Mobile Suit Gundam 00 Discussion & News [Spoilers]

[brightman]

Originally Posted by duckroll

Edit: Also, from the summary of the story, it doesn't appear that there are any colonies or equavilants in the story. Basically after mankind discovered the new solar based power source, the two superpowers continued to fight on and on, until the organization Celestial Being decided to attempt to stop it all with Gundams....

There will probably be something in space, since in the promo at least, one of the Gundams appear to be firing a cannon from outer space. So they will probably have battles in space, though if not for colonies, it could be for space fortresses or stations or the like.

I don't like that part. I hated how in Seed a single MS can take out entire armies on its own. I hope Gundam 00 don't continue this trend.

Yeah, that's the worst news so far, but hopefully, the rest of the world catches up quickly and the Gundams are quickly outdated. I doubt this will be the case though.

[duckroll]

A lot of our speculuation now will have to wait another month to be satisfied. The Newtype preview for the August issue (out in July) states that the real blow out on Gundam 00 news will be in that issue. That's when they'll reveal the entire Gundam team, etc. Oh well, let's hope for another teaser trailer this weekend after Terra!

[Duo Maxwell]

We know that They are machines made to take out entire armies individually, but did anyone said that they are capable of doing that in real battle?
Furthermore, isn't it interesting to see that people actually give a thought about strategy to beat those invincible machine?

At least I still haven't had any negative feeling about this one.

[Vallen Chaos Valiant]

Originally Posted by Duo Maxwell

We know that They are machines made to take out entire armies individually, but did anyone said that they are capable of doing that in real battle?
Furthermore, isn't it interesting to see that people actually give a thought about strategy to beat those invincible machine?

At least I still haven't had any negative feeling about this one.

Since from what we know, the "organisation" came out of nowhere, it is likely the Gundams will have free reign on the battle field for several episodes while the more traditional armies change their tactics. It is what happens after the element of surprise dissipates, when the Gundams could face a coordinated counter attack against them, that determine if the Gundams could work the way they were designed for.

[Nightengale]

Well, some things sound worrisome, but it's not like we really know anything in large details.

Besides, since GUNDAM are 2nd generations units in 00, and by the idea that missiles and melee weapons seem to play a decent role in army wiping, for all we know, 1st generation mass-production units of the super-powers are kinda like those wimpy robots Camille piloted. Or maybe merely bipedal tanks or advanced jet fliers. Because honestly, from what we saw of the 4 Gundams, I'll find hard to believe they possess enough firepower to be considered as war-stoppers in a war-torn conflicted world, unless they have Lambda Driver or something...which will be borderline ridiculous.

And 4 Gundams. Maybe it's because they can only have 4 Gundams? I dunno, I think it'd be a nice idea if the Gundam concept is so ridiculous and expensive in a mere 300 years later than the merely the development and deployment of 4 killed more than half their pockets?

[Not_At]

Originally Posted by duckroll

Okay here are more plot and termilogy details:


The director Mizushima also makes a few comments about the direction the show is taking. Apparently the decision to set the show in 2307 AD is to force a sense of realism into the series and a stronger connection to our real world. Since it follows the same timeline as ours, the worldview and settings will be more similar to the real world than that of a standard Gundam series, which is a new direction they're aiming for. There also appears to be two major superpower factions in the world: The Union (America leading Japan, Canada and Australia) and People's Reform Federation (that's the closest I can translate 人革連, and it's comprised of China, Russia and India).

Yay for realistic politics! Now I just have to hope that:

A) This show doesn't make one side completely evil monsters (*cough DESTINY shallow Earth Alliance cough*)

b) This show doesn't make the gaijin Western European foreigners evil (*cough Nationalist Code Geass cough*)

Of course, I don't want to bash this show before it comes out. But to me, one of the most important things Gundam has done was shown that there are good and bad people on both sides of the conflict, which GSD totally wrecked.

[NeonZ]

b) This show doesn't make the gaijin Western European foreigners evil (*cough Nationalist Code Geass cough*)

It's off topic, but... Britain by itself isn't "Western Europe". In fact, the Europeans are the only world power in the world of CG that hasn't been portrayed as evil, yet, unlike the Chinese and Britania governments.

[justsomeguy]

Originally Posted by Nightengale

Besides, since GUNDAM are 2nd generations units in 00, and by the idea that missiles and melee weapons seem to play a decent role in army wiping, for all we know, 1st generation mass-production units of the super-powers are kinda like those wimpy robots Camille piloted. Or maybe merely bipedal tanks or advanced jet fliers. Because honestly, from what we saw of the 4 Gundams, I'll find hard to believe they possess enough firepower to be considered as war-stoppers in a war-torn conflicted world, unless they have Lambda Driver or something...which will be borderline ridiculous.

That would be what I want to see... Having Gundams being the only true mobile suits, that completely dominate the first few battles, until the other sides suddenly introduce their own MSs that can actually challenge the Gundams.

[kira-sama]

i know this series at random curiosity
the first thought on this gundam is the design and characters not bad and the story will be interesting
so i will try watch one episode

[Kaioshin Sama]

Originally Posted by justsomeguy

That would be what I want to see... Having Gundams being the only true mobile suits, that completely dominate the first few battles, until the other sides suddenly introduce their own MSs that can actually challenge the Gundams.

It sounds like Celestial Beings are Zeon and the rest of the world is the Earth Federation if that's the case.

[wingdarkness]

Are we sure there are no colonies or space-ecosystems or is that just speculation??

Originally Posted by duckroll

Apparently the decision to set the show in 2307 AD is to force a sense of realism into the series and a stronger connection to our real world.

Greatest sentence in the last 2 years of GUNDAM...

You see the fact it's only 300 years in the future totally limits the scope of the technology...which SHOULD bring some degree of tactical prowess to the table...

GN Particles:

A sort of mutation neutrion discovered by chance, it is the origin of the research behind the GN Drive. When the GN Drive is in operation, these particles are automatically generated. When they're in the air they have the special property of shutting down all radar systems completely

Can you say minovsky?

Still holding out hope for that masked-guy...That's the only thing that would hurt my enthusiasm a bit...After Neo I can't go 2 straight G-series with no good masked dude...Everything else sounds good to me because I anticpate plenty of close-quarters melee action which is just great for people like me who want that nuianced action as opposed to beams just flying everywhere...

And it seems Scarf-boy is the main character--Oh well Gundam ain't Gundam without one kid at the helm...Curious, do you guys perfer all natural pilots or some special ability needed to pilot??

Anyways keep giving us the good info guys...

[HEDGESMFG]

Hmm...


There are some very strong positives in what's been released so far, with a few minor possible negatives to look at.

Positives:

#1. The fact that the director himself discusses realism from the getgo and focuses on more contemporary political struggles may very well be a positive thing. It could mean that, despite the target audience, intelligent debate about relevant issues won't be above this show, and realism and common sense won't be completely tossed out the window. As a whole, I have very good faith in the staff they've given us so far.

#2. The central backdrop for the series is a modern war torn world with multiple conflicts going on at the same time. If the premise of the 3rd neutral anti-war party is going to work, this is the way it needs to be. With the current state of the Iraq war, war torn Africa, and other parts of the world still engaging in conflicts... it is somewhat understandable that the youth of Japan may wish to strongly identify with a movement to stop war, just as many here in the US already have. When you consider the implications of this, and Gundam's tendancy to symbolically deal with the social issues of the time period, this isn't necessarily a bad approach to take as long as they don't present it in a 2-dimensional way (as Destiny often did with the Clyne faction).

#3. The mecha animation director sounds very capable, as he has done work on GaoGaiGar, Planetes, and Stargazer, each of which had excellent action and animation.

#4. Mechanical designs look new and fresh. They carry the feel of Gundam without feeling recycled. Although is that a V-fin on the new Gundam's crotch?

#5. While some may complain with bishounen type characters, I personally am perfectly happy to see that the character designs as a whole stand out as something fairly unique.

Negatives:

#1. The Gundams having the ability to take down an entire army may or may not be a negative depending upon how it's presented. Early on in the show, the opposing armies may not even 'have' mobile suits on the battlefield, in which case I'd guess a crew of 4 Gundams would rationally be super-weapons by comparison. Again, this one really depends on the kind of approach the series takes... If the 4 mobile suits work together in a strategic and intelligent way in order to take down several foes, that might not be so bad to watch. If it's just stock footage after stock footage of tanks and grunts exploding for the first 2-3 episodes, then we may have some problems.

Personally, though, I hope and logically expect the rest of the world to simply not have caught up with the level of tech these early generation Mobile Suits will supposedly have. As the series progresses, we should hopefully see some serious conflicts begin between factions, and a bit of a struggle on the parts of our protagonists.

#2. Setsuna, while not Shinn, is hopefully also not Heero Yuy. I don't mind a bit of mystery or intrigue, but I hope the kid doesn't stay in his shell for the whole show and that we also get a chance to see him grow as both a character and a pilot. His background suggests that war has indeed greatly affected both his life and personna, so those issues need to be properly addressed in order for us to not get stuck with someone one-dimensional here.

[brightman]

Originally Posted by wingdarkness

You see the fact it's only 300 years in the future totally limits the scope of the technology...which SHOULD bring some degree of tactical prowess to the table...

Technically, First Gundam is only like 50-200 years from now, as UC's start date has been placed anywhere from 1969 to 2075 AD or something. So in terms of technological advancement, anything is possible for 2307 AD.

However, I think his point is that by placing the show in OUR timeline, the show establishes a set time frame and setting that we can relate to, and is symbolically closer to today's world than a fictional timeline like UC. It might also indicate that there has been no significant change to the world and its social economical structure that would warrant a new timeline (ie, massive migration to outer space as in UC, FC and AC, massive realignment of international borders as in CE, massive death and destruction as in AW).

[Anh_Minh]

Considering their handwavium based power generators, I wouldn't hold my breath for realism. (Well, it's not like giant mechs are realistic to start with anyway.)

[wingdarkness]

I disagree Anh_Minh...It's all about the context of the realism...

@brightman - In 1978 lots of people thought cars would fly in 2000...So the technology of first Gundam worked from that time base...A time-base from 2007 our time projecting to 2307 seems to me will be far more tangible as I can see MS's of that size being created 300 years from now as oppose to 50-100 years from 1978 (The evolution of technology in the last 10 years is far above the previous 10--Think about the next 10, then 100)...Obviously we are comparing in-terms of the last Gundam series which was beyond it's own technological scope borderlining TOTAL-fantasy in it's tech-advancements...So in comparison I don't think anything is possible, but I do think many things are plausible based on this new time-frame...Over-poweredness within a boxed context is what I envision from this series...And seemingly melee based-fighting would suggest to be more tactical and nuainced (Which I'm dying for)...

[Crusader]

I just hope we get a good dose of politics, maybe on the level of Wing.

[wingdarkness]

Originally Posted by Crusader

I just hope we get a good dose of politics, maybe on the level of Wing.

I hope we just get good dialouge in general...One of the reasons I loved FMA was the character interaction and dialouge...Hopefully some of that trickles into Gundam 00...And if it does take anything from Wing (Ducks the Wing-haters) I would love it to be the pilots actually expressing themselves while fighting...There's nothing I hate more than souless confrontations with the pilots just going "Aaaaaargh!!" with no verbal interaction..That's what heightens battles to me...I want the Gundams to be the extention of the pilot not the other way around...

[ZeusIrae]

Well....I am late too the party but this is excellent news.Life's boring without your epic 50ep gundam show.

The trailer is short but gives me the feeling that this going to be a rather serious affair.

A little OT but related:

wow......the names in this thread bring back memories.

Brightman, srb, wingdarkness and others......This is going to be fun.Even if GSD sucked(my POV), the forum was pure insanity around ep28.Maybe it will rise once again.

[lordyu]

I hope the enemy have competent leaders as seed and seed destiny was completely devoid of those.

[Destinyblade]

Originally Posted by monstert

12th? Wasn't Destiny 10th? Which series am I missing?

A tad late in responding to this post, but I'll answer anyways. You're probably missing SD Gundam Force, the 52-episode series.

1. Mobile Suit Gundam
2. Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam
3. Mobile Suit ZZ Gundam
4. Mobile Suit Victory Gundam
5. Mobile Fighter G Gundam
6. Mobile Report Gundam Wing
7. After War Gundam X
8. Turn A Gundam
9. Mobile Suit Gundam SEED
10. SD Gundam Force
11. Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny
12. Mobile Suit Gundam 00

Anyways, it's nice to see the staff confirmed.