Throughout the years I’ve called myself a Gundam fan – having built Gunpla model kits before I even hit puberty. But in retrospect, I haven’t really the right to call myself one. I’ve only ever fully watched Seed and Seed Destiny, something I’m not at all proud of – Gundam cannot be defined by that series. Aside from that, I’ve watched bits and pieces of the others; Endless Waltz, without watching the main series, the first and last bits of RX-78-2, deeming the beginning to middle boring. The same finale-only applies to my viewing of Stardust Memory, and I’ve never seen Victory or 08MS Team at all. I avoided 00 like the plague, fearing a rehash of Seed. And who’s to forget Zeta and ZZ, which I’ve only seen key scenes of?
Pictures depict series I’m planning on going for. Notice the list is only a select few, as I doubt the holidays are THAT long.
Thus, with Unicorn looming over us and my love for the series rekindled by Gundam Vs. Gundam NEXT Plus, a game with a roster of awing size, I have devised this plan.
In succession, I will proceed to mow through as many Gundam series as I can until the end of the holidays.
Mow through meaning, marathons of me subjecting myself to what I hope will be good stuff. After the first two episodes of each series I’ll present my first impressions, as two episodes is usually when the pilot episode is tied up and the viewer has a basic understanding of the universe that series takes place in. I won’t be watching them in any particular order, but I assure you that watching will be done.
Most importantly, this will be done without me going around refreshing my memory about others’ opinions on the various series. This is so that my verdict is purely my own opinion and isn’t affected by any prior dispositions. I’m tired of wondering what I would’ve thought of something if someone hadn’t told me ‘it sucked’ or ‘it was the greatest thing since the sandwich’.
Gundam is an age old franchise that still remains strong today – even if I end up hating all of it, it will still be a good experience, as I’ll be able to witness the evolution of the Real Robot genre over the decades. There may be tears, but I think there certainly will be plenty of fun to be had. I mean, it has to be more entertaining than writing psychology essays, right? Right?
Ningyo
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December 23rd, 2009 at 4:53 am
Bro…no offense, but I fucking HATE gundam…but love the figures…I used to be obsessed with the sets you put together yourself :) I still have some.
December 23rd, 2009 at 5:31 pm
Haha, no offense taken. Everyone’s got their own cup of tea. Why do you hate it though? It actually (sometimes) presents some thought provoking war themes.
I gave all my gunpla to a friend when I moved to Canada ;-;
December 24th, 2009 at 7:48 pm
>.> Mecha but then again. That’s exactly why you’re going to watch it, not me.
Enjoy.
And Merry Christmas in advance to you, slowfag >.>
December 24th, 2009 at 8:01 pm
“I gave all my gunpla to a friend when I moved to Canada ;-;”
Damn it! Should have met you earlier. Xp
I think Ms Igloo would be a nice addition to your list. But like you mention, the holidays aren’t THAT long. Lol.
The only ones I’ve ever really watched was Seed and 00. Funny thing was, a friend told me not to watch Seed Destiny cause I might pop a blood vessel. Hahaha.
@FaS
I’m surprised too. The most I’ve ever heard was how someone hates all but 1 series of Gundam, depending on their preferences. But to hate ALL Gundam?
Now that’s personality. Xp
December 24th, 2009 at 8:02 pm
Wait.. Just remembered, I think Snark hates all Gundam too. Lol.
December 25th, 2009 at 9:26 pm
@nish
Exactly. and well, I hadn’t planned it to be, but these series are turning out to be pretty lulzy. For better or for worse. See next post.
Yea, MC. Blame Canada. Entertainmentless, and laggy.
@blur
Ahaha, yeah, I probably won’t get a single series done >.>
But well, I can always extend afterwards. Canadian school is pretty much nonexistent. a six hour school day? Ridiculous. I have more free time on my weekdays than my weekends, as I wake at like 4 pm on Sats and Suns…
SEED is the scourge of Gundam. It’ll give you the predisposition that futuristic warfare involves lots of beautiful boys and their respective drama. If you’re not beautiful, no enlisting for you.
And Snark is pretty much a walking condensation of personality – But he’s not around right now to complain, is he >:)
December 26th, 2009 at 7:57 pm
“futuristic warfare involves lots of beautiful boys and their respective drama. If you’re not beautiful, no enlisting for you.”
Hahaha. I imagine plenty of ladies wanting to get enlist too.
Woah… I just had a dejavu.
December 28th, 2009 at 12:45 am
Never really been that big of a Gundam fan… :(
I’m not a fan of mecha in general so yea.
I did use to build a few model kits as a kid though, but nowadays not so much interest in them anymore.
December 28th, 2009 at 9:06 am
@blur
Is that so? What did you feel like you just saw again?
@Yi
Ahah, yeah, I know. As I said, everyone’s got their own cups of tea. Just ignore these MS posts, I’ll come up with something else later.
January 2nd, 2010 at 5:20 am
My first view of a Gundam anime… “Where are the robots and Gundams?” It was a Chinese subbed video tape of an unknown Gundam show (could’ve been X) in the middle of a season in space and everyone’s talking… I don’t see any action. This was my first encounter with a Gundam show after years of watching Super Robots. With Super Robots you get the Robots right away, transforming to beat up the evil robot of the week. I was not impressed…
Years later someone gave me the original Gundam movie on VHS. The RX-78-2 Gundam that Amuro piloted. Not the series, but the recap movie, basically. I thought it was slow, but the mature story was finally intriguing enough for me to want to watch the rest of the original Gundam in the form of the sequel movies. That was the only way to watch Gundam back then. And that’s when I finally understood Gundam.
Now if only I can find out which Gundam it was that I was watching and see it from the beginning… It would’ve left me with a better impression now.
However, because there are so many episodes in a season of Gundam, it felt like I’ve watched a lot! I don’t think I’ve seen half of all the Gundam out there…
The kits are killer to me now… I want to build them, so I buy them… but now I don’t have time nor do I have the motivation… Killer indeed. Such is the way of the Gundam.
January 3rd, 2010 at 11:46 am
That was my reaction as a kid too. Gundam was too relationship based to be interesting to me, who still wanted to see my weekly baddie get beaten up a la Ultraman. Endless Waltz and Char’s Counterattack were excruciatingly boring.
Now that I think about it, I also saw one X episode very long ago, just one. It was more titillating than anything, because one of the characters were scantily clad and clinging to the protagonist or something :/
Yeah, the kits are psycho-pathological. That amazing box art is a money trap. I gave away all my gunpla materials to friends when I left Hong Kong, but now I’ve the urge to start again… In that sense, it’s almost the same as the Kamen Rider toys, isn’t it? Watch the show, go ‘wow, that’s so cool’, buy the toys.