Gundam Narrative - Tumblr Posts

Me: Hey, I should do some short posts on the SD Gundam series designs, since I won’t have much to say on them.

Also me: I should do a post on the Great Zeong.

The MSN-03-2 Great Zeong was an upgraded version of the MSN-03 Zeong, a sister unit to the MSN-02 Zeong which was used by Char at a Baoa Qu. Though a veritable improvement on the Original Zeong, the Principality of Zeon lacked both the resources or technological know-how to build it. A prime example of the latter would be that the Great Zeong was designed to split into seven independently functioning parts, all controlled by the Newtype pilot, compared to the original’s comparatively simple wired hands and detachable head for use as an escape system. The Great Zeong is armed with a scattering mega particle gun in the chest which can also function as a “standard” Large Mega Particle Gun, a 5-barrel Mega Particle Gun in each of the arms (the arm is essentially built around the gun) which can of course be detached through the psycommu system. The Great Zeong is also armed with a mega particle gun in each leg, and another one in the head. There is yet another small Mega Particle Gun behind the front skirt, typically used when the lower body is detached. Moving on from beam-related weaponry, there are two Anti-ship missiles contained within each shoulder binder and finally each leg mounts a heat claw on its underside. In addition to all this, the Great Zeong mounts an I-Field Barrier Generator (presumably in the chest) and a Minovsky Craft System for atmospheric flight. Just as with the original, the head could also be used as an escape system. Interestingly, each of the separate parts mounts a mono-eye system when separated, including a secondary head mounted inside the upper body, akin to the Apsalus or Zaku II (I wonder if that’s any benefit to the pilot, or it’s just a design thing) . The design would be later developed into the NZ-000 Queen Mansa/Quin Mantha.

Before I get into talking about the design, I want to give a quick run-down on my feelings towards the better-known Zeong’s:

The Original MSN-02 Zeong is absolutely gorgeous. Legless, murderous, kingly, terrifying. It’s a fantastic design and its lack of legs adds charm, especially since it replaces them with thruster bells, granting it great speed and manoeuvrability. The wired hands are uniquely effective, heartening back to Gundam’s super robot roots, but also being supremely effective in combat. The head has a sort of grim expression to it, and the thrusters on each side give it a noble look- appropriate for a suit bearing the name of Zeon itself. I will admit bias here, since GBO2 gives it the sort of move-set where it can continually throw beams at something while managing to dodge with little trouble, but I do still like the Zeong itself. It feels like an appropriate final threat to cap off the series, without going overboard.

The Perfect Zeong is the Zeong with legs. Solid, makes for some cool poses, and I like how they just make it look more imposing.

I said during my Build Metaverse review that I don’t really like Mobile Armours that are just a bunch of fancy weapons and systems crammed on. The Neo Zeong is that. I like both Gundam Unicorn and Gundam Narrative, the series they’re from, and I think that they’re utilised well, but they don’t really grab me design-wise (if you need four I-fields for cover, and it still doesn’t cover the entirety of the Mobile Armour, then your MA is too large). Though I will admit that I’m probably down on them because I really like the Sinanju, which is used as their control unit. The Psycho Shard Generator does make for some cool visuals, but it’s probably the absolute limit of Newtype tech in U.C.

Also, I’m probably not gonna get the opportunity to bring this up again, but it’s stated that the Neo Zeong II is built using spare parts from the original. If you have enough left over to build a completely new unit of something as big as the Neo Zeong, I’m not sure that can be classed as a “spare” anymore.

As a successor to the original Zeong, I genuinely prefer the Great Zeong to the Neo Zeong, simply because it’s still a mobile suit, albeit a beefy one. The Neo Zeong is just a block of armour and Newtype tech, though I’ll admit this is just the design since I enjoy its use in the series. I just like how imposing the Great Zeong is, and it feels like an excellent evolution of the Zeong’s design. The Zeong’s an unfinished prototype, albeit a strong one, the Perfect Zeong is that prototype completed and the Great Zeong is just the Zeong but more, with it’s arsenal of mega particle cannons and additional weaponry. The fact that it can split into seven feels like the designer took the Zeong’s wired arms and just ran with it, which is fun, and the heat claws are a nice addition. I also like the shoulder binders, since they give it a gorgeous silhouette but they’re also used for the anti-ship missiles and Minovsky Craft System. I like the subtle change to head, it gives it a more aggressive feel when compared to the grim expression of the original.

Alright so I finally got around to rewatching Gundam Narrative about a week ago, and I’ll have a post about the movie itself forthcoming soon (EDIT: at some point, because hoo boy do aspects of narrative not stick in my head well). However, I thought I’d do a mechanics post now, since Narrative doesn’t add a whole lot of new suits so they’re easy to talk about.

First up, The RX-0 Gundam Unit 3 “Phenex”. I’d like to stress that this is just its appearance in the movie, the Phenex apparently shows up in a lot of other media that I haven’t seen. Anyway, Gold Unicorn. It’s pretty good. I like the Unicorn’s design anyway, and this just has a fancier V-fin and some Armed Armour DE’s to look like wings. I like the trailing parts added here, since it ties in with the bird theme. However I also get why it doesn’t have any weapons besides those though, since it can’t restock and it’s just overflowing with Newtype energy, so it doesn’t really need them. And it again ties in with a lot of what Michele says about gods, since the Phenex is very godlike in its mannerisms (gold, impossible to catch, otherworldly, makes things happen with a wave of the hand).

Next, the Narrative itself. Specifically the base form (top), A-Packs and C-Packs (I don’t really have much to say on the B-Packs). Again, I like it overall, it’s a Nu Gundam Prototype that was hastily pressed into service since they need a suit that can mount the psychoframe necessary to effectively fight the Phenex. That’s a good angle, especially for a Gundam (though I’ll admit it’s a bit weird about how every Gundam ties into another, there’s no real organic development, it’s just prototypes and variant units). The base unit is pleasingly skeletal (as one character calls it “a scarecrow”), and I like the plainness of it, really makes those smooth lines pop. The cockpit is exactly what you’d expect a prototype Nu to look like, and the head’s just nice and simple. Presumably this is to contrast it against the bling-covered Phenex and Embellished Sinanju Stein. Though I’m typically not a fan of overbuilt units with weapons and systems just bolted on, it works with the Narrative A-Packs since a) that’s its entire aesthetic, and b) it’s put together specifically to capture the Phenex in this one environment, so it’s cobbled-together nature and it essentially being a sled full of weapons and thrusters makes sense. I also love how plan A was essentially “okay, so get close and grab it with these special claws that will totally work”. The Narrative B-packs is just fine, no real opinions there. I absolutely applaud the Narrative C-Packs for just going “fuck it, we Unicorn now” by just strapping a bunch of psychoframe to the thing, and I think it’s utilised well in series.

The Silver Bullet Suppressor. The Silver Bullet has a fascinating lineage I might talk about at a later date, with the Suppressor just being the latest. I really like the bulk it brings to the table - it doesn’t even look that big until you see it next to something. The muted colours give it this…… I don’t know, phantasmal? vibe, like it’s the ghost of something, and the arm replacement mechanic is wonderfully silly. Unfortunately I don’t have an awful lot to say about beyond that- the shuffling around of silver bullet features is fine, and the new head further ties it into the pilot’s prior suit. I’d like to call out it retains most of the original Silver Bullet’s weaponry, so it’s not like it only has five beam magnum shots and then nothing (hey, remember when handheld beam cannons were a big deal back in the OYW? That was wild).

The Sinanju Stein is actually two mobile suits. In one of the few examples I know of an out-and-out retcon in Gundam, it was established that there were actually two Sinanju Stein units stolen by The Sleeves. Unit 1 (shown above, right) went on to become the Sinanju used by Full Frontal, while Unit 2 (above, left) was used by Zoltan Akkanekan, and thus appears in Narrative. I figured I’d discuss them both at once, since they’re largely identical.

Alright, to get this out of the way right now; The Sinanju is one of my favourite suits in the entire Gundam Universe. I don’t have an out-and-out favourite, but the Sinanju definitely makes it into my top 5 (maybe top 6). I’m also typically a sucker for prototype units, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that I really like the Sinanju Stein. I love how it moves, how it acts, how it’s armament is deceptively simple, how it’s agility makes it a match for literally anything in the right hands.

But let’s walk it back a little. What, exactly, is the Sinanju Stein? The Sinanju Stein line was built as part of the U.C. Project at around U.C. 94. It was intended as a material test unit to examine the use of psycho frame material in the suits inner frame, since the only units that had psycho frame prior to this were either Char’s Neo Zeon Forces (which were few and far between), or hurried integrations like the Nu Gundam, leaving little time for the Earth Federation Forces to actually study the technology. Lessons taken from the Sinanju Stein would eventually be applied in the development of the RX-0 Series, making the Sinanju Stein the precursor to the RX-0 series. I can’t quite find a reference for this next part (so take it with a grain of salt) but I’m sure I recall somewhere that the Sinanju was intended to be a fusion of recovered data from the Nu Gundam and Sazabi, making it a combination of the two suits (which makes sense for a psychoframe test unit, since psychoframe and the data therein was rather rare). I * might* do a post trying to make sense of the U.C. project at some point (if I can get through my backlog) because on paper it sounds fucking stupid (at least prior to it being hijacked, which is the whole plot of unicorn). Both Sinanju Stein units were “stolen” by Neo Zeon Forces on June 14th, U.C. 0094 (really secretly transferred to Neo Zeon under the guise of a robbery), with Unit 1 being converted to the Sinanju used by the Organisation’s leader, Full Frontal.

(Like, the federation wanted to destroy all elements of the “Newtype Myth”, so in order to do that they built Four dedicated Newtype suits (The two Sinanju’s, the Unicorn and the Banshee, which was somehow extended to Five with the Phenex) and then supplied two of those to Neo Zeon Elements, in order to empower Neo Zeon, enabling them to be swept away along with the Newtype myth, even though Zeon officially relinquishes its independence in a few years, which’ll greatly reduce the amount of remnants anyway. Why would you arm them with technology equal to what you intend to deploy against them? What if they have better newtype pilots than you? I doubt that the Federation expected “The Second Coming of Char” but…… why would you arm them? I dunno, you “use the newtypes to destroy the newtypes who we just gave cutting edge tech to.” s’just weird to me.)

Anyway, the Sinanju Stein. It’s honestly just gorgeous, I like how it’s weaponry (mostly rifle and bazooka) is chunkier than the Sinanju proper, since it creates the sense of a) a prototype, since it requires a better cooling system and b) gives it a much different silhouette, making it feel balanced compared to the stripped-down regular Sinanju. I like how it can carry it all in its shield. I like how smooth and functional the original lines feel, before being embellished with the Sleeves markings. I like how close it feels to a Gundam, without being a Gundam. It’s just this delightful combination of traits that I like.

Notably, the name “Sinanju Stein” refers both to the suit being “a diamond in the rough” and also to it being “the stone from which Full Frontal’s Sinanju was hewn”, which is neat, since Stein is German for stone (Though it admittedly suffered from your main suit having a cool name and you having to give the prototype something adjacent).

Note: I talked about the Neo Zeong and Neo Zeong II in my post about the Great Zeong, so it’s not in this post. That and I ran out of pictures.

Right, that’s the main suits out of the way, what about the grunts? The Jesta (Shezarr type) just misses out having a picture here, since I just haven’t that much to say on it. I like the Jesta, and the units used by the Shezarr team just have some add-on equipment to make them look cooler. I think it’s another good example of “tacticool” done right, since it doesn’t go overboard (sight, net gun, beam launcher with tripod). The Dijeh’s used in the opening I’m of two minds about. On the one hand, I like the new colour scheme, and I think the new rifle’s rad, since it actually looks like it was designed for the Dijeh, as opposed to the AEUG being cash-strapped so only making one (very good) rifle design. The searchlights are also fun. On the other hand, I miss the original Dijeh’s aggressively 80’s colour scheme (it looks like it should be on a beach somewhere parked next to a surf van, and I like that vibe in a mobile suit) and in the novel it’s stated that “the mobile suits used by Luio&co had their serial numbers removed prior to sortieing, making them untraceable” which is stupid. Because yeah, that happens with rifles in the real world, but I feel like a 20-meter tall mobile suit being “untraceable” stretches credibility a bit, especially one prominently associated with a particular group (the AEUG). It just feels like it wasn’t thought through. I do kinda like how it seems everyone remembered about the Dijeh at the exact same time though - Amuro gets on in Moon Gundam, Char gets on in MSV-R (and it’s retconned into being one of the inspirations for the Geara Doga) and Luio&co use some in Narrative.

Anyway, on to the suits I actually have opinions on - The Jegan D type (Escort type) is one of a bunch of Jegan Variants in universal century, presumably because they’re an easy thing to make models of. However, the new chest and faceplate are pretty nice, and they actually make it feel up-armoured. I tend to look at Gundam in a case-by-case basis when it comes to it taking influence from real military hardware in its designs, but overall the Jegan Escort type gets a pass and the purple visor really makes the rest of the suit pop. Next we have the Geara Zulu Guards Type (Erika Yugo/Ellic Hugo custom). I know I complain about p-Bandai a lot, but I would’ve been genuinely tempted to buy this thing had they made a kit of it. I like the Geara Zulu anyway, but a blue commander custom with a fancy machine pistol and front skirt? Oh yes. Though I’ll admit this probably ties in to me wishing we saw more of its pilot. (And I’m totally not bitter about it constantly murdering me in GBO2 while I’m just trying to snipe in my Gelgoog Cannon 1A)

How to get into Gundam

Because fuck it, I was gonna do one of these sooner or later anyway.

So you want to know what this Gundam thing’s about, maybe you like the mecha design, maybe you caught part of an episode one time and want to catch up, or maybe you saw a nice piece of Chamuro fanart and want to go to the source.

But there’s so many shows and timelines that it can be quite daunting on first look, so this guide is intended to give a rough overview.

I would however like to stress two four things beforehand however:

This guide is not intended as “The One True Way” or anything. There’s no harm it coming into it a different way, and these are only my own opinions.

There’s nothing stopping you from just watching one show and leaving it there. You don’t have to watch every single show going, even I’ve only seen most of these, not all. Gundam typically has variations on similar themes - it’s very nice watching multiple shows because they complement one another, but it’s not necessarily required.

I am very much an insider looking out here, so let me know if there’s any details I’ve missed.

I’m not gonna recommend these on a “if you like X, then watch Y basis”, mostly because I don’t personally find genre recommendations helpful, so I’d recommend picking based on promotional material (vibes, if you will).

I’ll be using this chart, supplied by the excellent@l-crimson-l, to illustrate everything.

Gundam as a whole can principally be divided into three sections: Universal Century (or UC), the Alternate Universes (AU’s) and the Build Series.

The AU’s are below the light blue line, near the bottom of the Chart, the Build Series is within the bright green line at the top-right corner of the chart and UC is the big line in the middle. We’ll talk about each of them individually.

The AU’s

The Alternate Universes were conceived as a way to get away from the continuity-heavy nature of Universal Century and provide an easy jumping-on point for new fans. The AU’s are standalone and require no prior knowledge, and are thus an excellent place to start. Honestly, I’d recommend quickly searching some promotional materials (like posters) and just going with the one you find most appealing based on that. They are (in production order):

Mobile Fighter G Gundam (1994)

New Mobile Report Gundam Wing (1995)

After War Gundam X (1996)

Turn A Gundam (1999)

Mobile Suit Gundam SEED (2002)

Mobile Suit Gundam 00 (2007)

Mobile Suit Gundam AGE (2011)

Gundam: Reconguista in G (2014)

Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron Blooded Orphans (2015)

Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury (2022)

There’s side series and movies and other things besides, but these are the mainline shows, if you will. I have specific notes on a few of them:

Witch From Mercury - It’s of a shorter length than is usual for mainline shows, so consequently it’s a much smaller time investment than the others.

Mobile Fighter G Gundam - While undeniably rad as hell, I would recommend watching another AU first. G Gundam differs from its stablemates in a few key areas, and I find it helps to have a contrast to fully appreciate those differences.

Gundam AGE - is probably the only one I wouldn’t recommend. I didn’t like the art style and the technical explanations just got on my nerves, so I stopped watching.

Turn A and G-Reconguista are technically part of UC as well, but it’s not really crucial information so don’t feel like you have to watch UC first (I’m only including this detail for completionism).

I’ve found all the AU’s I’ve seen to be pretty good, so I’d say that which one you start with really just comes down to personal taste.

The Build Series

Is just kind of doing its own thing. The Build series is basically Buy Our Toys: the series. It’s got a far lighter tone, and I’ve had cause to compare it to pokemon prior. It’s also chock full of references and in-jokes to the other series.

Build Fighters and Build Fighters Try are the ones I’d recommend - they’ve got actual stakes and the fight scenes are really good.

Build Divers and Build Divers Re:rise I can’t recommend - I just find Build Divers aggressively boring. Build Divers Re:Rise is just okay - neither standout good or particularly bad. Its main flaw is that it’s a sequel to Build Divers.

The OVA’s are pretty much bad across the board - I’d particularly recommend avoiding Gundam Build Metaverse.

Universal Century

Universal Century is the big main timeline of Gundam, and is the timeline the original Mobile Suit Gundam from 1979 takes place in. There’s a tendency among certain fans to place UC as the one-above-all of Gundam, but I wouldn’t really go that far. It’s all pretty good, but I wouldnt really say one timeline is better than another (save personal preference, anyway).

Because UC is so big, it can be subdivided a couple times. The primary division is “Mainline” UC versus everything else. Basically there’s four-five shows in Universal Century from which everything else flows. As long as you know roughly what happens in these shows, then you can watch basically anything else in UC and have a good idea of what’s going on. These are (in order):

Mobile Suit Gundam (1979) - sometimes called Mobile Suit Gundam 0079.

Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam (1985)

Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ (1986)

Mobile Suit Gundam: Char’s Counterattack (1988)

With Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn (2010) as a nominal fifth (honestly I feel like you could argue either way).

The rest of the shows are:

Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket (1989 Three-Episode OVA)

Mobile Suit Gundam F91 (1991 Movie)

Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory (1991 Thirteen-episode OVA)

Mobile Suit Victory Gundam (1993)

Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team (1999 Twelve-episode OVA)

G-Saviour (2000 Live Action Movie) - nobody ever talks about or acknowledges this one, it’s just here for completionism.

Mobile Suit Gundam MS Igloo (2004-2009 Three OVA’s with three Episodes each)

Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin (2015 Six-Episode OVA, adapted from the Manga of the same name)

Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt (2015 Eight-Episode Series, adapted from the Manga of the same name)

Mobile Suit Gundam: Twilight Axis (2017 episode, adapted from a light novel of the same name. Later rereleased as Gundam Twilight Axis Red Trace, with additional footage)

Mobile Suit Gundam Narrative (2018 sequel movie to Gundam Unicorn)

Mobile Suit Gundam Hathaway (2021 ongoing movie series, very much adapted from the novel Hathaway’s Flash)

Most of the other series relate to events in the aforementioned “mainline” shows in some way, but a lot of the sidestories set during the One Year War require very little introduction (Thunderbolt, 0080 and 08th MS Team). Similarly, works set in “Late UC” (F91 and Victory Gundam) carry on from the other series thematically but don’t have any plot connections, so they can all be watched without any background knowledge of the rest of the Universal Century.

Compilation Movies

Just a quick note here - many of the Gundam series have compilation movies, where either a whole series or part of one are compressed down into a movie. While each movie compares differently, they usually boil down to this: Compilation Movies usually have worse pacing, but really nice animation.

One of the great things about Gundam is that different shows offer variations on themes, so seeing how different characters react to similar situations, or how different settings change their approaches can make it incredibly rewarding.

I haven’t seen enough of SD Gundam to make any sort of recommendations there, and Manga is something I might touch on another day.

EDIT: Oh hey also: You can watch a good chunk of these on YouTube, for free, officially. The Official Gundam.Info YouTube channel rotates the series shown on its channel periodically. I think it’s got F91 and SEED on there currently? But it’s had Wing, 00 and Witch From Mercury before. Also all of the Build Fighters series are there.

So yeah, that’s a thing.

Huh, there’s an idea. I wonder what the overall casualty rate for Gundam Pilots is?

*The Following Contains Spoilers for pretty much every Gundam series, though I’ll try to keep them non-specific*

I’ll list each series, the number of Gundam’s in that series, and the amount of Gundam pilots that don’t make it to the end of the series. (Watch me regret this when I get to the really Gundam-Heavy series). However, I’m not including:

After War Gundam X and Turn A Gundam - I haven’t seen either of these yet.

G-Saviour

Igloo - No Gundams.

Gundam the Origin - Feels like cheating.

Gundam Thunderbolt - 1 Gundam Pilot in the OVA versus 9 at present in the Manga, which is still ongoing. It feels awkward to qualify.

If a pilot appears in multiple series, I’ll count them separately for each series, but they only get one mobile suit per series. For Example, Kira Yamato appears in Two Series, and has three mobile suits. Thus, he only counts twice.

In regards to what counts as a Gundam -

“Why is that?”

“Because I said so”

Delling Rembran, father of statistics, everyone. “What is a Gundam” is a delightful question, but it isn’t the focus of this exercise. My definitions of “Gundam” and “Gundam Pilot” exist because I needed a metric, they’re not really designed to stand up to much scrutiny. I’ve worked with enough statistics that I’m aware you can usually skew them without too much bother, which is also why I don’t feel too bad about leaving out Turn A and Gundam X.

Lastly, I’ve almost certainly missed something here, so feel free to message me and I’ll adjust it accordingly.

Mobile Suit Gundam 0079 - 1 Gundam (RX-78). 1/1 Pilots Survive - 100% Survival Rate.

Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam - 6 Gundams (Three Mk-II’s, Zeta and Psycho Gundam’s 1&2). 2/5 Pilots Survive - 40% Survival Rate.

Mobile Suit ZZ Gundam - 4 Gundams (ZZ, Zeta, Mk-II and Psycho Gundam Mk-II). 3/4 Pilots Survive - 75% Survival Rate.

Mobile Suit Char’s Counterattack - 1 Gundam (Nu) 0/1 Pilots Survive - 0% Survival Rate.

Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket - 1 Gundam (NT-1 Alex). 1/1 Pilots Survive - 100% Survival Rate.

Mobile Suit Gundam F91 - 1 Gundam (F91). 1/1 Pilots Survive - 100% Survival Rate.

Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory - 3 Gundams (Gp01,2 and 3). 1/2 Pilots Survive - 50% Survival Rate.

Mobile Suit Victory Gundam - Could someone who’s watched Victory lately come back to me with how many Gundam’s are in that series (and their pilots), because I’ve genuinely no clue off the top of my head. I know it’s at least Six (V, V2, Other V2, then at least three Victory Gundam Hexa’s).

Mobile Fighter G Gundam - 50 Gundams (Fuck that). 22/38 Pilots Survive - 57.89% Survival Rate.

New Mobile Report Gundam Wing - 11 Gundams (Wing, Deathscythe, Heavyarms, Sandrock, Shenlong, their upgrades and Epyon). 6/6 Pilots Survive - 100% Survival Rate.

Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz - 5 Gundams (as above, minus Epyon). 5/5 Pilots Survive - 100% Survival Rate.

Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team - 4 Gundams (Three Ground Types and EZ8). 3/3 Pilots Survive - 100% Survival Rate.

Gundam SEED - 11 Gundams (5 first gen, 3 second gen, Providence). 4/9 Pilots Survive - 44.44% Survival Rate.

Gundam SEED Destiny - 11 Gundams. 6/10 Pilots Survive - 60% Survival Rate

Gundam SEED C.E. 73: Stargazer - 4 Gundams. 3/5 Pilots Survive - 60% Survival Rate.

Mobile Suit Gundam 00 - 14 Gundams. 5/11 Pilots Survive - 45.45% Survival Rate.

Mobile Suit Gundam 00: Awakening of the Trailblazer - 4 Gundams (00 Quanta, Zabanya, Harute and Raphael). 5/5 Pilots Survive - 100% Survival Rate.

Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn - 3 Gundams (Unicorn, Banshee and Delta Plus). 2/2 Pilots Survive - 100% Survival Rate.

Mobile Suit Gundam Narrative - 2 Gundams (Phenex and Narrative). 1/2 Pilots Survive - 50% Survival Rate.

Mobile Suit Gundam AGE - 5 Gundams (Four AGE’s and Legillis). 3/5 Pilots Survive - 60% Survival Rate.

Mobile Suit Gundam Twilight Axis - 1 Gundam (Tristan). 1/1 Pilots Survive - 100% Survival Rate.

Mobile Suit Gundam G-Reconguista - 3 Gundams (G-Self, G-Arcane, G-Lucifer) 4/4 Pilots Survive - 100% Survival Rate.

Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron Blooded Orphans - 12 Gundams (Barbatos, Gusion, Kimaris, Flauros and Bael). 1/6 Pilots Survive - 16.67% Survival Rate.

Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury - 10 Gundams (Aerial’s, Lfrith’s, Schwarzette, Pharact and Calibarn). 5/11 Pilots Survive - 45.45% Chance Survival Rate.

Total Number of Gundams - 163

Overall Pilot Survival Rate - 85/138 Pilots Survive- 61.59% Chance Survival Rate.

(As above, not counting Turn A and Gundam X). That is lower than I expected. I believe it’s because most series either lose around half their pilots or few-to none at all. So either the series that keep all or most of their small amount of pilots will push the average up to over halfway, or the series that kill half or more of their pilots will pull the average down.

Highlights and anomalies.

All those odd little decisions that mess with the metrics of this exercise.

Pilot Survivability - Any cases where the survival of a character is ambiguous, but a later work clears it up, I went for the later interpretation, since I’m looking at overall survivability, so Milliardo and CCA Amuro get to count as alive and dead, respectively.

What is survival? - continued sentient existence, flesh not required. I really wasn’t expecting this to come up as much as it did. Tieria Erde (00) and Ericht Samaya (Wfm) both continue living as a virtual consciousness, so are classed as surviving for the purposes of this exercise. In the same vein, Kamille Bidan is counted as surviving (because I’m personally fond of the idea of him getting better).

Best Available Pilots - due to the precise shakedown of pairing pilots to mobile suits, both Lieutenant Quattro Bajeena and Lasse Aeon are on this list, under Zeta and 00, respectively. Quattro because he pilots one of the stolen Gundam Mk-II units briefly, and Lasse because though the 0 Gundam’s “main” pilot to my mind is Ribbons Almark, he already has the Reborns Gundam, and thus Lasse qualifies for the 0 Gundam.

SEED Destiny - I was really bad at remembering how many Gundam’s and how many pilots for this one. I fully forgot about Andrew Waltfeld and Mu La Flaga, and about how many Destroy Gundams the Earth Sphere alliance pulls out later in the series. I eventually just split the difference and added Andrew Waltfeld and a single Destroy Gundam (It was something like a 0.2 percent difference to the overall survival percentage).

Gundam 00 and Innovades - You can single-handedly mess up this entire excercise if you expand your qualification of Gundam to encompass the GNZ suits used by the Innovators in Gundam 00, since that includes the Gaga. You know, the suit that has a 95% casualty rate across literal hundreds of pilots? I’m not saying you should, but it was on my mind as I made this list.

Mobile Fighter G Gundam - was more complicated than expected. I was fully aware SEED Destiny would be tricky, but I forgot about G Gundam in the process. I’m reasonably confident in my count of Gundams - I only counted the Devil Gundam and Master Gundam once, not the Kowloon or Ultimate Gundam, and I didn’t count any of the combined units (like the Grand Master Gundam). I’ll list my Gundam Fighter math in a re-blog, since this is already a bit long.

I truly do not understand where the idea that most Gundam protagonists die came from. I’ve even seen self-proclaimed fans warn newcomers that almost every Gundam protagonist dies, when that is patently not true!