T5W#191-Top 5 Dream Castings for the Live Action Gundam Movie

The Live Action Mobile Suit Gundam Movie (the TRUE one, G-Saviour does not f***** count) is coming whether we all want it to or not.  The other day I read an article about how the eventual film could be its own separate entity instead of just retreading the familiar grounds of the Universal Century, Cosmic Era, etc.  Basically, it could be set in its own Gundam Universe while still using familiar tropes every other entry does.  That said, that means we could see a fresh new cast and youd need the best actors to bring the most out of any live action Gundam feature.  So for Today’s Top 5 Wednesday, im choosing 5 actors who would fit right in with Gundam.  They could be good for a character type or just be a whiz at the scifi genre.  I might even name them for specific characters who may or may not appear in the movie, it’s all really up in the air with this one.  So, without further ado, my Top 5 Dream Castings for the Live Action Gundam Movie.

#5-Lance Henriksen

Now this is a man who was born to play a role in a scifi epic like Mobile Suit Gundam.  Lance Henriksen is well known in the world of nerds and geeks as the Android Bishop in Aliens and Admiral Stephen Hackett in the Mass Effect Video Game Trilogy.  He’s got the voice of a leader and the wisdom of a man who’s been doing whatever you think he’s ben doing for a very long time.  I could definitely see Henriksen playing an aged military commander like General Revel from the original series.  Heck I could even see him taking the mad scientist route playing someone akin to Doctor J from Gundam Wing.  No matter what, having the legendary Bishop around would boost the nerd appeal of the Gundam movie project.  The mans still got it and will never lose it…whatever it is that makes him so damn cool.

#4-Sofia Boutella

Ever since appearing in Kingsman: The Secret Service, Sofia Boutella’s star has been on the rise in the best way.  She’s gotten plenty of action heavy work in flicks like Star Trek Beyond, Atomic Blonde and The Mummy (apparently she’s the best part of that movie too).  Sofia carries confidence and fun with each role she takes on.  So she would be perfect as a long time Mobile Suit pilot like Karen Joshua from 08th MS Team or heck even my longtime Gundam crush,0080’s Christina Mackenzie.  But Sofia could also play the type who is gorgeous and can pilot as well as use her charms to get whatever she wants like Roux Louka from Gundam ZZ.  I’m so happy she’s been getting a great stream of work and Gundam would be a nice project for Sofia Boutella to have on her ever growing and awesome resume.

#3-Charlize Theron

Charlize Theron has always been a queen of the silver screen.  Still I don’t think any film has cemented that better than Mad Max: Fury Road.  She basically stole the show from the titular Road Warrior as Furiosa and was both ferocious and vulnerable when called for.  In a Gundam project, I could def see Charlize playing a villainess kind of in the vein of Kycillia Zabi from the original series.  She can be a beauty and calm in the face of battle while still giving off that low level of “not to be f’ed with menace.  I could also see her playing a strong commanding officer like Gundam Seed’s Murue Ramius and Sumeragi Lee Noriega from Gundam 00 or even a veteran pilot like Marbet from Victory Gundam.  Short version, Gundam is a playground for Charlize Theron to play in…so let her play.

#2-Rosa Salazar

Anyone who saw Alita: Battle Angel will not only agree that it was one of the better Live Action Anime films in recent years, but also Rosa Salazar was the best part of the movie.  Her acting defied any skeptisim about the questionable eye augmentations made to Alita herself.  Alita was (literally) wide eyed with wonder and slowly grew from curious, naieve young girl into a battle hardened, take no prisoners cyber warrior.  Hmmm, sounds like the kind of arc your typical Gundam pilot might take, especially if the start out a civilian like Amuro Ray or Kira Yamato.  I could easily see Rosa leading the fight against whoever the Gundam stands against.  She belongs in that cockpit.

#1-Stephen Amell

I freaking love this guy.  Stephen Amell has been a powerhouse during his tenure on the CW’s hit series Arrow.  He’s brought a sense of bad assery and depth to Oliver Queen and has continued to push his limits season after season with new heartbreaking moments and bone crunching stunts.  With Arrow coming to an end in its upcoming 8th Season, this could be a good chance to Stephen to bring his amazing qualities to Gundam.  I could see him as the smooth ladies man mentor type like Gundam Seed’s Mu La Flaga or, preferably, the King of the Masked Bad Asses Char Azable (plus Char can kick your ass in hand to hand combat too…and Amell is a lethal weapon at this point lol).  Please read this and consider it if you’re asked to join the project Mr. Amell.  You helped bring my favorite DC Universe to life, you could do wonders with my favorite Anime franchise too.

Mobile Suit Gundam Part 3 Episodes 12-16

The death of Garma Zabi rocks Zeon’s ruling party to its core.  While Degwin Zabi mourns the loss of his favorite son, his other children use their brothers death to rally Zeon into a new offensive.  The slayers of Garma, Amuro and the White Base, now find themselves facing Zeon legend Ramba Ral and his elite unit.  Amuro finds himself outclassed by a new breed of Zeon Mobile Suit and a pilot who can outmatch him worse than even Char Aznable.  How much more does the young Gundam pilot have in him to fight?  And what will happen when Amuro finally breaks?

Before I began rewatching Mobile Suit Gundam to review it for the blog, I had to consider something that might affect some reviews.  By this point ive reviewed a ton of Gundam entries far younger than this series, much of it Universal Century stuff.  So ill be honest, it’s hard for me to determine how to react to certain events and character decisions because I know how things play out in Zeta Gundam and Char’s Counterattack.  Amuro being a spoiled brat is chief among those observations.  He’s a bad ass in Char’s Counterattack, a battle hardned Gundam veteran who built his own Gundam from scratch to fight Char and Neo Zeon.  Even if I hadn’t seen that movie by this point, had I watched the original series to this point and then heard about the greatness Amuro achieves…I wouldn’t believe you.

 

Amuro’s bitching and moaning has been nigh unbearable til now.  Sure he’s a gifted pilot but whines about being forced to pilot and whines when his tactics aren’t considered.  This set of episodes saw him taking out an inconsequential Zeon base to sort out his mommy issues, take out the Guntank when the Gundam was specifically ordered to sortie.  And then to put the icing on the cake, when Bright announces he’s taking Amuro off of Gundam cause he doesn’t listen…Amuro just flat out steals Gundam and deserts White Base.  Our hero ladies and gentlemen.  When he isn’t slaughtering Zeon soldiers when he feels like it, he’s demanding his own kingdom and running away when he doesn’t get it.  Char’s Counterattack Amuro would have slapped him worse than Bright has thus far.

 

We’ll see the fallout of Amuro’s brilliant decision next time but for now we should focus on other fallouts.  As expected, Ghirren Zabi used his brother Garma’s death as a rallying cry to the Zeon war cause.  In truth, Episode 12 might be the best episode so far partly because of this scene.  Ghirren has a passion to his words.  Misguided as they may be, they have power and its something to hear the White Base crew hear the chant of “Hail Zeon” being echoed by thousands of space citizens.  Talk about looking directly at the odds.  Meanwhile, Char’s been kicked off the White Base pursuit, at least for now.  Luckily, the man taking over his Gundam capturing duties is just as charismatic and fun as the Red Comet, complete with his own new Mobile Suit.  The arrival of Ramba Ral and his unit is another reason Episode 12 rocks.  Seeing his Gouf towering over Gundam upon a sand dune with lighting in the background signals this is no ordinary opponent.  Having seen what Gouf’s can do in the right hands in Gundam: The 08^th MS Team, it’s good to see that the OG Gouf did set the standard and did so in terrifying fashion.  Gundam was in trouble for sure and it’s only because Ral and his men were doing battle recon for a later fight that Amuro even survived.

 

Ral and the Zabis weren’t the only side of Zeon we got to see in this set.  While ive noted that some episodes could just be removed completely cause theyre more or less filler, one episode beat that mindset.  Not only did a random Zeon unit manage to put Gundam in a tight spot with nothing more than a couple of powerful bombs and some hover…things, but when Amuro managed to get rid of the bombs with the help of the White Base crew, those same soldiers disguised themselves to congratulate him.  It’s not often you see the enemy do something so nice.  It’s one of Gundams many strengths across its entire lifespan, being able to even give the enemy side characters to root for like Char, Ral and these kinder Zeons.  We did also see the more scumbag side of the Federation when Amuro went to his old hometown to see his mother.  Seeing “the good guys” get drunk in empty houses and abuse the citizens for supplies makes you think that Amuro and the White Base crew might be on the wrong side.  To offset this, we got the return of the sexy Lt. Matilda, who was introduced last week.  She has an elegance and sense of hope about her.  Plus she’s basically the speaking voice for the unseen General Revel, who has a ton of faith in the White Base crew.  No wonder Matilda has become a new crush for Amuro, poor Fraw Bau.

One point that definitely left me scratching my head was Sayla’s sudden decision to fly off in Gundam and look for Char in the middle of a battle.  Up until now she’s kind of kept her connection to the Red Comet under wraps (for obvious reasons).  So it strikes me as odd as now being the time she wants to risk her life to find her brother.  I don’t know, I guess everyone on this crew is gonna make an Amuro level of dumb decisions at some point.  No wonder even Bright needed to take a breather.  At least for him, he has Mirai to confide in.  I like these two together.  True the banter between the core crewmates has been pretty solid but there’s something sparking between Bright and Miriai.  She’s keeping him on his toes and he’s actually willing to hear her out and respect her opinion.  Hell Bright even wanted Miriai to be on the same page with him about kicking Amuro off of Gundam.  Feel like early days Bright wouldn’t have been so open like this.

 

Before I close out, a minor fun fact about the series.  There’s actually an episode from the original Japanese run of Mobile Suit Gundam that has never seen the light of day in the United States, an episode director Yoshiyuki Tomino considers so horrible that he never wants it to air here on his orders.  WOW.  From what little I know of this episode, it involves a Judo capable Zaku and a Zeon pilot trying to find redemption raising kids who lost their parents during an attack he was part of.  Sounds like a solid plot for exploring the psyche of a pilot and the further effects of the war on Earth.  Apparently though, the animation is so bad, Tomino openly states he never wants it to reach our shores.  I think that’s kind of funny but that does mean the episode count is off slightly, not by much so I guess this can be ignored, just as Tomino wishes.

So Amuro’s in the wind.  Ramba Ral’s still running around and White Base is without it’s greatest weapon…again cause Amuro threw a temper tantrum.  Why do we ever root for this brat in this series?  His stupidity aside, this was the best set of episodes from Gundam yet, correcting some issues from the first two parts while improving on aspects already great.  Friday we reach the halfway mark of the series.  Let’s hope the Prince of the Anime Brats can somehow get his mess sorted (and if youre asking, the King is always going to be Shinji Ikari from Evangelion, no competition).  See ya Friday as Mobile Suit Gundam continues.

The History of Gundam Part 1

Hey there everyone.  Wow, I cant believe that in all the years ive been working on this blog, ive never thought to do this.  Since I think of myself as a Gundam officianado and we’re already one week into what im calling Gundam Month Mark III (the first one was in 2014 when I reviewed Endless Waltz, Char’s Counterattack and F91 back to back; and the second was in 2017 when I reviewed 0080 and 0083 in the same month), I’m going the extra mile.  Besides reviews of Mobile Suit Gundam on Mondays and Fridays and Gundam themed Top 5 Wednesdays, for the month of April I’m doing a special 4 part look at the Gundam franchise from it’s humble beginning til now.  It wont be encyclopedic but just a simple breakdown of the last 4 decades of Gundam Mania, one decade per week.  If you know a lot about Gundam already, feel free to chime in and correct me if im off about a few details.  If you’re new, well this will hopefully be a fun history lesson and might even help you decide where you might want to start your Gundam experience.  And now, without further ado…THE HISTORY OF GUNDAM…(yeah for lack of a better title I’m adding clever subtitles to each part to compensate.  Enjoy everyone.)

Part 1-Gundam Rising (1979-1989)

The saga began in 1979 with Mobile Suit Gundam. Directed by Yoshiyuki Tomino, this series changed a major trope of the Giant Robot genre.  Rather than having humanity battle aliens using giant robots, Gundam looked at a human civil war utilizing giant mechanical war machines called Mobile Suits.  At the forefront of a devastating conflict known as The One Year War, was Amuro Ray, a young man with special intuition, who finds himself thrust into the role of pilot of the titular Mobile Suit.  The series introduced many elements which would recur throughout the franchises existence: a young protagonist who is reluctant to fight, a mask wearing bad ass rival (in this case the King of those bad asses, Char Aznable), as well as the existence of a higher level, slightly psychic human being known as a Newtype.  Originally the series was planned to run for 50-52 episodes.  However, bad ratings saw the show ending earlier than intended.  However, Tomino was given enough advance notice in order to write a conclusion to the story, the 43rd episode.

There are many who compare the production legacy of Gundam to Star Trek and theyre not wrong.  Much like Star Trek: The Original Series, which saw a similar cancellation three years into a five year story, Mobile Suit Gundam gained popularity through re runs, a successful trilogy of compilation films, and the extremely popular Gundam Model Kits, which would later be known as Gunpla.  The continued popularity would lead to the resurrection of the Gundam legacy in 1985 with Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam.  Once again directed by Tomino, Zeta Gundam took the story in a much darker direction, forcing former enemies to work together against a corrupt peacekeeping force within the Earth Federation known as the Titans.  The show helped capitalize on Tomino’s nickname, “Kill Em All Tomino” as Zeta Gundam had a rather high body count by series end. 

Perhaps because of this, Tomino sought to lighten things up with the 1986 follow up series, Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ (Double Zeta)…which didn’t fly well with just about anyone.  After all, you had the struggle for mankind which had a pretty hefty kill count replaced with Looney Tunes level villains and children who were more irritating than truly memorable.  Oh and a chicken kept futzing with the head of Gundam Captain Bright Noa.  Granted, Tomino did get the message and things returned to Zeta Gundam levels of dramatic by the second half of the series but it hardly helped salvage Double Zeta’s reputation.  However, Gundam has never always been about the super serious.  While Double Zeta wasn’t the best test bed for something funny, a sense of humor was essential for the SD Gundam mini film series that began in 1988.  Shrinking down your Mobile Suits and giving them cute giant heads wasn’t such a bad move as SD Gundam continues to appear in various incarnations today (there was even an SD Gunpla in a major role in Gundam Build Fighters Try and Gundam Build Divers).

The first decade of Gundam closed with two major projects.  The first was Tomino’s grand conclusion to the story he began in 1979 with 1988’s Mobile Suit Gundam: Char’s Counterattack.  Here, the legendary rivalry between Amuro Ray and Char Aznable concluded with the fate of planet Earth caught in the middle.  Though the end of the original story, this wasn’t Gundam’s end.  A year later, to mark the 10th Anniversary of the franchise, Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket was released.  Telling a short story set before the end of the One Year War, Gundam 0080 was a great success thanks to a short but emotionally packed story that ranks among many fans as one of Gundams finest hours.  The success of this OVA would pave the way for many more to come.  For as the second age of Gundam got ready to kick off, many had no idea just how much of a splash Gundam was about to make once again.

Mobile Suit Gundam Part 2 Episodes 7-11

A skilled attack from Char Aznable forces the White Base into Zeon occupied territory on Earth.  The mission of the crew has not changed: Get the White Base and her cargo of Mobile Suits to Federation HQ in Jaburo.  Now, however, they not only continue to face Char’s pursuit but also the wrath of Garma Zabi, youngest of the Zabi family that rules Zeon.  It will take all the willpower of the White Base crew to survive, if fatigue and constant tension don’t kill them first.  Though it may be Char Aznable, the Red Comet, who might hold the key to their salvation with a devious plan of his own.

While things took a bit to get going (and good), Mobile Suit Gundam made some good strides in its continuation.  Sure some of the premieres problems persisted and even increased a little.  But it’s still for the better to get some of the clunkier issues sorted and dealt with now and hope that clearer skies lie ahead.

The problems from last time im referring to are predominantly the shows inability to combine episodes, or omit ones altogether, and that pesky intro narraration that took them 10 episodes just to cut down by about half a minute.  Episode 6 is the best example of nothing really happening save for the civilians starting crap in the middle of a fight.  Everything else, including the action, felt like Gundam was just in waiting mode.  The later four episodes had more to offer, even in smaller ways such as a pair of Zeon pilots helping out a lost mother and her child when they tried to reach their own homeland (only for the poor mother to learn that town was destroyed early into the war).  Speaking of the civilians,I get it, theyre desperate to get off the ship.  And honestly if they wanna get off in the middle of enemy territory, Bright should just let them leave.  However, coming up to the bridge in the middle of a battle and demanding to be let off, again while theyre being shot at, is just plain ridiculous.  And you know youre civilians are really in the wrong when Amuro is the one calling you a selfish brat.  Granted I had to point out that Amuro was the pot calling the kettle black because he wasn’t much better this set either.  He complained when he didn’t want to fight, he complained when his tactics were ignored, he complained…well every other five minutes he was on screen and not kicking ass in the Gundam.  At some point, Amuro was begging to be slapped in the face…

WHICH IS EXACTLY WHY BRIGHT IS THE MAN!!! This low ranking officer turned Acting Captain has a lot to put up with from civilians causing a ruckus to enemy engagements to subordinates who sass him at every turn (looking at you Kai) and even a superior officer who questioned his every decision.  At some point, Bright had to say enough and he did.  He put Officer Reed in his place, lead a couple of well timed attacks to get the civilians safely through Zeon territory and slapped Kai and Amuro, the latter TWICE.  For all of Amuro eventually becoming the Gundam hero of legend, I think bright deserves more recognition sometimes.  Then there’s his Zeon counterpart in awesome, Char, who continues to remind us why he is more associated with Gundam than any other character in this franchise.  His smooth support and manipulation of Garma led to one intense sequence where the Red Comet showed his true colors.  He may have a soft spot for his men and genuinely does his best to make sure no harm comes to them.  But to hear Char cackling as Garma went down in a blaze of glory was chilling stuff.  Char’s a cold, calculating man and yet we love him for it all the same. 

By later episodes, the action had picked up considerably, going back to the strong quality found in the space combat from the premiere.  Amuro’s frog leap tactics to make the Gundam fly against Zeon fighters was impressive, as was his using building for cover and blowing off a Zaku’s head point blank.  Probably the most intense sequence this set, along with Garma’s demise, was Kai’s first foray into battle in the Guncannon.  For a moment, his back sass and cowardly self vanished and the poor guy was quivering as he desperately tried to stay alive under heavy enemy bombardment.  Unlike Amuro, I actually felt bad for the poor guy despite his not giving a crap attitude.  As good as these scenes were, the newly introduced characters and mecha coming next week should really kick things into high gear.

One last point to cover is our getting to see the rest of the ruling family of Zeon: the Zabis.  Already you can tell there’s going to be some Game of Thrones level family power plays amongst the remnants of this group.  Ghirren Zabi already wants to use Garma’s death as a rallying cry to their forces while Zeon’s ruler Degwin Zabi wants to quietly mourn.  Im curious to see where sister Kycillia and the towering Dozel will fall in this schism.  In truth, we only got a short glimpse of time with this group so it’s too early to make proper guesses.  Lastly, while it was short lived, both in the series and on screen, I did feel for the tragic romance of Garma and his fiancée Icilina, mostly for Icilina herself.  Yes it’s a stretch to see her commandeer Garma’s remaining forces for one last vendetta fueled charge against White Base.  But her final moment, staring down Amuro with a gun before dying of her own wounds, was very well done.  She even got a proper burial out of the ordeal from Amuro and the crew.  No doubt Icilina’s vengeful spirit will be haunting an already unhinged Amuro for the next couple of episodes.

Rough patches aside, I think we’re going to be getting into some darker and better territory next week when Mobile Suit Gundam returns.  I just hope we’re done with annoying civilians and episodes that don’t need to exist (speaking of we’ll be talking about that sometime next week too, one of Gundams more infamously darker blotches in its history).  Still with a Garma revenge squad set to go after Amuro and White Base with new Mobile Suits, I think we’re finally getting to the really good stuff.  See ya next Monday for more Mobile Suit Gundam.

T5W#190-Top 5 Ideas for Gundams Universal Century Past UC0100

Mobile Suit Gundam Narrative markes the second project in Sunrise’s UC NexT 0010 Project: which will focus on exploring the Universal Century past the year UC 0100.  This era has been the main home for Gundam since the beginning and has been revisited consistently over the last four decades of Gundam existence. Ergo, this weeks Top 5 Wednesday will be tackling my Top 5 Ideas for Gundams Universal Century Past UC0100.  Anything is game, even preexisting stories in that relatively open time period post Gundam Narrative.  What do I mean by that?  Let’s find out.


#5-A True Telling of Gundam F91

There are only two official cannon stories in the Universal Century Past UC0100-Gundam F91 (UC0123) and Victory Gundam (UC0153) (G Savior doesn’t count, don’t try to make it so).  Considering they were both supposed to be fresh jump on points for the Gundam franchise, I cant see why both could get a fresh coat of paint and a chance for some serious edits.  This, however, applies more so to Gundam F91.  The infamously kind of bad Gundam movie was frought with production problems before it was finally released.  Initially intended as a 52 episode series, the success of Char’s Counterattack cause the powers that be to recommision F91 as a film and director Yoshiyuki Tomino was forced to condense 14 completed episode scripts into a two hour feature.  The end result was a stylistically pretty but otherwise messy piece of work.  Considering the F91 looks pretty cool and there’s some potential in a new non Zeon enemy (more on that in a bit actually), I think Gundam F91 deserves a proper lease on life, always have.  Plenty of Anime projects have gone through bad iterations and gotten better ones later down the line (im hard pressed to think of one atm but I know resurgence success stories are out there).

#4-The Return of Familiar Faces

Revisiting old characters is nothing new for any Anime, especially Gundam.  The first era of Gundam saw frequent appearances by Amuro Ray, Char Aznable and Bright Noa with smaller cameos by other original series cast members.  But there are more important faces in the UC than just those three.  While I do think Mineva Zabi and Banagher Links will play a vital role in bringing the UC into the next century, what about some of the characters from other Gundam shows in this period?  How is Shiro Amada doing with Aina Sahalin?  Is my girl Christina Mackenzie still piloting Mobile Suits (Or her own Gundam?)  Have Judau Ashita and his rag tag band of misfits colonized a new world yet?  The only absolute in this matter is probably Bright Noa coming back for the Hathaway’s Flash Trilogy later this year (which is set in UC0105).  Some of these characters have deserved follow ups for a long time.  New century, new stories, lets make it happen Sunrise.

#3-Expansion into the Galaxy

While the Universal Century has seemed content to keep the action to Earth and it’s colonies, other entries in the franchise have either hinted at or pushed their action to other worlds.  Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz and Gundam 00: The Movie both hint that Mars terraforming projects are about to get underway and Gundam: Iron Blooded Orphans is predominatly set on Mars.  We heard stories about expeditions being made to Jupiter in Zeta Gundam and Gundam ZZ.  How about taking things a step further Universal Century?  I know this kind of process takes a lot of time but how about some progress reports or even a fight between hard core Earthers who don’t want humanity to expand.  Considering the last time we really heard about any outer space exploration was at the end of ZZ, this could be a good reentry point for Judau Ashita, Roux Louka and their friends. 

#2-The End of Zeon (and maybe even the Earth Federation?)

As pilot Adel noted in Gundam 0083, the Federation has always been haunted by the ghost of Zeon and probably always will be.  Will they though?  While the Federation is still around in UC0123 during Gundam F91, Zeon is never mentioned and seems completely out of the picture by Victory Gundam.  Zeon is an important part of this time period, im not disputing that.  However, it might be time for them or any of their incarnations (The Sleeves?) to finally put their long war to bed.  How much more fight do they really have in them anyway?  And for that matter, is the Earth Federation the only true dominating power in the Earth Sphere forever?  I feel like a new kind of government would eventually take it over eventually, especially after the events of Victory Gundam in UC0153.  Whatever happens, I hope at least the grand finale of Zeon is one of the best battles ever, one to rival Anavel Gato’s doomed final charge of the Delaz Fleet at the conclusion of Gundam 0083.

#1-From Universal Century to Regild Century

Tomino’s so bad he had to apologize for it Gundam: Reconguista in G is getting a compilation film saga in 2019 as part of the 40th Anniversary of the Gundam franchise.  Much like Gundam F91, this could be a chance for him to make some much needed amendments to his own story.  One of those could be a bit of an explanation as to how we made the transition to the Regild Century, the successor to the Universal Century.  There could even be an event OVA or film dedicated to the last days of Gundams flagship era before heading into the new world and be set at the furtherst end of the timeline (UC0500 seems like a good number…maybe less…UC0300 maybe?).  I highly doubt we’ll ever leave the Universal Century behind for good and don’t think it should ever be forgotten.  Times change though and that could lead to bigger and better things for Gundam.  It’s a good goal in any case for the next 40 years at least.