Gundam Discussion - Twilight Axis

**Tarage** · 2014-03-20 13:06

Yeah I got major Gainer vibes from that preview. That's the same character designer who worked on Eureka Seven right?

**Edelweiss** · 2014-03-20 13:08

Given the aesthetics/proportions in the early preview, I wonder if they even bother MGing the lead MS; I don't really see it making the transition to the usual standards of the MG line. HG 1/100s that fit the lineart and stuff though, easily possible. And I agree with you mang, the Daughtress vibes there. lol

Originally Posted by Tarage

Yeah I got major Gainer vibes from that preview. That's the same character designer who worked on Eureka Seven right?

I believe so, yes; Kenichi Yoshida. He also is part of the Unicorn art staff, and he also did key animation (among other things) for Turn A too. ANN also has him listed as doing art and animation for Attack on Titan as well, so he's got a solid portfolio.

The mechanical design feels very Shoji Kawamori too; I wonder if he's onboard as well.

**Cleverness** · 2014-03-20 13:45

I think we can all agree though that no matter how good the story might be, its opening song can't beat one of the greatest Gundam openings ever

And I will fight you on this one Edel.

**Serra** · 2014-03-20 13:55

Guess I'm in the minority.. Overall I think it looks ok at best, but the head on the new gundam looks awful.

**Edelweiss** · 2014-03-20 14:16

Originally Posted by Cleverness

I think we can all agree though that no matter how good the story might be, its opening song can't beat one of the greatest Gundam openings ever

And I will fight you on this one Edel.

There is nothing to fight me on here my friend; our voices are as one. Silent Voice, Turn A Turn, and Resolution from X are probably the very best of TV OPs.

**Cleverness** · 2014-03-20 17:21

Ok that's good.

On the Super Gundam thing, I just...I dunno. Maybe it's from watching alot of non-UC gundam recently but I just find big clunky things tacked on to mobile suits to be annoying, which is ironic cause it's common in the non-UC gundam series, 00 Raiser looks sleek but it's not much different. It just puzzles me that the AEUG had enough funds to build a series of grunt units in the Nemo, field prototype suits like the Hyaku Shiki(which was probably pricy with that gold anti-beam-supposedly coated armor) and the Methuss, still put out Rick Dias'(i'm grasping at this one, they very well could have just repainted existing ones red since everyone wanted the same color as Char) and they spend funds on a support system that requires a second pilot to be effective since the Super Gundam very rarely ever launched as is(I can't remember if it did but it might have happened once) in a war where the number of effective pilots was constantly diminishing. An outer armor like the Full Armor ZZ had + a change in either the backpack or overall reactor output would have made more sense to me if it was so important they keep the Mark II on the battlefield, for whatever logical reason there could be to do so.

It's outclassed almost halfway through the series against the new suits while the Zeta becomes relevant for the rest of the series + practically all of ZZ, I don't see the propaganda appeal of keeping it on the field and while it's probably cheap to maintain they could have just gotten something better for Emma and handed the Mark 2 as is to some Nemo Team Leader, or give it to Katz to die in so Tomino could ruin the Zeta ending even more since he was pretty hellbent on doing that as is. If the Super Gundam was a standalone armor system I would probably be fine with it but the whole flying cockpit part of it(did this thing even have Vulcans?) is more useless than a Core Fighter.

**Edelweiss** · 2014-03-20 18:12

Originally Posted by Cleverness

Ok that's good.

On the Super Gundam thing, I just...I dunno. Maybe it's from watching alot of non-UC gundam recently but I just find big clunky things tacked on to mobile suits to be annoying, which is ironic cause it's common in the non-UC gundam series, 00 Raiser looks sleek but it's not much different. It just puzzles me that the AEUG had enough funds to build a series of grunt units in the Nemo, field prototype suits like the Hyaku Shiki(which was probably pricy with that gold anti-beam-supposedly coated armor) and the Methuss,

still put out Rick Dias'(i'm grasping at this one, they very well could have just repainted existing ones red since everyone wanted the same color as Char)

This is literally what happened; Char's colors became the standard color scheme for all subsequently produced Rick Diases beyond the earliest ones produced (I think this was the case by the time Char returned from Earth the first time, the end of the episode in which Alberto was killed by Buran Blutarch in the prototype Asshimar).

and they spend funds on a support system that requires a second pilot to be effective since the Super Gundam very rarely ever launched as is(I can't remember if it did but it might have happened once) in a war where the number of effective pilots was constantly diminishing. An outer armor like the Full Armor ZZ had + a change in either the backpack or overall reactor output would have made more sense to me if it was so important they keep the Mark II on the battlefield, for whatever logical reason there could be to do so.

It's outclassed almost halfway through the series against the new suits while the Zeta becomes relevant for the rest of the series + practically all of ZZ, I don't see the propaganda appeal of keeping it on the field and while it's probably cheap to maintain they could have just gotten something better for Emma and handed the Mark 2 as is to some Nemo Team Leader, or give it to Katz to die in so Tomino could ruin the Zeta ending even more since he was pretty hellbent on doing that as is. If the Super Gundam was a standalone armor system I would probably be fine with it but the whole flying cockpit part of it(did this thing even have Vulcans?) is more useless than a Core Fighter.

I suppose they kept the Mk. II out there since, minus the outdated armor materials and standard armament, it was still a pretty solid general purpose MS; plus they did need as many MS as possible. That said, it definitely needed the G-Defenser's additional weaponry (and the Gundarium Gamma armor, plus the added mobility) though, since it would not be able to keep up with the transformables and high-performance models otherwise. Also, there's two pairs of vulcans atop the missle pods; the cockpit capsule itself only has a pair of small lasers of a fair amount of power. I suppose we can attribute the adhoc-ishness of the G-Defenser (being launched seperately and requiring a second pilot, etc.) to the fact it was never designed with that capability in mind to begin with; it was a stopgap measure afterall. I guess maybe there's also the fact you can field more combat units too, before having to go and combine with the Mk. II if the Titans sent Hambrabis at you (this idea was behind the ZZ's components too, though I dislike the manpower intensiveness).

Could argue for replacing the Mk. II with GM IIIs though once they became availible; by that point the GM III and the Barzam (especially the Refined version) were clearly superior to the standalone Mk. II and Nemo (having both better speed, more maneuverability, and heavier/more varied armament). Maybe if there were more Zeta Project MS availible at the time, it would have been a good idea to get Emma out of the Mk. II, but it doesn't seem like there was any better options unfortunately (had she survived longer perhaps they could have not shelved the Z II, and provided it for her use; it does sort of roughly equate to the Super Gundam concept in terms of firepower anyway). I mean, technically speaking, she was only weeks away from Anaheim being able to field the sorta-derpy incomplete test model FAZZs and the Zeta Pluses, among other shit.

Sadly, the Schuzrum Dias only went to the Republic of Zeon/Axis Zeon; probably having something to do with the Federation and AEUG-Karaba reconciling and thus getting access to the latest GM-series MS. I guess it being pre-Movable Frame technology diminished the desire for the AEUG leadership to field it, to an extent (it's described as having a frame of "movable blocks" that almost approximate around 75% of the concept that the Mk. II perfected).

But yeah, by the time of ZZ getting under way with the Axis Zeon invasion of Earth, the Mk. II should have probably been retired with the Methuss. There were readily availible GM IIIs, and other Zeta-series MS weeks after Zeta ended.

**Cleverness** · 2014-03-20 18:18

The Mark II in ZZ was really the biggest travesty, it didn't even have the Super Gundam component at that point, just the fucking bike.

**Edelweiss** · 2014-03-20 18:27

Well, it did still do fairly well without the G-Defenser, for what amounted to a slightly inferior general purpose MS. lol

Plus the Mega Rider was a mega particle cannon with an apartment for a bridge. And a kiddy pool. But, since it's the shitty Mk. II, I guess there wasn't much else to do with it besides copy the Mega Bazooka Launcher concept in support craft form..

**Edelweiss** · 2014-03-20 20:14

Originally Posted by Serra

Guess I'm in the minority.. Overall I think it looks ok at best, but the head on the new gundam looks awful.

I forgot to reply to you earlier, but I suppose it'd be an opportunity to facilitate getting other's initial opinions on this as well.

I think it's just the Turn A effect; it'll look a lot better when viewed from the standard front-side angle. It looks like Shoji Kawamori's designs here (and they really feel like his Eureka Seven designs), so maybe it'll be as enjoyable as ES was in mechanical design (I really liked the Gekko and Izumo, though the ships as a whole were great).

Also, when looking at the (probably) enemy MS at 0:07, I get fucking Atlas (from Battletech) vibes with the eye cameras and dome head.

Spoiler: show

**Cleverness** · 2014-03-20 21:23

After Turn A i'll give him the benefit of the doubt and assume it'll grow on me like the Turn A's mustache eventually did. Nothing there had a generic V-fin and I loved most of those designs, SUMO Gold Type and the Turn X are just awesome.

**Edelweiss** · 2014-03-20 23:17

Syd Mead's Turn A got a good deal of "THIS IS BAD AND UGLY"-tier stuff way back then. lol

And I agree. Looking at it before I go to bed, I actually feel positivity towards it like I did with Turn A and 00's lead Gundam(s) (whereas AGE-1 was pretty meh).

Also, The Origin's animation very closely mirrors Yas' style; we also get Volume 5 of the hardcover on the 25th.

Spoiler: show

Finally, before peacing out, more G-Reconquista stuff:

Spoiler: show

**Xajii** · 2014-03-21 09:36

Tomino: Correct. I started about 3 years ago. I had a sudden revelation. Last year's earthquake and the nuclear plant crisis impacted how I wrote the story line.

RIP every character confirmed

**SurRival** · 2014-03-21 11:02

P-Bandai Online Hobby Shop Exclusive: MG 1/100 RX-0[N] Unicorn Gundam Banshee Norn (Release Date: Jun 2014, Price: 6480 Yen)

**Edelweiss** · 2014-03-21 11:42

Originally Posted by SurRival

P-Bandai Online Hobby Shop Exclusive: MG 1/100 RX-0[N] Unicorn Gundam Banshee Norn (Release Date: Jun 2014, Price: 6480 Yen)

What the fuck Bandai.

Sigh, and pre-ordered.. I'm grabbing two Norns through Tatsu Hobby; if anyone wants in, they can match or beat everyone else (like GG). As for why two? I figure there's a good chance the Norn isn't going to achieve FLAWLESS VICTORY; if it gets fucked up and there's a double "Final Shooting" finale inside Laplace, it'd be pretty cool to recreate it in diorama form. Or maybe i'll just take the spare green psychoframe from a FA Unicorn for the second, since they'll probably keep that part in.

**Edelweiss** · 2014-03-23 03:42

Spoiler: show

Other than it being somewhat less expensive to do (and 1/144 being more accessible), i'm sorta wondering if they'll announce online exclusive or limited production run of a 1/100. In 1/144 the total height measurements come to 86 cm. or 2.821 ft.; 1/100 heights are 116 cm. or 3.805 ft. If they're concerned with weight, just skip the internals when possible; not like this isn't being done with the 1/144. They could put a 33-35,000 Yen price tag on it (HGUC is 25k) and it'll still sell, probably..

As an aside, the JP are just as annoyed by the MG Norn being Premium Bandai'd. Like we're flabbergasted about the decision, they don't fucking understand either how that tacky ass Phenex (with no undergating) was a regular release and the Norn is not. I suppose the Norn would get the regular release with the green psychoframe, but it does seem kind of silly to not announce that then to start (and make it easier for people to plan their purchases ahead of time).

**Mrbeansman** · 2014-03-24 06:45

**Serra** · 2014-03-24 09:05

Spoiler: show

**Cleverness** · 2014-03-24 10:46

Spoiler: show

**Serra** · 2014-03-24 18:27

Hi2u PBandai exclusive..

Thread: Gundam Discussion - Twilight Axis

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