Gundam cliches you could do without?

[Bryant Molirse]

Let's see the cliches in Gundam I could do without.

1.) The Super/Highly Trained Emotionless Soldier -
Sorry, no more Heero Yuyi's or Setsuna F. Seiei's. Characters of this type lack any sort of depth when it comes to their actions, and, or their lives. When the character themselves seem like they don't care if they live or die, whats the point of watching to see if they do survive? And to make matters worse, usually these characters have to be supported by an overly emotional character which usually draws the ire of many in the fandom. But I'll leave the consequences of such things to everyone's collective memories.

2.) Funnels Being Wonder Weapons -
Only in After War X, and the very early part of Seed did we see funnels as vulnerable weapons that could be combated against like any other weapon. Most of the time however, they are treated as unstoppable weapons of mass destruction that can level any battlefield at any time. There is no need to point out how many times this is true in Gundam, since nearly every universe from the very first, to the latest, it has been the case.

3.) Relationship-less Relationships / Misplaced Emotions -
We always hear about characters feelings when they are in the cockpit, fighting for their lives, or on some random excursion to some random place. But even if they are in a relationship, you never see them spending time talking with the person they are with about such things. This is completely ass backwards. Pilots in real life don't scream their emotions when firing a hellfire missile, and they usually talk about their feelings with their spouses, and that's only when they are able to be with them.

4.) Newtype/Psychic/Whatever -
I have no problem with introducing a new development in humanity, however I'm sick of it being the be all, end all. Doesn't matter what "ability" you have, everyone, and I mean everyone, has an off day, and can not have a moment of brilliance every other second. Seed is not the only one guilty of this. Newtypes, Innovators, Seed Bearers, X Rounders, all of them. Every time anything like that shows up, it isn't treated like an ability, or a talent, it is treated like, GOD MODE ON!, and all mere mortals beware. It's frankly stupid, and detracts from everything they have tried to show through out the series.

These last two are personal in nature but they are hang ups to me.

5.) Half B'Sed Technology -
If they are gonna take the time to create completely fictional machines, weapons, and systems, at least fully flesh them out. Nothing like trying to figure out the thrust to weight ratios for machines, and having only half the information listed for only a handful of machines. In the same line of thought, nothing like giving machines random power generation abilities, while giving their weapons power consumption rates at ridiculous levels, and that's only if they are even listed. Also, if you are gonna come up with a arbitrary rating system, apply it to all machines, not just a handful. This kinda crap makes people think one machine is all powerful when in reality it is so limited you can't help but laugh at it. So if you are going to BS something, bs the whole thing.

And finally
6.) Age A.D.D. -
It is my sincere wish that once AGE is completed, we will never see another rushed timeline style series EVER AGAIN. There are so many things I could point at in this as extremely flawed, but I will just stick to one for the moment. The life, and death of Yurin. According to the little time skip marker, Flit, and Yurin spent a month together right before her death, however since they didn't show any of this time, it completely took away from her death, and it's effect on Flit. Hell they spent how many episodes on Lu, and Kio? And it wasn't even like her death is having same effect as it had on Flit. Flit is pretty much on the verge of a genocidal mental break on the Vagan, and beyond his own mother's death, Yurin's made him croak out the most. God I could rant on this for several hours, but I'll leave it at this for now.

[Amion]

Edit.

For all of you out there who want all those tropes to go away,I have only this to say in response.

These cliches are worth something!

[AmuroNT1]

Deacon: I was thinking only about the original Crossbone when I made that statement. I'll gladly admit that Ghost-era Tobia is complete h4x.

[balofo]

Understanding

[Arbiter GUNDAM]

The CHAR

In the main series of course. Do we really need a masked guy every time? I think ZZ is the only TV series that actually didn't have a Char at all. I suppose Lancerow and Harry Ord only partly count, but even so...

Oh and it doesn't help that Zeheart is the Worst Char Ever. Practically an insult to Char and Char clones everywhen.

[teslashark]

where did i say "no next-generation humans of any kind"?

I just combined what I want to say, excuse me.

[2NA Fish]

I'd like hangar security to be beefed up.

[HellCat]

The CHAR

In the main series of course. Do we really need a masked guy every time? I think ZZ is the only TV series that actually didn't have a Char at all. I suppose Lancerow and Harry Ord only partly count, but even so...

Oh and it doesn't help that Zeheart is the Worst Char Ever. Practically an insult to Char and Char clones everywhen.

I did like that 00 at least saved it to point out how stupid it was. Some people seem to forget that Char's was a simple mask under the standard Zeon helmet. Odd but plain. It's been later series that have kooky stuff. I think SEED even has like 3 masked guys running around now.

[Andrew_Graruru]

I'll just echo everything Hellcat has said about casting main-characters as flawless messiahs. Does the Japanese audience of Gundam just not enjoy flawed protagonists? Is it so much to ask for a Gundam-pilot who isn't the most sensitive, loving being in the universe, and has some actually interesting character-flaws?

[Vent Noir]

One that hasn't been mentioned yet:

"Female pilots get pink mobile suits".

[Dark Duel]

You know, off the top of my head I can't think of any examples of female pilots getting a pink mobile suit. I mean, one could argue Haman's Qubeley, but that was mostly white.
That painful-to-see pink ZAKU from GSD doesn't count, as that was actually piloted by a dude.
The only example I can think of that might work is Katejina's Gottrlatan from V, and that's about as pink as Char's assorted mobile suits in MSG, with a lot of it actually being red.
Speaking of which, red seems to be a pretty prevalent color for female pilots though. Rising Gundam, Quess's Jagd Doga, the Throne Drei, the Gerbera Tetra, Ple Two's Qubeley MkII, the aforementioned Gottrlatan(arguably)...

A lot of the Gundam clichés that annoy me the most have already been mentioned so there's not a whole lot to add, but here are a few:
1. I'm really tired of the whole "random kid trips into a mobile suit and kicks butt" thing already. As intensely as I dislike the last third or so of 0083, it is among the series that I find more interesting/enjoyable overall because its pilots are all trained soldiers.

2. Do we seriously have to rehash the Amuro-Lalah/Kamille-Four thing every time? Maybe I'm biased because in many cases the character in question is usually among my favorite female characters in their respective series, but the whole "tragic-romance-with-enemy-pilot" thing is kinda getting irritating. Not so much the "romance-with-enemy-pilot" part that bugs me though, but the "tragic" part. I'd like to see one that actually works out well every so often.

3. The Gundam Syndrome. By which I refer to the idea that only a Gundam can beat another Gundam. It's a really minor thing, but it annoys me to no end.

4. The whole "handful of people fighting against everyone else and winning" thing, as per Gundam Seed/Seed Destiny, 00, etc...Though I will concede that Wing and 00 Season 1 at least managed it convincingly because (A) the small group had a MASSIVE technological advantage, and (B) once the tech gap narrowed, the battles became much more balanced, with even some losses. 00 Season 2 managed to be tolerably balanced as well...except for Setsuna and the 00-Raiser, but even then that's arguably mostly justified*, again, by the tech gap, as amply demonstrated in the fight against Reborns Gundam.
(*The exception being the whole "Innovator" psychic shenanigans, which got downright narmy at times)

5. And speaking of which, rounding out the top five, are the psychic shenanigans themselves. I know the whole thing is as old as Gundam itself, but frankly it's ridiculous, and it goes to ridiculous lengths. Recently Setsuna in 00 Season 2 and the movie was just about the worst offender of all, although Kio Asuno had a couple of moments that reaaaaally stretched suspension of disbelief.

[Vent Noir]

Strike Rouge in Seed
Tieren Taozi in 00
Farsia and Fram's MS in Age

So it's a comparatively recent cliche.

[Mythgarr]

lagrange colony vs earth wars. Can we do something else, like, you know, Jupiter/Titan vs Earth or Mars vs Earth (oh wait...) or bio-mechanical rebels versus refugee humans (wait, wait..)?

Cannon Fodders. Really, you devastated asteroid belts simply to build cannon fodders? Or are they so recyclable you'd have no qualms sending them to battlefields again and again.

[Dark Duel]

Strike Rouge in Seed
Tieren Taozi in 00
Farsia and Fram's MS in Age

...
Well, that was embarrassing. I mean, I haven't seen 00 since buying the DVDs so I'd forgotten about the Taozi, but the Farsias were a lot more recent...and given that, until I was forced to put it on hiatus a couple of weeks ago, I was slogging through GSD again, forgetting the Strike Rouge is just as bad.

But yeah, I'd have to agree. I suppose it's kind of a silly argument in shows about brightly colored giant robots that are intended to as much sell model kits as anything else, but pink is just NOT a good color for a mobile suit. Let's stop that.

An addendum to my #3 above, since Mythgarr mentioned cannon fodder: Grunts actually not DOING ANYTHING except STAND AROUND AND GET KILLED. In this respect, AGE has by and large been much less guilty of this than many others, suffering more from Gundam Syndrome than from "Stand there and die"-itis. But it still counts.

[Outlaw]

Farsia and Fram's MS in Age

Agree on Farsia but the Fawn Farsia's coloration is so pale I think there is some room in there to argue.
Interesting tidbit: pre 1940s culture (at least in the west) would have had manly pink and girly blue mobile suits.


As far as cliches go: I've always been a motives man myself so I don't particularly care what you do so much as why or how.

However, if I had to pick one it would be ham-fisted romance. It seems like every story (Anime/TV/Movies not just Gundam) these days just has to tack on a romance story, like it's just on their checklist. To add insult to injury it usually goes one of two ways: the slow burn get together at the end romance, or the off again/on again whiplash. Is it really so hard to believe that a relationship can be interesting or entertaining after the initial hook up?

[DuelGundam2099]

^Not to mention you rarely see any anime couple kiss on screen.

[Kei Katsuragi]

Series ending with a Gundam vs Gundam duel is my main complaint. I'm sick of seeing the following:

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_aZXLABHqC5c/S ... +Aegis.png

http://download.minitokyo.net/Mobile.Su ... 446870.jpg

http://www.deviantart.com/download/2112 ... 3hrfrh.jpg

http://media.carddit.com/a/tL0JCv4Cx.jpg

I miss the ol' days, when we had The O and such. Felt more menacing to have a powerful non-Gundam as the last boss

[DuelGundam2099]

^You forgot God Gundam vs. Devil Gundam and Double X Gundam vs. Virsago Chest Break and Ashtaron Hermit Crab. In all seriousness though, that would be neat to see again.

[Kei Katsuragi]

^You forgot God Gundam vs. Devil Gundam and Double X Gundam vs. Virsago Chest Break and Ashtaron Hermit Crab. In all seriousness though, that would be neat to see again.

Haha, I couldn't find pictures

[Kuruni]

^Not to mention you rarely see any anime couple kiss on screen.

You jut don't search hard enough.

Pick one with "R18+" label and you will see lot of kissing, even if they aren't couple .