#gundam 00 spoilers in the links

[sapphireswimming]

[image id: a pencil sketch of Louise Halevy from the anime Gundam 00 working on a partially completed cross-stitch project /id]

Happy Birthday @ninthfeather!!!

While an extended version of this post didn't come together in time, I can offer art for / inspired by your fic The Unofficial First Meeting of the Gundam-Pilot-Adjacent Stitch & B*tch

[wordsandrobots]

You mentioned a while ago a Gundam Eligos. I’d love to hear about your… process I suppose (how did you go about thinking it up, what influenced you decision to make it the Eligos, to arm it as you did etc.).

I mention it because I suddenly remembered a little while ago the existence of these two fake Ibo Gundam’s (I think that became popular around the second season) and I got curious on what your perspective would be on them, if any.

I apologise if you already mention this in one of your fanfics. I’m afraid Iron Blooded Orphans just isn’t really the sort of series I seek out fan fiction of (though if that ever changes, your stuff’ll be top of the list).

Oh, yeah, I quite like that fan-art (original links are these, I believe https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/60410296, https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/58286615?), though I feel the aesthetic skews away from IBO's baseline. Halphas in particular doesn't look right to me and I think that's because it's aping UC or 00 style 'suits too closely.

Anyway - no need to apologise; I get having things you don't seek fan fic out for, I'm the same. I'll note for the record that what I'm going to say contains spoilers but with one (highlighted) exception, they're broadly unimportant.

In total, I made up two Gundams, four pseudo-Gundams, and one adjacent 'new' mobile suit for Wishing on Space Hardware. If you'll indulge me, I'll go through the logic behind each of them in order of appearance.

The first Gundam is little more than a placeholder. I literally needed something to fit between Barbatos and Gusion in a line-up of frames for two characters to walk past. Due to misreading a wiki page, I originally labelled this Seere, which obviously is a Gundam that already exists, at the other end of the number sequence. But then I found this list which is easier to follow and renamed it Paimon (ASW-G-09). I described it as a scout model, slender and winged, which doesn't quite fit with the description of Paimon the demon. However, since that demon's rank is King, like Bael, describing it as similar sort of works. Clearly, my thought process on this one wasn't especially deep! The background I gave Paimon was that it had been in a private collector's war museum in a non-operational state. Some rich guy bought it from salvagers and put it on display. This seemed like a reasonable fate for a Gundam frame to have suffered and I used it later to bulk-out a list of extant frames.

The psuedo-Gundams are all copies of Flauros. Very easy! The idea behind them is that following The Incident, Gjallarhorn authorised an attempt to reproduce the Gundam frame with a view to better controlling the technology. A recovered Flauros was used as the template owing to the transformation mechanism, the Dainsleifs, and the fact that Shino very nearly killed Rustal Elion with it, which created a lot of shock-waves (it's a thread in my fics that this has as many long-term consequences as Barbatos' final rampage, while everyone kind of forgets about Gusion).

I hand-waved the difficulty of building new Gundam frames on the notion that 1) nobody ever tried before, 2) the problem of running two reactors in parallel gets solved over the course of the fics, and 3) the resulting 'Flauri' are technically inferior anyway, being less powerful and less resilient compared to a real Gundam frame (a fact that, as of writing, is about to become extremely important). All this said, the chief reason for making them Flauros-copies is thematic: this is a story where Shino narrowly survives and is taken prisoner. It's a big part of his arc that Gjallarhon takes everything uniquely 'his' and twists it for their own ends.

The Flauri start out as unpainted copies of Flauros' short cannon form, using Gjallarhorn railguns. F-4 remains more or less in this configuration throughout; F-3 switches out its guns for a laser cannon and an electro-harpoon weapon designed to disable enemy 'suits; F-2 is given the full original Flauros weaponry; and F-1 is refitted for melee combat with a set chainsaw/claw weapons in place of the stabiliser feet on the arms. Then, as the story progresses, F-2 gets outfitted the same as F-1, which in turn...well, that actually is a spoiler I don't want to share just yet! Point is, Gundam Flauros has a nicely 'neutral' design compared to a lot of the IBO 'suits, so it was very easy to picture how different weaponry would be bolted on. (Also, while Flauros becomes the template for the completed 'suits, development of the frame was based on an impounded Dantalion, so the idea of switchable equipment is there from the start.)

The long and short of this segment: I started with the thematic idea and thought about how far I could stretch it, following the logic I'd established in the story.

The 'new' mobile suit is another output of the above project: a Reginlaze-like frame that incorporates Flauros' transformation gimmick. The Leopard (named for Flauros the demon's common form) is basically an IBO equivalent of a Guncannon and sort of a joke that swings around to being serious. They were rolled out quickly as a way to shore up Gjallarhorn's relationships with the Earth blocs and Mars when there was a risk that the above Gundam-replication might be publicly exposed. As such, they've got a massively sub-par performance compared to actual Reginlazes. However, this doesn't stop a couple being stolen by terrorists and used for long-range sniping operations, or Gjallarhorn deploying their own, higher-spec models as fusiliers. The high-brow justification for this is as an illustration of more consequences of Tekkadan's actions, but honestly? I just thought mashing Flauros' design elements into a Reginlaze would work nicely.

And finally - to address your actual question! - Gundam Eligos.

OK, so, context: Eligos is not actually called Eligos for the majority of the story. It goes under the pseudonym 'Skoll', as in 'Hati and Skoll', the wolves who chase the sun and moon in Norse mythology. Being a 'moon-chaser' is a loaded double-meaning given that its pilot is one of the Tekkadan survivors. Likewise, due to who it is fighting for (a different terrorist group, apparently headed by a new 'Montag'), its modern appearance is patterned on the Grimgerde: red armour, swept-back fins, shields on its arms. That is principally why it has the armaments it does: shorter versions of the rare-metal blades built into the shields (which themselves flip around to reveal guns are the other end, because seriously, how many of those rifles did Mackie throw away?). It's also fitted with a booster pack for the majority of its appearances: big, triangular wings loaded with additional reactors to allow it to move incredibly fast compared even to normal Gundams. This thing is built for hit-and-run, designed to cut through enemy lines as swiftly as possible, because for a long time it's functionally the only mobile weapon this group has at their disposal. While it is later joined by 'Hati' (a Schwalbe Graze variant), that 'suit serves a very different purpose.

[To whit: Hati is equipped with the combination of a Dainsleif launcher with a beam-weapon, intended to negate the resistance effects of nano-laminate. The javelins it fires are hollow and filled with reflectors, creating a path for the beam. As you might imagine, this is a precision weapon to a frankly ridiculous degree, so Hati is functionally static while in operation. Ergo, Skoll has to handle any mobile suits in play while Hati targets enemy ships.]

The reason I'm starting with all this is because it's what came first. I made Skoll up before I picked which Gundam frame it was built around. I wanted a Grimgerde/Gundam hybrid that ran with Tekkadan's 'one man commando unit' concept. I decided it had been recovered with very little of its original armour intact, so its original identity was irrelevant in terms of what it could actually do.

However, obviously I couldn't leave it there! So: which to use?

I wanted a relatively low number, because the backstory I settled on was that this Gundam had been involved in the battle that left Barbatos (ASW-G-08) abandoned on Mars. Strictly, there was no reason to focus on the low-end of the sequence since I roped Flauros (ASW-G-64) into the same scenario, but it was a way to narrow things down. Another thing I used was association with the colour red (because Skoll is very much the 'rival' machine for these fics).

This led me to the page on that same roleplaying wiki I linked above for Eligos. Which is absolutely not an academically rigorous source. I spent a good fifteen minutes just now tracing the source for describing this demon as wearing a red coat (apparently it's from 'The Red Book of Appin' though I don't have the energy this morning to confirm the exact quote). Fortunately, it doesn't really matter because Crowley's edition of the Ars Goetia is sufficient to explain my final reasoning:

ELIGOS — The Fifteenth Spirit in Order is Eligos, a Great Duke, and appeareth in the form of a goodly Knight, carrying a Lance, an Ensign, and a Serpent. He discovereth hidden things, and knoweth things to come; and of Wars, and how the Soldiers will or shall meet. He causeth the Love of Lords and Great Persons. He governeth 60 Legions of Spirits. His Seal is this, etc.

I'm not wedded to the idea that the demonic descriptions need to be a one-to-one match for the machines or the pilots, but there's some fitting stuff here. First, it's 'goodly' as in 'handsome', which is beautifully ironic for a variety of reasons. Second, the lance. As I fleshed out what had happened to this frame, I realised I needed to have it use a spear or lance, because while I'd decided the katana was Barbatos's original weapon, the circumstances I was inventing required it to wield a longer weapon at a dramatic juncture. Therefore, that needed to come from another Gundam. And third, there were the references to knowing the future and matters pertaining to wars.

(Due diligence note: slightly more major spoilers for the fic follow)

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This is what solidified the pick. You see, something I omitted from my description of Gjallarhorn's Gundam replication project is that the frames are only part of it. They also wanted the means to reproduce the piloting abilities Tekkadan showed. This led to the creation of the 'Alaya-Vijnana Type Zero', an AI model fed on battle data from people (Shino) who used the A-V. This enables the creation of new Type E systems sans the necessity of wiring dead people's brains into a mobile suit. As a concept, this met with mixed success but it's relevant here because the group operating Skoll got their hands on a copy of the specs and incorporated it into their Gundam alongside a standard A-V. This ramps up the information processing capacities of the system so it can very precisely identify incoming threats and respond accordingly, allowing someone with only a single whisker to operate at the level of someone with two or three. It becomes a 'sixth sense' for the pilot, which fits Eligos' realm of knowledge perfectly.

(And to confirm the obvious: yes, it's a Gundam Wing reference.)

With this established, I back-filled what Gundam Eligos (ASW-G-15) had been like. In appearance, it takes cues from 00's Gundam Zabanya, having an articulated 'cloak' of shield panels used to deflect incoming attacks and let it muscle in close to its target. Its primary weapon was designed for skewering and it would probably have had beefed-up thrusters to enable this mode of combat. For its original incarnation, the connection to 'knowledge of wars' is that its pilot was strategist for Gjallarhorn's Mars contingent.

To summarise the finalised backstory: Barbatos, Eligos and Flauros were deployed to the Chryse Planitia to combat a squadron of Hashmals, but the mobile armours split up, forcing the Gundams to do the same. Flauros ended up using its Dainsleifs at very close range, burying itself along with the Hashmal that would later reactivate thanks to Iok. Barbatos and Eligos fought the remainder but were overwhelmed. In a last-ditch effort, Barbatos used Eligos' abandoned lance to puncture the Ahab reactors on one of the Hashmals. The resulting gravitational upset blew Barbatos into the middle of the desert and ripped the armours to bits. Eligos was caught in the blast and crushed by the wreckage, the frame left repairable but its equipment written off.

And to summarise the answer to your question: there you have it. A mix of ideas that I then matched to the entry in the Ars Goetia I felt fitted best with where I was going. I'm both a 'what would be cool' or a 'what serves the plot best' writer when it comes to creating stuff for fanfic/fanart, but I do like to work through a justification for whatever I invent, even if it doesn't get much focus.

Thanks for asking! I know I've rambled on a lot, but that's simply because it was fun to collate my reasoning in one place.

[Addendum: There is one additional 'new; 'suit I included (past obvious things like Shidens using the two-horned alternate mask from the options set and that one random Hloekk with forklifts for arms), which is the J-class Reginlaze, a high-mobility variant that's basically a normal Reginlaze with Julia-style wing-thrusters on its shoulders. This is mainly by 'rule of cool' logic: overall, I have been trying to resist throwing in new 'suits at every opportunity because I really enjoy IBO not doing that. But sometimes, the urge to be self-indulgent is hard to fight!]

[hawk-in-a-tree]

More info on the Gundam 00 news!

[fostersffff]

The Big Gundam Watch, Part 5: Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn

After a short break, I’ve returned to my Big Gundam Watch project with Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn, a 7 episode OVA series that released its first episode 22 years- to the day!- after Char’s Counterattack.

I mentioned at the end of my post on Char’s Counterattack that I decided to skip past all the Universal Century side stories like War in the Pocket and The 08th MS Team, as well as alternate settings like Wing and 00 for the time being so I could get caught up to Hathaway, which as of this post is the newest entry in the franchise. That’s not to say that I was just watching Unicorn to get it out of the way; in fact, before I decided to go all-in on Gundam, I considered testing the waters by watching Unicorn first, because of how well regarded it is and its relatively short length.

In hindsight, that would have been a tremendous mistake, because a lot of what makes Unicorn so good is how intimately it builds on the stories that came before it- specifically Mobile Suit Gundam, Zeta Gundam, Gundam ZZ, and Char’s Counterattack- to provide what I would consider to be the perfect ending to the story of the Universal Century. And... although I just gave away my opinion of the series, we can still go through and break down what makes it so damn good.

THE STUFF I LIKED:

I adore that the central philosophical conflict of Unicorn is whether it’s better to languish in a stable but unfair status quo, or push for optimistic but uncertain change that will 100% threaten that stability, and that both the Federation and Zeon are technically on the same side of the conflict. I imagine there are some people who rolled their eyes at all the talk of “a god called possibility”, and it is a very melodramatic way of saying it, but as a result it’s also the most hopeful and uplifting conclusion that any of these stories have had yet.

I assumed, after Char’s Counterattack gave it nothing more than a brief nod, that Gundam ZZ was going to be treated like the red-headed stepchild of the Universal Century’s continuity. To my delight, Unicorn paid plenty of respect to my favorite original UC show, both by prominently featuring the Nahel Argama, and much more importantly, in the form of Marida Cruz, who’s easily one of the best characters in the series and one of my favorite kinds of characters: the ultra capable, singularly-focused, and devastatingly sympathetic woman who gets voiced by Tara Platt in the dub, while also being intricately connected to one of my other favorite characters in all of Gundam, Elpeo Ple.

Spoilers don’t bother me as much as they do some people, and going into Unicorn I already knew a couple of them, like how Full Frontal was a clone of Char, because of an ancient tumblr post talking about how ridiculous his name is, and halfway through Zeta I was 100% confident that the girl on the cover was going to turn out to be Mineva Zabi, if it was even going to be a secret at all. What I did not know, and was actually really bummed about getting spoiled on, was Marida being one of Ple’s clones, which I learned from- of all the fucking sources- a cryptocurrency meme.

At least it’s accurate.

Banagher Links is a Certified Good Boy™, second only to The Boy™ Amuro Ray himself. The arc of a dispassionate teenager who’s just kinda drifting through life being suddenly stricken with purpose, and overcoming adversity to adhere to that purpose and the beliefs he comes to develop is really fucking good and executed immaculately, culminating in him literally defeating nihilism to try to usher in a better tomorrow for the whole Universal Century.

I also love that Banagher is the first protagonist (I’ve seen) to rightfully talk shit about my mortal nemesis, Anaheim Electronics. You’re right dude, they did invent the mobile suit maintenance equivalent of USB to better facilitate their war profiteering!

Seeing Mineva Zabi come into her own as a character in Unicorn after existing mainly as a tragic background element and bargaining chip in Zeta and ZZ was an immensely satisfying payoff, and that’s only with me starting Gundam last year; I can’t imagine how fucking cool it must have been for longtime fans to see. The fact that she’s a great character in her own right- shifting from wanting to prevent war at all costs, at least partially due to the generational guilt of being a Zabi, to choosing to believe in and pursue a better future no matter the consequences- is icing on the cake.

MY MAN BRIGHT NOA reaping the benefits of his character development in ZZ so that every single time he’s on screen, he’s being the Hugest Man there’s ever been. I was also thrilled to see that his character design in Unicorn flawlessly bridges the gap between the TV shows and Char’s Counterattack, where he has very faint sclera and very dark brown eyes, so they’re not as cartoony as they were back in the day, but also not... wrong like they were in CCA.

Speaking of character designs: one of the things I noticed- and liked- about Unicorn was how the characters in this series look like they fit alongside characters from the original TV shows, rather than fitting in with design trends of the era it was made. Specifically, it was when I noticed how voluminous Micott’s hair is, and how you don’t really see that too often except when the designer is older, like Akira Toriyama designing Android 21 for Dragon Ball FighterZ. As it turns out, I was dead-on, because the character designer for Unicorn was Yoshikazu Yasuhiko, the original character designer for Mobile Suit Gundam! It’s a very refreshing return to form after Char’s Counterattack felt like it “standardized” all the characters, and as a result, it feels more special.

Full Frontal wound up being a very pleasant surprise. I had low expectations of the character based on the concept of “Char, again”, but they actually do the most interesting thing with that concept, where he’s less who Char actually was and more who Char presented himself as and what people believed he was. As a result, he’s a very different antagonist than the man in CCA, and a damn good one to boot.

Rapid fire character and group compliments because this segment is already too damn long!

The Nahel Argama crew are really well portrayed, where on the surface they appear to be as incompetent and heartless as any regular Federation military personnel we’ve seen before, but the more time spent with them the more they reveal that they are, in fact, actual multidimensional characters.

Same goes for Zinnerman and the Garencieres crew, where they’re the most fleshed out any Zeons have been since the original series. Also critical that they exist as survivors of the Federation military’s own war crimes, which have always been implied, but not explicitly detailed (unless you count the Titans, which I don’t since they were considered a separate faction).

I was surprised it took until Unicorn for a Charfucker to arrive in the Universal Century, in the form of Angelo. Despite not loving the character archetype of “subordinate who’s overly protective of and in love with their superior”, he gets a pass on account of the fact that he’s the first (Lalah and Quess don’t quite hit this same kind of archetype, but there are similarities).

Considering how often I complained about the way they were handled in the last three stories, I was glad to see Anaheim Electronics assume an explicitly antagonistic role, with Martha Vist Carbine being The Biggest Bitch In The Earth Sphere.

All the mobile suits and armors are great, top to bottom, and they do the thing I like where they don’t mix and match design elements so each side is distinctly Federation or Zeon, but I specifically want to talk about the Unicorn Gundam. This was the first time that my opinion on the titular mobile suit actually changed over time, going from “man this thing looks kinda lame” to “oh fuck I actually really love it”. It was specifically the shutdown sequence in Episode 2 where you see a clear, straight-on demonstration of each part as it goes from Destroy Mode back to Unicorn Mode that I started to appreciate it, especially in Unicorn Mode. I’m not crazy about the way modern mobile suit color schemes seem to have become more muted, sticking to one solid color instead of an assortment of accented pieces, but it makes thematic sense for the Unicorn.

Also, as someone who really loves the way shields are standard issue equipment in the Universal Century and the concept of bits/funnels/omnidirectional remote weapon systems, the Full Armor Unicorn having what are essentially shield bits is The Fucking Coolest.

One of the neat things about being an OVA series released over four years is that each episode has its own theme song, but the winner by a county mile is Episode 2′s Everlasting.

Starting with Unicorn, all of the English dubs for Universal Century stories have been done by the same studio- NYAV Post- and as such, I decided to switch over to English. It’s a solid dub through and through, but I want to give special kudos to Keith Silverstein as Full Frontal and Char and Ellyn Stern as Martha Vist Carbine. The two of them are perfectly cast as these characters, with Silverstein just feeling right in the way Steve Blum just was right for Spike Spiegel, and Ellyn Stern has the ultimate “old white businesswoman” voice, where she’s emphasizing the wrong words or wrong parts of words and constantly sounds like she needs more air, but despite that is still crushingly haughty and condescending.

Something I noticed about Gundam Unicorn is that, in addition to all the Universal Century stories that came before it, it also has the spirit of my (still) favorite Gundam story, Mobile Fighter G Gundam. Everything from the surface level comparisons like the main Gundam having a super mode activated by out-of-control emotions that is later harnessed into a much more effective one by reigning in and controlling those emotions, the final enemy mech being an absolutely titantic one with a smaller, regular mech as a head that can “infect” and manipulate others, and the protagonist being able to summon the Gundam by calling for it, to more thematic ones like the emphasis on the relationship between the main male and female character being critical to the narrative (Domon and Rain, Banagher and Mineva), the nihilism of the antagonist as a direct result of humanity’s actions (Master Asia realizing how fucked the Earth had become due to the Gundam Fight, Full Frontal coping with the fact that nothing changed after the Axis Shock), and the fact that the final enemy mech is literally defeated by the power of Human Emotion made manifest (love in G Gundam, hope in Unicorn). And of course, both series feature a unicorn!

THE STUFF I LIKED LESS:

Truth be told, it’s slim pickings for this section. Originally, I had a whole big, scathing segment written about how fucked it is in Episode 5 that Zinnerman calls his daughter’s name instead of Marida’s after she falls out of the Banshee’s cockpit, and that I thought it was bad writing- up to that point, Zinnerman had shown nothing but genuine concern for Marida herself, so it felt out-of-character and hackish for him to suddenly think of her as a replacement like that. But then no, it turns out that was actually setting up the next episode where Zinnerman is agonizing over whether to side with Full Frontal or Mineva, because he’s not completely able to let go of his anger towards the Federation, even after everything that happened at Torrington. It’s still a weaker story beat, one that might have been stronger if there were more scenes featuring Marida and Zinnerman interacting up to that point, and I still felt it spoiled the high-flying mood that the rest of the climax of Episode 5 had built up, but this is all much more mild criticism than I had planned.

Another mild, almost joke criticism: the scene where Micott says the insane line about knowing when other women are lying and Takuya remarking that even in 0096, women be shopping... that was kinda bizarrely funny when it clearly was not supposed to be. I get it- after the tense scene where Micott grills Mineva about how she didn’t actually do what she said she was going to do on Earth, the way Mineva handled Full Frontal gave Micott some measure of faith in her, but it’s still expressed in such a bizarre way.

Also, Mineva cut the ship’s intercom before telling Full Frontal the final coordinates, so Micott shouldn’t have even been able to hear her lie. I honestly probably would have never even noticed this continuity error if not for how ridiculous it is.

I enjoy most of the fanservice in this series, but there was one real groaner. When the Nahel Argama is being occupied, the Zeons remark about how weird it is that the Federation stores their mobile suits upright, and one of them goes “only people who’s souls are weighed down by gravity would do that!” Again, I get the sentiment- if gravity isn’t a consideration, it makes way more sense to lay them down while on standby, but don’t use that wording just to get the line in there. It’s like someone talking about the evils of capitalism because the price of their coffee went up by a dollar: they’re not necessarily wrong, but it’s an overblown response for the particular situation.

I do have two actual problem characters, at least in the way that the narrative ultimately winds up framing them: Alberto Vist and Riddhe Marcenes. It’s the same issue for both, in that they fall on the side of being good, but they never actually make up for being Tremendous Fucking Dirtbags.

It’s clear that Alberto has feelings for Marida, in no small part due to the fact that she saved him from being sucked out into space during Episode 3. He’s uncomfortable and conflicted about what Martha does to recondition her back into Ple-Twelve, and I got the sense that once Martha entrusted her to his care, he was going to subvert his aunt somehow, possibly by trying to get some kind of backdoor into her conditioning that would allow her to easily break free. Instead, the next time we see him, he’s working as her handler without a second thought, regularly patching in to reinforce his control over her and her Ple-Twelve identity. Worse yet, he tries to fucking hit on her, which is played off as comical because she’s been conditioned to only follow orders, but it just completely saps any goodwill Alberto may have had, especially when you consider her backstory. Worst of all, he does eventually subvert his aunt… in order to get Riddhe in the Banshee out to Industrial 7, with special instructions to recapture Marida so she can be reconditioned again, presumably this time into a waifu for him. At least he had the fucking decency to call her “Marida” in the end and not “Ple-Twelve”.

Also: I have literally never had this issue with a Gundam character before, but I could not remember Alberto’s name. I would get Alonso, Adolfo, Rudolfo, Arturo, but I regularly needed to consult something to remember “Alberto”. Even writing this I was thinking “am I sure it’s Alberto?”

Riddhe is actually one of my favorite kinds of antagonistic characters: the person who thinks he’s the protagonist of a story, and is then beaten down over and over with the fact that he isn’t until he snaps. It starts with him attempting to mad dog Mineva for being the Zabi heir, but she effortlessly and embarrassingly shuts him down. There’s also the incredibly cringe moment where he tells Bright not to treat him differently than the rest of the crew, only for My Man to sweep his leg by asking him why he’s assuming that he would get special treatment in the first place. After Mineva rejects his ultimate plan to just lock themselves in a room and spend the rest of their lives coddling each other while the world outside goes to hell, he goes full antagonist, dropping his Anime Protagonist Good Luck Charm and submitting to the Banshee’s NT-D so he has a shot at killing Banagher for cucking him on multiple levels. He does finally come to his senses and actually starts helping at the end... but the problem is, coming to his senses required him murdering Marida, and it sits wrong with me that no one seems to hold that against him.

You may notice both of these have to do with the treatment of Marida, and you would be right! While Marida ultimately gets a much more meaningful and appropriate send off than Ple or especially Ple-Two, I’m still upset that she died in service of character development for these two characters, who as a result are treated like good guys when they really aren’t, they just opted to do the right thing in the end. Plus, and maybe I’m looking at this aspect of it too deeply, but the fact that she seems so much more at peace after death is like… odd, almost like she felt it was her purpose to die. And maybe that is the intent of the narrative, because she is, objectively, a relic of the First Neo Zeon War, much in the same way Full Frontal is a relic, and in death she’s able to exist freely, warn everyone about the Colony Laser, and help guide both Mineva and Banagher on a more personal level. Again, I don’t really have issues with Marida’s role in the story at the end, it’s more just being a little salty about how my favorite characters keep fucking dying.

OTHER OBSERVATIONS:

We’ll begin this section with the BRAVO, SUNRISE KINO AWARDS for excellence in making me clap like a seal:

In the first episode, I took a screencap of Mineva eating a hot dog, because it was that classic bit of “girl with a high-class upbringing has never eaten junk food and is delighted by it”, but then I noticed there’s multiple scenes of Mineva eating, or about to eat. Like, maybe I’m the weirdo for noticing, but I thought it’s definitely also weird that they have a lavishly animated sequence where she makes herself a roast beef sandwich (see above). And then, in the process of writing that, I realized that the reason she makes it into a sandwich is because she’s thinking about Banagher, which makes her remember the hot dogs they ate on Industrial 7. She even holds it with the meat up like a hot dog! BRAVO, SUNRISE.

The first half of Episode 2 is almost beat-for-beat recreation of Episode 2 of the original Mobile Suit Gundam. It starts with one of the crew of the Nahel Argama saying that something is approaching them three times faster than any mobile suit could, it’s revealed to be a red mobile suit, comments about how absurdly powerful the Gundam’s armaments are compared to the standard issue, the Char smugly noting that the power doesn’t matter if they can’t hit him, and of course, THE BIG BOOT. But the really impressive part here isn’t that they did it, it’s that they did it and it didn’t feel hackish or uninspired, so BRAVO, SUNRISE.

I was writing a note about the scene in Episode 5 where the Unicorn Gundam first turns green, and the words I wrote were “when Banagher links the two ships” before I realized what I had just written and felt like I was about to explode. That led to a cascading realization that Banagher was both literally linking the Garencieres to the Nahel Argama and figuratively linking Zeon and the Federation, or more generally, spacenoids and earthnoids. He’s even being guided on one hand by the ghost of Daguza, and on the other by the ghost of Gilboa. Fucking BRAVO, SUNRISE.

The restraint involved in not having Bright Noa slap Banagher Links at any point in their interactions in this love letter to the Universal Century must have been massive, so with all sincerity I say BRAVO, SUNRISE.

You know how a lot of the time in Japanese media, there will be things with names that seem interesting until you find out they’re named incredibly literally, like how Stands in JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure are called that because they stand behind the user? Apparently, the Sleeves are named that because their mobile suits all have fancy patterns... on their sleeves. Although, maybe “Cuffs” would have been a more appropriate name by that logic.

Thumbing through character pages on the wiki tells me that for as good as this OVA series was and for how heavy it can get, they cut a lot of stuff for content from the original light novel- like, Marida having her womb surgically removed is actually better than what happens in the novels, and most of Loni Garvey’s story was cut out, if her father’s page is anything go by, which appears to be “hey what if the ethnic conflict from Gundam ZZ was even more of an ethnic conflict”. Makes me hope that we’ll get an official English release of it someday.

Speaking of the novel, I’d again like to pay compliments to Yoshikazu Yasuhiko, because all of the character designs for the series originated from his art for that, and I really love his work with watercolors. I also appreciate that, mostly due to stylistic differences, Banagher and Mineva look less babyfaced, and Mineva actually bears a familial resemblance to her aunt Kycilia thanks to her much narrower eyes.

You know how sometimes there are just scenes that kick around in your head despite being relatively unimportant? This scene from Episode 4, where the Shamblo’s scatter beams just obliterate an apartment complex and this lady and her baby enter freefall is one for me. Like, it doesn’t even look like she’s being propelled by the explosion, she was just already moving in that direction and the building was deleted from beneath her feet.

Another minor but similarly memorable scene to me is Marida and the Garencieres crew attempting to take Mineva back in Episode 1. Both because Marida’s outfit is impeccable and also because this is when I first noticed that a lot of the show is painted-over 3D models. Just look at the way Marida animates as she hops over the railing and how smooth it is, compared to the guys, like, buffering as they hop over (and that’s not because the gif rendered poorly)

The other reason this sequence is memorable is because Banagher programming Haro to pretend to be a bomb is the absolute funniest tech in this franchise, even more than the inflatable dummies.

My exact note on Banagher throwing up inside his helmet when the Kshatriya punches the Unicorn’s cockpit was “yuck, but yeah that checks out”.

I’m going to make it my mission to find every instance of a looping spin in Gundam from here on out, because after Quess and the Sazabi in CCA and the Unicorn and Kshatriya’s lock-up in this I feel like there must be more.

It took until this series but there was finally an example of the Newtype ability to understand one another preventing conflict, when Banagher stopped himself from destroying the Kshatriya’s cockpit and killing Marida once he saw her life before his eyes, and then they both just reflect on the tragedy of the situation without either of them needing to die.

Last but not least was the scene when Bright was talking to the picture of Amuro about his plans for helping Banagher. I didn’t expect it to feel so emotionally intense, but it made sense that it was once I started to think about how we never really got to see Amuro and Bright interact casually as adults. I’m sure there’s something somewhere, maybe in untranslated supplemental stories, but it was really touching to see that Bright still thinks so fondly of Amuro.

IN CONCLUSION:

Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn serves as the perfect denouement to the Universal Century. It almost makes me want to not watch on to the next things I have planned because it’s just such a beautiful bow on this story, which is funny considering the entire reason I skipped ahead to it was to get to Hathaway sooner than later. Naturally, it gets the most enthusiastic recommendation of any of the Gundams I’ve covered to date, with a glowing red asterisk that there’s roughly 60 hours worth of anime you should really watch beforehand to get the most out of it. Believe me when I say it’s 100% worth it: to this point, the experience of getting into Gundam has been incredibly rewarding.

Next up: Mobile Suit Gundam: Twilight Axis - Red Trace! I’ve avoided compilations up to this point, but considering the nature of the source material, the compilation seems like the best possible shot this story will have...

[legend-of-zelda-voices]

Compilation Post

Kengo Takanashi

Part 1

First Role as Link: Breath of the Wild

Other LoZ Roles: Link (TotK)

LoZ-Related Roles: Smash Bros., Hyrule Warriors

Main LU character: Wild

Alternate LU Voice for: (None)

Some characters with the same voice:

Hunter Voice Type 1 (Monster Hunter Rise), Fujita (Dorohedoro), Jim Lake Jr. Jpn. Dub (3Below: Tales of Arcadia), Yaiba Todo (Yu-Gi-Oh!), Emmanellain de Fortemps (Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward), Kaval (That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime), So Hachiya (Starmyu), Yamanbagiri Chougi (Touken Ranbu), Liza Enza (Mobile Suit Gundam Iron-Blooded Orphans)

...

In the game:

Breath of the Wild

Original Post

Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity

Tears of the Kingdom

_______________________

Speaking

Voice Compilation (Various Voices)

Original Post

---

Fujita from Dorohedoro

Fujita is the one with the red mask (most of the time) and the brown hat.

Original Post

---

Emmanellain de Fortemps from Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward

He starts speaking at 3:48

Speaking times are 3:51, 4:30, 5:16, 6:32, 6:53, and 8:04.

Spoilers maybe?

Original Post

---

Liza Enza from Mobile Suit Gundam Iron-Blooded Orphans

Liza Enza is the one with brown hair and the blue, white, and yellow outfit.

He speaks throughout the entire video, but some times are 0:06, 1:20, 1:26 - 1:40, and 2:09.

Original Post

---

Yamanbagiri Chougi from Touken Ranbu

He starts speaking at 0:24.

He's saying "To finally be able to welcome this memorable day of our fifth year anniversary. Yes, I will be in your care from now on too." I found it on his quote page on the Touken Ranbu Wiki.

Original Post

---

Kaval from That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime

Kaval is the one in the blue armor.

Speaking times are 0:09 and 0:13.

Original Post

---

Hunter (Voice Type 1) from Monster Hunter Rise

Voice appears between 0:00 - 0:29

These are lines for when the player character is hungry.

Original Post

---

Voice Samples from Kengo Takanashi

Name Introduction at 0:00, Dialogue 1 at 0:02, Dialogue 2 at 0:36, Dialogue 3 at 0:57, Dialogue 4 at 1:28, Narration 1 at 2:00, Narration 2 at 2:24, and Narration 3 at 2:52.

Original Post

_______________________

Part 2 - Click Here

[tieria-erde]

i think i have some new 00 followers so i was gonna rb the server link but tumblr's search system is broken as always so just like, dm me if you want to join a gundam 00 server. no pro-shippers, no anti-antis, no "ship and let ship" etc. also you have to have finished season 1 at least but we discuss spoilers regularly and are not very diligent abt tagging them so be warned

[untitledtallgeesepodcast]

[TRANCRIPT] EPISODE 14: ROAD TRIP (NO APOLOGIES)

Cathy  00:03

Hello and welcome back to Untitled Tallgeese Podcast, a podcast where four old friends rewatch and discuss Gundam Wing. I am Cathy, your moderator for this episode, and I am joined as always, by Kat, Mallory, and Caitlin. If you have been following along, you know that this week's episode — Episode 27, Locus of Victory and Defeat and Episode 28, Passing Destinies — are recap episodes, following the unofficial Season Finale from last time. As mentioned previously, we will be spending the bulk of this episode discussing a topic near and dear to all of our hearts, Gundam Wing fanfic from the early 2000ish through the lens of one very special fic, Road Trip by Sunhawk.  But first, there isn't a lot to talk about that's new in episodes 27 and 28, but I would be remiss if I didn't mention two bits of new information we got. First, that Relena has switched wardrobes, and is now in a Sanc Kingdom school uniform. And she no longer is informing Heero that he needs to come over here and kill her but rather to return to her, echoing Quatre's telepathic insight into Heero's Golden Aura from the end of Episode 26. And second, Treize is now being placed under house arrest by the Romefeller Foundation for his speech in front of Duke Dermail. At the end of Episode 28 we see that he's not alone in house arrest, but rather joined by a ghostly Lady Une still in her peaceful ambassador outfit, who joins Treize, as he looks at blueprints of yet another mysterious Gundam-like mobile suit on his laptop, which spoiler alert, is Epyon. I think, you know, these are interesting episodes. And Caitlin, I know you had something to say about the way the recaps are done in 27 and 28.

Caitlin  01:45

Yeah, I think that it's really interesting how they, I mean, that new information comes to us via these framing narratives, where you have Relena, and a little bit Heero, and then Treize narrating everything that's happened to them. So we get a Relena narration where she's much more strongly identifying herself as the ruler of the Sanc Kingdom. And then we get a Treize narration that links together a lot of his dubious political thought, in the midst of his defeat.

Kat  02:18

It felt like the first time we really understood like, exactly what Lady Une thought his politics were, or his plans were and how he changed those plans, like explicitly.

Cathy  02:29

Yes, there was this moment where he reflects on the beauty of where he is trapped, which I believe is the Luxembourg base, but I don't know if they ever say that. And he articulates it as if to say, "this is what I wanted to preserve. This is what I joined OZ thinking it was to preserve," and then traces his change in thought, which I don't remember that ever coming through necessarily. What he thought he was doing originally before he became the Treize that we know.

Kat  02:56

Cathy, I did want to say that it felt like Treize was really reciting from your theory of anime from last episode when he talks about these "warriors with rebellious wings," and how their like purity of spirit completely changed his life.

Cathy  03:12

Yes, I love it. I felt like [laughter]--

Mallory  03:15

Yeah, I wrote, "Cathy! strong wills, what purity! theory of anime!" in my notes. So there you go. 

Caitlin  03:22

Now we have to address the possibility that Cathy is Treize. Treize was God, he was Hannibal, and now he's Cathy. 

Cathy  03:28

It does, I think, speak to why I've always found Treize a really fascinating character, even if I think he is a huge asshole, and none of his ideas make any sense. But you know, I am always drawn to this idea of people who, and I think I phrased it as "get sucked into other people's deranged orbits?" and Treize is both a person who creates a deranged orbit around himself [laughter] and also gets sucked into the orbit of the Gundam pilots, so I do love that about him.

Caitlin  03:56

Interesting. That explains a lot about you, but also makes me understand Treize a little bit better framing him that way.

Kat  04:03

I know you're sick of her but I did like that Une finally figured out the soul of OZ, that the purpose of battles isn't limited to making ideals into reality.

Mallory  04:11

Since you brought it up... why does Treize refer to her as like, my love? Or beloved? He says, "Lady Une, my love, rest in peace." So is the show trying to make me believe that Treize has feelings for Lady Une? 

Kat  04:26

Is it just awkward writing?

Caitlin  04:28

I think it's just awkward writing but also kind of that. I think the dub at least -- and I only listened to the dub this time -- decided that Treize was in love with her and is going with that.

Kat  04:39

Both of these episodes felt very much like, "Hey, remember this heterosexual pairing?"

Cathy  04:44

Yes! And I remember one time we talked about whether or not this show actually ships heterosexual pairings or just, they thought they were but they're just so horrible at writing heterosexual romances [laughter] that everything comes off really strange and this is definitely an example of that. Like, I could see both sides of this, that we are supposed to believe that Treize had romantic feelings for Lady Une and then it just was written so poorly because nobody on the show has met a real woman before. [laughter] Or, and I guess this would be my interpretation, it isn't that he is like romantically interested in her or was in love with her. But she was very important to him and represented, you know, one of the people that I think he wielded the biggest influences on and that touches him deeply. And her quote unquote, fate being that she is, quote unquote, dead at the end of Episode 26 weighs heavily on him.

Caitlin  05:40

But she's not dead. [laughing] Why does he say it? I know that in the episode, it's meant to be a fake out like, Oh, we know, we saw Lady Une die. And then Treize is talking to her as though she's dead so it's really not until the very end of episode 28 that we get the reveal that she's alive. It doesn't make a lot of sense.

Cathy  05:59

So let's address fake outs because there are characters talking in episodes 27 and 28, and I'm not sure if we are supposed to believe that they're talking at the time of the flashback footage being shown to us, or afterwards, right now, in the world of Episode 28.

Kat  06:16

I think Relena's was the only narration that actually seems like 100% anchored to what we were looking at. So... like Treize definitely we hear his earlier thoughts at the beginning and then he explains how they've changed, but with Heero it's just sort of like A, and then B. 

Mallory  06:34

Right, when Heero in Episode 27 says, "I don't consider the other Gundam pilots my comrades, I've never had comrades from the start," I have no idea if this narration is trying to tell me that Heero at this point in time currently, after Episode 26, does not believe the Gundam pilots are his friends. Or if he's referring to how he felt back then.

Caitlin  07:00

I under-understood that as definitely he's talking about that point in the flashback.

Cathy  07:05

It is kind of thrown out there. And it seems like by now he would have had so much interaction with these guys, especially at least with Trowa, that it would be kind of wild for him to say that [laughing]

Caitlin  07:18

He considers Trowa his comrade boyfriend, y'know? [cat meows in background]

Mallory  07:20

It was making me laugh because we've been reading this fic, this road trip arc. And it's kind of incredible how much this arc -- and we'll talk about this -- how much this arc and formed my idea of what the Gundam pilots' relationships were or like, their, their relationship dynamics or that they /had/ relationships with each other. So when I read all these fic, I was thinking like, "Wow, I didn't see any of this coordination in the show. Like there are no safe houses in the episodes that I watched. Oh, that like, it's okay, that must have come later." And now I'm later in the series, [laughing] and I'm finding out that actually, they interact very tangentially for the most part, where I was imagining a lot more camaraderie as the episodes progressed.

Kat  08:11

I know in Episode Zero, you were really distraught to learn that it's not like, "let's all five meet up and team up!" ... 

Mallory  08:19

Yeah!

Kat  08:19

...kind of anime

Mallory  08:21

I mean, I'm really enjoying where it's going now. And I enjoy the sort of bits of relationships that we're getting and the ways that their personalities bounce off each other. And that's what makes, that's what makes Gundam Wing such a rich field to mine for fic, because you get all of these like, glimpses of what these characters could be to each other, within the canon of the show. And it's really easy for writers like Sunhawk to kind of just like, take them and run.

Cathy  08:52

Yes, so let's talk about Road Trip by Sunhawk. Road Trip is part of a larger, 17 part series called the Road Trip Arc by its fans. We are going to be talking mostly about just the first installment -- which is actually barely shippy. Like there are hints of the relationship that will come to be especially the 1x2 part of it. And the rest of the series is very staunchly 1x2 with background 3x4, question mark with Wufei, which I'd really love to talk about later. But at least in the first part, it's kind of more of a, I don't know if action story is the right word...  You know, it starts at some unspecified time in the canon. Heero and Duo are escaping a mission that is kind of going south. They land on earth, on a beach. Heero is badly injured, Duo is you know, kind of beat up but is still mostly functional. You know, he's not internally bleeding and concussed, which is what Heero is. So he's forced to drive them to safety, and eventually to a rendezvous point where the idea is that Quatre and the others will pick them up. But when they get there OZ is basically hot on their heels. So Duo is able to leave Heero, basically in secluded cover, but he has to redirect OZ's attention, which gets him into more trouble. And he almost essentially drowns. So exhausted, pummeled within an inch of his life, he limps his way back to a safe house, again, unspecified location, or why he knows that that thing is there, but whatever, where all the rest of the pilots are staying at. So that's Quatre, Trowa, and Wufei. Heero's already in the hospital, you know, Duo basically passes out. He's given immediate medical attention, including drugs that cause him to lash out and nearly kill everybody around him. But finally, Heero, near death himself, manages to sneak out of his hotel--hospital room to sit by Duo's side, which calms Duo down and the fic ends with them having this really cute exchange about Duo's IVs.  So I did want to talk about the landscape of fanfic reading at this time, before we really dive deep into Road Trip itself. Do you guys have any memories, you know, or impressions of what it was like at the time when you first started reading Gundam Wing fanfic?

Caitlin  11:12

I remember that... I'm pretty sure I read this fic on a site that had either an all black background with white text; a sepia tinted background, that was like, you know, like a light, brownish, and then like a sort of off gray text. Because back in 2000, the only HTML any of us knew was how to change background color and how to change font color. You could put one image... They had gifs back then. And I don't, that's probably why my eyes are bad now. [laughter]

Kat  11:45

Yeah, it was either like very weirdly colored websites or really, really intensely over-styled websites, where it like, it's a little pop up and it's butterfly-shaped.

Mallory  11:58

Yeah. And there's like glitter and sparkles when you move your mouse and stuff. I didn't have fast like, I didn't get DSL until really late, like I was a senior in high school. So all of these websites just like crashed our internet constantly. [laughing] It was, it was hard for me to read those kinds of archives and stuff. 

Caitlin  12:22

The point here is that these fics were hosted on like, a bunch of different sites. And it was just small, privately run, I guess you could say archives, like it's like it's one person who wants to save all the Gundam Wing fic in the world. Which is actually why we have Road Trip preserved on AO3, Archive of Our Own, which is that it's part of the Open Doors Project where a archivist by the name of Dacia used to run a site called A Little Piece of Gundam Wing, she was really into Duo. She read pretty much every Duo pairing if I recall correctly, like she was really into like all Duo pairings and she started collecting fic from various places where like, she-she wanted to curate like the best fic in her mind. So she would like ask authors, "Oh, can I host this on my site too?" after finding the fic other places and so she collected a bunch of, a bunch of fic. And as probably a lot of us know, Archive of Our Own, which is run by the Organization for Transformative Works, has a program called Open Doors where they will import archives that are closing, fanfiction archives that are closing, or that the maintainers just don't want to maintain anymore. So they maintain, they import them wholesale from the original archive and put them on Archive of Our Own.

Kat  13:49

It's pretty great because there are tons of fic from that time period that I wish I could remember or find or go back and to be able to like even search stuff on AO3 that was on those is great.

Cathy  14:02

So we've talked about this before, but that's where Gundam Wing Addiction is actually pretty funny because they did rescue some of these sites. You know, we talked about the Izumi Fountain District with Alexe Cinz stuff last time, but they also rescued, I want to say it's Lev or Levwolf or something like that? 

Kat  14:23

Leviathan's Lair. 

Cathy  14:25

The-the Leviathan's Lair. There we go. 

Kat  14:26

Ooh, I remember this site. Wow--

Mallory  14:28

Yeah

Kat  14:28

Looking at this site is like getting slapped in the face. 

Cathy  14:31

Yeah, I definitely read a lot of fic on A Little Piece of Gundam Wing, which I remember had a lot of text that was like accent text in orange [laughter]. And one of my favorite authors. well, they were an author pair, TB and Marsh, they were hosted on A Little Piece of Gundam Wing, that's where I first discovered them. But same thing with Sunhawk, who wrote two really famous series you know, Road Trip is the first one -- and in my memory, the more famous one although I think some people might say it's the Ion Arc, which I really don't remember anymore. 

Kat  15:06

No, like reading Road Trip -- it's sort of like if I didn't read Road Trip, I read a bunch of fics like it, but the Ion Arc doesn't really ring a bell. 

Cathy  15:15

Ok, yeah. So it was also the one that was easiest to talk about because the first part of Ion isn't really meaty enough, I think to talk about whereas Road Trip, the first installment is almost perfectly self-encompassing of a lot of stuff. In terms of dates, you know, I cannot find a definitive date of when Sunhawk first wrote and posted Road Trip, the first archive I could find that was still crawled by Web Archive, thank you Web Archive, was from November 2001 on Steelsong, who was another moderator of a large network of websites, a lot of which were Gundam Wing websites and specifically had their own Gundam Wing fanfic archive. By the time that Steelsong had put Sunhawk on their site, which was some time around November 2001, Sunhawk had already written much of Road Trip, she had already written the first six installments, which is a lot of fic. And at that time, at least in 2001, 2002, Sunhawk was writing Road Trip concurrently with Ion.  My suspicion is that Sunhawk probably first wrote this on a mailing list, you know, the 1x2 mailing list was a really popular one at the time, and so maybe it was that she first started there and then later got into the archives. But this would mean that Sunhawk probably started writing Gundam Wing fic right after Gundam Wing's run on Toonami in 2000.  So another thing I did want to point out is that we are really lucky now that Gundam Wing is available on streaming on Hulu, that there's all these wiki sites that we could basically find all the information we would want. It's possible that Sunhawk did not actually have a way to fact check anything that she was writing at the time. And so you know, one thing I did want to talk about with the fic was this indeterminate canon timeline issue, I don't know when in the series, this was supposed to happen. You know, Deathscythe is called Deathscythe. Much later in the series, Wufei's Gundam is referred to as Altron, which is his second Gundam. But we don't ever get this kidnapping phase that happens in the fic. So I don't know. But then again, I realized when I was Sunawk in 2001, how was she supposed to have checked that? Right?

Kat  17:29

I think also, nobody gave a shit back then. [laughs] 

Mallory  17:32

Yeah. Like, it's also sort of like, did it really matter to your enjoyment? Like, you have all the elements of the Gundam Wing pilots and them interacting and the shipping, and like, it doesn't really matter what canon we're supposed to be in because we're already out of, outside of canon.

Kat  17:52

I feel like there were only like two timelines for fic and it was basically like pre-Endless Waltz and then post-Endless Waltz. I never really felt like, even though there's definitely a definitive plot split between, like, from all the episodes we've seen, and all the episodes we're about to see, I never really felt like fic did.

Caitlin  18:12

It's, it's sort of an interesting question in like Film Studies, where, you know, up until VHS, there was no way to really rewatch a movie that you were writing about. So a lot of film criticism and film theory was written by people who had only like, watched the movie once. So there's, it's kind of like a pathology we have nowadays that we can rewatch everything over and over again, so we can get this sort of like perfect timeline, this perfect like, sense of a film. Whereas in the past, like nobody ever watched anything like that. And there are, there are some film theorists nowadays who's still argue for that as like the true model of cinema, though obviously, that's much less prominent now. That, that gets into my whole idea of fanfic as a form of like interpretation, like fanfic is like a type of criticism of the original series. 

Kat  19:01

Yeah, absolutely. And the thing that people wanted more of in Gundam Wing was gay shit and safe houses. 

Mallory & Caitlin  19:08

Yeah. 

Caitlin  19:09

And it's and it's easy to just like put that in. Like reading Road Trip, I wasn't thinking too much about like, where does this fit in the timeline because who cares?

Cathy  19:16

This is a first person POV fic, which in my mind now is pretty rare for big fanfics to be first person POV. But you, Mallory, had noted how much this voice sounded like the dub Duo voice. 

Mallory  19:30

Yeah, she has gotten Duo's voice down. [laughs] I think it's just the slang that she kind of throws in there, the sort of casual way that Duo thinks and speaks feels very "of the show." Like I hear Scott McNeil's voice in my head [laughs] reading her fic is how good I think it is. Like there's like a cheesy earnestness in the dialogue of both the show and the fic that I think like works really well and is like really charming.

Caitlin  20:05

And I think that, so I think Duo's voice is very well established and it is at least, I only read the first two parts, but in the second part which is Heero's first person point of view, Duo's dialogue lines are also very strongly Scott McNeil-esque, I felt. I think Heero's voice is a little bit less distinct. One of my struggles with these fics was like, does this read as Heero to me? Like I really wasn't sure. And I'll say with regards to the first person point of view, maybe this gets us on to a different topic, but there are so many things about this fic where if I opened a fic like this now in 2020, I would hit I would hit the back button so hard. 

Cathy  20:48

No, I want to talk about this, this is a great topic. I love this. 

Caitlin  20:51

So I would never read something with this much violence. I'd always be like, what I don't want to read that, I don't want to read Duo getting beaten up or tortured, or whatever.

Mallory & Kat  21:00

Oh! [laughter]

Caitlin  21:02

I know! I like, I don't, I don't read that sort of fic these days. Like I don't read whump, the ancient genre of whump. [laughs]

Kat  21:10

Oh, whump I guess is like a ancient genre but an everlasting genre to me. 

Caitlin  21:15

Yes.

Kat  21:15

Cathy, when you were trying to classify this fic, I was thinking, "this is definitely whump, pre-slash."

Mallory & Caitlin & Cathy  21:21

Yes, yes. Yes. 

Mallory  21:22

At least part one is pre-slash.

Kat  21:24

Yeah

Caitlin  21:25

And I would never read something like that these days... Like if it was, it was tagged pre-slash, rated M, and I be like, "but how can it be rated M if they don't have sex?" I'd be like, "no, there's got to be some other reason for this to be rated M, I can't handle it. I need to go back." Like I would hit the back button so hard. And I'd be wrong because this fic is really good. 

Kat  21:47

It definitely feels from, from an older time~

Cathy  21:50

Yes, I agree. And I second everything Caitlin said. This fic was surprisingly readable and I know that sounds like a backhanded compliment but what I mean is, I didn't expect it to still sound as good and like something I would see someone write now, but it is. It's still really good, you know the voices are really good, the dialogue are really, is really good. But everything about it screams back button. Like I hated Quatre and Trowa even in this fic. [laughing]

Caitlin  22:19

Oh my god, oh my god [laughter]

Cathy  22:20

[laughter] Even though they do nothing, I hated them. Outside of Gundam Wing I did not ever read whump or hurt/comfort fic, you know, this was just not a genre that I was ever interested in. In Gundam Wing it was almost unavoidable? 

Kat  22:33

I was gonna say there's no way [crosstalk]

Cathy  22:34

because of the plot [crosstalk] So you kind of had to--

Kat

especially if you like Duo--

Cathy

Especially if you liked Duo! And then of course all of the little fandom tropes that kill me now about the fic might actually have not yet been as deeply entrenched in fanon at the time she was writing as they are now but--

Caitlin  22:51

True

Cathy  22:51

Certainly now when I read it, I'm like, well, there's the safe house.

Mallory  22:55

Yeah, it's like a checklist almost. Like oh, there's that mention of Duo's hair smelling like sandalwood,

Cathy  23:02

Yes!

Caitlin  23:02

Why sandalwood?

Mallory  23:03

It was always sandalwood and it was always Duo. Duo's hair always smelled like sandalwood..

Kat  23:08

I mean it might be this fic though, like this is  The the fic, the landscape of fic reading and stuff, there was just less of it and like the people who are into it are like really spending time to find it and stuff. We're talking about different archives, I read like everything on 1x2x1--

Mallory  23:10

Mmhmm

Kat  23:10

Uh wing-- Shinigami and Wing like and so I think it was like, fanon still coalesces pretty fast now but I think because there's less access to source material too it's like so much easier for it to grow like this, just sort of permeate the entire fandom, not just one pairing.

Mallory  23:48

Yeah, I mean like Kat you were saying earlier you may not have read this particular fic but you have definitely read 10 or 15 other ones that are very similar to it in terms of what you can expect from the action and the characters and the pairings.

Kat  24:04

Duo is gonna get hurt. Heero is gonna be angry over something that he doesn't need to be angry about. Trowa is gonna to be a calm head, Quatre's the kind heart. Wufei I like in this because he's like the friend, the bro, instead of the standoffish fifth guy. 

Mallory  24:19

Yeah, 

Kat  24:19

so that's nice--

Caitlin  24:20

Yeah. Wufei good in this but he has a better like,

Kat  24:25

Rapport?

Caitlin  24:25

He has more rapport with Duo than Heero does [laughter]  

Mallory  24:28

Yes. I was going to say--

Caitlin  24:31

I'm sure we were all in on this but I was side shipping Duo and Wufei a lot. Wufei gave him a bath!

Mallory & Kat  24:38

Wufei gets him! 

Cathy  24:40

Do you guys, can I spoil something about the rest of the Road Trip arc? 

Caitlin  24:43

Yes! 

Mallory & Kat  24:44

Yeah. 

Cathy  24:45

So I okay. And I will first give readers this warning, if you do want to read the rest of the installments of Road Trip, there are warnings on AO3 but I must add that there is a significant part of Duo's backstory that deals with rape and trauma and especially rape of Duo when he was very under age so--

Caitlin  25:10

This also something that would be auto back button for me.

Cathy  25:13

Yeah so I have to I have to put in that disclaimer because I don't want people wandering into the rest of the story. Road Trip the first installment is fine but the rest of the story this is, this is a big part of his character so please don't read it if it is triggering. But one thing about Wufei is you find out later he actually has a BIG honkin' crush on Duo and he is almost always--

Mallory 25:36

I must have read this.

Caitlin  25:37

Nooooo!

Cathy  25:37

 He is almost always there basically like helping like pick Duo up and like--

Caitlin  25:43

no [crosstalk] this is too sad!

Cathy  25:43

Supplements this like emotional stuff that like Heero doesn't get because Heero has a bad problem 

Caitlin  25:49

[agonized] Noooo--

Cathy  25:49

in Road Trip of like treating Duo as like too fragile which pisses Duo off  

Kat  

That was a common dynamic. 

Cathy

He comes to this like realization that he's like really in love with Duo but then he has to shelve it because he realizes that Duo and Heero are soulmates? And so he like, he says he'll be a friend forever and he gives like do this plush dragon. And then the whole thing is it's set up to be eventually a Wufei and Sally Po story? But the very last installment -- that is part 16 of the 16 part series -- is essentially a story where Duo has an anxiety freak out while Heero's away. He calls Wufei over to his apartment, they spend a night together completely platonically. Duo realizes that Wufei is like eaten up inside by something that Wufei won't tell Duo about. And it's like this crush, which all of us know because we all read the part with the Wufei point of view, but like Duo didn't get the memo. 

Mallory

Oh my god?

Kat

I picked up on this and I only read one chapter.

Caitlin

I can't handle this.

Cathy

So he's not sure what's happening. And that at the very end, you know, Wu Fei is like basically telling Duo that he doesn't want to start dating Sally Po because he's afraid of like, basically something that like, and he phrases it in a way that makes Duo think he's talking about his former dead wife, but it's actually about Duo. [crosstalk: No!] And Duo says to him, you have to let the past go. And so then Wufei does and call Sally up for a date. 

Kat

Okay, that plush dragon thing just lit up eight synapses.

Caitlin

I hate this.

Kat

I have read this fic, 100%.

Caitlin  25:57

It's possible that this is why I got into 2x5.

Cathy  27:32

So I just had to add this here because like, I truly felt the same way. Like I shipped Wufei and Duo was so hard and the more Heero like became this like, super protective like... I like this story, but I don't buy it as Heero characterization. Like I don't think Heero was very convincing. But I do find Duo and Wufei very convincing in the series. [laughs]

Caitlin  27:51

Yeaaah.

Kat  27:51

I think this is a big problem with a lot of Heero fanon characterization at the time, though, because like the logical conclusion of the fanon characterization of Heero is just a huge asshole nobody wants to date. [laughs] When the Toonami series aired, it was like a ton of 1x2. That was it. It was like 1x2, 3x4 blah, blah but I think as fanon crystallized like pairing diversity also increased.

Caitlin  28:17

Yeah, the thing is that I'm fine reading fanfic between assholes that nobody would want to date. That is, tends to be the type of fanfic that I read anyway. 

Kat  28:27

Look, I get that.

Caitlin  28:27

So Heero being terrible is fine. The problem is that this fic characterizes him as less terrible than he seems to actually be?

Mallory  28:36

Mmm.

Caitlin  28:36

Like, I don't think Heero is this, I don't think he's this protective. I don't think he's this in tune with his feelings. Part Two, really, like, as some of you might know, I never read established relationship fic, so I wasn't going to continue past Part Two anyway. Even though they have a lot of problems, I'm just like, all right, they already confessed their feelings. I'm not interested anymore. But I just found it really hard to believe that Heero would be able to confess his feelings or even like, recognize love, emotions, or romance that early on. 

Kat  29:10

It's the combined problem of he's an asshole who no one would want a date and the fic is still trying to convince me that him and Duo are like really great together in general. So I wrote a lot of Gundam Wing fic in middle school, so I consumed so much of it on [laughing] fanfiction.net and the characterization ended up getting really, really far removed even further removed than this fic from the actual show, I guess.

Cathy  29:35

So one thing I did want to point out, it's less obvious in Part One, but becomes increasingly obvious as you move through this arc is the total lack or mention of Relena Peacecraft. And, and I mean it, she is not mentioned once in this entire fic, which is odd because it goes from middle of the canon through until the post-Endless Waltz and then [laughter] seven to eight years, and seven to eight years after--

Mallory  30:05

Wow 

Cathy  30:05

the end of Endless Waltz, which, and again at by the end of this fic series, spoilers, Duo, Wufei, and Heero all work for the Preventers. So it seems very [laughter] weird that none of them would interact with Relena. So like I did--

Caitlin  30:14

It seems like they would run into Relena sometime [laughter]. 

Cathy  30:21

I did want to open the floor to talk about Relena Peacecraft and her place in Gundam Wing fanfic.

Kat  30:29

Well, so either you're a het shipper so you're, you're, you're doing fine, your Heero is probably very different. [laughter]

Caitlin  30:41

Wait, let's let's be clear that there were a lot of het shippers

Kat  30:44

Yes.

Caitlin  30:44

And they still are there. There was a lot of het shipping in the Japanese fandom too. I think Heero and Relena were popular. 

Kat  30:51

Duo and Hilde. 

Caitlin  30:53

And the official media that came out was like, oh Duo and Hilde. And, oh Heero and Relena.

Cathy  30:58

Yeah.

Kat  30:59

Relena and fanfiction so you're a het -- you could be a het shipper, so then she's in it a lot. 

Mallory

Or you hate her and she's a monster and she's the the thing standing between Heero and Duo falling in love or being together, which I feel like I read a lot of.

Kat  31:15

She could be shipping them but that was way more rare I thought and then like just not having her around.

Caitlin  31:22

So like, from the perspective of the contemporary moment, it looks bad to just not write Relena at all in your 300,000 word fic about characters who talk to Relena all the time. Like it seems bad 

Kat  31:38

But! 

Caitlin  31:39

but she was so controversial that I could see like I can see the logic of just not including her.

Kat  31:45

And as a reader I, I often preferred that she just kind of not be there be like very peripheral over... like I think at the beginning I really enjoyed the like Relena hating because there's just very viscerally satisfying, but later on, I was like, hmmm.

Caitlin  32:01

The other option is like, write a explainer about why your Heero in your fic doesn't love Relena, he only loves Duo. It just becomes, like, tedious to write that every single fic.

Cathy  32:15

One thing that I was digging up was a lot of Relena hate sites. And one thing we had talked about in past episodes was kind of like hating her because she was this rich girl, she had this entourage, we couldn't really relate to her. And there was a lot of that in why people expressed why they hated Relena. Like she was spoiled. She had everything. She was obsessed with Heero and so she definitely like wanted him as one of her belongings kind of thing? So I think it is one of those moments where now that I've read a lot more other types of Gundam Wing fanfic that I wasn't reading at that time that have, I think, much more interesting Relena characterization, and much more I think realistic ideas about what Heero and Relena's relationship would be like. I think, "God I was so stupid!" but I feel that same way about like everything I was into, right? [laughs] So like, it is kind of humbling and also funny. 

Mallory  33:14

Like reading this fic it's about as comforting as like finding your favorite High School sweater, you know, in the back of your closet when you're visiting home and putting it on and finding out it still fits. And it's because it sort of hits all of those familiar tropes that I remember reading, like the use of "Gods" is like--

Kat  33:32

Yes!

Mallory  33:33

punch in the face.

Caitlin  33:34

Why does everyone say gods? 

Mallory  33:36

Yes. 

Cathy

Everybody!

Mallory  33:37

Okay, and I don't remember, like I remember this being a thing in Gundam Wing fic I don't remember why--

Caitlin  33:43

[crosstalk] Duo was American and was raised in a—

Cathay

[laughing] Catholic!

Caitlin

Catholic. Why would he say Gods?

Kat  33:48

[crosstalk] Yeah Duo would never.

Cathy  33:49

I kind of get maybe the idea of why others would do it if this became like a post colony thing but certainly not Duo.

Kat  33:57

In like middle school. I was always wondering like, "oh, what kind of weird event happened in the future that made everybody until like a polytheist?" [laughter] Like, what kind of world building is this?

Mallory  34:07

Yeah, I thought that there had to be like a reason or is there a rule?

Caitlin  34:12

I kind of thought that just like the people writing fanfic at the time tended to be like pagans. Like, like, that was fine. And they and they were pushing their pagan agenda by having everybody say gods. 

Cathy  34:22

No, I, I, 100. That's 100% my theory.

Caitlin  34:25

that's what I think it is. 

Cathy  34:26

So I mean, Sunhawk was one of the older writers at the time, but I think a lot of the people who were archivists and writers at the time were older, she was probably at least I want to say in her 30s. They're usually older, some of them are Wiccan or pagan and a lot of them were very interested in like education and sort of like bringing up the younger members of the fandom. So Sunhawk specifically, like had a personality who was like very educational? I'm not saying that that's why she did particularly this "Gods" thing, but I do think that that was like part of the general dismantling of monotheistic-- 

Mallory 35:01

Christian god. 

Cathy  35:02

Yeah. So the last thing I want to talk about in terms of this fanfic is all the five pilots working together, coordinating pickup and rescue missions. 

Mallory  35:11

Rendezvous points? How are they in contact with each other? 

Cathy  35:15

And they all appear to have like similar missions? Like, it seems like Heero and Duo were on this mission together instead of what we see in the show, which is that they don't...? Again, I think I just love this idealistic view of the Gundam pilots where they're all not just friends, but also comrades in arms.

Caitlin  35:33

Yeah, I mean, this makes more sense than what the show does, which is that on the show, it's always, oh, they just happen to run into each other on the same mission. And they're like, oh, who are you? Why do you have the same Gundam as me? [laughter]

Mallory  35:47

We shouldn't be fighting. 

Caitlin  35:48

But Quatre's the only one who says that everybody else is like, let's blow each other up.

Cathy  35:53

We joke a lot about how this podcast is basically us questioning the internal logic of Gundam Wing, like why would anybody do this thing where they just sent five teenagers without any knowledge that there are four other of them and just be like, here you go.

Mallory  36:07

Complete a vague unspecified mission.

Kat  36:10

I feel like fanfiction really made them way more competent. Like there's literally that whole scene where the doctors are like, "You guys fucking suck. You're not the perfect soldiers at all." [laughter] 

Mallory 36:21

"You don't know anything." 

Kat  36:22

And then in fics it's like Heero's like, "I'm the perfect soldier. I know everything! 

Mallory  36:28

"I must be the perfect soldier." 

Caitlin  36:30

Oh, yeah. Like they all seem to be much better fighters than they are in canon. 

Kat  36:36

Yeah

Caitlin  36:36

I feel like in canon Wufei is the only one who does his job. And in fanfic, it seemed like they were all doing jobs.

Kat  36:43

Trowa's maybe just doing his own thing. 

Mallory  36:46

But he's doing A Job.

Caitlin  36:47

Yeah, clowning. Trowa's job is clowning! 

Kat  36:50

Everybody got way more trauma than Quatre did in fic even though the show is like here's Quatre's biggest trauma. 

Mallory  36:58

You know, that's very true. 

Kat  36:59

Which didn't even show up in the clip show.

Caitlin  37:02

Yeah, it also doesn't really make sense that Quatre's always this really sane one in fanfic when he's the main one we've seen in canon go apeshit. 

Kat  37:12

Reading this fic and then watching the clip show, I was like, damn, like Wufei/Treize/Zechs was like it's, a whole ass universe. And it's just like, one scene in the first 27 episodes. [laughter] But what a scene. 

Mallory  37:27

Such a good one.

Caitlin  37:29

I think that it's important to note that Sunhawk passed away last year, and so we could consider this episode our very weird tribute to her.

Cathy  37:37

Yes, in 2019 in March, there was a post on Sunhawk's LiveJournal, by her daughter, who had become in Sunhawk's words, essentially somewhat of a fandom secretary for Sunhawk, noting that if you are reading this entry, now, it means that she had passed away, she had been diagnosed with cancer, like in 2015, she said four and a half years ago from the time of the writing of the entry. So Sunhawk, beginning in 2007, did a tradition where every year for the 12 days leading up to Christmas, she would post the ficlet, or fanart inspired by her fics, usually 1x2 related usually an excerpt from or like a special scene or bonus scene from one of her stories about Duo and Heero. And she continued that tradition even up until 2019. 

Kat  38:25

Oh wow

Cathy  38:25

So prior to that she had actually queued up 12 Days of Christmas for 2019, which her daughter posted. And the very last story actually was a coda for the Ion arc, which was left unfinished and her daughter finished it for her. And if you had the chance, and of course, we'll link to this, I really highly recommend you read the goodbye post from Sunhawk.

Caitlin  38:49

It's, wait, it's really good. Can I read just a little bit of this? 

Cathy  38:51

Yes, please. 

Caitlin  38:52

Before I shuffle on off, though, I would be remiss if I didn't address the fandom that I have called home for almost two decades. To everyone, thank you, I realized that we aren't as large as we used to be that the heyday is over. But I've enjoyed being here and writing for you all. And there is one thing that I've learned through all of my years, and all of my time with the fandom that I want to share that I think applies not just to our little corner of the internet, but all fandom. Write it, draw it, sing it, create it, share it. We all start somewhere. We all start with works that are horribly out of character. We write tropes that have been written up million times before. We all stare at blank canvases unable to get the lines down in a way that we want. And we all scrap ideas that we feel just aren't good enough. But a fandom lives because of the people who produce for it. And by those who come to read and view. Yes, maybe that 500 word drabble in which two strapping young men are trapped in a remote cabin during some horrible weather event and there is only one bed, isn't your best work. But what about the work after that, or the one that follows? With each creation you learn, you polish yourself, you grow. Never stop yourself from growing. Never let others stop you from growing. Share the stories you have in you. Post your heart -- Post your art, because at the end of the day life is too damn short to spend not doing something you love to do. To all of the Gundam Wing fandom and all of my friends, I want to again say thank you, reading my work supporting me talking with me, you've made my stay here a pleasant one.

Cathy  40:21

I find it really heartwarming. And one thing that I did for this episode is I went back and I read some of Sunhawk's first LiveJournal posts in 2002, when she started her LiveJournal, and even in the comments to people who were, I don't think close friends of hers, you know, just fans, she was always extremely, you know, encouraging and welcoming, and always told her fans that they should just write, you know, even if they felt like whatever they did wasn't perfect or wasn't in their words going to match up to what she did. She always told them just write it. Coming to Sunhawk and realizing that she'd spent two decades in a fandom that I think a lot of us considered dead and she was still cranking out work there and like encouraging people and being loving in that fandom, it just is it's like everything that one hopes one span that experience will be like and how they'll be remembered when they leave. Well, I want to thank you guys for joining me on this episode where we talk about, you know, Sunhawk and fanfic and being really young and on the internet with dial up. I really, you know, appreciate all of your memories, which are also my memories. And together, we'll keep Sunhawk's spirit alive. Write it, draw it, sing it, create it and share it. Thank you very much and see you in two weeks.

[ninthfeather]

Ninth’s Fic-Related Stuff Masterlist

Reposting because the formatting of my old version got really messed up over time. 

General Links

Zine/Fan Project Masterpost

Detective Conan/Magic Kaito

Riddle in Reverse Series: (tumblr tag)

(fic reference) Riddle in Reverse Watch Guide

(art) fic-specific art tag on tumblr

(art) Riddle in Reverse Tumblr Log

(art) Fanart of RiR chapter 7 by @falseneun

(art) Steeplechase cover art

(art) Steeplechase Tumblr Log #1

(art) Steeplechase Tumblr Log #2

(art) Art of KID and Heiji in Chapter 9

(art) Art of Kaito in Chapter 10

(art) Art of Chikage and Ginzou in Chapter 10

(art) Art of Conan in Chapter 13

(art) Sketch of the Deptford Police

(art) Kaito sketches feat. Poker Face

(meta) Meta about Akako as she is in this ‘verse

(meta) Meta about the Gosho boys’ skills circa Chapter 13

(meta/art) Kiyoshi Rogers meta which spoils Chapter 16 and earlier

(art) Sketches of Kaito’s Pokerface (canon spoilers for Ch. 34)

(art) Sketches from around Ch. 30

(playlist) Fic playlist

(reference image) Peach ring-necked dove photo

(fic) on balance by @presumenothing

FMA

A Recurring Nightmare with Popcorn: (fic tag)

(art) Sketches of various characters

(art) Ed and Mustang in Chapter 4

(art) Ed and Radar’s Rabbit in Chapter 4

(art) Sketches of Ed in Chapter 7

(art) Envy disguised as Ed in Chapter 9

(art) Envy disguised as Ed, fighting Ed, in Chapter 10

(art) A manga page for Chapter 10

(art) Ed, Margaret and Pierce in Chapter 20

(art) Realistic-style sketch of Ed and Pierce

(art) Redraw of the above sketch, five years later

(fanbind) Bound copy of the fic by @crowsnestpress​

Gundam 00

The Island of Misfit Toys:

(art) Cover Image

Interim:

(art) Cover Image

I love it when a plan comes together

(art) Ugly 80’s sweaters group photo

(art) Neil and Allelujah

The Man with the Shield: (fic tag)

(art) Winter Soldier!Soma by @jealizing

(art) Captain America!Allelujah by @jealizing 

(fanedit) The screencap edit that started this

What became of his ancestry: (fic tag)

(art) Allellujah in his scarf (commissioned from @gundamc00medy)

(meta) Meta on Allelujah and Hallejah’s relationship in this ‘verse

(meta) Name meanings list

(reference video) Kazakh embroidery

planting seeds in a garden you’ll never get to see

(podfic) planting seeds in a garden you’ll never get to see by @AARKADYEVNA

Kagerou Project

Reset The World: 

(fanfic) SNAKE Eyes by Reveries in Red

One Piece

Feel free to purchase whatever justice you can afford

(PODFIC) Feel free to purchase whatever justice you can afford by mugiwaras

And some things you just can't speak about

(art) Dark Waters zine illustrations for the fic by yndaab

Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun

not forever chained to this planet (fic tag)

(art) Older Yugi Amane (roughly 30) by @thefabhawkart​

Discontinued Fics 

Sealed Wings (TRC): 

(art) Sakura’s traveling outfit 

(art) Sketches of various characters 

Shards of Sky (Scrapped Princess): 

(art) Bicycle Crashes

Past & Future (Code Geass): 

(art) Euphine/Disguised!Euphemia 

Blind Justice (Code Geass): *please do not read this, I only leave it up because people still have it favorited*

(art) Lelouch

(art) Nunnally

[natsthinkitythinkthinkthonk]

Happy Birthday Hiroshi Kamiya

Happy birthday to my birthday buddy Hiroshi Kamiya! Technically, our birthdays are both on the 28th, but technically, mine would’ve been the 29th in Japan... oh well, we’re still birthday buddies. While I’m not a huge fan of his singing, I have huge respect for him as an actor. He’s a talented old man who turns 44 this year! Seriously, wow. 44. I might’ve thought he was 54 because of how he looks, but that’s beside the point.

This is going to get a bit long. You can watch his role compilation:

I will choose a few links and songs for the bottom.

Yuzuru Otonashi - Angel Beats

I can hear the darn music through this gif. Here’s the SPOILER SCENE.

Honestly, this anime was so well-acted in both the sub and dub, but the sub will forever have a place in my heart. Not that I have one, this anime didn’t even make me cry.

Tsurugi Kamiya - Servamp

Natsume - Natsume Yuujinchou

One of the few shoujo anime to not revolve around romance. I’ve only finished one season, but it’s quite an underrated masterpiece.

Mephisto Pheles - Blue Exorcist

Kou Ichinomiya - Arakawa Under the Bridge

This anime is so weird (as expected from Studio Shaft), romantic, and bizarre. It’s about a business man saved by a girl from Venus. She introduces him to his new home after ordering him to be her boyfriend. He meets a kappa, a literal star, and others.

Koyomi Araragi - Monogatari Series

You know, the plain guy who somehow managed to get a whole harem. Another weird one from Studio Shaft.

Nozomu Itoshiki - Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei

Zess - Break Blade

Hiroomi Souma - Wagnaria (Working!!)

Juli - Brothers Conflict

I watched one episode that ended with a headache because that was too many introductions at once.

Ranpo Edogawa - Bungou Stray Dogs

The understated, overpowered, and lazy genius that really should get more plot development and screen time than he does currently.

Kiyoshi Fujino - Prison School

It was so hard to find a PG clip of this anime. I wouldn’t recommend it for actual plot because the plot is has is more of *ahem* plot.

Izaya Orihara - Durarara

Why does anyone like him again? It’s like when people like Yuno from Mirai Nikki.

Shinji Matou - Fate

Yuuta Takemoto - Hachimitsu to Clover

One of his best yet understated roles.

Gareki - Karneval

Yuu Setoguchi - Honeyworks

I’ll be including some songs from this series at the bottom.

Quon Mitsuchi - Towa no Quon

Balder Hringhorni - Kamigami no Asobi

I vaguely remember this character. Barely. 

Choromatsu Matsuno - Osomatsu-san

The most level-headed amongst the Matsu brothers which is like saying he’s the tallest dwarf or the smartest football player (yes, that was a Heathers reference. It’s an American musical.)

Masanobu Hojo - Gantz

I’m not putting a gif for this one since Gantz is... Gantz. It was an earlier version of the Hunger Games, Mirai Nikki, and the manga came out a few months earlier than Battle Royale.

Iitetsu Takeda - Haikyuu

Art - Hamatora

Penguin - Shirokuma Cafe

Junichirou Kagami - Denpai Kyoushi

Shunpei Sanada - Diamond no Ace

Kouji Minamoto - Digimon

Akashi Seijuurou - Kuroko no Basuke

Can someone please tell him that basketball is just a game? No need to be a crazy bastard. Seriously, he got a pair of scissors and just went at a guy.

Saiki Kusou - Saiki

Tieria Erde - Mobile Suit Gundam 00

Yato - Noragami

His best character, in my opinion.

Levi Ackerman - Shingeki no Kyojin

Probably his most popular character. One of the only short guy that girls fangirl over.

Hikaru Kusakabe - Doukyuusei

Trafalgar Law - One Piece

Song Compilation

Song Recommendations

Kurayami Shinjuu Soushisouai

Meikyū Kaidoku Yūgi

Hizamazuke Butadomo Ga

Honeyworks

Embarrassment of Adolescence

Confession Rehearsal - Another Story -

Tokyo Summer Session (ft. Various Seiyuu)

Tokyo Winter Session (ft. Various Seiyuu)

Links/Video Recommendation

Check Out Anokoe’s Playlist of Kamiya Stuff!

Check out Raku’s Playlist of Noragami Stuff!

Tongue Twister [Turn on CC]

NHK Documentary (no subtitles)

Attack on Titan Season 3 Interview

Live Voice Acting [Noragami | Meow | Osomatsu]

[nomadicism]

Top 10 mecha anime?

Thank you for the ask!I’ve included links to series openings or good scenes when possible.

10. Chōdenji Machine Voltes V [超電磁マシーン ボルテスＶ] Voltes V is the stronger of the “Robot Romance” trilogy and several concepts and themes later made their way into Golion (and thus Voltron). It’s a straight-forward super robot/combining mecha show with sentai theming and obligatory 80s ruined earth setting that later punches you in the face with a tragic antagonist/protagonist backstory reveal. VLD Keith owes a lot to his Voltes V counterpart, Ken'ichi Gō, and I don’t even think it was intentional, it just spilled out by virtue of genre tropes.

9. Space Runaway Ideon [伝説巨神イデオン] (TV/Movies)Japanese OP here. Don’t let the upbeat opening song fool you. This is Yoshiyuki “Death Count” Tomino at his best. More mind fuckery than Evangelion (which was influenced by Ideon). I love the character designs, the Ideon combiner, the concept, and that’s all I’m going to say about it.

8.Adventure! Iczer 3 [冒険!イクサー3] from the Iczer OVA seriesJapanese OP here.Not the best mecha anime, the Iczer-verse OVAs are more of a cross-genre of body horror, mecha, magical girl (arguably), and yuri. The series (beginning with Fight! Iczer One) introduced tentacle horror ahead of Urotsukidōji and—even though I’m an Ace—I will never turn down mecha-piloting lesbian space elves. What can I say, the 80s were weird. The mecha designs were really cool and influenced later series like Evangelion and Dangaioh.

7. Aim for the Top! / Gunbuster [トップをねらえ!] OVAsJapanese OP here.Incredible character and mecha design. Ambitious mecha concepts. Soviets. OMG moments. Jupiter!? Break out the tissues because [spoiler spoiler] space physics [spoiler spoiler].

6. Aoki Ryūsei SPT Layzner  [蒼き流星SPTレイズナー]Japanese OP 1 here.I have a soft-spot for hybrid alien protagonists, Cold War settings, AI ethics, and Painfully Obvious Anti-War Themes. Layzner is a great “real robot” action series with touches of survival thriller pacing, that left its mark on later mecha shows like Evangelion and MS Gundam 00. See also obligatory 80s ruined Earth scenario + late series weirdness. Alas, Layzner is very much dated in the gender role department and it runs afoul of one of the worst (IMO) tropes in storytelling in the very first episode. Breaks my heart b/c so much of the series is fantastic. The Skull-Gunners are Aliens-level creepy.

5. Super Dimensional Fortress Macross [超時空要塞マクロス] / Robotech: Macross SagaJapanese OP here.I’ll use the Robotech names here, b/c that’s a little easier for me.

Macross is the one mecha anime that—while I think that the SDF-1 and the 3-way transforming Valkyries/Veritechs are hella cool—I love it for the ambitious inclusion of relationship storylines rather than the mecha. Which says a lot b/c I’m ship agnostic and usually prefer not to see romantic storylines outside of rom-coms or romance-specific genres. Macross gives storylines for 3 couples: one is the quintessential love triangle, the second is the first time I ever saw a biracial couple in animation (OTP: Claudia and Roy), and the third is the absurdly-rushed-yet-compelling battle couple Miriya and Max. Claudia is one of my favorite anime characters b/c Reasons.

What does this have to do with mecha? Absolutely nothing but somehow Macross made it work while launching a franchise known just as much for its moe idol singers as its mecha.

Additionally, Macross (and Robotech) influences can be seen in many series (Japanese or Western), and the Roy Fokker easter egg in the first episode of Voltron Legendary Defender was my clue that I was going to love VLD (I also suspect that Rick, Miriya, and Max were snuck in as well). LM name-dropping Robotech as having influenced the way they wrote the conflict in VLD continuing beyond Zarkon’s death confirmed my hunch that there are other Robotech influences in VLD as well.

4. Beast King Golion [百獣王ゴライオン] / Voltron: Defender of the Universe (franchise as a whole)Probably not fair to combine Golion with Voltron, but I will anyway. I love Golion and the Voltron franchise for different reasons, but overall the super sentai team concept is stronger in Golion/Voltron than in other super robot/combining mecha shows, which when combined with the lion design and space-fantasy theming makes them stand out.

3. Armored Fleet Dairugger XV [機甲艦隊ダイラガーXV]  / Vehicle VoltronCombining mecha meets Star Trek. Ambitious with its 15 member team—“I’m a foot!”—and political themes. The original has quite the body count, so the Voltron DotU version is hella sanitized with dialogue like: “Set your stun guns to maximum stun!” or “We’ll come back for him later!” LOL okay Dorma (Sirik).

It’s hard to get characterization with so many characters, but, unlike a lot of other shows, there are 4 regularly occurring female characters with speaking lines and I never felt like they were terribly slighted in the gender role department. No damsels in distress here.

2. Genesis Climber MOSPEADA [機甲創世記モスピーダ ] / Robotech: The New GenerationWhile definitely a feather-weight of the real robot mecha genre, the Cyclones are a fun take on transforming mecha/real robot battle armor. Once again, obligatory 80s ruined earth setting. Also, I’ll take all the androgynous gender bending that I can get b/c—this one’s personal—as a tomboy child in the 80s (we didn’t have access to words/concepts like gender fluid back then), Yellow Dancer was a huge deal for me and still is.Clip of Yellow Dancer spoiler scene but I don’t care.Bonus: “Look Up The Sky Is Falling” holds up surprisingly well for an 80s cartoon song about environmental destruction.

1. Mobile Suit Gundam [機動戦士ガンダム] franchise (Universal Century preferred).This is a cop-out, but I love all Gundam UC timeline series for different reasons and it’s impossible for me to pick which one is “the best”. There’s a reason the franchise is still going strong after all these years, and his name is Char Aznable, the Red Comet, Yoshiyuki Tomino (even when he’s not involved, his initial concept was so strong that it lives on without him).Clip of Char in Zaku II from MS Gundam Origins here.

Runners-up: Six God Combination Godmars, Shin Getter Robo, Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross, Super Dimension Century Orguss, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Vision of Escaflowne, Aura Battler Dunbine, Heavy Metal L-Gaim, and Knights of Sidonia.

[sapphireswimming]

hello, love your blog, i saw your gundam 00 slideshow, and the show sounds really cool, i was just wondering, who is the canon asexual character?

ah hi! and thank you! I’m so glad that the slideshow makes Gundam 00 sound interesting - I hope you like it if you decide to watch :D

i was thinking about reworking that particular slide because the asexual character isn’t as confirmable as some of the others but the character i was talking about is actually the main character setsuna (the black haired kid wearing the blue flight suit)

i don’t want to get into spoilery things here but if you don’t mind spoilers, there are links to relationship charts and other helpful information that the fabulous @ninthfeather​ tracked down in this post

[elijahbaileyshow]

Ep. 149: A Battling Angel Named Alita Brought Us Anime

This episode Richard (The Buckity) Taplin debuts "The Bucking Hour" to give Elijah (5000) Bailey a bit of praise for his amazing anime recommendations that he OOOOOOO so disrespects on a consistent basis. ITs the anime episode of the month and your host dive into possibly Detective Pikachu spoilers, Gundam coming to the real world, Elijah reviews Battle Angel: Alita and we talk Jojo's Bizarre Adventures. To get to what interest you faster use the time stamps listed below and for exclusive videos, gameplay and more join our exclusive community on patreon linked below. Anytime during your listen send us a tweet @ElijahBaileySho. Remember you can watch us live on twitch at elijah_5000 every Sunday at 2:00 p.m. CST. So join the conversation as the worlds most illustrious podcast, covers it all from the latest video game, film and comic news to this seasons anime. 100% auditorial pleasure right here coming from Blacken Studios!

    Show Topics:

- The Bucking Hour- 15:45

-  (Anime News Updates) - 22:00

  -Gundam Live-Action - 22:07

  -Detective Pikachu Twist! - 26:20

- Otaku University (Wordsmith) - 31:38

- Alita: Battle Angel - 39:25

- Jojo's Bizarre Adventure - 43:56

- Anime of the Month- 51:01

- Manga of the Month- 56:47

      Merch!!! 

Use PROMO CODE: ELIJAHBAILEYSHOW at www.riptapparel.com to receive a 10% discount on all purchases.

  Join the Bailey Mafia on our Patreon page

    Highlight Of The Month:

- Anime of the Month: Akame ga Kill!

- Manga of the Month: Wolf Guy - Ookami No Monshou

   Find Our Show:

You can find more episodes of The Elijah Bailey Show on Apple Podcast, Spotify, Goggle Play Music, Stitcher Radio, Podcast Addict and our official Podbean page.

  Find The Host:

The Elijah Bailey Show is hosted by Richard Taplin and Elijah Bailey. If you have any questions for your hosts, you can reach us at:

- Facebook at The Elijah Bailey Show 

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  Original Music For The Show:

- Music for the Intro, Anime Shmanime & Post Show Info. by beatsbyNeVs

- Music for Pre-show and commercial music by YaFueCopyright (follow on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter & SoundCloud at YaFueCopyright to support his amazing work)

  #AlitaBattleAngel #Alita #DetectivePikachu #Gundam #AkameGaKill #WolfGuyOokamiNoMonshou #Spotify #Funimation #Crunchyroll #Twitch #Netflix #BlackenStudiosBlackenGamingNetwork #YouTube #BlackenStudios #Podcast #Entertainment #OKCPodcastCommunity #PodcastingSmarter #Podbean #StitcherRadio #PodcastAddict #GooglePlayMusic #Anime #VideoGames #Geeks #Nerds #TheExtraordinaryJourneyOfABlackNerd #Podbean #iTunes #Patreon #BlackenStudios #OklahomasFavoritePodcast

[legend-of-zelda-voices]

Compilation Post

Sachi Matsumoto

Part 1

First Role as Link: The Wind Waker

Other LoZ Roles: Skull Kid (MM), Aryll (WW), Link (FSA, PH, TFH)

LoZ-Related Roles: Smash Bros., Hyrule Warriors, Super Mario Maker

Main LU character: Wind

Other LU characters: Skull Kid, Aryll

Alternate LU Voice for: Four

Some characters with the same voice:

Sewashi Nobi (Doraemon 2005), Asagi Caldwell (Super Robot Wars Alpha 3/Mobile Suit Gundam SEED), Pike (Princess Tutu), Joseph/Yusuf (Beyblade), Luke (Clock Zero ~ Shuuen no Ichibyou ~), Hasmodai/Teo (Fantastic Children), Jarred as adolescent and child (Deltora Quest), Naoto Yamada (A Penguin's Troubles), Shinatsuhiko Yuuhi (Yozakura Quartet)

...

In the game:

The Wind Waker (Link)

Four Swords Adventures (4 Links with Different Pitches)

Hyrule Warriors (Toon Link)

Majora's Mask (Skull Kid)

Majora's Mask (Skull Kid without the Effects)

Hyrule Warriors (Skull Kid)

The Wind Waker (Aryll)

Original Post

_______________________

Speaking

Jarred (Young/Adolescent) from Deltora Quest

The character appears at 5:21

Jarred is the blond child and later adolescent in a flashback. He sounds different as a kid and teen (same voice actress though). Don't confuse him for the boy in the "present day" who looks similar.

Speaking times are 5:21, 5:34, 6:20, 6:50, 7:37, 8:55, 9:35-10:55, 11:24, 11:43-12:04, 12:23-13:14, 13:34-13:59, 14:23, 14:43, 15:25, 15:57, 16:57, 17:16, 17:39, 18:30

Original Post

---

Hasmodai/Teo from Fantastic Children

Link to YouTube Video with Time Stamps 2:27 - 2:44

If you don't click the link, go to 2:27 and get out of it after it changes scenes. The part with his voice is short, but...possible spoilers for Fantastic Children if you plan on watching it soon...maybe? I mean, it is the ending.

Original Post

---

Momotaro from Gokudo the Adventurer

Momotaro has the peach headband.

He speaks throughout most of the video, but some times are 0:11, 0:31, 0:55, and 1:44.

You can hear WW Link in the voice at a lot of parts, but the laugh at 1:08 sounds kind of like Skull Kid.

Original Post

---

Naoto Yamada from A Penguin's Troubles

Go to 1:04 or 1:24

He's the one with black hair.

Original Post

---

Yūhi Shinatsuhiko from Yozakura Quartet

He appears between 1:47 - 2:45

Yūhi is the one with a hat.

I could only find French subtitles, so I don't know exactly what they're saying.

Original Post

---

Asagi Cadwell from Mobile Suit Gundam SEED

Thought I'd include one girl character.

Some times she speaks are 0:09, 0:37, 0:46, 0:57, and 3:07.

Original Post

---

Voice Samples from Sachi Matsumoto

Name Introduction at 0:00, Boy 1 at 0:03, Boy 2 at 0:18, Boy 3 at 0:35, Boy 4 at 1:01, Boy 5 at 1:16, Female 1 at 1:32, Female 2 at 1:52, Maiko at 2:21, Dialect at 2:40, Narration 1 at 3:07, Narration 2 at 3:36, Narration 3 at 4:14, and Narration 4 at 4:51.

Original Post

_______________________

Part 2 - Click Here

[tieria-erde]

Can i say gundam 00 even tho u already said u did it

YES i will try to choose all different answers from the last time i did this (end of series spoilers in the link). to spice things up a little

💜 favorite male character: probably setsuna! i love him very much even if i don’t talk about him a lot. (i think this is largely because his arc feels very complete to me and i don’t have much to add to it. although in reality it’s more just because i spend all my time thinking about lockon and tieria) 💜 favorite female character: anew returner... she is the walking definition of wasted narrative potential but i love her so much 💜 favorite pairing: kati and patrick. no further comment 💜 least favorite character: ANDREI SMIRNOV HES SO GROSS AND ANNOYING AT LEAST THEY NEVER TRY TO PORTRAY ALI AL-SAACHEZ AS SYMPATHETIC 💜 who’s most like me: last time i said “either tieria or neil” which is such a copout but i guess now i can’t pick either of them soooo. sumeragi or lyle! another two-for-one 💜 most attractive: hmm (looks at what i said last time) lyle. if you want an answer that isn’t basically copying my answer from last time, probably anew? 💜 three more characters that I like: FELDT, sumeragi, and marina!

[tieria-erde]

💕💔 and then a little 💎 for Zest

answers under the cut because i clinically cannot shut the fuck up about lockon stratos

💕 tell us about one of your favorite characters and why you like them!

alright uhhhhhhhh uuuuhhh (looks at tieria erde, walking spoiler) let’s talk about uhhhhhhhh (looks at louise halevy, walking spoiler) uuuuuuuuuuhhhh (looks at lockon stratos, not a walking spoiler but his backstory is spoilery enough that i actively avoided talking about it when i made that post about gundam 00 a few months ago) uuhhhhhhhhhh. yeah sure let’s talk about lockon

aside from the fact that i am like, In Love With Him i think lockon has some of the most solid writing in the show. he establishes himself early on as the easy-going mentor figure, a source of stability in comparison to the other meisters, who are all standoffish, lone-wolf types to some extent and definitely don’t get along with each other at first. and it’s like... it’s not like that’s a lie, it’s not like he’s hiding his True Nature or whatever. he really does want the meisters to get along and work as a team. but he has more shit going on than it seems at first glance, and the front he puts up to seem more put together than he is starts to break down as time passes, and all his flaws and trauma start to come out before long.

i think lockon is the perfect middle ground between being likable and emotionally complex!! it’s about the Duality, yknow? that “i am the mask and the wearer” type shit. i love that, like... yes, lockon is kind and good with people and he wants the meisters to work together and all of that. but he also has horrible anger issues and an obsession with revenge that overpowers rational thought to the point where he almost killed someone he cared about for it. both are true, and to take one without the other would be to willfully misinterpret his character. so, in summary, i suppose: i love how much depth lockon has while also being extremely likable as “a person”. i’d love to hang out with him if he was real but i’d also tell him to go to therapy

💔 tell us about one of your LEAST favorite characters and why you dislike them.

everyone knows i hate ali al-saachez with every ounce of my being and i don’t need to explain why

💎 are there any fun facts or trivia that you would like to share?

-tieria was originally going to be the first female gundam pilot -anew originally didn’t exist but was added to pad for time due to the original 50-episode series being split into two 25-episode seasons (i actually don’t have a source for this so it might not be true? but i believe it) -marina reminds setsuna of his mother (they share a voice actress!) -there’s apparently supplemental material that says “lockon snipes the hearts of both men and women off the battlefield” (also don’t have a source for this, there’s a post linking a source out there but the link’s dead) -tieria is canonically genderless and it has been stated (by the director iirc?) that any material calling him a man is incorrect -lyle is one centimeter taller than neil

[ninthfeather]

what will we pass on to tomorrow’s children?

Gundam 00 Week Day 1: Trap | AO3 Link

A/N: Set precanon with minor backstory spoilers; warnings are light but can be found in the end note. Title is from the lyrics of “Trap” by The Back Horn.

“First of all, no, and second, screw you,” Leesa snapped. “This is where I draw the line.”

“You agreed to be Celestial Being’s tactical forecaster, and that means you agreed to work with the Gundam Meisters,” said the old guy. She squinted at him for a few seconds, trying to remember his name.  It started with an “I,” she thought—she’d been pretty drunk when they were introduced, but she did remember that much.

“I didn’t agree to give orders to that!” Leesa exclaimed, focusing on the matter at hand and gesturing toward the hangar.

It was separated from the conference room they were in by a sheet of mirrored glass paneling, so both of them had a clear view of the skinny Middle Eastern boy who was attempting to run a maintenance check on a mobile suit a few yards away from them. He was hampered in the attempt by a shirt some four sizes too big for him, which kept slipping down to cover his hands and getting caught on the machine’s gun turrets when he tried to move to a different part of the robot.

“Look, it’s Laundry Day, and the girls got overenthusiastic, so I had to loan him a shirt,” the man—Ian, yes, his name was Ian—all but groaned.  “He does have clothes that fit.”

“Yes, clothing in children’s sizes, because he is a child,” Leesa said, gesturing wildly.  “I decided by coming here that I was okay with committing acts of terrorism in order to bring peace, but this is a whole different level of war crime.”

“Veda wouldn’t have selected him unless he was going to at least be of age by the time the plan starts,” Ian said calmly.

Of age where? Leesa wondered.

“We still have to train him first,” she said aloud.  “Which is still a war crime, and also, wrong.”

Ian’s gruff frown deepened. “All we’re teaching him is how to work a mobile suit and enough English to use the OS.”

Leesa frowned back, confused.  “We aren’t even giving him combat training?”

“It’s against the rules around here to go prying into people’s pasts,” Ian said.  And then, “But he’s cleared for combat training. According to Veda, he doesn’t need it.”

Leesa looked through the window again.  The kid was taking advantage of the low gravity in the hangar to hover near the mobile suit’s head, either checking the optical cameras or just staring at its face. The oversized shirt was billowing out around him.  It was almost picturesque, if you forgot that you were looking at a child and an instrument of war.

Or if you didn’t realize that for a kid that young-looking to get out of combat training, he would almost have to have combat experience.

She cursed softly.

“I got a kid a little younger than him,” Ian said.  “Doesn’t do my heart any good to think about that, though.”

“I can’t think that it would,” Leesa managed.  

“I guess some people’s reasons for getting involved in Celestial Being are more obvious than others,” Ian remarked.

Yeah, being a child soldier…that would be a pretty good reason to want to end war, Leesa thought.  “He may have good reasons, but I still don’t like this.”

“You don’t have to,” Ian said.  “You have a choice—put up with it or leave.  Unless you really think you can make a computer change its mind.”  He frowned.  “Talking the kid out of it is always an option, I guess, but if Veda picked him, there was a reason for it.”

“I need a drink,” Leesa declared, standing.

“You really should go easier on the alcohol,” Ian said, frowning again.

“And you should go easier on the parenting,” Leesa replied.  “Save it for the kid, okay?”

“Whatever you say, Ms. Sumeragi,” Ian said, grinning a bit.

Heh, what a codename, Leesa thought, heading for the door.  Wonder what they’ll stick the kid with?

The kid.  Screw me. I am going to need so much more alcohol.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

A/N: Warnings for discussion of terrorism, child soldiers, and alcoholism, at relatively canon-typical levels.

Thanks for reading!