So Id Been Meaning To Talk About The Gundam Build Series For A While, Since I Mentioned A While Ago That

So I’d been meaning to talk about the Gundam Build Series for a while, since I mentioned a while ago that I’m quite fond of it. I should mention that I haven’t watched either Build Fighters or Build Fighters try in over a year, so I may get some details wrong.

I really like both shows, and I think they’re about the same in terms of overall quality.

I will get one quick elephant out of the room first though. These series exist to sell toys, even moreso than the other Gundam series. This is basically the thesis statement of the entire series, and this is the main reason why they’re so very different than the “regular” Gundam series. It’s…… not too bad? Since they’re generally preaching to the choir when it comes to the actual model kits, and the designs for the show are essentially a showcase of some really cool custom models based on existing ones. Like, yes, thesis was to sell cool robots, but you can’t really accuse them of skimping on the cool robots.

At its core, it’s a story about “to be the greatest there ever was, wholly distinct from those before you” with a good sprinkling of personal growth.

The very general plot of the original Build Fighters is: Sei Iori (left, blue) is a bookish nerd whose parents run the local model shop, Sei dreams of entering the Gunpla Battle World Championships (essentially where Gundam models are animated by special particles so they can duke it out amongst each other; think fighting game tournaments but with physical objects) but though he’s really good at building them, he’s absolutely terrible at fighting with them. However, he meets Reiji (right, red sunglasses), a mysterious boy who’s really, really good at fighting with the Gunpla Sei builds, and together they form a two-man team to take on the other competitors.

It’s a pretty solid premise, and it works well. There’s a revolving cast of characters (Sei and Reiji make many rivals, who are pretty well-rounded) and the stakes start low, but get steadily higher as time goes on, giving the series a natural progression and allowing them to introduce darker elements as it goes on. Gunpla battles provides a nice, solid core for the ancillary elements to move around (though the show is still very much about the Gunpla battles).

So how are those Gunpla Fights?

They’re pretty damn good. Honestly, I’ve watched a little over half the shows they’ve made for Gundam, and I still count several of the fights in Gundam Build Fighters as my all time favourites. I’ll admit I usually like a little bit of philosophising with my giant robot fights, but you can definitely see the influence of this series on later ones, simply through the fight scenes.

Character wise? Yeah, solid. The show does wring a lot out of the “rival” template (The Main Rival, Mentor Rival, “Cool” Rival, The one who starts off goofy but is actually just as determined as the leads, etc), but there’s other side characters with their own goals. Build fighters does create a very believable world around its premise, since the rest of the world is pretty contemporary, it’s played almost like a sporting thing - fans and other people in the know can look at it and get passionate about it, but the works isn’t exclusively built around it. Due to this, a lot of the characters - even the bit ones, can feel very fleshed out. Gunpla Battle is a thing they do, it’s not there entire personality. To expand on that a little, I’m going to swing back around to the protagonists. Sei is a Gundam nerd, yes, but as above he has other aspects to him. He has friends and relationships through Gunpla Battle but they rely on who he is, not just on him being a nerd. Reiji is sorta the “cool idiot” he doesn’t really have an arc in the story, fundamentally because he’s the catalyst for Sei’s, triggering his growth as a person. Reiji just wanders about triggering other people’s character growth (other than the episode when the duo split up, but that doesn’t really change Reiji as an individual, it’s more about Sei) and seeing how other characters interact with him. It goes in well with the conclusion of the series (which I shan’t spoil) because it basically ties all that up really rather well.

The mobile suit designs are honestly pretty good across the board with this one. It’s smaller than on average, both due to the smaller series (25 episodes) and the fact that other series mobile suits get used as grunts.

Gundam Fighters Try is the sequel series, set several years later, with a different cast. I’ll probably do a separate post on it some other time, but pretty much all the points I made above that aren’t related to the protagonists also apply to it.

In a nutshell: Gundam Build Fighters: To sells toys, but the fight scenes are amazing and the characters are pretty solid.

*Spoilers follow for Witch From Mercury Episode 19*

Alright, I’d been meaning to leave this until I had more relevant images to draw from, or more to say on the topic significantly, but -

Peil Technologies is run using a “sophisticated AI” and rates the various Elans using aptitude tests, with the AI deciding which one is best for that particular time. It’s possible this policy extends to the CEO’s as well (hence why there are four of them).

But the use of an AI by big business’ to increase profits while dehumanising pretty much everyone that’s involved with it?

My, that’s almost *topical*.

Today is the day that we realise that the announced High Grade Oltlinde being a Premium Bandai means that we’ve finally reached the end of the golden age of Iron Blooded Orphans line of High Grade Kits (barring anything more from Urdr hunt).

Which is a damn shame.

(I am aware that we’re getting another HG Hajiroboshi (second form, I think?), but a large part of my affection for the HG IBO line is that it’s p-Bandai kits could be largely reproduced with add-on parts and painting- the Graze and Shiden variants particularly, so you only really bought P-Bandai if you wanted to spend money instead of time, and the Oltlinde being P-Bandai is a pretty big departure from that).

*Spoilers follow for Witch from Mercury up to episode 17*

Huh, just realised that with Elan Five moving away from the company like his predecessor, we might actually find out what the deal is with the original Elan.

Y’know, this guy.

(And I’m suddenly realising that that picture has the number 2 prominently featured on it, which miiiight be a thing?)

Because other than them building the Pharact and attempting to crush/steal Aerial, Peil Technologies is kinda a cipher among the companies.

Like Jeturk Heavy Machinery was at the whims of Vim Jeturk (trying to crush the Aerial, trying to kill Delling) up until his death, when Lauda took over and then things went downhill. And now we’re seeing Guel move back into the fold. We know about Jeturk, because we know about lots of the characters involved in it (Lauda’s a little lacking, but other than that).

Grassley Defence Systems is essentially turning into Shaddiq’s personal fiefdom. It’s less clear what’s going on in there than Jeturk Heavy Machinery, but with the increased focus on Shaddiq and the reveal that he’s got his fingers in a lot of pies - he’s at the very least got connections in Dawn of Fold, if not directly financing them for use as a personal hitsquad and he was able to get both the Lfrith Pilots (Sophie and Norea) and Nika Nanaura into Asticassia using falsified information (or perhaps in Nika’s case he just provided the funding) -we’re slowly building an insight into the company, moreso that he seems primed to be making some more overt moves as of late (IE. Kidnapping his father).

But Peil Technologies? They’re building Gundams and creating “Enhanced Humans” (say what you will about the Cosmic Era, but “Extended, “Biological CPU” and “Carbon Humans” do roll a little easier off the tongue) and that’s about it. They have an interest in capturing Aerial, but so does pretty much everyone. We’ve also seen very little of the CEO’s other than them killing off Elan four. So are they gonna send in another Elan (six)? Or are they just going to look at the situation and try something else?

Things to ponder.

Though admittedly looking at the situation as things are now, I really don’t see things ending well for Shaddiq in this show. Partially because he seems to be being set up as a Char, and partially because he’s the first to move. It really feels like he’s gonna get outmanoeuvred by Peil or Prospera at some point, or betrayed because he isn’t as smart as he thinks he is.

Sardaukar concept art by Moebius, for Jodorowsky’s Dune

Really loving the Definition on these, particularly the eyes, Akihito’s forehead and Eugene’s hair.

The gradient on Mikazuki’s boots and lower body in the first picture is also really nice, it really helps his head and chest pop, with the red of the blood and Tekkadan logo and bright blue of his eyes also serving to effectively draw the attention there.

I also want to draw specific attention to Atra’s eyes being really good, but I’m not sure how to describe it.

Mika, etc.