Popularity of the Alternate Universes

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Mafty
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Popularity of the Alternate Universes

I know that the universal century timeline is seen as being the most popular/profitable amongst longtime fans, but what about the AU's? I know it would vary on a cases by case basis, but did any of the other universe become more popular than the UC(at least at the time)? Because some of the more popular other series (ie Wing, and 00) never had full length sequels. Where they not deemed as popular as works set in the UC? Or was Sunrise making new shows/timelines to attract new fans, so they didn't want to add to more existing timelines?
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Seto Kaiba
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Re: Popularity of the Alternate Universes

Mafty wrote: Mon Feb 15, 2021 3:41 pm I know that the universal century timeline is seen as being the most popular/profitable amongst longtime fans, but what about the AU's? I know it would vary on a cases by case basis, but did any of the other universe become more popular than the UC(at least at the time)?
Given the sheer size of the Gundam fanbase, I don't think there's an easy metric to determine whether any of the AUs ever approached the popularity of the Universal Century apart from whether or not they got sequels. The potential objective measures of success are muddied considerably by the fact that the AU stories tend to also gain followings among hardcore UC Gundam fans and are a gateway for new fans towards the UC era.

Most AU stories tend to be either one-and-done or series-movie-done, and thereafter are only revisited in various spinoff manga titles and crossover games. Gundam SEED is probably the closest an AU has ever come to the Universal Century's level, with two full-length four-cour TV shows, an ONA, and some compilation movies. Turn A's era is the only one where they've revisited it in new animation after a significant length of time, and that's something they're probably not likely to attempt again anytime soon given that Reconguista in G wasn't that well-received.
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