Mobile Suit Gundam

"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

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

"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

• 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. 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 histories all converge with 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.
• 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. Also notable for starting the trend of Gundam protagonists who refuse to kill anybody during a major war.
• 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 organization with a ludicrous plan to stop the fighting: 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 naturally made Sunrise nervous and the second season was forced into being a copy of Zeta Gundam.

Anno 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 coalesced 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 Anno 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.

Notable for having some of the most out-there character, Mobile Suit and weapon designs on the franchise (seriously, one of the units shoots GIANT TREES made of beams...), with its visuals being quite similar to Overman King Gainer and Eureka Seven. Also, cockpits are confirmed to have toilets built into the seats.

• 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. Mars is under the iron-fisted control of Gjallarhorn, the Earth-sponsored state police who monopolizes arms production and Mobile Suit manufacturing. Enter Chryse Guard Security, a PMC company based off of Mars. CGS's Third Group — made up entirely of Human Debris (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. 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 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 thanks to spamming a broken-af weapon made up halfway through season 2.

• Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans (2015-2017 TV series)

Ad Stella

Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury (2022)

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.

The key technology in this setting is Permet, a material that enables humans to interface with machines; the Gund-Arm format was introduced, originally to allow for seemless prosthetics, but then turned into a weapon that burned out its user because the Permet-induced feedback would be too much for the human body. The Gundam format was banned by Delling, and he sent an attack force to slaughter everyone who worked on the project, the only survivors being Elnora ("Lady Prospera") and Ericht, who escaped on the Gundam Lfrith (Aerial), which had not yet reached its full potential, being unable to interface with the cyborg-but-unmodified-earthborn Elnora, but able to with 4-year old, spaceborn Ericht; the young Ericht managed to interface with the Gundam because an old hag convinced her to share her birthday party with the gundam. Ericht unlocking the Lfrith's potential allowed her to casually wipe a squad of other mechs like it was nothing, all while her dad dies holding the reinforcements back and her horrified mother watches (so really, s1ep12 isnt that surprising). While we don't (yet) know what happened between the Prologue and the main series, we know that the real Ericht ended up being uploaded into the Aerial, and this could have even been intentional, as Ericht's existence in the cloud Permet-enabled "Data-Storm" lets her shut down other machines and use Gundams to their full potential.

Also, you may have noticed the obvious Shakespeare and magic references (modified humans built with permet to allow interfacing are called witches). How much the series actually takes from the Tempest, we don't know, but it's pretty obvious that Lady Prospera is out for revenge, and is using her daughter and her gundam to get it.

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. Muchh 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".

That being said, even without the Yuri element, Suletta is also probably one of the most genuinely endearing Gundam main characters in a while, being socially anxious to the point of slice-of-life adorability. Especially endearing to /a/nons after the emotionless wooden plank of Iron-blooded Orphans (motherfucker literally just asked to have sex (and had it) with absolute deadpan delivery because he only thought of it in the purely reproductive sense)

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. Violently. And then Guel learned the same lesson in Episode 15, followed by Suletta herself in Episode 17.

Due to a quirk in the (Permet) bonding process, the device retains an imprint of each of its former pilots' personalities clones

Notable Characters

• Amuro Ray: Pilot of the original Gundam and sperglord maximus.

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 memeier, suits here that've caught out attention.

Universal Century

• 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 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, 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 being three times faster 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. Every series past the first one tends to have an expy of sorts of this suit, sometimes even referencing its model number (MS-06), with the exception being SEED/Destiny (instead, they straight up copied tons of UC designs into the verse, turning their names into acronyms).
• 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. Late-war had to be docked with a support system brought by the G-Defenser, which added mobility and a larger beam cannon, but it was STILL outclassed by opposing suits.
• MSZ-006 Z-Gundam (aka ZETA): The AEUG's high-performance front-line MS, was capable of transforming into a jet-like Waverider mode. Though it was designed by a Newtype, it did NOT feature anything that took advantage of this, which increasingly became an issue late into the war once it started to face Newtype and Pseudo-Newtype piloted suits. Was finally installed a "bio-computer", an experimental tech that no one really knew WHAT did, but eventually showed that it could turn psychic emanations into motive force. It came back for ZZ Gundam, with the added "bonus" of it gaining semi-sentience due to its previous pilot being such a powerful psychic.
• MSN-10 ZZ-Gundam (aka Double Zeta): Heavy front-line suit and successor to the Zeta, the ZZ features a lot of things that only make sense in a "hey wouldn't this look cool on a model kit" kind of way. It was armed with a fsk-huge particle cannon on its head, a twin-linked beam cannon on one arm, and could transform into a single jet-like form OR split apart into 3 pieces that could be piloted or controlled remotely. Also comes with the Biosensor from Zeta, which allows it to do some of the psychic BS despite (again) not being a Newtype=specific suit.
• 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.
  • RX-93-2 Hi-ν Gundam: The print version of the abovementioned machine, appearing in the CCA novelization Beltochika's Children, and usually appears as an upgrade from the regular Nu in video games. Has two versions: the original, chunkier purple-gradient painted version, and a more streamlined blue and white redesign done to rationalize model-making.
• 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).
  • MSN-04 Nightingale: Char's ride in the CCA novel Beltochika's Children, it's essentially an upgraded Sazabi that is much chunkier due to it being more like a Mobile Armor than a conventional suit.
• 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.

After Colony

• 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 (projecting a predictive algorithm that calculates your victories and defeats directly into your brain will do that to you). 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 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. Also it makes you see the enemy pilot die in real time, because of another of Treize's strange and grimdark obsessions.
• 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: Imagine if the Wright Brothers plane went supersonic (and killed Wilbur with the G-forces). The very first mobile suit in the After Colony timeline and the prototype model for Wing's Gundams (but not a Gundam itself) the Tallgeese is gotta-go-fast tier. But since they didn't know how to build mobile suits yet its handling characteristics are punishing for even the most skilled pilot, usually resulting in broken bones and internal bleeding.

Future Century

• 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.

Correct Century

• ∀ 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 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). Funnily enough, it is used for a plethora of mundane tasks by its pilot in the main series, up to washing/drying clothes and carrying cows inside its missile silos.

Cosmic Century

• GAT-X105 Strike Gundam: The Cosmic Era's take on the RX-78-2, it shared the same design philosophy and idea, but changing up some of its traits: rather than being built of a near-indestructible fictional alloy, it had "Phase Shift armor" that made physical weaponry useless (which was also used to justify the colors of the mech), instead of a nuclear reactor it was battery powered (since ZAFT had technology that let them completely stop nuclear fission), and rather than having a single set of weapons, it instead used a number of weapon packs that could be unplugged and replaced whenever needed, with the Aile pack giving it the look most similar to the OG Gundam, bar the huge winged backpack (the base machine doesn't even have the regular beam sabers, just a bunch of knives). Was later busted up, but not destroyed, allowing it to come back a few more times under another pilot before being completely blasted. It's main pilot, meanwhile, would switch to...
  • ZGMF-X10A Freedom Gundam: Kira Yamato's upgrade suit, this one IS nuclear thanks to having tech that negates the tech that negates nuclear fission, which means it has plenty of power to spare for its insane amounts of ranged weapons. Still ends up reduced to only a torso and an arm in the fight against the crazy psycho asshole villain at the end of SEED, is rebuilt for SEED/Destiny before being blown up by the protagonist of THAT series, and finally replaced with the "Strike Freedom", which has EVEN MORE guns, and basically acts as a huge cheat button for Kira.
• 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.

Anno Domini

• GN-001 Gundam Exia: The Gundam-wannabe's Gundam. Has a big focus on melee combat, to the point of having seven fucking swords to use in fights, and even its main gun is also a huge sword. It's pilot, Setsuna F. Seiei (birth name, Soran Ibrahim) was an actual Jihad child soldier that almost died in the battlefield, only to be saved by Celestial Being's first Gundam, which instilled into lil' Soran a borderline fanatic desire to "become Gundam" once he was recruited by Celestial Being.

Post Disaster

• ASW-G-08 Gundam Barbatos: the 8th Gundam Frame in its timeline and mount of Murderhobo Mikazuki. Notable for being one of the very few mainline Gundams to never equip any beam weaponry whatsoever, to the point of eschewing the customary rifle-and-shield loadout and replacing it instead with an XBAWKS-HUEG mace with a pile-bunker on the tip. Its base form is continuously altered throughout the run, either due to cannibalizing equipment from enemy suits, or modifications done by the heroes after they finally get some money and stop being poor orphans (at least in the monetary sense). Rather fittingly for a machine named after a demon, Mikazuki repeatedly seems to offer up parts of himself to the Gundam in return for more power: every time he unlocks the limiter on Barbatos' systems, the kid loses motor functions on a part of his body, down to losing control over the entire right half of his body, thus dooming him to a life of only being a tool for violence. It also grows progressively more demonic in appearance as the show goes on, with its final form, the Barbatos Lupus Rex, being almost dinosaur-like in appearance, and wielding an even BIGGER mace.
• ASW-G-01 Gundam Bael: The Excalibur of Gundams, and the very first Gundam Frame built in the Post Disaster Era, it was piloted by the founder of Gjallarhorn, a crazy hotblooded motherfucker who chose to fight an army of giant machines of genocidal death with nothing but two really sharp swords. Is said to be haunted by the soul of said founder, and ownership of it (aka, being able to pilot the thing) is said to grant you automatic leadership of Gjallarhorn. Unfortunately when Gjallarhorn pilot McGillicus attempted to try this for himself and take control of the Bael, he found out the hard way that myths don't always play out in the real world, as the fellow leaders of Gjallarhorn told him to eat shit and the Bael was destroyed by a newer and more powerful Mobile Suit. 'Muh Bael' has become a meme as a result of Macky's stupidity.

Ad Stella

• 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 inscrutable, almost manipulative, nature, there was speculation that the Aerial isn't wholly mechanical, which has now been confirmed: Aerial houses the consciousness of Ericht Samaya, who died due to Neuralink her consciousness being uploaded into the cloud "data storm". A data storm is basically a Permet-enabled cloud that allows her to override and control other Permet enabled tech around her, an ability that allows her sister(clone?) to beat the shit out of other Gundams and enhanced humans by just shutting down their machines. Not just that, any machine that uses Permet(every machine), can be taken over, not just Gundams.
  • This is further taken advantage of by Quiet Zero, a gargantuan Mobile Armor/Mobile Fortress/Ship (Gundam terminology is BS) shaped like a coffin, with glowing skulls running down the central segments on each side, and likely at least a kilometer in length that has Aerial at its core, and with the Bit-type MS known as Gundnodes can create a massive Data Storm, which was used by Prospera to slaughter an entire fleet within the span of a few minutes.

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 Kits 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.

Influence on TTRPGs

Gundam, being as old as it is and with a lot of lore to boot, has had a good bit of influence on tabletop RPGs over the years. For one, there is an actual Gundam RPG built on the framework of Mekton but, sadly, has yet to be translated into English despite years of fans in the West pleading for it and promises from R. Talsorian.

Even without the official RPG, it's influences can still be felt in 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 and FATE.