Huh. Itd Be Kinda Ironic If The Really Good Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury Got Shafted By

Huh. It’d be kinda ironic if the really good Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury got shafted by having its episode length cut down mid-production.

Because what happened to the original Mobile Suit Gundam in 1979?

[ID: A sprite gif of the Qubeley from Super Robot Pinball. It floats up and down, monoeye looking left to right. End ID.]

Gundam.info just dropped this work of art upon us. LOL. "Tekkadan's hospitality" Merribit: Since it's a new year, it might be a good idea to recruit new members. Shino: What about new members? Eugene: You can't let the newbies think you're lame! Shino: Yeah, we gotta make the leader flashy! Show them who's the boss! All: It's ready!! Shino(?): We're ready for the show!! Let's go, boys!! Atra: What, what is this? A festival?

Oh hey, another Gundam: Requiem for Vengeance trailer. Knew I should’ve staggered talking about the Full Armour stuff.

Anyway, given that I’m fresh out of RX-78’s to talk about (at least until we get some more information on the RX-78 Gundam Ex), I’ll have to do something drastic - actually discussing the trailer itself.

Gotta say, it is nice that we can finally get a good look at the mobile suits themselves now that they’ve got models. Regular, non-special Zaku II’s look nice, I’ll be interested in seeing how the proportions stack up. Also, those Gouf Custom’s near the end? Gorgeous. Really hope we get a HG of those (though I’m personally hoping for some unique accessories). I really, really hope we see Doms in this since they’re going to look absolutely beautiful.

I briefly misread the “11 months into the war” bit at the start as just 1 month into the war, and I had to go back and double-check. If it’s 11 months in then that basically allows for all kinds of great tech in place, and it also means that Zeon’s fortunes are going to change very quickly. Depending on precisely when it’s set, it’s either just before or after the Battle of Odessa, which is usually said to be the big turnaround of the entire war, and the beginning of the end for Zeon on Earth.

Character designs look good, I keep seeing the main character (I think it’s Illiya or Elise or something) as Nimona though, but that’s probably just me. It’s really interesting how much like a game it looks, it reminds me a lot of Gundam Igloo, but time will tell if it’s got that series’ charm.

“It’s the Red Wolves! They took out three fleets at Loum!” - The Battle of Loum is one of those things in Gundam where absolutely none of the information we are given about it matches up, so maybe take this with a grain of salt. I should note that Loum is the fight which made Char famous, as he was able to take out five ships single-handedly. The Black Tri-Stars also achieved great fame with their capture of General Revil. There are numerous other noted Zeon aces who made their name at Loum (or during the Earth drop operation), so there’s no harm in the Red Wolves being another. However, three fleets feels a bit implausible.

EDIT: Apparently this is a translation flub, and the intended line was “they took out three ships at Loum”, which makes sense.

(It’s likely emblematic how early UC was typically rather “realistic” with its numbers - a tally of three ships would be very respectable for any ace, and the title of ace itself was awarded after five kills - it sounds low, but speaks to how deadly these fights really were. But as time passes, it’s not unusual to see these numbers exaggerated in fiction. The absolute top aces of the One Year War have just under 200 kills, which would be on par with real-life fighter aces from the Second World War, which gundam’s aces draw heavily from).

Lastly, based on the general tone of the trailer, I’ll assume it’ll be shooting for a grittier take on the one year war a lá Gundam Thunderbolt, so it’ll be interesting to see how that all goes.

official Garma art

Zaku I by Hirotoshi Sano