Hugh Fleming: Luke And Biggs

Hugh Fleming: Luke and Biggs

*Nonspecific G-Witch Spoilers*

It is kinda surreal to realise that part of Guel’s whole billing as an ace pilot is him surviving fights he really shouldn’t. Whether he’s against professional pilots, outnumbered, outclassed or facing an absolute combat monster, he always manages to pull through and live through his experiences.

It’s kinda nice to see Guel’s identity as an ace divorced from him just shooting down a bunch of enemies.

Plus, I suppose that this means that the moment he actually gets a properly good ms, he’ll probably do really well in fights.

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.

I kinda want to do a post about my feelings on Mobile Suit Gundam Code: Fairy, but I’m just gonna start off with the MS designs, since I’ve got a lot to say on those relative to everything else.

First up: the Earth Federation Forces

I do like the Black and White Riders. Of course, they’re pale rider variants (prototypes in-universe), but I think they do a good job of looking and acting good. They both continue in the theme of the early rider units being patterned after the Four Horsemen of the apocalypse, being pestilence (the white rider with a bow and crown) and famine (the black rider with a set of scales). Though I don’t really have a favourite of the two, (the white rider has a wonderfully Gundam-like face and the crown is gorgeous, while the black rider actually kinda nails the whole “tacticool” look with its faceplate and arms) I will admit that the black rider opens up a whole can of worms because it has an actual stealth system. Not like, just weapons suited for stealth or sloped armour to reduce visibility like the Efreet Nacht, a genuine cloaking field.

For context, those (to the best of my knowledge) just straight-up are not really a thing in Universal Century. Minovsky particles kinda nix most long-range weaponry, hence why mobile suits are a thing. If you want to be stealthy, you typically go the route of removing emissions (as the Efreet nacht does with its lack of heat weapons) or having camouflage to reduce the chances of visual detection. Spotters are a big thing in lots of UC works. So the Black Rider being able to just “*poof* invisible” is a really odd thing in context. I can only assume (in-universe) it wasn’t practical at all, or it only worked early on, and improvements in technology eventually made it infeasible.

Even putting that aside, they’re not perfect. Heat weaponry is…. Basically nonexistent on Federation suits, so it’s inclusion here is a little odd. But the main flaw with the suits is that they’re just not well utilised. They essentially function as expendable grunts for the main villain. They don’t even have named pilots. Furthermore, Rider units are kind of a big deal, being very rare and quite powerful. So this one random force just having them - even if they are former prototypes - is just kinda odd, and it’s never addressed why they have them.

Note: I am aware that the Manga has put a face to the pilot of the white rider. But that and the fact that the manga exists are literally the only facts I know, so I’m not counting it.

The GM Spartan’s then.

Honestly, they’re nice, but they’re not really my thing. I do love a lot of the Fukuchi Mobile Suit Station designs, but I honestly prefer the original artwork (below) to the design they went with here. It’s not bad, but it’s obviously taking just as much influence from the GM Sniper II (if not more) than it is from the original artwork. It’s not equipped with any specialist weaponry in-game however. The unit on the left is the RG version, customised by use of the Game’s villain, Renato Germi (I would spoiler-tag that, but it’s very obvious). I actually like this design, since it could’ve been a very effective use of visual storytelling - Gundam-style parts are higher-quality than regular ones, so could have been used to signify that Renato has friends in high places that can get him fancier equipment. Or it could’ve been used as an effective contrast to the other Gundam pilot in the game. However, unfortunately, neither opportunity was used. It does however, remain a nice design.

The Gundam Pixy/Pixie is, has and always will be, one of my favourite designs in Gundam. Granted, I have a lot of favourites (as I’ll get to later), but the Pixy is just wonderful. Something about a close-quarters focused, lightweight, light cost version of the RX-78-2 with a decent weapons loadout just appeals to me.

The problem with variations on your favourite designs is that you tend to be a lot harsher on them, since they’re trying to improve on perfection. The Gundam Pixy Lilith Aiden Custom is very very good. I wouldn’t say I prefer it to the original, and I do think it’s a smidge overarmed, but the design of the mech itself I think was handled very well. It’s easier to see when comparing them in-game, but the entire chest and head area has been remodelled and a small shield has been added to the arm. It’s really very well-done, giving the impression of adding armour to something that was originally lacking it. The fact that it makes it look slightly closer to the original art is a bonus in my book.

The original Pixy is armed with Vulcans, two beam daggers, then either a bullpup machinegun or two 90mm machine guns that look like Uzis. It’s a very light armament for a suit that specialises in getting in close. The Pixy LA is armed with Vulcans, two beam Sabers, a twin beam spear (shown in the above image), a rocket bazooka and a handheld beam gun. Two of those weapons are quite large and unwieldy, so I don’t really think such a machine can still be called lightweight. This is the first of a trend of taking established, specialised designs and making them more generalised, which I’m personally none too fond of.

I don’t really think it needed to be red, since honestly the pilot has very little in common with char, so it only serves as a “rival” unit.

And with all the unique Earth Federation units out of the way, let’s move on to our protagonists in Zeon in the next post, because I ran out of pictures.

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.