Mobile Suit Gundam

Falldog’s Guide to Gundam Canon and Timelines (2020 Edition)

 

About a six years ago I had the idea to put together a piece discussing the Gundam franchise’s many timelines and many, many complexities. Little did I know that I was opening a can of worms. Welcome to that can of worms.

The Gundam franchise is a confusing assortment of TV series, manga, games, novelizations, and even audio dramas. These are broken across many different universes, and within those universes, similar and sometimes contradictory stories. What I’ve tried to do below is take as much of the franchise’s numerous installments I could muster and lay them out graphically. Before we get to that there are a couple of core concepts we need to cover.

 

How to watch Gundam - Universal Century

 

So, you’re interested in watching through Gundam’s Universal Century (UC) timeline? From the quintessential Mobile Suit Gundam which started the ball rolling over 40 years ago, to the upcoming Hathaway’s Flash? Well here’s how.

Watch it in order in which the series was produced and released.

/end article

 

...alright, let me elaborate.

Otaku Evolution Episode 147 - Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack

 

Ah yes, Char's Counterattack, a movie full of oddities that nevertheless always impresses me. Perhaps it's the production values, but I've always felt a sense of gravity to the proceedings, like I was watching a colossal, momentous event. Is it legitimately that, though, or is it that only in the sense that it's forced into it by circumstance? It occurs to me that the feature might be great in spite of itself and it's little Tomino quirks. Then again, I like some of those quirks, too.

Even Quess, to a degree. A small degree. A very small degree. (But not Hathaway, fuck him.)


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Otaku Evolution Episode 120 - Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory

Time to exorcise another evil spirit from my anime fandom and shove Gundam 0083 in the wood chipper where it belongs. Sure, it's pretty, but it's also as dumb as a sack of knobs. It's quite possibly the worst entry into the Universal Century timeline in terms of characters and plot. The characters? Most of them are insufferable. The plot? Goes further than it needs to. Maybe it's best to watch this by fast forwarding through most of the dialogue to the action bits. Or, you know, watch War in the Pocket or 08th MS Team instead.

 

Kou and Nina are just... I have a real life, palpable hatred for these fictional characters.

 

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Otaku Evolution Episode 91 - Mobile Suit Gundam III (Movie)

Live (taped) from a secluded Antarctic base's officer's club, it's my review of the final movie in the original Mobile Suit Gundam movie trilogy! Featuring state-of-the-art animation techniques (lol) and all-star cast of nobodies! I talk a bit about Newtypes, call out Sayla Mass for her lack of awareness, show a mess of clips from the Gundam franchise, all of which I had to shorten frustratingly, and actually utilize more than two sound effects! So strap into your mobile suits and step onto the launch platform, it's time to finish off the One Year War!

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Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans Season 2 Episode 24 – The G-Wrekketsu-ning

SPOILERS

I don’t know why I even bother really. Every time an emotional event happens in this show, I expect it to be the ONE Mika has a reaction similar to everybody else breaking down and weeping. Within minutes after the opening occurs (which was led into by Mika being informed of Orga’s fate), Mika instead has his own St. Crispin’s Day speech. Despite Mika’s lack of flair, it is filled with determination, rallying the remainder of Tekkadan to follow through and escape while he and a small contingency of MS delay Gjallarhorn’s advance. Yes you can see a bit of sadness in Mika’s eyes, but his moments in this episode show how he doesn’t really harbor much delusion that he’s totally useless without Orga.

Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans Season 2 Episode 23 – Viva Orphans Namida

SPOILERS

Welp, despite the surrounding of their base by Gjallarhorn, Orga remains undeterred in his plan to get all of Tekkadan out of Mars. After watching this episode, and thinking about what I said this past week, I think I am in error in my perception of conviction then running away. Tekkadan for better or worse may be fighters, and will kill with impunity, but they are not conquerors. Even during Orga’s “I’m gonna be King of the Martians!” phase he is never shown to succumb to greed and ambition, nevermind the rest of Tekkadan. The title is merely a means to an end, and unfortunately for Tekkadan, that means is no longer viable in the long run.


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