Gundam Iron Blooded Orphans Masterpost Part 2 - Cyclase Mayer And Gjallarhorn

Gundam Iron Blooded Orphans Masterpost Part 2 - Cyclase Mayer and Gjallarhorn

Okay, Cyclase. I don’t really have that much to say on his origin - there’s nothing wrong with “disgruntled former archeologist whose parent was murdered by gjallarhorn”, but it just doesn’t really grab me for some reason. I do still love how utterly unrepentant he is about his numerous betrayals. He does have *some* similarities with Mcgillis for me, but that’s probably only because Mcgillis sees Gundam Frames (or rather, Bael) as the end-all of strength, whereas Cyclase sees Mobile Armours. It’s interesting how they’ve both been negatively influenced by Iznario Fareed however.

It took me a weirdly long time to realise that Cyclase was a Char Clone. Then again, I was comparing him to Mcgillis basically from the start, so……

Hm. I think that the fight at the end with the mobile armour (Mebahiah) is supposed to be an illustration of Afam and Cyclase’s differing philosophies - Afam wins because he has his friends with him to back him up, forming an effective force against the mobile armour, whereas Cyclase, who has sought power in solitude, has his “champion” defeated. It’s further shown with how they treat their allies, with Wistario visiting each in turn and thanking them, while Cyclase just rebuffs Tagging’s attempt at small talk.

Wait, so what was the point of Omden Colony Corporation/Cyclase getting two rings? That feels like it should be significant in some way. I assumed that it was either to emphasise their ruthlessness (they killed someone else for their ring) or the scale of the company (they’d managed to obtain two on their own), but in practice it just means Cyclase has two guides.

Given what mobile armours are capable of - hey, maybe Gjallarhorn was right to suppress the technology? Just gonna throw that out there. Like, the more of them we see, the easier it is to believe how deadly they were, and why the Gundam’s were so necessary. Though obviously, that doesn’t justify Gjallarhorn’s murder of Doctor Mayer.

Speaking of that, it’s possible that that was just an accident which Gjallarhorn had no part in, and Cyclase is just jumping to conclusions. That said, why I think he’s right is the fact that it’s Iznario Fareed, the shadiest seven star of them all. If it had been someone else then maybe you could say Cyclase was wrong, but Iznario? Yeah, definitely murder.

“Does this mean…… the mobile armour isn’t a higher form of being?” - Cyclase, buddy, it’s a giant robot that wants to kill all humans, it’s not that hard a concept to grasp. I do kinda love how absolutely crushed he is that his plan failed though. Like, no “hm, an imperfect god” or “this is but a temporary setback”, he’s genuinely pissed that this didn’t work out and even his “I’ll start again” thing feels like he’s desperately trying to save face. All in all, he’s a good villain because of what he does and how he does it, more so than who he is.

Okina Uroka is an interesting character, especially in contrast to Londo Bron, since they both want the same thing, but go about it in different ways. I like his design, it feels very good for an “old retainer”. I’m genuinely unsure how much power he held in the Issue family when Carta was still alive, since he doesn’t seem at all unused to power. It’s also nice because it’s another exploration of the consequences of Tekkadan’s actions in the main series, showing the far-reaching effect they had.

Another interesting detail is that Okina Uroka mentions “the Baklazan and Falk Families Calculations have been a great comfort to us” and Mcgillis states that they “hadn’t lost their privileges”, so could they also be heirless? If so, it could be that we’re witnessing Gjallarhorn finally crumbling since the Noble families that compose it are really struggling with their lines of Succession. Huh, the Fareed’s also kinda count here, since Iznario’s has no “legitimate” heirs (i.e. by blood). This also presents a fascinating possibility of why the Gundam Murmur wasn’t seen/used - the vault’s locked to a blood relation of the Fareed’s which Mcgillis isn’t, so he wouldn’t have been able to access it.

Just a little on the Gundam Asmoday/Asmodeus today (it apparently could’ve been called the Ashmodai, which is neat).

Okay, so the ASW-G-32 Gundam Asmoday is found by Wistario the Erda II crew (specifically Sinister) inside an Aridne Cocoon in the Debris zone. It’s specifically noted to be essentially brand new, with no records of it fighting in the calamity war, and a full complement of weapons ready to go. Based on this, and the fact that it seems to have its reactor hooked up to the cocoon, we can gauge one of two things. Either;

The Gundam wasn’t completed until either very late in the Calamity War, or just after, and thus didn’t have an opportunity to fight against the mobile armours.

This Cocoon relay station was apparently important enough to dedicate a Gundam frame just to keep it operational.

Based on the assumption that a bunch of regular ahab reactors would probably have done the job just fine, I think it’s more likely to be a case of it being completed late.

What makes this interesting is that we only know of one other Gundam frame that was completed late in the calamity war:

The ASW-G-71 Gundam Dantalion.

Now, because this is both at the end of the series (71/72) and because it’s stated that the Dantalion had been completed late, I had previously assumed that the Gundam Frames were completed sequentially. So, the ever-elusive ASW-G-70 Gundam Seere would have been completed just prior to the Dantalion, and the 72nd Gundam would have been completed after, possibly even being completed postwar (At a guess, either the Gundam Andromalius or Gundam Pruflas/Bufas - I’d be very interested in know what happened to it, since it’s be the most likely source as to any clue to the end of the calamity war and it’s immediate aftermath). But the Asmodeus implies something quite different. Unless its deployment was delayed for whatever reason, then it’s evidence that the Gundam frames may not have been built sequentially. (I’m not sure which it would be - it doesn’t seem to have any equipment that’d be too difficult to work with, being structured as a fairly direct combatant - gigant javelin as a sort of whip-sword to attack from a distance, smoke grenades and then grand tonfa’s up close, but then there’s plenty of other reasons for it to not have seen combat).

We do, however, know that Bael was the first. Add to that the seeming increase in complexity as the numbers climb (Dantalion appears simple but it has a bunch of add-on equipment not shown above, a lot of the 50’s and 60’s-series Gundams have fancy designs or systems, especially compared to the relative simplicity of the 00’s and 10’s), and we can guess that they were at least designed sequentially, with Asmoday’s presumed delay being an exception.

However, what I also think is interesting is where it was found. Inside an Ariadne Network Cocoon, big enough to be used as a harbour, administrative and let’s face it defensive point, in the network. Administered by the Falk Family (presumably headed by either Kalf Falk or his immediate successor), who already possess a Gundam Frame to their name - the Gundam Gamigin (shown above).

So what was the Asmodeus, for all intents and purposes a “phantom machine”, which exists on paper but was never actually deployed, doing there? Each Seven Stars Family or similar organisation within Gjallarhorn has precisely one Gundam Frame to their name, with no evidence of one family using multiple frames. I find it particularly interesting that it’s the Falk’s of all people that seem to have this frame - they’re one of the two families we know the absolute least about, the other being the Baklazan’s. Even then, most of the information we do know is what can be inferred from their Urdr Hunt point and their Gundam Frame. The only real supposition we can make is that they’re probably the oldest out of the Seven Stars - assuming no family got multiple Gundam Frames during the calamity war (which feels a fair assumption to make, given that we know absolutely nothing about any frames that were destroyed, implying no-ones really around to keep those records), then the ASW-G-04 Gamigin Gundam was likely deployed the earliest out of all the Seven Stars Gundam Frames, shortly after Bael (again, assuming sequential deployment). So it’s possible that the Falks were the longest surviving active participants in the Calamity war, besides Agnika Kaeru himself, of course. But it’s unclear why they would end up with another Gundam frame, and then not use it. A few possibilities:

The Intended Pilot for the Asmoday was killed before it could reach them, and the Falk’s didn’t have another pilot on hand to use it.

There was a Cocoon was involved in transporting the Gundams to their pilots, and it was kept at the cocoon until it’s recipient could be sorted out.

The Falks wanted extra “insurance” of their position once the Calamity War was over, and arranged for a second Gundam frame to be assigned to them somehow.

The Asmoday had nothing to do with the Falks, and it was left at the Cocoon by N as prize for Urdr Hunt participants.

It was salvaged from its transport during the war, and restored by the Falks.

In short, I don’t know why it was there and we’re probably not going to find out anytime soon, but it’s fun to think about. I would also like to point out that the Asmoday was also just…. Left there, which feels like it must have been purposeful in some way, but also means that the Falk’s didn’t recover it in the intervening 300 years.

『∀ガンダム』（ターンエーガンダム、Turn A Gundam）1999

Me when GB02 gives out free four-star Nu Gundam and Sazabi, Amuro and Char’s final suit’s respectively: Oh, neat I guess, might repaint those later. Pity we didn’t get the Nightingale.

Me when the GBO2 store has the Ga-Zowmn and Ram Z’gok available to buy, a villain of the week from ZZ and an MSV unit, respectively: Let’s GOOOOOOOOOOOO

In rough order;

The general plots, themes and who’s actually important to the plot in Wing only really coalesce towards the end, and even then there’s a movie (Endless Waltz) to cap everything off, but I’ll admit it does get a little meandering around the 2/3rds mark.

The pilot’s backstories were *supposed* to have an entire episode of the series dedicated to them, but it got cut from the series and was never dubbed (though some editions of endless waltz include it). This is commonly known as “Episode Zero”. I haven’t seen it, personally, so I don’t know how effective it is at that.

To my understanding, Wing had a very tight production schedule. Read: was basically written and re-written as they went along. As such, it can read a little disjointed when taken as a whole.

Lastly, regarding Gundam Wing being put together to sell toys - kinda, yes. Gundam in general’s game plan is to make a cool story with cool robots in the hope that you like them enough to buy the robots, the original series only became as big as it did through re-runs and toy sales. I can’t remember the source right now, but I remember reading that the mecha designer (presumably Kunio Okawara) had to design one toy with a transformation gimmick (what would become Wing) and one toy with an extending arm gimmick (what would become Shenlong). In addition, 4/5 the designs were recycled/unused from the previous series, Mobile Fighter G Gundam, leading to a multinational theme (Deathscythe’s European, Shenlong/Altron’s Chinese, Sandrock’s Middle-Eastern and Heavyarms is American).

I’ll admit I haven’t seen the series in a good while, however, so I can’t speak for its overall quality.

Gonna vent about Gundam Wing here because FUCK

I know people like this show, and I can see the appeal in the angst between the pilots and the cool robot fights (when they actually happen and aren't just one-sided ass-beatings) and all that jazz. And i just want to say, I'm not gonna stop you from enjoying Gundam Wing. Hell, maybe someone can spell this show out for me and help me get it.

In the meantime, with that out of the way, I want to talk about my feelings regarding Gundam Wing as somebody actively watching through it.

I'm writing this review of Mobile Suit Gundam Wing in the middle of episode 34 (almost 10 episodes away from the end of the show), and I'm left questioning what the point of all this even was. Gundam Wing's upfront pitch was simple & sweet: Heero Yuy & other Gundam pilots go down to Earth and it's pretty straightforward: smash shit up for the larger United Earth Sphere Alliance folks, and is OZ & Zechs were there and sometimes Trieze would show up and say some shit and feel like a solid fit for a complex main villain. Then the Gundam pilots have to go back to Earth and now everyone is kind of meandering about. God, and then a few of them reunite under the female lead Relena's flag. But that kind of fizzles out when lo'-and-behold Heero Yuy runs off in a Gundam yet again while Quatre stands by? Who even is the main villain anymore? Because Trezie said his fight was "over" like his ass gets to say that when his soldiers are out there still clawing for relevancy now that a faceless main villain has invaded the story. It is impossible to feel any sort of way about anyone, nobody important ever actually dies and, again, the role of the antagonist has shifted between two or three different old guys. They really only did one pilot's backstory adequetly. I don't care about any of these people and at this point I'm just watching this to figure if the Gundam Wing Zero & Epyon doing weird mental stuff is going to go anywhere. But if that element is anything like the conflict, it's fizzle out right before it does anything worth discussing.

I don't understand any of it, none of these little bastard Gundam pilots can stick together and it totally underminds the squad dynamic set up from the start. Half of them don't even do anything for most of the series. It leads me back around to my first question, what was the point of this show? Was ALL of this really slapped together to sell toys? (I mean, it was then it worked. I want a model kit of the Mobile Dolls and I own kits the 5 Gundams + Deathscythe Hell) Who is even the brainchild behind Gundam Wing? Who is to blame for this whole thing to begin with? Give me a name, if there even is one.

KATHY LAM 黑山