Re: [gundam] New Gundam Design Revealed!!!

Mark Simmons (
Mon, 8 Feb 1999 13:29:38 -0800

Roger Harkavy writes,

>First of all, how can anyone possibly judge this show when all that's
>available to us is a logo, a tiny scan of what appears to be
>pre-production art, and a thimbleful of information on the characters and

  Hear, hear!

Kota writes,

>Funniest part about Turn-A Gundam is it's supposed to be an industrial
>design, instead of typical anime design. Instead, we got this
>just-came-out-of-SF-book-that-was-published-in-70's Gundam. A lot of
>Japanese fans are laughing their head off (although there are some fans
>that are really pissed off), because their first impression of new
>design was original Tekkaman (not Blade).

  Hey, there's that. I'd say Tekkaman meets Dragonar...

>Who knows? A lot of people, along with myself, hated the mecha design
>for G, and a lot of people hated Beam Rotor and Motorad Fleet, and G
>and V Gundam is a very good series. If the trend continues, this may
>become a very very good series.

  Exactly. I turned away from G Gundam in disgust after the first few
episodes, but when I went back and watched it a few years later, it
knocked my socks off. And I thought V Gundam looked stupider than hell
from the design work, but after half a dozen episodes I was hooked. Why
rush to trash this new show based on - of all things - a grainy little
GIF of some production art? You may only have to eat your words later.

  And besides, I do like the Gundam's head. :-)

Dafydd writes,

>What *is* it with Sunrise and Gundam anniversaries. GG came out on the
>15th anniversary, now this on the 20th. "We've been around for 15/20
>years, so to celebrate our longevity, we're going to dump all that. And
>Now For Something Completely Different...."

  But it's this willingness to change and experiment that's kept Gundam
fresh and thriving for 20 years, while other attempts to resuscitate
classic shows - Macross, Yamato, Star Wars - have been unable to sustain
their energy for more than a few years at a stretch. The spinoffs may not
have anything to do with the original beyond some design elements, the
earth-versus-space schtick, and a lot of philosophizing - but if the
alternative is an endless series of by-the-numbers One Year War remakes
like 08th MS Team, then bring on the new universes!

-- Mark

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