I Have Also Just Found Out Its Only Going To Be Three Episodes, As Opposed To A Full Series.

I have also just found out it’s only going to be three episodes, as opposed to a full series.

The protagonist, Rio Hojo, is essentially standard energetic boy, his design reminds me of Wistario Afram’s a lot, and I’m liking the style of protagonists we’re getting here. He’s also Hawaiian, which is cool. It’s a nice contrast to his avatar, who while I don’t dislike, I do think looks kinda generic in comparison (it’s probably the black hair).

I don’t really have any strong opinions on the mentor, Seria Urutsuki, other than the fact that she’s probably gonna be Mask Lady, the Char. However, Mask Lady?

Is that an Ippei Gyoubu lady? I freaking love it so much. Yeah, it’s a lot like his other work, but his other work is good and we get to see this one animated. I absolutely adore the jacket. It’s always wonderful to see the similarities between how he designs people and how he designs mechs, which elements are common, and which are not.

And now; the mobile suits.

The Lah’s just fine. I don’t really dislike it or anything, I’m inclined to believe that a lot of the design choices are due to it wanting to be an Entry Grade, and thus needing it to be based of a suit that already has an Entry Grade model (this being reinforced by the Build Strike Exceed Galaxy also being an Entry Grade). I do like the RX-78 design and it is justifiably iconic, It’s just we see a lot of them, and it gets routine.

The aforementioned Build Strike Exceed Galaxy looks lovely, and I’m sure it’ll make for some wonderful poses and designs, especially with all the effect parts.

I honestly don’t have much of an opinion on either the F-Kunoichi Kai or the Plutine Gundam. I’m not that interested in Cross Silhouette as a line, and Gundam Build Divers re:rise wasn’t that long ago. I would hope that if they’re releasing the Plutine that we may eventually get kits for the Dubious Arche Gundam and Reverse Turn X from the finale, but I wouldn’t expect it. Though I will admit I would love to Display the HGBF Plutine and the HG00 Plutone opposite each other now.

And now the two I’m actually looking forward to. The Shin Burning Gundam and the 00 Diver Arc. The Shin Burning looks to have such a dynamic pose, and it’s precursors were all typically suits that had an emphasis on Martial Arts, so it’ll make for some cool poses even before considering the wings or effect parts. I do think that the legs look a little odd though, probably the roundedness. The 00 Diver Arc is an odd one, since while I very much disliked the 00 sky, I had basically no feelings on the regular 00 Diver. This one looks to have a fancy energy sword system like the AGE FX or 00 Quanta, which I’m very much interested in (as well as those little sword bucklers on the arms). However, I do find the chest quite boring. Sticking a gun in the chest isn’t an alternative to actual visual design.

Finally, I don’t actually have a stake in the “Metaverse” as a concept, in series or out. I think that someone at Bandai just realised they’d accidentally created advertisement for such a thing in the form of the build series. I should probably also mention that due to the massive amount of MMORPG’s and similarly massive, all-encompassing online things in Japan at time of writing, it’s quite possible that it’s a very different climate to that of the western world in regards to how feasible a metaverse’d actually be.

Okay, so we gotta a bunch of information on Gundam Build Metaverse this week, and I got opinions on it.

I’m also gonna just quickly preface this with two things for context.

1. If you’re new to Gundam (since there’s always a bunch of new people with any new show, and Witch from Mercury is no exception), then know that the Build Series has massively lower stakes. The general target demographic is a lot lower, and it typically patterns itself a lot of Pokemon - the whole shonen-y vibe, the whole “to be a master” thing. I personally also like this, but it can be a bit of a tone whiplash going from “mainline” Gundam to the Build Series.

2. As above, I generally like the Build series for both the Anime and the model kits, with both Build Fighters and Build Fighters Try having some of my favourite fight scenes in the entire Gundam series. However, I absolutely loath the first season of Build Divers (I might do a post on it later), and as such a lot of what I don’t want to see is directly cribbed form that.

In a nutshell, though it’s lower-stakes, I’m usually here for the fights and the model designs, and a lot of what I focus on is gonna be those.

I’m trying to stay away from long posts unless it’s analysis or me gushing about something, so I’ll follow this up momentarily.

I’m mildly annoyed it took me this long to realise that, in a series full of them, the Mobile Armour mode of the destroy Gundam is essentially a redesign of the Big Zam from the original mobile suit Gundam. The positron reflectors substitute for I-fields, the "Aufprall Dreizehn" High-energy Beam Cannon replacing the Large Mega Particle Gun. Even the anti-air claws on the big zam are represented with the Destroy’s flying arms. Finally, it’s name, the Destroy Gundam is apparently a reference to the second episode of the original series, which had that as its title.

I mean, I know it had a bunch of influence from the Psycho Gundam I and II, but I’d just never clocked the Big Zam as an influence before.

Just realised that part of the appeal of units using the Rodi frame in Iron Blooded Orphans (besides them looking like little potatoes/dumplings/buns with guns) is that their design resembles the old prototype Zaku unit built by the Principality of Zeon

(I’m specifically referring to the Man Rodi, Landman Rodi, Monkey Rodi and my personal favourite, the Labrys)

With them appearing as exaggerated versions of the following:

The Zaku prototype units (in some sources called “crabman”)

Which were then replaced with the Mobile Worker and subsequently the Waff in Gundam: The Origin.

It’s just neat spotting common design themes with the Zaku-esque suits.

Come to Gundam, we have;

The Fat Uncle

The Gaw Attack Carrier

The Mad Angler

The Gattle

And the Rewloola (imagine a report of being “sunk by the Rewloola”)

I’m begging you to name your ships something else

Today is the day we acknowledge that “I heard the moon was damaged in the calamity war” is just an absolutely wild thing to say. In context and out of context.

First off, You Heard? As in, this is some rumour that you’re not actually sure about? I know they’re on Mars, and haven’t had much/any of an education, but I would think that the fate of Earth’s primary celestial body would be fairly well known. But this is just like “oh yeah, apparently the moon’s busted”.

Second, “Damaged in the Calamity War”. I don’t know why but damaged is the word I focus on here. Damage implies it’s still functioning. Damage implies that it took the hit but wasn’t destroyed. Damaged is such an odd way to talk about something like the moon.

Like, it really sells the Calamity War as this, well, Calamitous thing. You can really understand why it was such an upheaval that necessitated gjallarhorn’s formation, why the dating process is “post disaster”. And really, why a lot of the setting is how it is.

Why gjallarhorn’s mostly Earth based, why Mars is a backwater with poverty and pmc’s. Why Jupiter can essentially be run by Teiwaz (well, they at least have a lotta influence there). It’s just one example of what happened to this world.

I know we’re probably never gonna fully know what happened in the Calamity War, since that’d ruin the mystique, but…

Just imagine what it must’ve been like.

Gundams battling mobile armours for the fate of the moon.

And behind them, Earth.

*Follow-up to my previous post about Mcgillis and how Gundam Ibo does myth really well*

Honestly I really like Mcgillis from Gundam ibo, because I like how you can look at him and understand exactly why he does what he does, and why he thought that was a good decision at the time.

And I think this is because he’s quite…… childish? In his reasoning sometimes. Like, him wanting to become the successor to Agnika Kaieru to reform the corrupt gjallarhorn. It feels like a lot of who Mcgillis is and what he does was decided in that moment when he looked at that book, and he hasn’t really questioned or changed his goals in that period of time.

Around the end of Iron-blooded Orphans run, his plan was solidly criticised as he basically just wanted to get Bael, and assumed that the rest of Gjallarhorn would just bow down once he had it. But, to Mcgillis’ mind, why wouldn’t they? That’s the foundation of gjallarhorn. He essentially sat down in the empty throne and expected everyone to do as he said. It’s a simple, childish way of looking at things. And how did he get Orga and Tekkadan on side? He promised to make them “Kings of Mars”. Not ruler, not make them a Gjallarhorn branch. Kings. It’s something a child would offer. It’s why his rhetoric convinces the young Liza Enza, who’s with the revolutionary fleet.

It’s why he gets on so well with Mikazuki. And it’s why I think his relationship with Almiria is so interesting.

(Not that all that’s for nothing, he’s very intelligent and knows a lot about how Gjallarhorn works which is why he’s so effective. It’s just that his goals were decided when he was a child, so they’re still tied to the perceptions of a child)

I do believe Almiria’s underutilised in IBO - she doesn’t do that much and I feel that she could have been used to contrast Kudelia a lot more, as a “princess” figure. But she does showcase a lot of Mcgillis (and Gaelio’s) character. Mcgillis is very gentle, kind and understanding with her and reassures her when she expresses doubt or worry about the situation they’re in. Mcgillis has been in a similar situation to her and probably sees at least a little of himself in her. He treats her the way he wanted to be treated and his childishness probably allows him to understand her a lot better (Though I should point out that he does knowingly manipulate her, her brother and her father a lot during the show, even if he does believe every word he tells them).

Even Montag, his alter ego is another expression of this (and of course, Char reference), because it’s just so dramatic and theatrical. He appears and warns Kudelia like a masked theatre villain and even when he betrays Gaelio, you can tell that a part of him is absolutely loving this. It’s yet another childish affectation that makes perfect sense for someone who fully believes that if he can just get Bael, then everything will fall into place.

This is in contrast to Rustal Elion, who actually understands how the world works and how to change it, in addition to having the force to back that up. Rustal isn’t bound by some ancient legend, he’s looking toward the future and deals in what is, like Julieta and the Bearded Man.

I just find Mcgillis really interesting as a character, because his failure was essentially pre-determined, simply because he got swept up in the legend of Agnika Kaieru, while Rustal kept his feet firmly planted. But then it goes odd slightly, because Mcgillis’ leaves behind a legacy almost accidentally.

Mcgillis allies with Tekkadan, who pilot the legendary Gundam frames, and arranged to have two of the Seven Stars (Gaelio and Carta) killed. This knocks the Issue family out of the Seven Stars and essentially brings the Baudin family into his corner. Mcgillis is later killed by Gaelio, fully restoring the Baudin family and ending the Fareed family (unless that other blond boy Iznario had counts, but it seems unlikely). This leaves the Seven Stars two down. Then, after Mcgillis has died, Akihiro manages to kill Iok, ending the Kujan family of the Seven Stars. This, completely unrelatedly to Mcgillis’ schemes, causes the large-scale reform of gjallarhorn and the end of the Seven Stars system, purely because Mcgillis brought Tekkadan on board, who then got into a feud with Iok and Jasley.

It’s just kinda hilarious that Mcgillis’ plan, which is carried out by Rustal, his sworn enemy, kinda only succeeds post-mortem because Akihiro manages to bring down Iok.