Ippei Gyoubu - Tumblr Posts

With all the things you've posted looking at the mobile suits of various series, I wondered if you had any specific tastes in mecha design. Are there particular details or design cues that you're especially fond of?

@wordsandrobots, I fully expect to follow this up at sone point (and likely run out of pictures/want to ramble even more), so I’m going to pull it out as a proper post:

That is an *excellent* question, actually, since I hadn’t considered my tastes in such a broad scale before (and well-timed too, since I’ve got a post talking about Gusion in the works). It’s why I typically like talking about design series, since I can compare and contrast within that scope.

I typically focus on Gundam, since I generally like it as a series and there’s a massive variety of designs to appreciate, with a broad range. I’m largely influenced by the Anime, model kits and occasionally videogames, though in a lot of cases I can like a character, and that can lead to a greater appreciation of their mobile suit.

Specific design notes…. I tend to notice them more in the context of an artist - I adore a lot of Ippei Gyoubu’s design touches, from the bright colours to the detailed hands to the panel lines and little touches that you’d never notice. Kazuhisa Kondo has the organic shape and uniquely rounded weaponry and it’s styled in such a way as to apprear blurry, almost ephemeral, like you’re glimpsing it through a haze of smoke and gunfire and dirt, while frantically turning to get away, get away from the conflict. And yet the designs are still recognisable, and in a lot of respects draw from contemporary sources.

I’m similarly fond of Makoto Kobayashi and Kuino Okawara, though I typically struggle to explain how (Makoto Kobayashi tends to have really good composition? I think. So they look simple and detailed all at once, and they’re part of a scene, so it’s what you choose to focus on? And Okawara just makes it look so…. Effortless)

Hajime Katoiki I do like as well, I just struggle to nail down why. I suppose it’s because of how clean his designs look.

Moving away from the preference of artists (and honestly, it’s only that some of their design hallmarks are very distinct), I often have a preference for specific “types” of mobile suit. I talked about this a little in regards to the Code: Fairy designs, but I often find myself drawn to specialist mobile suits over generalist ones. From a modelling perspective, I often like each one to be distinct in a lineup in some way (unless they’re similar models, then I just put them together so the differences show). Often this can just be a distinct weapon, but it’s just as often the form of the mobile suit (the Gusion’s a good example here, since it draws the eye due to its heavyset build, understated colour scheme and giant hammer) or even the colour (see: the Infinite Justice being bright pink). This tends to encompass a lot of close-quarters units (like the Pixy and the Efreets) simply because there’s a lot of ways to do that well. Another reason is that whereas generalist suits tend to show up in large roles throughout the series, specialist ones tend towards “monster-of-the-week”, typically being an obstacle to be defeated or just having one or two cool scenes (like the Efreet Schneid). So I find they stick in my head a lot better.

I can like a lot of designs from a series as well, but of course I tend to have a lot of different criteria as to what designs I like, depending on the suit’s billing and purpose (what makes a great grunt suit and what makes a great protagonist suit are quite different after all). I do very much like a lot of the UC Grunt suits (though I’ll probably touch on that in more detail at a later point), for example, but I only really like one from Anno Domini, the Tieran (since it looks so much like a walking tank as opposed to the spindly nature of the Flags and Enacts). That said, I don’t think that the Flags, Enacts and GN-X’s are bad designs, they’re just not really the sort of thing I like.

In fact, I reckon that’s why I’m particularly fond of Iron-Blooded Orphans’ Aesthetics, since a lot of the units from that series would be close-quarters specialists in any other series. But because melee is so common in Post Disaster, virtually everything carries a nice solid sharp stick. The only exceptions I can think of are Gusion Rebake (which is more of an all-rounder), Flauros (and even that has hatchets that leave cqc a viable option) and Dainsleif Grazes (which only have one arm, so….).

I’m currently at Episode 22 of Gundam Iron Blooded Orphans: Urdr Hunt, I’ve got about two episodes left and since it seems to be a two-episode finale kind of deal, I figured I’d take a break and note down some thoughts up till now, then maybe do another post after the finale. Though I haven’t really arranged these, so I’m probably just gonna ramble.

*The following contains spoilers for episodes 1-22 of Gundam Urdr Hunt*

I’m liking a lot of the Mobile Suit Designs, Gundam and Grunt. Plus, it’s nice to see old favourites again, like the Grimgerde and Hyakuren. However, I do feel like some could be better utilised - The Asmodeus is a cool design, and it works as a lancer to the Hajiroboshi, I just feel like it could have been used more.

Similarly, is is odd how a lot of the major threats are lead-from-the-front characters, since obviously they have to function as bosses. I dunno, it’s just strange compared to all the non-action opponents from the original series.

I really enjoyed Range and Katya’s inclusion as characters, since they’re just sitting there providing a good general basis of what the average citizen of Post Disaster knows - Katya knows a lot of insider knowledge of Gjallarhorn for example, which the others remark on regularly. While Range is sceptical of the existence of mobile armours and views the Asmoday as just a particularly strong mobile suit. So they provide different ends of the same spectrum, I suppose.

I like how each of the maids/guides has their own personality, and I like seeing how they interact with each of their charges. But I do wish we saw more of them. Part of its because they feel like they have that potential to shine very well, and it’s also quite a large cast, so not everyone gets an equal share. I also found it interesting that they were all stated to have been “bought”, so they’re all former Human Debris. Unfortunately, Parstai (blue, with Foundling) is the only one it really comes up with, but presumably the others had full and interesting lives beforehand. You get hints of it with Batch and Tagging (the two that go with Cyclase), with Tagging being an excellent mobile suit pilot, and Batch having experience in ship command and a cautious bearing, but we know very little of the others prior lives.

I didn’t expect to vibe with the Zan Brothers as much as I did, that was weird.

Kouzou Mendou’s pretty rad. A genuine Archeologist, hoping to reveal the causes behind the Calamity War, and just generally seems to be a decent fellow. He does admittedly score points because he very clearly understands how dangerous Mobile Armours were/are, and is the first character to really articulate that. I kinda wish he’d told us, the audience, some new information about the Calamity War, but that’s not really a criticism at all.

Cameos from other Ibo Characters - mostly I can take or leave them, but I’d be lying if I didn’t get pumped when Mcgillis (as Montag) showed up in the Grimgerde to fight Londo Bron. I also loved seeing Isurugi going around, being generally competent.

Actually yeah, Londo Bron. For my talk about Cyclase Mayer at the start of this, I found myself really enjoying Londo Bron, surprisingly so even. He’s a good pilot, he has noble intentions, and he feels like a really good example of an Antagonist, but not a villain. He’s only really opposing Wistario because he wants to restore the Issue Family, and Katya is the best way to do that (I might do a proper post on him some other time).

Another character I really like, despite their short screentime would be Major Bradley. He’s essentially the perfect picture of a colonial administration officer - he’s corrupt, he’s unreasonable, he’s pretty solidly classist, and it all just works. He’s not even cartoonishly evil, he’s just the sort of corrupt Gjallarhorn Official that illustrates the failings of the organisation. Obviously he shares a lot of DNA with Coral Conrad, from the original series, but the boredom, the arrogance with which he carries himself just makes him memorable. Plus he just looks obscenely British, furthering the colonial parallels.

I am absolutely loving the fight scenes in this. Yeah, a lot of the fighting is supposed to be for the in-engine graphics, so they could have totally phoned it in. But they didn’t. If only other shows that cut out background, story, plot and characterisation to ostensibly focus on the fights *cough* *cough* Build Divers *cough* could do that.

I do love how absolutely shameless Cyclase is. Just like “Oh boy, how do I get out of this one? I know, Betrayal!” It works into his character and it’s really fun to watch, but it’s just kind of hilarious how he makes at least like five betrayals in the space of the show. Very efficient.

Character Designs’ still top-notch. I don’t really have any specific examples that I haven’t already mentioned but yeah. It’s good.

Ah, I mentioned that I was considering getting the Hajiroboshi kit? The thing is, a lot of the time I can really like a character, and that can end up selling me more on their mobile suit’s model kit. This is the first time that’s ever happened with a mechanic. In brief; I don’t want the Hajiroboshi because it’s the mobile suit Wistario Pilots, I want the Hajiroboshi because it’s the mobile suit Denmer maintained all these years.

I do have two more points - one positive, one negative, but I’m gonna pull those out as separate posts, simply because I want to consider them separate from everything else, and I feel like I’ll want to follow them up separately after the finale.

In a nutshell, I’ve generally liked Iron Blooded Orphans: Urdr Hunt - it gives a good showing of the world of Post Disaster besides what we’ve seen with Tekkadan and Tanto Tempo, and a lot of the side characters are interesting. The only issue is that some characters and mechanics feel somewhat under-utilised.

(Though maybe that’s my own fault for hyping myself up for the Asmodeus).