.

Arts/Crafts/Photo Manips:

@dailydefunctmangamagazine

https://dailydefunctmangamagazine.tumblr.com/post/759523062280536064/comic-bombom-%E3%82%B3%E3%83%9F%E3%83%83%E3%82%AF%E3%83%9C%E3%83%B3%E3%83%9C%E3%83%B3-k%C5%8Ddansha-%E8%AC%9B%E8%AB%87%E7%A4%BE-aug

Old Manga Magazine cover, official art

@illuminesce

https://www.tumblr.com/illuminesce/759769536173129728/based-on-a-very-funny-conversation-with-my

GW Pilots ad D&D characters, fanart

@sailorfutaba

https://sailorfutaba.tumblr.com/post/760329878634741760/it-is-dangerous-to-declare-your-ask-box-open-for

WuFei Chang, fanart

Photosets/Gifsets/Screenshots/Manga Pages:

@sailorfutaba

https://sailorfutaba.tumblr.com/post/759405798859407360/what-i-really-love-about-her-is-that-her-feelings

Noin, gifset

https://sailorfutaba.tumblr.com/post/759750070296002560/nuuuuh-theyre-so-cute-it-literally-a-mirror

Zechs Merquise, gifset

https://sailorfutaba.tumblr.com/post/759623248580378626/he-was-so-bishie-literally-his-mask-splode

More Zechs and some trivia.

@seaofolives

https://seaofolives.tumblr.com/post/759431863485022208/what-do-you-mean-trowas-real-name-is-triton-and

Trowa(Triton) Barton(Bloom), gifset

https://seaofolives.tumblr.com/post/759794194287099904/all-im-saying-is-that-if-duo-decided-to-become-a

Duo Maxwell, Hilde Schbeiker, gifset

Fandom Discourse:

@natvoltaic

https://natvoltaic.tumblr.com/post/759912764308389888/wing-is-fucking-great-actually-not-even-in-the

Wing rocks.

@seaofolives

https://www.tumblr.com/seaofolives/760239640287576064/torokatober2024-pastebincom

Prompt List!

@talliyasfics

https://talliyasfics.tumblr.com/post/760079882408558592/fic-author-never-have-i-ever-ask-game-gundam-wing

I’ma do it y’all... just wait for it. Marvel Crossover idea with WinterHawk in Heavyarms and Deathscythe.

Quotes:

@incorrectgundamwingquotes

https://www.tumblr.com/incorrectgundamwingquotes/760185073195679744/sally-whats-up-wufei-wufei-after-getting-back

Sally & WuFei

Calendar Events:

@gwcocktailfriday

Cocktail Fridays!

Post responses on Friday, during Happy Hour between 3 & 5 pm in your own timezone.

Here’s the prompts for Friday, September 6th: https://gwcocktailfriday.tumblr.com/post/760328389280317440/cocktail-friday-post-responses-on-friday

In need of prompts!

@thisweekingundamevents

Events Calendar https://thisweekingundamevents.tumblr.com/post/730188053636841472/updated-events-calendar

If you are hosting an event currently, or are planning on one, hit us up with links and dates! We’ll add them to the Calendar and reblog your notices to get the word out!

GW Holiday Gift Exchange 2024

Sign-ups OPEN: https://thisweekingundamevents.tumblr.com/post/760398363123384320/hey-gundam-wingers-the-gundam-wing-holiday-gift

#Gundam Wing #This Week in Gundam Wing #Weekly Roundup #25-31 August 2024

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fantasyinvader · 7 months

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I think, however, while we can talk about how Japanese society sees things differently in the West due to different cultural values, this also ignores the current state of Japan. Or at least, the political state of Japan during the time of Houses' release, when Japan's Prime Minister was Shinzo Abe.

Abe, who was considered a Japanese nationalist with a revisionist view of Japan's history. He wanted to make Japan great again. Who unsuccessfully sought to amend article 9 of Japan's constitution, the part that renounces war, in order to remilitarize. People argue his economic policies were a failure, or that he incited hate towards South Koreans, minorities and people in poverty. He was also involved with the Moonie church, which got him assassinated.

It's not like Japanese media isn't afraid of him either. When Tomino made Reconguista in G, part of it was in response to the administrations attempts to remilitarize, especially considering the reason why Tomino started calling out the mecha genre even before Gundam with Zambot 3. The plot of IBO s1 the following year also saw the protagonists putting a corrupt politician back into office after he was forced to leave due to a corruption scandal, much like Abe's first time as PM, but there's more to it than that as the protagonists end up being seen as the bad guys, their memorial monument defaced by those seeking justice, after they tried to take over the world (with the director's faction of the staff saying they were punished for their crimes). Persona 5 was meant to reflect Japanese social issues, and Shido is often seen as being based on Abe. Likewise, Yakuze Like a Dragon's Ryo Aoki's Bleach Japan movement has a lot of the same energy. Senator Armstrong in Metal Gear Rising wants to reinvigorate the war economy to MAGA.

I mean, when Hopes dropped people in Asia were saying it must have been written by a guy with right-leaning tenancies because of how more pro-Edelgard it came off as. She's the most hated character in the Korean fanbase, the Chinese fanbase treat her supporters as “those fans,” and Japan itself saw her as the villain of Houses. Then you look at Hopes, where the guy in charge of the BE route said he picked them because they looked like they would reunify Fodlan.

So I think there might be something to this theory, but it's a context lost in the West because Abe had a better image over here.

And, look, I'm not going to go so far as to say that the creators of Hopes are on the Japanese right. Hopes is supposed to be a game of bad endings for Fodlan in comparison to Houses, it's a sideshow not the main attraction, only you'd have to be intimately familiar with Houses to get this. Silver Snow is, and always will be, the only good route for the Black Eagles class of the four options. But taken on it's own? In a game that's supposed to be fanservice for Houses' fans? It does come across that way.

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jobrrr · 1 year

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Hobbies and interests are weird sometimes.

Like sometimes you see something and you just know that’s what you want to do, and there is no looking back from that point. I remember seeing Magic the Gathering for the first time, and it was like 4th grade, I knew. And lo and behold, I'm 35, still playing magic. But like sometimes it just kinda happens by accident, like you don't mean to get into the thing at all.

I think it was mid 2021 and I just stumbled on the Blackwargreymon gunpla kit online. Digimon was a big deal for me as a kid, I was pretty young when it started, like 10?, and I have always had a soft spot for it. So this thing looked really cool, I didn’t really have anything on my shelf for digimon even though it was a big deal for me as a kid, and it wasn't that horrendously expensive, even marked up on amazon. I don’t think I had ever done a plastic model kit before, so I started poking around to see what it would need, and I found a pretty decent entry level set of tools, clippers, some tweezers, some sanding tools and so on. So I went, what the hell, I did something nice for the kid in me. I think it’s important to do a lot of nice things for the kid in you, just good life advice. So I took the plunge. The closest thing to compare to I guess was lego, it’s kinda the same process, you just gotta cut out your pieces and clean them up, but after that you just put it together. Lego was another thing I really liked as a kid.

This kit was so much fun, I went into it with the just expectation that it will look good, and it does, very good. Ok I have to stress this, I don’t think there is anything on the market that looks even a fraction as good as these kits do, and at such a better price, it’s ridiculous. But the Kit was so much fun to put together, it's just meditative, and very personal. You slowly work your way through it, learning how the plastic feels and reacts to the cuts, shaves and sanding you do, and you make mistakes, but you work through it and learn. It’s imperfect in a very personal way. And then I finished it. And sometimes you just finish something and then you are like, ‘this can’t be the only time I do this’. I knew I was kinda hooked on it.

Thankfully there was a bit of backlog on the kits available. I think at the time the upcoming one was Machindramon, and I ended up picking the other kits in the meantime, Omegamon/Omnimon & MetalGarurumon. And so over that year of the pandemic it was a treat for myself, as I slowly built up this shelf of great looking digimon figures that I put together myself. When I got the Gallantmon/Dukemon kit, I took an extra chance on it, and decided to re-paint it with my minis paint, giving it a more classic color scheme. It’s probably the most time I spent on one model, and I haven’t tried painting one again since them, but I’m still immensely proud of it, there was a lot of little mistake I made, and a spoke on his shoulder broke that I had to drill a metal rod to reinforce as well as putting some extra epoxy putty in, but it was more lessons learned. As a prep I spent a bunch of time looking up videos of people painting gunpla, and as a side note, some folks do amazing jobs with that, like absolutely fantastic.

I wanted more though, and I was waiting for new digimon kits to come out but you are waiting. I think it was around the time the pandemic restrictions were loosening, and I was starting to maybe just explore places a bit again. I went into a Game Stop for the first time in a while, and was surprised to see a gunpla kit there. It was the master grade Barbatos kit, and it was a very reasonable price, like I want to say 60ish CAD. I was paying more for the digimon kits cause I was mostly getting that stuff through amazon and often it was imported from japan and extra shipping fees etc. So I went what the hell? I never really was that interested in Gundam before, I had a friend who made me watch an Iron Blooded Orphans OVA, and I honestly could not tell you anything about it, I was so checked out. But it looked cool, so I took another chance. I figured it wouldn’t look bad on a shelf.

That kit is a killer kit. I remember being so impressed with it, when you are building it you start with a skeleton and then you put the armor on top of that. It was so novel, and so cool. It’s a master grade, which is kinda the 2nd highest tier of kits available.

I guess as a little aside, the entry level is High Grade, HG, this is 1:144 scale, and is a great entry level, kits can be very cheap, as low as 15ish up to 30ish (CAD prices, your can figure out your conversion, USD is going to be less). Next up you have Master Grade, MG, these kits are 1:100 scale, sometimes they are different names but 1:100 is size. These guys are pricier, but a big jump in quality, not to say the HG are bad, HG are pretty impressive, but the jump is very noticeable. MGs are very nice, and the prices I noticed are usually 60 to 90. The next typical grade up is Perfect Grade, these are 1:60 scale, and very big, and very complex. I have only done one so far, the Exia. It was 280ish I think. For these kits I think the floor is around 200ish, and can go up quite a bit from there, I think some push 500+.

Back from that tangent, this kit felt like the perfect entry for a more experienced kit. I had already done quite a few digimon kits, and it's the same stuff, just different franchise. Like literally the same, Bandia makes both of these kits. So this was easy to get into. And it really was cool, to say it again. I was like damn, this is neat. So I let that stew, and for a while that was the only gundam I had and I was pretty content for that to be the case.

Then a new boon arrived, I found a local gunpla store. I had actually been there a few times before, but before It was more focused on anime, but I guess in my absence over many years it shifted, and grew its gunpla selection a lot, the wall of bluray and dvds became a wall of boxes of gunpla. And They had digimon kits too. And the prices were very good. I made the switch, as it became a lot more accessible, just even the ability to browse and not do shipping, chief’s kiss. So I picked a few kits I didn’t have, and continued to get new ones there. But I started to see the rest of the gunpla, and I knew the Barbatos was cool, and they had such a big selection, even a lot of older stuff.

So I started picking up a few. It was kinda neat, just jumping into this franchise that I really only knew on a visual level. Like I know it’s been around for a long time, and there are a lot of series, like OG, Wing, Seed, ect. But after that, I know nothing about the Gundam, they fight in big robots, that’s it. So I was in the odd position where I was free to just pick them up blindly if that makes sense, I wasn’t beholden to any lore or preference outside of ‘it looks cool’ and wow I kinda realized I don't have something like that. Like how often do you enter a fandom in a backwards kind of way. Like typically you get into something because you are a fan of it, you like the story, setting, characters and then that kinda informs how you follow up everything after. Like you get the figure of the character you like. I’m sure I’m not the only person who just gets (outside of WFM lol) the kits as kits with no real attachment to the source, and I imagine it's not even that small of a portion. Like people don’t need lore to do train kits or w/e. Anyways it was just a neat perspective, and like I said, freeing. I was allowed to pick stuff from w/e series, and mix and match cause I didn’t care.

So yah, i just went on picking up more kits, the prices of HG were such a great thing too. Like on average 20 bucks a pop for a kit, easy sell for me. So I started having a gunpla shelf, and that was cool.

I guess the next phase kinda happened. I had heard of Witch from Mercury (WFM), way back when it first announced, and the only take away at that time I had was it was going to feature a female lead, I remember going, I guess that’s cool, but you guys have been doing this for how long, and this is your first? I had another thought but I will come back to that later. So I just kinda filed that away as whatever, I wasn’t really that interested in it as a show, Gundam as a series just didn’t really feel my thing, I am still quite ignorant outside of WFM, but I guess I have more of a sense of it now. Anyways it comes to the point years later, and WFM starts airing, I think I even had a CR sub cause I wanted to watch spy family. I slept on the first 2 episodes. I had just met with a friend again that moved back, and he mentioned it’s queer, that Suletta gets herself engaged to in the first episode.

What. This was not what I expected. The point I mentioned before? So I'm a sucker for W/W ships, always have been. I very much had a thought when I first heard WFM years before, ‘it's not going to be sapphic though, it’s going to be some hetero stuff’, and it was a pessimistic take at the time, but I just felt burned out from everything being like that. Everything is fucking straight all the time. Like I just want more queer stuff, I hope everything ends up being queer, but realistically it’s not. And it’s Gundam, this is a big franchise, It’s not going to push further than female protag, so I just stopped my expectations there. But is it? And well fuck, I have to give it chance now. And it was, like not even in the subtext kind of way. Suletta was Miorine’s groom. The show had Utena in its DNA. I was very cautious though, feeling like this isn’t going to happen. I felt like I was going to get the rug pulled out, there certainly were a lot of guys vying for either of the two girls at the beginning. But I stuck with the show, a bit of pessimism and caution, but wanting it to happen.

And the little things started happening. After the third episode I think there is a shot of Miorine’s room, and it's a mess. I told myself, then, in a very gut feel way, If Suletta cleans her room, it’s real. I carried that thought going forward. Unpacking it later, I realized how true to the characters it was, Miorine didn’t want to be there, her room was a prison to her and she didn’t let anyone into her life. And then she asks Suletta to clean her room in ep11, and god that episode. I threw out caution, I was ready to sink on this ship if it would after that. And shit, 12 was a hell of an episode to finish on, and then the wait for the second cour. Ooof. Like it was real now, very real, feelings were vocalized and it wasn't just reading into characters. It was firmly the TEXT, no room negotiation. This show was very intentional about everything, I could start to see how everything was now feeding into the rest of itself. God this show.

The wait for the second cour took a while. I was talking about gunpla before, wow. Sure, let's get back there for a bit. I was pretty moderate with picking up kits, I got just Aerial, and Suletta and Miorine. I honestly felt a little embarrassed at the time, like it was an admission that, yah, I’m getting the feels hard now. But that was it, I got some more unconnected gunpla but I was mostly just stewing on my feelings till the second cour hit.

And wow, did those feelings come in hard once the show came back. Not to sound old here, i’m only 35, but it’s easy to forget what watching a show weekly is like with how much bingin it like with the netlix model of shows was the norm for so long. But letting a show really sit with you, to digest it, let it stew and think about before moving to the next episode. For some shows that can be magic, or at least that’s been my experience. I don’t think this would have been a good show to binge, and if anyone is going to watch it, I don’t recommend just burning through it really quickly. This is a show that really lets you take it apart and analyze the moments. It felt like everything could be read into for more meaning. Tomatoes, The move forward, gain one, the growth of characters, how Suletta and Miorine treat each other. It’s a gold mine for essay lol.

Or this whole ending credits to Red:birthmark. This is is basically the whole character arc of Suletta.

I guess that sorta leads to onwards. I had dipped out of tumblr way back when things went south and everyone dipped. Like myself maybe not right away, but like it felt like 90% of folks were gone and I was soon too. I would sometimes check back in, but never stayed. Then things started to just get real bad with twitter. Like i never liked it as a social site, or reddit. It just feels bad. I had only really started to use it and reddit cause tumblr died, and they did not serve the same way. Like there are few decent subreddits. But they never really did what I wanted. So I started to maybe check in here again, more frequently. Then I remember the day it really stuck.

Bees happened, Yang and Blake kissed. I was not super invested in RBWY, I bounced pretty quickly way back. I like the fandom though, it has always been strong and I'm sure people will have different feelings, but w/e. I always found them charming, and I think it was what made me try watching the show way back in the first place. So anyways Bees happened, that was a big surprise, and it kinda hit hard. Like it was beautifully awkward in a real way, it felt genuine. And I saw it here on tumblr. And good fucking win for the fandom, I tried watching some of the more recent episodes, and I am not going back to watch old stuff but boy does Ruby have some trauma to unpack. Whoof, even missing context that hit hard. The fanfiction is great. Dug around in there and there are some really good ones. Bless the fandom. I started with Bees stuff since obv, but I also dug around into Ice Rose too. Maybe it’s too much to hope, but that show will be cooking if it also does that.

Anyways I guess I was back on tumblr. There were a bunch of oldies still here, and I could dive into the tags. And It really made me realize how much twitter was kinda just making me miserable. Like there is just so much more positive here, and over there it’s just miserable. And WFM was starting up again soon. Perfect storm. I wish I had been here for the first cour. But I was here for the second cour.

I had originally joined tumblr way back after Korra ended. I was not ready to let the show go when it finished, and this was a good place to celebrate the show. It was so fundamental to my early days here, I followed so many people because of it. Fan art, people talking about the show, even years later, fan fiction. Like I said, it was a celebration of the show. I still treasure a lot of those old moments, and followed a lot of those artists onto twitter and pateron. Hopefully I will start seeing them here more as twitter implodes.

It’s been very nostalgic here again, as we finish WFM. It’s like being back to that moment with Korra. I loved seeing all the art here again. I loved seeing all the talks, musing and speculation as the second cour went on. I started to follow people again that I kept seeing popping in the tags and It reminded me what it’s like to slowly learn a bit of someone on this site. I missed that old bleeding of interests you get. The cross contamination of fandoms. I got to see someone younger share their experience with Sailor Moon in real time through this site. I love it, I was a kid when that show first aired, it is so cool to get these new perspectives.

And now WFM is finished. I said this before, I knew at the start of the second cour that this show is going to stick with me for a long time. Remember the gunpla, well I have perspective now, I have been picking up more of those because I now have feelings to contend with, lol. Not a bad problem to have. It hit hard, the show, episode 16 left me heartbroken, god. And now we are here, they have rings, they had the wedding. Eri is the sister in law. God it happened and it feels like this was plucked from a better timeline. This show is such a fucking win, I’m not letting it go any time soon.

I never really did much of this before, sharing that is. This is a lot, hell I’m even considering if I will post this as I draft this. I mostly just reblogged things and avoided putting my own words on top of them. And that’s fine, but idk, it’s never too late to try new things right, and you can always do things at your own pace, so maybe I can share a bit and it resonates with someone, and maybe it ends up being no different than existing in the void and never being posted. I spent too much time being self conscious of the things I like. I want to spend more time just making the kid in me happy you know.

Being around this all again has been nice, I feel motivated to be creative, more so then I was before. I have always had ideas for fics just floating in my head, and I think I might actually post a Persona 5 fic at some point, it's in the works. I recently played through it again with the female protag mod, and bless that mod, but now I feel compelled to write something about Makoto. Hell, maybe even some WFM stuff later. There is a really obscure doujin that I want to write something for as it felt criminal that it only got one entry. If you made it this far, thanks. Let yourself enjoy stuff.

John

#musings #me #spoilers #gundam witch from mercury #witch from mercury #gundam #digimon #gunpla #korra #got feelings man #this goes a lot places #long post #this is for me #just need to get the words out #sulemio #getting into gunpla #long story short I like gunpla and w/w #and coming back to tumblr #and thank you to everyone here

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battle-of-alberta · 2 years

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bonjour idk if youre still taking these. ive had this question for like 2 months and its hella lame and its """for mac""" - how the heck did he get into anime? if uninterested or not doing these u can just delete lol

For reference, unless the ask box is actually physically closed and you can’t even send a question, it is open. :p if you continue to come in grovelling like this to every one of my blogs i will publicly poke fun at you, you know this. Assuming I don’t have my own delete policy, the nerve... p:

anyway whenever the question is related to one getting into video games, star wars, or weeb ass shit: the gateway enabler is nearly always Edward. (Of course, for some weird reason the line gets drawn at star trek - ed is strictly on the wars side of the spectrum at the moment out of stubbornness.)

I tend to think of Ed as being the most into anime because Animethon continues (?) to be the longest running anime convention in the country - that’s right, not just Western Canada! Take that, Anime North! :) I believe it’s going to be 28 years old this year. I haven’t really watched Gundam myself, but I think Ed has a soft spot for it especially since he cameo’d in it once.

At the time of writing, I haven’t been to Animethon since it stopped being held at Grant Mac (aka Anime High School as it’s affectionately known in my head because it just looks like it should be in an anime opening okay) (and I’m still an annoying U of A grad so whenever someone says it’s a University I’m like awww smol). Here’s what I imagine would be an old photo from the early-mid 2000s of Mac and Ed cosplaying Bebop (ft. Mac’s modestly hidden waifu dakimakura) :)

More below

- In terms of personal timelines: basically in y2k Ed was spending a lot of time laying low at Mac’s place for Reasons and was keeping himself busy with proper housewarming activities for Mac’s brand new First House Ever, and once they finally got some patio furniture as a temporary placeholder for Mac’s living room, Ed’s idea of a wild Friday night after all the cleaning and painting and shopping was watching anime on YTV (which, for non-Canadians is one of the kids/teens channels and according to wiki it DOESN’T actually stand for “Youth Television” so idk what to believe anymore.)

- Ralph Bucks was the popular term for a government rebate (”Prosperity Bonus”) that then-premier Ralph Klein paid out in 2005, $400 for every man, woman and child in AB (except of course me and the fam because we had just moved back and didn’t have residency lol). Government rebates are a classic Alberta government (regardless of political stripe) tactic for boosting popularity (instead of like. spending the money on actual services or solving real problems) (again looking at you danielle) Anyway $400 could be like 2 really nice gundams at least... but Mac probably also spent the rest on something else.

- i dont know when the next time I’ll be at animethon is, i do have a soft spot for it and if you attended in the past decade you might have even seen me working the pre-registration table for a few years! if you ever see someone cosplaying alberta from iamp it’s most definitely me : ); I’ve been to Anime North and Otafest and they just don’t compare U_U

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ariesgamesandminis · 1 year

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Huge restock from Iron Wind Metals for BattleTech is up!

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govindhtech · 3 months

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Gundam Breaker 4 2024: Customize Your Ultimate Gunpla

Gundam Breaker 4 2024

Gundam Breaker 4 lets players construct, edit, and fight their own Gundam models. Bandai Namco’s customisable game features intense action and Gundam’s distinctive characteristics. Gundam Breaker 4, published on several platforms, is likely to delight both enthusiasts and newcomers.

Gundam Breaker 4 Leak

The idea of “Gunpla,” which refers to the plastic models of Gundam mechs, is central to Gundam Breaker 4’s gameplay. To begin, players choose and modify their Gunpla by assembling parts from different Gundam series. With the many customisation options, players may combine different elements to create strong and distinctive models. The ability to customise each part with unique stats and skills adds a strategic element to the process.

Gundam Breaker 4 features aggressive and fast-paced combat. Players face a range of adversaries with their customised Gunpla, from other Gunpla to massive bosses. The fighting system in the game is quite strong and includes special techniques, ranged assaults, and melee strikes. Because players can quickly switch between various weapons and abilities, every combat is a strategy and skill challenge. The game also has cooperative gameplay, which lets users work with friends to complete difficult tasks and find rare pieces.

Tale and Scene

In the future of Gundam Breaker 4, Gunpla combat is common. Players start as warriors and builders in the Gunpla Battle League and try to become champions. The story is propelled by a sequence of tasks and quests, every one posing fresh problems and adversaries to defeat. Players will come across a wide range of individuals with unique motivations and backstories along the journey.

The game’s detailed environments include metropolitan panoramas and futuristic arenas. All Gunpla models are expertly built to match their original designs. Gundam enthusiasts will enjoy the game‘s many references and Easter eggs honouring the franchise’s long history.

Personalisation and Improvements

The extensive customisation system in Gundam Breaker 4 is one of its best characteristics. More than 200 separate Gunpla models are available for players to collect parts from. Each part has a unique set of benefits and aesthetics. The pieces are divided into different groups, including arms, legs, heads, torsos, and weapons. Players can build a Gunpla that fits their favourite playstyle by assembling different elements, whether it’s a fast, agile fighter or a highly armoured tank.

Gamers can further customise their Gunpla by adding decals and customising the colour scheme in addition to the physical parts. With the extensive paint editor included in the game, players can select from a large variety of colours and patterns. Because of this degree of personalisation, no two Gunpla in the game are exactly the same, encouraging a sense of pride and ownership in one’s creation.

Upgrades are essential to improving Gunpla’s performance. By finishing missions, players can gain resources and parts that they can use to enhance their Gunpla. A number of characteristics, including attack power, defence, speed, and special abilities, can be improved via upgrades. The game gains depth and progression as a result of the upgrade system, which pushes players to constantly hone and enhance their Gunpla.

Features for Communities and Multiplayer

Strong multiplayer capabilities in Gundam Breaker 4 let users interact and engage in competition with people worldwide. The game has competitive and cooperative multiplayer modes. Cooperative mode lets players share rewards and defeat stronger opponents. Players compete against one another in competitive mode in fierce Gunpla bouts where winning depends on skill and strategy.

A range of community features are also included in the game to improve the social aspect. Gamers can form clubs and take part in activities and competitions, which promotes rivalry and teamwork. The game gives users the ability to compare themselves to other players through ranking systems and leaderboards. A powerful sharing mechanism is also supported by the game, enabling players to post and download their own Gunpla creations and foster a lively interchange of ideas.

Images and Sounds

The amazing visuals in Gundam Breaker 4 breathe life into the Gunpla universe. The objects and surroundings in the game have been painstakingly created, and the graphics are lively and detailed. Combat feels lively and captivating because of the animation’s fluidity and smoothness. The visual elements that occur during battles such as explosions and special moves are especially impressive and heighten the gameplay’s intensity and excitement.

With a lively soundtrack that improves the entire experience, the audio design is similarly amazing. The music changes throughout the game, from upbeat tracks for fighting to mellower themes for exploring and customising. Characters in the game have voice acting as well, which gives the story more nuance and character. The recognisable sound effects and musical cues that honour the Gundam series will be appreciated by fans of the franchise.

When is Gundam Breaker 4 coming out

August 29, 2024 is the scheduled release date for “Gundam Breaker 4” Several platforms, including the PC via Steam, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and Nintendo Switch, will have the game available. Numerous combat objectives, a new diorama mode for showcasing creations, and a wealth of customisation choices for Gunpla are all anticipated by players.

In summary

A complete and captivating game, Gundam Breaker 4 has something to offer every lover of the Gundam franchise. It offers an engaging and engrossing experience because to its complex story, active combat, and extensive customisation options. The game’s community and multiplayer aspects, which present countless chances for cooperation and competitiveness, further increase its allure. Whether you’ve always loved the Gundam series or you’re a new player searching for a thrilling action game, Gundam Breaker 4 is guaranteed to leave you with unforgettable memories.