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is one of the longest running series of anime featuring giant robots. Gundam is the collective term for the Universal Century (UC) series like Mobile Suit Gundam and series in alternative timelines, such as Gundam Wing, made by Sunrise Inc.. The name "Gundam" itself stems from a variety of theoretical sources, most commonly attributed to a need to conform with common giant robot naming conventions during the 1970s.

Overview

Concept

Mobile Suit Gundam was developed principally by Yoshiyuki Tomino, along with a changing group of Sunrise creators who went under the collective pseudonym "Hajime Yatate".

During its conceptual phase, the series was originally titled Freedom Fighter Gunboy or simply Gunboy, because the title robot was armed with a gun and the target demographic was young boys. In the early stages of production, there were numerous references to the word freedom, such as the White Base being originally named Freedom's Fortress, the Core Fighter as the Freedom Wing, and the Gunperry named the Freedom Cruiser. The collective Yatate team combined the English word Gun with last syllable of the word Freedom, Dom, to form the word Gundom. Tomino then changed the name to the current title Gundam, suggesting that the name Gundam signifies a power wielding a gun that is strong enough to hold back enemies like a dam holds back floods. Gundams are not sentient like the Transformers but are machines controlled by their pilots. Like many of the "mobile suits" appearing in the series, a Gundam is usually piloted from the torso area with a camera built into the head area transmitting to viewscreens in the cockpit, although some have been known to mount cockpits on other areas.

Innovation

Gundam is a turning point in the history of anime and manga, as it is credited for inspiring the Real Robot genre. Real Robots (popularly known in English as mecha, a re-borrowing of the Japanese abbreviation for the English word "mechanical") differ from their Super Robot forebearers on a few stylistic and thematic points such as attempts at realism in robot design and weaponry, as well as their thematic and ethical roles. Zambot 3 was an earlier program by Tomino which helped develop these ideas.

The main theme of all the various Gundam series is always the harsh depiction of the atrocities of war. All the machines, including the Gundams, are always depicted realistically; that is, they run out of energy and ammunition, they break and malfunction like all machines eventually do. The technology, at least that of the Universal Century, is practical and derived from true science, including Lagrange points in space, the O'Neill cylinder as a living environment, and energy production from helium-3 (Minovsky Physics).

The narration is always revolving around the emotions of the characters, usually thrown into conflict without much choice and faced with death, destruction and dehumanization. With few exceptions, there are no absolute heroes and villains; all have their motives. Politics of war are always lurking in the background, as it is in real wars. Gundam also features true to life issues and clear political ideas.

Finally, most of the stories are basically structured as coming-of-age dramas, where the main protagonist (and sometimes his main antagonist) and most of the cast personalities, points of view, and actions may (or may not) change dramatically as the events on the series unfold. This makes the plot more real: while in early Super Robot series, the hero and cast usually act in the same predictable manner in most episodes, in the various Gundam series the characters' personalities and actions are transformed/developed by the turn of events surrounding them (the best example of this is how the personalities of longtime rivals Amuro Ray and Char Aznable are influenced by their experiences in the Gundam saga).

Distinctive characteristics

Gundam is the name or nickname of several mobile suits or mobile fighters, although some works such as G-Saviour and Mobile Suit Gundam: MS IGLOO do not have units named Gundams.

In the Universal Century timeline, Gundam is the name of the Earth Federation's first experimental general-purpose mobile suit, which is incredibly powerful compared to most of the mass-produced models eventually used by either side. Afterwards, many powerful mobile suits based on the Gundam's design also carry the name, such as the Gundam Mk. II, Zeta Gundam, Victory Gundam, etc.. All Mobile Weapons have serial numbers, usually additions to previous Mobile Weapons in its lineage. For example, the Earth Federation (Chikyū Renpō, 地球連邦) in the Universal Century universe used "R" (from renpō) to designate their mobile suits, with "X" for experimental units, "GM" (Gundam Mass-produced\General Machine) or "GC" for production mobile suits derived from the original V-Project suits and "MS" for mass-produced mobile suits derived from One Year War-era Zeon mobile suits.

In the G-Saviour movie there are no allusions to "Gundam" whatsoever, not even mentioning the word, though no reason for this is ever given. In both Gundam F91 and Victory Gundam there are hints of this as people referred to the F91 and the Victory Gundams as 'the super-machines from history', and dubbed them Gundams.

In the After Colony timeline, the word Gundam refers to most mobile suit constructed out of a special alloy, called Gundanium, which can only be mined and produced in space. This alloy gives the Gundams near invincibility. Every Gundam has a unique name that befits the nature of the suit and/or its origins, such as Wing Gundam, Gundam Heavyarms, Sandrock Gundam, Gundam Deathscythe, or Shenlong Gundam.

In the CC (Seireki) timeline, the name Gundam is given to the White Doll/Turn A mobile suit by Corin Nander. Corin Nander was an ace pilot who was placed under suspended animation as punishment and the color scheme of the Turn A mobile suit reminds him of the Gundam mobile suits from previous eras.

In the Cosmic Era works, the word Gundam is never used in an official sense, apart from in the Chinese language translations of the manga. However, there are numerous mobile suits which share the properties of Gundams from other series. In an informal homage to other Gundam series, all of these unique mobile suits use operating systems with complicated acronyms, and these acronyms always simplify to the word Gundam. Most characters simply refer to these units by their names, such as Duel, Buster, Blitz, Strike, or Aegis, but a select few characters refer to them as Gundams, a trend which started with Kira Yamato and spread to a few close friends, as well as the subordinates of Neo Lorrnoke, who subconsciously remembers the term despite a form of amnesia. The name is used widely outside the animation in the merchandising of Cosmic Era toys and models.

The different series have had different ways of maintaining the tradition, and the only unique feature that all Gundams have in common is the name. The following characteristics are distinctive (but not unique) to many Gundams:

  • Humanoid form
Exceptions: MSA-0011* S Gundam Booster Unit Type, JDG-00X Devil Gundam and certain other mobile fighters
  • Face with two human-like eyes, which flash when the unit is activated
Exceptions: MSF-007 Gundam Mark III, MSZ-006-X1 Prototype Zeta Gundam X1, F70 Cannon Gundam
  • Ornament on head resembling a V-shape, sometimes units possess two V-shapes
Exceptions: LM312V06 Victory Gundam Hexa, Rx-79 (G) Gundam Ez8, Turn A Gundam (its fin is placed on the chin)
  • A prominent red, blue or yellow "chin" or goatee, initially thought to be a mere stylistic touch, but may actually be a cover for a port to transfer data between the Gundam and an outside computer. Alternatively the blueprints for Gundam Deathscythe Hell in episode 25 of the Gundam Wing series labeled it a "(Gyro) Balancer."
Exceptions: MSZ-006 Zeta Gundam and its mass-production version MSZ-006 Zeta Plus, MSA-0011 S Gundam and its variants including MSA-0011(Ext) Ex-S Gundam, ORX-013 Gundam Mk-V, various others.
  • In any given series, at least one Gundam, usually the one piloted by the hero of the story, will have a blue torso and white limbs and head. Yellow and/or red highlights are often added.
Exceptions: In Char's Counterattack, the RGZ-91 Re-GZ had bluish limbs, and the RX-93 Nu Gundam had a black torso.
  • Generally superior overall performance in comparison to other mobile suits.

Gundam calendar systems

Most early Gundam works take place in the Universal Century calendar system, which is considered the most developed. Later series take place in alternate calendars or timelines, which are mostly completely unrelated to the original Universal Century calendar system.

English-speaking fans have interpreted "Seireki" (a wordplay homonym of the Japanese term for the A.D. Western calendar) to mean "Correct Century" or "Correct Calendar," but Sunrise itself has not established an English translation for "Seireki" or the English abbreviation expansion for "CC". Bandai and Japanese-speaking fans unofficially refer to projects not directly related to the first Gundam series or its staffers (such as Gundam Sentinel and G Gundam) as "Another Gundam" stories, and to projects made after 1989 as "Heisei Gundam" stories. On the survey for the game that would become True Odyssey, the Cosmic Era series (including Astray) were collectively referred to as "21st Century First Gundam" (a reference to Mobile Suit Gundam, also known as First Gundam). English-speaking fans have used "Alternate Universe" or "AU" as a nickname for the stories that do not take place within the Universal Century timeline, but this unofficial nickname is not used in Japan.

The Gundam franchise

Animated/live-action series and movies (in order of release)

For the listing of the series on chronological order of the depicted events, see the individual timelines' pages.

Original Design series/Variations

Due to the sheer popularity of the Gundam franchise, especially the Mobile Suit design, several Original Design series were published. These series are drawings and precise specifications for additional Mobile suit units not found in the original animated material.
  • Mobile Suit Variations (1983) - also known as MSV, the variations from the One-Year War, considered to be official and canonical
  • Mobile Suit X (1984) - also known as MSX, new models for a proposed but never produced new animation series, considered to be official and canonical
  • Z-MSV - variations from the Zeta Gundam series
  • ZZ-MSV - variations from the Double Zeta Gundam series
  • CCA-MSV - variations from the Char's Counterattack movie
  • Kunio Okawara's MS Collection (M-MSV) - Kunio Okawara's personal reinterpretations
  • F91-MSV - variations from the F-91 movie
  • V-MSV - variations from the Victory series
  • SEED-MSV - variations from the SEED series
  • SEED Destiny MSV - variations from the SEED Destiny series

Manga and novels

See main article Gundam Manga and Novels.

The manga narration of the original series is published in English in North America by a variety of companies, such as Viz Communications, Del Rey Manga, and TOKYOPOP, among others. Gundam manga is also published in English in Singapore by Chuang Yi.

Video games

Following the popularity of Gundam, various video games feature original characters previously not found in other media. Some video games have been converted into comics or novels.

Games Book title Book type
Mobile Suit Gundam Side Story Gundam Blue Destiny Comic
Gundam Side Story: Rise from the Ashes 機動戦士ガンダム外伝―コロニーの落ちた地で…〈上〉角川スニーカー文庫
機動戦士ガンダム外伝―コロニーの落ちた地で…〈下〉角川スニーカー文庫 		Novel
Mobile Suit Gundam Lost War Chronicles 機動戦士ガンダム戦記―Lost War Chronicles〈1〉角川スニーカー文庫
機動戦士ガンダム戦記―Lost War Chronicles〈2〉角川スニーカー文庫 		Novel
Mobile Suit Gundam: Zeonic Front ZEONIC FRONT―機動戦士ガンダム0079〈1〉角川スニーカー文庫
ZEONIC FRONT―機動戦士ガンダム0079〈2〉角川スニーカー文庫 		Novel

There is also a Half-Life 2 mod called Mech Assault Genesis, based on Gundams.

A mod for StarCraft originally named GundamCraft, but later changed due to Blizzard's request of name change to Universal Century, featured all buildings, units, images and sounds to that off the UC Timeline. The Developer, Stuart Ng of Genesoul.net has stopped the project.

Super Robot Wars

The Gundam meta verse makes regular appearances in the Super Robot Wars series by Banpresto. In fact, there hasn't been a single non-Original Generation game which hasn't featured at least one Gundam series and characters. Some series come and go however, but Amuro Ray, often in the RX-93 Nu Gundam, is a regular character and has actually never missed a single game. This changed in Super Robot Wars J for the Game Boy Advance. This title was the first in the series history to not have many of the standard characters that have appeared in every game to date such as Amuro. So far, almost every single major Gundam series and then some has made at least one appearance in the series.

The Mobile Suit units are considered the representing unit in the "Real Robot" type of mecha. The games units are often separated by being "Super Robots" (powerful mecha that often have near-limitless powers and technology, but have a shorter range of movement), and "Real Robots" (mecha that are physically weak, but have a wide range of movement for the most part). There have been so many Mobile Suit units that its impossible to tell a distinct style, however generally Mobile Suits are extremely agile and have an enormous variety of different weapons.

Series based on Gundam models

Although not directly related to Gundam, these series incorporate Gundam models as part of the stories:

Merchandise

Bandai, the primary licensee of the Gundam trademark, makes a variety of products for the Gundam fan. Other companies produce unofficial toys, models, t-shirts, etc..

Categories of products include the Mobile Suit In Action or MSiA action figures, and Gundam Model Kits in several scales and complexity levels. Generally, each series listed above will have its own set of products, although the MSiA and Gundam Models lines, such as High Grade Universal Century may extend across series.

See also

  • Gundam Portal on wikipedia: Gundam.

External links

Gundam | Gundam series | Gundam universes | Bandai | Anime series | Manga series | Space opera

Gundam | Gundam | Mobile Suit Gundam | 건담 | Gundam | Gundam | ガンダムシリーズ | Gundam | กันดั้ม | GUNDAM系列作品

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Gundam".

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