Why Mobile Suit Gundam is the Best Gundam

[@jmmarksman73]

One other thing that hit different is that Char called all his grunts by name. Never realized until now that unless it’s a hyped up villain, modern Gundam doesn’t even show the face of the average joe getting brushed off as a boss fight’s mob summon. Rewatching it kinda hits different that these robots have people with lives in them. The scene where the guy died in a Zaku reentering the atmosphere and he is like screaming how he doesn’t want to die was wild.

[@caramelcandys]

Its also really tragic as he died thinking he did a huge blow by bringing the gundam into re entry but turns out it was for nothing

[@HamanKarn567]

That's one thing I loved about the PS2 game Federation vs Zeon on specific missions you'd actually face those guys with some of the Zakus and other mobile suits being named after them and of course the mobile armors. I thought that was a cool detail. Like Gaddem, Akahana, Borashkinev. Lot of named zeon pilots.

[@booper634]

one of my favorite moments in any gundam series is in chars counter attack when the jegans and neo zeon geara dogas try to hold the asteroid back. the best part of that scene is when a zeon soldiers suit starts flying off and a jegan grabs its arm.

[@drsuchomimus]

This is exactly why his betrayal of Garma hit so hard.

[@CdrChaos]

I just wish Char wasn’t so wishy washy with his motivations. One minute he wants the Zabi family to die, then he wants to work with them to stop the Gundam, then he loses to Amuro (sort of) and now he’s back to not wanting the Zabi family to get away Scott free.

[@kylekyle8790]

The sheer violence of the og msg is absolutely hilarious especially when amuro goes insane and you see the face of fear on the zakus

[@FrMZTsarmiral]

For me the biggest difference is that the original MSG is a war story with some "coming of age" elements to it, while Zeta Gundam is mainly a drama focused more on interpersonal relations and the struggles of understanding others that also has war story elements.

[@wobohead3361]

Fire video. I loved the scale of the OYW and the indifference it had towards the White Base. Never an EFSF priority or major Zeon target, it was struggling to scrape by, run almost entirely by civilians. It was swept up in the war, either treading water in a seemingly endless retreat or being used as an EFSF pawn, forced to fight a war they never signed up for.

[@RobertN734]

I'd be interested to hear your take on Turn A. I think it does the best job of making the conflicts turn on larger socioeconomic waves than any characters can control. The characters all serve as representative perspectives, but also are fully formed themselves. I think ditching New Types goes a long way toward focusing the themes on tangible human conflict, rather than getting lost in metaphors about cultural revolution or else becoming chosen-ones of reality-shaping import.

[@snuffles5897]

Amazing video, it basically encapsulates how I feel about post-OYW Gundam from a setting point of view. As much as I love Zeta through CCA It's easy to point out that making the main characters the centerpoint of the setting's conflict makes it feel emptier as a whole, something that I never got in 0079. While not a complete fix part of me feels like the best way to sort of remedy this type of thing is for animated side stories taking place during these conflicts. It's a retroactive fix yeah but it would do wonders to make the conflict as a whole more interesting imo.

[@jpfitness2242]

This is just my opinion. I watched MSG and fell in love with it. I can't believe I slept on it for over two decades. It's my favorite now. I honestly think 08th MS Team and other OYW entries that have gundams undermine MSG. The idea, to me, was that RX-78-2 was the only Gundam completed, and it was revolutionary. Seeing ground gundams in 08th really got on my nerves. Like that was happening at the same time when Amuro was wrecking Zeon.

[@billyboleson2830]

Agreed, the more gundams they add to the oyw the less sense 79 makes

[@nrexx970]

Awesome video. You articulated very clearly several thing that always bothered my while watching Zeta that I wasn't sure how to quantify or explain.

[@D3sertGh0st]

MSG probably showcased the best "Oh shit its a Gundam" as opposed to the majority of other stories "oh dam they have a gundam lol". The RX-78-2 was portrayed in a way that stakes were extremely high, for the zeon that it was a dangerous sight to behold and the federation that, if destroyed, would make for dire consequences.

[@itanocircus2106]

This is a really good observation, I felt that the first series always felt so much more war-like than any other Gundam series to date and now I realize why

[@billyboleson2830]

I mean 8th ms team is right there

[@FlameQwert]

there's a good point there on the shift from war focussed to "hero" focussed. This video was very interesting! another mecha franchise on the other side of the Pacific has also see-sawed between these two poles- Battletech. Honestly, the shift starts even earlier, between the first House Handbooks and the release of the first novels. I personally think the tension of trying to balance these two modes of storytelling is what causes some of the more repetitive storybeats that crop up in the writing since then. though... its particular nature as a (usually) small scale wargame between 2 lances of mechs and supplemented 50% by sourcebooks that take a large-scale strategic view of war and 50% by novels that frequently go the hero route has its own peculiar effect and keeping the seesaw rocking back and forth with mixed results. Like how Gundam being an anime franchise means production and writing constrants push Gundam towards "fights between post-human superheroes and their closest buddies". I suspect the gunpla angle is here too- the vast majority of casual fans buy the super suits, and while most of the superfans do buy grunts, what they REALLY like to buy are "special grunts" or more obscure "experimental suits", if p-bandai selection+pricing and the main HG/MG lineups are any indicator.

[@ZuilzonDTD]

You know this is one of the reasons why I liked IBO as well. It was mostly very grounded and while they had their super-pilot, mecha rules-of-cool, and other fantastical elements the conflicts were not out of scope. The conflicts always managed to stay within the scope of what the factions engaging were capable of. The ending was actually extremely spot on because of this since it wasn't just main characters suddenly overpowering a faction like the Titans. In the end they picked a fight they were grossly outnumbered in, were losing pretty handily even before getting hit with cheap-shots, and they went down in flames. It was like the show was a counter-argument to a lot of modern day 'everything hinges on the hero' kind of stories, with everything that actually happens and actually changes is entirely based on political movements. The movements were supported by characters but it's not like Mika going ham on a dozen jobbers really changed much of anything. It was nicely encapsulated in the episode where Kudelia @s the entire gjallarhorn fleet for being cringe and they're forced to stand down least their war crimes get caught in 4k on her live stream. The conflicts were background noise often being exposed as manipulative, blindly fought, fueled by arrogant or power hunger individuals, and just overall corrupt uncaring systems. Everyone, the main cast included, pretty much got their comeuppance due to their own flaws that they never could grow out of due the continual desire to make a change through violence. McGillis, despite posturing as wanting a better world, really only cared about overthrowing gjallarhorn's regime and replacing it with his own. It's refreshing that the answer to the old regime wasn't a new one for once since that's a strangely common story trope. That or you know, defeating the regime with your rebellion to only transition immediately into another rebellion fighting that same regime.

[@1superxero534]

Quattro Vagina really is a cool and original character! I'm wondering why he didn't show up after Zeta

[@thomasffrench36]

The original MSG is definitely the A New Hope of Gundam where it’s arguably the best one, even if both are dated in the aesthetics. I will argue that their sequels are better even if they have weakness the original don’t have. I love both of these sagas, even if I’m a new Gundam fan.

[@CosmoShidan]

Funny to compare Gundam to Star Wars when imo, it's a deconstruction and critique of the latter.

[@thomasffrench36]

@@CosmoShidanit’s not a deconstruction of Star Wars as they tell completely different stories.

[@CosmoShidan]

@@thomasffrench36 I would argue that Gundam deconstructs Star Wars by the following: 1. Instead of the protagonist being a fearless adventurer and hero like Luke Skywalker, Amuro Ray is a child soldier who suffers from PTSD. 2. Rather than being a clear cut, white-and-black conflict, with the rebellion as good, and the empire as evil, the empire is the protagonist, but is an oppressive, authoritarian, liberal entity, and the rebellion is the antagonist, yet also oppressive, authoritarian, and fascist and that they are two sides of the same coin since they are both capitalist. 3. Instead of the fantasy element such as the force being there to serve as an exoticized form of religion that guides the heroes, the concept of Newtypes is presented as a morally ambiguous construct to unite humanity as one people in space, but is corrupted and co-opted by the opposing sides to mean the evolution of humanity into super-soldiers with undefined mental powers. 4. Whereas Star Wars tends to glorify and romanticize war and not really go into the consequences of it, or place any nuances, Gundam in at least in the Tomino-penned series from MSG to Z, to ZZ and CCA, it's really about not only the horrors of war, but that war is an institution of state power that should not be normalized and be resisted. There, I hope I made my case.

[@thomasffrench36]

@@CosmoShidan that’s called being different stories.

[@CosmoShidan]

@@thomasffrench36 No we call that subversion of stories. Both are space operas and have to do with rebellions against empires, however, Gundam is criticizing Star Wars for romanticizing warfare.

[@henryfleischer404]

I was very confused about the lack of massive fleets in Zeta Gundam. I eventually reached the conclusion that the world had not recovered from the one year war, and that the Gryps War was about as large as a space war could be in 0087.

[@Crow7878]

I appreciate any shout-out to Noah Gervais. Good video.

[@colorblue7018]

Good video, I liked the take even though I haven't ever heavily dived into Gundam.

[@AnamFiain]

The speed with which I hit the subscribe button after hearing “What if David Koresh was the cops?” was on some newtype shit

[@skabAroll]

Lovely video Mr. Bellman, thank you.

[@TheBellman]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@darktitan3025]

One thing I really liked about Mobile Suit Gundam was how there were (mostly) no clear cut bad guys. Like sure Ghiren was absolutely evil, but most of the Zeon army were normal people. In Zeta Gundam the Titans were so cartoonishly evil and unlikeable I didn't really feel that invested in the whole Gryps Conflict. I didn't even finish ZZ Gundam. Maybe the only other entry that came close to me was War in the Pocket.

[@kazukiyomeyer2227]

What I understood: As a Story: Mobile Suit Gundam is better than Zeta Gundam As an animation: Zeta Gundam is better than Mobile Suit Gundam

[@GitGudFox]

I think the OG Gundam is good, but it's undermined by the main mechanic of the show: Amuro literally fails his way to the top. He has a plot macguffin that allows him to accomplish the impossible which winds up making the villains more sympathetic. They are valiantly fighting to the death to try and stop this monstrously OP machine piloted by a stupid kid from delivering it to their enemy. The most elegant and executed Gundam series is going to be Zeta Gundam.

[@billyboleson2830]

Thats literally the point but yes. Funny tho that people complain about kira yamato in seed being too OP even though amuro is basically unstoppable once his newtype powers kick in but dont act like Zeta handled this well either. Kamille has his fair share of newtype bullshit as well

[@metlumens2731]

Future anitube superstar bellman out with another banger video 😳🥲😄😤🫡

[@HonestObserver]

Please give your takes on the other Gundam series you’ve seen, curious what you think of ZZ, non-UC series, etc.

[@kiixel]

well put

[@pandagamer-hg5be]

I'd argue that gundam thunderbolt matches the og series in quality pretty well

[@MarathonGuy1337]

Whilst I agree that MSG is very unique (and equally love it) I still love Zeta Gundam and the other works of the UC Timeline are they more melodramatic yes. But Haman is the best girl of the gundam franchise and Quattro is a fun original character. But seriously I really love the gundam series from YAS character design to Kill Em All Tominos melodrama can't wait to start Victory Gundam.

[@spinoo5393]

In defense of zeta and MOST series is the fact that they don’t really matter even with ascending to new heights the EFFF still controls and Zeon with there constant rebellions quietly disperse in 0100U.C and Nretypes are made just another weapon I think Zeta is more of a side story that happened to have the most important people in the world in it

[@billyboleson2830]

The final 4 episodes of MSG are the peak of the entire franchise imo and is overall more consistent than Zeta. Zeta might have higher highs then 79 but it also had MUCH lower lows and worse pacing

[@breakingdragon22]

I watched this show as a army brat in Japan it was amazing. Later would come Z Gundam, after that I could care less until Gundam thunderbolt. Every thing else was boring.

[@synysterpain]

Did you like char's counter attack?

[@breakingdragon22]

@@synysterpain I actually did I thought it was great along with 0080, 0083 and the more recent origins. Those are OVA’s. I should have clarified the TV shows after Z Gundam I did not care for.

[@mariocarballo2440]

Ramba ballssss 😂😂😂

[@yaddles-slowggles]

yes

[@chheinrich8486]

Goodthing I don’t watch watch gundam for the story and even then, I know it’s fiction so the fact it’s more about aristocratic mecha duels doesn’t bother me, 😂

[@burningchrome8622]

4tro vejina is a cool new original character zeta iz juz zooo guud its my 2nd behind 0083

[@RamadaArtist]

The whole, "Gundam is no longer about normal soldiers," is a big part of why Stardust Memory is my favorite UC series. Not a single damn space wizard in sight.

[@billyboleson2830]

Stardust memory was great until the love triangle. Youd like Gundam X because that whole show is basically one big piss take on newtypes

[@0Vuuk0]

Imo Zeta Gundam improves on everything the original did

[@wallario]

Original gundam and z is the only UC

[@chheinrich8486]

This is why I watch any gundam like I watch a kaiju movie, I don’t care about the story, I know war is bad already, I just sit through the human scenes until the mecha show up,😂

[@alexanderstanfield5845]

Havent even watched it yet but youre wrong (lol). Its IBO. Ill edit this if you change my mind.

[@billyboleson2830]

I bet ibo was your first lol

[@lynp9996]

ACAB includes the titans.

[@CosmoShidan]

I still enjoy the Tomino-penned UC narrative, especially with its anti-capitalist message.

[@matternot666]

Lol

[@CosmoShidan]

@@matternot666 It's no laughing matter. The 38th episode, The Newtype Challia Bull, introduces the Jupiter Fleet selling minerals and weapons to the Principality of Zeon, and implies that the reason why the Federations wants to take back side 3 so badly is to reap profits from trade with said corporation. Otherwise, the term "newtype" is a reference to John Desmond Bernal's essay, Marx and Science, in which new type means the emergence of new civilization without a class divide between the rich and the poor, that being socialism. In the context of Gundam, especially the novelization, newtype in the Zeon Deikun describes it, is the end of the divide between spacenoid and earthnoid and a new civilization emerging, and thereby it is used a metaphor for socialism. Hence there is an analogy between Bernal and Deikun.

[@DoomResetR]

​@@CosmoShidanyour entire views of gundam talks more about you commie than Tomino, by the time gundam was made Tomino was disappointed in lefties ideals, disgusted by communists and political ideologies in general. Being a little bit concerned about wild capitalism does not make someone a lefties, nor being against lefties ideals a right-wing idiot.

[@CosmoShidan]

@@DoomResetR "Horrendous overpopulation had wreaked havoc on a civilization dependent on the burning of fossil fuels. It had brought out the worst evils of capitalism, aggravating a struggle for finite resources and exacerbating the greenhouse effect. And when an attempt was made to switch to giant orbiting photovoltaic cells, the transmission of power to Earth nearly destroyed the ozone layer, making radiation damage a serious danger. There was only one way to avoid destruction of the planet's entire ecosystem, and that was through collective action on the part of mankind to manage its own population growth." Gundam novelization, book 1, p.10, Tomino. I'm going to need a source on that. Because in the first book of the novelization quoted above, the foundation for UC Gundam is anti-capitalist. Not to mention that, by ZZ gundam, Tomino depicts the Bernal sphere, a space island, in a positive light. That would be the Moon Moon arc. Also, the Bernal sphere is a Marxist futurist model, which is further evidence of Tomino having leftist ideals. It's also worth noting that he worked for Osamu Tezuka, creator of Astro Boy/Mighty Atom and was a prominent Marxist as well. It's also worth noting that he doesn't favor the O'Neill space island, due to their capitalist origins and was responding to Gerard K. O'Neill's blind optimism when it came to capitalism funding space colonization.

[@CodeRed001]

Holy shit I had no idea Tomino was so BASED. Incredible.

[@billyboleson2830]

Tomino is both hyper progressive but also comservative at the same time

[@jesseerven4859]

*why i hate gundam

[@2Lupus1]

would you make a discord i would love to talk to you im a big fan of gundam and metro