All across the multiverse, whenever you hear someone
shout that infamous phrase, “IT’S A GUNDAM!!!” there are usually two
reactions. The first is a feeling of
hope, elated feelings of perseverance and the feeling that everything is about
to go very right. The second is an
absolute crap your pants moment, feelings of intense despair and the feeling
that everything is about to go horribly wrong.
Think it’s obvious which applies to what kind of person but no matter
the scenario, all manner of ass is about to be kicked when a Gundam announces
itself on the battlefield. And for today’s
Top 5, I’m looking at my personal favorite moments when, even if the phrase wasn’t
outright spoken, the effect was experienced all the same. We mere mortals could only ever hope for as
bad ass an intro as these mechs have.
#5: Mobile Suit
Gundam: Char’s Counterattack
What’s kind of funny about this one is how little the
Gundam itself actually features. When a
small shuttle gets caught in a crossfire between Char’s escaping Neo Zeons and
the Londo Bell unit, the passengers panic but some are kind of in awe. And guess who should be passing through the
area with his brand spanking, built to his own specs Gundam? Yep, Amuro Ray arrived in the sweet looking
Nu Gundam, something one or two passengers, including Hathaway Noa, pick up
right away. We get an awesome closeup of
the Gundam coming to life…and the bad guys just run away. Ok it might have been for other reasons but I’m
sticking with the Gundam just showing up was enough to drive them away. And for its first, original, feature length
entry, it was about as awesome a first impression you could ask for from the
titular mobile suit.
#4: Mobile Suit
Gundam Wing
The title of this weeks Top 5 comes from this show. “IT’S A GUNDAM!!!” was shouted so many times
by so many people it’s hard to pick one stand out moment. But I’ll settle for the one that started it
all, and thus began a bold new chapter in my Anime Universe. In the first episode, we get Heero descending
to Earth in a sleek looking fighter jet.
When pursued by Zechs and his men, Heero pulls the lever and BOOM…the
jet becomes the Wing Gundam. After an intense fight, mixed to some great music,
Heero crashes into the water as Zechs escapes.
As his men give him a breakdown of the mobile suits metal components,
Zechs puts two and two together, “So then…it was a Gundam.” Other were a little overdramatic in their
deliveries of Gundam arrivals. But Zechs
said it in a way that felt like a calm before the storm…or rather the hurricane…that
was about to hit the After Colony era.
#3: Mobile Suit
Gundam 00
This is about as grand a reintroduction as you can get
following a season break. With a time
jump and the setup of the A-Laws as the new baddies, equipped with some of
Celestial Being’s technology, you’d think the Gundams were now a thing of the
past. Nope. Enter Setsuna, who breaks up a prison
massacare and rescues and old friend. He
then heads out to battle the A-Laws mobile suits in a totally wrecked but cloak
sporting Gundam Exia. The battle doesn’t
go smoothly and he does end up getting rescued by Tierria. But there’s no denying Setsuna’s bravery and
awesomeness to take on the A-Laws with a barely functioning suit that looks
just as cool as it did in one piece. I
also think that this design choice mirrored a supposed aged form that the
Double Zeta Gundam had in an old Gundam Manga tale but I’m not sure. Still, it was a fun way to kick off the
second season of Gundam 00.
#2: Mobile Suit
Gundam Seed
What’s interesting about some worlds in the Gundam
Multiverse, some haven’t even heard of a Gundam, or rather the suits themselves
aren’t even born with that name. In the
Cosmic Era, the term “Gundam” is coined by Kira Yamato, seeing it as an acronym
for the suits cockpit system. The name
never really catches on until later in the series. After spending some time behind enemy lines
with Lacus Clyne, Kira decides to return to his allies on the Archangel. Lacus sneaks Kira a going away present, the ZGMF-X10A
Freedom. Kira immediately calls it a
Gundam, which catches Lacus off guard.
But a moment later, she agrees that “Gundam” has a pretty good ring to
it. From this point on, everytime a new
Gundam model rolled out, either by Zaft or the Federation, it carried the
name. In a series that was so-so with its
storytelling, it’s little moments like this that stand out to me the most. Or at least ive never forgotten the moment
when Gundam became a memorable name in the Cosmic Era.
#1: Mobile Suit Gundam
Unicorn
This ones my favorite for a couple of reasons. Firstly, the standard mode of the Unicorn is
deceptive. All white and with a single
horn, you wouldn’t know unless going into the show with prior knowledge, that
this was a Gundam. When I saw Unicorn
Episode 1 at Otakon 2010, the transformation from standard to it’s NTD mode,
revealing it’s true Gundam form, got a huge applause. As epic as that was, it was in Episode 2
where the best reactions come in. The
Unicorn’s transformation gets a response from everybody and I mean everybody:
Neo Zeon, the Federation, the civilians.
They cant believe their seeing this thing with their own eyes. This wasn’t just a moment of great reveal,
for me it solidified that this far into the Universal Century, the Gundam was
now a legend and seeing one with your own eyes, meant you really were
witnessing history unfold.
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