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{{topquote|It is the year 0079 of the Universal Century. A half-century has passed since Earth began moving its burgeoning population into gigantic orbiting space colonies. A new home for mankind, where people are born and raised... and die.|The opening narration for the original Gundam 0079}}
{{topquote|By directing combat and war pieces, I could experience catharsis and successfully avoid committing a murder in real life. In this sense, I'm really grateful for that because I was conscious that I had such homicidal traits, to be honest.|Yoshiyuki Tomino, creator of Gundam}}


Giant Robots have been a staple of media east and west since the 1950s. But it was only in 1979 that Japanese animator and all-around madlad Yoshiyuki Tomino chose to use them to tell a tale of war and the costs of war, of the use of giant robots as weapons no different from tanks and planes. From such seeds would be borne not only an Anime franchise, but an entire genre that would go on to redefine not just Anime, but tabletop wargaming, video games and much, much more.
It is the year 1978 AD. Three years have passed since Space Battleship Yamato redefined what could be done in science fiction anime. Enter Yoshiyuki Tomino, director for Sunrise and absolute madman, charged by studio execs with creating a more serious follow-up to their previous super robot anime. Blending still-fresh cultural memories of World War II with ideas from Starship Troopers, the Jules Verne novel "Two Years' Vacation" and the now-classic O'Neill cylinder design, Tomino and the planning team at Sunrise created a world where "giant robots" weren't skyscraper-sized superheroes but treated more like humanoid tanks. They would be weapons, coming off a factory line like any other, wielded by ordinary people who would be scarred by the battles they fought rather than storybook heroes. Thus the world was introduced to Mobile Suit Gundam in April of 1979.


Basically, Gundam is to Japan what [[Star Wars]] is to the United States. A tentpole of popular sci-fi media, a property that has grown and changed with generations and shows no signs of slowing down. Its influence can be felt everywhere, especially in the Traditional Games sphere where everything from [[Battletech]] to the [[Tau]] owe at least something to Gundam.
It didn't [[Games Workshop|sell toys]] and was shitcanned at 43 episodes, but for [[/a/|older viewers]] it became a cultural lightning rod and eventually made piles of money for Sunrise and Bandai through the scale-model market. From here it followed essentially the same cultural path as [[Star Trek]] (complete with an increasingly deranged creator, studio drama, an obsessive fanbase, and a bloated canon) and paved the way for the dozens of "real robot" mecha series to follow, though the franchise itself would drift deeper and deeper into super-robot territory over time. Everything from [[Mekton]] to [[Battletech]] to the [[Tau]] has stolen from Gundam in some way, and that's not counting the actual licensed material that's /tg/ relevant.


=The Gundam Multiverse=
== The Anime ==
Because Gundam is a "theme" more than it is a strictly defined setting in the conventional sense, this has led to a lot of different experiments with that core theme, telling and retelling he basic concept in many ways and birthing its own [[universe]], some branches of which have gotten multiple explorations via multiple anime series and/or OAVs. Now, obviously, we're not going to fucking handhold you through all the differences, but we will be nice ad give you a ''very'' basic rundown of the different Gundam realities.
Because Gundam is ''fucking old'' and also prints money in Japan, the themes of the original series have been respun many times and (largely thanks to Tomino's refusal to treat his life's work as yet another toy commercial) branched off into multiple continuities. Since this can be a pain in the ass to keep track of, your friends at 2d4chan have prepared a helpful guide. Note that for the sake of sanity this doesn't include manga such as Crossbone or spinoffs such as War in the Pocket.


==Universal Century==
=== Universal Century ===
This is the original, OG Gundam setting, the [[Prime Material Plane]] from which sprang the entire [[multiverse]] of Gundam we know today. As a result, there are more series and OAVs set in this continuity than in any other.
{{topquote|It is the year 0079 of the Universal Century. The furthest space city from the Earth, Side 3, proclaimed itself the Principality of Zeon. It launched a war for independence with the Earth Federation. In roughly one month of fighting, the Principality of Zeon and the Federation Forces caused the deaths of half of their respective populations. [[Grimdark|People began to live in fear of their own actions.]]|Mobile Suit Gundam, opening sequence}}
[[File:McChar.png|200px|thumb|right|The Gundam franchise is renowned for its artistic integrity]]


It all begins in the Year 0079 of the Universal Century (from whence this timeline gets its name). Decades ago, humanity united under the Earth Federation and then colonized the local Earth-Moon system with a series of free-floating country-sized space stations. However, some of those space colonies have united to form the power-bloc known as the Principality of Zeon, which desires nothing less than to be formally recognized as an independent sovereign nation, free of the Earth Federation's control. When the Federation wouldn't give it to them, Zeon responded in a calm, level manner.
The OG timeline. Half of Japan's mecha fanbase still creams their jeans over this, which is why every time someone has an idea for a new Gundam series Bandai will crowbar it into the UC continuity instead of letting it stands on its own. The two strongest themes introduced here are "war is hell" and "both sides in a war will have sympathetic soldiers as well as complete dickbags": the Earth Federation was using space as a dumping ground for poor people so they could continue shitting up the planet and disrespected the lives of its soldiers, and Zeon would have some good points if they could stop playing Atrocity Bingo for five minutes. The UC also made itself stand out at the time by actually explaining ''why'' giant robots (called Mobile Suits here) are a viable fighting vehicle; they can perform EVA maneuvers to conserve fuel when fighting in space and the magic "Minovsky particles" used to make things like fusion power and beam guns practical totally bollocks the kind of guided missile spam that would obviously dominate future combat even in the 1970s.


...By which we mean they invented Mobile Suit technology, wiped out half of Earth's population with a combination of mass-scale nerve gas attacks, nuclear weaponry and crashing at least two space colonies into the Earth. They were surprised when the Federation refused to surrender, and now the war is raging on both Earth and in space.
* '''''Mobile Suit Gundam''''': Referred to as "Gundam 0079" or "First Gundam" for disambiguation. As the quote above implies, it's the year 0079 UC and everything is grimdark: the distant space colony Side 3 has gotten sick of being pushed around by a corrupt planetary government, reformed itself as Space Nazi Germany and declared its independence by, among other things, dropping a different space colony on Australia. With their new Mobile Suit technology, the Principality of Zeon has pushed the Federation back at every turn, as space battleships are insufficiently awesome to defend against them. In response the Federation launches a secret program to build their own, superior Mobile Suits, but Zeon discovers the R&D facility and the prototypes end up in the hands of a bunch of cadets, children and civilians. [[Plot Armor|This crew of misfits proceeds to dumpster some of Zeon's best soldiers,]] marking them as potential [[Psyker|"Newtypes"]] and the next phase of human evolution, though they still suffer terribly in the process.
* '''''Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam''''': It is now the year 0087; the Federation won the war in 0080, but continues to oppress the space colonies through the Titans special forces and generally act like dicks. Opposing them is the Anti-Earth Union Group, notably featuring Zeon ace Char Aznable under the most transparent alias imaginable, while the remnants of Zeon look on from distant Axis and wait to pick off the survivors. Notable for incredible animation for its time (thanks to Bandai's piles of Gunpla money) and an ending so depressing even Tomino felt the need to change it in the compilation movies. Also dramatically expanded what Newtypes could do, including what's arguably the series' first super robot, the gigantic Psyco Gundam.
* '''''Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ''''' ''(Gundam Double Zeta)'': Direct sequel to Zeta; having been completely decimated in the final battle, the AEUG's flagship Argama is reduced to recruiting punk kids as mobile suit pilots to stay alive against the forces of Axis Zeon. Fortunately arms dealer Anaheim Electronics comes to the rescue with the ZZ Gundam to level the playing field. Starts out incredibly goofy (protagonist Judau is one of the few newtypes to ''not'' be an instant ace pilot) but becomes more serious in the second half. Also notable for being the first Gundam series where the protagonists' suits are ''all'' Gundam variants.
* '''''Char's Counterattack''''': The big finale of the Federation vs. Zeon story. In this feature film, Char counterattacks, namely by trying to dropping enough asteroids onto the Earth to make it uninhabitable and force everyone to become Newtypes in outer space. The Federation is not a fan of this idea, largely because all their money's on Earth, and sends a task force of veterans from 0079 to stop him and his Neo Zeon rebellion. After some flirtations with it in Zeta and ZZ, this is what pushes the franchise firmly into super robot territory: everyone who matters is a Newtype of some kind, the suits are bigger and more overpowered than ever and everything ends in a cloud of magical sparkles.
* '''''Mobile Suit Gundam F91''''': Timeskips to UC 0123, where the Federation is once again under attack by the new space empire of Cosmo Babylonia. The film follows students Seabook Arno and Cecily Fairchild as they get dragged into the fighting by the asshole leadership of both factions. Intended to be another TV series, ended up crammed into another movie by studio meddling.
* '''''Mobile Suit Victory Gundam'''''': The big fuckup. When this series was being produced, Bandai had just bought Sunrise wholesale and was leaning harder and harder on Tomino and his team to boost model sales, mandating the youngest protagonist yet and incredibly stupid suit designs like the infamous wheelie bike. This just motivated Tomino to troll them by making the series super grimdark, with one of the highest kill counts in the franchise. To this day, Tomino still tells people that they shouldn't watch it in interviews. Ended up "killing" the franchise for a bit, as Sunrise would take it out of Tomino's hands for almost a decade and move to producing alternate continuities using the brand name.


The story of the Universal Century truly begins on a Federation-allied space colony, which has secretly begun production of two new super prototypes for the Federation military; an assault carrier spaceship called the White Base, and an ultra-advanced Mobile Suit, the titular Gundam. Zeon gets wind of these and goes after the colony, which leads to it being destroyed and the colony's survivors fleeing to Earth aboard the White Base, with a young prodigy named Amuro Ray piloting the Gundam to protect them. Thus begins the long, ''long'' bloody conflicts to follow...
=== Everything else ===
* '''''Mobile Fighter G Gundam''''': Kung Fu Gundam. In the Future Century, the Earth Sphere is ruled by space colonies based on Earth nations and settle their disputes through a stereotypical shonen tournament arc called the Gundam Fight. The fighters use Gundams (all of them, and naturally they're all bullshit super robots) and pilot them using [[/d/|skintight latex suits]] that allows the robot to copy the pilot's martial arts movements. The year is FC 60, and this Gundam Fight is different: Neo-Japan's fighter, Domon Kasshu, has been blackmailed into hunting down his brother Kyoji for the Neo-Japanese government. Kyoji has stolen/built the Devil Gundam, a nanomachine-powered monstrosity that corrupts everything in its path. Unapologetically gonzo, G Gundam is a fan favorite for its hot-blooded protagonists, truly ludicrous Gundam designs and the awesomeness that is Master Asia.
* '''''Mobile Report Gundam Wing''''': In the year After Colony 195, the United Earth Sphere Alliance rules both Earth and the colonies with an iron first. Five colonies pool their resources to send one child soldier each to Earth in a custom-design Gundam, waging a guerilla campaign against the UESA military. This was most people's first exposure to Gundam in the west thanks to Toonami, but time has been less than kind to it as it becomes an interminable soap opera about halfway through that cares more about parading around its pretty-boy characters than giant robot fights.
* '''''After War Gundam X''''': Basically an alternate Universal Century where Zeon didn't give up on the whole colony drop thing, and it wouldn't be hard to include in the UC as an alternate outcome of Char's Counterattack if a GM was so inclined. It's the year After War 0015, Earth is a wasteland and 99% of humanity has been wiped out after an apocalyptic war between the Earth Federation and its space colonies. The series follows a group of scavengers as they stumble across the superpowered Gundam X and become caught up in a conspiracy to restart the fighting. Despite this it's actually one of the most upbeat and idealistic Gundams, assuming you can get past the main character's screechy voice.
* '''''∀ Gundam''''' ''(Turn A Gundam)'': In which Tomino gets invited back to take a nice, long piss on all of the above series. It's the "Correct Century", and humanity has regressed to the early 20th century after a cataclysm they have forgotten. A colony on the moon survived the cataclysm, and this "Moonrace" wants to reclaim the Earth from its current tenants. Since the Moonrace kept their Mobile Suits and other cool stuff, the Earthnoids are kind of fucked until Loran Cehack, secretly an advance scout for the Moonrace who went native, discovers a mysterious mobile suit buried in the earth: the ∀ Gundam. Never got a dub, so these days it's mostly remembered for three things: a delicious brown [[trap]] protagonist, having a Gundam with a mustache (thanks to famous American designer Syd Mead) and the Black History. The Black History is what happened before that mysterious cataclysm; namely, every other Gundam series, whose timelines all converge into Turn A in the distant future as humanity destroys itself. This is because Tomino gets really butthurt when it looks like other Gundam series might be more popular than his. Also notable for starting the trend of Gundam protagonists who refuse to kill anybody during a major war.
* '''''Mobile Suit Gundam SEED''''': Sunrise remakes the Universal Century for a new generation, but because this was the early 2000s it just looks like a generic hentai OVA. Colonies are now called PLANTs, Newtypes are artificial and called Coordinators, Zeon is called ZAFT and the Earth Federation is now the Earth Alliance. Our story begins at <s>Side 7</s> Heliopolis, a PLANT sponsored by <s>Japan</s> the peace-loving neutral nation of the Orb Union which is developing <s>Operation V</s> new superweapons to protect its neutrality. When ZAFT attacks, the survivors are forced to flee aboard <s>White Base</s> the Archangel and <s>Amuro Ray</s> Kira Yamato is conscripted to pilot the <s>Gundam</s> Gundam on the long journey back to Earth. It's absolute trash but it has its fans, especially in Japan where it was an entire generation's first exposure to Gundam. Had a sequel, SEED Destiny, which was heavily censored on both sides of the Pacific and is a strong contender for worst Gundam of all time.
* '''''Mobile Suit Gundam 00''''': It's the year 2307 AD; yes, that means Anno Domini. War has become a game as the three major superpowers fight endlessly for control of the space elevators and solar collection stations they built to solve Earth's energy crisis. Enter Celestial Being, a batshit crazy terrorist group with a cunning plan: attack all sides indiscriminately with Gundams to unite the Earth's militaries against them, then crush them all in a single stroke to quash humanity's appetite for war. The first season is actually pretty interesting for being a direct commentary on the War on Terror, but this was far too intelligent for Sunrise at that point and the second season was forced into being a copy of Zeta Gundam.
* '''''Mobile Suit Gundam AGE''''': Dynastic Gundam. Follows three generations of the Asuno family during a century-long war with the mysterious Unknown Enemy, which later turns out to not be so unknown after all. Had some interesting ideas (exploring the nature of generational prejudice, the main Gundam being passed down like a family heirloom) but the anime's pacing is messed up because the plot was written for a video game first and then adapted.
* '''''Gundam: Reconguista in G''''': Tomino takes his turn at the super robot Gundam wheel, but makes it a sequel to both the UC and Turn A because it's okay when he does it. It's Regild Century 1014, and space elevator guard Bellri Zenam gets dragged into yet another war with space pirates, the emerging Capital Army and an invasion from the Moon when he discovers he can pilot the G-Self, a hyper-advanced mobile suit compatible with only a select few. Good luck figuring out what the hell is going on, by the way. Has some of the most insane, over-the-top designs since G Gundam, drawing heavily from Eureka Seven and Tomino's own Metal Overman King Gainer.
* '''''Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans''''': It's the year 323 Post Disaster, more than three centuries after the Calamity War that devastated the solar system and produced the original Gundams. This time the colonies are on Mars, getting ready to revolt after decades of economic exploitation under Gjallarhorn, a Titans-like organization that has a state monopoly on arms production. A Martian PMC has been hired to escort the leader of the independence movement to Earth to broker a deal before war breaks out. Naturally, it's a trap, and the mission is pawned off to the CGS' Third Group, a regiment of destitute children and orphans who won't be missed when Gjallarhorn ganks them. Not taking this shit lying down, ace pilot Mikazuki Augus pulls the ancient Gundam Barbatos out of mothballs and begins carving a path to safety for the Third Group, while their leader Orga begins making power plays to secure their own independence from the adults who take them for granted. Strong contender for worst Gundam, with multiple plot holes and a second season where the director and head writer were openly fighting with each other, culminating in a truly baffling "villains win" ending.
[[File:Suletta.jpg|thumb|right|[[Imperial_Knight#The_Throne_Mechanicum|Due to a quirk in the (Permet) bonding process used in G-Witch, the device retains an imprint of each of its former pilots' <s>personalities</s> clones]]]]
* '''''Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury''''' ''(G-Witch)'': A cyberpunk Gundam setting is wasted on high school slice of life, the head writer's most notable prior credit is Revolutionary Girl Utena and the protagonist gets gay married to another woman in the first episode. That's all you need to know, really. A lot of potential utterly wasted with generic slice-of-life and yuri hijinks, shit pacing and what little plot exists being stapled together with josei drama and Shakespeare references. The third contender for worst Gundam.
* '''''Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX''''': For the record, it's pronounced "G-Kwucks". Gundam's first foray into alternate history, taking place in a UC where Char successfully captured the Gundam and severed the thread of prophecy that led Amuro to win the war for the Federation. Among other things this means Challia Bull gets some spotlight time instead of becoming XP for Amuro after a handful of episodes. The story starts with two high school aged girls stumbling on a new super prototype Gundam and fighting mecha-of-the-week (yawn) but rapidly escalates from there into something more appropriate to the Universal Century. Made by Hideki Anno with the studio that did the Rebuild of Evangelion movies, and by god does it show. Early fan consensus is that it's the series "G-Bitch" should have been from the beginning, but not everyone is a fan of the limited scope (required by being crammed into 12 episodes) and Anno ''still'' can't write a coherent ending to save his life.
* '''''Gundam Build Fighters''''': Bandai skips the foreplay and just makes a 25-minute Gunpla commercial. It's a generic tournament-based battle shonen for kids, but the characters fight with Gunpla models and it doesn't completely suck somehow. Unlike [[Games Workshop|other companies]] Bandai actually understands the appeal of [[Your Dudes]] and so many of the cast's Gunpla are kitbashes and custom work. Often nicknamed "Gundam Valhalla" after the fanon theory that everyone who got dicked over or died nastily in other Gundam series (so, everyone) gets reincarnated here, based on "Mr. Ral" (a hobby shop owner who is just Ramba Ral) among many, many other cameos.


The Universal Century is famous (or perhaps infamous) for its efforts to try and present both sides as morally ambiguous. The Principality of Zeon draws ''very'' heavily from [[Nazi]] and Imperial Japanese trappings and ideology, right down to viewing "spacenoids" (humans conceived and born in zero-gravity) as a superior race, and atrocities are practically their go-to tactic in war; gassing neutral colonies to scare others into signing up with them, launching nuclear bombardments, dropping colonies and meteors on Earth... seriously, the amount of war crimes that Zeon commits over the course of these series is ridiculous. And yet the Zeon officers we see tend to be noble, principled, efficient and genuinely idealistic, with a minority of raving bloodthirsty madmen (such as the founders of the movement). In contrast, the Earth Federation tends to be our nominal protagonist side, as well as the recurring victim of Zeon's onslaughts, and yet the people in charge of the whole shebang tend to be venal, self-centered, short-sighted and apallingly corrupt and astonishingly incompetent.
== Notable Characters ==
* '''Amuro Ray''': Pilot of the original Gundam and sperglord maximus. Son of Federation engineer Tem Ray, he gets in the Gundam on an impulse instead of evacuating and becomes its pilot full-time when everyone else who knows how to work the damn thing gets killed. Being forced to fight for his life constantly drives him to the brink of madness, but eventually he finds his backbone and his emerging Newtype powers make him the most terrifying thing in the One Year War. After the war ends the Federation keeps him in a gilded cage for fear of him going ''Rambo: First Blood'' on their asses, ''that's'' how scary he is. Even so various good-guy factions wheel him out as their ace in the hole, and he always obliges because part of him never really left that Gundam. So [[grimdark]]. His custom-made robot pet Haro also deserves a mention for being almost as iconic as the Gundam itself.
* '''Char Aznable''': The Red Comet. Amuro's main rival, Zeon ace and Japan's answer to Darth Vader. After he discovers the Federation's secret Mobile Suit program only to let them slip through his fingers, he spends the rest of the series trying to reclaim his status by defeating the Gundam. Secretly '''Casval Rem Deikun''', the true heir to Zeon's ideals forced to live in hiding from the Zabi family. He's also a complete douchenozzle: when Char teams up with Garma (the only Zabi who wasn't some combination of corrupt, bloodthirsty and genocidal) it's just to [[Sindri Myr|SSSINNNDRIII]] him into the White Base's teeth as the first step of his revenge. He tries to get over himself and live by his father's ideals for a while after the war, but humanity's continued dickbaggery gets to him in the end.
** Char's impact on Japanese culture beggars belief; his outfit, half his lines, his penchant for red ace customs and ability to [[Orks|make things "three times faster" just by painting them red]] are [[meme]]s even the densest salaryman will recognize. To give you an idea of how far this goes: you can apply for a Char custom credit card in Japan, and it will earn reward points three times faster than a normal card.
** One consequence of Char's massive popularity is the "Char clone"/"X is a CHAR" phenomenon: every Gundam series will have at least one character who wears a mask or sunglasses, pilots red mobile suits, acts as a rival to the main character, and/or has a secret identity. Some series play this straighter than others, and ''Unicorn'' even got meta with it by having Full Frontal be a literal clone of the original article. 40k has its own Char clone in the form of Commander [[Farsight]].
* '''Ramba Ral''': The "guerilla" expert, though in this case that really means commando raids and ambush tactics. Cool old guy, Zeon's answer to Rommel and the first pilot to really threaten Amuro despite the OPness of the Gundam. He would have geeked the lot of them too, but M'Quve was a dick and refused to issue the mobile suits he needed for a direct assault. Being far too badass to let a little thing like being outgunned by a factor of about a million stop him he leads a deep strike into the White Base and almost captures it, but Ramba [[Meme|forgot to fight in the middle of a fight]] and chooses to an hero rather than be captured. A fan favorite, his infamous "This is no Zaku" line is one of the most quoted in the franchise and the ''Gihren's Greed'' vidya gives him a lot of love. Appears in ''Gundam Build Fighters'' as "Mr. Ral", and it's heavily implied that he's the actual Ramba Ral reincarnated.
* '''Dozle Zabi''': One third of the Zabi triumvirate in charge of Zeon's military and an absolute chad. A father to his men and dedicated family man, he was Char's superior for the mission that found Operation V. Probably the least dickish Zabi after Garma. When the Federation rolls up to destroy his base of operations on the asteroid Solomon, Dozle goes out on a suicide run to buy time for the evacuation; after his Big Zam is destroyed by Amuro, his righteous fury is so powerful it actually manifests before Amuro's eyes as he tries to take the Gundam down with a space AK-47. Needless to say, "The Big Zam should have been mass-produced" is a common sentiment among the fanbase. Even after his death, his daughter Mineva leaves a lasting impact on the Earth Sphere in the decades to come.
* '''Haman Karn''': She's beauty, she's grace, she's miss step on my face. Leader of Axis Zeon in Zeta and ZZ, claiming authority as the regent for a 9-year-old Mineva. Talks a big game about human reformation, but as the series progresses she admits that she mostly cares about power for its own sake. Had a crush on Char once but loves world domination too much to let it go.
* '''Elpeo Ple''': Named after [[Loli|lolicon fetish magazine]] Lemon People, no matter what Tomino says. Naturally she's practically a fetish object when we first meet her in ZZ, then turns out to be yet another Newtype child soldier who dies horribly, in what can only be an epic [[troll]] on Tomino's part. According to production notes she's actually a test-tube baby based on <s>Space Hitler</s> Gihren Zabi's DNA, explaining why she looks like an older version of Mineva. Treacherous Neo Zeon commander Glemy Toto would clone her en masse for his personal army, marking him as a man with excellent taste; "Ple Twelve" makes a suprise appearance in Unicorn as Marida Cruz.
* '''Master Asia''': <s>[[Touhou|Hong Meiling's master]]</s> The Undefeated of the East and the only man badass enough to blow up mobile suits with just a scarf. Trained G Gundam hero Domon Kasshu in his special brand of [[Weeaboo Fightan Magic]] and fights both alongside him and against him before suffering one of the most tragic and manly deaths in the franchise. G Gundam's version of Ramba Ral and almost as well-loved by the fanbase, having a mix of arrogant, wacky and badass rarely seen outside of [[JoJo's Bizarre Adventure]]. Say it with me now: ''"Look! The East is burning red!"''


One of the few non-"Real Robot" elements of this dimension is the concept of ''Newtypes'', which are basically spacenoids who have vaguely defined [[psionics]], largely centering around extra-sensory perceptive skills that make them super-deadly Mobile Sit pilots, with some telepathy thrown on top.
== /tg/ relevance ==
Gundam, being as old as it is and with a lot of lore to boot, has had a good bit of influence on /tg/ over the years. Mostly this is in the form of homages, inspiration and outright ripoffs, but there ''are'' several licensed games either released or in the works.


The original 0079 was cut short during its run due to low ratings, yet was rescued by the efforts of a devoted fanbase that ensured that it sold enough toys to warrant a sequel. Said sequel, Zeta Gundam cemented the show's core themes and popularity and would become a benchmark upon which future entries would be judged. The followup ZZ Gundam was considered divisive for having a jarring tonal shift towards the lighthearted and comedic following the dark and brutal ending of Zeta. The capstone of that particular story arc was the film 'Char's Counterattack' that concluded the rivalry between original protagonist Amuro Ray and Char Aznable.
First and foremost among these is [[Mekton]], which rips off Gundam at least as much as it does Robotech and other anime popular with 90s [[Weeaboo]] types like Mike Pondsmith. There's even an optional rule in Mekton Zeta called "The G-Factor" to represent the franchise's tendency for limbs and such to get exploded by one good hit. Readers wondering what the G stands for are directed to "ask us at a con and we'll be happy to enlighten you." Perhaps because of this a Japanese publisher back in 2000 chose Mekton as the basis for their officially licensed RPG '''''Gundam Senki'''''. It uses 2d6 for rolls and changes several other rules to tailor the game to the setting and mitigate Mekton's notorious swinginess. This includes special rules for Newtype bullshit, awarding bonus rerolls for high pilot skills and making "The G-Factor" mandatory; using 2d6 in itself also helps a lot by reducing the impact of exploding dice. An English translation by R. Talsorian has allegedly been in development hell since 2004, with only fragmentary documentation of the new rules by fans. Recently /tg/ has been [[/tg/ gets shit done|getting shit done]] and drafting a from-scratch translation of the core rulebook.
[[File:McChar.png|200px|thumb|right|The Darth Vader of Japan.]]
A note should be made about Char, who is to Japan what Darth Vader is to America. A morally grey and complicated figure who has been the rival in 0079, the mentor in Zeta and the big bad in Char's Counterattack, he has inspired legions of clones, copies and expies both within Gundam and beyond it. He has even advertised McDonalds in Japan. Hell, even [[Warhammer 40k|the grim darkness of the far future]] has [[Farsight|a Char clone of their own]].


* Mobile Suit Gundam (1979-1980 TV series)
Its influences can be felt in many other games, such as [[Battle Century G]] (though it does admittedly pull more from "Super Robot" rather than "Real Robot" anime), [[Jovian Chronicles]], and the mecha you can play with in [[BESM]]. There are also numerous fan hacks for other systems such as [[Genesys RPG]], [[FATE]] and /tg/'s very own [[Mobile Suit Mechanicus]], as well as generic wargame rulesets like [[MechaStellar]]. We would also be remiss to point out the [[Tau]], considering rumors persist to this day that they were created when GW saw how much money Gunpla makes and wanted a piece of the action.
* Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam (1985-1986 TV series)
* Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ (1986-1987 TV series)
* Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack (1988 movie)
* Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket (1989 OVA)
* Mobile Suit Gundam F91 (1991 movie)
* Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory (1991-1992 OVA)
* Mobile Suit Victory Gundam (1993-1994 TV series)
* Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team (1996-1999 OVA)
* G-Saviour (2000 live-action movie)
* Mobile Suit Gundam MS IGLOO (2004-2009 OVA)
* Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn (2010-2014 OVA)
* Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin (2015-2018 OVA)
* Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt (2015-2017 ONA)
* Mobile Suit Gundam Twilight AXIS (2017 ONA)
* Mobile Suit Gundam Narrative (2018 movie)
* Mobile Suit Gundam: Hathaway's Flash (2021-ongoing movie trilogy)
* Mobile Suit Gundam Cucuruz Doans Island (2022 movie)


==Future Century==
Lastly, Bandai has recently seen the explosion in the popularity of /tg/ products in the 2020s and finally committed to some official tabletop games, namely a trading card game similar to the Digimon TCG and Gundam Assemble. Gundam Assemble is the thing fans on both sides of the Pacific have been begging Bandai to make for literal decades, an official Gundam wargame with proportionally-accurate miniatures and real rules. The minis are notably single-color (where Gunpla kits usually use multiple colored sprues so they can look good without painting) multipart kits with a similar level of detail to Entry Grade Gunpla, continuing the industry trend of [[Games Workshop]]'s sculpt quality being crapped on by every single other manufacturer. The scale seems to be "32mm" in that everything is rescaled to be about the size of a 32mm scale human, even when it's a giant like a Zeong or even an entire warship, while the rules are card-based and seemingly similar to [[Marvel Crisis Protocol]]. Anything more will apparently have to wait until the game launches in 2026.
Generally summed up as "Gundam's take on a Super Robot" show, though even [[Neon Genesis Evangelion]] would laugh at how low-powered the Gundams are.


In this dimension, most of Earth's population have abandoned their mother planet to settle on a series of nation-based (and heavily stylized) space colonies, leaving the planet to the impoverished and unwanted. To resolve disputes amongst themselves, and to elect temporary federal leaders, the colonies have created the Gundam Fight: a ritualized combat held every four years. Each colony deploys a single warrior in a Mobile Suit to Earth, and these warriors seek each other out and battle until just one remains standing - killing is prohibited, and a fighter is eliminated if the head of their Gundam is destroyed. Whichever country is represented by the winning Gundam becomes ruler of the space federation, until the next Gundam Fight.
=== Gunpla ===
 
What made Gundam a success was in large part through the sales of model kits of the various Gundam and Mobile Suits. Gundam Plamo, shortened to Gunpla, are model kits of the many Mecha that have appeared in Gundam shows down the years. Over time the quality of these kits has risen to the point where Mythbuster's Adam Savage has praised the engineering that has gone into certain Gunpla Kits. Gunpla are modular and use an internal skeleton that allows kits to be combined and kitbashed together to create multiple combinations and allows for a lot of creativity on the part of skilled modellers. Gunpla is often a gateway drug to both military modelling and wargaming in general, as the skills required to build Gunpla are the same skills used to make a Games Workshop kit.
We are introduced to Future Century in the year FC 60, the year of the 13th Gundam Fight. This tournament is different, however. Neo-Japan's Gundam Fighter, Domon Kasshu, has a secret mission: to hunt down the Devil Gundam (or "Dark Gundam", as the English Dub called it); a gigantic, AI-controlled, nanomachine-backed monstrosity that was originally supposed to reconstruct Earth after all the damage it has taken from the last twelve Gundam Fights, but which has gone haywire and now wants to annihilate humanity with the aid of its ever-growing army of Mobile Suit drones controlled by nanotech zombies.
 
G-Gundam is famous (or infamous) for how its Gundams are based on Japanese national stereotypes of countries around the world. These can range from the humorous to those that are borderline offensive. The Neo-Mexican Tequila Gundam with its massive sombrero and Guitar and the Dutch Windmill Gundam with an actual windmill in its chest are two famous examples.
 
* Mobile Fighter G Gundam (1994-1995 TV series)
 
==After Colony==
This timeline can be crudely summed up as "What if Zeon actually was a bunch of heroic freedom fighters and not a bunch of self-righteous Space Nazi douchebags?"
 
In the year After Colony 195, the United Earth Sphere Alliance rules over the collective peoples of Earth, the Moon and the space colonies with an iron fist. Five colonies unite in secret to rebel against this dictatorship and commence with Operation Meteor: sending 5 super-powered Mobile Suit prototypes, the Gundams, to Earth to carry out a guerilla campaign against the UESA's military. These five Gundam pilots are our heroes.
 
Widely considered to have been ''the'' series that got women interested in [[mecha]] series or even anime as a whole due to its cast of prettyboy protagonists.
 
Wing was the first Gundam to air in the west, and was a key entry in the early Toonami lineup. For many, it was Wing that introduced them to Gundam and it remains a pivotal entry as far was Gundam's western popularity goes.
 
* Mobile Suit Gundam Wing (1995-1996 TV series)
* Mobile Suit Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz (1997 OVA)
 
==After War==
Remember how Zeon really likes to drop big things on Earth? Yeah, this series shows a more realistic look at what that'd actually ''do'' to the planet.
 
The year is AW 0015, and Earth is a mangled wasteland after a war between the Earth Federation and the Space Colonies wiped out 99% of the human population in the solar system. A group of "Vultures", people who scavenge the ruins of civilization for salvage, inadvertently discover the Gundam X, the last and most powerful Mobile Suit invented for the war, and inadvertently become caught up in efforts to promote an entirely new war.
 
Notable as the first continuity after Universal Century to feature Newtypes.
 
* After War Gundam X (1996 TV series)
 
==Correct Century==
Many Gundam-verses are [[Post-Apocalyptic]] to some extent or other. This one takes that idea a ''lot'' further.
 
It is the turn of the 20th century, and humanity is at peace. What they don't know is that they are not the first iteration of humanity; they are the ignorant inheritors of a world that has healed since it was devastated in a cataclysmic event long ago. And not all of their precursors were wiped out. In fact, a vast stasis vault exists on the moon, and this "Moonrace" intends to reclaim the world they once lived on. And if the natives don't like it? ''Tough.''
 
As the series begins, the Moonrace begins an open invasion of Earth, only to find themselves stymied by one of their own, a scout named Loran Cehack, whose years on Earth ahead of the invasion have caused him to go native. When he discovers an ancient, ultra-powerful Mobile Suit buried in the earth, he becomes the last defender of Earth's heirs against the Moonrace - and in time will learn the dark secret history that even the Moonrace doesn't know.
 
One of the very few Gundam animes to never receive an English dub, the Correct Century has one of the most ambitious core concepts in Gundam's meta-history, as its creator officially proclaimed it to be the canonical future for ''every single other Gundam continuity'', before and after its release, '''simultaneously'''. Fans, however, largely reacted by calling "bullshit", whether from the obvious continuity problems that this causes or from sheer emotional disgruntlement at the grimness this retcons into the happy endings of Gundam-verses like Future Century and After War. That hasn't stopped various writers from referring back to the '''Black History''', as it is known, in oblique ways or in more obscure manga spin-offs.
 
* ∀ ("Turn A") Gundam (1999-2000 TV series)
 
==Cosmic Era==
Often considered an attempt to update and remake the Universal Century timeline.
 
In the Cosmic Era, Earth has largely united under the world-government known as the Earth Alliance, with some stand-out nations. Early in the Cosmic Era, advances in genetic modification led to the creation of a new breed of human, augmented on the DNA level in-utero to be faster, stronger, healthier, and especially ''smarter'' than baseline humanity. Who took that about as well as you'd think. The EA's other major achievement was the creation of the PLANTs; huge, hourglass-shaped space colonies meant for use as orbital manufacturing and R&D centers. Almost all Coordinators now live on the PLANTs, both because the first generation fled there to escape prejudice from the "Naturals" on Earth below and because the PLANTS universally lack the law on Earth that prohibits gene-boosting unborn babies. This has led to a growing PLANT-independence movement, calling itself "ZAFT", but the Earth Alliance is not exactly interested in giving up one of its major sources of technology, resources and wealth.
 
So ZAFT decides to pull a Zeon, cross-pollinating their PLANT indepence movement with Coordinator supremacist and anti-Natural movements and deciding to launch a full-scale war, with plenty of war crimes on top. This leads to both ZAFT and the EA pressuring the neutral nations represented both on Earth and in space to join their side.
 
Our story begins in Heliopolis, a PLANT founded and maintained by the neutral nation Orb. Heliopolis is secretly developing two new superweapons to protect itself against attempts by either the Earth Alliance or ZAFT to force its hand; a super-battleship called the Archangel, and a superior new Mobile Suit model called the Gundam. When ZAFT attacks Heliopolis, the colony is almost destroyed and the survivors are forced to flee aboard the Archangel, with a young Coordinator prodigy named Kira Yamato conscripted to pilot the Gundam to defend the ship as it makes the long journey back to Earth.
 
...You can see where the idea that this verse is a reboot of Universal Century came from, huh?
 
This is the only timeline other than the Universal Century to get into more of a "generational war" motif, leading to the full-fledged sequel series. This one revolves around a new cast of teen pilots, predominantly a traumatized ex-Orb native named Shin Asuka, and... well, let's just say that this was generally considered ''the'' worst Gundam series, hands down, until dethroned by Iron-Blood Orphans.
 
* Mobile Suit Gundam SEED (2002-2003 TV series)
* Mobile Suit Gundam SEED MSV Astray (2004 OVA)
* Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny (2004-2005 TV series)
* Mobile Suit Gundam SEED CE.73: Stargazer (2006 ONA)
 
==Ano Domini==
It is the year AD 2307 (hey, look at that; a Gundam-verse ''without'' a made-up calendar!) and the nations of Earth have colaesced into three super-powers:
* The Union of Solar Energy and Free Nations (or "Union,") composed of North and South America, Australia, and Japan.
* The Human Reform League (or "HRL,") composed of Southern/Eastern Asia (primarily half of Russia, China, India, and the surrounding nations).
* The Advanced European Union (or "AEU,") composed of essentially the modern European Union, and possibly some, if not all, of Africa.
 
Due to the near total exhaustion of Earth's supplies of fossil fuels, humanity has turned to solar power, constructing a vast ring-shaped orbital solar collector array in orbit around the equator, with each of the three super powers controlling one of the three "Orbital Elevators" that allows humanity to access the energy harvested from above - Union's in South America, HRL's in the Pacific Ocean, AEU's in Africa. Despite having cooperated to build and maintain the thing, this has done nothing to negate humanity's warlike nature, with war having become almost a game as each of the super powers uses military actions to make power plays over the three Orbital Elevators.
 
Enter the shadowy cult known as Celestial Being, who have come up with a totally ludicrous plan: to eliminate war by attacking all three forces indiscriminately, making themselves an enemy that will force humanity's collective unification before destroying that same collective military might and squashing humanity's stomach to war. To achieve this plan, they deploy four super-advanced mechas called "Gundams" to wage their terrorist campaign: the pilots of these four machines are our protagonists.
 
Basically, if Cosmic Era is a revamped Universal Century, then Ano Domini gives the same treatment to the After Colony timeline.
 
Made in the mid 2000s, 00's first season practically vibrates with the atmosphere of the War on Terror. There are multiple parallels, and even a direct copy of the Wech Baghtu wedding party airstrike. However this spooked the higher-ups at Bandai, who forced the second season of 00 to become a rote copy of Gundam Zeta with its own expy of the Titans. Then the movie happened, which is to-date the only time actual Aliens have been a part of a Gundam entry.
 
* Mobile Suit Gundam 00 (2007-2009 TV series)
* Mobile Suit Gundam 00 the Movie: A Wakening of the Trailblazer (2010 movie)
 
==Advanced Generation==
AKA "Gundam does [[Robotech]]". Seriously. The basic concept here is that we follow a literal Hundred Year War fought with [[mecha]], focusing on three generations of pilots; Flit Asuno, his son Asemu Asuno, and his grandson Kio Asuno.
 
It all starts when a mysterious hostile force attacks the Earth Federation from space. Dubbing their foes simply "The Unknown Enemy" (though they will later reveal their identity as the Vagan), they hire Flit Asuno, a young cybernetics and engineering progidy, to build them the ultimate weapon to counterattack the UE; the Gundam AGE-1. When its designated pilot is injured in a UE attack, Flit is drafted to pilot his creation instead. The destruction of his second home colony lands him on the battleship Diva, piloted by a rogue captain who is determined to battle the UE in defiance of the Federation's sluggish response to the threat. Flit uses the Gundam to protect colonies from the UE and in general to be a savior for humanity. It ends in tragedy and a dark revelation about the true nature of the Federation, and Flit embarks on a lifelong path of vengeance.
 
The second generation starts twenty-five years later and follows Flit's son, Asemu. He is given the Gundam as a sort of coming-of-age present by Flit on his seventeenth birthday, befriends Zeheart Galette in his last year of school, and is devastated when Zeheart turns out to be a Vagan agent. Although he is kind-hearted by nature, Asemu joins the military to follow and impress his father. Their relationship becomes increasingly strained as their viewpoints on war diverge and Asemu struggles with his continued friendly feelings towards Zeheart.
 
The third generation follows Kio, Asemu's son and Flit's grandson, who is only thirteen when he inherits the Gundam. The Vagan reveal their Earth-based sleeper agents on the anniversary of their first attack on the Federation and quickly turn Earth into a battlefield. Flit unveils the AGE-3 and puts Kio into it, having secretly trained him with flight simulators, and the Diva is brought out of mothballs to fight the new threat on Earth before returning to space.
 
* Mobile Suit Gundam AGE (2011-2012 TV series)
 
==Regild Century==
Our first continuity to be distinctly linked to another continuity, at least if you don't count the vague handwave of the Correct Century being the distant future of all the previous Gundam-verses.
 
It is Regild Century 1014, more than a millennium since the Universal Century ended. Bellri Zenam is a cadet of the Capital Guards, charged with protecting the Space Elevator called the Capital Tower, mankind's most important link with space and source of the priceless photon batteries. Suddenly, the Tower is attacked by space pirates and Bellri encounters an unknown mobile suit called the G-Self, piloted by one of the space pirates, Aida Rayhunton. Somehow, Bellri is able to operate the G-Self, which is supposed to be operated only by a select few. Bellri ends up joining the space pirates to fight the emergent Capital Army and an unknown threat from space. Through his adventures he will learn about the mysteries shrouded in the Regild Century, including his own history.
 
* Gundam: Reconguista in G (2014-2015 TV series)
 
==Post Disaster==
It is the year Post Disaster 323, that is, over three hundred years after the Calamity War which brought destructive change to Earth's government. Mars has long been colonized, but suffers under crippling poverty, and now some of its colonies are seeking independence.
 
The Martian city of Chryse is a hotbed of the independence movement, spearheaded by Kudelia Aina Bernstein — the young daughter of an upper-class family. Earth has hired Private Military Contractor Chryse Guard Security (CGS) to enforce Earth's rule of the Chryse region. CGS's Third Group — made up entirely of Child Soldiers, orphans taken off the streets and children of extremely poor families — is given a special assignment: escort Kudelia to Earth to begin informal talks between the Earth government and the Martian independence movement. However, before they can even leave for Earth, CGS is attacked by Gjallarhorn, an elite military unit from Earth. The adults of CGS's first group order the Third Group to Hold the Line against the attack... while the First Group flee to safety, leaving the Third Group behind as Cannon Fodder.
 
The leader of the Third Group, Orga Itsuka, is not prepared to take this lying down. He orders Mikazuki Augus, his most loyal supporter and the Third Group's Ace Pilot, to enter the fray with the ASW-G-08 Gundam Barbatos — an ancient mobile suit from the Calamity War era, used by the CGS to provide power to their base. Armed with this ancient machine, Mikazuki fends off Gjallarhorn and saves the Third Group. The First Group's casual sacrifice of the Third Group is the last straw in a long line of abuse, and Orga begins taking steps to ensure that the Third Group won't have to suffer such treatment again...
 
Iron Blooded Orphans is famous for how the series went off the rails in its second season, with the Director and Lead Writer at war with one another leading to a 'kill 'em all' ending where the villains win thanks to the 'heroes' dropping the idiot ball on multiple occasions.
 
* Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans (2015-2017 TV series)
 
==Ad Stella==
This timeline represents the single biggest shakeup in the Gundamn formula since Future Century, dropping the futuristic war stories for more of a high school hijinks with giant robot duels motif, albeit set against the traditional Gundam backdrop of shady dealings and political power plays. At least until the final episode, where Gundam's traditional formula once more returned center stage with a bang, proving that good setup can make for a better payoff.
 
Set in the year 122 of the Ad Stella (A.S.) calendar, a timeline that can best be described as 'the future Jeff Bezos/Elon Musk wish to build', AKA a corporate capitalist dystopia where a multitude of corporations have entered space and built a huge economic system, leaving the Earth and the people on it to rot. Making it an inversion of most Gundam Timelines where it is the Earth oppressing the people of space. Suletta Mercury, a lone girl from the remote planet Mercury, transfers to the Asticassia School of Technology, run by the megacorp conglomerate Beneritt Group which dominates the mobile suit industry. This school, being predominantly for mobile suit pilots, has the ''interestesting'' policy that duels can be used to solve any problem. No, seriously; you have a complaint, or something you want? Wager it in a mobile suit duel; you win, you get whatever it is you wanted.
 
Notable, and not always in a welcoming way, for being a) the first series with a female lead, and b) the first series with an explicit no-take-backsies 100% real no "they're just friends going through a phase" homosexual relationship. Y'see, in the very first episode (Or second if you're not counting the prologue episode), we're introduced not just to our protagonist, Suletta Mercury, but also to our secondary protagonist, Miorine Rembran, daughter of the ultra-wealthy and all-around abusive jerk Delling Rembran. Miorine is initially engaged against her will to an asshole named Guel Jeturk, and Suletta steps up to defend her by offering to fight Guel in a mobile suit duel. Being the protagonist, of course she kicks his ass, whereupon she's informed she didn't so much annul Guel's engagement as take his place as Miorine's fiancée. It bears mentioning that Suletta herself doesn't initially seem too thrilled to be engaged to another girl, but she's just gently laughed at for "being so old-fashioned" in universe, the rest of the series shows them developing feelings for each other, and she became a yuri icon out of universe, so of course that's never going to be important. This particular scenario was ripped straight from one of the most infamous and influential Anime and one famous for its queer nature, Revolutionary Girl Utena. It just so happens that G-Witch's writer got his start writing Utena fiction.
 
Much like how the After Colony timeline became associated with yaoi fans, so too is Ad Stella developing a reputation as "the Gundam for yuri fans". This '''is''' still a Gundam property however, and the final episode of Season 1 had Suletta remind the new audience (and poor Miorine) of that. [[Rip and Tear|Violently]].
 
 
* Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury (2022 TV series)
 
=Notable Mobile Suits=
There is a fucking fuckload of different mobile suits across the different timelines, so we are not going to be crazy enough to list every single Mobile Suit and Mobile Armor. That would be ridiculous. Go look at a fucking Gundam wiki for that info. Instead, we will simply cite some of the cooler, or at least [[meme]]ier, suits here that've caught out attention.
 
*'''RX-78-2:''' The OG Gundam, the mascot and namesake of this series. While future mobile suits have way better stats and way cooler looks, few can ever be as iconic as the Grand-daddy of them all, least of all to the point where [[/tg/ gets shit done|Japan built a literal walking statue in Yokohama that's size-accurate]]. Being used by the protagonist Amuro Ray, it's got a lot of OP crap when compared to stuff like Zakus with stuff like armor that's immune to conventional MS firearms, [[Lightsaber|beam swords that are super portable]], and plasma firearms when the standard up until this point was conventional SP guns and superheated melee weapons.
*'''GM:''' It's pronounced "Jim", if anyone asks. The closest thing to a mass-production Mobile Suit for the Federation during the original show, making it about on par with the ZAKU, but better by equipping some of the Gundam's beam weaponry. Also like the Zaku, there are many, many variations of it.
*'''ZAKU:''' ''The'' OG Mobile Suit, the ZAKU hails from the Universal Century and is the first Mobile Suit we are ever introduced to in Gundam as a meta-series. The initial base model Mobile Suit used by Zeon's forces, the ZAKU is the most basic-bitch Mobile Suit you can imagine, with its famous cyclopean design simultaneously making it memorable and also showcasing how primitive it is, though examples like main antagonist Char Aznable's ZAKU being [[meme|being three times faster]] [[Colorz|simply because it's painted red]] can prove how dangerous it can be. Also noteworthy as the foundation of one of Gundam's earliest memes, starting from when Amuro Ray fights his first "higher ranked" Mobile Suited opponent, who gets a close up shot as he triumphantly screams about how "This is no ZAKU, boy! NO ZAKU!" whilst he temporarily has the upper hand over the rookie.
*'''RX-178 Gundam Mk-II:''' An improved model of the RX-78, the Mk II has a reputation in-universe as a loser, already obsolete at the start of Zeta and swiftly outclassed by newer and better models of Gundam.
*'''RX-93 ν Gundam (aka Nu Gundam):''' Amuro Ray's Gundam in the kickass movie ''Char's Counterattack'', this slick Gundam is big, fast, and hits hard from multiple directions thanks to its unique Fin Funnel beam weapon array.
*'''MSN-04 Sazabi:''' Piloted by Char Aznable and built from the ground up to try and be the best suit the Neo-Zeon dictator could dream of, where the ν Gundam was fairly slim looking the Sazabi was thicc and had its own suite of semi-hidden weapons like a beam cannon in it's belly (near where a cockpit typically would be found).
 
*'''RX-0 Unicorn Gundam:''' Another iconic Gundam with plenty of marketability if you look at how much damn merch is available of it. Its basic look is pretty standard, looking like a plain white Gundam with a horn on the head, but once it transforms into its "Destroy Mode", it becomes way more mobile and way deadlier via direct interfacing with certain pilots with a unique mental signature.
 
*'''Wing Gundam:''' The mascot of Gundam Wing and one of the few actual Gundams in this series, making it quite powerful. Its most iconic ability is being able to transform into a bird-like jet, allowing for long-range movement. Was replaced by the...
**'''Wing Gundam Zero:''' Has most of the Wing Gundam's abilities as well as an operating system that improves its' combat effectiveness to guarantee "absolute victory" at the expense of the pilot's physical and psychological well-being. Equipped with two beam rifles which can combine into a single more powerful one. The variation used in the ''Endless Waltz'' story is also pretty iconic for being more angelic than bird-like with wings that look like feathers (and complete with actual feathers as SFX).
*'''Gundam Deathscythe:''' A Gundam that reeks of [[Edgy|edgelordery]]. I mean, its paint scheme is primarily black, its primary weapon is a literal beam scythe, and it even has jamming systems that fuck with cameras and sensors so you can add Ninja (or just regular stealthy assassins) to the list of edgy. Ironically, it's piloted by a rather chipper dude voiced by none other than [[Scott McNeil]] in the dub.
**'''Gundam Deathscythe Hell:''' Now with an even edgier name and giant bat wings that double as a shield. Oh, and now it has a fucking DOULE SCYTHE as a weapon. Yes, a scythe with TWO blades mounted one on top of the other.
*'''Gundam Heavyarms:''' What happens when you try to find the answer to the question "Is there ever such a thing as enough [[Dakka]]?" and make it a Gundam. Seriously, it's got gatling guns in the chest, missile launchers in the extremities, and even a gatling gun mounted on an arm, with the only melee weapon being a tiny little arm-mounted knife. The ''Endless Waltz'' version takes this shit even further with even MORE guns and missiles everywhere and now capable of toting a double-gatling gun on each hand. Why yes, this can delete entire armies.
*'''Gundam Epyon:''' Built by the absolute chad that is Treize Khushrenada and designed on the chivalric ideal of being a Gundam all about one on one dueling. As such it has only one range weapon (some shitty vulcan cannon guns which basically just annoy other mecha when used) but sports a segmented heat whip weapon and a huge beam saber.
*'''Gundam Sandrock:''' Much like Epyon (but preceding it), the Sandrock has almost no real range weaponry, instead sporting two fucking massive sickle swords that slice, dice and CRUSH (when combined with it's shield to form a giant claw). Even it's updated version for space (and then for the Endless Waltz OVA/movie) keeps to this, gaining a small machine gun which is basically never used. Then again, it doesn't really need ranged weapons when its pilot literally commands his own small army with enough firepower to take out a small nation.
*'''Tallgeese:''' The prototype model for Wing's Gundams but not a Gundam itself, the Tallgeese is gotta-go-fast tier, with handling characteristics that are punishing for even the most skilled pilot.
*'''Shining Gundam:''' Main protagonist Gundam for G Gundam. Mostly memorable for the overly hammy performance of pilot Domon and its memetic Shining Finger, a move so powerful that its burning grip tells all to quote the line. For those who haven't seen it, the Shining Finger technique basically has the Shining Gundam's hands shift armor plating to reveal powerful short-ranged energy emitters, allowing the Shining Gundam to basically melt off an enemy Gundam's head with a touch - which is useful, since that instantly disqualifies the opponent that Domon hits with it. According to the novelization, the Shining Finger is a mechanical emulation of a non-lethal take-down technique invented by Buddhist martial artists, where the user channels ki through their palm and into three fingers and then uses it to temporarily short out a foe's motor functions by touching their head. As a result, all of the Gundams built for use by Domon and his martial arts sensei, Neo-Hong Kong's Master Asia, are capable of doing it.
**'''God Gundam:''' Called "Burning Gundam" overseas in places where calling it "God" might trigger censors. Replaces the Shining Gundam halfway through the series due to the show operating on Tokusatsu logic. This logic also means that this Gundam is considerably more powerful, complete with more super modes than there are Saiyans.
*'''Devil Gundam:''' Aka "Dark Gundam" in the West. Created by Domon Kasshu's father as a means to repair the ecological devastation caused by using Earth as a stomping ground for the Gundam Fights, the Devil Gundam (originally dubbed the "Ultimate Gundam" in-universe) was outfitted for this role with an internal nanotech production plant, so it could create infinite swarms of microscopic robots to rebuild broken shit, clean up toxic byproducts, etcetera. ''Why'' this meant it needed to look like a giant disembodied Gundam head with a smaller (but still stupidly big) Gundam's upper body growing from the forehead on a metallic tendril is anybody's guess. Programmed to be capable of "self-recovery, self-replication, and self-evolution", it unfortunately went nuts and in classic super AI fashion decided that humanity was the problem and exterminating it the only solution.
 
*'''∀ Gundam:''' Found buried in a mountainside, the ∀ Gundam or Turn-A Gundam for those who can't write the ∀ is THE most powerful Gundam in all the Gundam entries with the most bitching moustache that inspires envy from even [[Lord General Castor]]. Its ultimate weapon is called the Moonlight Butterfly, which is a Nanobot storm which has the power to [[Exterminatus|destroy all technology and basically bring about the end of all civilization]]. Also the cockpit concept is taken quite seriously in that it is located where the Gundam's dick would be (if it had one of course).
 
*'''GFAS-X1 Gundam Destroy:''' Hailing from the Cosmic Era, the Gundam Destroy is one of the ''biggest'' Mobile Suits in the Gundam Metaverse, to the point it can literally step on regular Mobile Suits like they were bugs. Built to almost literally burn swathes of destruction across continents, the Gundam Destroy is capable of shifting between a "walking fortress" Mobile Armor mode that looks like a flying saucer on legs, and a conventional Mobile Suit form, which it achieves by rotating its lower half 180 degrees, lowering the arms and flipping the saucer-shaped "backpack" to the back. The saucer/backpack part is outfitted with two twin barrel high-energy beam cannons, 20 thermal plasma composite cannons mounted around the backpack's circumference, and four 6-tube multipurpose missile launchers. The "body" of the Gundam Destroy makes do with a head-mounted 200mm energy cannon and four 75mm CIWS, three chest-mounted 1580mm multi-phase energy cannons, and two detachable arms each equipped with a beam cannon and 5-barrel hand beam gun. The detachable arms function like DRAGOON pods, allowing the suit to attack its target at any range, regardless of obstacles standing in the way. Aside from its vast array of offensive weaponry, the Destroy also carries defensive equipment in the form of three positron reflector shields, one in the backpack and usable only in MA mode, and two on the detachable arms.
 
*'''Gundam Aerial:''' A Girl Gundam for the first girl Gundam Protagonist, (Who treats the machine like its family, calling it her sister,) Aerial works using the GUND system, a mental link that connects the pilot to the machine. Said link can have dangerous consequences if the Permet Score is raised too high, though Aerial seems unusually resilient to the negative effects of this. Aerial's use of Gunbits (Or funnels as they're called in other Gundam entries) makes it one of the most powerful Gundam initially, more akin to the Gundam Unicorn than the RX-78.
**Permet is an exotic material that allows for distant, unconnected matter to interact with each other (think quantum entanglement). Modified humans, be they clones or "witches", can have permet integrated into them which allows them to interface with machines. Gundams are so complex, though, that the sensory overload will eventually kill the pilot. But Suletta and Aerial are, for some reason, the exception to this.
**Considering that Suletta, the Aerial's pilot, considers the Gundam to be family, and when combined with her mother's [[God-Emperor of Mankind|inscrutable, almost manipulative, nature]], there's fan speculation that the Aerial isnt [[Neon Genesis Evangelion|wholly mechanical]]. This is because of a gap in the timeline (suletta is a teenager, but the events in the prologue were implied to have happened 21 years before the present), the fact that the toddler shown in the prologue has the same "Permet markings" as the Aerial (something Suletta never exhibits even though all the other modified humans do when piloting gundams), and the fact that the Aerial and Suletta are able to communicate with each other.


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Latest revision as of 15:16, 1 July 2025

"By directing combat and war pieces, I could experience catharsis and successfully avoid committing a murder in real life. In this sense, I'm really grateful for that because I was conscious that I had such homicidal traits, to be honest."

– Yoshiyuki Tomino, creator of Gundam

It is the year 1978 AD. Three years have passed since Space Battleship Yamato redefined what could be done in science fiction anime. Enter Yoshiyuki Tomino, director for Sunrise and absolute madman, charged by studio execs with creating a more serious follow-up to their previous super robot anime. Blending still-fresh cultural memories of World War II with ideas from Starship Troopers, the Jules Verne novel "Two Years' Vacation" and the now-classic O'Neill cylinder design, Tomino and the planning team at Sunrise created a world where "giant robots" weren't skyscraper-sized superheroes but treated more like humanoid tanks. They would be weapons, coming off a factory line like any other, wielded by ordinary people who would be scarred by the battles they fought rather than storybook heroes. Thus the world was introduced to Mobile Suit Gundam in April of 1979.

It didn't sell toys and was shitcanned at 43 episodes, but for older viewers it became a cultural lightning rod and eventually made piles of money for Sunrise and Bandai through the scale-model market. From here it followed essentially the same cultural path as Star Trek (complete with an increasingly deranged creator, studio drama, an obsessive fanbase, and a bloated canon) and paved the way for the dozens of "real robot" mecha series to follow, though the franchise itself would drift deeper and deeper into super-robot territory over time. Everything from Mekton to Battletech to the Tau has stolen from Gundam in some way, and that's not counting the actual licensed material that's /tg/ relevant.

The Anime[edit | edit source]

Because Gundam is fucking old and also prints money in Japan, the themes of the original series have been respun many times and (largely thanks to Tomino's refusal to treat his life's work as yet another toy commercial) branched off into multiple continuities. Since this can be a pain in the ass to keep track of, your friends at 2d4chan have prepared a helpful guide. Note that for the sake of sanity this doesn't include manga such as Crossbone or spinoffs such as War in the Pocket.

Universal Century[edit | edit source]

"It is the year 0079 of the Universal Century. The furthest space city from the Earth, Side 3, proclaimed itself the Principality of Zeon. It launched a war for independence with the Earth Federation. In roughly one month of fighting, the Principality of Zeon and the Federation Forces caused the deaths of half of their respective populations. People began to live in fear of their own actions."

– Mobile Suit Gundam, opening sequence
The Gundam franchise is renowned for its artistic integrity

The OG timeline. Half of Japan's mecha fanbase still creams their jeans over this, which is why every time someone has an idea for a new Gundam series Bandai will crowbar it into the UC continuity instead of letting it stands on its own. The two strongest themes introduced here are "war is hell" and "both sides in a war will have sympathetic soldiers as well as complete dickbags": the Earth Federation was using space as a dumping ground for poor people so they could continue shitting up the planet and disrespected the lives of its soldiers, and Zeon would have some good points if they could stop playing Atrocity Bingo for five minutes. The UC also made itself stand out at the time by actually explaining why giant robots (called Mobile Suits here) are a viable fighting vehicle; they can perform EVA maneuvers to conserve fuel when fighting in space and the magic "Minovsky particles" used to make things like fusion power and beam guns practical totally bollocks the kind of guided missile spam that would obviously dominate future combat even in the 1970s.

  • Mobile Suit Gundam: Referred to as "Gundam 0079" or "First Gundam" for disambiguation. As the quote above implies, it's the year 0079 UC and everything is grimdark: the distant space colony Side 3 has gotten sick of being pushed around by a corrupt planetary government, reformed itself as Space Nazi Germany and declared its independence by, among other things, dropping a different space colony on Australia. With their new Mobile Suit technology, the Principality of Zeon has pushed the Federation back at every turn, as space battleships are insufficiently awesome to defend against them. In response the Federation launches a secret program to build their own, superior Mobile Suits, but Zeon discovers the R&D facility and the prototypes end up in the hands of a bunch of cadets, children and civilians. This crew of misfits proceeds to dumpster some of Zeon's best soldiers, marking them as potential "Newtypes" and the next phase of human evolution, though they still suffer terribly in the process.
  • Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam: It is now the year 0087; the Federation won the war in 0080, but continues to oppress the space colonies through the Titans special forces and generally act like dicks. Opposing them is the Anti-Earth Union Group, notably featuring Zeon ace Char Aznable under the most transparent alias imaginable, while the remnants of Zeon look on from distant Axis and wait to pick off the survivors. Notable for incredible animation for its time (thanks to Bandai's piles of Gunpla money) and an ending so depressing even Tomino felt the need to change it in the compilation movies. Also dramatically expanded what Newtypes could do, including what's arguably the series' first super robot, the gigantic Psyco Gundam.
  • Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ (Gundam Double Zeta): Direct sequel to Zeta; having been completely decimated in the final battle, the AEUG's flagship Argama is reduced to recruiting punk kids as mobile suit pilots to stay alive against the forces of Axis Zeon. Fortunately arms dealer Anaheim Electronics comes to the rescue with the ZZ Gundam to level the playing field. Starts out incredibly goofy (protagonist Judau is one of the few newtypes to not be an instant ace pilot) but becomes more serious in the second half. Also notable for being the first Gundam series where the protagonists' suits are all Gundam variants.
  • Char's Counterattack: The big finale of the Federation vs. Zeon story. In this feature film, Char counterattacks, namely by trying to dropping enough asteroids onto the Earth to make it uninhabitable and force everyone to become Newtypes in outer space. The Federation is not a fan of this idea, largely because all their money's on Earth, and sends a task force of veterans from 0079 to stop him and his Neo Zeon rebellion. After some flirtations with it in Zeta and ZZ, this is what pushes the franchise firmly into super robot territory: everyone who matters is a Newtype of some kind, the suits are bigger and more overpowered than ever and everything ends in a cloud of magical sparkles.
  • Mobile Suit Gundam F91: Timeskips to UC 0123, where the Federation is once again under attack by the new space empire of Cosmo Babylonia. The film follows students Seabook Arno and Cecily Fairchild as they get dragged into the fighting by the asshole leadership of both factions. Intended to be another TV series, ended up crammed into another movie by studio meddling.
  • Mobile Suit Victory Gundam': The big fuckup. When this series was being produced, Bandai had just bought Sunrise wholesale and was leaning harder and harder on Tomino and his team to boost model sales, mandating the youngest protagonist yet and incredibly stupid suit designs like the infamous wheelie bike. This just motivated Tomino to troll them by making the series super grimdark, with one of the highest kill counts in the franchise. To this day, Tomino still tells people that they shouldn't watch it in interviews. Ended up "killing" the franchise for a bit, as Sunrise would take it out of Tomino's hands for almost a decade and move to producing alternate continuities using the brand name.

Everything else[edit | edit source]

  • Mobile Fighter G Gundam: Kung Fu Gundam. In the Future Century, the Earth Sphere is ruled by space colonies based on Earth nations and settle their disputes through a stereotypical shonen tournament arc called the Gundam Fight. The fighters use Gundams (all of them, and naturally they're all bullshit super robots) and pilot them using skintight latex suits that allows the robot to copy the pilot's martial arts movements. The year is FC 60, and this Gundam Fight is different: Neo-Japan's fighter, Domon Kasshu, has been blackmailed into hunting down his brother Kyoji for the Neo-Japanese government. Kyoji has stolen/built the Devil Gundam, a nanomachine-powered monstrosity that corrupts everything in its path. Unapologetically gonzo, G Gundam is a fan favorite for its hot-blooded protagonists, truly ludicrous Gundam designs and the awesomeness that is Master Asia.
  • Mobile Report Gundam Wing: In the year After Colony 195, the United Earth Sphere Alliance rules both Earth and the colonies with an iron first. Five colonies pool their resources to send one child soldier each to Earth in a custom-design Gundam, waging a guerilla campaign against the UESA military. This was most people's first exposure to Gundam in the west thanks to Toonami, but time has been less than kind to it as it becomes an interminable soap opera about halfway through that cares more about parading around its pretty-boy characters than giant robot fights.
  • After War Gundam X: Basically an alternate Universal Century where Zeon didn't give up on the whole colony drop thing, and it wouldn't be hard to include in the UC as an alternate outcome of Char's Counterattack if a GM was so inclined. It's the year After War 0015, Earth is a wasteland and 99% of humanity has been wiped out after an apocalyptic war between the Earth Federation and its space colonies. The series follows a group of scavengers as they stumble across the superpowered Gundam X and become caught up in a conspiracy to restart the fighting. Despite this it's actually one of the most upbeat and idealistic Gundams, assuming you can get past the main character's screechy voice.
  • ∀ Gundam (Turn A Gundam): In which Tomino gets invited back to take a nice, long piss on all of the above series. It's the "Correct Century", and humanity has regressed to the early 20th century after a cataclysm they have forgotten. A colony on the moon survived the cataclysm, and this "Moonrace" wants to reclaim the Earth from its current tenants. Since the Moonrace kept their Mobile Suits and other cool stuff, the Earthnoids are kind of fucked until Loran Cehack, secretly an advance scout for the Moonrace who went native, discovers a mysterious mobile suit buried in the earth: the ∀ Gundam. Never got a dub, so these days it's mostly remembered for three things: a delicious brown trap protagonist, having a Gundam with a mustache (thanks to famous American designer Syd Mead) and the Black History. The Black History is what happened before that mysterious cataclysm; namely, every other Gundam series, whose timelines all converge into Turn A in the distant future as humanity destroys itself. This is because Tomino gets really butthurt when it looks like other Gundam series might be more popular than his. Also notable for starting the trend of Gundam protagonists who refuse to kill anybody during a major war.
  • Mobile Suit Gundam SEED: Sunrise remakes the Universal Century for a new generation, but because this was the early 2000s it just looks like a generic hentai OVA. Colonies are now called PLANTs, Newtypes are artificial and called Coordinators, Zeon is called ZAFT and the Earth Federation is now the Earth Alliance. Our story begins at Side 7 Heliopolis, a PLANT sponsored by Japan the peace-loving neutral nation of the Orb Union which is developing Operation V new superweapons to protect its neutrality. When ZAFT attacks, the survivors are forced to flee aboard White Base the Archangel and Amuro Ray Kira Yamato is conscripted to pilot the Gundam Gundam on the long journey back to Earth. It's absolute trash but it has its fans, especially in Japan where it was an entire generation's first exposure to Gundam. Had a sequel, SEED Destiny, which was heavily censored on both sides of the Pacific and is a strong contender for worst Gundam of all time.
  • Mobile Suit Gundam 00: It's the year 2307 AD; yes, that means Anno Domini. War has become a game as the three major superpowers fight endlessly for control of the space elevators and solar collection stations they built to solve Earth's energy crisis. Enter Celestial Being, a batshit crazy terrorist group with a cunning plan: attack all sides indiscriminately with Gundams to unite the Earth's militaries against them, then crush them all in a single stroke to quash humanity's appetite for war. The first season is actually pretty interesting for being a direct commentary on the War on Terror, but this was far too intelligent for Sunrise at that point and the second season was forced into being a copy of Zeta Gundam.
  • Mobile Suit Gundam AGE: Dynastic Gundam. Follows three generations of the Asuno family during a century-long war with the mysterious Unknown Enemy, which later turns out to not be so unknown after all. Had some interesting ideas (exploring the nature of generational prejudice, the main Gundam being passed down like a family heirloom) but the anime's pacing is messed up because the plot was written for a video game first and then adapted.
  • Gundam: Reconguista in G: Tomino takes his turn at the super robot Gundam wheel, but makes it a sequel to both the UC and Turn A because it's okay when he does it. It's Regild Century 1014, and space elevator guard Bellri Zenam gets dragged into yet another war with space pirates, the emerging Capital Army and an invasion from the Moon when he discovers he can pilot the G-Self, a hyper-advanced mobile suit compatible with only a select few. Good luck figuring out what the hell is going on, by the way. Has some of the most insane, over-the-top designs since G Gundam, drawing heavily from Eureka Seven and Tomino's own Metal Overman King Gainer.
  • Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans: It's the year 323 Post Disaster, more than three centuries after the Calamity War that devastated the solar system and produced the original Gundams. This time the colonies are on Mars, getting ready to revolt after decades of economic exploitation under Gjallarhorn, a Titans-like organization that has a state monopoly on arms production. A Martian PMC has been hired to escort the leader of the independence movement to Earth to broker a deal before war breaks out. Naturally, it's a trap, and the mission is pawned off to the CGS' Third Group, a regiment of destitute children and orphans who won't be missed when Gjallarhorn ganks them. Not taking this shit lying down, ace pilot Mikazuki Augus pulls the ancient Gundam Barbatos out of mothballs and begins carving a path to safety for the Third Group, while their leader Orga begins making power plays to secure their own independence from the adults who take them for granted. Strong contender for worst Gundam, with multiple plot holes and a second season where the director and head writer were openly fighting with each other, culminating in a truly baffling "villains win" ending.
Due to a quirk in the (Permet) bonding process used in G-Witch, the device retains an imprint of each of its former pilots' personalities clones
  • Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury (G-Witch): A cyberpunk Gundam setting is wasted on high school slice of life, the head writer's most notable prior credit is Revolutionary Girl Utena and the protagonist gets gay married to another woman in the first episode. That's all you need to know, really. A lot of potential utterly wasted with generic slice-of-life and yuri hijinks, shit pacing and what little plot exists being stapled together with josei drama and Shakespeare references. The third contender for worst Gundam.
  • Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX: For the record, it's pronounced "G-Kwucks". Gundam's first foray into alternate history, taking place in a UC where Char successfully captured the Gundam and severed the thread of prophecy that led Amuro to win the war for the Federation. Among other things this means Challia Bull gets some spotlight time instead of becoming XP for Amuro after a handful of episodes. The story starts with two high school aged girls stumbling on a new super prototype Gundam and fighting mecha-of-the-week (yawn) but rapidly escalates from there into something more appropriate to the Universal Century. Made by Hideki Anno with the studio that did the Rebuild of Evangelion movies, and by god does it show. Early fan consensus is that it's the series "G-Bitch" should have been from the beginning, but not everyone is a fan of the limited scope (required by being crammed into 12 episodes) and Anno still can't write a coherent ending to save his life.
  • Gundam Build Fighters: Bandai skips the foreplay and just makes a 25-minute Gunpla commercial. It's a generic tournament-based battle shonen for kids, but the characters fight with Gunpla models and it doesn't completely suck somehow. Unlike other companies Bandai actually understands the appeal of Your Dudes and so many of the cast's Gunpla are kitbashes and custom work. Often nicknamed "Gundam Valhalla" after the fanon theory that everyone who got dicked over or died nastily in other Gundam series (so, everyone) gets reincarnated here, based on "Mr. Ral" (a hobby shop owner who is just Ramba Ral) among many, many other cameos.

Notable Characters[edit | edit source]

  • Amuro Ray: Pilot of the original Gundam and sperglord maximus. Son of Federation engineer Tem Ray, he gets in the Gundam on an impulse instead of evacuating and becomes its pilot full-time when everyone else who knows how to work the damn thing gets killed. Being forced to fight for his life constantly drives him to the brink of madness, but eventually he finds his backbone and his emerging Newtype powers make him the most terrifying thing in the One Year War. After the war ends the Federation keeps him in a gilded cage for fear of him going Rambo: First Blood on their asses, that's how scary he is. Even so various good-guy factions wheel him out as their ace in the hole, and he always obliges because part of him never really left that Gundam. So grimdark. His custom-made robot pet Haro also deserves a mention for being almost as iconic as the Gundam itself.
  • Char Aznable: The Red Comet. Amuro's main rival, Zeon ace and Japan's answer to Darth Vader. After he discovers the Federation's secret Mobile Suit program only to let them slip through his fingers, he spends the rest of the series trying to reclaim his status by defeating the Gundam. Secretly Casval Rem Deikun, the true heir to Zeon's ideals forced to live in hiding from the Zabi family. He's also a complete douchenozzle: when Char teams up with Garma (the only Zabi who wasn't some combination of corrupt, bloodthirsty and genocidal) it's just to SSSINNNDRIII him into the White Base's teeth as the first step of his revenge. He tries to get over himself and live by his father's ideals for a while after the war, but humanity's continued dickbaggery gets to him in the end.
    • Char's impact on Japanese culture beggars belief; his outfit, half his lines, his penchant for red ace customs and ability to make things "three times faster" just by painting them red are memes even the densest salaryman will recognize. To give you an idea of how far this goes: you can apply for a Char custom credit card in Japan, and it will earn reward points three times faster than a normal card.
    • One consequence of Char's massive popularity is the "Char clone"/"X is a CHAR" phenomenon: every Gundam series will have at least one character who wears a mask or sunglasses, pilots red mobile suits, acts as a rival to the main character, and/or has a secret identity. Some series play this straighter than others, and Unicorn even got meta with it by having Full Frontal be a literal clone of the original article. 40k has its own Char clone in the form of Commander Farsight.
  • Ramba Ral: The "guerilla" expert, though in this case that really means commando raids and ambush tactics. Cool old guy, Zeon's answer to Rommel and the first pilot to really threaten Amuro despite the OPness of the Gundam. He would have geeked the lot of them too, but M'Quve was a dick and refused to issue the mobile suits he needed for a direct assault. Being far too badass to let a little thing like being outgunned by a factor of about a million stop him he leads a deep strike into the White Base and almost captures it, but Ramba forgot to fight in the middle of a fight and chooses to an hero rather than be captured. A fan favorite, his infamous "This is no Zaku" line is one of the most quoted in the franchise and the Gihren's Greed vidya gives him a lot of love. Appears in Gundam Build Fighters as "Mr. Ral", and it's heavily implied that he's the actual Ramba Ral reincarnated.
  • Dozle Zabi: One third of the Zabi triumvirate in charge of Zeon's military and an absolute chad. A father to his men and dedicated family man, he was Char's superior for the mission that found Operation V. Probably the least dickish Zabi after Garma. When the Federation rolls up to destroy his base of operations on the asteroid Solomon, Dozle goes out on a suicide run to buy time for the evacuation; after his Big Zam is destroyed by Amuro, his righteous fury is so powerful it actually manifests before Amuro's eyes as he tries to take the Gundam down with a space AK-47. Needless to say, "The Big Zam should have been mass-produced" is a common sentiment among the fanbase. Even after his death, his daughter Mineva leaves a lasting impact on the Earth Sphere in the decades to come.
  • Haman Karn: She's beauty, she's grace, she's miss step on my face. Leader of Axis Zeon in Zeta and ZZ, claiming authority as the regent for a 9-year-old Mineva. Talks a big game about human reformation, but as the series progresses she admits that she mostly cares about power for its own sake. Had a crush on Char once but loves world domination too much to let it go.
  • Elpeo Ple: Named after lolicon fetish magazine Lemon People, no matter what Tomino says. Naturally she's practically a fetish object when we first meet her in ZZ, then turns out to be yet another Newtype child soldier who dies horribly, in what can only be an epic troll on Tomino's part. According to production notes she's actually a test-tube baby based on Space Hitler Gihren Zabi's DNA, explaining why she looks like an older version of Mineva. Treacherous Neo Zeon commander Glemy Toto would clone her en masse for his personal army, marking him as a man with excellent taste; "Ple Twelve" makes a suprise appearance in Unicorn as Marida Cruz.
  • Master Asia: Hong Meiling's master The Undefeated of the East and the only man badass enough to blow up mobile suits with just a scarf. Trained G Gundam hero Domon Kasshu in his special brand of Weeaboo Fightan Magic and fights both alongside him and against him before suffering one of the most tragic and manly deaths in the franchise. G Gundam's version of Ramba Ral and almost as well-loved by the fanbase, having a mix of arrogant, wacky and badass rarely seen outside of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. Say it with me now: "Look! The East is burning red!"

/tg/ relevance[edit | edit source]

Gundam, being as old as it is and with a lot of lore to boot, has had a good bit of influence on /tg/ over the years. Mostly this is in the form of homages, inspiration and outright ripoffs, but there are several licensed games either released or in the works.

First and foremost among these is Mekton, which rips off Gundam at least as much as it does Robotech and other anime popular with 90s Weeaboo types like Mike Pondsmith. There's even an optional rule in Mekton Zeta called "The G-Factor" to represent the franchise's tendency for limbs and such to get exploded by one good hit. Readers wondering what the G stands for are directed to "ask us at a con and we'll be happy to enlighten you." Perhaps because of this a Japanese publisher back in 2000 chose Mekton as the basis for their officially licensed RPG Gundam Senki. It uses 2d6 for rolls and changes several other rules to tailor the game to the setting and mitigate Mekton's notorious swinginess. This includes special rules for Newtype bullshit, awarding bonus rerolls for high pilot skills and making "The G-Factor" mandatory; using 2d6 in itself also helps a lot by reducing the impact of exploding dice. An English translation by R. Talsorian has allegedly been in development hell since 2004, with only fragmentary documentation of the new rules by fans. Recently /tg/ has been getting shit done and drafting a from-scratch translation of the core rulebook.

Its influences can be felt in many other games, such as Battle Century G (though it does admittedly pull more from "Super Robot" rather than "Real Robot" anime), Jovian Chronicles, and the mecha you can play with in BESM. There are also numerous fan hacks for other systems such as Genesys RPG, FATE and /tg/'s very own Mobile Suit Mechanicus, as well as generic wargame rulesets like MechaStellar. We would also be remiss to point out the Tau, considering rumors persist to this day that they were created when GW saw how much money Gunpla makes and wanted a piece of the action.

Lastly, Bandai has recently seen the explosion in the popularity of /tg/ products in the 2020s and finally committed to some official tabletop games, namely a trading card game similar to the Digimon TCG and Gundam Assemble. Gundam Assemble is the thing fans on both sides of the Pacific have been begging Bandai to make for literal decades, an official Gundam wargame with proportionally-accurate miniatures and real rules. The minis are notably single-color (where Gunpla kits usually use multiple colored sprues so they can look good without painting) multipart kits with a similar level of detail to Entry Grade Gunpla, continuing the industry trend of Games Workshop's sculpt quality being crapped on by every single other manufacturer. The scale seems to be "32mm" in that everything is rescaled to be about the size of a 32mm scale human, even when it's a giant like a Zeong or even an entire warship, while the rules are card-based and seemingly similar to Marvel Crisis Protocol. Anything more will apparently have to wait until the game launches in 2026.

Gunpla[edit | edit source]

What made Gundam a success was in large part through the sales of model kits of the various Gundam and Mobile Suits. Gundam Plamo, shortened to Gunpla, are model kits of the many Mecha that have appeared in Gundam shows down the years. Over time the quality of these kits has risen to the point where Mythbuster's Adam Savage has praised the engineering that has gone into certain Gunpla Kits. Gunpla are modular and use an internal skeleton that allows kits to be combined and kitbashed together to create multiple combinations and allows for a lot of creativity on the part of skilled modellers. Gunpla is often a gateway drug to both military modelling and wargaming in general, as the skills required to build Gunpla are the same skills used to make a Games Workshop kit.

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