Topic: Gundam Fan Topic.

If you're a fan of giant robots or the series in general this is your thread.

I think it's no secret that I'm a big Giant Robot fan, especially Gundam. Honestly, if it wasn't so late at night, I'd probably go on and on about them - I've seen a lot of them by now and can't think of any I didn't like (except for End of Evangelion - don't even get me started on that one!). Despite my love for Gundam, I haven't seen much Mecha yet, though, mostly Super Robot. I grabbed up a few old school mecha shows recently, however, so that may change soon enough.

Also, Rukiafan, I didn't know you watched Gundam. What ones you seen?

I can't remember which ones were on in America in the late 90s but man... I loved those shows.

^{Also adored Sailor Moon and Dragon Ball/Z}

Mobile Suit Gundam Wing
Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz
Mobile Suit Gundam (0079)
Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket
Mobile Suit Gundam 0079: The 08th MS Team

Not a bad one in the bunch.

This one. I remember the protagonist very well. It's been over a decade since I last watched it on Toonami? Either way it's time to catch up on it.

I think it's still on Crunchyroll. It's subbed, but that's actually good because I recently went through it dubbed and they kinda fall flat during some important parts. While you're there, be sure to check out the original Gundam and Zeta Gundam. Those ones are dubbed and are by far the best in the series (out of the ones in the U.S. at least. IMO, Gundam X is up there, too).

I loved Gundam Wing and Gundam Seed, but Wing is by far my favorite Gundam Series.
The main protagonist is Hiro FTW.

I know a lot of people hate those shows, but I really liked them (then again, I don't take my entertainment seriously like some people do). I thought Gundam Wing was interesting and different, with really likeable characters. The plot wasn't that clever and the action can be...boring, depending on what you're looking for. There's rarely any sense of danger, instead it's meant to make the main heroes seem superhuman, which then makes the fights between Gundam incredibly intense, sort of making up for the lack of intensity in the rest of the scenes. I also really liked the mecha designs, and the music was absolutely brilliant!

Gundam SEED had a really clever story and brought in lots of surprises. It's the first time I enjoyed an anime mainly for its story. The characters annoyed me at first, but I liked all of them by the end, especially Kira and the main antagonist. Some people disliked the amount of emotion and speeches throughout the show, but I felt it really added to the drama. The Mecha designs were some of the best in the series here, too. However, the action started out good, but became really repetitive and boring after a while. It's some of the worst I've seen in the series, topped only by SEED Destiny's, which started out boring and repetitive and just went downhill from there.

Comes in
G GUNDAM

Oh yeah, I forgot about that one. Actually, I usually forget it. It's kinda hard not to when it's just a Super Robot show with some martial arts leanings, with absolutely nothing to do with Gundam outside of the name.

Actually, G Gundam is my favorite out of the Gundam series (even if it has nothing to do with the main Gundam continuity). It can be incredibly cheesy (the space colonies look like tourist dioramas for goodness sake), but for me personally, that adds to the charm of the show. It doesn't take itself to seriously, and I like it when a normally serious franchise does something like this. I'd personally love them to find a way to do a sequel.

All in all though, I've enjoyed nearly all the Gundams I've watched (which isn't that much TBH). I really enjoyed Gundam Wing back in the day, and more recently, enjoyed Gundam 00 (not exactly sure if it was called that, and it was on SyFy's now defunct AniMonday block). Didn't much care for the original Mobile Suit Gundam (but that's probably because they took off Tenchi Muyo for it, and I used to love that almost as much as DBZ, lol), but I might give it another chance one of these days. Don't even get me started on SD Gundam (it was like Gundam for pre-schoolers, lol). I think that was when they were about to replace Toonami with the crappy Miguzi though.

But SD Gundam was their attempt to make something less serious, not G Gundam. G-Gundam actually took itself very seriously, outside of the odd joke here and there. It's just that it was impossible to take it seriously because it was so cheesy and over-the-top.

Anyways, I'm not saying G-Gundam is bad, it's just that I'll never accept it as a Gundam show since it goes against everything Gundam stands for. It's a great show with a good story, great characters and characterization, fun action, and lots of creativity strewn throughout it, but it really shouldn't have been called Gundam. Sort of like how if they hadn't have called the first 12 episodes of ZZ Gundam Gundam, it would've been better, which was proven when they actually did do a show in that same style, called Metal Armor Dragonar (which was a great show that was certainly better recieved than the oft forgotten ZZ Gundam). I'm still waiting for them to come out with a G-Gundam successor that's not called Gundam, since I'm sure in the right hands it would turn out to be wonderful.

And yeah, be sure to give the original Gundam another shot someday. I actually didn't like it back in the day either, but after a rewatch, I was able to appreciate it a lot more than I would've as a kid. Now it's my favorite series ever.

Wasn't there a short lived sequel to Gundam Seed that aired on Toonami just before Toonami was cancelled? I think it was called Gundam Seed Destiny?

Gundam SEED was the one that was short-lived (with hilarious cencoring I might add). Gundam SEED Destiny was never aired on Toonami, though it was shown in Canada on some networks. It lasted around 50 episodes and was actually really popular...which is a shame, since it's easily the worst Gundam series in my opinion. The plot was completely copy-pasted from Gundam SEED, the most of the new characters were rubbish, and the action started out bad and ended even worse. The music wasn't that great this time either, and while I liked the mecha designs in this one, I'm in the minority on that, since most just see stuff like the DOM and the Gouf Ignited and say it's just more copy-pasting from other Gundam series. The only thing that made this series enjoyable was the main Antagonist, who I will not spoil. I'll just say that he's right up there with Char when it comes to my favorite antagonists of all time.

Strange because I know one of the American networks showed the first 2-3 episodes before it got cancelled.
Maybe it was a local independant channel?

Child Nostalgic Knuckles here,
SD Gundam Force! Still haven't seen the final episode...

Alright, ima get flamed here, but the only reason I know what Gundam is is because I watched the first 3 seasons of Sgt. Frog.
And now, an imaginary scene:
Pilot: Sir! Brace for impact!
Captain: What is it, McDale?
Pilot: It's.... ANGRY FORUM POSTS!
Captain: NNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOshenumeOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Not surprising, the whole show was meant to be subliminal advertising for Gundam models (no $#!+ really, every time I watch it, I have dreams of going to the toy store and buying Gundam models, it's kinda scary. I was never interested in them until I started watching it, either)

@Knuckles - Which final episode? The final Toonami episode or the final episode in general? I only saw the Toonami one and thought it was really epic at the time.

@Mickeymac SD Gundam Force, so it could be the Toonami one, I watched it on Cartoon Network though...

They only showed the first season on Toonami, which is what I meant. They're a whole 'nother season to watch (which is on DVD in english, don't worry).