#double zeta gundam

[squidbrainizzy]

Hey guys which Ple two do you like more?

[vgjustice]

I think I'm going to enjoy Double Zeta

[sushiboyangel]

Double Zeta Gundam!

Been working on this for a bit. Pls give it some love 🙇‍♂️🙇‍♂️

[chuurylen]

puru puru puru puru!

[janeyshivers]

how Mobile Suit Gundam SEED and SEED Destiny misunderstands eugenics (and how 0079, Zeta, and ZZ nailed it)

(note; unless i specify otherwise, i'm using 'Gundam SEED' as a catch-all for the combined 100 episode run of both Cosmic Era shows)

Gundam SEED is built around the idea of genetic modification on steroids, where huge populations of Coordinators (Spacenoid stand-ins, living in the Cosmic Era's equivalent of the Sides, the PLANTs) are genetically modified in-vitro to be immune to disease, to be stronger, smarter, and kind of better at everything than unmodified Naturals (Earthnoid stand-ins who are just normal-ass Earth people). i feel like this core setup, and the way the show handles it, falls into the trap of treating the arguments of eugenicists seriously, when there's absolutely no reason to give them an inch on anything, something that the early UC understood all too well.

for one thing, Gundam SEED fails to actually address any of the really pertinent questions gene therapy raises, especially since SEED doesn't just feature genetic engineering as a plot device like G-Witch and ZZ, it bases an entire faction around its use and makes it the driving force of the show's core conflict. the show does not, for example, broach the extremely thorny topic of how genetic modification will affect the marginalised. many current pushes for genetic modification are pushed by insane eugenics groups, and the show never addresses whether, for example, the PLANTs try to gene edit out autism, or screen for any kind of genetic markers for being gay or trans. it doesn't ask whether there is any validity to the search for genetic explanations for these things, as contemporary eugenics organisations such as Autism Speaks insist. would non-white Coordinator parents be pressured to bump their kid's skin up a couple of shades to reduce the impact of racism and colourism on their lives? we see from the forced-labour camps the Alliance sets up in North Africa during Destiny that the CE is a world where racism is still very much a cultural force, and yet SEED never addresses how that interacts with Coordinators, despite a lot of the roots of modern genetic research (undoubtedly something that has led to a lot of positive medical advances) nonetheless lying in the 'scientific racism' of the early 20th century. an unfavourable reading might even point out that since we never see any of this stuff addressed or treated as a problem (for example, we don't meet any queer or neurodivergent Coordinators), SEED accepts that these are indeed qualities for which there are genetic markers, and it's not worth examining that the PLANTs bin them. that is a slightly unfair reading because the lack of those kinds of characters among Naturals suggest it just wasn't something the writers felt they could include for whatever reason, but then I would argue that if you're not able to address these things then you have no business writing a science fiction story where an entire core culture is built around genetic modification in the first place.

i'm not arguing that any stories about genetic modification are, by definition, eugenicist; G-Witch features it in the form of Suletta herself, and Notrette's patented brand of Tasty Tomatoes. the difference is that the show doesn't feature an entire society built from the ground-up around genetic engineering, which makes the comparisons to fascists less immediate, and even then G-Witch takes the time to address that Suletta herself feels like her only value is as a tool, precisely because she was genetically engineered to fulfil a specific purpose. it comes closer to grappling with the real dark side of these ideas in a 25 episode run than SEED did in 100.

instead, the framing of genetic modification in SEED as creating people who are, unambiguously, better at absolutely everything, and whose main obstacle is jealousy from unmodified people, accepts at face value the premise that to be superior due to your genetics is possible. by doing this, and also ignoring any of the real concerns marginalised people had at the time, and continue to have to this day about the possible uses of genetic modification, the show comes off as validating eugenicists. while SEED hedges on the details, i would argue that by accepting this as a basic premise to begin with, the show has already validated an extremely noxious worldview.

that being said, the Coordinators do experience significant problems with fertility, with birthrates collapsing in the third generation and requiring interbreeding with Naturals to sustain their population. the show does not assert that genetic modification makes the Coordinators into flawless ubermensch, and clumsily attempts to argue for a middle ground between fascistic genetic purity and a degree of equality between Naturals and Coordinators. imo the issues the PLANTs end up having is because SEED isn't like, actively trying to write a treatise on why eugenics is good, instead, the writers chose a hot-button issue to address and then badly fumbled it, in the process treating seriously and partially validating ideas that are in the real world just a flimsy cover for racial hatred and other bigotries. to my mind, it's saying that eugenics works to a point and then starts to break down, but i think the idea that it can work up to any kind of point is giving it a lot more credit than it really deserves.

my core frustrations with that are a) that SEED is actually pretty good when it shunts that stuff into the background, e.g. in the first half of Destiny, and it's frustrating watching the show fall back into being about this shit and neglecting the stronger elements like the solid character work with Shinn and Athrun, and b) previous Gundam shows already staked out a strong position that what SEED takes as a given is actually total horseshit. the show's themes would be frustrating enough if they didn't exist as part of a franchise which has previously gotten this issue more or less right, with the highly combat-effective Coordinators being an obvious stand-in for the UC's Newtypes. the Zabis hijack the idea of Newtypes from Zeon Deikun and treat being a Newtype as a matter of genetics because it made their fascist spacenoid supremacy sound semi-legitimate and scientific. meanwhile, the text of 0079, Zeta, and ZZ insists that to be a Newtype is something almost impossible to define quantifiably. characters who are stated in-universe to be Oldtypes nonetheless experience Newtype visions, and the defining factor in developing Newtype abilities is nothing to do with being a pure-blooded Spacenoid, but about the simple fact of existing in space and allowing that to change the way you interact with the world. to my mind, the early UC's position is that while capable of providing miracles like the Sides, science is also too often invoked as a rhetorical device to retroactively justify existing dehumanisation and hatred by making it sound objective and logical, leading to Zeon seeing Earthnoids as so inhuman that killing billions of them in Operation British was acceptable to them. SEED doesn't just lack an interesting take on this core element of the UC (like Iron-Blooded Orphans' focus on how this creates avenues for labour exploitation through the stigmatisation of the Alaya-Vinjana system), it fails to understand it by accepting such a retroactive justification as part of its core premise, something that sticks out really badly because the CE shows are so interested in being a modern update of 0079 and Zeta.

my animosity towards the character of Kira in particular is that he's emblematic of these thematic and worldbuilding fuckups, cut as he is from the eugenic cloth. SEED Destiny's best moments were early on when Athrun seriously questioned Kira on his beliefs for the first time, after Kira insisted that Athrun betray ZAFT over nothing more than a hunch. and yet, Kira is vindicated, and his worldview of peace at all costs, while initially challenged by Shinn and Athrun in Destiny, is treated seriously by the show's end. Destiny's conclusion is that Kira, due to his superior genetics, simply knows better, and that we should sit down, shut the fuck up, and let our families be vaporised by nuclear murderbeams if that's what our genetically pure overlords think is best, even if the best evidence Kira has to support his worldview is little more than a hunch, wisdom granted by his superior genes. again, i don't think SEED understands that this is what it's saying; Kira talks the talk about equality between Naturals and Coordinators, it's just that the text of the show is so muddled and poorly written that it ends up saying the opposite. taken along with all of the other ways in which his character ends up screwing with the elements of SEED that i find legitimately compelling and interesting, it's difficult not to really hate him, and to find SEED as a whole deeply frustrating and disappointing.

SEED Freedom does so little to develop any of these ideas that it's honestly barely worth mentioning. having spent 100 episodes ceding ground to the eugenics shit, Freedom mostly just plays in the space that was created for it. it's much more concerned with bullshit comphet and assassinating the blackened, charred remains of Shinn's character than it is with grappling with the fact that "hey the show kept saying eugenics works do we maybe want to examine that a little in our legacy sequel". bad movie for a variety of reasons, but mostly unconnected from what im on about here.

[grayrazor]

It’s a bit of a lapse how they send Kamille to Glasgow to keep him out of the way of a Colony Drop targeting Dublin. An object that size being thrown at the Earth should be closer to a Dinosaur-Killer Asteroid, make a nuclear bomb look like a firecracker. Nowhere in the British Isles would be safe, probably nowhere in Western Europe.

Maybe I'm a bit thrown off because later Gundam media like 08th MS Team and Gundam: The Origin had more hard sci-fi sensibilities, showed the Operation British colony drop killing billions of people with tsunamis and climate change beyond just the initial impact fireball. A massive crater where Sydney, Australia used to be and snow falling in the jungles of Southeast Asia

Nevertheless, it’s kinda weird how normal Earth looks in Gundam Unicorn and Hathaway, how there’s still an overpopulation problem. After the various massive impacts between MSG and Char’s Counterattack, Earth should be a wasteland, in the middle of the biggest mass extinction since The Great Dying. Maybe that plays a bigger role in Gundam F91, Gundam Crossbone, and Victory Gundam. I haven't gotten around to those yet.

[pixelatedannie]

JUDAU NOOOOOOO

[m48patton]

[astralcat]

if you asked the uc protagonists to draw a cat heres what i would think they'd come up with

[robedruby]

Next build alert. Just finished building the MG Marasai as well. Overall, it’s pretty cool, except for one thing…

These stupid MG hands are terrible, there’s a reason it’s not holding anything, because it just doesn’t want to. I don’t know if it’s user error, but I’m pretty fed up with trying to make it hold anything. At least it’s a nice looking MG.

[kawaiijones]

Moon Moon was torment but at least the women are bad as hell in ZZ

[dalivelyghost]

I admire captain bright's ideal that children are the future, but maybe sending them all alone on a battleship to war is a bit much

[sushiboyangel]

Double Zeta WIP

[chuurylen]

puru work in progress :) i did make some changes already (like the layout of the drawings)

[irradiate-space]

Gundam x 1776

In the Gundam AU of the American War of Independence:

After the British Empire defeats the Congressional forces in the War of 1776, a Neo Congressional strike force destroys half the British Navy during the 1778 fleet review. The British Empire creates a special unit to hunt down the Congressionals: the British Anti-Colonial Kingsmen (BACKers).

The BACKers quickly become known for their cruelty not just towards Congressionals, but all colonials, even in the Empire's loyal colonies. Operating under royal decree, they shun Parliamentary oversight, and sneer at the regular British forces.

George Washington travels to England, takes the name Forth Virginia, and fights against the BACKers, alongside Irish Republicans, remnant Congressionals, the Spanish Treasure Fleet, and the British Empire Forces. The BACKers now seek to capture all Britain for their leader, Napoleon.

When the BACKers are finally defeated during the War of 1812, George returns to America, reclaims his name, and unites the dispersed Congressional forces with a promise of American freedom and independence. Fresh infusions of Spanish treasure and technology give the Congressionals an edge against Britain, for a time.

To realize the Founders' ideological commitment to Colonialism, by forcing all those living in Britain to emirate to the colonies, George and the Newborn Neo Congressionals attack Britain with artificial tsunamis. During Britain's desperate attempt to capture the second wavemaker before its detonation, George goes missing in battle along with his kismesis, Charles Cornwallis. Britain is saved, but is this the end of the Congressional wars?

j/k nope who's that it's ya boy White Smile, who is a vessel into which the spirit of The People is poured, the second coming of the American Fabius! He (or his backers?) seek to cut off Britain from its colonies with the creation of a Colonial Co-Prosperity Sphere, which dies along with White Smile in battle with a young man named Abraham Lincoln.

And who's that, coming in with an exceedingly-pithy revolutionary tract which can only be implemented over more years than England has to count? It's Henry Clinton, son of famous British war leader Sir Henry Clinton, come to overturn his father's legacy!