*Spoilers Follow For Witch From Mercury Episode 19*

*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*.

*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.

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 for Witch from Mercury Episode 19*

Gonna be honest, I’m really happy that we finally know, at least a little, where the Schwarzette fits into all this - it’s a Gundam that was being developed by Shin Sei and Jeturk Heavy Machinery jointly.

It was just so very central in a lot of theories I had running around that it’s nice to lay it to rest, Y’know?

Though I’ll admit that just because it’s a Jeturk suit that doesn’t really lay to rest who’s gonna eventually pilot the thing. I mean Norea Du Noc was able to pilot the Pharact briefly, so I wouldn’t quite dispel the idea of it being stolen. Given recent events I’d probably have my money on either Suletta or Guel, but I think that Prospera’s still a good option, especially since Aerial doesn’t need a pilot past a certain point. Then again, it’s still possible that this is (or is installed with) “quiet zero” that Prospera and Delling were working on, and is in fact a trap of some kind (especially since it was being developed with Jeturk). Hm. Though this might explain the apparent leverage Prospera had over Vim Jeturk early on, and why he seemed to be hedging his bets when it came to gundams (one one hand, it beat his best; on the other, he’s also in the Gundam development gig and thus can’t tip his hand).

I am looking forward to seeing this thing in action, though I’ll admit it’s quite tentative, mostly because I believe it’s going to be an antagonist (the design and the curves and the colour don’t exactly scream “ally” to me, though on the plus side: Hey! Another White Devil!).

Actually, that might be partially why Miorine went for the Aerial, since it’s more recognisable (from all the duels it won) and less sinister-looking (and of course, she’s seen it in action).

Which reminds me. It is kinda odd that Suletta loses to Guel because of a clear shutdown of her mobile suit, and nobody really thinks to investigate that. Yeah yeah, “the result is the only truth” but given the kinda stuff we’ve seen Aerial pull in the past and the fact that Aerial’s kinda generally terrifying, you’d think that Shaddiq or somebody’d be looking into that.

Return Of The Jedi poster by Noriyoshi Ohrai

Ride’s ending, to me at least, is indicative of the cycle of violence. Most of Tekkadan have accepted that they lost, buried their dead and are actively seeking a new life in the world they and Kudelia (and Rustal) have created. This is represented primarily by Akatsuki, the new life from the ashes of the old. Ride is somebody who just can’t let go of that. He can’t move on, he can’t make a new life for himself, principally because of the trauma he’s experienced as part of being a child soldier. That’s what his ending is, to show that some people will never get over those experiences, never be able to lay down their arms. It also would rankle that Nobliss Gordon, the man who set off the events of the entire series and was indirectly responsible for the deaths of several characters, got off Scot-free. So, Ride assassinated him. It ties up both their stories, as the one who pulled all the strings is killed in a particularly undignified manner, by Ride, the young kid who’s been constantly surrounded by violence to such an extent that he’ll willingly choose it if given the choice.

As a sequel? I feel it could work, but it would be very small-scale, since it shouldn’t mess with the ending of Iron Blooded Orphans. As such, it probably would be lacking in the mobile suit battle department. It could work. You could either have mobile suit battles occur very infrequently (I suppose like Hathaway’s flash?)or have Ride simply not step foot in a mobile suit at all, and simply move around them (the only example I could give of this is the manga, The Assassination of Gihren). Either *could* work, but I don’t particularly think that Ride needs a sequel. As above, it’s just a brief window into his current life, we can fill in the blanks ourselves as to how he got here.

As for how Sunrise and Bandai wants to handle IBO as a property? I don’t think we’re gonna get a sequel series. I admit I’m basing this primarily off how they handle Gundam Seed and 00 as properties, but if they were going to make a sequel series, I think we would have it by now. They tend to strike while the iron’s hot, with Seed Destiny coming out a mere two years after Seed. Granted the Covid-19 epidemic will have hamstrung their plans significantly, but I think that Gundam IBO: Urdr Hunt’s lateness is evidence enough of that. They tend to make a series, make a sidestory, and then there’s a slow trickle of additional content in the form of MSV’s and Manga from then on. I think we’re just getting a little more out of IBO at the moment.

Honestly, if they were to make another, I’d deeply love to see a prequel set during Calamity War, even though I know it’d be a bad idea, since it’d demystify it to such an extent. I just really love the idea of these Gundam frames being glimpses into the past, echoes of the calamity war. Seeing what Gjallarhorn was, and how it fell, seeing the beginning of all these powerful families, and the Gundam frames they are custodians of.

But the series is about Tekkadan, the titular Iron-Blooded Orphans, and I feel that you’d struggle to make an actual continuation without them.

I dont feel we'll ever really get a 'rides rebellion' sequel to gundam ibo at the end of the day for two reasons, one big and one small. and the small one is that in my opinion ride and what hes doing in the epilogue is suppose to be more of an open question then something that gets a definitive answer. something to elicit thought and speculation, and force ya to ask personal questions but also something that was not created with an answer in mind [like mgs2, and like mgs2 forcing answers might end up more detrimental then constructive to the work in the end]

which leads to the big one, and its that [in my opinion] in the sense of a corporate scale of things, i feel like theres likely a perception in the sunrise and bandai boardrooms that actually giving some sort of followup on the events would result in tanking the profitability of ibo as a property within the gundam verse as it were. because as it stands the ending of ibo is ultimately something of a perfect balance of ambiguity in theme and plotting. everyone's won but also lost, the story is a closed loop but also dangling in loose ends of potential avenues, any given interpretation of ibo on a thematic and writing level can be considered both true and incorrect at the same time because everyone is accommodated for in some degree in the themes they prefer to interpret the story as.

I see ibo as a stock built tragedy where the protagonist of the story falls and fails because he lets his worst character aspects dominate his decisions and identity. namely orgas greed and his pride, which blend together in a toxic mix of performative machismo and ambition to hide the fact he has no idea what hes doing outside of reflexively reacting to everything that happens [real lelouch of ya orga gotta say]. some see it as a cautionary tale on colonial politics and its historical impacts with a tragic ending. others see it as a classic mafia yakuza story of learning 'crime does not pay' when the police come knocking at your door but with giant robots.

and as I mentioned, in my opinion ibos ending mangages to accommodate all these different viewpoints on the same story without hard committing to any one of them. In that sense its a perfect ending because it raises so many different ideas and themes but leaves it in the audiences hand to determine what those ideas and themes mean to them.

but by that same virtue, its a perfect ending. Theres nowhere to go from a perfect ending that doesnt mess with said ending in some manner. pick a direction to go and you inevitably disappoint the people invested in the directions you didnt go [which might be fine if your willing to disappoint those people, dgmr], maintain that balance and your prolonging everyones suffering. the best direction to go i would say is to explore new territory entirely, but sequels tend to be best sold as continuations not gear changes. and as a creative those are all interesting risks to explore in searching out the next story, but for a company? with stockholders and shit?

absolutely terrifying.

so yeah, i dont think we'll ever get a 'rides rebellion', but if it does happen and im wrong...

well, i can atleast imagine it would have a god chance of blowing the ibo fanbase into smithereens. but thats just a guess on subjective quality.