T5W#355-Top 5 Gundam Teams

What’s better than having one Gundam in your squad?  Several Gundams that’s what.  While most Gundam shows start with the titular Mobile Suit as a solo act, several over the years have featured multiple Gundams assigned to specialized teams.  And with this being the first Wednesday as part of Gundam Month Mark VI-The Undiscovered Country (which technically starts Friday), todays Top 5 Wednesday is a shoutout to those amazing teams of bad asses ever to step onto the battlefield and put the fear of God into their enemies.  These are my Top 5 Gundam Teams.
 
#5-The Shuffle Alliance (Mobile Fighter G Gundam)

The Shuffle Alliance are a team of some of the most unique and powerful Gundam Fighters from the Colonies.  Their roster has changed several times over the years and have included the likes of Master Asia in their ranks (at one point some of them were probably Gundam Fight Champions like Master Asia).  The torches and player card symbols are eventually passed onto Domon Kasshu, Chibode Crockett Sai Saichi, George De Sand and Argo Gulski, all of whom start out as rivals in the 14^th Gundam Fight Tournament.  Eventually, they all come together as an unstoppable force able to take on the Devil Gundam and its Devil Gundam Army in spectacular fashion.

 
#4-AEUG Gundam Team (Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ)

While one could argue Zeta Gundam did this first, ZZ is credited as having the first official Gundam Team comprised of four Gundam Type Mobile Suits (The Gundam Mark II, the Zeta, the ZZ and the Haiyaku Shiki).  While the pilots within these Gundams don’t deserve them at first…and for a long time they still don’t, the halfway mark of Gundam ZZ sees Judau Ashita and his crew of junkyard brats learning to grow up and embrace the power that’s been presented to them.  Pretty soon, Judau, Roux Louka, Elle Viano and Beecha Oleg are the seemingly single force capable of stopping Neo Zeon when no one else can.  From zeroes to heroes, these kids prove their worth to be an elite Gundam Team.

 
#3-Colony Rebels (Mobile Suit Gundam Wing & Mobile Suit Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz)

For many, what made Gundam Wing such a special experience were these five bad boys from the Colonies: Heero Yuy, Duo Maxwell, Trowa Barton, Quatre Reberba Winner and Wufei Chang.  Different personalities with Gundams to match them, these five were a force to be reckoned with on their own.  When they came together in Gundam Wing’s final act, they were not just mighty, they were legendary.  The show does keep in mind at first that teamwork isn’t their strongest suit since the boys have teamed up with each other separately but haven’t worked as part of a full team before.  They’re definitely a well oiled machine by series end and are even more dangerous in Gundam Wing (even if it is just Duo, Trowa and Quatre doing most of the heavy lifting while Heero listens to Wufei prattle on during a duel).

 
#2-The 08^th MS Team (Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08^th MS Team)

Deployed into Southeast Asia as part of the Earth Federation Kojima Battalion, the 08^th MS Team was one of the few squads outfitted with prototype ground type versions of the RX78-2 Gundam.  This team is made up of rookies and veterans alike and, like most squads of its kind, it takes them a couple of missions to find their flow and even when they do, the pressures of combat test that flow.  Thankfully, Shiro Amada, Karen Joshua, Terry Sanders, Eledore Massis and Michel Ninorich somehow manages to brave the worst of the worst of the fighting in their region and pull off a major victory in the final weeks of the One Year War.  This groups got some of the best character interactions and partake in some of the best action in the franchise, making 08^th MS Team one of the very best Gundam stories ever made.
 

#1-Gundam Meisters (Mobile Suit Gundam 00 & Mobile Suit Gundam 00: The Movie-A Wakening of the Trailblazer)

The Gundem Meisters of Celestial Being can kind of be considered the spiritual successors to the Gundam boys from Gundam Wing: a bunch of pretty boys each with their own specialized Gundams and are part of a terrorist organization determined to step into any conflict on Earth and tell the participants to knock it the hell off or else.  Setsuna F. Seiei, Lockon Stratos (both Neil and Lyle Delandy), Alleluia Haptism and Tierria Erde are all complicated individuals but together are totally dedicated to their central Meister mission.  And eventually, they become dedicated to one another as pilots and eventually come to realize in a world gone mad, theyre the only family they have.  These boys risk everything to get the whole world to face them, thus bringing humanity closer together unlike anything before.  It’s a tall sacrifice but Setsuna and his fellow Meisters can handle it…plus their Gundams are next level awesome in any of their iterations between the TV Series and Movie.