Aliens in the Gundam Franchise
 

The purpose of this thread is to discuss the impact of introducing aliens to the Mobile Suit Gundam franchise, and the possibilities of aliens in future Gundam works.

This discussion may include, but is not limited to:

• The origin of the ELS.
• Their biology.
• Their powers and limitations.
• Plot-related involvement of the ELS.
• Future appearances of alien races.
• Impact of aliens on the franchise.

For their biology, I always expected them to be nano-beings. Little micro-organisms that stick to each other which is how they can shape shift because all they do is rearrange their group structure. These nanites probably communicate to each other at a frequency similar to the QBW (the way they communicate is probably similar to a brain, just think of them as a giant brain that shape shifts) which is why they can sense QBW, but it is different enough for them to be surprised by Innovators.

Origin? No idea, didn't they say it was born within a star? I don't know how that's possible, but since all we know are carbon based life forms on Earth...and since the galaxy is so large...and since we have MANY galaxies....I'm sure there are other forms of life out there that we never expect to have happened.

Since ELS is a hivemind, I'm assuming some kind of virus that can spread quickly within them would do the trick. Something that they just assimilate without knowing and breaks them apart from within.

As for the franchise itself I doubt they would go deeper into the alien territory with other universes such as UC. They already created the 00 universe which is literally an entire set up for humanity to unite as one to meet aliens. So if they want to go further down the alien route they'd do it with future 00 installments (even though they have space whales in CE...). There's plenty of room for that as well as plenty of possibilities for future MORE advanced Mobile Suits in 00. Like I mentioned in the other thread, they can build a new Gundam with ELS organics incorporated into it. So it can do some shape-shifting as well as controlled through QBW communications with the alien. The story can also focus on the relationship between the human pilots and the ELS Mobile Suits, how they slowly get along with each other. Since the Sumeragi left Earth, there are plenty of more worlds they can explore. They can even expand on the understanding theme. Sometimes when you understand each other you still can't coexist.

IIRC, they weren't born in a star, they were born on/in the core of their home planet, which was a gas giant like Jupiter.

Gundam is going Macross by adding aliens. No longer Gundam as it began, ie humans vs humans.

But then again there are no Macross projects in anime form in the nearest future so who minds?

Macross could be facing big trouble lol now that Gundam is crossing the line :heh: (They had songstress in seed and now they have alien in 00...it's getting there :D)

I think adding alien is a welcome change for the Gundam Franchise....Lately, Gundam has been either "one against the world" (W, X, 00) or "wrestling between 2 major sides" (seed, and seed destiny)...(haven't seen Turn A so I can't comment on that one)...it's time for a change before seeing Gundam get into a decline...

You might wanna take a step back and try to get a little grip on reality there chief just because they made one Gundam movie that included an alien lifeform in one of the 7 timelines that exist so far doesn't mean human vs aliens is going to become the new status quo. Especialy since it's alternate timeline that from what I heard the movie is it as far as anime production goes some more manga and variants for models but the main story is done. Also I'm not thrilled with this whole aliens in Gundam thing either but then this isn't the first Gundam timeline that was a bit off Mobile Fighter G Gundam with it's super robot themed Gundams comes to mind.

Turn-A is just really fucking weird.

I'll always remember Loran chainsawing through a sword.

IIRC, wasn't the Turn X still built by humans? It was created from the Turn A, and built outside the solar system, but I've heard nothing that say aliens or non-humans built it.

The 30th anniversary of Macross is closing in, so i'm sure we'll have something new then.

I'm in the camp that isn't that pleased with Aliens in my Gundam, though saying that it doesn't mean i'm not willing to give the idea a try. I'll see how i feel when i eventually get to see the 00 film.

I think the presence of aliens has the potential to be a welcome change but I hope aliens don't make an appearance in every Gundam series from here on out.

Didn't SEED feature a fossil of a space whale? What was its purpose, other than the fact that it was discovered by George Glenn?

IMO the significance of adding aliens in Gundam is overblown. We already had a martial arts tournament featuring super kung fu fighters in tights yelling out attacks and punching each other out in their super robot windmill and schoolgirl Gundams 15 years ago. Nothing will ever beat that in outlandishness.

It was a symbol of Coordinators' achievements.

I am one with the element of aliens in Gundam. However, I'm not too sure if any more Gundam series might take it into consideration. I can already see the future flame wars of people saying "It's ripping of Gundam 00, OMG FAIL". I look forward as to how it'll impact Gundam's future.

After thinking about it some more, it really doesn't matter whether you're fighting humans or aliens. It's really just an extension of the Earth vs space colony conflict. Now you could have space colony vs aliens.

Having aliens doesn't make it a macross series. And I think the gundam franchise still have rooms to grow. Especially since it has the advantage of having different independent series. So one or more series with aliens doesn't affect other series. How about female-piloted mobile suits with human female-shaped breasts?*
I forgot if G had that. If not, an alien (perhaps semi-organic) mobile suits could have that.

*(Watching the new SRW OG anime reminds me why sometimes I hate super robot mecha designs. :twitch::eyebrow::frustrated:)

What I like about the ELS is that they're not a traditional alien form that you would see in a Gundam series. They're living animals that evolved in a gas giant, I honestly expected something like the Reapers from Mass Effect or The Empire from Star Wars in 00.

They're the only aliens that's been prominently featured in a gundam series. So I don't know what traditional gundam series alien form are you talking about here.

Right. The people on Earth only thought it was extraterrestrial when they found it.

If you read the rest of post, you'll see what I expected.

The Turn X was built by Newtypes, that left the solar system to colonize the universe, outside the solar system, and designed as a weapon for interstellar war.

It was discovered drifting toward the Solar System IIRC. And Turn A was created from reverse engineering its technology, to counter the revealed potential extraterrestrial menace.

I don't recall if its torso was female shaped, but yeah G-Gundam had the Nobel Gundam, which featured a female figure clad in a sailor fuku, and displaying long blond hair.

The rest of your post has nothing to do with "traditional alien form that you would see in a Gundam series" either. Mass Effect and Star Wars are not gundam series.

Perhaps you meant to say "traditional alien form that you would see in Mass Effect or Star Wars." I checked and Nobel Gundam has a regular torso.

Regardless, given the nature of Gundam with two armies one good, one bad, you would expect something in that nature. Whereas the ELS are just living creatures, like a colony of ants or something.

Before the ELS were revealed, I had expected something like I said, because they would be more traditional with Gundam.

Nope, no Aphrodite A lookalikes, but like I said, everything else from windmills to schoolgirls to Buddhist bells to clowns to Zambot 3s are present.

Compared to those, the ELS are pretty darn average-looking.

Idk, I think they all look pretty neat. They have a dynamic range of appearances, some are big, some are small.

For me, I would call the introduction of the aliens to the Gundam franchise as a "stepping stone".

The introduction of Aliens would certainly uplift the original and traditional Gundam concept;

Technology: Sure there's many technology that exists in all Gundam universal time lines but the introduction of aliens would surely boost and add more technology to future Gundam series. Although in the Gundam 00: A wakening of the trailblazer this is not shown as the ELS roughly didn't have their own technology because they basically assimilated and copied all the technology they encountered so they will have technology to use. (This is assuming that no significant data about the ELS is revealed up to this point other than their ability of shape-shifting.)

Story: As the aliens would surely affect the story of a Gundam series, this would also surprise those who have watched Gundam series from 1970s as the story would expand to a new faction and not the remaining old factions (Gundams, Political factions, Rebellious side, Protagonist's side.)

Mechas: As a new faction, the aliens would surely produce their own line of mechas to use to combat the protagonist's mechas and not just use the existing mechas of existing factions (Political factions), otherwise they would turn to a copy of the Gundam 00 movie.

Company: The use of Aliens for upcoming Gundam series would be new to the eyes for those who already watched previous Gundam series. As stated above, the new alien mechas would severely increase profits as the kits that will be sold would no longer feature traditional Gundam parts and might as well come in pre-assembled packages.

Concept: This category will be the one that will have a significant change as the aliens are introduced. The traditional concept of Gundam would be surely uplifted by the usage of aliens as Antagonists for the future Gundam franchise. However, as time passes by and as usage of aliens in upcoming Gundam franchise will be common it will also affect the traditional view of people that watched previous Gundam series (without aliens) and this might be an indirect way of changing the traditional concept of Gundam franchise as the people's perspective will be changed due to the orientation and common usage of aliens in future Gundam franchise.

Timelines: The introduction of aliens to the Gundam franchise could roughly affect existing timelines (UC, AC, AD, CE) as the orientation of aliens is not hinted in the main story plot that the series is currently following and this might cause the sequel to the series to differ from the series, this could also lead to a development of a separate and new series but still using the current timeline (Which in my opinion, is a great way to introduce the aliens in the Gundam franchise.)

You know that Bandai already has entire lines of pre-assembled action figures and model kits, which are by no means new or innovative. And of course, this would need to be dependent on the design of the aliens as well: they very well might design the aliens to be more model kit friendly in the future, more Zentraedi than H.R. Giger for example.

I don't really get this part, since only Universal Century has a singular timeline that encompasses multiple series, with all the others being set in their own story verses. Aliens may have appeared in Gundam 00, but I doubt it'll suddenly go into a ripple effect where all previous timelines that didn't have aliens in the story would suddenly get them.

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Honestly I don't mind aliens in Gundam, and in fact embrace the new change as a breath of fresh air needed in Gundam. Gundam is more about conflict and the message of conflict itself than humans vs humans imho, and in fact Gundam has always had an element of "inferior race vs superior race" from Newtypes and Oldtypes, to Gundam SEED's Coordinators vs Naturals conflict where said differences where the root of the conflict. More technologically superior aliens would simply be the most extreme end of said element in Gundam.

There is no precedent however to suggest that aliens will become the new status quo of any future Gundam work, since concepts from one show doesn't necessarily carry over into another - ex. Gundams after G didn't become Gundam Fight Sport Tournaments afterall. The only thing that 00 does in introducing aliens in the franchise is to make Gundam set its mark on a conceptual territory it hasn't been in before, like a flag saying "hey, we did this too!". It'll be up to the next creative team to decide whether they want aliens to feature in their Gundam work or stick to more familiar trappings.

It depends on how it's implemented. The politics will be interesting, because politics will always be part of Gundam.

Gundam 00 did it well in my book for the context of itself, while leaving it blank some of the more potentially messy stuff (like politics with the aliens and the like). If any future series continues with the theme, that w


Interesting to see how it continues. Seed started it with the space whale discovery; it's not much but it is something. 00 brought it to the next step with intelligent species that humans goes into conflict with but still lack the politics of it (as far as its showcased anyways). I wonder if the theme does continue, how far it will go next time.

I do hope it does not appear in a UC instalment though, that's just pure classic. But it sounds like a neat idea for another AU series.

What I'm worried about is if we'll start seeing protagonists battle on alien planets in the Gundam's future.

Hmmm, I thought that the all the previous timelines were somehow united by Turn A? With the exception of CE and AD.

IMO, aliens is a pretty broad definition so there's many ways one can build a series that involves them. I guess it's like the current AUs are for, each of them has their own specific style and substance that is attractive to a certain group of fans but not necessarily others.

But if there is one later, I'll have to see it before I can judge it.

I wouldn't be worried if something like that actually happened. I've long thought that Gundam needs to get out of the Earth Sphere and explore fresh new spatial territory, if only so that we don't get Earth all the time. Although with how Gundam traditionally portrays battles in Earth and space, what'll the showtime difference between Earth and Mars combat anyway, or on another M-class planet? Not much as far as I can see, unless the teams get really creative in that aspect.

There's a reason that the Turn-A Bang theory is just that: a theory. Even with all the cameos and the connections, the timeline for Turn A's connection to the other series is very vague and subject to lots of personal interpretation.

Even if one believes that a "ripple effect" can occur, the fact is that Gundam 00 takes place in the Anno Domini calendar, which cannot even fit into the proposed continuities of Turn A Gundam without significant hand-waving or mass amnesia (Using the most common theory, if 00 is set before UC, then how could the Earth in UC not have Space Elevators, GN Drives and have not heard of aliens?).

I don't necessarily agree with Turn A's implication. But it's possible that the moonlight butterfly was used to destroy technology in the past, thus negating human technological advances as their focus turned to survival.

The ELS, from a post made awhile back in the Trailblazer thread, evolved in a gas giant. They were formed from organic and metallic compounds reacting to radiation in a manner similar to life on earth, only instead of a liquid water ocean, they formed in the liquid metal core of the planet.

As the ELS evolved, they became able to advance past the lower atmospheres of their gas planet, in search of the light from the sun which to the ELS, gave them life. This goal lead them to advance into space, and expand outward, avoiding the destruction of their planet by their sun.

Based off the fact that their planet was devoured by their sun, the system in which the ELS originated probably was around for eons longer than our solar system.

The ELS to me represents another new possibility, not just more war and angst. They are a "true" alien race, not some human look alike from other anime like Macross. Their motives were completely uncomprehendable in Trailblazer until the Qan used it's abilities to communicate with them. How would another species see and view all the flaws of humanity that is constantly displayed in the Gundam universes, what seems important to us may seem utterly strange to them.

Aliens aren't just a factor in being targets to blow up, they present an opportunity to get people to open their minds to all different possibilities. One of the main problems in Gundam is a lack of communication and ability to understand which tends to end up with the tons of deaths some of the series is famous for.

As for fighting on alien planets, I would love to see Gundams fighting on a world with methane seas, in the atmospheres of gas giants, and many other possible places I haven't been able to imagine. The universe is a immense and strange place, the laws of reality warp constantly throughout.

Aliens have huge potential for Gundam, just as long as they avoid the humanoid cross species "love" that infected the vast majority of other animes dealing with aliens. They're suppose to be ALIEN!, with their own conceptions of relationships that would be beyond our understanding or at least difficult to comprehend, the universe isn't suppose to be filled with love triangles waiting to happen. >_<

did everyone forget about Sunrise's Ideon, Armored Trooper VOTOMS, Heavy Metal L-gaim, & Layzner which were made way before Macross existed?

Yes! But they were more of the same <3 humanoid alien @#*@ in my opinion.

The ELS are a perfect example of the saying "It's life, but not as we know it".

Is this the first time in film/television/book history where the aliens' invasion of Earth turned out to be a huge misunderstanding?

Err, only Ideon came before Macross in your list.

As I had observed, most do not welcome much change to the Gundam universe, which of course, is brought forth by the indomitable "aliens". Certainly, many still hold truth to the traditional Gundam themes, while some are arguing that "aliens" will bring Gundam to a whole new level.

Personally, Gundam 00 was a pretty decent attempt at incorporating "aliens" into Gundam universes. Contacts were made, and most content were restricted to interpretation by humans, and only slightly explored the nature and biology of "aliens". We didn't let our imagination run wild into creating mobile suits, politics for "aliens" which are, unfortunately, very different from us indeed. This, in my opinion, should be how "aliens" are best and most used in the Gundam universes.

Take for example, the whale from Gundam Seed. It was used to exemplify the capabilities of the Coordinators to enhance the appeal of the series as a whole. The kind of complicated "we-interpret-aliens-according-to-humans" was subtly avoided. Gundam 00 also succeeded in this.

Until all themes and resources have been exhausted among "human" societies in the various Gundam universes, I reckon that the Gundam tradition would ensue.

Yeah, I agree. It sounds like a nice "limitation" to build on too.

But if it continues, the next one may have the aliens be more involved through the said AU series. Like in G00, while it was always an important prediction of the "Plan", most of them still remain illusive until the end. So maybe next time they will be more visible and involved than they did in G00 (and GS) but still not "too" involved.



It would be cool if they're all metal and mechanic though. Heh back in the day I was hoping they'd do a Reaper-like (from mass effect series). Heh, I sort of got my wish with the ELS being metallic.

I don't know if you're being sarcastic...:confused:

But no it is not. Out the top of my head would be Enders. Even Vajra's and Zentraedi can be considered huge misunderstandings.


They might actually just expand to planet vs planet warfare in the future Gundam franchise. Where the human race expanded through out the galaxy and evolved in different ways, hence they're "aliens" and phyiscally look different but are still fairly humanoid and hentai-doujin-able.

I wonder if the ELS are hentai doujin-able? :heh: