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thepostmodernotaku · 7 years ago

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5 Things in Mobile Suit Gundam that Creeped me out

Hello everyone and welcome to my blog. Today I will discuss about one of, if not, my favorite anime franchise ever, Mobile Suit Gundam.

So, Mobile Suit Gundam, talk about a big name in anime. For almost 40 years, Mobile Suit Gundam has kept its status as the King of Mecha anime and for good reason.

There are many ways to describe Gundam: entertaining, action packed, emotionally gripping, stunningly beautiful and awesome model kits. Gundam is so iconic that it b7ecame one of Japan's national symbols.

Gundam is easily one of my favourite anime franchise of all time. It's intricately written, morally grey stories, characters and universe combined with high quality visuals and robot designs really resonate with me. I like Gundam so much that I would recommend it to all anime fans, even those who are not mecha fans.

As I said before, Gundam can be many things, but rarely can it be considered creepy. Sure, Gundam does have scary and shocking moments like colony drops, nuclear powered mobile suits and war calamities, but these are not the type of moments that I am looking for.

I am talking about moments that make you feel eerie, that make you feel spooked, like looking an old porcelain doll or a picture with an apparition hanging in the background. Yep, these kinds of moments.

Strap in my friends because it’s time to experience 5 Creepy and Disturbing Things in Mobile Suit Gundam.

(Note: This is mostly subjective, so if something creeped me out doesn't mean it creeped you out. Also, this list is in no particular order. There might be other things to add to this list, but I will add them in a future list. Also, SPOILERS)

1. The Ghosts of Dozle Zabi and Judau Ashta (Mobile Suit Gundam, 1979, Mobile Suit ZZ Gundam, 1986)

Kicking in this list we have 2 moments that shouldn't be as creepy as I think they are, but are creepy nonetheless.

These Ghosts are merely apparitions that are capable of being perceived by Newtypes. They are kind of like an image representative of the persons emotional state at the moment, or so I theories.

The first Ghost appeared in Episode 36 of the original Mobile Suit Gundam.

In this episode, the Zeon forces managed to deploy their new experimental Mobile Armor Big Zam, but they were not able to save the asteroid station Solomon.

The Big Zam was a fearsome weapon, capable of deflecting beams from battleships and destroying them with its powerful Mega-Particle Cannons. Fortunately, the Big Zam was stopped by Amuro Ray and the Gundam with the help of Sleggar Law.

Dozle Zabi, being the only remaining pilot of the Big Zam, felt retaliated by the fact that something as powerful as the Big Zam was stopped by a mere Mobile Suit, and foolishly decided to attack the Gundam with mere assault rifle, yelling that he will not be defeated.

At that moment a giant, devil like phantom appeared behind Dozle and freaked out both Amuro and myself.

(Couldn’t find a better picture)

A similar incident happened in Double Zeta Gundam, when Judau Ashta freaked Haman Karn after she shot his sister, by creating a creepy looking ghost that scared Hamman to death.

These moments are not really that creepy, but they feel out of place and eerie, so much so that I decided to include them on this list.

(Imagine if you found the remnants of a Big Zam, only to be haunted by the ghost of Dozzle)

2. The ELS (Mobile Suit Gundam 00: Awakening of the Trailblazer, 2010)

I love Gundam 00, but it's sequel movie is a thing that I have mixed feelings about. I do not hate the movie, but find it completely unnecessary.

I didn’t like how most characters died by the end of the movie (Or so I think), I didn’t like the idea of the movie and the conclusion felt really bland (Mutual understanding? Meh.) Also, I am really pissed that a Setsuna x Feltd romance was teased, but never happened.

Now here come the villains, the ELS, which were the first alien life form to appear in a Gundam tittle ever. This kind of breaks the ideas of Gundam about humans vs humans, by adding aliens, but never mind.

The ELS are essentially the love children of The Zerg Swarm and T-1000 from Terminator.

They are essentially silicon based life forms, working under a hive mind and capable of shape-shifting, corruption of matter and multiplication.

In the movie, they worked like a type of parasitic life form. It gave me goose bumps every time I thought of the idea and it kept me in tension when I saw how they could easily corrupt and take over mobile suits and battleships, crushing the crew like they were in an Iron Maiden.

(ELS controls an GNX 4)

Unfortunately, they lost their creeping factor after the ending of the movie, where they became a flower … Really Sunrise?

3. Devil Gundam (Mobile Fighter G Gundam, 1994)

JDG - 00X Devil Gundam is probably the combination of all of Sci-Fi's biggest nightmares.

The Devil Gundam (or Dark Gundam outside Japan) is essentially an all-powerful Gundam capable of self-regeneration, self-replication and self-evolution.

Originally, the Devil Gundam was made to be used as a means of healing Earth through nanomachines. Unfortunately, his AI broke down and, like all evil AIs decided that humans were the cause of the Earth's demise, so it decided to kill all humans.

Features of the Devil Gundam include tons of beam cannons all over his body, tentacles with creepy looking Gundam monster heads, creating a personal army and the ability to turn into a mechanical monstrosity the size of a space colony that look like it came from H. R. Giger’s nightmares.

(Cool diorama of the Dark Colony)

So, I don’t have to say much about this. It’s an evil AI, held bent on destroying humanity with creepy looking mechanical body horror monstrosities.

The Devil Gundam had many forms. At first it looked like a normal MS, but after it went bad, it took the form of a giant lobster, after which his next form was that of his normal body, but with a lower body that transformed into a giant Gundam head.

His final form was a gigantic amorphous mass of mechanical bits and Gundam head, called the Dark Colony. Suffice to say the Dark Colony is a thing of nightmare.

4. The Remnants of Colony 30 and the 30 Bunch Incident (Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam, 1985 and Advance of Zeta Manga)

Another event that was both creepy and shocking was what happened in Episode 30 of Mobile Suite Zeta Gundam. In this episode, Kamille, Emma and Char (or Lieutenant Quattro) find themselves in a ravaged, empty colony only to discover the mummified remains of the people of the colony. The imagery is creepy enough, but what really sets this apart is also the story behind the tragedy.

In a nutshell, the incident happened a few months before the beginning of the Grypes War, was supposed to be a peaceful demonstration of the Titans power, but it was eventually met by riots. Eventually, a group of HighZaks from the Alexandria transported a canister of G3 Gas towards Colony 30, from Side 1. A group of Zeon soldiers tried to stop the transport of the Gas, but were eventually dispatched by the Gundam test team of the elite Titans. After that the HighZaks stopped the colony rotation and pumped the gas, the same G3 Gas that Zeon used for Operation British, and killed 10 million people.

Not only that, but after the gas was spread, communications were cut and all shuttles trying to escape the colony were shot down.

(Creepy scenery)

When I first saw the episode in Zeta Gundam, I was creeped out by the horrifying imagery and after hearing the story behind the incident I felt shocked. It was a good thing that this incident was the trigger that lead to the birth of the A.E.U.G and the Grypes Conflict that lead to the fall of the Titans.

5. AMX-004 Qubeley (Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam, 1985; Mobile Suit ZZ Gundam, 1986; Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn, 2010)

Finally, we have another Mobile Suit that creeps me out. Unlike the Devil Gundam, which was meant to be a horrifying monstrosity, the Qubeley is more of an elegant design that somehow frightens me.

Out of all the ridiculous suit designs from Zeta Gundam and ZZ Gundam, the AMX-004 Qubeley comes out as a suit that should be ridiculous in design but turns out to be quite majestic. With its curvaceous forms, bizarre proportions, elongated bird-like head, long fingers and wing like shoulder pads it looks more like a work of art rather than a military machine. These are also the reasons why I feel creeped out by it.

The Qubeley’s design makes it look more like a demon or monster. Essentially, If I were a pilot, or even a Gundam pilot and saw this thing coming towards me I would be terrified. Not to mention the fact that the Qubeley introduced the funnel units.

(It looks worse without the armor)

The Qubeley was piloted by Hamman Karn, which I find as a scary yet tragic character (Mobile Suit Gundam C. D. A. manga) and later the Cyber -Newtypes clones that were the result of many unethical experimentation. Speaking of the clones, how can we forget Marida, from Gundam Unicorn.

In Gundam Unicorn, Marida was eventually captured by Anaheim Electronics and taken to a warehouse containing the remnants of an old Mass Production Prototype Qubeley, used by the clones. As the camera zoomed into the darkness in the Mobile Suit’s open chest, the faceless ghost of Elpeo Puru appears and tries to drag the viewer to the depths of hell. (I might be exaggerating.)

That scene was really creepy and that was the point where the Qubeley started to creep me out. Also, the context is quite unsettling. Like Marida said, when she fights she merges herself with the machine, and as it was presented in the anime, a part of her was still trapped in that machine.

#mobile suit gundam #mobile suit zeta gundam #mobile suit zz gundam #mobile suit gundam 00 #mobile fighter g gundam #mobile suit gundam unicorn #mobile suit gundam advance of zeta #creepy #disturbing #dark colony #Devil Gundam #Quebeley #dozzle zabi

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