Stuff You Can't Believe You Just Figured Out

[Fritz Ashlyn]

Well, there's a thread of the same name on the Something Awful forums, and earlier today I had a personal Gundam-related revelation that I thought may be enough to get a forum-appropriate version started here. The basic idea is that all of us have moments where we go "Holy crap, why didn't I notice that sooner?!" - sometimes they're just little things that make you feel dumb and sometimes they're huge realizations. Share yours here!

Here's mine:

So I'm a UC fan primarily, and I'm even currently running an RPG on this board set during Zeta Gundam. As such I'm quite familiar with the Titans, what they're all about, their uniforms, etc. Here are a couple of Titans logos - the main one, and one a few of us jokingly have called the "yellow chicken". Yeah, sure, we know what they look like. Some kind of stylized eagle/bird thing, right? WRONG.

I was playing SD Gundam G Generation F on the Playstation, seeing plenty of the Titans logo when a few things I already knew congealed together in my brain and slowly left my jaw on the floor:
(1) The Titans themselves are elder gods from Greek mythology.
(2) Gryps was the Titans' headquarters. "Grýps" is early Greek for Griffin.
(3) A griffin has the body of a lion and the head and wings of an eagle.

...wait a minute. I heard gears turning and smelled sawdust as my brain worked...

THE TITANS LOGO IS A GRIFFIN. ITS A GRIFFIN. A GRIFFIN. NOT AN EAGLE. AAUGH!!!

Look at the "yellow chicken" again. That shield logo even makes it look like the chest, head, and wings of a heraldic griffin. The Titans logos even have a pointy bit on the back of its head, like the ears usually depicted on a griffin that an eagle does not have. In mythology griffins often guard gold or other valuable treasure, much like the Titans were created to guard the Earth. Kazuhisa Kondo created a Titans mobile suit called the Griffin for his Zeta Gundam manga.

Now, I don't know if this is already widely known and I'm a dolt for somehow missing it for this long, or if it has been clearly pointed out in some Japanese source that I've never seen, but this blew my mind.


EDIT: And here's the first chance for this thread to mirror the SA one - somebody can come in here and tell me what I "figured out" is completely wrong or just a coincidence.

[Destiny_Gundam]

Awhile ago I discovered that Voltes V is Voltes 5, not Voltes Vee.

[Wingnut]

Awhile ago I discovered that Voltes V is Voltes 5, not Voltes Vee.

This one's a fairly common mistake that I too made for a while. Considering Combattler V is a vee and Voltes is written the same way, one would automatically think that it is pronounced vee as well without having heard it from the show itself.

[DuelGundam2099]

I just figured out

Spoiler

there is no list of the names of the monsters/killer robots of the week from God Mars

[LightningCount]

Just recently found out that Gundam Wing's ZERO System and Mobile DOLL each stand for something.

Zero System = (Zoning & Emotional Range Omitted) System
Mobile Doll = MOBILE (Direct Operational Lead Labor)

Very cool.

[toysdream]

Speaking of which, here's an observation on Gundam F91...

It belatedly occurs to me that the upstart mobile suit developer SNRI (Strategic Naval Research Institute), which displaces Anaheim Electronics with its radical new takes on traditional robot concepts, is probably a proxy for the Sunrise studio. The Japanese pronunciation of "SNRI" is サナリィ (Sanarii), which isn't too far removed from サンライズ (Sanraizu). Perhaps SNRI's triumph over Anaheim was a bit of wishful thinking on the eve of Bandai's absorption of Sunrise three years later?

If so, this wouldn't be the first or last bit of creator self-insertion in the Gundam series. The legendary scientist Y.T. Minovsky has a rather similar name to a certain Y. Tomino, and Adukurf Mechano-Industries, which produces all those crazy mobile armors in the Gundam Seed series, is an anagram of the Gundam Seed director's last name.

-- Mark

[Dark Duel]

Just recently found out that Gundam Wing's ZERO System and Mobile DOLL each stand for something.

Zero System = (Zoning & Emotional Range Omitted) System
Mobile Doll = MOBILE (Direct Operational Lead Labor)

Very cool.

I knew about the ZERO System, but I had never known that Mobile DOLL was an acronym too. Interesting.

[Wingnut]

Just recently found out that Gundam Wing's ZERO System and Mobile DOLL each stand for something.

Zero System = (Zoning & Emotional Range Omitted) System
Mobile Doll = MOBILE (Direct Operational Lead Labor)

Very cool.

I knew about the ZERO System, but I had never known that Mobile DOLL was an acronym too. Interesting.

It shows up briefly on a display screen in the movie version of Endless Waltz when Noin and Sally are tracking some decoy Taurus mobile suits.

[Fritz Ashlyn]

RISE FROM YOUR GRAVE

Here's something that struck me today that I feel a burning desire to tell people about. Back in 2007 I started a thread about Yazan Gable's turtle tattoo. Kishiria pointed out that Yazan resembles Sting, and The Dream of the Blue Turtles was released in 1985 so it made some sense.

Today I saw a fansite specifically make a connection that made me double-take. In a description of the above image: ヤザン中尉の「青海亀」のタトゥー。

"Lt. Yazan's 'blue sea turtle' tattoo."

Yazan is Sting, y'all.
http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb2 ... 7sting.jpg
http://image.toutlecine.com/photos/d/u/ ... 85-3-g.jpg

[ShadowCell]

this puts a hilarious new spin on songs like "Russians"

[schwarz ritter]

Yazan is Sting, y'all.
http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb2 ... 7sting.jpg
http://image.toutlecine.com/photos/d/u/ ... 85-3-g.jpg

HOLY. JESUS. EFFING. CHRIST. This one's the best revelation so far. LOL

[Arbiter GUNDAM]

RISE FROM YOUR GRAVE

I see what you did there.

http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb2 ... 7sting.jpg
http://image.toutlecine.com/photos/d/u/ ... 85-3-g.jpg

Samuel J. Houston on a bicycle, you're right!

[Fritz Ashlyn]

The Dream of the Blue Turtles was '85, and Sting appeared in David Lynch's adaptation of Dune looking like that in '84. It makes so much sense now...

[HellCat]

Speaking of which, here's an observation on Gundam F91...

It belatedly occurs to me that the upstart mobile suit developer SNRI (Strategic Naval Research Institute), which displaces Anaheim Electronics with its radical new takes on traditional robot concepts, is probably a proxy for the Sunrise studio. The Japanese pronunciation of "SNRI" is サナリィ (Sanarii), which isn't too far removed from サンライズ (Sanraizu). Perhaps SNRI's triumph over Anaheim was a bit of wishful thinking on the eve of Bandai's absorption of Sunrise three years later?

If so, this wouldn't be the first or last bit of creator self-insertion in the Gundam series. The legendary scientist Y.T. Minovsky has a rather similar name to a certain Y. Tomino, and Adukurf Mechano-Industries, which produces all those crazy mobile armors in the Gundam Seed series, is an anagram of the Gundam Seed director's last name.

-- Mark

I might be missing the obvious but on the same note I've been wondering for a while now if Anaheim are a joke about the real world sponsors. They show up in the second series, which apparently Tomino never wanted to make, don't really care about the state of the war/story so long as they can keep selling mobile suits/toys and kits and generally get in the way of anyone with an actual brain insisting they know best because they're footing the bill.

As for Sting Yazan....freaky.

[YazanGable]

(2) Gryps was the Titans' headquarters. "Grýps" is early Greek for Griffin.

This WOULD explain why some pieces of merchandise also refer to it as 'Gryphios'
http://www.gundamstoreandmore.com/ban939090.html -- For example


Also, HellCat:
In the similar vein, while likely a coincidence, I can't help but notice Turn A Gundam could be read as Tomino venting to some degrees.

Now, it's generally accepted fact that, as he saw it, Turn A was a way to say goodbye to the franchise and send it off with dignity.

In this light, we can see the Dark History not as a literal 'everything is one' but rather encapsulating the franchise, in a weird meta sort of way. That said, even regardless of what follows, I STILL think that was how this part of the series was meant to be read, despite people trying their hardest to argue how later shows till tie in to Turn A.

Now...let's look at the attitudes the show's antagonists have towards the Dark History.

Guin - desires to dig it up and exploit its technology so he can profit from producing/selling it.

Gym - desires to revive the old history of ceaseless fighting for all eternity.

In light of Tomino's original goal, while it may not be deliberate, one can see a pretty easy reading of Guin as a proxy for Bandai and Gym as those fans who just want more of the same ad infinitum.

Again, this is likely just coincidence, but it DOES sync up strangely well.

[Amion]

Aside from everything on this page...yeah, I'm stupid.

That aside, about Yazan being Sting,

I was really surprised about the Zero System, that's pretty awesome. I thought it was a reference to the Wing Zero Gundam, but alas, I was wrong.

[schwarz ritter]

Wasn't the "Zero" in the Zero System actually a set of acronyms?

[AmuroNT1]

Wasn't the "Zero" in the Zero System actually a set of acronyms?

It is; LightningCount posted the acronym earlier.

Anyway, some more Wing acronyms:

Mobile = Manipulative Order Build and Industrial Labors Extended
Gundanium = Genetic on Universal Neutrally Different Alloy + "nium"
Gundam = GUNDAnium Mobilesuit

Also, in regards to what Mark said about Adukurf, doesn't that mean that the correct spelling should be "Adukuf", or "Fukuda" backwards?

[Soma Taozi]

Mine are no where NEAR as amazing as your guy's revelations...in fact they are pretty stupid.

I just realized that in episode 5 of Gundam Unicorn, the scene where Banagher caught Audrey is reminiscent of episode 1 when she is falling and he catches her with the trainer suit...thus his line, "We are going to be fine." Not only applies to the situation, but also a reminder that, no, he will not crash them into the ground.

Oh and the two endings of Gundam 00 S2 play off each other in the fact that ending 1 had a bunch of freeze frames, while ending 2 finishes them off...like Saji pulling Louise, Anew kissing Lyle, and Teiria whirling to face the innovators.

Ending 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npQNemS7 ... ntext-vrec

Ending 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xwERl4b ... re=related

[Gelgoog Jager]

In Victory Gundam, I just realized that there are actually 3 ships of the Squid class. This is a scene from episode 15, briefly seen as Chronicle launches a second flare to announce the Federation's defeat after destroying the bridge of the last Clop class ship attacking Keillas Guilie:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v287/ ... Squida.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v287/ ... Squidb.jpg

As you can see all 3 Squids are carrying components of Keillas Guilie: 2 of them are carrying the 2 particle accelerators, while the third one is carrying the barrel. The last one also makes me wonder if the third Squid might have been able to also dock at Keilas Guilie, possibly at the opposite side of where the barrel is located.

The fate of the third ship remains unknown in Victory Gundam, but I suppose it could have become Queen Diana's infamous White Palace seen in Turn A Gundam:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v287/ ... Squidc.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v287/ ... Squidd.jpg