Gundam Discussion - Twilight Axis

[Serra]

Thanks, guys. I'll try to check out both of them.

If you're going to watch SRW, I think the second series assumes you've seen the first (which aired like 5 years prior or something..) and kinda just throws you into things with no explanation. That said, I remember really disliking the first series and thinking the second was leaps and bounds better.

[Insanecyclone]

that shading though

[Edelweiss]

I didn't! Life picked up a lot recently and haven't had much of a chance to consider it but I saw in this thread maybe posted by you that Bandai is rolling out an official replacement parts service?

They are. Based on the response e-mails that I and many others (on MechaTalk and /toy/) have gotten, the website is supposed to launch next week-ish, and the service to begin functioning soon after. I went into the caveats and stuff; i'll add it in here for convienience:

Spoiler: show

Beginning in February, you'll apparently be able to order broken part replacements directly from Bandai, from almost anywhere in the world.

Probably going to be some restrictions of course, but still. The website is supposed to be made public in the final week of January.

Also this replacement service will extend to online exclusive kits (though this will also include a lengthy wait until enough part orders accrue or a certain length of time passes, which will probably be in magnitudes of several months). In this case, the X-3's V-antenna, the X-2's customized shot lancer, and the Unicorn Marasai's Sea Serpent and Feyadeen Rifle are such examples. It's not really clear when (not really a priority) they're going to extend the part replacement to old kits (like the 80s and early 90s stuff).

I probably should have mentioned that those old 80s kits are so cheap that it might not even be worth replacing parts for them..

As I mentioned previously, Tatsu Hobby is also rolling one out, that may be able to be faster (relatively speaking) than the Bandai one.

Also as far as GPBF goes, there hasn't been any kind of repetition of the AGE disaster yet on the kits side of things; they're selling almost as fast as UC (especially Unicorn) stuff and there are pics of major and minor retaillers in Japan alike with empty shelves (and the humorous AGE-era comparison side-by-side at the same shop).

[Insanecyclone]

While AGE itself wasn't that great, the kits are. Wish more people would actually notice that.

[Edelweiss]

Well, there is appreciation for how well engineered the Federation kits were (can't go a single /toy/ thread without mention, now that I think about it).

[Edelweiss]

http://www.1999.co.jp/search_e.asp?T...Builder+Series

I didn't even know that 1/100 Gageing line even lasted into mid-2012. Of course making them 1/100 HG-tier would require puttying over the screws and filling in honeycombed joints.

[Cream Soda]

So speaking of Gundam, there are a fuck-ton of them; only ones I've ever watched all the way through are Wing, 08th MS team (amazing), and currently watching through Build Fighters. (Watched the original run-through of SD on toonami back in high school; but don't think it aired very long/remember nothing about it other than the chibi models and Talgese saying "WITNESS, MY MAGNIFICENCE!"

Which ones are worth watching, and what order if you have favs?

[Serra]

I'd say start with UC and work your way through in the chronological order. Not only is it the most expansive and detailed timeline, there's also a lot of things in later series that pay tribute to things that started in the UC timeline. So start with the original Gundam, 08th MS Team, 0080, 0083, Zeta, ZZ, and then Char's Counterattack. If you get get through all that in 6 months, you'll be in perfect shape to watch the first six episodes of Unicorn before the final episode comes out (but that's a lot of anime..). After Unicorn is F91 and Victory, and then Gundam X (which may or may not actually be in the same timeline..). That said, one of the issue with watching UC in chronological order is that you have to watch more modern things before some of the more dated things -- the first two series were the original and Zeta, so things like 0083 and 08th MS Team are going to make it harder to watch Zeta.

Then you have all the alternate universes. You said you've seen Wing (I'm assuming back when it aired on Toonami -- go back and rewatch it if you want to see something that has really not aged well..). A lot of fans hate SEED and Destiny. Personally, I liked SEED, but agree that you're probably better off ignoring Destiny unless a third season/movie gets announced. The first season of 00 was excellent, the second continues the story, but was a pretty big step back from a lot of things that made the first so good, and then the movie will make you regret the past two hours of your life, so there's that.. There's also G Gundam (which is not the best, but is kinda worth watching because of how out there it is, but I imagine, like Wing, it will not have aged well..) and Turn A (which is good, but is also really really weird and probably shouldn't be so appreciated..). The last series is Age, which I personally haven't seen, but I hear gets progressively worse as it goes on.

So to answer your question, I'd say start with the UC timeline and watch all of those just to get the complete picture. Afterwards, probably just watch them in the order they were produced (skipping any that don't sound appealing) -- that way you can rewatch Build Fighters and appreciate all the references to past series outside of just the gunpla.

[Edelweiss]

So speaking of Gundam, there are a fuck-ton of them; only ones I've ever watched all the way through are Wing, 08th MS team (amazing), and currently watching through Build Fighters. (Watched the original run-through of SD on toonami back in high school; but don't think it aired very long/remember nothing about it other than the chibi models and Talgese saying "WITNESS, MY MAGNIFICENCE!"

Which ones are worth watching, and what order if you have favs?

I'd say start with UC and work your way through in the chronological order. Not only is it the most expansive and detailed timeline, there's also a lot of things in later series that pay tribute to things that started in the UC timeline. So start with the original Gundam, 08th MS Team, 0080, 0083, Zeta, ZZ, and then Char's Counterattack. If you get get through all that in 6 months, you'll be in perfect shape to watch the first six episodes of Unicorn before the final episode comes out (but that's a lot of anime..). After Unicorn is F91 and Victory, and then Gundam X (which may or may not actually be in the same timeline..). That said, one of the issue with watching UC in chronological order is that you have to watch more modern things before some of the more dated things -- the first two series were the original and Zeta, so things like 0083 and 08th MS Team are going to make it harder to watch Zeta.

Then you have all the alternate universes. You said you've seen Wing (I'm assuming back when it aired on Toonami -- go back and rewatch it if you want to see something that has really not aged well..). A lot of fans hate SEED and Destiny. Personally, I liked SEED, but agree that you're probably better off ignoring Destiny unless a third season/movie gets announced. The first season of 00 was excellent, the second continues the story, but was a pretty big step back from a lot of things that made the first so good, and then the movie will make you regret the past two hours of your life, so there's that.. There's also G Gundam (which is not the best, but is kinda worth watching because of how out there it is, but I imagine, like Wing, it will not have aged well..) and Turn A (which is good, but is also really really weird and probably shouldn't be so appreciated..). The last series is Age, which I personally haven't seen, but I hear gets progressively worse as it goes on.

So to answer your question, I'd say start with the UC timeline and watch all of those just to get the complete picture. Afterwards, probably just watch them in the order they were produced (skipping any that don't sound appealing) -- that way you can rewatch Build Fighters and appreciate all the references to past series outside of just the gunpla.

Serra is pretty spot on with this, and i'll echo that with my sentiments being along the same lines. X is a "what if" take on a OYW scenario well in the future; Turn A is pretty much a grab bag of all preceeding Gundam series converging (don't think too hard about it) for the 20th anniversary (in 1999). 00's movie (Trailblazer) actually fits well if you like the best take we're gonna get on AU understanding/transcending petty human bullshit and leaving Earth stuff.

Anyway, on the subject of Unicorn, we're due for an Ep.7 preview trailer in the next couple weeks or so.

[Cleverness]

As someone who has watched all of Gundam, you have some options.

A) Go the UC route mentioned by Serra although I'd only watch the original Gundam movie compilation to get the jist of it. That and the White Base needs salt episode. This will let you see the main Gundam universe and the one that Unicorn takes place in(which is almost done and awesome in itself) and lets you understand alot of whats going on with Unicorn. Where you watch Victory doesn't matter much to be honest, it's UC but it's so far in the future with no real connections to the other series besides some names put in that you can watch it whenever. I personally love it.

B) Go the AU route where you watch the standalone Gundam universes first. Gundam X, Wing(you've seen), G(the best), Gundam 00 S1 + S2, SeeD(don't watch Destiny). These don't require any UC knowledge and most of the terms that are used in UC are different here with the exception of Turn A since it pays homage to alot of the Gundam series that came before it, so if you want to catch that stuff then maybe watch it after you've seen the UC/AU stuff first. It's very different from most of the other series but very very good. AGE is the last one before Build Fighters to come out and...honestly don't rush to watch it. There were parts I loved, it started off alittle cheesy but got better, then it went very downhill but I was committed to watch it for a few characters since I had seen so many episodes at that point. It's a long series so I wouldn't watch it over any other Gundam series besides the SeeD stuff to be honest.

[Xajii]

I'd say star Turn A (which is good, but is also really really weird and probably shouldn't be so appreciated..).

dude. Turn A is amazing. seriously. if you can put your undying lust for mechporn aside (and this is tough, especially as Gundam fans), then Turn A may just be the best Gundam series there is

[Cleverness]

Turn A is kinda like G in that they are both so fundamentally different from what Gundam generally is, but they are still enjoyable on their own merits. I think Turn A with none of the Gundam mythos attached would still be a good anime, without getting into specifics and possible spoilers.

[Serra]

I enjoyed Turn A when I watched it (however many years ago), but I think I'd be disappointed if I watched it now. Kinda like how I liked watching Wing when I was younger, but now it's painfully bad -- well, maybe not as bad as Wing..

[Xajii]

I enjoyed Turn A when I watched it (however many years ago), but I think I'd be disappointed if I watched it now. Kinda like how I liked watching Wing when I was younger, but now it's painfully bad -- well, maybe not as bad as Wing..

they are in almost no way comparable... if anything I would expect Turn A to get better as you age.

Wing is a shonen anime disguised as a Gundam show, and Turn A is a futuristic-yet-realistic depiction of war disguised as a Gundam show. very, very, very different.

there's a lot of depth to Turn A IMO, more so than the vast majority of other Gundams. I think it's on par with 0079, 0080, 0083, and 08th MS Team

[Edelweiss]

Reveal of two First Neo-Zeon War MS making their Unicorn debut:

Spoiler: show

The purged Zssa (Unicorn anime ver.) art has it holding the solid-shell firing ZUX-197 Jagdgewehr shotgun from 0080; no one has been able to identify the beam rifle the booster-missile pod laden one is holding (yet).

Doesn't look like the Ga-Zowmn has changed at all from the original lineart Katoki did for the Unicorn novels.

[SurRival]

You kidding me, Edel? That's the Geara Doga's beam thingie on the Zssa...

[Edelweiss]

You kidding me, Edel? That's the Geara Doga's beam thingie on the Zssa...

You're right. Maybe the lack of the underslung grenade launcher is throwing people off. lol

Although the angle and shitty quality didn't make it too apparent that there was an e-pac on the right side of the beam machinegun.

[Edelweiss]

Official Unicorn site updated with the Zssa and Ga-Zowmn profiles (English side has the images but no text yet).

[Serra]

So, the more I see of the Miss Sazabi and Exia Dark Matter, the more terrible I think they look. Sazabi looks like a major downgrade with the only thing that kinda passes for better being the backpack, and Exia looks like it abandons the key aspects of the original Exia -- being a fast, close range suit. Those wings especially just look way to clunky on it.. I'm sure they won't actually be a problem in the show though..

I do wonder how these suits are going to play a role though. The rest of the tournament should be 1v1 fights, so a random suit unexpectedly showing up will be seen by everyone.

Pictures:

Spoiler: show

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ngM0ytGbVX...384716c2_b.jpg
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/--gtQmZ3JVJ...0d8d96f7_b.jpg

[Insanecyclone]