#I'M SO OVER GUNDAM SEED

[psychewritesbs]

When Opposites Attract, part 4: There are certain things that one must fight to protect

I love well-executed culmination points. 

You know... that point in a story or character arc when emotions are at their peak and the story begins to unravel little by little.

Culmination points like this one...

... where two opposites meet in the middle to create something new.

So please excuse me while I nerd out about one of my favorite OTPs under the cut. Like... it’s nice to brainrot about an OTP that isn’t trying to kill each other every once in a while.

Anyways... to whomever reads this, I’m feeling introspective and melancholic enough that I MIGHT not make fun of the bad writing but can’t make any promises. 

This also got long because there’s a lot happening both to Athrun and Cagalli as individuals, and to Athrun and Cagalli as a ship during the last 10 episodes. I personally like exploring how they evolve as individuals and how they meet in the middle as a result of their individual development, but if all you care about is reading about them meeting in the middle, skip ahead to the second to last section titled Meeting in the middle.

Athrun

”There are certain things that one must fight to protect.”

Ok so we pick up with chapter 38 with Athrun deciding to intervene in the continuation of the battle between the Earth Fed and Orb.

But this time, his intervention has meaning...

I want to think that Athrun has a deeper reason for joining the battle, something heroic like “for justice’s sake” or “because he genuinely thinks Orb is right to remain neutral”... but nah. I’m going to chalk it off to Athrun wanting to protect Cagalli and her ideals which is still basically the whole idea that Athrun might think that Orb is right to remain neutral and to him Cagalli represents this ideal.

So I love to see him finally make a stance, to realize that there is something he wants to fight for and to take action in that regard. And so it is that in this battle, he is no longer ZAFT’s Athrun Zala, but Athrun Zala thinking and acting for Athrun Zala.

It’s a nice payoff to all of Athrun’s indecision and how he was blinded by his unwillingness to think for himself.

Cagalli

On becoming Orb’s symbol of hope and the middle path

Like... to say that Cagalli has character development in this arc is a massive understatement.

Not only does she loose her father and her home country to the Earth Fed, she has also been handed the burden of a symbol. She is to carry Orb’s will and to become a symbol of that will. 

But... isn’t Cagalli the perfect character to become the symbol of Orb’s will? The Princess who turned away from material wealth and went out into the world and educated herself about the hardships of war?

And can I just say that Uzumi’s death and her reaction to it actually made me teary eyed?

I’M NOT CRYING YOU’RE CRYING!

I mean, speaking of fighting to protect something, Uzumi literally burned everything to the ground and sent his daughter off to space in order to protect his ideals. 

Nope, definitively not crying.

Athrun

On unbecoming ZAFT’s symbol of Coordinator supremacy

And just as Cagalli has become a symbol for Uzumi and Orb’s will, Athrun is facing the consequences of having become ZAFT’s very own symbol of coordinator supremacy.

As Mwu rightfully says about Athrun and his relationship to ZAFT and his father being ZAFT’s leader, “unless you believe in your side’s cause, you can’t possibly fight a war.”

At this point, however, Athrun is already thinking for himself and questioning his own logic. He has also chosen “the middle path”.

In the end, Athrun argues, they all want the same thing--for the war to end as quickly as possible.

Cagalli

”I need your strength”

Cagalli has lost everything. Her home, her father, her people. It is her role to carry on Orb’s will as I mentioned earlier. But Cagalli is just a girl...

And on top of all of this mayhem she’s experiencing, she has also learned that she has a twin brother and that Athrun is engaged.

Like give this poor girl a break!

Despite that, Cagalli carries herself as best she can. And what I loved most about how she handles herself is that she asks Athrun to stay when she is about to reveal to Kira the truth about their situationship.

I mean... I’m sure there’s a million ways to interpret this, but the only interpretation I care about is that Cagalli wanted Athrun there to “stand guard”. After all, even if she acts though, she’s vulnerable and exposed after everything she has gone through.

Even if she acts though... she still needs someone to lean on.

And for once... finally, Athrun, everybody’s favorite emotionally constipated character, recognizes the opportunity to meet someone in the middle on an emotional level when he asks Kira about staying behind to support Cagalli.

Like... yes. Finally. Athrun opening up emotionally. I like to think he would have liked to stay behind, but, unfortunately for asucaga fans everywhere, Athrun has to confront his father before he can truly meet Cagalli in the middle.

Athrun

Committing metaphorical patricide, plot armor and bad writing

Athrun has decided to confront his father to try to change his mind about ZAFT’s role in the war.

We all know how well that went...

Also, can we stop to thank the thick ass plot armor that the writers came up with to make sure Athrun didn’t get shot to death?

Like... there were at least 7 dudes in there with assault riffles or machine guns or whatever and Athrun literally walks away with a single gun shot wound aboard the Eternal.

But before moving on, I’ll admit that I don’t feel like elaborating on why I think that Athrun saying that Lacus is his former fiancé because he was “such a fool” is a poor writing choice. 

Like... it’s a little too late for the writers to try to make it seem like Athrun regrets the state of their relationship given the way Athrun has been written has always demonstrated he is not interested in the state of their relationship.

Aside from that... I much prefer the interpretation that Athrun felt he was a fool to not have noticed sooner what it meant to want to devote himself to someone.

Again, a theme in Athrun’s character arc has been the idea of learning to listen to his heart as his voice of conscience.

And that is how we finally meet in the middle once again.

Meeting in the middle

Ok but listen, moving forward, to anyone reading this, I just want you to imagine me squealing in the background.

I first saw Gundam Seed somewhere around 2002 and 2004. It’s been nearly two decades and this scene still makes me squeal. I just adore seeing Athrun meet Cagalli in the middle the way he had not really done with others before.

Which is why there’s just so much happening in this scene.

What with Cagalli demonstrating she understands Athrun...

To Athrun opening up about how he feels...

But more importantly, Athrun understanding that Cagalli is trying to be strong for him even when she’s feeling vulnerable...

And meeting her in the middle because Athrun now knows that there are certain things that one must fight to protect. And now that he thinks for himself, I like to think Athrun realized he needs to devote himself to protecting Cagalli, not just the person, but the symbol...

Because he knows that even as strong as she is, she is still vulnerable and deserves the very same care that she gives others...

And I absolutely adore the double entendre here because I headcanon Athrun could not help himself and just wanted to hold her, so he’s apologizing both for infringing on her personal space and for her father’s death.

As for Cagalli, her reaction is one of someone who is not used to being met in the middle...

Especially not by someone who can hold her as tenderly as she holds others...

HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO BE NORMAL ABOUT THIS?!!!!!!!!

HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO BE NORMAL ABOUT CAGALLI REALIZING SHE CAN LEAN ON ATHRUN AND ATHRUN OPENING UP TO BEING THAT SOMEONE WHO CAN BE LEANED ON?

ESPECIALLY WHEN THEY BOTH HAVE HAD TO BE STRONG ON THEIR OWN ALL ALONG!

I’M NOT SQUEALING YOU’RE SQUEALING!!!!

Finally, I also have to admit I’ve started fast forwarding... I’m so over Gundam Seed at this point and am only watching for asucaga purposes. That said...

There are certain things that one must fight to protect

I don’t know how else to end this ridiculous ramble other than by going back to where it started... 

The idea that ships can be a source of inspiration... 

After all, ships are a mirror that we can use to reflect back at us not just what it is that moves us in a relational dynamic.

But also how we want to feel in that dynamic...

Also, can we quickly stop to appreciate how touchy Athrun is? Boy can't keep his hands to himself.

And what we wouldn’t do for each other...

...once we have met in the middle and have been changed for the better because of it.

And that’s worth fighting for.

[xskyll]

I left the Mermaid Melody incest pan and jumped right into the Full Moon wo Sagashite age gap fire.

[wordsandrobots]

IBO reference notes on . . . spaceships

@gonk2020 kindly responded to my plea for the means to procrastinate over the essay I should be finishing with a suggestion I take a look at the ships of Iron-Blooded Orphans. So I'm going to do exactly that! Warning for an image-heavy post and spoilers for the whole show and both spin-offs.

[Note: I've compiled this primarily from English-language sources, including fan-translations. There will certainly be additional details I've missed in material that hasn't received a translation.]

A dash of context

Mecha shows and sci-fi in general often revolve around an aircraft-carrier gimmick, where a larger vessel (treated in naval terms) functions as the base for various smaller craft (treated in aviation terms). Terrestrial-based shows will often make the carriers aircraft in their own right (Eureka Seven and Argento Soma spring to mind) to emphasise the advanced technology on display, while extraterrestrial adventures like Macross go full-bore on substituting ships for spaceships. It's a good conceit, providing visual diversity as well as a moving headquarters from which the heroes can operate.

Gundam falls squarely into this pattern from the start. The original anime's White Base functions in space and on Earth as a flying warship, deploying the Gundam, Guntank, Guncannon, and various 'core fighters' along what are recognisably aircraft carrier catapults. Other ships in the setting are shown to operate similarly, with flight decks, conning towers, and a sea-vessel-like aspect (albeit remixed into a weirder style for the Zeon side). Thereafter, the wider Gundam franchise has mostly followed suit. Successor series like Gundam SEED, Turn A Gundam, Gundam 00, and Gundam Reconguista in G all follow Mobile Suit Gundam in portraying flight- and space-flight-capable aircraft carriers of some variety as a key part of their fictional militaries.

Where Iron-Blooded Orphans deviates from this trend is, like fellow outlier Gundam Wing, by eliminating the terrestrial part of the equation. Gone are concessions to atmospheric travel; here, spaceships remain in space and are treated closer to a Star Trek 'tall-ship' model, with shuttles providing the necessary bridge from orbit to the ground. As in Wing, this is not a concession to physical realism: IBO features full-blown artificial gravity and functionally-perpetual sources of energy. Rather, it serves to retract the 'get out of logistics free' card previous flying aircraft carriers provided to their casts. While Gundam has always erred on the side of making logistical concerns count (damage to the White Base is emphasised alongside the frailty of its supply lines), here they are absolutely key to how the plot unfolds.

Tekkadan not having access to the unbounded resources of their opponents in Gjallarhorn matters. That they cannot take their ship, the Isaribi, with them to Earth is a highly significant step towards the desperate nature of Season 1's final battle. They have to rely solely on what they can transport down in a shuttle and then scrounge along the way. Similarly, it is significant in both seasons that one cannot simply land a spaceship where reinforcements are required. This introduces delays, heightening the tension and the stakes. It's a canny choice, for the kind of story being told.

World mechanics

For want of an official classification scheme, I'm going to group the ships that appear throughout the series based on size, function and power-plants:

Surface-to-orbit shuttles

Small non-Ahab reactor ships

Medium Ahab reactor ships

Large Ahab reactor ships

Huge pseudo-colony ships

This done, we can look at commonalties shared by some or all of these groupings in terms of how they are depicted.

Life support: The most important detail, as far as establishing the setting's technology goes, is that living in space is relatively straightforward. Ahab reactors provide artificial gravity. Concerns about oxygen, food and other consumable supplies are never raised as a serious issue. A brief moment in spin-off game Urdr Hunt even suggests that ships maintain some sort of protective forcefield (capable of resisting a lightning strike – it sort of makes sense in context), which could imply cosmic and solar radiation can also be neutralised. Basically, to all intents and purposes, space travel is a completely solved problem.

Offensive and defensive capabilities: Battles are carried out almost exclusively with conventional ammunition (shells, missiles); there are no laser/beam weapons due to the deflective effects of nanolaminate armour, which also conveys a high degree of physical resilience. In the original Gundam timeline, mobile suits are devastatingly effective anti-ship weapons; it is outright stated that ships are no match for 'suits, due to the latter's manoeuvrability and damage output. Here, the equation is somewhat more balanced. Most ships can retract their vulnerable conning towers and their missiles can target and obliterate 'suits in open combat. However, particularly powerful or well-equipped mobile suits may still threaten ships single-handed and sustained attack by more generic models is sufficient to knock out weaponry and propulsion. There is also mention of 'anti-ship napalm', a short-range weapon presumably intended to burn through hulls, and ships prove extremely vulnerable to the Dáinsleif mass-drivers, which can punch deep into their interiors. Nonetheless, it would be fair to say IBO ships are atypically sturdy for the Gundam franchise.

Toughness: Exactly how sturdy may be illustrated by Eugene crashing the Isaribi face-first into a space station in order to draw a Gjallarhorn fleet away from a battle.

This works. Spectacularly. The Isaribi leaves a massive gash around the station core, causing enough havoc the whole structure starts to lose orbit. Meanwhile, Tekkadan pull away with barely even superficial damage. And sure, the square-cube law is on their side, but at the same time, it's hard not to be impressed, especially since we are talking about a ship of Calamity War vintage. Ramming is not only feasible as an offensive tactic, it seems to be actively designed for.

Power output: In addition to their durability, spaceships show off an abundance of power and thrust, owing to the aforementioned Ahab reactors. Wisely, the writers opt not to give exact figures, simply indicating one ship towing another is no big deal. We see the Dawn Horizon Corps' flagship towing three ships of comparable mass at once, with similar feats carried out by other vessels in their fleet. This of course feeds back into the ramming tactics, since all that additional motive force enables one ship to shunt another with relative ease (presumably provided the impact goes at an angle to the direction of the target's own main drive).

Mobility: Above all, ships are of a piece with the other mobile weapons. Despite the nautical terminology, they do not always behave with stately grace, instead zooming about and engaging in manoeuvres entirely unbounded by gravity. This is what struck me the most about the show's depiction of spaceflight: it captures a sense of speed that sci-fi shows usually leave implicit out of deference to an impression of scale. Here, craft hundreds of metres long execute rapid arcs and spins with an ease comparable to the much smaller mobile suits. Furthermore, they can be operated using the same Alaya-Vijnana man/machine interface technology, with Eugene twice straining his augmentation to fly multiple ships simultaneously. The attack on Earth's defensive lines that culminates in ramming Glaðsheimr One involves using a captured assault ship as a shield to protect the Isaribi from incoming fire. It's a phenomenal sequence, showcasing the advantages of abandoning weight when writing space battles – and demonstrates that ships in the Post Disaster timeline can dance as well as they punch.

Now, on to the specifics.

Surface-to-orbit shuttles

Mars shuttle

Fittingly, we start with the vehicle that first takes our protagonists to space. Straight away we have to discuss how it is launched from Mars, namely by being shot up a large, upward-curving runway. This is an example of 'sky-ramp launch', which is pretty much exactly what you think and represents a theoretical means of removing the need for multi-stage rocket assemblies. Both parts of the process are reusable: an orange sub-flyer helps propel the shuttle up the ramp and then separates to glide back to the ground while the main body flies onwards.

It's a fascinating idea that I don't believe has ever actually been tested in real life and perhaps makes more sense in a Martian setting where the lower gravity would undoubtedly render it more practical. However, this is by all appearances the standard method regardless of planet, as the Earth-based Vingolf facility has a similar ramp. So we can assume this, like life-support, is an established, widely-practical technology.

The shuttle itself is a chunky affair, a streamlined cockpit and passenger module giving way to a wider, squarer cargo section big enough to comfortably hold two mobile suits. Its wings are articulated and kept folded vertically for launch, only opening out once it has separated from the launch vehicle (which also unfolds wings for the descent back to Mars). In orbit, the shuttle proves capable of outrunning a Gjallarhorn patrol, albeit one distracted by the sudden appearance of Gundam Barbatos, but is vulnerable to both mobile suits and the cannons of a pursuing ship.

What happens to the shuttle after the Isaribi arrives in the nick of time and Tekkadan disembark is unclear. Neither it nor its flight crew appear again, so we must assume they detached and returned to Mars while the battle raged on without them. Likely this would have been relatively easy since all hostile forces were concentrating on chasing the Isaribi and couldn't stop to deal with anything else. Those two pilots must have had quite the hair-raising story to tell when they got home.

Earth shuttle

Although it shares the same general outline, the craft that takes Tekkadan down to Earth at the other end of their journey is much larger and beefier. Comfortably able to accommodate several launches (vessels on par, size-wise, with the Mars shuttle) and with room for multiple mobile suits to attach to the hull, this is a relatively gigantic vehicle for traversing the atmosphere. The passenger module looks laughably small, stuck on the front of cargo section that brings to mind that line from Rocket Rider's Prayer about a 'highly polished brick'.

A pair of large external propellant tanks are attached to the upper surfaces of the wings, giving the impression it can achieve considerably greater thrust than its Martian counterpart, as would be necessary for ascending from Earth. We don't get confirmation of whether this shuttle also launches with the aid of a booster, although there seems no reason to assume otherwise. Regardless, its heavy-duty nature is obvious.

As the shuttle goes through re-entry, the viewports are sealed with heat-shields to protect the occupants. Once inside the atmosphere, it is capable of splashdown. I don't think we should necessarily take this as a standard procedure so much as a consequence of Tekkadan's intended destination and lack of experience with these matters. Nevertheless, it proves perfectly buoyant in the waters off Makanai's island retreat.

The shuttle was provided by the Montag Company, ostensibly in exchange for half-metal mining rights on Mars, although in reality this is just McGillis Fareed putting Tekkadan where he needs them to be. Interestingly, the Moon Steel manga has the Montag Company arranging lift-off from Earth for the protagonists at one point, suggesting there are ways to circumvent the official channels in the other direction as well. Normally, transfer to and from the ground like this would appear to go through orbital stations like Jutland One.

Two more of the smaller shuttles are seen on Mars when Yamagi and Eco deliver Gundam Flauros back to Chryse during the battle with Hashmal. One of the larger type is featured briefly early in the Moon Steel manga, while another appears on Vingolf during McGillis' uprising. Here we see it can fold its wings too (even if the angle this is drawn at makes that look a bit peculiar) and we get a look at the landing gear left unseen in previously. This shuttle is coloured an all-over grey, lacking the orange on the external tanks from Tekkadan's version, but this may be a colouring error since it or a very similar shuttle is shown later with the orange in place, as per the earlier model.

Small non-Ahab reactor ships

Launch

The boxy 'launch' is a utility craft deployed by virtually every major group we encounter over the course of the series. They are used by the Dort colonists, by Tekkadan and the Montag Company, by Gjallarhorn, by workers at the Oceanian Federation's industrial centres, and by the Turbines. In Moon Steel, a launch is even the main characters' principal mode of transport for a couple of chapters.

I'm actually making an assumption that launches do not use Ahab reactors. Given the size of the mobile suit-grade reactors, there's no reason a ship of this scale could not include one. However, we never see launches generating artificial gravity and based on that and the lack of mention of such a device (from what I can tell) in the Mechanics & World captions, I'm prepared to place them in this category. In any case, contrasting sharply with the shuttles, they have an entirely space-based design – basically a moving shipping container with thrusters facing along the cardinal axes.

Launches act mainly as transport, ferrying goods and people between colonies and ships. 25m long, they are large enough to carry mobile suits (see Moon Steel), can act as refuelling posts, and even operate in an offensive capacity. The weapons loaded during the Dort uprising are described as 'debris missiles', suggesting a role in keeping the area clear of collision hazards. Due to Gjallarhorn's sabotage, we never learn how effective these would have been in a combat scenario.

The launch belonging to the Dort Colony Network news team features an antenna on top of the cockpit and a couple of spotlights bolted to the cargo section. It also has the company logo sprayed on the side and I find it a bit of a shame this kind of flourish wasn't added more widely, since otherwise the only external variation is in colour scheme.

JEE-M103 Kutan Type-III

Manufactured by the (presumably) Europa-based Teiwaz subsidiary Euro Electronics, the Kutan is the first ship on this list to serve an exclusively military purpose. That is to say, while the official description indicates this type of craft can be used to carry a variety of different loads, we see it used exclusively as a delivery mechanism for mobile suits. Not to mention that it has a pair of inbuilt vulcan guns on its forward arms and can be equipped with additional cannons if required.

The 'Type-III' in the name refers to the configuration with large boosters and propellant tanks added on the back, plus triangular side armatures to store mobile suit weapons. The inner body is otherwise identical to the Kutan Type-I. Although it is engineered to transport a only single 'suit inside its arms, a second may easily latch on to the upper hull. A Type-III is used to return Gundam Barbatos to the Isaribi following a refit aboard the Saisei, indicating it can traverse considerable distances in a useful time-frame. We later see one reach an isolated refuelling station from Mars, when Tekkadan rush to the Turbines' aid. Though comparatively tiny, it operates on a scale similar to much larger vessels.

Unusually, this is done without an Ahab reactor. The Kutan is built instead around a hydrogen engine, which gives us some idea of how space-travel might have looked prior to the adoption of the more powerful reactor. This also has consequences for the Kutan's defensive ability, since nanolaminate armour is normally reinforced by a supply of Ahab particles. While the armour is not completely useless without that boost, the Kutan would be much more vulnerable to attack than its cargo, which explains why, Shino's stunt in Earth orbit aside, these transporters are not used as combat vehicles.

Indeed we can see from Shino attempting to fight Ein while still attached to a Kutan that it hampers his mobility considerably. The supplemental boosters are an explosive hazard and he is quickly trapped within the transporter's arms by Ein's grappling cable. There is a kit-only configuration that applies the various components from the Kutan to a 'suit in what might be a more usable layout, as a backpack and leg-extensions. But on screen, the more sensible tactic is clearly for the transporter to race in, release its cargo, and retreat as quickly as possible.

Skidbladnir

The Urdr Hunt mobile game includes another Kutan, this time in a civilian setting. Personal vessel of archaeologist Kozo Mendo, Skidbladnir is a variant that might even be a Kutan Type-II, since it shares the main body of the Type-I/III but is fitted with a different set of arms.

The ship has additional fuel tanks and what appears to be an expanded living module or cargo hold. We do not see the interior beyond the cockpit, so exactly how many amenities Mendo has crammed inside is left to our imagination. Regardless, the modular design of the Kutan has allowed it to be remixed into a craft capable of reaching debris zones or ancient shipwrecks and manoeuvring close enough to get a good look at them.

It is implied to be a somewhat ramshackle affair, breaking down twice over the course of the game and leaving Mendo and his Hunt guide Slice in need of rescue. Aside from the irony of repeated failures affecting a vessel named for "the best of ships" (Grimnir's Sayings 44.2, The Poetic Edda, Oxford World's Classics 2008, p58), this adds to Skidbladnir's outlier status. No other vessel we see is in such bad shape as a baseline (it goes without saying, this thing is useless in a fight, immediately getting downed by a pack of plumas when certain archaeological investigations prove horribly successful).

Exactly how Mendo came into possession of his ship remains unexplored. According to the kit manual, Kutans are primarily operated in the Outer Sphere, so it could be that he acquired one in the vicinity of Mars or Jupiter. And perhaps the technical difficulties explain how he was able to afford to buy it. For now, we can only speculate. What is certain is that Skidbladnir is a rare example of the Millennium Falcon 'small owner-operated spaceship' trope appearing in Gundam, and thus opens up a host of possibilities for small-scale private – and extremely hazardous – space-travel within the Post Disaster timeline.

Medium Ahab reactor ships

Biscoe class cruiser

Our introduction to IBO's spaceships comes in the unassuming form of the Wilm, which delivers Gaelio Bauduin and McGillis to the Ares base in orbit of Mars. Like the Kutan, the Biscoe class is designed around mobile suits: two 'suits can be stored in the lower section of the hull and launched by folding that entire section downwards. Beyond this, the Biscoe does not carry any armaments, although it can deploy signal flares. In terms of range, the Wilm reaches Mars from Earth within the space of two weeks, a feat not to be sniffed at, although it's never clear if this being markedly quicker than Tekkadan's initial estimate for the opposite journey is due to Gjallarhorn having access to more direct routes or the Biscoe's speed relative to the Isaribi.

While the Biscoe is presented as a Gjallarhorn product, it has also found its way into civilian use. Both the Montag Company and Moon Steel's Tanto Tempo own Biscoes, with the latter's use of one in an action sequence demonstrating the ship possess the ability to fire smokescreens as well as flares. This is not the last time we'll see Gjallarhorn vessels in the hands of outside entities.

Past prominent appearances at the start and in the third quarter of Season 1, Biscoes are relegated to bulking out fleet scenes. I should note that the official designation of 'cruiser' seems a bit of a misnomer, since in modern naval parlance, this means a large, multi-role vessel. The term would surely fit the Halfbeak much better than this glorified cargo ship.

An intriguing detail translated in this Reddit post is that Biscoe can go in and out of a planet's atmosphere. This makes sense of the large landing struts built into the lower hull (kept retracted in its on-screen appearances). I raise an eyebrow at the idea of this ship descending to the surface. Scale-wise, it's smaller than the shuttle Tekkadan take down to Earth but I'm not sure how it would lift off back to orbit in the absence of anti-gravity mechanics. Then again, with the presence of 'inertial control systems' capable of cushioning a mobile suit's fall from sub-orbital heights, maybe there is a case to be made that the setting does have the necessary technology to allow something like this to move easily within a gravity well and we just don't see it happen.

Erda II

Owned by Afam Equipment, management company for the Radonitsa Colony in orbit of Venus, the Erda II is a modified Biscoe class ship. In its original configuration, it sports three additional thrusters, two on top and one below, and the pre-existing engines have been extended along the sides. The section above the bridge has also been built out, creating an additional deck. The result is still recognisably a Biscoe and retains the ability to deploy mobile suits by opening up its lower hull. However, unlike the base model, the Erda II can only hold a single 'suit. This seems mainly due to the addition of a catapult mechanism designed to quickly eject its passenger to the rear of the ship, a feature more commonly found on larger warships.

That is my interpretation of the Erda II's halved carrying capacity, anyway. The shots of McGillis' Biscoe launching his Schwalbe Graze play havoc with the scaling, such that the mobile suit appears about 50% smaller than it should be. It looks like the animators got the perspective wrong, a not uncommon occurrence in the early part of Season 1 (c.f. McGillis being portrayed as taller than Gaelio in some of the scenes on Mars). The Urdr Hunt game serves us much better for consistency, as we see several mobile suits interacting with it from the outside, such as Gundam Asmodey being forced to ride on top of the hull for a few instalments.

To address this, the ship is later retrofitted with an expanded hold – basically a large shipping container bolted on the back. This doubles the ship's length, easily fitting both Gundams and their corresponding catapults, and has its own set of thrusters to make up for the removal of the Erda II's ventral engine. It is hard to say if this has a detrimental effect on the ship's speed or manoeuvrability since it never does anything that would demonstrate either. It is equally hard to say why a company ostensibly concerned with municipal infrastructure should need to be able to launch mobile suits into battle in the first place. But that is tied to the presently-incomplete backstory of Hajiroboshi (nee Marchosias), which Erda Afam, namesake of the ship, likely piloted during the Calamity War.

Further details from the official description are that the Erda II is armed with a single machine-gun and that it dates from the founding of the company, suggesting Biscoes are quite venerable. Interestingly, the standing crew consists of only two people, the elderly Dexter and Sinister. While we might expect little manpower to be required for the Skidbladnir or a relatively small vessel like this, McGillis is able to briefly operate a full-size warship single-handed. Eugene is able to fly two or three at once. Clearly, a high degree of automation exists, as it does for mobile suits – another facet of space travel being trivialised in this setting

Large Ahab reactor ships

Calamity War shipwrecks

There isn't a lot to say about the shipwrecks shown in Urdr Hunt, mainly because they *are* wrecks and we thus do not know what they looked like when they were intact. I'm not even sure which way up the second ship encountered is supposed to go.

Doing my due diligence and checking the art-books, neither of these are based on unused concepts for, say, the Halfbeak or the Skipjack. They appear instead to be entirely new designs, depicting vessels owned by Angelica Elion and Makie Fareed, Calamity War Gundam pilots and progenitors of the 'Seven Stars' lineages to which they gave their names. The Elion ship is in a worse state, falling apart as it drifts along the orbit of a comet. Its systems are offline, its generators, barely functioning. The Fareed ship, on the other hand, retains a breathable atmosphere and enough power to allow Mendo to boot up the computers in some form of administration room. From this he learns it fought a mobile armour during the War.

We should not be surprised the power in these vessels lasts as long as it does, given they are almost certainly using Ahab reactors. Nor do I think it unexpected that warships would have played a role in defeating the mobile armours. That Mendo can access the Fareed ship's systems may speak more to his familiarity with old software than anything else, but it could also be an indication of how little has changed, technologically, since the War.

Beyond this, the wrecks do at least confirm spaceship design was once more varied than it is in the present day.

Freighter

Speaking of the present, the 300m long cargo ship is as ubiquitous as the launch. Seen in vast numbers as the backbone of the Turbines' operations and in use even by space pirates like the Brewers, this is an entirely uniform design, rarely so much as changing colour between appearances.

Utilitarian, featuring sixteen container modules arranged either side of a rounded-off rectangular core, with a bridge at one end and two standard thrusters at the other, it is an unglamorous vessel and tends to fare quite badly when it shows up in more than an illustrative capacity. See for example Akihiro's family's freighter getting overtaken by pirates, or a couple of Turbines' ships being sunk by Dáinsleifs. These ships are pretty much defenceless, requiring mobile suit escorts to stand a chance of making it through hazards.

This draws attention to something Iron-Blooded Orphans does differently from its stable-mates; to whit, spending time on everyday space-travel. In most Gundam series, civilian traders rarely occupy much of the story. The narratives focus on military action that has suspended normal life. To an extent, this is of course what IBO does as well. But it also portrays space as a realm of industry and commerce. Cargo makes up the bulk of the traffic crossing the solar system. There are designated shipping routes, the Ariadne Beacon network that allows Gjallarhorn to track, protect and (as seen in Moon Steel) charge vessels for the privilege. There are routes outside the beacon network, more perilous and tricky to navigate, allowing the Turbines to dominate Outer Sphere smuggling. There is, in fact, a whole ecosystem based around the transfer of goods, with impoverished, homeless women at the very bottom, exploited as expendable crews.

We must also consider what isn't shown. The Skidbladnir is the only ship serving a nominally scientific purpose. Tourism is a valid solution to Radonista Colony's woes, yet none of the characters have the opportunity to be real tourists. Interplanetary passenger travel – in itself, separate from VIPs getting military escort – is never touched on. Our attention remains fixed on the functional, unglamorous side of a space-based economy, as befits IBO's wider themes, with the freighter as the functional, unglamorous emblem of this strata of society.

Armoured assault ship

Our second major 'default ship', almost all the warships fielded by non-Gjallarhorn groups are variants of this fish-like type. This includes 'hero' ships such as the Isaribi and Hammerhead, which I shall cover separately, and the Mercurius, Tanto Tempo's main combat vessel. Like most other mobile weapons in IBO, these armoured assault ships date from the Calamity War. Even assuming their compatibility with the Alaya-Vijnana means they were developed during that conflict rather than prior to it, this makes them over three hundred and twenty years old. If I have not stressed it enough already, technology in the Post Disaster setting is phenomenally durable.

Armed with two sets of twin-barrelled cannons on rotating tracks either side of the main hull, several point-defence turrets behind those, missile launchers, and a pair of harpoon anchors, these ships can perform a range of combat roles, from long-range bombardment to close-quarters grappling. Naturally, they also function as mobile suit carriers, usually coming with a ventral catapult deck and an articulated 'fin' for 'suits to latch on to during recovery via a hatch in the rear of the ship. Going by the Isaribi, they have three mobile suit hangars, each accommodating three machines.

For propulsion, the ships most often have two large thrusters situated where the 'tail' joins the main body, although those in the Dawn Horizon Corps' fleet have a single thruster at the tip of the tail instead. Smaller thrusters at the front of the side blocks are kept shuttered until required to alter the vessel's trajectory; they also permit flying backwards when the main weaponry needs to be aimed at a pursuing enemy. Vernier jets are placed all across the ship, with significant arrays of them stretching along the tail, providing the aforementioned manoeuvrability these ships enjoy.

One thing never clearly established is how large a crew an armoured assault ship is supposed to have. The best guess we can make is taking the Dawn Horizon's total membership (2500 people) and dividing it by the number of ships they own (10). This gives us 250, but includes both their mobile worker corps and their human debris, so may not be representative of the average ship crew, specifically. Still, the number is slightly lower than the compliment of a much smaller modern destroyer (destroyers are around 150m long; the AAS is 340m) and accounting for automation and the extra space required for life-support and supplies, seems quite a reasonable figure.

[It's not especially relevant but the original Star Trek's USS Enterprise, at 289m in length, supposedly had a crew of 203.]

NOA-0093 Isaribi

At a glance, the chief distinguishing feature of the Isaribi (formerly Will-O'-the-Wisp) is a shortened prow that renders it even more fish-shaped than its class-mates. It otherwise has all the same weapons and fixtures of a standard armoured assault ship. This leads us immediately to the question of why it has such a distinctly shortened appearance, aside from the boring Doylist answer of 'to make it stand out because it's the protagonist vessel'. Sadly, I can't think of an interesting suggestion here. We simply don't see the Isaribi doing anything that another such craft would be unable to. From Eugene's operation of the hijacked Brewers' ship, we know for certain they can all move with similar deftness, and even the ramming tactics would surely be as effective with the standard bow shape.

Perhaps ramming suggests a possibility: maybe in its former life as Will-O'-the-Wisp, it lost the forward section in battle, with the current shape being a money-saving fix. On balance, though, it's more likely this is merely another variant and the Isaribi naturally provides our clearest look at the capabilities of a ship like this. I've already alluded to the retractable bridge; during battle, artificial gravity is also disengaged so that power can be routed elsewhere. Oddly, everything then stays weightless even while the ship is performing combat manoeuvres, suggesting inertial control remains in operation to offset the varying acceleration (that's technobabble for the writers not wanting to throw everybody against the back wall every time the thrusters engage). Oh, and relatedly – via the inbuilt seat-belts that stop pots and pans floating away – the galley hob uses gas flames. I wont' talk in detail about the interiors but I find this too idiosyncratic not to mention, the replication of such a mundane (but efficient!) means of cooking in a sci-fi environment.

Other facilities aboard the Isaribi include a mess-hall, a gym, spacious single-occupant cabins, and common bunk-rooms. There is also at least one main cargo hold to go along with the mobile suit bays. The bridge aside, it is not obvious how the viewports shown in some of these rooms map to the ship's exterior when the glowing sections appear to be running lights not windows. Docking ports, though, are present, midway along the tail. Smaller craft like the Biscoe can also interface directly with the mobile suit recovery hatch. Concept art indicates the small rectangles beneath and fore of the port and starboard anti-aircraft guns are human-scale airlocks, and that there are ladders built into the hull, allowing access to the top of the ship. These are probably how the crew assembled in front of the bridge for the funeral after the battle with the Brewers.

Finally, I would be remiss if I didn't point out that Tekkadan decorating the ship with their logo is far from an isolated case of 'warpaint'. Every armoured assault ship has some form of unique livery, from bland greys and whites for the Dawn Horizon's rank and file to the Rakou Pirates' skull insignia, rendered in pink on an expensive black background. Far from mere youthful exuberance, the boys are clearly engaging in a time-honoured tradition.

NOA-0132 Hotarubi

With Tekkadan's rising fortunes comes an additional ship. Combining the forward section of a standard armoured assault ship with reinforced cargo modules, this new vessel's purpose is to transport a greatly-expanded mobile suit force. The 'suits are stored in rows of containers within the modules and launched through large side hatches – a notably slower means than the Isaribi's catapult (especially since they must be recovered the same way) that trades-off against capacity

This is far from the only example of non-catapult-based deployment. While catapults certainly aren't the exception – Gjallarhorn's Halfbeaks easily skew the ratio hard the other way – they are not an essential component of space combat either. Mobile suits can produce extreme acceleration on their own, allowing them to quickly entire battle without external aid. This said, catapults and transporters like the Kutan must offer an advantage – likely in terms of conserving propellent, on top of sheer rapidity.

The Hotarubi's layout also dispenses with a tail section, replacing it with two long, vertically stacked thrusters extending directly from the forward hull. These are the same shape as the normal armoured assault ship engines, only about 50% larger. The scaling changes create a greater visual similarity to both the Kutan and the mobile suit boosters applied directly to Gundam Gusion when Tekkadan flies to the Turbines' rescue. I don't know if anything follows from most ships boasting a single pair of main thrusters beyond observing the commitment to symmetry that characterises Post Disaster ships. For the Hotarubi specifically, we can compare it to the similarly-arranged cargo freighter and note how much beefier it is, the engines' extra size allowing it to move as swiftly as the Isaribi when required. It is described as being able to make the trip from Mars to Earth in about three weeks.

Taking the brunt of a Dáinsleif barrage during the 'final battle' with the Arianrhod Fleet, the Hotarubi is abandoned, then scuttled via a self-destruct system to disperse a cloud of nano mirror chaff that blocks local laser communication and sensors. This necessitates piloting the Hotarubi via tether, then setting it loose to fly towards Gjallarhorn's lines on autopilot. Even as it provides cover for Tekkadan's retreat from the terrible situation in which they are caught, the ship's loss represents the final collapse of the success that led to its acquisition in the first place.

TIR-0009 Hammerhead

Naming conventions for ships in Iron-Blooded Orphans include the Norse origins of Skidbladnir, the familial connection of Erda II, and the Gundam mythology gag that is Mercurius. Meanwhile, Gjallarhorn's battleship class names (Halfbeak and Skipjack) borrow from types of fish, which is striking when set alongside Isaribi, meaning a fire set by fishermen to lure in larger catches. Isaribi itself is a continuation of a poetical theme set by Will-O'-the-Wisp and furthered by Hotarubi – the light of a firefly. And then, for the second 'hero' version of an armoured assault ship to appear, there's the crushingly literal Hammerhead.

Where the Isaribi truncates the standard design, the Turbines' flagship extends it, adding a wide, reinforced block to the front for the express purpose of ramming enemy vessels. The ship's main thrusters have been moved to the rear of said block, where they sit inline with the side modules. This does not appear to impede the Hammerhead's mobility at all, although it does activate additional thrusters situated at the other end of the modules (switched front to back from the normal placement) to increase its pushing power when in contact with a target. In this manner, it is able to crush one of the Brewers' armoured assault ships against a nearby asteroid.

To accommodate this hammer-head, the other weapons has been redistributed. The main cannons have been raised and lowered, providing it with a clear line of fire (something also seen on Dawn Horizon's single-thruster ships), and missile tubes have been placed on both the ram and the superstructure in front of the bridge. The bridge tower, which is slightly larger than the Isaribi's, features a unique cross-bar sensor array – each armoured assault ships sports a different kind of antenna but they are usually in the form of vertical blades. Other than this, the tower has the same functionality as on similar vessels, retracting for battle irrespective of any additional protection the ram confers. Sadly, this is not enough to save the ship from Iok Kujan's Dáinsleifs.

In keeping with its role as home to the polygamous family from which the Turbines take their name, the Hammerhead is more comfortably appointed than most ships. It is also extremely formidable, requiring Tekkadan to launch a high-risk covert boarding action during their initial engagement with it and thereafter proving its mettle against the Brewers. Under the control of a single pilot, it's reduced to a sitting-duck, taking massive damage from conventional and extraordinary artillery. Yet even after Naze is killed, it remains locked on course for Iok's forces, just barely deflecting off one Halfbeak to ram another broadside-on, destroying both vessels in the resulting explosion.

Dawn Horizon battleship

After covering the three named variants of the armoured assault ship, it is almost an anti-climax to end with one that never receives a proper designation. But I've left it to last because it represents several departures from the patterns observed so far.

The fin that on other ships appears to be used for mobile suit retrieval has been moved to the very end of the tail, suggesting it serves some other purpose; maybe as a radiator? The ramming prow has been built out to a significant degree, resembling nothing so much as a locomotive snowplough. The mobile suit deck appears to be completely inverted, with a hatch and catapult fitted atop the ship rather than below. 'Suits are launched along an extended deck, as if this was a true nautical aircraft carrier. Finally, as a consequence of that arrangement, the bridge conning tower is fixed in place, better armoured in its own right but unable to be safely stowed away.

To what extent this configuration alters the ship's capabilities is unclear. Functionally, the two present for the battle with Tekkadan – an orange flagship and a grey-yellow version that is disabled over the course of the fight – perform no action to make them stands out from the rest of the Dawn Horizon fleet beyond towing their single-thruster compatriots. We may assume the battleship to be somewhat tougher, at least from the front, but again, they demonstrate no special abilities, not even ramming anything over the course of their screen-time.

If we again take the Doylist meta-textual perspective, there's no deeper reason to this ship's unique appearance than creating visual interest and underlining Sandoval Reuter's position as Dawn Horizon's leader. And this might serve us from a Watsonian point of view, too: perhaps the impressive appearance is its main selling-point and the reason the pirate chose these craft as his own.

Halfbeak class battleship

At 400m long, Gjallarhorn's main warship is built on a slightly larger scale to the armoured assault ship, tapering from a pointed prow to a wide, almost bulbous stern. This gives it a more traditionally nautical outline (selected from various alternatives sketched by series concept artist Ippei Gyoubu), to my mind evoking an official and proper air; the sense this is what space warfare should look like.

I bring this up because the Calamity War shipwrecks belonging to Elion and Fareed – the most direct precursors available – do not share this aesthetic. Therefore it represents a deliberate design choice on Gjallarhorn's part, perhaps following the same concessions to appearances that can be seen in their uniforms, their aristocratic and heraldic traditions, and 'ceremonial' machines such as the Graze Ritter. This is not to claim the Halfbeak serves a purely decorative purpose; it is an effective battleship and not to be taken lightly. But I think there is room to consider it informed by the wider culture of the organisation, as a symbol in the same way that leads Lieutenant Crank to laud 'the Graze of Gjallarhorn'.

Regardless of whether there is anything to that idea, the Halfbeak appears equal and equivalent to the armoured assault ship in most particulars. Twin main thrusters allow it to keep pace with the smaller Isaribi and Hotarubi, and it possess the corresponding reverse engines. Its pointed hull is not only capable of ramming other craft, it can actively pierce their armour. Missile tubes, grappling anchors, cannons, and point-defence turrets are all present, although strangely, the latter are only placed on the upper structure, leaving the underside noticeably bereft of protection. This perhaps suggests the Halfbeak is expected to fight from range or that the designers felt overly-secure in Gjallarhorn's military domination. And, of course, the ship has a mobile suit catapult, operating on electromagnetic rather than mechanical propulsion, in a rare instance of a Post Disaster faction demonstrating ostentatiously 'advanced' (non-tactile) technology.

Speaking of ostentation, no overview of the Halfbeak is complete without looking at how the Seven Stars mark those they personally use. The ship assigned to the Bauduins is named Sleipnir, to match the Norse mythological figure present in their coat of arms, painted prominently on the hull. Similarly bedecked with her family crest, Carta Issue's flagship is identified as Vanadis in the SD Cross Rays adaptation of the show (another name for Norse goddess Freyja)*. It is later repainted with the Fareed Family crest after McGillis takes over her position.

Overall colour-schemes associate Halfbeaks with different fleets: blue for the Earth HQ Central Direction Defence Corps (latterly the Revolutionary Fleet), teal for the Outer Lunar Orbit Joint (Arianrhod) Fleet, and white and blue-grey for the Outer Earth Orbit Regulatory Joint Fleet. The Bauduins' personal vessel is, of course, a unique lilac. Beyond this the ships appear entirely identical, but there is a suggestion they vary internally, as the ship Isurugi Camice uses to reach Mars at the start of Season 2 is described as the McGillis faction's fastest. Its ID number (GHS-1889) is considerably higher than either Vanadis (GHS-0205) or the unfortunate vessel Vanadis collides with in the finale (GHS-0515), so if this tracks order of production, it could be that 1889's speed is linked to it being more recently constructed (for completeness, Liza Enza's ships is GHS-2015 and Iok's ship is identified via communications as GHS-0287).

Civilian Halfbeak

Like the Biscoe, the Halfbeak makes its way into the hands of non-Gjallarhorn groups, albeit in modified form. The JPT Trust, a Teiwaz subsidiary with connections to the Kujan Family, has possession of such a ship, which features a forward hull widened and deepened to allow it to carry an exceptional number of mobile suits. The TIR-0102 Golden Jasley – namesake of JTP leader Jasley Donomikols, with the ID following the Hammerhead's as a Teiwaz-registered ship – is the only vessel fielded in the face of an enraged Tekkadan yet manages to deploy enough machines to make for a proper, large-scale battle.

This version sacrifices the main battery and mobile suit catapult in favour of heavier armour. As with the Dawn Horizon flagship, the bridge tower is also rendered immobile, which proves fatal for Jasley once Gundam Barbatos gets within striking distance. In the absence of the catapult, mobile suits exit via a rear-facing hatch. A similar hatch is present at the stern of a normal Halfbeak to allow 'suits to re-board. Here, it has been moved forward, closer to the expanded hangars.

Despite being larger and more modern than the Isaribi or the Hotarubi, the Golden Jasley does not distinguish itself in the encounter. Beyond sheer capacity, it is entirely outmatched in the face of Tekkadan's determination to avenge the Turbines. The most remarkable thing about it, in fact, is its existence. The Biscoe we may write off as little more than glorified launch, but the Halfbeak is a formidable weapon. For it to be shared with other entities, even in diminished form, says a lot about how elements within Gjallarhorn view their responsibilities as peacekeepers.

Because this is not an isolated incident: Urdr Hunt depicts another modified Halfbeak in the hands of the criminal Zahn Clan, who are outright stated to have various officials in their pocket. Whether or not craft like this exist for legitimate purposes – as export models or a variant not widely adopted by the main forces – these examples represent highly dubious dealings between a supposed force for law and order and those they are supposed to keep in line. Hardly a shock, given what else we know about Gjallarhorn and its abuses of power.

Skipjack class battleship

Twice the size of the Halfbeak, the Skipjack is the largest craft in this category. Featuring six mobile suit catapults, each linked to a hangar with a ten-'suit capacity, and bristling with gun batteries and missile launchers, it overshadows everything else in terms of offensive power. Its grappling anchors alone are bigger than a Biscoe class. This is unquestionably Gjallarhorn's capital ship.

Chronologically, the first Skipjack we see in action belongs to the Issue Family, showing up during Urdr Hunt to menace the Afam Equipment gang outside a resort colony near Earth. At this point, it is under the command of family retainer Okina Uroka, and no explanation is offered for why such a colossal warship should be (retroactively) in the Issue's hands and not have been used by Carta when she was commanding the Outer Earth Orbit Regulatory Joint Fleet. If I were to speculate – and why stop now? – we could take this to mean the class was only rolled out after the events of Season 1. But it could equally be that the Skipjack's scale grants a range simply not required within a fleet whose primary purpose is guarding the Earth. One may have been assigned to the Issues, in accordance with their status as the most powerful of the Seven Stars, and simply reserved for ceremonial use, to escort dignitaries and the like.

The flagship of the Arianrhod Fleet, on the other hand, serves as Rustal Elion's main base of operations and like the Issues' version is marked with his family heraldry to indicate his Seven Star status. It is this ship we see the most of, including some dramatic close-ups as Gaelio and McGillis have their final confrontation. These emphasise the scale, with even the catapult tubes being huge compared to those on other vessels.

Tthe Skipjack is not without vulnerabilities though, or rather it is left vulnerable thanks to choices made by its commander. Like the Halfbeak and the armoured assault ship, the bridge module can be retracted and covered over. Gjallarhorn military doctrine, as followed by Carta and others, would seem to be that this should be done whenever engaging in serious combat. However, Rustal's personal sense of dignity encourages standing tall in the face of opposition and he thus his bridge remains elevated as he observes the battlefield. Iok's imitation of this allows Amida Arca to score a direct hit on the main viewport of his Halfbeak during the Hammerhead's final stand, but unfortunately her mobile suit doesn't have sufficient firepower to actually break through. Rustal comes within a hair's breadth of a much more fatal impact when Norba Shino takes a shot at him with a Dáinsleif, being saved only by a last-second intervention that knocks off Shino's aim.

One wonders if he reconsidered disregarding the safety features of his own ship after that.

Huge pseudo-colony ships

Saisei

The regular O'Neil cylinder space colonies that populate the Post Disaster world are each 60 kilometres long from base to tip. At 7km, Teiwaz's 'large planetary cruiser' is positively diminutive by comparison, yet still shares more in common with them than any of the previous ships.

For one, it is constructed around a spherical core, something commonly seen on space-stations and colonies. For another, it has a rotating habitat section, simulating gravity via centrifugal force (the physics student in me is required to state that this is a pseudo-force, existing as a reaction to centripetal force, but the effect is still to make the inner side of the ring section appear as a floor). Within this has been constructed what is essentially a small town catering to Teiwaz executives. Filled with lush greenery, the tiered levels contain houses, shops, bars, and brothels, and at the ground-level, at least one artificial lake, which surrounds the mansion and grounds inhabited by the organisation's leader, McMurdo Barriston. Short of the estates of the Gjallarhorn elite and the Chyrse governor's mansion, this is the most luxurious location the series visits.

Concept art shows a standard-looking bridge module tucked away in the block at the twelve o'clock position (when view front-on), albeit one that must be larger than normal given its relative scale. There is a single main engine at the rear surrounded by four smaller ones, which are in turn counter-balanced by forward-facing thrusters mounted on the pylons surrounding the ring. The same principles of spaceship design persist all the way up from the launch to this.

Part mafia status-symbol, part corporate headquarters, the Saisei displays artistry not found in any other ship, its huge, decorative windows and curving superstructure providing a degree of grandeur beyond mere size. Rather intriguingly, its name translates as 'reproduction' or 'restoration', raising the possibility it was created in an act of reclamation. Is this a former mining base or tool of colonisation re-engineered as a show of wealth? Certainly there is a less glamorous side to the place, engineering facilities for mobile suit upgrade and maintenance, as well as a space-dock that can hold multiple regular ships. But that fits Teiwaz's business, so need not represent any hold-over from a previous life. I like the idea, though, that Jupiter's most powerful organisation reworked some huge industrial facility in order to lord it over the Outer Sphere.

—–

*Throughout this, I've referenced data files from the SD GUNDAM G GENERATION CROSS RAYS game, as documented by Steam user Ralen at https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1973868125. I use this information only where it does not contradict the text of the anime itself (see for example the game stating there were nine single-thruster armoured assault ships in the Dawn Horizon's fleet, when there were in fact only eight, owing to the second battleship). Cross Rays' occasionally loose adaptation of canon events means it's worth being a little cautious when using the game as a source.

Anyway, thanks to @gonk2020 for suggesting this topic. I can honestly say there was a lot more to talk about here than I ever expected!

[Index of other writing]

[amalgamasreal]

On G-Witch and the "Giant Space Laser"

Seeing a bunch of new fans who's first experience with Gundam has been Witch from Mercury be either confused or even angry at the big laser:

So I thought I'd take some time to explain the history of Space Lasers and Gundam and how every long time fan has basically had it on our bingo card since the show started. Note: I'm not including Victory's Keilas Guilie or G-Gundam's Statue of Liberty Cannon.

The first one was called the Solar Ray and it appeared in the original Mobile Suit Gundam in 1979, it was a converted colony from Side 3, and used by the Principality of Zeon during the One Year War:

The second one appeared in 1985's Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam as the Colony Laser and it was called Gryps 2, it was created out of the husk of the colony of Side 7 and used by the Titan's during the Gryps War:

The next time we'd see one was in 1996's After War Gundam X, an AU timeline which was almost a "What If?" universe of the original Universal Century timeline that asked the question "What if Char had succeeded during the counter attack?". The colony laser in question was created out of one the abandoned colonies left over during the 7th Space War. It also had one of the coolest destruction scenes in a show IMHO:

2002's Mobile Suit Gundam SEED has not one, not two, but three different stand-in's for the old Colony Laser in the form of the the "Cyclops System", which was a powerful targeted array of microwave satellite weapons that vaporized all water it was pointed at, this included inside of human bodies. The effects in the show were graphic.

The second from SEED was GENEIS or Gamma Emission by Nuclear Explosion Stimulate Inducing System, which was essentially a huge gamma ray cannon that used nuclear explosions as the fuel to generate the gamma ray bullets. Just like before the results of it firing are VERY GRAPHIC.

Moving on to the third from SEED we have Requiem, which was a large cannon installed on the dark side of the Moon and used reflecting relay stations positioned around the Earth to hit targets with pin-point accuracy:

Leaving SEED behind finally we move on to 2007's Gundam 00 and their Memento Mori system, which in a departure from previous superweapons in Gundam was mounted to the Earth's orbital ring and used by the Earth Sphere Federation organization A-Laws to destroy basically the entire Middle East. Silly fact: because it was mounted to a ring the first one had a conical field of fire which gave it a blind spot that they could sneak up on.

Circling back to the Universal Century we have 2010's Gundam Unicorn trotting out Gryps 2 again, and in a scene that Witch From Mercury directly pays tribute to: a character face tanking the blast to save their friends and family:

And now we're at today and Witch From Mercury has used the reference wonderfully.

I hope this explains a little bit of the history of these things and how they fit into the Gundam Franchise and how they don't come as a shock or surprise to the long time fans. Rather if anything it's like seeing an old friend back in the mix.

[ladyloveandjustice]

Hello again! The Sulemio vs. Destiel poll has been something else huh?

Anyway, I noticed from your tags when you reblogged that one post about the drone show featuring Suletta & Miorine that it sounds like you hadn't heard about it previously, so I thought you might be interested about the details:

Back in 2019, as part of Gundam's 40th anniversary, Bandai had the Yokohama Gundam Factory constructed; its main attraction was a lifesize, animatronic replica of the very first Gundam. It was originally scheduled to close a few years ago, but this was delayed due to several factors (such as Covid), and instead the site stayed in operation until this past spring.

When the time came, Bandai decided to hold a closing ceremony for it, featuring a drone show that highlighted significant characters and their robots from Gundam history.

Among these were the first Gundam protagonist Amuro Ray and his rival Char Aznable from Mobile Suit Gundam ('79), Kira Yamato and his love interest Lacus Clyne from Mobile Suit Gundam SEED (which I understand is one of the most popular Gundam AUs, and additionally got a recent boost from the long delayed sequel film, SEED Freedom), and, of course, Suletta and Miorine, along with Aerial.

Put another way, Suletta and Miorine were judged historically important enough that they were chosen over dozens of other potential characters, and, for this show at least, set as peers to four of the most popular characters in all of Gundam, all of whom have had roughly four times the amount of screentime, and have decades-old fanbases dedicated to them. I think that's a pretty good testament to how well G-Witch did, and as much as I'm still pissed with Bandai for its actions toward the show, it's gratifying to know that they don't seem to have the option to dismiss G-Witch and sweep it under the rug. So much for the Suletta and Miorine fading into obscurity, eh?

Awesome! That's so cool to know, thanks!

[flameof]

Okay, Gundam SEED Freedom has completely taken over my brain for the past 24 hours. I ABSOLUTELY MUST GUSH LORE AND PUT IT DOWN SOMEWHERE.

Naturally, there will be major spoilers for Freedom below the cutoff. If you don't want to be spoiled, then TURN BACK NOW, PLEASE.

Okay, we good? Good.

First the lore: A major theme throughout quite honestly the entire SEED series is that of Destiny. Rau le Creuset believed it was humanities destiny to destroy itself, Gilbert Durandal believed humanity would be happiest if their destiny was determined by genetics, and Foundation, the nation introduced in Freedom, follows in Durandal's footsteps, only to a more violet degree.

The main thing that differs Foundation from Durandal is the existence of Accords; basically Ultimate Coordinator MK2. At some point between Ulen Hibiki's initial experiments that created both Kira Yamato and Rau le Creuset, and Durandal being a part of whatever it was when he devised the Destiny Plan (as well as whatever created Rey za Burrel), two particular individuals were a part of the overall scheme. These two were Aura Maha Khyber (the blonde loli), and Lacus' mother.

That's right. Lacus Clyne is an Accord. She, alongside Orphee Lam Tao (blonde dude), were designed with the express purpose of running the Destiny Plan as a couple. Arranged marriage between Coordinators is no big surprise, let's be real. Hell, Lacus was probably genetically coded to be attracted to Orphee, shown in the movie by certain scenes (not show how else to describe them).

But, as you might guess (or know, if you've seen the movie), Lacus still chooses Kira over Orphee. Why? Well, time for some theorycrafting.

It's my believe that the main message of Freedom is one of Nature VS Nurture. Who we are genetically vs Who we are, raised by our environment.

Kira Yamato is a First Generation Ultimate Coordinator, so while he's outstanding compared to normal Coordinators, he pales in comparison to the Accords. But, Kira always said he was more than just the byproduct of Ulen Hibiki's hubris. More than a child of Ulen, he is a Yamato; raised and nurtured by Caridad and Hamura Yamato, after being entrusted to them by Via Hibiki, his mother by blood. Kira's kindness may very well be engrained into his DNA, but it was something he was taught to value by the Yamato's. He could have easily become conceited, like so many other Coordinators, but he didn't.

Just the same, Lacus Clyne, as far as we knew up to Destiny, was raised by the late Siegel Clyne, who almost certainly taught her to value people based on who they are, not what they represent. She can be cunning underneath her cheerful exterior in her youth, but she gravitated towards Kira because he was Kira Yamato; the kind boy who stuck his neck out for a stranger.

A wise dragon once said: Destiny is little more than the sum of our choices. I feel this quote perfectly encapsulates the core of SEED as a whole, not just Freedom. Destiny shouldn't be something chosen for you; it should be something you yourself choose. And in the end, Lacus chose Kira. A common theme in Freedom was the idea of 'Loving someone because you need them', which Lacus herself refutes with "You don't love someone because you need them; You need them, because you love them". Its a sentiment that Kira actually shares, when the woman holding Lacus at knife point threatens to cut our her tongue, or gouge her eyes out, and see if Kira still loves her then, Kira's immediate response... is of course I'd still love her; she's Lacus.

The Destiny Plan, laid out by Durandal, and worked on by so many, like Aura and Lacus's mother, was (ha ha) destined to fail, and I believe it all comes back to the choices two parents, unrelated to each other, made for the sake of their children. Because Via Hibiki got Kira and Cagalli to the Yamato's and Athha's, and all because Siegel Clyne taught Lacus to value the kindness of a stranger, over the power of your destiny.

Funnily enough, I'm remembering a line Kuzzey says back in SEED, about just how much work went into making Lacus's voice the way it is. Turns out; a lot.

It also makes me wonder if Meer Campbell was something of a backup plan, since she sounds identical to Lacus.

Okay, gushing about the new lore done. Now, let's talk about the awesome.

First off: The Immortal Justice is a Shinn Asuka suit, not an Athrun Zala suit. I don't make the rules, but Athrun never sat his ass down in the Immortal Justice.

Next, Agnes Giebenrath can literally be described as 'Coordinator Flay Allster', and I appreciate her for that.

Then, there's all the callbacks to other characters that had passed away, specifically Nicol and Natarle. Those two had complete maneuvers and tactics named after them. They're gone, but never forgotten.

As I mentioned in my last SEED Freedom post, Athrun did stuff with the Z'Gok that would make Char envious. The way Athrun handled that machine made me think he was Master Asia, Undefeated of the East.

Next, as we all well know by now, the way Athrun managed to get one up on the Black Knights' ability to read his mind; by thinking about having sex with Cagalli.

Next! Once more Mu La Flaga proves himself to be the man who does the impossible... by face-tanking FREAKING REQUIEM WITH THE AKATSUKI! Man practically said he had to stop doing that.

Then, there's the new warship, Millennium. Not only is it state of the art, but Murrue, once she starts captaining it, gets her own assault deck where she controls FREAKING GUNBARRELS! The Millennium is a warship sized Moebius Zero!

Finally, for the last thing I want to gush about: Shinn Asuka. Just... all of him. From the fact that he's calmer, earnest, stands up for Kira, drinks his 'respect' juice, and at the end, when he gets the Destiny Gundam back, he faces off against four of the Black Knights, and kicks their asses... WITHOUT TAKING MAJOR DAMAGE. Not only that, but STELLA LOUSSIER makes a comeback, proving definitively that Shinn Asuka is the Kamille Bidan of the CE era, by protecting Shinn's mind from being probed by the Black Knights, freaking them out by going all nightmare on their asses (which is probably just a representation of them being scared by just how much darkness is in his heart), and then immediately followed by him putting the F91 to shame and using the much meme'd about afterimages to kick ass and take names. Shinn may have lost to them before, but only because he wasn't using the machine literally built for him. Also, before I forget, when Shinn went SEED mode during that same battle, the Black Knights couldn't read his mind. Shinn's instincts are just that good.

Okay. I'm done. I've gushed all I can.

[by-ethan-fox]

So I saw Gundam Seed FREEDOM...

... and honestly it defies analysis.

I will avoid spoilers for major plot elements in this write-up.

I'm a huge Gundam fan. This shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone who has followed my work for a long time, as I frequently bring it up, even in entirely inapplicable situations.

But even though I've been a fan since the late 90s, I'd never had a chance to see any of it in the cinema - so when AllTheAnime organised a special short run of the movie for UK theatres, I jumped at the chance.

What I saw surprised me.

To clarify, I'm not one of those Gundam fans who hates SEED. Sure, I love the UC, but I'm not gonna lie, Wing was my genesis within the fandom so I'm as likely to watch G-Gundam as 08th MS Team, though I do lean towards the grittier side of the franchise, with War in the Pocket being my favourite entry.

But most relevant to this is that while I enjoyed SEED, I've always been critical of Destiny for some really bizarre plotting that, frankly, kinda left the CE timeline in a mess. Like many fans, with the show having been off the air for nearly two decades, I gave up on the idea the movie might exist literally years ago.

With all that out of the way...

The movie does exist. Finally. And is it good? Bad?

The weird thing is I don't know what to say, and that's weird for a writer.

It's awesome. It's terrible. It's goofy. It's clever. It's idiotic. It's bizarre.

But it's over 2 hours long and, honestly, I was never bored, which I guess is a success?

Perhaps most surprisingly, the movie expends ZERO ENERGY on helping you if you haven't seen the near-100-episodes of CE anime which came before this. Like, if you haven't seen SEED and or Destiny, you are just utterly fucked. The show wheels characters and plot-beats from the prior material in-and-out in a manner I could best call aggressive. I last watched Destiny about ~7 years ago, and I'm a self-admitted Gundam nerd; but even I had to look up a few things on my phone afterwards.

Then, fan-service. Of both kinds. All sorts of things get pulled out of cold storage for the movie... But it works. Though that also stands as a testament to how this is, in the truest sense, a 2004 anime throwback. I actually heard some people in the cinema groaning at some of the Gainax Bouncing going on; but then given the jiggly silhouette in EVERY OPENING TO SEED, frankly it would've been stranger if it had been absent.

I think the movie has loads of problems. Even by CE standards, some of the storytelling was really goofy and dare-I-say-it, "cringe". It recycles probably too much and certainly doesn't stand on its own as a piece of media (though that's not so much a failing as a clear, conscious choice).

Also... It has that "anime movie" thing where the plot feels a bit filler. The first time you have this new guy on the scene with shock-white hair, being all edgelord as he talks about war and destiny and fencing or some other weird metaphor you kinda see the entire movie unfurl before you. If you're a longtime anime fan this isn't so much your first rodeo as your daily commute.

From there, the story takes numerous predictable turns, dips liberally into melodrama, sets up some great Mobile Suit fights, with relatively few surprises (note, however, I'm not saying "no surprises", as there are some, and also, I'm not suggesting it's tedious).

And yet...

It's fun.

It's really, really fun.

That's the crux of all this. That's what really matters. And honestly, when that new theme comes out of the speakers, sounding in perfect key with the types of music that ran through SEED's run, and Kira's onscreen, and he's locking onto a dozen targets and beams are spamming everywhere and everything's exploding in that weird pink way that things in SEED explode...

Have you ever tried to play a videogame from the 90s that you haven't played in years? And do you know how touch-and-go that is?

Gundam Seed FREEDOM is, if I'm to compare it to anything, like that.

But thankfully, it's one of the times when your memories might have been optimistic, but they're not wrong. That game may be a bit crude, a bit rough around the edges, and have more boob and ass jiggle than you recall... But it's good. So good that you find yourself sitting cross-legged on the floor in front of your console, grinning like an absolute loon, until it's 2am and you can no longer feel your feet.

If you have fond memories of the SEED era of the Gundam franchise, don't miss it.

[yuzurujenn]

[2024.05.31] FaOI Aichi - 2024 Show Guide · Latest Interview with Yuzuru Hanyu

I can’t fully express myself with just one program

This will be Yuzuru Hanyu's second appearance at Fantasy on Ice as a professional skater. We asked the charismatic figure skater, who has been giving amazing performances in collaboration with artists every year, about his thoughts on his latest collaboration.

The poignancy and strength of the music in the collaboration

- I'm looking forward to the collaboration on the 2024 tour.

Hanyu: This time, I'm collaborating with T.M.Revolution /Takanori Nishikawa. I've been listening to him since I was in elementary school. When I heard he would be performing this time, I thought, 'No way!' I was really surprised."

- Do you feel like it's a perfect fit for your generation?

Hanyu: Maybe I’m a little later. (laughs) But my older sister is right in that generation, so I’ve listened to him a lot. I thought he was amazing, and I often listened to his music while warming up.

- The song that you'll be skating to this time, "Meteor" by T.M.Revolution (Takanori Nishikawa's solo project), is one of the famous songs known as the insert song for "Mobile Suit Gundam SEED" (aired in October 2002).

Hanyu: I wanted to do 'vestige' too, but there are so many songs that I like. I also wanted to do 'WHITE BREATH,' 'THUNDERBIRD,' and other mellow songs, as well as "ignited".

- The song titles are coming out one after another.

Hanyu: Because I've been listening to them. I still don't know what kind of program I'll make. Because I’ve been listening for so long, I initially had no image at all. I was wondering what I could do, and I also have a strong desire not to break the essence of the music. I want to create the choreography while always thinking about what kind of synergy will be created when I incorporate myself into a completed piece of music. However, I feel it might be a bit off to lean too much into Gundam during my performance. It’s challenging, but I want to express the poignancy, strength, and driving force that the song and lyrics convey. I don’t know what kind of choreography it will be, but I definitely want to express those feelings.

- Every year, Hanyu appears as the final performer and closes the show with a wonderful collaboration, but you also perform with full effort during the opening and finale. It feels like you're skating to three songs, how do you feel about that?"

Hanyu: Actually, including warm-ups, I think I’ve done three pieces, but this year, I'm thinking that maybe I'll do two individual programs.

- Eh, really!

Hanyu: "Eh?" That’s what you would think right? It's like, 'Hanyu, are you okay doing two programs?'"

- I think Hanyu can handle it with ease now.

Hanyu: That’s right. In "RE_PRAY", I performed over ten songs!

- It will be a big gift for the audience.

Hanyu: Of course I'll give it my all from the opening, but as I continue to work as a professional, I've come to think that I can't fully express myself with just one program. I'm sure that among the fans who have high expectations, there are of course those who want to see more, so if I'm going to show it, I want to give it my all.

- I'm really looking forward to it.

Hanyu: As with "RE_PRAY," my basis is "contrast." I see myself as a skater with a wide range, so I’m thinking if I can make this program and this collaboration, in such a way that they both stand out. I don’t know how it will turn out, but right now, I want to skate two programs. I'm still thinking about what to skate.

- Possibility of a new piece?

Hanyu: I don't think that's possible. I think I'll be overwhelmed with choreographing "Meteor." For the other piece, I want to show a more traditional skating style. In addition to that, I want to convey the dynamism unique to a collaboration at this stage.

- Do you enjoy showing the contrasts?

Hanyu: More than anything, I want to satisfy those who are watching. As a professional.

- Of course, that's true from the performer's perspective, but it also reflects a strong producer's sense, doesn't it?

Hanyu: The reason I had decided to only perform one program in Fantasy until now was partly due to physical limitations, but also because I wanted to give 120% to that one program. Now, I feel like I can give a bit more than that, so I think it’s possible to do something like this to better satisfy everyone. After all, I’ve skated to over ten songs.

- When it comes to working with artists on an equal footing, Hanyu is in a class of his own. Usually, it feels like skaters try to conform.

Hanyu: I don’t approach it with the mindset of trying to match up, as it's different to experience the music with your eyes. For example, when an artist makes a music video, it's not just the music playing in the background, right? For example, sound effects (SE) may be added to the music. It's the same with the "Meteor" PV, where the music suddenly stops and a story unfolds. When you press the play button again, the song resumes. Just like that kind of production, I believe that the collaboration with figure skating isn’t just about the music existing alone. It’s about visualising it, which leads to the creation of unique works, so if I'm going to do it, I really want to cherish the process. That's why, as with “Raison” and “Real Face,” which I have performed in Fantasy in the past, I have received many requests to perform them again, but I think that those programs were made possible only because of the live singing and the unique atmosphere of that venue. I would like to create something like that again.

I want to improve. That's all.

- During the interview for the Makuhari performance, Keiji Tanaka mentioned that he learned how to behave as a professional by watching you at Fantasy on Ice. Do you feel that by excelling in the show, you’re conveying something through your actions?

Hanyu: It makes me happy to hear that because I’m currently pushing forward with 'ICE STORY,' and if it serves as a turning point for others, that’s great. I think it's wonderful for the quality of skating in Japan to improve. However, I don’t think in terms of wanting others to become like me; more than anything, I just want to improve myself, so if everyone else gets better, I just want to get even better than that. I think that hasn’t changed since my competitive days.

- That determination is really amazing.

Hanyu: It's not really determination. It feels normal to me. But I think that at the root of it all is that competitive streak that I've had since my competitive days. How should I put it, I can't forgive myself for being bad at something. I can't forgive myself for skating without any meaning, including not being able to keep the rhythm. When someone asks me, 'Why are you doing this?' I don’t want to give a performance that says 'Just because.'  I guess I don't want to lose to myself. (laughs)

- By the way, you are now creating your own shows and working to spread the beauty of figure skating in a variety of ways. I imagine your days are busy and filled with pressure. For example, do you have any recurring dreams?

Hanyu: Yes, I do. I still find myself dreaming about competitions. It's not that I want to compete again, but I guess it's a kind of trauma.

- Is it like your consciousness is drawn back to that?

Hanyu: Even now, when I’m performing in shows, the feeling is almost the same. I’ve been competing for 20 years after all. In my dreams, there are times when I am competing in the All-Japan Championships. The 6-minute practice has already started, but I haven't put on my shoes yet. I'm like, "No way, no way, no way!" and it's really stressful. (laughs)

- Do you wake up from those dreams?

Hanyu: I do. I wake up thinking, 'I had a terrible dream~'

- By the way, what was your last good dream, or what was the dream you had recently?

Hanyu: Recently, I dreamed that I was at the All-Japan Championships in Big Hat (Nagano), warming up. Then I heard my name being called out, 'Yuzuru Hanyu!'. I thought, “What? I’m still warming up and haven’t even put on my costume yet. What do I do?” I’ve had that dream about four times recently. (laughs)

- That really conveys the tension of the All-Japan Championships.

Hanyu: That's what bad dreams are like, but good dreams are like dreams about jumping a quadruple axel. I tell myself that this is a dream, and jump about five times for image training. When that happens, I get a sense of it, so when I wake up, I quickly move and jot down all the sensations I experienced.

- Thank you very much for sharing such valuable insights. I'm even more excited about your performance at Fantasy on Ice 2024.

(Interviewed in April 2024)

Source: Official Program (Aichi Performance) / "Fantasy on Ice 2024" Info: https://fantasy-on-ice.com/goods.html

[sodasa-was-taken]

I have to say, all the talk about the Japan exclusive gunpla and people not knowing about Gundam because they don't engage with anything produced outside the west have become hilarious in hindsight after the day I've had.

My journey started when I decided I wanted to find out if my local-ish comics/manga/physical media/figurines/etc. store had any gunpla. To be more specific, I was looking for a HG model kit since I'm new to all this and it seems like a good place to start. So I looked around the store and only managed to find a few anime collections(G Gundam, Seed, Seed Destiny, G-Reco, and 00) on my own.

I try to ask one of the people behind the counter if they sell anything related to Gundam. In return I received a thousand-yard stare and that's barely an exaggeration. Keep in mind this person works in a store that sells manga and anime. In fact the main manga section is located right in front of the counter. This was definitely not a case of someone being uncultured but still drew a black at the mention of Gundam. The other person behind the counter had heard of Gundam though but seemed rather exasperated all of a sudden. What I presume to be one internet search later, everyone gets on the same page. I get told to ask the person downstairs about what I'm looking for.

One trip downstairs later I walk to another counter and wait for the person operating it to return. When that happens I'm immediately asked what I'm looking for and I explain that I want to know if they have any Gundam figurines. I once again receive a black expression, though less extreme this time. After a bit of looking around I'm presented with an SD Gunpla. I try, somewhat poorly, to explain what SD is and politely decline.

So far, so absurd.

My next course of action is to look up if there're any stores that sell gunpla within the country I live in. As far as I have been able to find the only place with a decent supply of gunpla a webshop that has only been active since 2019. It's run by this one dude who went to Japan and decided to bring a couple of model kits and might now be the sole provider of gunpla in the country.

This has been the beginning of Sodasa vs gunpla. The kits I'm most interested in turned out to be more affordable than I thought so this journey of mine is most likely far from over.

Also the fact that I would've had a hard time understanding the vocabulary of the Gundam fandom just a few months ago and look at me now. You guys sure got me initiated fast.

[wanderersrest]

Wanderer's Rest Presents: An Abbreviated History of Mecha

So... I decided today that I'm going to start writing a series of posts based on the history of mecha. Not just mecha anime, but mecha as a concept in fiction. See, it should come as no surprise to anyone who reads this blog that I love mecha. I am also aware that there are a lot of misinformed takes fueled by halfwits like Gigguk that the genre is "dead," and while I am aware that mecha as a genre is not the biggest genre in 2024 as it was in the 80's or the 90's, I do know that the idea that the genre is "dead" is, like Gigguk's podcast and Gigguk himself, trash.

What I aim to do with this series is highlight the rather long history of the genre, as mecha is about as old as modern manga. This is inspired by the fact that the mecha genre is both really old and really massive. And in case you're wondering, this is inspired by Professor Otaku's complete history of mecha series. There are just a couple of differences:

Unlike Professor Otaku, I like G Gundam. That means that I'm a cool person and definitely not petty.

Also unlike Professor Otaku, I want to give the series that I mention in these posts a fair shake, even if I don't like them. I'm not going to watch every series mention here (as even watching every series I plan on listing would be insanity), but I do want people to be aware that they exist.

As hinted at above, I don't plan on covering every single series out there. The sheer amount of just mecha anime is already too much for one person to watch through.

Okay That's Cool, Wanderer. But What's a Mecha?

Good question, actually. Pop culture often defines mecha as being giant robots that are usually piloted by someone. And while that is correct, it is still a narrow definition. It cuts out a lot of influential works that don't quite fit the mold. Things like Astro Boy, Space Battleship Yamato, and Magic Knight Rayearth are series that are worth talking about when it comes to mecha even if they don't quite fit right in with the rest of the canon (and from here on out, I will be saying canon as opposed to genre due to the fact that canon can mean "a collection or list of sacred books accepted as genuine"). And to me, those series are just as worth mentioning as things like Mazinger Z, Getter Robo, and Mobile Suit Gundam. And in case you're wondering, yes, I will venture a little bit into video games and tabletop games. So sit tight Battletech fans, I'll eventually get to you.

Some Transparency Required

I do think, before I start working on this series proper, I should be transparent about things. After all, I am human. I have my own preferences and biases, and I feel it would be disingenuous of me to not disclose this before I started running through all of these shows. For transparency's sake, I will disclose the biases I know that I have. I don't know if I will cover every single one, but I will certainly try to.

My favorite mecha series are Mobile Fighter G Gundam, Patlabor, The King of Braves GaoGaiGar, Magic Knight Rayearth, and Gun x Sword among others.

My least favorite mecha series are New Mobile Report Gundam Wing (both the TV series and Endless Waltz), 86: Eighty Six (no 86 fans, your series isn't special because it's gritty. Iron-Blooded Orphans did everything you were doing but better IMO), and Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion (Mostly thanks to the second season).

Due to how fans often use the series as a means of talking down Japanese-styled mecha, I may have a tendency to be a bit more dismissive towards Battletech.

I actually prefer Prince of Darkness over the original Martian Successor Nadesico. As for GaoGaiGar, I prefer the original series over GaoGaiGar FINAL. I do like regular Nadesico and GGG FINAL as well though, just not as much. This shouldn't be surprising if people remember that this is similar to my tastes relating to Patlabor.

I have not watched Gundam SEED. So if you're expecting me to dunk on it, I probably won't. Likewise, if you're expecting me to say that it's underrated... I also won't say that.

Likewise, I haven't watched a single Ryousuke Takahashi mecha series, nor have I watched either Macross or Giant Robo. I'll get to it one day though, I promise.

I love the idea that Attack on Titan and Ratatouille are mecha shows.

Due to my past of being a contrarian teenager as well as dipshits on Reddit constantly overhyping everything, I tend to be averse to the more popular shows.

I'm also more skeptical of the "Not Like the Other Girl" shows like Evangelion, Code Geass, Gurren Lagann, and 86.

There is a non-zero chance that I will sneak Gintama into this somehow.

But those should be most of my biases out of the way. I hope you'll join me on this long journey. If you're worried about my Gintama post, don't be. I'm still working on it, but I do think it's going to be a bit different from the rest of my posts.

[ikuzeminna]

Gundam Seed Freedom was… something

I'm not exactly a Seed fan. Yes, I own the gunpla, yes, Cagalli, Athrun and Badgiruel are my favorite characters, yes, I enjoy the series up until Kira gets the Freedom, but I will still mock it mercilessly, groan at every lack of bra or brain cell and by heavens, I want to smash every single one of Lacus' Haros to pieces.

And I only watched Destiny once because I couldn't stomach Cagalli's character assassination a second time. Or Gladys', literally, in the very last second. Like, ma'am, you have a kid. What are you doing dying on an exploding asteroid? :/

So you can imagine I wasn't exactly refreshing Gogoanime every two seconds to see if the movie had dropped. Eventually, it did and I got around to watching it, and although I had already spoiled myself with plot summaries and recorded scenes, this movie somehow managed to miss even my wacky expectations. I was promised wtf scenes, and I got them, but at x1.2 speed which just left me confused and checking my speed settings all the time.

So, let's get into this, with spoilers and all.

Though honestly, what's there to spoil? It's just the last episodes of Destiny all over again, which itself was recycling Seed's finale. If you have seen Destiny, imagine reading a retelling of its finale on Wattpad with a five-year-old and a fourteen-year-old collaborating. The five-year-old handled the plot while the fourteen-year-old handled the romances. That's Seed Freedom in a nutshell.

To be a little more specific, the plot is basically a new bunch of bad guys, Accords, who are super Coordinators able to read and manipulate minds, wanting to implement the Destiny Plan because... reasons. They were all grown by Walmart Mariemaia who Benjamin Button'd herself because... Tuesday. And she's the queen of a kingdom now, somehow, which has the brilliant name of "Foundation."

"Kingdom of Foundation." Why don't you have it run by Prime Minister CEO while you're at it? Seriously, this physically hurts if you speak English. -_-

Anyway, the Earth Alliance and ZAFT are still trying to kill each other because it's Seed and while people can genetically manipulate their offspring to be superior and even reverse age now, they still haven't figured out how to grow brains yet, which is why Cagalli launched Seed's version of the Preventers, called Compass, which is basically Kira beam spamming everyone into submission like he always does because it's forbidden by law to put the words "Seed" and "originality" in the same sentence. The Accords use the conflict to make it seem as though the Earth Alliance blew up their Kingdom of Stupid Name via nuke so that they can then retaliate with Requiem because, again, originality is not allowed in this movie. Oh, and the Accords are also racist, because duh, everyone is.

Does this all serve a grander scheme? Why, of course! Do you think it's so that they can stage a successful coup on the PLANTs to gain more allies?

Actually no, that just happens to coincide.

The far grander scheme is to pinch Kira's girlfriend!! -_- I kid you not, as soon as they fire those nukes on themselves, they pull a Lady Une and make a dramatic escape with Lacus straight to space within 5 minutes tops, just so that Orphee, the leader of the Affronts To My Intelligence and a visual cross between Athrun and Cagalli, can repeatedly get rejected by Lacus since Baby Queen Abysmal Eye Shadow hardcoded being horny for Lacus into his DNA, but her love for Kira overrides her own genetic coding finding Orphee attractive (since Lacus was apparently also created by Queen Baklava For Brains while her mom wasn't looking?), so Orphee just ends up growing Shinji levels of sexually frustrated with Lacus, which, given how Lacus' (and every female's, honestly) lip fillers make her look like a blowup doll in various scenes, especially when she forms an "oh" with her mouth, I can almost understand why hearing her say no is unexpected. Too crass? That's what you get for making me watch a zoom-in on Lacus' giant butt in a cat suit in the finale.

It doesn't culminate in him choking her out, but Orphee does try to force himself on her and the fact that Lacus doesn't knee him in the balls right then and there makes the whole scene pointless. It's very reminiscent of a fourteen-year-old fanfic writer thinking a woman talking her almost-rapist out of his action is the height of female empowerment. It's not. And this wasn't written by a fourteen-year-old. Fukuda says there were over a hundred drafts for this movie. And they settled for this? Lacus should have used that unearned Seed mode and gone Corin on Orphee's nuts.

(Go watch Turn A if you have no idea what I'm talking about. It's Seed but better. Which is an embarrassment, since Seed came out right after it.)

At this point it's pretty clear that our fourteen-year-old has infiltrated the plot with her romances, because we can't have a mere final battle with giant robots and pink explosions, it has to mean something!

And in this case, that meaning is a battle for Lacus' love!

Same, Cagalli. -_-

So it's time now to look at the romance side of this movie, just so that you can understand why my brain started dripping out of my nose by the 1 hour mark already.

Every single character arc in this movie is relationship drama. Every. Single. One. From Kira to Lacus to Orphee to Ingrid to Agnes to even Luna and Shinn. If characters interact, it's always in the context of the same freaking love triangle. No variation.

So let's go through the list. First, we have Orphee, who we've established wants to get into Lacus' pants. Ingrid, the blue-haired Accord chick, is saddened by this because she wants him to get into hers instead, which, given how this Village Of The Darned refer to Mini Me as their mother, is... Freudian to say the least. Baklava For Brains either didn't code her right or is a sadist, I guess. Next, we have Kira, who is in Lacus' pants, but thinks Lacus prefers Orphee and starts whining about it because the movie can't make up its mind on how it wants to portray their relationship. It's clearly established that them living together alone and acting like husband and wife is anything but platonic, but when Lacus and Orphee have their shoujo sparkle moments of intense, sexual attraction, Kira acts as though he isn't her boyfriend, when it's abundantly clear that he's seen her naked on the daily for the past year or so. The movie adds the new character, Agnes, to the mix here, who looks like a pink Misa Misa (alas, without the hidden intellect) and has the hots for her commander, Kira, taking every opportunity to hit on him, even going so far as to try to plant one on him while Lacus is "hiding" around the corner.

....She's not even trying.

And you know, you just know a fourteen-year-old wrote this because we hear nothing of the 152 regulations that hitting on your superior officer go against, never mind any consequences, because... brilliant writing. That they dare to give Agnes Flay's voice is such an insult to me, considering how her writing was freaking Mark Twain level compared to this Post-It note version we're getting here.

Kira ultimately rejects her and Agnes, who previously mocked Luna for settling for whatever came along (which had me laughing real loud because where is the lie?), falls into Walmart Yzak's arms a mere two seconds later because he told her she's pretty and proceeds to spend the rest of the movie as a bad guy because that's what happens to a woman scorned: both self-esteem and the IQ start hitting the negatives.

There are also Murrue and Mwu, and while they don't have drama, they are pretty much reduced to their relationship to each other. You think you were gonna get any personality out of the veteran captain of the Archangel? Pfff, not with Becky writing. Have Murrue jumping, straddling and kissing Mwu on the bridge in front of everyone instead.

The only girls who aren't strangled by a relationship are Meyrin, who barely says three lines but gets to be a pilot now for some reason, Cagalli, who is, weirdly, the best character in the movie, and Ehehe. (You will know exactly who I mean once you watch it.)

Out of those three, Cagalli is the only one actually in a relationship and, lo and behold, her and Athrun are unexpectedly handled well! They even use that they are dating in their fight against Walmart Yzak, which leads to that famous lewd Cagalli fantasy of Athrun's. Cagalli even gets to react to that! (She's not pleased. lol)

The funniest part is that we didn't even know Walmart Yzak is allergic to girl cooties, what with hitting on Agnes previously, so this was Athrun full-on trolling him with Seed's version of the Sexy Jutsu. Look at Athrun having a sense of humor. Look at Cagalli consistently making every scene she is in better. :)

I'm honestly surprised that the best characters in this movie end up being Athrun and Cagalli, with the former being the most badass and the latter the most relatable and best-written, complete with personality and crowning moments of awesome, given how they had been handled in Destiny.

Took them 20 years, but they finally made up for it. Now, if only the rest didn't suck so bad. :/

Because the rest is pretty much Kira and Lacus angsting over not deserving each other for almost two hours because they apparently never sat down and talked about their feelings and relationship, so the merest hint of rejection or competition sends them spiraling into a depression that becomes a galactic conflict for reasons beyond intelligence. Like, picture Shinji and Asuka in a stable relationship act like Shinji and Asuka in Eva, without any depth and in dumb. That's the level of Huh???? the relationship was written with. It makes no sense at all.

Why are you two so insecure? Why is all it takes one comment from random people to make you question your year-long relationship??

Agnes, Ingrid and Orphee are there to provide an external source of conflict because the relationship itself is full of gaping holes so we can't focus on that, and because Becky is fourteen, the best she can manage is contrasting Kira's and Lacus' lip service pure love with evil horniness. Even though it's heavily implied that they've boinked, too.

Okay, I'm being mean to my fictional Becky here. I have actually seen digital manhwa that have this exact same love story, so it's not like you can't write them as an adult and make money with them. I just had irrational expectations, I guess, after Flay hopped over that low bar.

The cherry on top of this sad puddle of melted brain matter is Fukuda saying in an interview that he viewed Kira as having an obsession with Lacus in Destiny, so this was his attempt to fix that. Sir? You catapulted their relationship right past toxic and straight to the acid pit from MK II, Erich Fromm quote or not. Lacus blathering about needing someone because you love them (mature love) rather than loving someone because you need them (immature love) is nothing but lip service in this fetishistic nightmare Lacan would balk at.

I had to sit through two hours of "Gundam Seed - Get All These Drama Queens Freaking Therapy, But Not For War Trauma, But For Their Psychotic Relationship And Self-Esteem Issues."

Because not being in a relationship with the person you want in this movie results in emo exits to the left (seriously, count them), incessant temper tantrums and desperate clutching from heartbreak. We also get to wade through Kira's emo episode as the movie's emotional turning point, whining that Lacus doesn't love him because he can't make her happy and that he's good for nothing, which Athrun thankfully beats out of him quickly in good ol' Beavis and Butt-Head fashion, lest they have to go through Kira's character development in Seed again, too. And no, Kira still hasn't learned how to throw a punch properly. Athrun destroys him.

I read in a lot of reviews that people cheered at this scene, but I had to check my speed settings because the movements were all so fast. The pacing is really abysmal in this movie and I don't mean in a plot kind of way, but in a "my cat hits my keyboard and keeps fast-forwarding scenes until I stop it" kind of way. There are so many scenes that feel like I've accidentally hit increase speed, especially in fight scenes, and I'm utterly confused because letting a scene breathe was never an issue in Seed. We all remember Kira bawling his eyes out every five minutes and either muting the audio or dying from laughter because the VA just sounded severely constipated. Here we get sequences like Kira's Freedom getting destroyed, Shinn's Justice getting wrecked, a nuke going off, the Archangel being blown to pieces, and if any of it was supposed to make me emotional then it utterly failed because not even the characters react to these events with how fast we have to get to the next scene. Never mind people practically teleporting from one location to another, except for Kira who takes longer than Goku to get somewhere.

Seed Freedom is a very weird mix of dragging and speed-running and I don't get why. You had 20 years, man. In fact, even the movie knows it's paced awfully, which is why it keeps giving you the location every time, to increasingly ridiculous degrees.

Anyway, back to the plot and romance. So, Athrun snaps Kira out of his funk with a good walloping. What's next? The rescue mission, of course, which is supposed to be the scene that fixes Kira's and Lacus' relationship by proclamation of their true love for each other! Yay, emotional payoff for this relationship I was totally invested in and not groaning through.

Well, truth be told, I can't stand kumbaya Kira and Lacus in Destiny, so this movie not making me want to scream at my screen whenever I saw them is a feat. Too bad Becky heard me, because she presents us with the following, which somehow manages to be the most mind-bendingly dumb exchange in the entire movie, which honestly requires a superpower at this point to pull off.

Kira, if she slits Lacus' throat, her vocal chords are gonna be the least of your worries. Why is the only one with a functioning brain in there Kisaka? Who, by the way, owns super Coordinator mind reader like it's nothing, despite being a Natural, because ovaries.

Just, ugh.

So after Kira and Lacus get to tell each other "I love you!" with dramatic catches thrown in despite no need for them, making things just awkward, we rush off to the final battle and it's like Fukuda took 5 episodes that were supposed to be the finale and condensed them into three, while cutting half the transitions. There's colorful pew pew, Shinn hilariously weaponizing his stupidity, things exploding, people dying, Yzak and Dearka pushing new gunpla sales, Mwu outright breaking the last remnants of my brain, Lunamaria and Agnes having a girl fight, Murrue ramming a space ship into another one because screw logic, and finally, rolled into this erratic nonsense burrito is Kira defeating Orphee with the power of Lacus' love and her being able to use the Force now, while Horny For Pink is still screaming about wanting to get into her pants and Ingrid still wants him to get into hers instead.

Thankfully, they both die and rid me of their presence.

The saving grace really are Athrun and Cagalli, who rely on actual skill and brains in their fight, and thus end up the best part of the movie by a landslide.

...And then there's Mwu tanking a Requiem shot to the face without issue and deflecting its beam with its puny shield to destroy various targets and Requiem itself because dinosaurs.

Dang it, D.J., stop writing the script for the movie and go back to your noodle pictures. I have a hard enough time reining Becky in as it is. The happy conclusion is everyone smooching or reaffirming their relationship status otherwise, while Lacus blathers over the ending song with her and Kira as two human shaped blobs ready to get nasty on the beach.

Hooray.

So what's the verdict?

Gundam Seed Freedom sucks. And I don't even mean that as a movie, but as a Seed movie. If I previously thought Seed's characters had the depth of a rain puddle, then Freedom threw a maxi pack of paper towels on all of them.

You get a gigantic cast, with various well-established characters with pasts, and, somehow, only Athrun and Cagalli resemble themselves. The rest are bulldozed to single word characteristics like dumb, horny emo, or rude.

For instance, there are two separate occasions where Compass fights a Destroy, and Shinn doesn't care. Stella even gets a cameo, going full Tokomon teeth in his mind at the Evil Dumbass Brigade trying to infiltrate it, but do you think her traumatic death would warrant a reaction when he has to face the mobile suit she piloted when she was killed before him? Naaah.

Kira starts the movie with something resembling a personality, but that gets quickly flushed down the toilet by the time he and Lacus go through the same scene for the 8th time.

Murrue? Don't get me started on Murrue. Murrue spends the entire movie in heat. Funnily enough, she's finally wearing a bra when Archangel gets hit, so no more gainaxing boobs. But she's worse than the horny teenagers.

Everyone else you know and love is just there. I don't remember Sai even getting a line. Miri does, one. Dearka and Yzak exist and it's a big, fat whatever. You'd think they could have put some of them on the ships' bridges, so that we could get cool discussions, right? Yeah, no, have two new characters instead, one of whom is voiced by freaking Jiraiya. No, not Jiraiya's VA, but Jiraiya, because that man doesn't vary his voice one bit.

As someone who used to watch Naruto, it drove me bonkers. Especially when the female VAs put in the effort to blow everyone out of the water. Props to Cagalli's new VA especially who manages to capture the original's stresses and pauses perfectly. I knew right away it was Cagalli despite the different voice. Kudos.

Another positive thing are the backgrounds of the movie. I'm pretty sure a sizeable chunk of the budget was invested in those. They all look gorgeous.

Those visual feasts sadly make the wonky characters stand out more though. Movements down to the very mouth flaps look really choppy, 3D Gundams are always a bad idea, please stop doing that, and often enough the animation quality dips noticeably.

This movie is also in love with potato noses so huge, Gerard Depardieu would laugh at them. It's especially weird 'cause half of those are on Coordinators. You know, the designer babies? Did dogs and pigs go extinct in the Cosmic Era that they need to sniff for truffles themselves now?

It's also a complete crime that the movie ends with no one having kicked Orphee between the legs. Or in the face. He taunts Kira so many times with the line that all he's good for is fighting that I kept yelling at my screen for Kira to please just display that and introduce a bat to Orphee's face.

Not even Shinn gets to throw a punch his way, and that boy is allowed to wave a sword at a person. But in a manner that makes me wanna tear my hair out.

That's a saber, you moron. You don't hold sabers with two hands. Coordinator, my foot. You deserve getting your butt kicked just for that. Though I went full panda facepalm when Yzak With Hair Horns started doing cart wheels during their fight.

Just. Throw a brick at my head, it's less painful.

Then we also have the gem that is the dance scene between Pinky and Horny For Her, which cracked me up specifically, because it's supposed to be this beautiful~ smooth~ charming~ skilled waltz the super Coordinators perform that makes Kira so sad, and I'm dying of laughter because I'm an avid Ballroom e Youkoso fan and if there is anything that series taught me, it's a) the man's hand goes where the bra strap is, so Orphee fails at a basic hold already and b) that's the most pathetic throwaway oversway I've ever seen. Total beer keg.

If Kira knew the first thing about dancing, he would have been sassing Blond Athrun instead of getting all mopey, like actual Athrun did to Discount Yzak. Would have improved the movie by x1000 actually if Kira had gotten the same amount of brain cells as his sister and friend and spent the two hours snarking at all the fanfic nonsense instead of acting like he got gut punched all the time.

Alas, we can't have nice things. What we get after 20 years and over a hundred drafts is a movie about Kira's and Lacus' love story that's literally no different from a Wattpad fic. It glues itself to the surface level of the concept and pulls it off as if the entirety of the two prior series doesn't exist, while making sure to give it no substance at all. Sure, they throw in names and reuse plot points that anyone who has seen the series knows, but they end up as mere Easter eggs. There is no taking advantage of established backstories or past events. Not even a nod. Creating a sense of continuity or closure?

Not in this movie.

Another thing is this bizarre tug-of-war between prudish and sexy Lacus. There's no opening anymore in which she can float naked across our screen, so the movie needs to push her boobs in our faces in a different way, I guess, but she's still a "pure" character so it just ends up being... weird. She won't kiss Orphee and probably whip herself every night for ever considering it, but she'll prance around naked on the beach with Kira and go all Golden Boy with how she's shown riding those wing attachments for the Freedom. Like, make up your mind, movie.

I understand why Fukuda wouldn't want to sully Lacus' "purity" (outside of teenager's minds >_>), but I really wish that she had just kissed Orphee. Just, give me something to work with here. You can't drag out "No! I don't love you! I love Kira!" for two hours by recycling the same exchange over and over. If she had kissed him, there would have been a point to all the relationship drama at least. But like this, it's just boring and inane because we're stuck at the setup and never move to a build up or climax, much less a resolution.

So yeah, outside of the Cagalli and Athrun scenes, this movie really didn't do it for me. I actually recorded my reaction for my own amusement because I thought I'd have a blast hate-watching it, but it's just me going "good grief" increasingly loudly as the movie goes on and pausing to check my speed settings.

Oh, and me losing my mind at Kira and Lacus keeping their motorcycles in their living room. Who on Earth does this???

[reivenesque]

I honestly feel that anime watchers nowadays are so spoiled for animation quality. I see people constantly complaining about the animation of One Punch Man season 2 and I just saw criticism about the animation quality of the first episode of Goblin Slayer season 2.

And I'm over here like... I literally did not notice the 'dip in quality' of OPM season 2 until I saw the complaints and regardless in some aspects I enjoy season 2 even more than season 1, the animation issue literally did not hinder my enjoyment at all. As for Goblin Slayer, I haven't seen the episode yet but the pictures I've seen the animation looks... great?

But then again I have sat through the literal ugly episodes of Fushigi Yugi, Gundam SEED and Naruto so all of the animation nowadays is gorgeous to me.

It's the same as people complaining about the CGI of One Piece Live Action while also complaining about the prosthetics and the fact that Arlong isn't a 10 foot tall humanoid fishman that he is in the anime. I mean like, there's literally zero compromise with some people and that seems like such an exhausting way to live.

[furtiveseal]

Analyzing The Witch From Mercury's mechs: Gundam Aerial

Putting a title like this is probably making this seem like a bigger thing than it actually is but fuck you I'll be pretentious about my stuff if I want to

Hello hello! I've been thinking a lot about the mecha design of WFM lately, and some of these thoughts seemed interesting enough that I wanted to share them. This will probably be a series of posts to make it more digestible, since I plan to cover several characters and how the mech(s) they pilot throughout the story reflect them.

A few disclaimers: I'm going to be spoiling the entire show, so please watch it first before reading this, I'm serious, it's really good. Spidey if you read this and go further I'm gonna be mad. Also, this is just for fun, I have no formal training in character design whatsoever, I may read into things too much or not enough or miss obvious stuff, but I also don't care that much tbh it's part of the fun of making my own analysis! If you have your own thoughts to share though I'd love to hear them!

I'm also aware of The Tempest but I didn't read it, don't plan to at the moment, and people already analyzed most of the show under its angle here, so I won't be mentioning it unless I have something to add.

Analysis and spoilers under the cut :>

In order to analyze Aerial, we first need the context of knowing her pilot, Suletta Mercury.

This is what Suletta looks like for most of the show, with her Holder outfit letting her stand out from the crowd of uniforms at Asticassia but also and most importantly her tomato red hair, which is the color she's most associated with throughout the show (especially visible in the opening and endings).

And this is what her mech, the Gundam Aerial, looks like.

As far as I know (I've only seen Witch From Mercury, Iron Blooded Orphans and a few episodes of Seed, but I've seen a lot of other Gundams in passing) main character Gundams all face a specific challenge: they have to be based on some level on the original RX-78-2, especially color scheme-wise.

This is also true of Aerial, but I think she does a really good job at giving that color scheme meaning by using it to visually tie herself to her pilot. White, yellow, and the dormant Permet's black are the colours of the Holder outfit, along with the red accents that dispel any possible remaining doubt as to who this mech's pilot might be.

What about the blue, you may ask? It IS the most dominant color in her design after white, after all. Blue is usually associated with Miorine, but here, I think it's associated with Eri. Her original color, red, has been taken over by Suletta, but since this is her body, she's still there through the blue: blue like the Lfrith's Permet scars that originally took her life, and like the Permet score 6 that has Prospera shedding a tear against Shaddiq. Blue, unlike the red Permet that now belongs (mostly) to Suletta, sharing a color with her.

Beyond her colors though, Aerial's shape language also tells us something about her place in the story.

Let's look at the Demi Trainer, the most widely used mech at Asticassia, or in other words, the baseline.

This mech looks big, heavy, sturdy but not super maneuverable; it's made up of large individual parts shaped with rectangles and a few circles. It doesn't look especially complex either, and its color scheme is toned down, it doesn't stand out much beyond the chest piece.

If we look at Guel's Dilanza, the previous Holder's mech aka the status quo, we find a very similar shape language:

The color scheme pops a lot more, but it's still mostly the same huge rectangles, with just a few more spikes and triangles that don't really change just how blocky this mech is. It is CHONKY. It looks like it takes space and shakes the ground wherever it goes.

Now let's compare them to Aerial's shape language. She looks much more segmented and has a lot more triangular shapes and angles in her design, which goes completely against the shapes set up by Asticassia's established mechs.

Her bit-on form emphasizes this even more imo, and the plane-like "wings" on her lower back also increase the feeling that fitting to her name, this is a mech designed for airborne combat, unlike the Demi Trainer and Dilanza that feel very grounded in comparison. Her silhouette feels much lighter and more vertical too instead of a brick.

This all goes to make Aerial look like what she is narratively: a complete gamechanger unlike pretty much anything else. She's the resurgence of Gundams in a world that (mostly) forgot about them, and she looks the part. It's no coincidence that the only other Asticassia mech to share part of her shape language is the Pharact, which is another Gundam.

That's most of what I had to say about Aerial! I'll cover Rebuild later and hopefully leave a link to it here once I do. I currently also have thoughts about Guel's mechs and the Michaelis that I might share down the line.

[n7lebron]

It's been a little bit since I've posted something so here I am back with another hand painted Seed kit, this time the HGCE Rising Freedom Gundam! I received this as a prize for my HG Destiny Gundam placing second in a contest earlier this year (which I posted about if you want to see more) so I wanted to give the Rising Freedom a similar treatment.

I had some proper reference material this time, with the Metal Robot Spirits Rising Freedom being the main one. Most of the scribing work went into mimicking the details from that figure to some mixed results. I've learned that don't really like scribing at all but I'm pretty happy with how it looks here so I'll keep working on getting better at it.

Hand painting is probably my favorite part of doing these so far but it's also the most time consuming. Getting the color mixes right, painting big parts like the wings or all of the frame, it can be quite a bit of work even for a high grade. I really enjoyed how this came out though with the primary blue (with a slight deviation from the color guide) being my favorite. I only used Mr. Hobby's Aqueous acrylic paints this time, having gotten smoother and more consistent finishes over Tamiya's acrylics.

I really feel like I've got a process that works for me here with results I could've only imagined just a year ago, so with that in mind I'm going to throw a wrench about the size of a master grade Barbatos into it. So we'll see how that goes. Hope you enjoy! ✌🏼

[etes-secrecy-post]

Hi, before I explain my post, I want to say something important.

• What you see my blog has become a major overhaul. And despite the changes, I decided that my 2nd account will be now my artwork blog with a secret twist.

⚠️NEW RULE! (W/ BIGGER TEXT!)⚠️

⚠️ SO PLEASE DO NOT SHARE MY 2nd ACCOUNT TO EVERYONE! THIS SECRECY BLOG OF MINE IS FOR CLOSES FRIENDS ONLY!⚠️

• AND FOR MY CLOSES FRIENDS, DON’T REBLOG IT. INSTEAD, JUST COPY MY LINK AND PASTE IT ON YOUR TUMBLR POST! JUST BE SURE THE IMAGE WILL BE REMOVED AND THE ONLY LEFT WAS THE TEXT.

⚠️ SHARING LINKS, LIKE POSTS, REBLOG POSTS, STEALING MY SNAPSHOT PHOTOS/RECORDED VIDEOS/ARTWORKS (a.k.a. ART THIEVES) OR PLAGIARIZING FROM UNKNOWN TUMBLR STRANGERS WILL IMMEDIATELY BE BLOCKED, RIGHT AWAY!⚠️

😡 WHATEVER YOU DO, DO NOT EVER LIKED & REBLOG MY SECRET POST! THIS IS FOR MY SECRET FRIENDS ONLY, NOT YOU! 😡

Okay? Capiche? Make sense? Good, now back to the post…↓

#OnThisDay: Sept 23rd, 2009

Title: Cuteness ACE 3 the final retro

IMPORTANT NOTE: Umm... Before I shared my throwback, I just wanted to say, I'm still not okay from yesterday [CLICK ME!]... 😞😔 I'm still had jealousy feeling from my siblings owing to their own jobs and I DON'T HAVE ONE. My cure from depression is going albeit slow... But, I'll try to dust myself off and standing my two feet. Maybe a nice morning walk will make myself a little better, like what happened in 2022. 🚶

Anyway, enough of my sorrow, let's moved on to my Monday's throwback:

Here's a fun fact of me playing video games: Did you know, 15 years ago, I've played the SUPER underrated mech-based game gem called "Another Century's Episode" franchise exclusively on Sony PlayStation consoles/handhelds (specifically, PS2, PS3 and PSP; PlayStation Portable)? 🤖🎮😁 Yup! It was a lot of fun, at the time when PS2 still going strong (over the new PS3).

• For those who don't know, this Japanese exclusive video game 🇯🇵🎮 was created by the old gaming publisher/company "Banpresto", the same team behind the "Super Robot Wars" franchise (formerly known as "Super Robot Taisen") before Banpresto was merged with "Bandai Namco Games", now called "Bandai Namco Entertainment". Now, ACE (short for "Another Century's Episode") wasn't your typical mech-based chess strategic game like the aforementioned "Super Robot Wars", ACE had a different approach using "Third-Person Shooter" game where you played different mechs based on Japanese most memorable TV Anime Mecha shows like of course "Gundam" (which we're never forget in our hearts as a fan), "Martian Successor Nadesico", "Getter Robo" series, "Eureka Seven" series ,and more... Heck, they even collaborate with Banpresto and Atlus (well known for "Shin Megami Tensei" and "Persona" series) creating their own mechs and characters for the 3rd ACE installment, and its SUPER DOPE in a good way! 😃

BTW: let's not forget "From Software", who also developed the said underrated mech series. Which, you may known today behind "Soulsborne" genre, like the over popular "Elden Ring". ⚔️🏰

• And as you can see, I draw Pocoyo 🔵👶 armoring the "Exblau Form H", along with Kirby ⭐ armoring the "Burning/God Gundam", and two Muglox faries of Mirmo 🪇 and Murumo 🥁 armoring the "Gundam Double X + G-Falcon" and "Freedom Gundam", respectively in a colored-retro style! 🤖😁

If you want it more, then please go to these provided links 😉👉 [CLICK ME! #1], [CLICK ME! #2], [CLICK ME! #3].

Pocoyo - POCOYO © Zinkia Entertainment Kirby - Kirby series © Nintendo, Hal Labs Mirumo & Murumo - Mirmo! © Hiromu Shinozuka/Shogakukan, TV Tokyo Armor - Another Century's Episode © Bandai Namco Entertainment (BANPRESTO) Armors (Mobile Fighter G Gundam, After War Gundam X, and Mobile Suit Gundam SEED) - Gundam series © Bandai Namco Filmworks, Inc. (SUNRISE), Sotsu

[rev-levitz]

What if 'Gundam SEED' was told from Flay's point of view? How would they approach it? Would it have been better?

I am not certain it would meaningfully make SEED a better show, because we do get Flay's perspective frequently. The things that are interesting about Flay is that she is an incendiary agent within Archangel that has traded caring for the future over her short term revenge, and the pain of her losing her father in front of her. Her nonstandard methods of revenge, and how they help and hamper the Archangel's efforts are the crux of what makes a lot of episodes of SEED interesting (to me at least) even if it does play into the reductive stances SEED takes on womanhood and femininity. Below the read more is kind of a meandering train of thought about what feels like SEED's storytelling goals, a superficial comparison to the Early and Late UC, and some thoughts about Flay as a main character and what SEED would look like with her as the main character.

Perhaps, if rotating Kira out of the protagonist seat meant other important characters might get screen time and chances to explore their intentions and ideologies, characters like Lacus or Cagali who could be a foil to Flay, it might increase the quality of the show, if only because Athrun and Kira are very stationary characters. Its been like 5 years since I watched SEED, so I don't feel confident providing specifics - that being said -

Going on mouthfeel alone -

The Universal Century and Tomino gundam shows had a lot of often contradictory rhetoric on the place of Women in war and arguably society - contradictory enough that if one tried they could likely find an argument during early UC to support whatever way you felt.

Late UC shows continue with this rhetoric, and I feel like place a clearer, more distinct value on womanhood that becomes moralistic in favor of placing women on very specifically carved pedestals - like Kihel Heim and Dianna Soriel who are raised to be leaders, and their roles as the queens of the Moonrace being far reaching and near divine within the culture of the Moonrace. SEED, in its treatment of women, continuing into SEED Destiny often denies that women necessarily have a place on the battlefield, denies that they exist outside of an inherently feminine container, and longs to see them supplicate to their arguably less interesting male counterparts. Lacus at the end of SEED is seemingly spared this fate, by breaking away from her place and forging out on her own with a distinct military purpose toward ending the war but still ultimate ends up in a support position to Kira. To SEEDs detriment. It's all very boring. It's kind of regressive. I wouldn't suggest that Gundam under Tomino didn't have its moments of sexism, but it also had those contradictions that give the UC shows part of their character and charm.

So then, if Flay was the main character, couldn't the creators take a more progressive stance about women, one might ask and I don't think that's really in the cards. Establishing a gender quo for Gundam without Tomino feels maybe as important to SEED as absolving Japan in universe of the criticisms of Imperial Japan present in the Universal Century. A show following Flay would be one mired in her day to day suffering, her intense xenophobia? Racism? I'm not sure how to classify her hatred for Coordinators, and the moments in which he dehumanizes herself and Kira in order to attain he aimless revenge. It would be a grim, frustrating, and upsetting story that ultimately would end in her death, and her last minute repentance that I think would upset more people than not. My personal enjoyment of Flay is because she forces her agency in such a cruel and haphazard way throughout the show, to almost everyone's detriment around her, in a very melodramatic fashion. If one asked me if I thought she deserved better, I could say yes, certainly, because in fiction she is a teenage girl who suffers great tragedy and in turn creates great tragedy but as a fictional character, I appreciate the role she plays and rather than change her, if was making changes, I would change the roles of others to reach her level of agency rather than alter her specifically.