#Mobile Suit Gundam IRON-BLOODED ORPHANS Urdr-Hunt

[gundamfight]

[kaxtwenty]

My demons won.

[gremoria411]

*The Following contains spoilers for Gundam Iron Blooded Orphans Urdr Hunt*

The *other* follow-up point to my prior Urdr Hunt Post.

Okay, so the Gundam Marchosias was apparently scary enough to give a mobile armour PTSD.

That is RAD AS HELL.

Let’s analyse that, shall we?

So the Gundam Marchosias was apparently able to beat Harael, a Mobile Armour from the Calamity War that is programmed to kill humans and has no brain, will or personality of its own, badly enough that when it sees the Hajiroboshi 325-ish years later, it instantly recognises its killer and has a flashback to the Calamity War, leading to it desperately trying to kill the Hajiroboshi (which for its part seems to recognise its victim).

Absolutely fantastic.

[yanchamisc]

Art from the 2023 Bandai Namco IP Calendar

Suletta Mercury/Miorine Rembran( Mobile Suit Gundam The Witch From Mercury)

Hoshimiya Ichigo (Aikatsu! 10th Story -Starway To The Future-)

Eve/Aoi Amawashi (Birdie Wing -Golf Girls' Story-)

Rimuru Tempest (That Time I Got Reincarnated As A Slime)

Gundam Marchosias (Mobile Suit Gundam Iron-Blooded Orphans Urdr-Hunt)

Miho Nishizumi (Girls Und Panzer Das Finale)

Nanase Riku (Idolish7 Third Beat!)

Kira Yamato/Athrun Zala (Mobile Suit Gundam Seed)

Leouch (Code Geass Lelouch Of The Rebellion)

Wild Tiger/Barnaby Brooks Jr. (Tiger & Bunny 2)

Susume Kodai (Star Blazers 2205)

Yohane (Yohana The Parhelion - Sunshine In The Mirror-)

[reneelovesrobots]

Cool stuff!

Just some photo editing and posing practice. No real theme here besides wanting to try different looks on certain kits and scenarios.

Some may look good, some may look bad, but I’m tired and don’t feel like editing anything else so, whatevers.

[wordsandrobots]

IBO reference notes on . . . spacesuits

For reasons that may or may not be related to fanfic, I decided to do a quick survey of the difference spacesuits -- or 'normal suits', in Gundam parlance -- that appear throughout Iron-Blooded Orphans. There's not really much to conclude from this, but it snagged me a set of reference screenshots that I think worth collating for your viewing pleasure.

The most commonly used normal suit first appears during the battle between Tekkadan and the Turbines, where Atra helps Kudelia out with putting one on, in a scene that provides some gratuitous shots of the girls changing. It's not especially tasteless, in the grand scheme of things, but it's one of those genre trappings that didn't really need to be there. Still, it provides a good demonstration of how the suits fit together, where the zippers and fastenings are, and so on. Plus the hilarious visual of the helmets being repurposed as potato buckets.

This normal suit is clearly a standard type, that turns up in multiple civilian and non-official military settings. Most immediately, we see that the Turbines use it, the orange swapped for a fetching maroon.

Generally speaking, the colour-blocking is the only thing to change between uses. Here are a couple more shots showing the Tekkadan and Turbines versions, including a close-up on the boots.

Beyond these two types, the most usual variant is a black and grey version that appears in various scenarios, including in the flashbacks to Akihiro's family, the Dort colonies, and the archaeologists in Urdr Hunt.

Curiously, Katya also wears this towards the end of Urdr Hunt -- where she must have been given it by Gjallarhorn. So can we take the black, grey and white to be a sort of universal default?

Other colour variants are worn by young!Amida and by Range (under his poncho) in Urdr Hunt, and by the various groups of mercenaries and space-pirates in Season 2.

Speaking of pirates, the ones who attacked Akihiro's family have added a jetpack for easy manoeuvring in zero-g. It's notable that this isn't something we see more generally: Mikazuki has to rely on a hand-held thruster in the Dorts. This, however, harkens back more to the original Gundam series in terms of moving around in space.

Moving on to the second major 'civilian' normal suit, the human debris all wear a slightly simpler, slightly more badly-fitted white version striped in red. We first see this with the Brewers and later with human debris used by the JPT Trust (not shown because it's mainly seen in fairly bloody scenes).

A palette-swap of this is used by 598 and his crew in Urdr Hunt, which I bring up as an excuse to post the bisexual-energy screenshot.

Due to image limits, I won't cover Tekkadan's pilot suit in this post. If you've seen the show, you'll have seen a lot of that, and of Gjallarhorn's equivalent. What I find interesting about the human debris normal suit is that it is clearly more closely related to the general-purpose version than what Shino is wearing here, which is a specialised for an Alaya-Vijnana-user in a military setting.

This of course makes sense given that everything about the human debris is meant to invoke cheapness. Rather than a custom-made battle suit, they just get a standard one-size-fits-nobody get-up with an A-V adaptor stuck on the back. It's a nice visual touch, that also helps emphasise the sense of human debris as little kids forced into situations they shouldn't be in. That being said, the *helmet* is distinctly made for a mobile suit pilot, being something close to what Gjallarhorn soldiers wear.

Tekkadan does use another distinct normal suit variant, with added armour, that shows up for the battle with the Brewers and never again. Or, well, I am not actually sure if this is meant to be a normal suit or more akin to the combat armour we see Gjallarhorn infantry wearing, or if that is a distinction without a difference. Since they are both deployed in space-based operations, we can probably assume they're at least potentially interchangeable with normal suits.

These do notably lack the backpack of the standard normal suit. which I take to be where the life-support gubbins goes. However that goes for the pilot suit as well (it only has the A-V adaptor block; I assume everything else is distributed at the waist and collar) and we see it functioning fine for spacewalks. So I'm grouping this in here as well.

As I said up the top of the post, there's not a whole lot to take away from this, beyond the different ways the same asset is reused throughout the series. It's a neat enough design, although the pilot suits are far more striking. I do like the pirates' jetpack; wish we'd seen more of that (that's actually what I was looking up when I started collecting these).

Overall, I quite like the commonality of design, the sense that someone somewhere is just mass producing these things as a standard piece of kit. That's kind of what you'd need, in a space-faring society, to make these widely available to as many people as possible, just as a matter of basic practicality. Then you'd have different groups that could afford it customising to fit their organisations.

Huh. That must mean the human debris normal suits are also mass produced, if there's a standard-issue version of those.

There we go again with another demonstration of the base-level exploitative awfulness built into this setting.

[Index of other writing]

[nerdherd4]

So I guess I’ll make this quick post cause I’m bored in the trailer for the new Mobile Suit Gundam IRON-BLOODED ORPHANS G app I noticed in the Urdu hunt Section of the trailer they were brief shots of both Naze and Shino Which gives me the impression we might see them in the Urdr hunt although I’m not 100% behind the predominant theory that Naze is this mysterious N character who organized the hunt but I still think he might appear since he has connections to Tamami Rakou that being said what we saw might just be a side story. On a different note In the brief shots we get of Shino and his mobile suit at first I thought it was a Hakukou but when I took a closer look I realized that I guess they had repaired his EB-06/tc2 Ryusei-Go and replace it’s smashed head with that of a Hakuou or another Teiwaz Mobile suit and the busted arm with one from the STH-05R Rouei as well as giving it the Roueis back Thrusters however I couldn’t quite make out the cockpit make.

[translationandbetrayals]

GUNDAM IBO: Where is the next part?

 Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans is a mecha anime series set on a futuristic, terraformed Mars, taking place 300 years after the devastating Calamity War. The story follows a group of child soldiers from the organization Tekkadan, led by Orga Itsuka, who seek to carve out their own destiny amidst the chaos of war and exploitation. The narrative begins when Kudelia Aina Bernstein, a Martian noble, hires the private security company Chryse Guard Security (CGS) to escort her to Earth. Her goal is to negotiate independence for Mars from Earth’s oppressive rule. However, during their mission, CGS is attacked by Gjallarhorn, a powerful military organization representing Earth’s interests. In a moment of desperation, Orga leads a coup against CGS's adult leaders who abandon the child soldiers in battle. Mikazuki Augus, Orga's closest ally, pilots an ancient mobile suit known as the Gundam Barbatos, which he uses to fend off Gjallarhorn's assault. This pivotal moment marks Tekkadan's transformation from mere survivors into active players in the ongoing conflict for Martian independence. As they navigate through political intrigue and warfare, Tekkadan faces numerous challenges, including betrayals and the harsh realities of their violent existence. Iron-Blooded Orphans explores heavy themes such as child soldiers, exploitation, and the quest for identity and freedom. The series is noted for its emotional depth and tragic storytelling, often drawing parallels to real-world issues like poverty and corruption. The characters endure significant losses, leading to a sense of desperation that drives them forward despite overwhelming odds. The show is characterized by its darker tone compared to other entries in the Gundam franchise, with many characters facing brutal fates as they strive for their goals. The bond between Mikazuki and his Gundam evolves into a symbol of hope and resistance, even as the narrative unfolds towards a bittersweet conclusion. The last chapter is just heartbreaking; you feel empty not just because this is the end of the story but because the final fate of Tekkadan feels so real. The antagonists actually did good; the world became a better place, leaving you wondering if Tekkadan was actually in the right. One would imagine that if you created such a great anime series, you would announce the next story in the same universe. Indeed, if fans wanted more of this style of storytelling in the same universe, there is the manga Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans Gekko. This is a spin-off manga from the main series that has four volumes... but it got canceled. Yes, you read that right—after discovering that there is another story from the same universe as Tekkadan, you find out it is canceled and unfinished. Then you return to mourning the main series only to discover a trailer for Mobile Suit Gundam: IBO Urdr Hunt. Suspecting another failure, you investigate and find out it is... a mobile game? Yes, a mobile game! You might normally think it’s just a trash game with some animations and no real story, right? WRONG! It is actually quite the opposite. This game features an engaging narrative format with an anime series that casually incorporates interactive gameplay (which can be underwhelming). Nonetheless, the story is awesome and filled with mystery and depth. The only downside is that the game doesn't have a Japanese translation; luckily, there is full gameplay on YouTube that has been translated. So go check it out! This revision enhances readability by breaking up long sentences and clarifying some points while maintaining your original intent and content. Benjamin Troncoso

[gundamfight]

[gremoria411]

*The following post contains spoilers fro Gundam Iron Blooded Orphans Urdr Hunt, episodes 1-22*

As a follow up to my previous post about Urdr Hunt:

Wistario Afam.

Wistario just doesn’t really….. grab me, as a protagonist. And I’m not sure why, but I do want to extrapolate a little. I like that Wistario has a solid, defined Goal, which is to win the Urdr Hunt, and use the prize money to buy and do up the Radonitsa colony.

Gjallarhorn making a play for Katya upends this - not completely mind, but it causes Wistario to pivot to protecting Katya at the expense of the Urdr hunt. This makes sense, he’s able to recover data from the Urdr hunt without directly collecting it himself since he knows and is friends with roughly 3/5 of the other participants (4/5 if we count the Zan brothers). This is a good decision, but it does still cause him some grief, since he knows he doesn’t have the resources to take on Gjallarhorn.

Then he meets Londo Bron, and makes a steadfast declaration of protection/marriage proposal to Katya. This is where he sorta loses me.

It’s not a bad choice, and I understand it’s borne out of his desire for family, which has been slowly building in the background as the series goes on. Thing is….. him and Katya haven’t really interacted other than collaborating on the Urdr Hunt. Honestly, the only person he’s interacted with enough that I would genuinely believe a proposal would be Range. So when I first heard it, I genuinely thought he was bluffing Londo, but then as things progress he’s serious about it, and I just can’t really fathom why, because they just haven’t interacted in any capacity that I feel would lead to romance. What I’m getting at is that Wistario’s wish to buy Radonitsa and do it up to improve the lives of people on Venus feels like the thing that keeps him “tethered”, I suppose. So I kinda lose him when that gets taken away. I don’t disagree or fail to understand his actions, it’s just that it’s such a big part of his personality that I struggle to parse him without it.

Part of this could be a bigger issue of certain characters not being explored enough - I like Range, Katya and Denmer, they’re all either explored enough for me to like them and understand their actions or have enough going on that I can fill in the blanks myself. But Wistario and Korunaru kind of aren’t, and this wouldn’t be an issue if they weren’t ostensibly the main characters. I like Korunaru, but she suffers because I believe her character could have been combined with Katya without losing much in the process, and I seem to recall the marketing pushing her as important.

I’d like to stress that if there’s some sort of Bio section in-game, or some extra side conversations that flesh them out then that sounds great, but I don’t have those in front of me so I can’t really account for them. Wistario’s just fairly obvious since he’s the protagonist, so he kind of needs to have a defined (though not necessarily strong) character.

However, I do rather like his design. It’s got a youth and energy to it that I think goes well with his desire to re-invigorate Venus’ economy, and his clothing’s functional without looking drab, so it’s believable that this is something he lives and works in. His childishness (at least comparatively. Honestly it comes and goes) and friendliness also illustrate that he’s a positive spirit and force for change in a negative environment (read: basically all of Post Disaster).

[gremoria411]

Ride’s ending, to me at least, is indicative of the cycle of violence. Most of Tekkadan have accepted that they lost, buried their dead and are actively seeking a new life in the world they and Kudelia (and Rustal) have created. This is represented primarily by Akatsuki, the new life from the ashes of the old. Ride is somebody who just can’t let go of that. He can’t move on, he can’t make a new life for himself, principally because of the trauma he’s experienced as part of being a child soldier. That’s what his ending is, to show that some people will never get over those experiences, never be able to lay down their arms. It also would rankle that Nobliss Gordon, the man who set off the events of the entire series and was indirectly responsible for the deaths of several characters, got off Scot-free. So, Ride assassinated him. It ties up both their stories, as the one who pulled all the strings is killed in a particularly undignified manner, by Ride, the young kid who’s been constantly surrounded by violence to such an extent that he’ll willingly choose it if given the choice.

As a sequel? I feel it could work, but it would be very small-scale, since it shouldn’t mess with the ending of Iron Blooded Orphans. As such, it probably would be lacking in the mobile suit battle department. It could work. You could either have mobile suit battles occur very infrequently (I suppose like Hathaway’s flash?)or have Ride simply not step foot in a mobile suit at all, and simply move around them (the only example I could give of this is the manga, The Assassination of Gihren). Either *could* work, but I don’t particularly think that Ride needs a sequel. As above, it’s just a brief window into his current life, we can fill in the blanks ourselves as to how he got here.

As for how Sunrise and Bandai wants to handle IBO as a property? I don’t think we’re gonna get a sequel series. I admit I’m basing this primarily off how they handle Gundam Seed and 00 as properties, but if they were going to make a sequel series, I think we would have it by now. They tend to strike while the iron’s hot, with Seed Destiny coming out a mere two years after Seed. Granted the Covid-19 epidemic will have hamstrung their plans significantly, but I think that Gundam IBO: Urdr Hunt’s lateness is evidence enough of that. They tend to make a series, make a sidestory, and then there’s a slow trickle of additional content in the form of MSV’s and Manga from then on. I think we’re just getting a little more out of IBO at the moment.

Honestly, if they were to make another, I’d deeply love to see a prequel set during Calamity War, even though I know it’d be a bad idea, since it’d demystify it to such an extent. I just really love the idea of these Gundam frames being glimpses into the past, echoes of the calamity war. Seeing what Gjallarhorn was, and how it fell, seeing the beginning of all these powerful families, and the Gundam frames they are custodians of.

But the series is about Tekkadan, the titular Iron-Blooded Orphans, and I feel that you’d struggle to make an actual continuation without them.

I dont feel we'll ever really get a 'rides rebellion' sequel to gundam ibo at the end of the day for two reasons, one big and one small. and the small one is that in my opinion ride and what hes doing in the epilogue is suppose to be more of an open question then something that gets a definitive answer. something to elicit thought and speculation, and force ya to ask personal questions but also something that was not created with an answer in mind [like mgs2, and like mgs2 forcing answers might end up more detrimental then constructive to the work in the end]

which leads to the big one, and its that [in my opinion] in the sense of a corporate scale of things, i feel like theres likely a perception in the sunrise and bandai boardrooms that actually giving some sort of followup on the events would result in tanking the profitability of ibo as a property within the gundam verse as it were. because as it stands the ending of ibo is ultimately something of a perfect balance of ambiguity in theme and plotting. everyone's won but also lost, the story is a closed loop but also dangling in loose ends of potential avenues, any given interpretation of ibo on a thematic and writing level can be considered both true and incorrect at the same time because everyone is accommodated for in some degree in the themes they prefer to interpret the story as.

I see ibo as a stock built tragedy where the protagonist of the story falls and fails because he lets his worst character aspects dominate his decisions and identity. namely orgas greed and his pride, which blend together in a toxic mix of performative machismo and ambition to hide the fact he has no idea what hes doing outside of reflexively reacting to everything that happens [real lelouch of ya orga gotta say]. some see it as a cautionary tale on colonial politics and its historical impacts with a tragic ending. others see it as a classic mafia yakuza story of learning 'crime does not pay' when the police come knocking at your door but with giant robots.

and as I mentioned, in my opinion ibos ending mangages to accommodate all these different viewpoints on the same story without hard committing to any one of them. In that sense its a perfect ending because it raises so many different ideas and themes but leaves it in the audiences hand to determine what those ideas and themes mean to them.

but by that same virtue, its a perfect ending. Theres nowhere to go from a perfect ending that doesnt mess with said ending in some manner. pick a direction to go and you inevitably disappoint the people invested in the directions you didnt go [which might be fine if your willing to disappoint those people, dgmr], maintain that balance and your prolonging everyones suffering. the best direction to go i would say is to explore new territory entirely, but sequels tend to be best sold as continuations not gear changes. and as a creative those are all interesting risks to explore in searching out the next story, but for a company? with stockholders and shit?

absolutely terrifying.

so yeah, i dont think we'll ever get a 'rides rebellion', but if it does happen and im wrong...

well, i can atleast imagine it would have a god chance of blowing the ibo fanbase into smithereens. but thats just a guess on subjective quality.

[gundam002]

HG GUNDAM ASMODAY / ASMODEUS

(MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM: IRON-BLOODED ORPHANS URDR-HUNT)

HG 1/144

Gundam Asmoday

[wordsandrobots]

IBO reference notes on . . . odds and ends

I have begun writing another big notes entry but it's a heavy one and requires visuals, so I suspect it'll be a while before it's done.

In the meantime, here are a few jottings on various random things in Iron-Blooded Orphans I thought worth commenting upon.

Naming conventions

The headline one, obviously, is the Gundams being named for the demons listed in the Ars Goetia. This we eventually discover is an in-universe response to the naming convention used for the mobile armours the Gundam frame mobile suits were developed to take down. Each mobile armour is named for a angelic figure: Hashmal is named for a class of angel while Harael, Mebahiah, Nemamiah and Ananel are all apparently derived from the Shem HaMephorash. It would be neat if all the names came from John Reuchlin's list of 72, which corresponds directly to the goetic demons but Hashmal nixes that idea.

It's also unclear if the names are for individual units or if they represent different lines or categories of armours. I tend towards the latter, simply based on the scale at which the Calamity War is presented as happening. This is somewhat tenuously is backed up by the Iron-Blooded Orphans G mobile game (RIP) presenting the player with a battle against 'Ananel Alpha' and the flashback in the Urdr Hunt campaign seeming to show Gundam Marchosias fighting a pair of Haraels. Though I must admit, I've watched that clip a few times and still cannot quite make up my mind it if represents two Haraels or just the multiple perspectives of Harael's claw eyes.

In any case, it seems that whoever named the Gundams had enough sense of drama to designate their 'angel hunters' as actual demons. And yet, the overall organisation that operated them -- Gjallarhorn -- embraced quite a different tradition.

This was of course Norse mythology. Each family in the Seven Stars ruling council has heraldry based on a different beast from the sagas (Odin's Ravens, Fenrir, Sleipnir, Jörmungandr, Nidhogg, Veðrfölnir (probably), and Ratatoskr). They have bases named Vingólf and Gladsheimr. Their mobile suits are derived from a set of machines named after Wagnerian valkyries, and they designate various different types of 'suit using German words. And of course, 'Gjallarhorn' itself is the name of the horn that sounds the start of Ragnarök (fitting, for a group formed to prevent the apocalypse). Plus, you know, there's Vidar's whole deal.

Curiously, there is an additional use of a Norse name in the setting: the Garm Rodi, a seemingly unaffiliated type of mobile suit primarily seen in use by the Dawn Horizon pirates. Given this is an instance of mythological naming in a line that otherwise has prefixes like 'Spinner', 'Landman' and 'Monkey', I wonder if perhaps this indicates the type of machine used by Gjallarhorn prior to the development of the Valkyrja and Gundam frames (these both belong to the late Calamity War period, whereas Rodis were deployed during the middle period; no we have no idea how long each period lasted). I haven't any particular reason for thinking this beyond it being named for the dog that guards Hel, but given Norse names are otherwise entirely restricted to Gjallarhorn, it would almost be weirder if there wasn't a connection.

(The Garm is also noted for its versatility, which puts it in the same bracket as the general-purpose Graze frame that has become Gjallarhorn's mainstay.)

Speaking of mobile suit lines, the Hexa frame stands out for having different types designated using people's names: Hugo, Gilda and Enzo. A quick web search for the three names in conjunction returns the Argentinian film Una Cita con la vida, directed by Hugo del Carril, starring Gilda Lousek and Enzo Viena. I do not know if there is any connection there, out of fiction, but it struck me as an intriguing coincidence.

Then we have Teiwaz naming their mobile suits using romanised Japanese words: Hyakuren, Hyakuri, Rouei, Shiden, Hekija. Not much to say about that, since it fits exactly with their Japanese/Italian fusion mafia aesthetics. Although, I suppose we should shout out the Chief's bonkers suffixes. Lupus Rex? Rebake Full City? Jeepers.

Finally, I'd like to draw attention to how the Ariadne Network fits into all this, or rather how it doesn't. It's named for the myth of the Minotaur and how Ariadne gave Theseus a guiding thread to help map his way through the labyrinth. Fitting for a network of navigation beacons. However, as a piece of technology, it's an outlier, named for a Greek myth despite being under the control of Gjallarhorn.

The implication is that the Network predates both them and indeed the Calamity War, with the use of Ahab reactors in its construction being cited as a cause of said War, by virtue of preventing long-range communication and observation. Should we therefore take from this that pre-Calamity War devices follow a Greco-Roman naming convention ala the US space program? There are other Greek names used in the setting, specifically for the regions into which Mars is divided, following the actual real-world mapping of the Red Planet's geography, so I wouldn't want to rule out such a conclusion -- particularly with the way English is used in the setting. But on the other hand, it could simply be that the Network's function made this particular allusion irresistible.

Currency

There are two canonical currencies: the galar and the meria. As far as I can tell, the galar is exclusively mentioned in the context of Mars, and is therefore presumably related to Gjallarhorn's rule of the planet. Meanwhile the meria is used in the two spin-offs, Moon Steel and Urdr Hunt, both of which take place on or around space colonies. Whether this means the meria is primarily a space-based currency, or just a widely used currency in general is unclear.

Mostly I just think this is worth noting for the potential implications the galar has for Mars' situation: if the money in circulation there is directly controlled by Gjallarhorn, then that represents an added obstacle to independence. And given so much of Kudelia's efforts are focused on achieving greater economic freedom from Earth, it's an interesting detail to consider.

Oh, and apparently paper-like money is still in vogue in the Post-Disaster timeline. Which seems a bit odd, since paper itself is counted as a marker of wealth (explicitly stated in the translation of the CGS promo website linked from Gundam wiki; implied in the series by things like how we only ever see real books in the hands of the upper classes).

In Moon Steel, Tanto Tempo's members use paper files and documents, presumably because being part of an Earth-adjacent company, they can afford it. This makes me wonder about the source of the material. Do space colonies grow and recycle their own paper? Is that another layer to money's value in this setting? Or is the case made from some other material?

Food for thought, at least.

This excavator

Because first of all, it's an adorable piece of design work. And second, it's a rare example of non-mobile suit robotics in the setting.

Most Gundam shows have some sort of 'sub-mobile suit' category of mecha, be that a cruder precursor to the humanoid robot suits that are the mainstay of the franchise or a more utilitarian, often civilian variety of machine used for maintenance and construction work. Iron-Blooded Orphan's mobile workers are, however, mostly seen in military configurations, operating as small, extremely manoeuvrable tanks. I don't think it's too much of a stretch to classify them as mecha in their own right -- they have moveable 'legs' and on the type Tekkadan uses at least, the cannons operate in an arm-like fashion. But overall, they are generally more tank-like than anything else. The only civilian use we see from them is as a flat-bed truck. Indeed, when construction work in the space colonies comes up, it is specifically mobile suits that are cited as being used.

This excavator, which shows up in the background of the main series and has very slightly more presence during the Urdr Hunt game, makes it clear there are in fact mobile worker-like machines with entirely non-military uses. The arms appear to articulate in ways that set it apart from a real-world excavator, suggesting it operates in a more human-like fashion than your average JCB, and the armatures holding it up resemble mobile workers, only in a more stable four-point layout than the otherwise ubiquitous tripod arrangement.

It's a nice touch, extending the sci fi conceits throughout the world-building. It also stands out because so many of the vehicles shown beyond the obligatory humanoid mecha are simply . . . mundane. The cars, trains and even the fighter jets are little different than those we'd see around us today. Having something like this show up helps avoid the sense of the mobile suits being fantastical devices with no connection to the rest of the technological landscape, and gestures at mobile workers having uses that would earn them that name.

Gjallarhorn's plastic macs

I just love how utterly dorky the official rain-wear is.

McGillis very much doing the 'dignity, always dignity' bit, there.

Other reference posts include:

IBO reference notes on … Gjallarhorn (Part 1)

IBO reference notes on … Gjallarhorn (Part 2)

IBO reference notes on … Gjallarhorn (corrigendum) [mainly covering my inability to recognise mythical wolves]

IBO reference notes on … three key Yamagi scenes

IBO reference notes on … three key Shino scenes

IBO reference notes on … three key Eugene scenes

IBO reference notes on … three key Ride scenes

IBO reference notes on … the tone of the setting

IBO reference notes on … character parallels and counterpoints

IBO reference notes on … a perfect villain

IBO reference notes on … Iron-Blooded Orphans: Gekko

IBO reference notes on … an act of unspeakable cruelty

IBO reference notes on … original(ish) characters [this one is mainly fanfic]

IBO reference notes on … Kudelia’s decisions

IBO reference notes on … assorted head-canons

IBO reference notes on … actual, proper original characters [explicit fanfic – as in, actually fanfic. None of them have turned up in the smut yet]

IBO reference notes on … the aesthetics of the mobile frame

IBO reference notes on … mobile suit designations

IBO reference notes on … the Gundams (part 1)

IBO reference notes on … the Gundams (part 2)

IBO reference notes on … the Gundams (part 3)

IBO reference notes on … the Turbines, or ‘Tekkadan done right’

IBO reference notes on … the Gundams (Addendum 1)

IBO reference notes on … deals with the devil