Update: Having Now Watched Episode 23, I Can Now Say That It Isnt.

Update: having now watched episode 23, I can now say that it isn’t.

If only because a new, bigger metaphor came along.

Immediate thought while watching the opening of Witch From Mercury episode 22:

I wonder if this is a metaphor for how lack of oversight into corporate dealings will eventually lead to them becoming untouchable monoliths, where oversight is pointless because they can either absorb losses or just overrule them.

*Spoilers for Witch From Mercury Finale Follow*

Oh! I do just want to call out dead quick - Ericht is in the little red iceman, and they state that Suletta moved “them” out of the Gundam. Assuming that they don’t mean it in a “we are legion, the one who is many” way, this implies that Elan 4 has been moved to the little blue iceman.

Hugh Fleming: Luke and Biggs

Sanjulián, wraparound cover illustration for Starstrike, by W. Michael Gear (DAW Books, July 1990). Oil on canvas, 19.5 x 28 inches. (Heritage identifies this painting as Treasure of Light, but that appears to be an error; see the page at the isfdb, https://bit.ly/3BvfH7Y.)

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So I talk a lot about the Calamity War. About what it must’ve been like, about the sheer scale and size of it. About how it wrecked the moon, and grants the Gundam frames this near-mythic significance.

I also know that we’re never gonna get a proper understanding of what happened in it, and that’s ok.

But Y’know what I’d currently settle for?

Knowing just what the hell the Gundam Seere’s about.

What we know:

It’s the ASW-G-70 Gundam Seere, and was completed just prior to the Dantalion. From this, we know it was deployed in the calamity war fairly late. It was active in P.D. 323, whereupon it attacked a civilian craft, resulting in the death of Argi’s family. It’s presumably connected to Ville Klassen (who’s maddeningly difficult to find a picture of when you don’t have the original manga to hand) and therefore the Warren’s (and maybe the Zalmforts?).

Because, while I’m sure that the only picture we have of it (above) is supposed to represent Argi’s perception of it during the event, and may not accurately represent what it looks like, part of me wants to try and kitbash it. But other than it’s hunched pose and clawed hands, I wouldn’t really know where to go. The head does resemble that of the Astaroth, but again, that could be artistic licence to tie it in better when Argi pilots the Astaroth later.

Thing is, it doesn’t otherwise show up in Iron-blooded orphans Gekko, nor does Ville Klassen get his comeuppance. Which makes me think the manga was originally supposed to have another Arc, but I can’t really find anything on this to suggest either way. I don’t think the manga ended poorly, I just think that there were a lot of loose ends, the Seere being one of them.

The lack of burgers in Witch from Mercury is giving credence to my theory that burgers are not so much a calling card for Gundam as they are a calling card for Yoshiyuki Tomino. Stay with me here.

Burgers most prominently feature in the original Mobile Suit Gundam, in Zeta Gundam and in Gundam ZZ. Each of them have multiple episodes with burgers, and in many cases, those burgers are explicitly addressed — not incidental details. Zeta Gundam, famously, has Bright chowing down on a burger while Emma drops some psychoanalysis of Kamille on him, but it also has Bright being told off for eating a burger on the bridge. Burgers are all over ZZ, including a scene where Judau hands them out to the crew from a basket. And MSG has a burger as Sleggar Law's death flag, but also an entire episode dedicated to Bright trying to procure salt to make the ship's burgers taste better — both of which were iconic enough to become meals in the Gundam cafe.

And one thing these three shows have in common is that they were all written and directed by Yoshiyuki Tomino.

Four examples of burgers in early Gundam works. The top two are from MSG; the bottom two are (L-R) Zeta and ZZ

Tomino doesn't feature them as prominently in other works, but they do still appear. For example, Victory Gundam still includes a scene of characters eating burgers, and Gundam F91 has a burger on a sign in the background. That second example doesn't seem like much until you remember that F91 was originally planned as a full TV series before being compressed into a movie, and has little opportunity for characters to have downtime — so that one appears at all feels very intentional.

You can also see burgers on display in another Tomino work from the period, Space Runaway Ideon.

L-R: Victory Gundam, Gundam F91, Space Runaway Ideon

Meanwhile, when Tomino was kicked off the franchise, the burgers went with him. In G Gundam, Domon is offered a pizza, and there is no sign of burgers. In Unicorn, Banagher takes Aubrey to get some fast food, but they visit a hot dog stand. In Gundam Hathaway, Hathaway and friends get fried chicken. And in Witch from Mercury, the only food on display — aside from the tomatoes — is cafeteria grub and, uh, slabs of ham.

Really, the only instances I know of burgers appearing in a non-Tomino Gundam are in Wing, and all that has is a burger on a billboard and a Wacdonald's sign — both blink-and-you'll-miss-it background details. While on the surface, this may seem comparable to F91, it really isn't: when you have forty-nine episodes and a movie to work with, you can do a lot more than a sign.

Gundam characters pointedly eating something other than a burger

And what happened when Tomino returned to the franchise with Reconguista in G?

The burgers came back too!

Reconguista in G

There is a single exception here: War in the Pocket, not directed by Tomino, does prominently feature burgers (and I don't mean the meme). But that, itself, may be telling. War in the Pocket was the first Gundam series to be made without Tomino's involvement; were the creative leads perhaps inspired to add a gratuitous burger scene to evoke the spirit of Tomino?

All that said, the reason this is still only a theory, and not a master's thesis, is that I don't have all the data yet. I haven't seen every post-Tomino Gundam series (though, frankly, I have no real drive to see what I've missed), and the only one of Tomino's non-Gundam works I've seen is the aforementioned Ideon. If burgers show up in Xabungle, L-Gaim or King Gainer… then I'll really know I've cracked the code.