Huh. So I Had A Think About This A While Ago, With An Eye Towards Putting Together A Model Display, But

Huh. So I had a think about this a while ago, with an eye towards putting together a Model Display, but what Gundam Frames look like they did in the calamity war? So if you were gonna put together a display of Calamity-War Era Gundam Frames, what would it look like?

Though this list is mostly focused on Gundam Frames, since they’re the ones we know the most about about in relation to the calamity war, I would like to quickly call out the the base Hugo is explicitly stated as being a thing during the Calamity war, if you wanted some grunts to back up your gundam’s.

Also, as of writing I haven’t seen any of Urdr Hunt, and I’m working mostly of what’s stated in the model kit manuals for suits from those. So if someone offhandedly mentions the calamity war in that, I don’t know about it.

Known - suits that we explicitly know to have existed as they are now during the calamity war.

Bael - piloted by Agnika Kaieru during the calamity war, presumably the first deployed, with Mcgillis explicitly restoring it for his coup.

Flauros (Calamity War Ver.) - explicitly is as it appeared in the calamity war.

Kimaris Vidar - The only version of Kimaris stated to have existed since the calamity war. It’s possible the others did as well, but I can’t say for certain.

Asmoday/Asmodeus - explicitly called out as being the same as it was in the calamity war, and the suit that prompted this whole thought experiment.

Marchosias - explicitly as it was in the calamity war.

Possible - Suits that you could make the argument they look the same as they did in the calamity war, but not explicitly known.

Astaroth Origin - I assume so? Due to the name “origin” and presence of Nanolamiate sword? But honestly it’s only stated that the Warren family recovered it, so they could’ve done some restoration work in the interim. Hence me hedging my bets and putting it here.

Barbatos (1st form) - I’m assuming it’s appearance in the first episode is how it was excavated, I don’t think Maruba would armour it if he was just gonna use it as a generator, and Gundam frames are impressive enough I don’t think he would for a buyer either.

Dantalion - It’s design can’t have changed much since the calamity war, since it’s build around utilising such a wide variety of optional equipment. Another one I’m just uncertain enough about to put here.

Gremory - As with Dantalion, we know it’s design can’t have changed much since it’s built around the Nanolaminate Coat and Battle Anchor. Though you might choose to restore the battle anchor, I don’t think it’s strictly necessary. Another example of me hedging my bets.

No - suits that we explicitly know looked different during the calamity war

Gusion - recovered by the Brewers and armoured with what they had available, ditto when Tekkadan armoured the Gusion Rebake. All we know is that it probably had long-range weaponry (Dainsleif?).

Vual - Recovered by Rosario Leone armourless, later armoured by him and Ville Klassen.

Honestly most of the ones under Possible I’m confident enough about, I just can’t find anything that makes it explicit that they haven’t changed since the Calamity War. I reckon the Astaroth Origin (minus the Warren family markings) and Gremory’d for right in though.

If I may, I’d like to use this sentiment as a springboard into the question of “Why are Zeon used as Protagonists so often in Universal Century Works?”

Enemy soldiers in Gundam were always shown to have some form of personality and even humanity, making them personable, affable and giving their deaths tragedy and meaning - emblematic of real-world wars, where there are heroes and tragic deaths on both sides. By humanising Zeon and establishing them as fighting for their own cause, it demonstrates that the “other side” is motivated by the same things as our protagonists, furthering the notion of war being this uncontrollable, hopeless thing that man is drawn into, as opposed to being master of.

So, Zeon then. They’re the villains of the piece, and obviously have heavy influence from WWI and WWII Germany (aesthetically they’re more WWI, but Gihren and the Island Iffish Gassing place them firmly in WWII territory). The fact that the Iffish Gassing is downplayed compared to Operation British proper (IE the Colony Drop) is something I would like to see addressed at some point, but a lot of our series protagonists are from Earth, so the Colony Drop itself affected them more. (I think Shiro Amanda from 08th MS team is stated to be an Iffish Survivor, but I don’t really recall it ever coming up). I think it’s main failing is that it’s typically a background detail (with the notable exception of The Origin), and thus very rarely addressed. Island Iffish is also particularly important because it demonstrates that Zeon’s lofty Ideals of Colonial Independence from the Earth Federation are not held on all levels, seeing the colonies as tools to be used in their war against the Earth Federation, not brothers in arms. In brief; Zeon Footsoldiers yelling about independence? Probably Genuine, since they would likely believe in Zeon Zum Deikun’s philosophy. The Zabi’s or Zeon High Command yelling about it? Probably a motivational smokescreen and nothing more. Both Zeon and the Earth Federation also used nuclear weapons during the early stages on the One Year War, which is the main thing that led massive population losses, in addition to Operation British. I bring this up specifically to illustrate that while neither side are angels, Zeon has more atrocities to its name.

(Note: it was later revealed that at least some of the forces (IE Cima Garahau’s team) carrying out the Iffish Gassing were lied to by their commanders, being told that they would be using sleeping gas to allow the colonists to be freely evacuated. It’s not clear how prevalent this was though, so I’m only noting it here to cover all my bases)

So. We have a large army of idealists, fighting for what they believe is a just cause, in an unfamiliar environment, with command that ranged from the incompetent to the fractious. We can neatly contrast these characters to other members of Zeon who are considerably more kill-crazy, showing how war affects some people (and providing an opportunity for our characters to stick to their ideals). Alright, alright, what else?

Speaking of Zeon High command - while they are full of personality that makes them fun to watch, they’re not really that important to Amuro’s story. With the sole exception of Dozle (Garma is killed largely by accident), he never really meets any of them. They’re comparatively a background element. As such, this provides an excellent opportunity for expansion. Garma’s Forces are young and Idealistic, Dozle’s forces are tough and Honourable, Kycilia’s forces are cunning and sneaky, while gihren’s forces are wild and fanatical. There’s also ample opportunity to sneak in a Zeon commander working under one of them, and have them take actions (Kycilia sponsored Noisy Fairy, the Invisible Knights and the Midnight Fenrir Corp, and that’s just off the top of my head). It works very well from a storytelling perspective if you want a small, tight-knit commando team with varying skillsets and some fancy units (IE Efreets). It even has historical precedent, way waaaaay back in the early Gundam setting books, we learn about Johnny Ridden and the Chimera Corps, Zeon’s own, personal squadron of Crack-aces, who got the Early Production Gelgoogs.

Okay okay, so cool Mobile suit designs (so we sell lots of models), interesting and conflicting commanders, which enables us to say something about the personality of our force in shorthand. Historical precedent of a *Bunch* of prior special forces teams (even with mobile suits, the Earth’s a big place, plenty of room for others), even a doctrine that favours them (The Earth Attack force does brilliantly until the Battle of Odessa, whereupon they’re soundly beaten on Earth. Any forces that couldn’t evacuate would be largely cut-off from support and forced to adopt Guerilla tactics. Furthermore, they’re fighting defensively against a superior foe, since by this point the Federation has mobile suits of their own, and that’s the sort of adversity that can make for an interesting story. It shows a reversal of fortunes of the characters part, mirroring the wider problem that Zeon is having). But surely it wouldn’t be such a stretch to apply some of this to the Earth Federation forces too? Gundams and GM’s are cool too after all.

Ah, and here (in my opinion) we come to the crux of it, the reason why Zeon are protagonists (or at the very least, interesting antagonists a La 0083, so often).

Pathos.

We, as the audience *know* that Zeon will lose the one year war. The absolute best fate for these characters is to retire once the war is over and never pilot again. But it throws everything they do in a new light. The bright-eyed, young pilot who is horrified by the war? All the more tragic, because it was all for nothing. The political officer who’s a hard-line Gihren-loyalist? Well, they’re in for a rude awakening. One of my favourite Gundam manga with Zeon as the protagonists is Acguy: 2250 Miles across America. Because it shows these two characters just trying to reach evacuation off earth before they’re stuck. It’s not one of the many things detailed above no, but it casts them as human above all else. They don’t decide to go out in a blaze of glory fighting the federation. It’s the story of their evacuation, and the adventures they get into on the way there.

It’s a lot easier to sell the tragedy of war if the situation is already bleak for our characters. The Earth Federation starts out bleak, then gets better with the introduction of mobile suits. Zeon starts off great, then gets bleak with the introduction of enemy mobile suits. However, on a small-scale, the introduction of Zeon’s new, shiny and highly-marketable advanced mobile suits (IE Efreets) can tip the tide on a small scale, enabling them to appear badass even as Zeon is losing the wider war.

I’m excited for Requiem of Vengeance, but I really wish we got more Universal Century content that wasn’t the One Year War.

Given that I’ve been talking about it a bit lately, I should probably give my opinions on Gundam Seed (and Seed Destiny), shouldn’t I?

While I like both shows, my principal comment about them is that they’ve aged rather oddly. The stock footage and stylings dates them somewhat (not that that’s necessarily a bad thing), but several of the topics they bring up (the cycle of violence, discrimination and designer babies) I think are just as relevant now as they were then.

I think that the Cosmic Era has a fascinating world, with ripe opportunities to explore all these topics and more besides. I love how each faction is clearly defined and how they have clear motives to hate each other, making war an inevitability between them, with everyone else just trying to survive. Because it works so well into the feeling of powerlessness. Of war as this inevitable, world-destroying thing. It helps that both sides are antagonistic to the protagonists, furthering the view that war has no clear winner and that each side will sink to extremes.

And then, having made this wonderful world in which to play around in, the series proceed to do none of that.

I get that there’s different priorities, it just feels like there’s so many interesting topics here that just get ignored. Coordinators are essentially applied Eugenics, there’s stuff there. They haven’t been legal long, so a lot of them were made illegally. Maybe by the ruling elite, with the money and influence to make it happen and ignore the laws, possibly posing a class debate? Nope.

We hear tales of coordinators being made for specific purposes, like combat. Would this lead into a possible caste system, where different “strains” of coordinators have friction with each other? Nope.

Oho! But coordinators aren’t sustainable past a few generations! After that things start going wrong and the become less and less viable, leading to things like organ failure or sight loss. Surely this is - nope, it’s only brought up in side materials and never resolved.

And that’s all just with coordinators as the sole topic. There’s other medical avenues, mobile suit development (think all the fancy newtype tech in UC), themes of dehumanisation, realpolitik between nations and different factions of the government. How did the Nuclear Jammer Cancellers impact Earth? There’s all these details that could be explored, so Kira and friends just grabbing the biggest stick they can find and browbeating everyone else into oblivion kinda just feels lacking (I know I’m oversimplifying here, I know).

I’m also not really the biggest fan of the mobile suit designs. I’m not really sure why. I think it’s because they all share just a few too many design elements that I think they end up looking too similar? I do love the Infinite Justice, simply for the novelty of having a Pink Gundam (it helps it’s cqc focused), but other than that I struggle to really focus on any of the gundam’s (maybe the Aegis) other than the Providence. But Seed Destiny making units patterned after the old Zeon ones really works against it, since I just prefer the old designs.

In a nutshell: The Cosmic era has so much potential, but the plots we get out of it really feel like they’re not making the most of the setting, and the Gundam MS designs are just so-so.

(I’ll do another post talking about some of the ms designs I like)

Kilian Eng, Silver Surfer

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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For my 3D production class I had to create a three shot short that was a remake of an existing movie scene- with muppets. I ran out of time to do the particle water effects, but this is basically Pacific Rim anyway.