#watch gundam

[qberryshortcake]

Are you wondering how to get into Gundam and need an autistic transbian with insomnia to help guide you? Well you're in fucking luck!

Happy for u tho/I'm sorry

Start with either Witch From Mercury, Iron Blooded Orphans, or Mobile Suit Gundam. All three you can go in blind and have a grand old time. WFM is the lesbian one though, and my proper intro to the franchise.

What even is a Gundam?

Let's get a little vocabulary out of the way. A Mobile Suit is a bipedal giant mech, generally with one pilot, that uses a combination of mounted weapons and weapons held in the mobile suit's hands. This can be railguns, tank cannons, missile launchers, or a good old fashioned energy sword.

Are all mobile suits Gundams?

No, actually! It's a poodles/dogs situation. All Gundams are mobile suits, but not all mobile suits are Gundams.

What makes Gundams special?

It varies from series to series. In some it's that they use a special power source. In others it's a direct interface with its users. They often require less training than other mobile suits, and have a much higher skill ceiling. No matter what, one rule is more or less universal: only a Gundam can beat another Gundam. This is one of the driving forces for every antagonist. It's also why these shows get so heady.

Who is Char Aznabke?

The antagonist of Mobile Suit Gundam (see below). He's iconic, charismatic, stylish, and machiavellian. There is a Char in every Gundam spinoff. It gives you a sense of dramatic irony knowing that, because if nobody is wearing the mask, you're trying to figure out who will. And if somebody is, you're wondering what they'll do.

Okay, where do I start?

Let's bring out the timeline chart (bear with me):

This may seem intimidating at first, but once you break it down, it starts to become a bit more scrutable.

The first thing to understand is that Gundam has a singular canon timeline, the Universal Century, and the rest are spinoffs. You could theoretically start down any of these timelines and have a grand old time. That being said, some starting points are better than others.

Universal Century - if you're down with old animation, you can't go wrong with watching the original Mobile Suit Gundam! You can start with Gundam Origin to learn about Char Aznable's backstory, or jump straight into the original anime

Future Century - This is one of the weirdest wildest Gundam series with Mobile Fighter G Gundam. I haven't seen this one and I personally wouldn't start here? But hey if you want a giant robot tournament where every country has a themed Gundam that has sliiiiight racist vibes? Uh well then this is truly one of the shows in all of Gundam.

After Colony - This is where a lot of us originally bounced off of the series. Gundam Wing was what was on Toonami back in the day. The dub isn't...great, and the story is *extremely* edgy. That being said is is rife with ship bait and Deathscythe is an incredible Gundam design. All the same themes, just very hamhanded.

Correct Century - this takes place in the far far future, and technically the previous three timelines converge on this one. It's so far in the future that Gundams are practically a myth. This is Turn A Gundam, or as it's usually stylized, Ɐ Gundam. I haven't gotten to this one yet, but I love the moustachio'd design of the titular Ɐ Gundam. I wouldn't necessarily start here, just because this one kind of assumes the viewer has seen at least a Gundam before. From what I've heard at least.

Cosmic Era - While I own several gunpla from this series, I have only seen an episode! It's... I've never heard a single good word about this one. As far as I know it is more geared toward younger viewers, which also means it is the most shamelessly about advertising gunpla...well other than a couple other series we'll get to.

Anno Domini - okay here is where it gets a little odd because there's multiple timelines that use this abbreviation. The first is Gundam 00, or Double O (not zero). This one is really fun. It takes the edge from Wing and makes it kind of humorous. A slow burn, where you realize that maybe a single force having a monopoly on violence, made up entirely of child soldiers is,,,not the best idea? Great place to start.

Anno Domini - Gundam Build Fighters and Mobile Suit Gunpla Raiders G are, charitably, celebrations of the gunpla hobby. I wouldn't start here.

Post Disaster - God I almost wish this had been my first series. Iron Blooded Orphans is about a bunch of dudes being guys. They escape from slavery and go into business for themselves, and get embroiled in a political conflict while escorting a princess back to Earth from Mars. Fantastic show, but it clocks in at 50 episodes, so keep that in mind if you start this one.

Ad Stella - this is where I started. Witch from Mercury is absolutely incredible. Just 26 episodes. It follows Suletta Mercury and Miorine Rembran, after the former wins a duel, and due to sci fi anime logic, becomes betrothed to the latter.

Great, anything else I should know?

I said this in another post but if you're still on the fence because giant robot shows you've seen in the past haven't been great, I get it. I was the same way. The point of the robots being humanoid is because it takes out the abstraction of using vehicles of war, without cutting down on the scale of the wars being fought. When a character, for example, goes to destroy a military base single-handedly, you get that disconnect.

Sure it's a pilot doing war things, but it's *very* different when your opponents are as outclassed as most things and a Gundam.

It's always been about the horrors of war, the victims of those wars, and the wounds and scars that are left on the soldiers of those wars. The cool robot is so that a character can lose an arm but still have to keep fighting. In some series that character may have felt the pain of losing an arm while jacked into their mobile suit. It brings a viscerality that fighting with planes, tanks, and starships simply wouldn't be able to replicate.

Oh. And uh. Gunpla. Gunpla are the Namco Bandai line of models. They all require minimal tools and no glue. They're generally posable and some are extremely posable. They come in 1:144, 1:100, and 1:60 scale (primarily). They're also not cheap. The smaller models cost around 30-50, but they get expensive quickly. So uh. Don't? Get into them?

[dragonomatopoeia]

it is so deeply important to have friends who have completely different tastes than you re: media. gotta be the normie friend for some and the weirdo esoteric niche guy for others. the one who can be chased with a worm around the playground and the one who can do the chasing in turn. peace and love on planet earth

[studiomomo]

The Comeback - Recap

Stream went well. I talked about my goals for the year, ranted about Gundam, and even managed to clean up my island in Animal Crossing. So many weeds. Here's some clips... (sorry for the mature audience label, I swear a lot)

I was late all 2022 and I guess it's just gonna be my thing.

I really outdid myself and I've honestly got more work to do.

I will be getting through as much of this watch list as I possibly can before the end of the year. Gonna build my Berserker Nobel model when I get to Mobile Fighter G Gundam. The G stands for greatness. If anyone wants to watch the Gundam franchise in full, the list is available here.

And lastly, one of my loftier goals for the year.

🌸 The Momo Pages 🌸

[baharrothbluu]

Suletta Mercury is such a name, imagine being called John Earth

[kaereth]

married!! married ;v;

[thechekhov]

"Watch a show" they said, "it'll be fun" they said

Everyone seems to not realize how seriously I end up taking stories I like. Well guess who got me to finally watch his gundams with him.

[world-of-lang]

[dreadfuldevotee]

Armand is the best character because he's weird, evil AND autstic. Tho autism is not the cause of his evil, but it's absolutely is the cause of his weird. Like, I refuse to give AR any kudos but kinda based to look at this 16th century kid and go, "yeah give it a couple hundred years, this guy is really gonna love battlestar galactica"

[hannsoap]

Suletta's a WOC, born to a (implied) European mother and a (implied) South Asian father, at first she's a country bumpkin unaware that girls could get married, but once she found out she fully accepted and leaned into it

In the end of the show, after an intense struggle, she's gained mobility issues in her legs requiring her to use a pair of canes to support her body (the show's depiction of disability in general is very positive and doesn't dehumanize or talk down to folks with disabilities)

So really, she's a disabled lesbian WOC who is yes, very much, is happily married to her CEO girlboss wife Miorine (who runs a company that develops medical technology and prosthesis for folks with disabilities) while living a peaceful life in the countryside as an elementary school teacher

TLDR: watch gundam witch for Suletta she's everything

(P.S. she has crazy shy anime girl stutter in the early episodes but thats Suletta lore related TRUST)

[exmakina]

Happy Suletta Sunday!

Felt like drawing something to mark the occasion. :>

[tanukiimo]

suddenly started thinking about feather maintenance/preening in my monster au… waughh

some extra brainrot

[majimasleftasscheek]

I hurt

[milksetters]

g witch...

[sailorfutaba]

THIS SHOW KEEPS ON TURBO-DELIVERING

[fiannalover]

"Which should be my first Gundam?" You don't have to worry about that. All the shows have something important to say that is worthy listening to. Pick whichever gets your attention the most and that will become Your first Gundam, a wonderful experience you'll carry for life. "Which should be my se" 0079.