I Love The Dichotomy Of Pilots And Their Mechas In Gundam. There Will Be An 18 Meter Tall War Machine

I love the dichotomy of pilots and their mechas in Gundam. There will be an 18 meter tall war machine utilizing the latest advancements in electronics and firearms named after a demon or some shit with the meanest face you've ever seen on a robot and then the pilot will be the human equivalent of a Quokka

*The Following contains spoilers for Gundam Iron Blooded Orphans Urdr Hunt*

The *other* follow-up point to my prior Urdr Hunt Post.

Okay, so the Gundam Marchosias was apparently scary enough to give a mobile armour PTSD.

That is RAD AS HELL.

Let’s analyse that, shall we?

So the Gundam Marchosias was apparently able to beat Harael, a Mobile Armour from the Calamity War that is programmed to kill humans and has no brain, will or personality of its own, badly enough that when it sees the Hajiroboshi 325-ish years later, it instantly recognises its killer and has a flashback to the Calamity War, leading to it desperately trying to kill the Hajiroboshi (which for its part seems to recognise its victim).

Absolutely fantastic.

Things modern Gundam has robbed us of; part one -

Look how fucking malevolent the bridge of the Musai looks. It’s a giant grinning demon and that is rad as hell.

For reference the outside of the ship looks like this, but I want more command decks that look absolutely possessed by hostile forces.

The poor decisions don’t stop, since I decided to start Gundam Ibo Urdr Hunt while watching 0079. (Though realistically, it seems I’ll just end up putting 0079 on the back burner for a bit). This was motivated by Four Factors:

The announcement that they’re actually going to do something with the series going forward (I’m *hoping* for a full series or compilation movie, but I can’t guess at how practical that’d be, since I don’t know what the series is like yet). Regardless, I felt I should at least watch the series so I have an opinion on it. EDIT: I’m betting a compilation movie, there’s a lot of reused animation, and a lot of the parts lacking animation are conversations.

I already bought the model kits of both the Marchosias and the Asmoday purely on the strength of their designs, and I kinda want to decide if the Hajiroboshi or Cyclase’s Schwalbe Graze are similarly worthwhile (I’m slowly coming around to the Graze), since now’s probably the best time to go for them.

I kinda really want to know what’s going on with Cyclase Mayer. I really liked Mcgillis, and so I’m interested in seeing what a similarly designed character is going to be like in Post Disaster (plus, he’s a serious-faced man in a business suit, so he’s probably going to be fun to watch just from a broader perspective, given what characters in this universe typically have to deal with).

I haven’t actually been that excited about it, which annoys me. Maybe I didn’t see much hype, maybe it’s too close to Witch from Mercury/ the SEED Movie, or maybe I’d just gotten a little too settled in Post Disaster

Also, I just watched the opening for the first time and feel like I should jot something down;

Do each of the rings come with a maid? And Cyclase has two of them? Is he just trying to put a maid household together by collecting all the rings?….…….is this a Gundam harem anime? (I mean I know they’ve been trying to diversify lately, but still….)

Obviously it isn’t, but the thought did briefly cross my mind as I watched the opening.

*the following contains spoilers for the first four episodes of Gundam Ibo: Urdr Hunt*

I’ve watched the first four episodes, as of writing, so I’m just going to jot down a few thoughts;

I like how each of the maids is shown to be different in personality. Berose’s so obviously unhappy with her posting and Parstai actively manipulates things to get a better owner for the Urdr hunt ring (granted it didn’t take much). And then Korunaru’s just cheery by comparison.

I kinda expected the Zan Brothers to be a comedy side-act - a duo of bumblers pursuing the Urdr hunt, based on their aesthetics (very flashy). As such, Rome murdering a human debris for failure and Aiko barely concealing his hostility toward his idiot brother were both very surprising, and a welcome addition.

I didn’t expect I’d like Range’s suit, the Enzo, as much as I did. It feels like someone took the Hexa Frame used by the Hugo and made an actually solid mobile suit out of it - Range loses because he’s outclassed, not because the design is lacking in any particular way. It’s balanced, well armed and has a neat aesthetic. Good job guys.

Similarly, I really like the design of the Monkey Rodi’s. So sleek.

Alright, so I’m assuming the Chairman of the Board for the Omden Colony Company is Torrado Omden? Regardless, absolute peak character design. Man looks like an overgrown toddler and I hate him for it. It really sells him throwing away resources and lives on this thing as…… sorta casually despicable? Like it’s a bad financial quarter?

Overall, I’m really enjoying it. But I do have two criticisms I want to note at this juncture. Though I’m reasonably certain that it gets addressed later, Wistario Afram (is it Afram or Afam? I think it’s Afam, but Afram just rolls off the tongue better) is just kind of the least interesting of the Urdr Hunt participants we’ve seen so far. Like, he wants to use the money to rebuild the Venus Colony into a major tourist attraction. That’s a solid, achievable goal, and the way he talks and acts makes me feel like it’s less about “can he do it” and more about “how will he do it”. I don’t mind that angle, but it’s very different from everyone else around him. Range is trapped working for a company that will cut him off for any perceived failure, and he’s grappling with the fact that it’s not the solution he thought it would be and that he’s got more in common with Afam than his employers. It’s a good angle, as he slowly re-examines what his place in the world, and the crushing pressure exerted by both the Colony Company - a very powerful organisation, as evidenced by the fact that they consider the grand prize of Urdr hunt to be pocket change; and that exerted by the Hajiroboshi itself, a Gundam from the Calamity War. Meanwhile, 598 is enamoured with the idea of becoming like Tekkadan, showing the far-reaching influence they have, however, he’s forced to re-evaluate his own actions and who they’re truly for - in doing so, he can realise who his enemies are and actually take steps to free himself from their control, and from there take’s the first step to becoming like his idols in Tekkadan. They’re both very compelling characters, and it’s just unfortunate that Wistario can’t seem to eclipse that. It could be that we were just told how bad the situation is in Venus, rather than shown - a few shots of the prison’s might have helped, or showing how they affect the populace.

That said, now that I come to write this all down, both of their origins are somewhat similar to Tekkadan (598’s for obvious reasons) - it’s possible that I’m only rating them as highly as I am due to the familiar elements. With that in mind, it is possible that Wistario may offer a fresher perspective on the world of Post Disaster.

My second criticism is one I’ve mention before, regarding Noisy Fairy; Don’t call someone “character A” it’s stupid, because the message it sends to me is “this person isn’t worth caring about”. If a character is worth caring about, they’re always called “mysterious girl” or “???”, so “Girl B”, “Mercenary A” and “Board Member C” are just worthless. Does it cost more to give them names? Do named characters denote different rates for their voice actors or something? It’s just really immersion-breaking, because it creates the sense that named characters are the only ones that matter.

(Also Radonitsa Colony being essentially a prison colony is great, because it roughly parallels the real- life British Empire’s treatment of Australia, though granted without any natives).

Damn, I really like the idea of “N” being Nemo Baklazan, particularly since we now know there’s a movie in the works - There’s likely going to be a couple of new mobile suits for that, like the custom Reginlaze from the trailer, and Gundam’s are normally a pretty safe bet for this sort of thing. Furthermore, I think the only Seven Stars missing from points on the Urdr Hunt were the Baklazan’s and……. The Fareed’s, I think? (It goes Elion, Falk, Bauduin, Kujan, then skips one to go to Issue, right?)

What’s also interesting is that the Baklazan Family Gundam is the only remaining Seven Stars Gundam Frame we haven’t seen yet, almost like it’s going to play a part in something.

There is also the point of it being missing from Vingolf, but a) it’s *possible* that that is an animation error and b) it seems that the Issue Family Gundam, the Zagan, is kept in Ratatoskr, so there’s no garuntee that every Seven Stars Gundam is stored in Vingolf (maybe the Issue’s had special privileges, being the head of the Seven Stars and all).

But I do like the idea of the other two Seven Stars Families having stuff going on.

(Also, props for describing Range as “kind of a chump” because that is an excellent description and I love it)

Thoughts on the Urdr Hunt (Eps 1-5)

As of writing, five episodes (each in two parts) of the Iron-Blooded Orphans tie-in game campaign ‘Urdr Hunt’ have been released on the Iron-Blooded Orphans G App. This is currently only available in Japan; I’ve been watching it subbed by Youtuber Trafalgar Log. I thought I’d summarise my impressions so far, since we’ve now had every character who shows up in the opening sequence appear at least once. Spoilers etc below.

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Water Serpents I, Gustav Klimt (1904). Österreichische Galerie Belvedere in the Belvedere Palace, Vienna.