#zeon isn't my character

[clownartnie]

the campaign may be over but that isn't stopping me and my friends from making a modern au where the other party members are babysitters for althea and nothing bad happens to them ever

[slowlysointernet]

I recently came across a character analysis about Char and his various relationships which tickled me funny. Why? Because the author of this analysis claimed that Nanai and Char were not in a sexual relationship and that the women he's been involved in were platonic.

I'm making a post about this because this isn't the first time i've come across these opinions amongst the fandom and how Reccoa wanted Quattro's d and that's why she defected to the titans blah blah blah. I've also seen the occasional ''Nanai and Char are not in a sexual relationship'' if you would believe it.

Let's start with Reccoa and Quattro in Zeta:

How does the viewer know that these two are lovers/in a relationship/a couple/ whatever you wish to call it ? Well the director (Tomino) doesn't tell me outright that ''THESE TWO CHARACTERS ARE IN A RELATIONSHIP'' in neon lights. He's not obliged to this. He can do what he wants, so he shows it though character interaction and body language.

Quattro enters Reccoa's room, which is her own personal intimate space mind you. He sits on her bed (again an intimate space), briefly takes off his sunglasses and pulls her to him and hold her hips. Reccoa reciprocates this intimacy by leaning onto him and putting her hands on his shoulders. This, dear people is a depiction of two people who are intimate with each other sexually. The director isn't going to depict someone like Captain Henken or Kamille in this way because neither have that kind of relationship with Reccoa.

Aaaand let's not forget that they kiss after:

(Zeta Gundam Episode 32)

Gundam Zeta Define is much more explicit in showing their physical relationship for people who are still under the assumption that it's one sided or that nothing is going on:

'Char' and Nanai in Char's Counteratack;

Again you see the same body language here just like with Reccoa. Touches her hand, holds her by the waist, puts her in his lap etc. Other Zeon soldiers don't act that way towards Nanai or 'Char' and this is a way to show two people who are in a romantic/sexual relationship.

This same scene UC Engage Char's Counterattack is slightly longer than the movie but it's conveying the same thing:

'Char' and Nanai are also shown in a room wearing gowns hinting that these two characters just did the deed👍. This is from Char's Counterattack movie :

Here is another scene in PS1 Char's Counterattack cutscene showing 'Char' and Nanai ''platonically'' sleeping together 🙄:

Annnd a cute scene where 'Char' is hinting to Nanai to join him in the shower. You know non-sexually and all that 😉. Char's Counterattack Beltorchika's Children manga Chapter 10. :

High-Steamer Novel Volume 3:

Char's Counterattack Beltorchika's Children Novel:

Some things are inferred via tone of voice and body language and some things are explicitly shown and a outright explicit example would be with Flay and Lacus having sex in Gundam Seed which is not really the norm in anime form in Gundam.

So here we are. It doesn't take a genius to figure it out and but i do think there are disingenuous and self centered reasons when it comes to understanding Char's relationships with women. Like i said in this post the male fans/dudebros/incels tend to dislike female character's that act like Reccoa and pretend she's crazy just because Quattro doesn't bed her or you have the female fans/yaoi/fujoshi's who don't like the idea of the fictional male character they are attracted to having a woman love interest.

So my entire point here is that try not to view a piece of media through your own lenses otherwise the analysis/discussion/discourse becomes about headcanons and fanons. It's the story and the characters that are interesting not you. I'm not that interesting tbh.

(I use inverted commas on the word 'Char' in my posts because the name is a mask and not his true self.)

[mirensiart]

I'm now curious if you're thinking Xenoblade/LU crossovers, what races would the rest of the Chain be?

I mean, I was just brainstorming possible xenoblade races for each link lol but I'm not gonna do anything about it, I may sketch them as the races but if I have free time some day only hehe

Anyway my ramblings about each link and what race they would be below

Sky: pure blooded high entia from xenoblade chronicles 1. The high entia are an ancient race of long lived bird people that are secluded from everyone and live in a floating technologically advanced city. They all have white hair and white wings to match, their wings are long enough they can fly with them. Here's Prince Kallian from xenoblade 1, which is the vision I have for Sky since Kallian has like massive wings lol longer than others

Warriors: a Half blooded high entia. In xenoblade chronicles 3 there are no pure blooded high entia left since something happened in xenoblade1 and now they're mostly mixed with homs (humans). These high entia have small wings that are useless for flying, their hair isn't white and they have normal life spans. I see Warriors similar to Zeon from xenoblade 3, Zeon is the commander of colony 9 in Keves and uses a sword and shield. He also has the tiniest wings of all high entia in xenoblade3 and I think that's hilarious for warriors, like SMALL WINGS FOR YOU!

For four, wind and legend I see them as the Nopon race but from different nations. The nopon are this adorable race of furry creatures with hand like wings, they are either traveling merchants, craftsmen or they're into illegal stuff lmao and they get away with it thanks to being adorable

So, the nopon:

Four: Kevesi Nopon from xenoblade chronicles 3. In xenoblade 3 there are two nations that are in constant war Keves and Agnus, I see four as a nopon from the Keves side, he is a blacksmith that maintains the soldier's weapons and shields. I see him as riku from xenoblade3 since he's the one who maintains the weapons for the kevesi characters in game

Wind: Argentum Nopon from xenoblade chronicles 2! Argentum is a port city where all the illegal stuff happens LMAO there's a lot of nopon shops, lots of illegal trading and lots of ships with merch! I can totally see Wind as the nopon captain of his own ship doing illegal tradings in Argentum lmao some cute nopons from Argentum so u get the vision:

Legend: THE HEROPON OF FRONTIER VILLAGE FROM XENOBLADE1!!!!!! In xenoblade 1 there's a nopon village that selected a "heropon" to help with the main protag's party (in reality they were annoyed at him so they throw him at you and your party so he leaves with you lol) anyway, the heropon in xenoblade1 is my favorite character ever and I feel like legend would be selected to be that year's heropon against his will lmao here's the LEGENDARY HEROPON RIKI aka how I picture legend

Time: a gormotti from xenoblade2! The gormotti is a race of cat people that live from the earth and are also mostly farmers. There's two types of gormotti, ones that are more animal and ones that are more human. Time is the variant that's more human, like Milton here

Twilight: also a gormotti from xenoblade2 but the variant that's more animal than human, like this npc

Wild: ok hear me out....hear me out.... this is a spoiler for xenoblade1 but like...... if you wanna play xenoblade 1 don't read this ok this is a massive spoiler lmao

Ok?, ok so.... a face mechon for wild omg ok so in xenoblade 1 the kingdom of mechonis attacks the kingdom of bionis, mechonis is a mechanical kingdom with metal races like the machina and the mechon, the bionis have yeah you guessed it, biological races.

The mechon race cannot be destroyed by any type of weapon with the exception of the monado sword. The monado sword cannot hurt biological beings, just metal beings. The people of mechonis find a way to bypass it, by grabbing HUMANS and then PUTTING their DNA in a mechon, making a cyborg kinda deal known as a face mechon, by doing this, they make the monado sword USELESS cause since the cyborgs have biological tissue it cannot hurt them, since the monado can ONLY hurt metal beings

In xenoblade1 one of the main characters dies, the mechon grab her body and basically resurrect her as a cyborg aka a face mechon, she stays the rest of the game as a metal/biological being. Her body is fully metal, without organs or fluids, but her head is her biological one

There are other 2 characters that go through the same process

Anyway, that same thing happening to wild lol here's one of the cyborgs aka face mechon

Hyrule: an Urayan from xenoblade2! In xenoblade 2, the kingdom of uraya is a mostly underground kingdom full of caves and minerals, and it's people have rock-like skin, because of like, being a cave dwelling race! Here's some examples of urayans:

ANYWAY YEAH

I tried to simplify the absolutely INSANE plots of all xenoblade games to be as friendly for people not into it, but these are the races I imagine them all to be (:

[hath-e]

"So uh why Angelo of all people?" because I love him and he doesn't deserve the disrespect he's getting, or Angelo Sauper from Gundam Unicorn

So this precious little boy, who has a second hand crush on the Char Azanble, and is also so damn angry all the time. Also minor novel spoilers below (just what Angelo's backstory is)

The main reason why today is about him, is that I wanted today's post to be short and sweet, but also because he's one of my favorite characters from all of Gundam.

So the OVA's and the TV cut don't go into it but Angelo like the other Sleeves has a very terrible background in the novel. His dad was killed by feddies and his mom was badly injured, she then remarried a man who abused Angelo physically but he held out waiting for her to get better, this wouldn't come as she committed suicide, which left Angelo alone and on the street where he was picked up by Frontal. Leading to his life long devotion.

Angelo is loyal to the very end and despite the fact that he's not seen anytime after (no he's not Iron Mask from F91) it is safe to assume that his story has two endings:

Either he's ended his life out in space next to Frontal.

Or chose to keep living to continue the mission of his dear Captain.

Angelo like most other Sleeves isn't involved in the Neo Zeon business out of his belief in the ideals but instead because of his belief in the people who saved him, and because of that he's putting up the attitude of confidence and swagger because he believes so deeply in this.

To him Frontal is THE man who's going to save everyone the same way he saved him, so if you dare to give him even the slightest amount of disrespect Angelo will be there to let you know your place.

And he has the skills to back that up, and so do his machines:

From the purple Geara Doga that's so eye catching and so full of confidence.

To the custom Rozen Zulu, which might just be the fruitiest MS in the UC.

Both of these and their color schemes just carry so much of Angelos personality with them.

Frontal might be the actual clone of Char but even with him in the room odds are you're gonna notice Angelo first.

Love this boy, anyway tomorrow another scene analysis of Gundam Hathaway and the day after a smaller ramble post. Wish you all a pleasant whatever time of day it is.

[nickthetoony]

I've been in a prolonged Star Wars mood recently which has coincided with me getting deep into Gundam so I've been comparing and contrasting their different approaches to similar ideas a lot, and I thought I might as well lay it all out in writing to get it out of my head.

I'm specifically comparing Star Wars to UC Gundam, starting with the original Gundam which for context began airing in 1978, after A New Hope but before Empire Strikes Back. You can see a bit of A New Hope's visual influence in some aspects of Gundam.

Both series prominently feature a laser sword of some description. "Lightsabers" in SW and "Beam Sabers" in Gundam. Other than the obvious difference of Beam Sabers being in scale with 18 meter tall mechs, there's also the difference in that the lightsaber is made out to be an elegant weapon, harkening back to a nostalgic imagining of knights and samurai, before the invention of less honorable firearms with future stories ascribing a deep cultural significance of the lightsaber to the people that made them.

The Gundam Beam Saber is in comparison a very utilitarian tool in a Mobile Suit's arsenal, usually carried right alongside rifles and bazookas. It still invokes a little bit of that knightly image, but the fact that it's usually used as a last resort weapon of desperation hampers the idea of it being a weapon of elegance or honorable combat. In a way they're more like real swords in that they're sidearms you only pull out in a battlefield when all your other options are unavailable.

Another superficial similarity they share is their masked villains, I don't think it's a stretch to assume that Char Aznable was inspired a little bit by Darth Vader. Of course, since Gundam was pre-Empire, when so much of Vader hadn't been established yet and his most notable trait was having a cool costume, the two ended up diverging into wildly different characters.

Char is a pretty young man who uses a mask to cover his identity and Vader is old and scarred and needs the mask to breathe. Vader is the main character's father and Char is completely unrelated to his main character until they meet face to face late in the show. In a way Char is kind of more similar to Kylo Ren being masked pretty boys with daddy issues though again their arcs end up wildly diverging. Kylo and Vader both end up "redeemed" but Char isn't really the kind of character who can or should be redeemed.

Somewhat related to the above, both Gundam and Star Wars have enemy factions who are meant to invoke Nazi Germany. Star Wars' invocation of German fascism (at least in the movies) is a lot more nebulous than Gundam's, communicating this analogy through visual reference to Nazi iconography while leaving the actions of the Empire more broadly as just general cartoon bad guy stuff.

The way Gundam compares the Principality of Zeon and the Nazis is a lot more specific and a lot more direct. The way the Zeon arms race plays out in the original is a direct parallel to the real-life Nazi wunderwaffen projects, where the Third Reich's internal friction and investments in ludicrous super weapons ended up costing them more than they gained, contributing to their eventual defeat. Gundam also takes place in our future (or atleast a future envisioned in 1978) so the real Nazis existed in this world and Hitler is brought up as a direct comparison to the original show's big bad.

(Writing this out, I had the thought that you could draw the same comparison between the Death Star and the wunderwaffen program, but idk if Star Wars itself has ever drawn that comparison.)

Another point of comparison is that both series heavily feature mystical, psychic powers inspired by the spiritualist movements of the day. The Force for Star Wars and Newtypes for Gundam. The Force is cribbing a lot aesthetically from eastern spiritualism while Gundam takes a lot more from the visual ideas of psychedelia.

The Force is far more concrete and straightforward than Newtype-ism. A magic energy field that can be used to perform great feats of power, and which has birthed two established sects of thought that are both treated as ancient. Force users are also clearly demarcated into Good and Evil camps, with specific powers and abilities locked behind a character's individual morality.

Newtypes in Gundam are very different from Sith or Jedi though. Rather than representing an ancient struggle of good vs evil, Newtypes represent a supposed evolution of the human soul, when humanity can communicate to each other psychically in an era where miscommunication is impossible. Supposedly.

Because whereas in Star Wars, the conflict of the Force is one of primordial good and evil, the conflict of the Newtype is one of heightened spiritualist ideas butting up against the mundane reality of different people operating under different and conflicting motivations. There aren't dark or light side Newtypes in the way that Force users are categorized, all of them share the core ability to bridge physical limitations to understand each other on a deep intimate level, but does that matter when their material conditions are inherently at odds? What happens when two people understand each other perfectly and they still have to fight and kill each other?

My last point of comparison is between the two "heroes" of both series. Luke Skywalker and Amuro Ray.

In a way, they're very similar characters. Both start out as young boys living relatively comfortable-if boring lives who are Called To Adventure and eventually awaken to their special powers to become great soldiers of their respective wars. Both are defined by the legacy of their fathers. Both are coming of age stories.

Where I find the comparison between them very interesting is the comparison of Luke at the end of his character arc (in The Last Jedi) and Amuro at the end of his (in Char's Counterattack). Luke in TLJ is a sad disillusioned old man who has failed in his attempt to rebuild the order that had been entrusted to him and who has stagnated into a miserable grandpa. For many longtime fans of the character this was a shock, and apparently for a lot of people felt like a disappointing betrayal. Because Luke was the Hero of The Rebellion, the Return of The Jedi. He was brave, and true, and more than just a normal man. So to see him so impotent felt wrong for many people.

I find it interesting that Amuro (subtler than Luke) also ends up in a similar spot, but in a way that feels far more appropriate to his character and to the tone of the narrative.

Because Amuro was not a hero. He was a child forced to become a soldier far younger than he should've been. Pressured by the dire, apocalyptic world surrounding him and the societal pressures of masculinity that hound him. Luke's inheritance from his father was a Lightsaber. A weapon of a great shining order which eventually was mutated by the Disney movies into a sort of Excalibur wielded only by the worthy virtuous heroes. Amuro's inheritance was the Gundam, the Devil's Machine, the first in a long line of military weapons, the image of which would haunt him for the rest of his tragically short life.

Amuro had at one point been a war hero, then a rebel fighting against the corrupt and self-interested Federation that had eagerly turned him into a human weapon. But his childhood of violence eventually left him no choice but to be subsumed into the military hierarchy he had at one point attempted to break free of. In terms of combat skill, Amuro was the best of the best by the end of his arc, but he had failed in every other regard. His Newtype abilities, once seen as a gateway to a future without misunderstandings, were now honed for violence. His final words ones of dumb confusion as he failed to understand the feelings of his enemy.

Luke gets the benefit of a Rey. The ability to once again become heroic and good and brave, to inhabit the comforting role of a gallant knight. And this step in his characterization is still met with confused hostility by most viewers. Amuro does not receive a similar luxury. He dies young and suddenly, with only the suggestion that his actions will eventually make things better, but it feels right with his character even for how unsatisfying it is.

Again, I don't know if I really have a coherent point with this post. Apologies if you've read this far and felt like I have wasted your time. For now, I think my main conclusion is that it's interesting to see how two different kinds of science fiction (heroic science-fantasy VS military sci-fi) approach similar ideas. I think the reason Luke's arc in TLJ fails for many is that the story of the original trilogy was fundamentally unfit to handle it. It's tacking on an unsatisfying tragedy onto a conventional, simple Hero's Journey rather than building on the foundation of societal critique the way Gundam does with Amuro.

Anyway. Bye.

[billveusay]

I watched The 8th MS Team and...

I said in another post that I love my mechas somewhat grounded, with tangible mechanical parts, rust and bolts. So it probably won't surprise you to hear that 8th MS Team was the show I was most hyped for. It's literally part of why I started Gundam when a friend showed the opening to me, and when I planned the watch order of my first marathon, I put it at the end to save the best for last.

So how did it live-up to the hype?

Weeeeeell... I liked it, some parts of it I loved, but I probably had too high expectations.

The first thing I was kind of disappointed by is the pacing. It goes for a more episodic vibe in the first half, which on principle I don't mind, but it did make me think "you only have this much time and you're spending it on this?". I'd say it was a case of unfortunate middle-ground between a linear plot-line like Stardust Memory and a fully episodic one like say... Cowboy Bebop, which starts with an established status quo and has mostly disconnected episodes. And in the latter case it's okay, because you know the standalone adventures are what you're here for, they're the main course. In 8th MS Team, because they start off with the main plot and regularly cut back to it, they remind you that you're getting the sides. But the second half is much better.

Now for the protagonist. Shiro is... okay? He's likable enough, but his arc felt rushed and messy unlikethearcofanotherOVAprotagonistcough. Theoretically, he starts off as a hate-driven soldier and grows to become a pacifist but... well at the beginning, he seems more enthusiastic and generally chill than hate-driven. So I thought he was gonna be the young rookie soldier archetype with dreams of glory and a clean, idealized vision of war (think "I wanna be in the cavalry") who then gets smacked with its brutality and ugliness (think "I wanna be in the cavalry reprise"). But no actually, cause he's a very competent fighter from the get go and has little trouble adjusting to the reality of war. And he saves a Zeon pilot minute one too, so he also has a nuanced enough view of the conflict.

Then his development centers mostly on getting the respect of his team, which isn't that much of a hurdle, but this is also the part of the story that focuses on the side characters so I don't mind. Then he meets up with Aina again, tells her he loves her (Add it to your Gundam Bingo card: they've known each other for like five minutes!), they share a night together and suddenly, Shiro has a nightmare about his colony getting gassed and wakes up with a vengeful "ZEOOOON!". So I guess he was supposed to be driven by hate and revenge, but establishing that with a 30 seconds flashback, minutes before the turning point where he has a change of heart and becomes a pacifist is a tad wonky. Especially when nothing in his character seemed to indicate that before.

But as I said, past that point the show gets much better. We're given an end goal and every episode moves the plot towards it. Plus the episodes themselves are really good, the desperate last stand of the Kellerne troops to get to space is pretty gripping, and their demise really showcases the madness of Ginias, making him seem even more dangerous. And boy... the Norris fight. Definitely one of the best in the whole franchise. On that note, I love how they gave him a Gouf, thus officially making it the "Mobile Suit for based pilots in their late 30's who are also absolute beasts".

And the final fight was... good. As mentioned in my Stardust Memory review, I don't like Mobile Armors that are just big flying blocks because there's nothing you can do with them in terms of fight choreography, so the Apsalus is not a win for me. Also I wasn't that invested in the Shiro and Aina romance for reasons established above, but it wasn't terrible either... it has been a few months so my (stardust) memory of it is a bit hazy, but I remember liking it alright. The end of the episode was extremely sudden though.

But of course, this wasn't the end. The epilogue is... weird. Because it's extremely good. And probably the best one (unquestionably if it wasn't for the Norris fight). But it's also so tonally different that I have trouble thinking of it as a part of the rest of the OVA. This feels like it was written by a different team. But there's no denying that the show is all the better for it. It provides a very moving and satisfying conclusion to the story, and adds some depth to the Newtypes and Cyber-Newtypes stuff.

Well that's it for the meat of the story. Moving on to the potatoes.

I like the secondary cast alright. They're not my favorite characters, nor the most original, but they have decent amounts of personalities and chemistry. I especially like Sanders.

This show is also hornier that its predecessors which is... eh. Shiro spying on Kiki swimming, Eledore grabbing Karen's boob, Kellerne harassing Aina (granted, he's a bad guy. But the way he's depicted later made me feel like I was supposed to think he was a cool, Han Solo rogue type). Far from an omnipresent issue but it did occasionally make me miss Mora Boscht and her knuckles of retribution.

Small detail that made me laugh: B.Bs breakup letter is written in french. Which I am. And it is an actual letter. But it's not the one where she tells Michel she married another man, it's mostly everyday stuff, like how she tried reading in french or how it's been raining a lot recently. This isn't a critic, it's really cool that they wrote something in actual french. But it was still funny to me watching Michel read this and get all sad: "Oh no... she got rained on".

Animation wise... well obviously it's gorgeous and I still adore the 90's cell-drawn artstyle. I'd say for the majority of the runtime, it's a bit below the level of Stardust Memory but it skyrockets in the Norris fight. Design wise, it's overall pretty good too. Though I do have a pet peeve about the ground-types. What are they? Mass produced Mobile Suits based on the RX-78-2 but less powerful, right? Yeah, we have a name for those, they're called GMs. I know a Gundam show without gundams would be a hard-sell, but I'm still miffed about it. I do like the Ez-8 though. And... yup, that's about all I have to say. Despite my complaints, I still enjoyed it and it's a definite recommendation.

Coming up next, lesbian drama in robot school!

My gundam reviews :

> Hathaway's Spark > Mobile Suit Gundam > Gundam Zeta > 0083: Stardust Memory > 0080: War in the Pocket > 8th MS Team > The Witch from Mercury > Gundam Thunderbolt > The Origin > Turn A Gundam > F91 > Gundam Unicorn > Gundam 00 > MS IGLOO > Gundam Narrative > Iron-Blooded Orphans

[journeytojaburo]

My guesses for what Laplace's Box are right now are Banagher or something deep within the Unicorn Gundam. The possibility that it doesn't exist as a real object and is just a concept for bluffing and strategizing that Full Frontal brings up seems plausible too.

This guy really is an accurate Char recreation, browbone scar and all. I wonder if he just naturally had this, or he had to get it to maintain his image.

There's definitely something malicious going on with Full Frontal's mask because the inside of it is so detailed for no (?) reason...

Combined with his odd comments before about ruining his captain's "perfect battlefield", I really wonder what Angelo's deal is in relation to Full Frontal. The overprotective and devoted subordinate isn't a new character type at all (even for Gundam in general because look at Mashymre or if I want to get sadder, Sarah), so it might mean nothing serious for him or some hints of tragic backstory.

Speaking of concerning comments, Full Frontal saying he's just a vessel for the people, so that's why he's "Char" at the moment makes me think Neo Zeon is up to some sinister cloning or brainwashing again.

The discussion on the morality of killing people feels a little basic for how far in the overall series this show is, but it's still interesting to hear different people's takes on it.

It was also interesting to see Banagher describe the philosophy he learned from Vist to someone else, and I feel like Marida's response to it says a lot about her life or personality...

I always love some background name Easter eggs 😋

It's not a unique sci-fi technology, but I'm intrigued by the electronic paper photos (that were seen earlier in the Zeta movies) making an appearance in this.

[kachikirby]

SD Gundam Ultimate Battle: The Story Summary Part 1

Ok, I'm going to start writing summaries about SD Gundam stuff because I know at least a couple of people are interested in me rattling off about stuff.

But before I get into the stuff about Saddrac Knight Saga, which I think most people are interested in, I have to write about SD Gundam Ultimate Battle, and I'm splitting it into parts like the actual work did.

Side note, I do like that the binder cover for the cards is Knight Unicorn Gundam's emblem.

Yeah, this is a work where Knight Unicorn Gundam debuts in. It's also the debut of another character in Saddrac Knight Saga who I will talk about a lot. (Veterans of my page will recognize the name "Vassal Duke Strike Freedom", his younger self appears in this under the name "Crown Knight Gundam III")

The story starts out after the events of "The Legendary Giant", the second arc of the original SD Gundam Gaiden work, Sieg Zeon Hen.

The protagonist, Knight Gundam, is shocked to see a bunch of Gundams appear in the kingdom of Lacroa and break out in a fight. But the most shocking of these people is Black Dragon, an enemy who he had previously defeated. During this fight, he is suddenly assisted by a mysterious Gundam.

This is Knight Unicorn Gundam, a knight at conflict with a person named Musha Sinanju who had appeared as well. Using the summoning magic "Call", Unicorn and Sinanju start their Ultimate Battle, summoning characters from other SD Gundam worlds to fight each other.

Knight Gundam is conflicted about this and yells for the fight to stop, as they are all Gundams and should not fight in his eyes. He is critiqued by the pilot of the machine soldier Legend Vatras, Crown Knight Gundam III.

"We were summoned by Unicorn's magic only to fight!"

During this, he is targeted by Black Dragon and Knight Gundam protects him, to his surprise. Knight simply explains that it is a knight's duty to protect whoever is in front of them.

Hearing these words, Knight Unicorn decides to bestow an upgrade upon Knight Gundam in order to end this battle: The Pheonix Armor.

With assistance from Crown Knight Gundam III, Knight Gundam is able to overwhelm Musha Sinanju.

However... Musha Sinanju then turned into a card upon being defeated.

But that isn't all, something isn't right with Knight Gundam either...

Crown III: He's also a card...!? But then who...!?

Knight: Uuu.... GAAAAHHHHH!

Crown III: Knight Gundam!?

Crown III: Wait! What's wrong!? Knight Gundam!?

Knight Gundam had turned into a card, and the person who picked it up was, of course...

"With this, finally all of the binder's cards have been gathered..."

"From now on, the era of a new god has begun!"

Knight Unicorn Gundam.

-

Part Two

[scruffyssketchbook]

But why did you decide to change everything now, not earlier? And I'm tormented by the question - are you fully abandoning the original SSEC, or are you just taking a long break to return to the old one later?

There was a lot of different dramas that happened in the SSEC community last year that stressed me out super badly. (I kind of have the issue of blaming myself whenever something bad happens in the community cause I created SSEC in the first place.) After things settled down, I was very much in need of a break. Well that break came in the winter when I travelled to a place with very limited internet. Traveling here helped me clear my head and gave me a lot of time to think about SSEC.

I've been complaining about SSEC for years behind the scenes. There were a lot of glaring problems with the story that I had to hide or try to retcon out. It was a constant cycle, every few months I'd be actually depressed about SSEC and how its going and the things that made me uncomfortable in it and the lack of plan with the characters and how aimless the story is and how I cant expand the world due to how I wrote the story. Mostly the things that made me uncomfortable. It didn't really help that certain people would constantly make jokes about these things either, which made me more uncomfortable. And this cycle had been going on for years.

I tried everything to try and fix the story. I tried to retcon things that made me uncomfortable, I took out the legitimate nasty Zeon's Quest esc stuff I put in as an edgy kid, I tried redrawing pages in mass to edit out mentions of the stuff that made me uncomfortable (Like, for example, HARMONY WANTING TO MATE WITH HER SON AND BEING THE MATE OF ONE OF HER OTHER SONS, WHOM SHE HAD HUNDREDS OF CHILDREN WITH. This is tame compared to other stuff btw.) But, I realized, that at the end of the day, SSEC's foundation was built upon all of this weird stuff, so I can never truly retcon it out without breaking the story. And, with how bloated all the plots are, it'll take me 20 years to finish the story. I thought about writing SSEC with all of these issues in it for that long, and I did not want to do it, simply.

So. I decided to break the story :3

and no, I wont be returning to SSEC, as Box 31 is SSEC but executed better. Most plot points will be retained from SSEC, so it isn't even like I can write what happens at the end of SSEC without spoiling Box 31.

[niratheraven]

I thought I'd share my overall thoughts on G Witch here. This is going to have lots of spoilers for it and other Gundam shows so BEWARE SPOILERS

I haven't been this exited watching a Gundam show since I watched Turn A a few years ago. Waiting with anticipation every week for Sunday to watch a new episode and loving it when it aired felt amazing. Few pieces of media do that for me. I liked the finale. I don't feel that strong about it. I'm happy that the girls had a gayly married ending. Sure I wish we had more, but I would say the same for Turn A, and many other media I've enjoyed. Now, do I think it was a good Gundam show? When I was thinking about this 20 minutes ago in the shower, I asked my self "What is a Gundam show?". Therefore I came up with 3 arguments about what defines Gundam.

Gundam is a show that depicts the disparity between the rich and the poor + giant robots in space. Every Gundam show has a major conflict that drives the characters into action, whether it is Zeon against the Earth federation, or Celestial Being against the world, and in G witch Earth against the space corporations. In the end it's always the big players play with their expensive space toys and the rest suffers because of it. The difference between those and G witch is that the characters are not fighting for one side or the other. We see attempts by Miorine to partially resolve it but in the end the show depicts only the resolution of their personal conflict. UC Gundam never resolved its conflict fully either, but the characters managed to get to the end of their current war while fighting for either side. A new war would always start in the next series. Now, is G witch a lesser Gundam for not depicting fully this major conflict? Maybe, if Gundam was just that. Some could argue that that is just a small part of Gundam, instead they could say:

Gundam is a Shakespearean drama with homoerotic tones written by a jaded director + giant robots in space. The grand conflicts, the revenge plots, the mysterious characters, you can see the Shakespeare influence in Tomino's work who also is a big fan of stage plays and the like. G witch fits somewhat well in that context, but we do get a proper gay relationship between the main characters + Utena references. While this categorization works for Tomino's Gundam, it doesn't feel the same for other Gundam shows, where many of the original drama of Gundam became just a point of reference. The revenge plots and the conflicts became Gundam tropes. The original Gundam became the inspiration for most of what followed it. The context of Gundam's creation was doomed to be lost by the following series in the franchise. And that context being:

Gundam is a toy commercial. The reason why Gundam exists in the first place was to sell toys. That is how a lot of art is created. Someone with more money than they could imagine wants to spend it by hiring artist to create for them. It has been like that since the birth of civilization and it still continues to be. Of course the political drama that Tomino created is appreciated beyond the original scope of the production companies, but Gundam still managed to sell those toys... well not at first, but later it certainly did. G witch has excelled in that department. It managed to create a compelling story that got a lot of people into the franchise and into gunpla. Model sales records asside, G Witch isn't going to be remembered by the fans as the Gundam with the most toys sold. What we will remember is this being the first gundam with a fem protagonist who is also in a gay relationship throughout it. One of the main criticisms of the show echoed throughout the web is that it's not enough. It's not enough episodes, it's not enough conflict, or world building, it's not enough GAY!!! I think one of the shows biggest weaknesses it's also one of its strengths. Its subtlety. The show is very subtle in many of its aspects, like the conflict Earth-space, but the most important one, the relationship between Miorine and Suletta. Their relationship develops in subtle ways. We see a hug, a hand holding, or a conversation between the two in the garden or their rooms. We never see the romantic development fully, but it's implied that it is happening off screen. That would definitely leave an audience starved for more lgbtq+ representation to want more. But, considering the context of THIS particular Gundam's creation, it's a miracle we even got what we did. A while ago I heard about the film Suzume by Makoto Shinkai, who has made quite a name for himself with films like Your Name etc etc. In an interview he mentioned how he wanted to have a fem love interest for the main girl protagonist, but that was not to be because of objections by the producers. And if that happened to a big name director, what about G witch? I don't know what this series went through to even get made, but I can't imagine it had it easy. That thought makes me appreciate its subtlety while also wanting for more. Overall, I loved the show, even if it is not perfect, even if I wanted more out of it.

Also also, I wanted to add in regard to what is a Gundam show, Mobile Fighter G Gundam broke all the rules of previous Gundam, it was so outlandish that it had a poor reception by Gundam fans of the era, but went to be appreciated as one of the best in the franchise. So who's to say what makes a good Gundam? Certainly not its "fans".

[soufre-de-paris]

we watched the first few episodes of the original gundam from 1979.

it is absolutely brilliant. thoughts under the cut.

this is a truly different experience from watching later media of any sort. the story continues from episode to episode, without the soft-reset we are used to in nearly all episodic television outside of select prestige series, especially these days. the character designs vary so wildly one might reasonably assume they all come from different properties:

this feels so very 70s (in '79!) but when's the last time you saw any anime with such diverse style of character design? modern anime suffers from such extreme sameface syndrome that this is such a breath of fresh air.

(also bright, baby, why are you with the girls in this clearly gender segregated split? A's suggestion is that it's to separate the serious characters from the slapstick. pretty sure y'all can guess my interpretation 😏)

even though obviously the "heroic"' machines are those with brighter colors, the designs of the machines themselves are wild; they aren't just color-changed variations to tell the "good guys" from the "bad guys":

which is another point.

caveat that we are only on episode three, and i have consumed absolutely nothing of gundam ever prior to this.

so far what we know of the zeon (i'll use the canonized name instead of what they're actually saying, which is jion, likely better transcribed as zion) is that they started a war of independence, and in the ensuing war, half of humanity was killed. we are told this outright in the opening.

in a doylist sense, we know they have some pretty clear indications of "evil" (nearly all their machines are military green, we have seen exactly zero zeon women, everything is dark, one renegade zeon eagerly kills civilians, etc) but in-story, there is so far no reason to believe the entire movement or whatever is evil, at least not compared to the "heroic" side.

in the text, char (main "villain") is presented with steadfast determination and drive and dedication. he praises his men freely, makes decisions quickly, and isn't afraid to enter the fray himself to turn the tides. he mourns the loss of men, while working towards ensuring future successes won't mean they died in vain. he works hard, and despite his worse equipment, regularly runs circles around those with better tech. he's valiant, clever, thoughtful, and just generally traditionally hero-coded.

comparing him to amuro (main "hero") and his wishywashy inadequacy? his wrong motives of "i'll do it because i'm ordered to do so"? his selfishness? his bleeding heart that leads him to fail to do his duty, resulting in worse outcomes for all? the only thing amuro has going for him is that he's a genius and he learns quickly, and does occasionally rise to the challenge.

i'm very eager to see the trajectory of both these characters! from the time period i'd expect the two to invert—amuro becoming more traditionally heroic while char descends into selfishness—but we'll see!

very compelling storytelling so far!

[genesis-sabre]

Welcome

art by ug33333

Welcome to my fan blog!

You can call me Michi. English is my second language, so I might not be fully proficient. This side blog is dedicated to my thoughts, theories, headcanons, analysis, and discussions about the Xenoblade and Xeno series (Xenogears & Xenosaga). Also sometimes I talk about Takahashi Tetsuya & Soraya Saga interview/works, even Monolith Soft too!

Just a bit warning there's may be a chance I talk about certain topic/subject in NSFW nature/manner, so this account isn't suggested for minors/underage.

My favorite characters are:

Malos / Metsu

Mythra / Hikari

Melia

Nia

N

Alvis

Eunie

Ashera

Tyrea

Trinity Processor trio

A

Pyra / Homura

Mio

Matthew

KOS-MOS

URTV boys (Jr/Rubedo, Albedo, Nigredo/Gaignun)

Shion Uzuki

chaos

MOMO Mizrahi

Ziggy

Godwin's Sister (Shelley & Mary)

I don’t often discuss ships/OTPs, and I’m generally fine with any pairings. However, I do have a few favorite OTPs :

Trinity Processor ships : Pneumacest (Pyra x Mythra), Ontoscest (Alvis x A), Malos x Mythra, Ontos x Logos x Pneuma

Tyrea x Melia | Melia x Tyrea (🔁OK)

Noah x N

Malos x Zeke | MetsuJiku

Nia x Pyra / Nia x Homura / NiaHomu

Malos x Rex / MetsuRex | Rex x Malos / RexMetsu (🔁OK)

Rex x Shulk

Rex x Nia

Ashera x Eunie / Ashenie

Lanz x Zeon

Lanz x Taion

Sena x Shania

Melia x Nia

Mio x Miyabi

Albedo x Jr/Rubedo | AruRube

Nigredo/Gaignun x Jr/Rubedo | NiguRube

URTV OT3 (as long it's 右Rubedo/Bottom!Rubedo)

KOS-MOS x Shion

Rubedo x MOMO

Canaan x chaos

chaos x Wilhelm

chaos x Jr/Rubedo

Note: for shipping I follow JP tagging system, where the ship name is based on the ship roles (Top (left) x Bottom (right)), so you can guess my preference & which OTP/pair that I prefer to see top/bott in certain pair. Also, I’m mostly Fixed shipper/左右固定 (left-right fixed/🔁❌), Riba/switch🔁 only at certain pair (but not common)

This blog generally focus on analysis, thoughts and headcanon of Xenoblade series + it's characters. Shipping aren't the main focus (even if there's a chance I might talk about it once in a blue moon).

Also, I have no issues with any type of ships or content or whatever, even if it's considered 'weird' or 'freaky' (including dead dove stuff). I’m quite open-minded as long as its fiction. If that bothers you, it might be best to block my account.

I do my analysis/headcanon/theorizing for FUN & self-indulgence. so please DO NOT take my words as a fact or think I'm a right/wrong. tl;dr  just don't take my post at face value.

Keep that in mind, the content I write on this blog is mostly my personal opinion. It’s not intended for journalism, scientific articles, factual references, or anything similar.

Since the content on this blog is based on my personal opinions, perspectives, and tastes. So a lot of posts/content/analysis/headcanon might be biased. Take it with a grain of salt.

Feel free to translate or citing my post as a reference, as long you're credit/linking my post!.

I rarely interact with others, but feel free to engage with me. I won’t discuss or respond to discourse/hateful comment here, and I will block anyone who is being rude.

By following my blog, you acknowledge and accept my preferences and content, and agree to being exposed to it. I dont take any responsibilities for any discomfort you may experience from viewing/following my account.

I hope you enjoy your stay in my blog!

I also have Dreamwidth where I archive my post! Please be sure to check my DW!

[kronoose]

DND rambling advice is ok

I have no idea wtf where I want to take my rogue like in the beginning it was mostly for the legal clean slate and a small bit revenge because the pirates gave him more work

But then we realized we can't go back to zeon which was not really a big deal he is going to miss his boss but it is what it is

Then he lost his only friend in the group and is firmly the odd one out with the old guard who know eachother from school both are also elves and ugly (inside joke) also more bookish and prefer to be amongst the living

Luka doesn't prefer the living he was an embalmer he didn't deal with the crowds or people outside of the bar tender at the pub and Sal occasionally

He has no deity to follow and doesn't see the appeal in most religions other than the healing which a half decent potion can do that job

At the moment he's kinda just following to keep the old guard safe like they're still decent people who don't deserve to be hunted for not knowing they were fucking with plans by returning the child

Luka blames himself for not putting two and two together about the pirates and the child and very much for sal's death no matter how much he jokes about warning Sal

I feel like he's falling behind the group goals wise like the barbarian has 'become a man'

Our ranger got his wyvern

The bard will definitely have an amazing song if we survive but I don't really count him because he's leaving the group to be with his gf

Idk about our wizard but he's a parent now

But my character isn't out on a coming of age story or looking for a long lost love or any romance really because that would feel weird to me because my father is the DM

I'm thinking maybe making his goal be something to do with his profession like learning more proper post death rituals but like how does that really come up plot wise except PC death which I don't want

[the-stray-liger]

1/? Heya Nate! Sorry for skipping last week. Meds have been kicking my ass recently but that's a story for another day lmao

Things have been BIG(tm) starting with the fact that everyone hates Makeda Shion xD. She made her grand debut calling Captain Nyls raggedy to his face. She was such a bitch, the vibes immediately turned hostile with everyone.

Our mission was to extract some POWs that had managed to escape Kycilia Zabi. All fine and dandy until we find that the squad in charge of the city is *drum rolls* the one Cleopatra the handler is from. And turns out she isn't even top dog, she's actually one of the lower ranking members.

Better yet, the POWs were being sheltered by a priest. A priest who is also a turncoat and declared persona non grata by Zeon. A priest who unknowingly had a fucking *bug* planted on him.

2/? So yeah, we got compromised and Cleopatra and friends roll up to take us down. She's a powerful Newtype and could see right through our cover identities, but she didn't kill us because there was no fun when we couldn't fight back. Real healthy, I know xD So Alicia the pilot and the priest turn themselves in as hostages and allow Makeda and Sergeant Reed to leave. Captain Nyls begins frothing at the mouth upon hearing that Alicia was captured and Makeda outright suggests trading fucking *Arkady* for Alicia. She then let her thirst for Reed get the best of her and she tried to outright seduce him in into agreeing with her. She failed, Reed barely succeded his roll to not fucking shoot her, and now she lost any sympathy with the team. But she did threaten Reed with the knowledge that she IS aware of what Arkady has been doing and who he's trying to reach out to. And she will no doubt use that against the team. Once the mission is completed of course, she's likes Alicia xD 3/? For the rescue mission we had that one Zeon brainwashee we befriended go as part of a prisoner exchange. Turns out she was well-liked and actually was offered a spot in the team by their commander himself. But she wasn't as psychopathic as them so she declined. Meanwhile Alicia and the priest were being interrogated by the team's 2nd Lieutenant, Tetra. Think Kimblee from FMA but a 17-yo girl. By the power of good dice rolls, they're able to convince her to let them go, mostly because she's a Spacenoid supremacist and can't bring herself to kill them once she learns that Alicia is from Side 5 and the priest from Side 2. During the course of all of this, Alicia awakens to her Newtype powers, no doubt exacerbated from being under so much stress and surrounded by so many Newtypes. And she was able to telepathically reach out to Reed and Makeda just as they ordered an air assault on the building they're in. The brainwashee and Alicia managed to escape before the building collapsed, and the priest managed to get out just as Makeda was about to floor it... and he was bringing a badly injured Tetra with him. And that's where we ended! War and hell on Planet Earth!

this STORY omg, I am loving this Tetra character and Alicia!!! wow so many twists and turns! I say this literally every time but I am so insanely jealous of you for being able to play this gundam themed campaign with so many cool things and insane plots!

Thank you so much for always dropping by to give me updates, a lot of times they are the only thing that keep me going. I hope you can get used to your meds soon! and looking forward for the next update 💕

[ponett]

Thoughts on mecha series and Evangellion in relation to Gundam? (I'm trying to get you started)

other people have explored these subjects in-depth many times, but i think people who like later mecha series should just go watch the original 1979 gundam. i know it's old and the animation isn't amazing, but it's good. but mainly i think people who haven't seen it would be shocked by how many elements of later mecha protagonists like shinji in eva, simon in gurren lagann, and renton in eureka seven were already there in amuro

i think people will watch darker takes on a genre like eva and madoka without having much experience with the things they're riffing on, and thus assume that they must be "deconstructing" the tropes in the originals. like people just have some vague assumption about what gundam is about (there is in fact a viral post about this going around tumblr right now) and, in turn, assume that eva is critiquing the trope of forcing teenagers to fight in a giant robot war by saying "that's fucked up, actually." and so that becomes their main take on what eva is "about"

in reality... that's already what gundam is about! amuro goes through so much of the same shit as shinji. he's too young to be piloting the gundam, but he's being manipulated by the adults with power over him. he tries and fails to run away from all the fighting. he ends up losing people he cares about and is traumatized. he becomes desensitized to the violence he commits. in many scenes the gundam is basically an unstoppable fucking monster to the zeon forces in the same way that the eva is. perhaps my favorite example of this is the episode where amuro reunites with his mother. she sees him kill two zeon soldiers and is horrified at what her child has become. at this point amuro has been conditioned to believe that he needs to be a killer in order to be loved, because piloting the gundam is the only thing that earns him praise aboard the white base. he runs away and lashes out by obliterating a random defenseless zeon base. bright praises him for this despite previously saying it was a pointless risk, and the episode ends with amuro's mom watching in tears as her son flies off to keep fighting the war. they never see each other again

that's only episode 13 of the original gundam series and they were already doing shit like that! it rules

but the thing is, i think when you actually go back and watch classic gundam (and ideon, etc.), you gain more of an appreciation for the elements of those later shows that are new, instead of giving them credit for the things that are unabashedly pulled straight from gundam. eva's not novel for saying that making kids pilot giant killing machines is bad. what it does do is trade the wartime political drama of gundam for a focus more squarely on the psychology of the characters (and lots of christian imagery because anno likes shit like devilman and ultraman). it's not about war, it's about the ways in which shinji struggles to relate with other people, and some very fraught parent/child relationships, and things like that

also guntank is the best. they should've put guntank in eva

[luminisvii]

my zeta rewatch is going well but like, the weird gender stuff is more apparent, culminating in how reccoa and haman are the opposite in every way. reccoa is considered a bad soldier because of her identity of being a woman, something she is seen as having no control over, and also because the writers thing women's only aspirations are to get married and have kids. so you have this thing where reccoa is 23, the same age as amuro, by the way, and she is considered as "too old" and ruined by her experiences by war to get a husband, thus leading up to her defection to team srirroco because char won't fuck her she's so desperate to get married. it's weird. and it's explicitly stated that the reason for all of this is because she's a woman who naturally desires to be in love and is obsessed with men. it's such a waste, reccoa has a pretty fantastic premise as a character, and then they chose to do this with her. and then on the other side, you have haman, who is seen as a bad woman. she's cold, manipulative, cruel, and traitorous, all traits that char has, but like. it's okay when HE does it. the problem is, if they didn't want me to like haman, they did a really bad job, because while all the other women are constantly being demeaned by the narrative and their male peers, haman just struts in to announce that she's the baddest bitch on this show and you'd better not fuck with her like. this would be awesome if it weren't for the fact that i know she's being seen as bad because she isn't the weak caretaker that faa has been forced into being. like sure. she's reviving zeon, which char will go on to do the same thing in CCA, but what is really bad is that she's manipulating mineva. unfortunately, i'm an equal opportunist, and i love char for being a messy whore, and i also love haman for her similar crimes of commit treason and look hot doing it. clearly it worked for others bc i'm pretty sure haman is the most popular female character from zeta. idk. it's weird that i see people use zeta as a defense against gundam's shitty female character writing bc are you sure you wanna do that? almost all of the female characters are constantly demeaned for their status as women and just because they die in war too doesn't mean it's equal, if anything, women tend to die disproportionally. it's just odd. i'll always be mad that reccoa is such a wasted character along with emma and unfortunately haman gets messed up in ZZ. i enjoy gundam and zeta but it's really hard to deny all this just really bad writing and weird morals.