GUNDAM? Is that good?

[j_wong00]

Should I forget about GUNDAM?

Yes... forget about Gundam. Why? Because you will never find a person who will give you an unbiased opinion about it, specially since 90% of ppl here seem to dispise it.

If you can rent.... rent as many as you can without listening to anyone. Ppl bash Wing, but you might miss out on something that you might enjoy if you listen to them.

If you can't rent.... buy the first DVD of the series that are available and see if you like anything you see. If you don't.... its not really a big loss. But if you do like.... expect to be spending alot of money on it.

Have an adventure spirit.... walk into this unknown region without a map.

Best advice I heard all day.

I mean, for every one person that says they liked a certain Gundam series, another will come up and say that they didn't. Ultimately, you just have to try it and see.

I do find it ironic that people here tell you to watch the Gundam movies, but not the TV series, because they think that the TV series is too old and poorly animated. Yet they seem to universally be in favor of a TV show that's not much more recent, and for several (Animefriend) episodes, much more poorly animated. No, I'd definately go with the TV series over the movies... the movies are so crammed that they borderline on incoherent if you're not already familiar with the story. The pacing of the TV series works much better.

I think it's more in the lines that the movies are subbed, whereas the TV series is dubbed only.

I think it's safe to say that the majority of fans here (and anime fans in general) prefer subs over dubs. Thus the reconmendation of the movies. Heck, if I can find an R1 MSG subbed with good translations, I'll be first in line to pick that up.

[Final Vegeta]

Why this got cancelled in its run I don't know I LOVED this show SO MUCH.

I've heard Gundam X was cancelled because Evangelion's reruns stole the ratings.

FV

[mikeszekely]

Should I forget about GUNDAM?

Yes... forget about Gundam. Why? Because you will never find a person who will give you an unbiased opinion about it, specially since 90% of ppl here seem to dispise it.

If you can rent.... rent as many as you can without listening to anyone. Ppl bash Wing, but you might miss out on something that you might enjoy if you listen to them.

If you can't rent.... buy the first DVD of the series that are available and see if you like anything you see. If you don't.... its not really a big loss. But if you do like.... expect to be spending alot of money on it.

Have an adventure spirit.... walk into this unknown region without a map.

Best advice I heard all day.

I mean, for every one person that says they liked a certain Gundam series, another will come up and say that they didn't. Ultimately, you just have to try it and see.

I do find it ironic that people here tell you to watch the Gundam movies, but not the TV series, because they think that the TV series is too old and poorly animated. Yet they seem to universally be in favor of a TV show that's not much more recent, and for several (Animefriend) episodes, much more poorly animated. No, I'd definately go with the TV series over the movies... the movies are so crammed that they borderline on incoherent if you're not already familiar with the story. The pacing of the TV series works much better.

I think it's more in the lines that the movies are subbed, whereas the TV series is dubbed only.

I think it's safe to say that the majority of fans here (and anime fans in general) prefer subs over dubs. Thus the reconmendation of the movies. Heck, if I can find an R1 MSG subbed with good translations, I'll be first in line to pick that up.

I prefer subs too... and bad as they were, I have the old Anime Cartoon bootlegs.

[Panon]

Why this got cancelled in its run I don't know I LOVED this show SO MUCH.

I've heard Gundam X was cancelled because Evangelion's reruns stole the ratings.

FV

An incorrect rumour which just won't die, the two never competed.

Gundam X started in a prime timeslot (5:30pm Fridays) and was expected to do well - it only did average. Combined with it's merchandise doing poorly, after 26 episodes it was shifted from that timeslot to 6:00am Saturday mornings - a deathblow. In the new timeslot it's highest rating didn't even match the lowest rating it had achieved in it's original timeslot, thus it was cancelled.

[mikeszekely]

A shame, really. It was probably one of the better AU Gundam series, in my opinion. A more original story and better characters than Wing, and closer in feel to the older Gundam series. Not to mention that it had some nice mecha without being over the top like G Gundam or Gundam Wing.

[Mechamaniac]

In my opinion, SEED is probably the best AU series yet.

If you have seen the other Gundam series, you will recognize several elements of different series re-occurring in SEED.

Seems like they took all the previous series, and wrapped them into one, with good Gundams as well. Except for Raider, Calamity, and Forbidden, they sucked ass.

[Druna Skass]

Seems like they took all the previous series, and wrapped them into one, with good Gundams as well. Except for Raider, Calamity, and Forbidden, they sucked ass.

Can't forget Providence, that thing was butt-ugly...

[Mechamaniac]

Can't forget Providence, that thing was butt-ugly...

Yeah, I couldn't remember the name of Klueze's last Gundam, it was frikkin hideous.

[Mechafan]

I a huge Macross fan and I like most of the Gundam shows. G Gundam had to be the worst I have seen. I have seen and liked MSG, 0080, 0083, MS 8th Team, Z, F91, Wing, Char's Counter Attack and SEED. G Savior was just ok and could have been better. I have ZZ, X and V but have not watch them yet. I hope to enjoy them too. There are also Manga and side stories like Gundam Sentenal. Bandai makes an abundance of Models and action figures to fit your tastes.

[Final Vegeta]

Now, there's no need to get into history here, but our beloved Macross wouldn't exist without Gundam.

It is kinda humorous, at the end, like the arguements between Escaflowne and Cowboy Bebop. Yes, Gundam was ispirational to Macross creators, but actually Macross creators made Gundam and they made even Yamato, which started the adult storytelling.

It was Studio Nue the ones who wrote scientific references for the first Gundam (yes, Studio Nue invented Minovsky particles). It was Studio Nue the ones who wrote the script for the first Gundam. It was Itano Ichiro the one who animated the fights with the Gouf and the final battles.

The extent of how much Studio Nue was influent for Gundam may be in this link:

http://www.ex.org/4.1/33-book_g2.html

Nevertheless, the best essay in the first issue is easily Iizuka Masao's recollections on GUNDAM's genesis (as told to Mizutani Tatsuhiko). Ever wonder how Sunrise discovered Robert Heinlein's STARSHIP TROOPERS novel and his influential powered suits? The book was brought to the attention of Sunrise's head by a certain science-fiction fan named Takachiho Haruka—co-founder of Studio Nue and author of CRUSHER JOE and DIRTY PAIR.

I don't know if Studio Nue worked in other Gundams, though, but I doubt it. Later Gundams AFAIK seem to exploit same old Studio Nue ideas (bits, I-field barrier, Minovsky craft...) with little innovations in the physics department, while Z Gundam seems to directly recicle some Macross ideas like transformation for atmospheric re-entry (while in the Gundam movies I heard there was a coolant system), reconnaissance mechas and even protector armor (the last two started as original variations model line, and then Gundam kept them).

In your site (which by the way I find really useful for gathering information on mechas) I see listed between Z Gundam mechas even a "XB-70 Valkyrie", so I suppose Z Gundam was Gundam turn for paying homages.

In my country Gundam hasn't been licensed (well, it seems that now it is. They should air RX-78, Z and ZZ the next year). I watched only the first series (well, they also aired Gundam Wing which is sold as a stand alone series, but I prefer to forget that), with an awful dub, and with some episodes missing. I must say that I liked it, and I can recommend it, but from a political point of view Gundam is the enemy

I think that if there wasn't Gundam, Studio Nue may still had made some stories inspired by Starship Troopers. The real deal was only getting the mecha approved by the sponsors. Powered suits were even Gundam's first idea, but sponsors didn't like a mecha less tall than a six store building.

By the way, in his manga Great Mazinger got mass produced by the enemies. I think this is actually the first mass produced robot. And Mazinger's enemies were humans, Dr. Hell was supposed to be german, despite name and appearance (I've heard in the manga he financed himself exploiting some African states).

I'm to understand the point of Macross ISN'T to show off cool Valkyries?  But the point of Gundam is just new suits?

There IS a difference between shows that started selling merchandising and shows that ended up selling merchandising. Surprisingly for a mecha franchise, Macross as a whole is the latter. Well, not that surprisingly: mechas without big energy beams don't seem to sell that much. Even Giant Robo was not that commercial kind of anime.

And if you say that Macross 7's point was to show off cool Valkyries, I must read again your reviews

SDF Macross itself got several remarks from the toy makers when Kawamori insisted with the detatching legs for the VF-1. Valkyries designs are certainly not made to ease toy makers' life (well, later Valkyries didn't have detatchable legs anymore If the VF-1 will really show up in Zero, I think it may now have Yamato-style transformation ).

Despite Macross Zero was aimed to mecha fans (as opposed to Macross 7, which was aimed to character fans), transformable M0 toys are still nowhere to be found after nearly a year. Comparing it to how much different Gundams are avalaible is simply unproposable. Now that I come to think about it, more kits were born from Macross videogames rather that from Macross series But Gundam sold even designs that weren't even in games

So, many can talk about how Gundam was more revolutionary than Macross, but Macross was nowhere near as a toy seller franchise as Gundam

Anyway, there's no need to generalize. There are so many Gundam series some of them are not simply re-runs. I myself am curious to see G Gundam

Gundam is certainly not lame...and without it we wouldn't be here today on this forum.

Gundam was not lame in itself, it was made lame by his greedy sponsors. It seems that Kawamori's firm decision not to make lots of Macross series was at the end self-defeating.

FV

[Druna Skass]

It seems that Kawamori's firm decision not to make lots of Macross series was at the end self-defeating.

How so, it's kept it from becoming stale quickly like Gundam? I'm sure Kawamori still has some good mech designs in his head, but I don't think anyone can say the same for Okawara.

[Final Vegeta]

How so, it's kept it from becoming stale quickly like Gundam? I'm sure Kawamori still has some good mech designs in his head, but I don't think anyone can say the same for Okawara.

Gundam doesn't have the same mecha designers for all series. Okawara is supposed to do supervision, like Tomino is supposed to do supervision of every Gundam story.

AU series surely seem to recicle the same designs unlike UC designs which all have something different from each other. Anyway, I think Izubuchi is the best mecha designer after Kawamori, while I despise Katoki and, to a certain extent, even Nagano style.

FV

[Druna Skass]

How so, it's kept it from becoming stale quickly like Gundam? I'm sure Kawamori still has some good mech designs in his head, but I don't think anyone can say the same for Okawara.

Gundam doesn't have the same mecha designers for all series. Okawara is supposed to do supervision, like Tomino is supposed to do supervision of every Gundam story.

AU series surely seem to recicle the same designs unlike UC designs which all have something different from each other. Anyway, I think Izubuchi is the best mecha designer after Kawamori, while I despise Katoki and, to a certain extent, even Nagano style.

FV

Well how was Kawamori's decision not to do a lot of Macross series self-defeating?