I Usually Think Of The Seven Stars System And Heraldry As Being A Immediate Post-war Thing For Three

I usually think of the Seven Stars system and heraldry as being a immediate post-war thing for three main reasons:

It makes sense as a post war institution - lots of disparate peoples to unite, infrastructure to rebuild and it’s a clear pecking order. It allows a clear delineation of who is responsible for what and stops the multiple families stepping on each other’s toes.

We only ever see crests or markings of the style of the Seven Stars on their own Gundam Frames, we don’t see them on any of the other machines we know fought in the Calamity War - the Marchosias, the Gremory or the Dantalion (the Astaroth Origin, Calamity War Flauros and the Asmoday itself all also lack them, but I feel you could argue mitigating factors for each). This would imply they were added to the gundam’s post-calamity war, in order to sell them as “the machines that ended the calamity war”. The relative obscurity of the Valkyrja frame could also be counted as a point towards this, since we know at least one saw combat (the Oltlinde), but they’re not presented in the same way. It makes sense that the Seven Stars would put their Crests on the surviving Gundam Frames, since they are essentially the beginnings of their authority and they want to reinforce that (à La the divine right of kings).

If the Seven Stars were a pre-existing institution then it rankles me slightly that the top seven members of Gjallarhorn were all part of this pre-war nobility, when their position was decided meritocratically. You’d expect at least one member to be a nobody who reached their position through feat of arms.

Expanding on that third point, I feel it makes more sense thematically for the Seven Stars to have been founded on a meritocratic basis, each member coming from nothing, because it ties in to Tekkadan’s rise to fame. The Current Seven stars are at least the third generation from the original founders of Gjallarhorn, with barely a hint of merit to any of them - Gaelio’s very sheltered and all too easygoing in his duties, Iok’s actively incompetent and a danger to those around him. Carta, while not ineffective, is in a largely ceremonial position and her successes are due more to brute strength than any strategic nous. Mcgillis’ is adopted into the Fareed Family, unrelated to the original founder. Rustal’s the only one that seems to buck the trend. But nonetheless, each family came to be where they are now through the actions of their predecessor in their Gundam Frames

How does Tekkadan, a family of Child Soldiers and Human Debris come to their power? Through the actions of their pilots through their Gundam Frames. The enemies they fight reinforce this - Ein, a monster made using forbidden technology from the Calamity War, and then Hashmal, a bona-fide relic of the Calamity War. They follow the same path to glory as each of the Seven Stars Founders would have, climbing ever higher, until it eclipses them.

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.

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

Gundam Iron Blooded Orphans Urdr Hunt Masterpost - Part 1

Alright, I’ve finally finished watching Gundam Iron Blooded Orphans Urdr Hunt, however when putting together this post I didn’t quite realise the scale of it until I was almost finished. As such I’ll be splitting it into three (ish) main posts - This one will be discussing the Ending, a little bit on Londo Bron, and the Zagan. The second post will be my thoughts on Cyclase Mayer and Gjallarhorn, and the last post will be my thoughts on Wistario and the rest of the cast. I’m also planning to do both a post on the series mechanics (in which I’ll talk about the mobile suits and mobile armours) and a character piece on Londo Bron at some point in the future. It just felt a little too long to be just one post, even for me.

Overall, I enjoyed Gundam Urdr Hunt. That said I’m glad I waited to watch it until now, because I think if I’d watched it without the promise of the movie on the horizon, I would have found the ending disappointing. But we’ll get to that. I’m largely going to be referring to my prior post, but I’ll be covering a lot of the same points. Though some of these I noted down as I was watching, so it might be a little more disjointed than usual.

We’ll get to the ending Immediately, as it happens. As I said, I found it overall a good show. The ending, well, it isn’t really an ending. It’s sort of a “the adventure continues”. Katya is recovered and Wistario goes around and thanks all the other Urdr Hunt Participants (except Cyclase) then returns to Radonitsa Colony on Venus. It feels more like the culmination of an Arc than a conclusion to the series, which I guess it is. But Gundam’s never been a series that has arcs so it’s a little odd. All that said, this is where i feel Urdr Hunt’s nature as a video game works against it, since most of the story prior to this has been “gathering the party”, with the Mobile Armour (Nerimiah) functioning as the final boss. I think the movie’s a way to give it a proper conclusion that isn’t tied down to the needs of a videogame.

But the battle at Ratatoskr I do have one criticism of - Wistario races to reach the shuttle, but it’s struck by lightning and explodes. Agonising moments pass, as Wistario thinks he’s failed, then Katya appears from the explosion. Putting aside the fact that we knew damn well she was gonna survive, fuck those Gjallarhorn Pilots, am I right? Also, she survives an explosion in just a normal suit? No shrapnel or explosive force? It feels more annoying because she could have just been in a casket or escape pod or something, but no, magic explosion. I don’t know, it just seems odd, like there’s so many other ways that it could’ve gone that would’ve made more sense.

I like how we get that view into Gjallarhorn with Mcgillis, Okina Uroka and Isurugi. It’s nice to see an internal view on how that all went down (even though I’m sure Uroka is seething on the inside). It’s also very interesting how Uroka just straight up doesn’t answer Mcgillis’ direct question. Way to tip off you have something to hide, my guy.

In brief, the ending’s just alright, there’s stuff I liked (Gjallarhorn), stuff I didn’t (Magic Explosion) and stuff I’m middling on (Nerimiah). I’m glad that there’s a movie coming so it can have a proper conclusion.

However, I do have plenty of other things to say, so let’s get to those;

Londo Bron is an idiot and I love him

I’ll be doing a proper post on him at some point later, but I’m so very happy for his inclusion in the series. He’s basically one of Carta’s former subordinates, her ex-“knight” if you will and I absolutely love the character dynamic this brings to the table. If I didn’t already love the Zagan, he would have definitely made me look at it fondly.

Speaking of, the Gundam Zagan. I’ve already talked about it just from a design perspective prior, but it’s an absolute juggernaut in this. It carves through three Grazes with ease, and is the only enemy in the series to seriously give Wistario a run for his money. It does all this, with a pilot without Alaya-Vijinana. I don’t doubt that other skilled pilots like Londo Brom exist in post disaster, but the Issues certainly weren’t head of the Seven Stars for nothing. It would have been sufficient as a final boss in my mind, but I really can’t find flaw with it. (I might do a proper post on the series mechanics too)

It’s possible that it’s stored in Ratatoskr as a last resort if Nerimiah was to escape. I’m genuinely unsure as to why anyone would willingly preserve a mobile armour, especially (presumably) Arzona Issue, but at least Zagan’s inclusion as part of the prison shows some foresight.

I really hope it’s able to be salvaged though, mostly because if it appears in something else, we might get a HG kit of it. (Also it bothers me a little that Londo Bron essentially wrecked a relic of the Calamity War in its first sortie in 300 years against Wistario. Kinda feels like I’m watching someone use an antique vase to bludgeon a child to death).

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.

KATHY LAM 黑山

Gundam Iron Blooded Orphans Urdr Hunt Part 3 - Wistario and the rest of the Cast

I think that it’s overall a good cast, but I definitely found some characters better than others - 598, Range and Katya all have actual arcs, which results in them changing as people throughout - I’ve said prior that I found both 598 and Range genuinely compelling characters. I also found a lot of characters, while not fully developed, had enough going on that I was interested in them - Tamami, Mendou, and above all, Denmer (honestly I would love to see more of him). The only characters I find lacking are Wistario and Korunaru, which, again, would be fine if they weren’t ostensibly important. I wish the guides had more focus in general to be honest, since the only ones who get really any focus are Slice and Parstai (who get an episode at best).

Denmer Kitaco Jr., though. It genuinely bothers me how little we know about him, because it just all feels so tantalisingly close - he’s (presumably) a Venus resident, who has enough street smarts in the Era of Post Disaster, and presumably passed these on to Wistario (since I don’t really see how else he could have picked them up). He knows some form of martial art, enough to take on numerous Gjallarhorn Officers. He’s got a referenced history that Dexter and Sinister routinely bring up, he’s MISSING AN EYE, which I was initially willing to write off as a way to make him seem grizzled, but the more I think about it must be relevant in some way, considering that Wistario’s parents seem to be dead. And, as I’ve said before, he’s INHERITED A GUNDAM FRAME, which, from the way he talks and acts about it, is almost certainly something that was impressed upon him a great deal - he’s not casual or dismissive about it, this is something he’s carefully and meticulously maintained for most of his life, and he understands, on some level, what it is and what it represents. I’d wager he has his own suspicions about its past, given that he seems to have inklings but not the whole picture. And it makes it all the more significant when Wistario uses it to fight - it’s their family’s past and ancestry, but for Denmer, it’s also their families future. How must he feel, when Wistario risks his life over and over again, in a machine that he allowed him to access? And the way he interacts with Wistario- it’s obvious he cares for him a great deal, and besides Sprah, it seems like he’s been Wistario’s primary carer for pretty much Wistario’s entire life. There’s so much good stuff there, but it all feels just out of reach.

So, my love of Denmer established, what about his young charge? Well, I still think Wistario lacks a strong character, but I feel a lot more of him coalesces nearer to the end of the series. However. The central theme of Wistario is family, not Venus, buying Radonitsa is just his immediate expression of that goal. But because of the early emphasis on the Urdr hunt it’s muddled. When you look at the series through the lens of Wistario building a family, his “character” makes a little more sense. But because he’s not setting out to build a family, it’s not obvious. I’m genuinely not really sure. Either, the central theme of Wistario is buying and doing up Radonitsa Colony, and he acquires a found family along the way. Or; the central theme of Wistario is Family, and buying and doing up Radonitsa is just his early expression of that goal. I feel like I could argue for one or the other, since neither theme is strong enough for me to come down on. Because he slowly befriends every single competitor in the Urdr Hunt other than Cyclase, so if any of them win, it feels like they’ll give at least a portion of the money to Wistario, since he has the “best goal”, so to speak. Even Cyclase doesn’t really seem to care about the prize money, since he seems to be more interested in the chance of finding a mobile armour during the Urdr Hunt.

Wistario and Katya - hm. Feels more like an exploration of what Katya wants, as opposed to a genuine romance. Thematically it’s similar to Wistario’s interactions with Range and 598. He gives them autonomy since that’s an aspect of his dream? Or just because he believes it’s the right thing to do? Yes, Wistario cares for Katya, but him rescuing her feels more like he’s granting her the power to make her own choices, like he did by telling 598 about Kimball and extending an offer to Range. If it’s meant to be a straight romance, then it feels token, but “ensuring the freedom of others from a bad situation”, as I think he’s doing, doesn’t really tie in with Wistario himself at all (unless it’s about the greater economic freedom of Venus, but that feels like I’m reaching).

Another thing about Wistario; Somehow the moment where he thinks Londo Brom’s about to kill him gave him more characterisation than half the series. Here, in this moment, he comes face-to-face with death. He’s a child, a young boy, who’s carrying the dreams of everyone around him, who just really wants to save his friend, who’s about to die. Despite his competence and piloting skills, he is still a child, and this moment showcases that vulnerability. Hell, the only reason he survives is that the Zagan gets struck by lightning and 598’s able to pull him clear just in time. He gets outclassed and barely survives, sure he manages to pull himself together and fight the mobile armour afterwards, but I’d wager that he’s going to have some rough nights ahead of him.

In fact, that might be it with Wistario. While his character is tied to the aftereffects of war (the economic depression, and effects of colonial administration), there’s kind of no connection between him and mobile suits. There’s no “reason” for him to be as good a pilot as he is, there’s no real sense of mobile suits being a part of his life before this. Yes, he wants to buy the Radonitsa colony, but he is just essentially fighting - and killing, for a big pile of money. And it’s an active choice on his part. But we’re not really shown the sort of person that would take the decision to fight for money - pretty much every engagement Wistario enters is the result of another party attacking him first. So there’s this disconnect between who Wistario is, and what Wistario does.

I don’t really think that he’s a *bad* protagonist per se, he just feels a little half-baked, and I feel that, for being the protagonist, we really don’t know a lot about him.