The Official Gundam GQuuuuuuX Anime Thread Mk I

[Mafty]

Spoiler

Hard to say , characters have been forgiven , or least reasoned with for far more in Gundam, At least this operation had no civilan casulties , compared to Glemmy destroying Core 3 in ZZ, of course that won't be the case for long, if the Zeknova reaches Earth...

Adding to that and comntinuing with the UC refernces

Spoiler

Nyann appears to be Quess/Elpeo like in being manipulated into warfare by a seemingly caring adult.

On another note

Spoiler

it's neat to see Cecilia Irene in animation and voiced, too bad she and everybody else get poisioned, what does it say the Kycelia is actually worse than Gihren of all people.

I will say as of late, Nyann is a more interesting character

Spoiler

Even if her actions are wrong she at least gets development

, Machu is a bit more passive

Spoiler

Though hopefully she developes more in her confrontation with Nyann

.

For the last point

Spoiler

What does kycilia hope to accomplish by destroying all of Earth? And what part wil the mysterious Blond Man play?

[Kuruni]

Not spoiler. Nyan call her chicken rice "Khao man kai" (カオマンガイ) (and it seems to gone viral), so it's almost certain that she's of Thai heritage.

[Seto Kaiba]

Spoiler

For the last point

Spoiler

What does kycilia hope to accomplish by destroying all of Earth? And what part wil the mysterious Blond Man play?

Spoiler

Maybe this really is Lovecraft Lite and Kycilia's under the sway of the Lovecraftian horror she named the weapon after? Yomagn'tho IS a cruel Outer God who wants to destroy humanity, after all.

Alternatively, maybe Kycilia has become a misanthrope supreme since the end of the One Year War and just wants to End It All the same way that CCA-era Char did by rendering Earth uninhabitable to force humanity to emigrate to space and evolve into Newtypes.

[Kyuzo Aoi]

Spoiler

RX-78 Gundam and Beyond the Time as ED...Char activating again the Red Gundam...and Nyaan almost killing Kycilia. No one saw this coming.

[Seto Kaiba]

Spoiler

So... after all that, Kycilia's motivation is just the usual Zabi ruthless will-to-power and Newtype master race ideology?

For a while, it really felt like they were going to go in a different direction and do something new and interesting. It's pretty disappointing to see that's not the case and GQuuuuuuX Kycilia's goal is basically the same as Char's Counterattack-era Char's.

This episode tries to do the "the mysterious blonde man is actually Char" reveal twice... but I'll forgive it, since the second one is accompanied by the Rose of Sharon Lalah giving him what I can only call a magical girl transformation back into his iconic OYW uniform. Pink sparkles included at no extra cost! In the name of the moon, (or at least, Granada) Char will punish you Kycilia! Lalah also coughs up the Red Gundam, but Shuji's MIA and apparently possessed by Prime!Lalah. There's my theory busted... I figured he was possessed, but by missing Char rather than Lalah.

The Yomagn'tho is really big, right? Like, colony laser sized? How do these people keep passing through the same room. Machu pops back into the auditorium where Kycilia and Nyan are and Nyan pops a cap in Kycilia's ass (apparently literally!)

Char presents an interesting theory the zeknovas. He posits that it's the paradoxical existence of the same alpha psycommu system being in two places at once - one in the Rose of Sharon, and one in the Red Gundam - and the unstable resonance between them that allows Prime!Lalah to go creating zeknovas. Lalah wakes up just as Char and Machu start fighting, and triggers a "real" Zeknova... or a reverse zeknova if what Komori says is accurate, with energy from the prime universe flowing into the GQuuuuuuX one instead of vice versa.

We get the big reveal that Shuji is from The Other Side... and then Beyond The Time with a REAL Gundam!

Not a bad episode, on the whole... but it feels like they've left a lot of this far too late in the story to have the impact it should.

[gxb]

Spoiler

I've seen a lot of people who are of the belief that the entire GQuuuuuux timeline was created by Rose Lalah out of whole cloth, but that's not how I read it. I was under the impression that it was it's own timeline, and she wound up there, and then started shaping it.

That makes sense to me for a few reasons:

* We know there are multiple timelines, or at least three of them
* If this timeline didn't already exist then how did Lalah end up in it originally?
* Creating a whole new universe out of whole cloth is some Akira-type god powers that seems well beyond even the craziest Newtype shenanigans we've ever seen

What does everyone else think?

[Seto Kaiba]

Spoiler

I've seen a lot of people who are of the belief that the entire GQuuuuuux timeline was created by Rose Lalah out of whole cloth, but that's not how I read it. I was under the impression that it was it's own timeline, and she wound up there, and then started shaping it.

That makes sense to me for a few reasons:

* We know there are multiple timelines, or at least three of them
* If this timeline didn't already exist then how did Lalah end up in it originally?
* Creating a whole new universe out of whole cloth is some Akira-type god powers that seems well beyond even the craziest Newtype shenanigans we've ever seen

What does everyone else think?

Spoiler

I'm definitely not a fan of the idea that Lalah created a whole new universe.

Going all the way back to Lalah's death in First Gundam, the writers have been quietly teeing up the idea that powerful (or powerfully enhanced) Newtypes can perceive time differently. Lalah seems to suspend time and has an extended psychic conversation with Amuro as she's dying in First Gundam, where the idea of "seeing time" is first mentioned. She continues to hang around and pester Char and Amuro for years after her death, and even intervenes in Full Frontal's nonsense after Char has disappeared again. Kamille Bidan and Paptimus Scirocco have an extended conversation with the spirits of the departed during their final battle. That went up to eleven in Gundam Narrative, where the disembodied consciousness of Rita Bernal is somehow operating the Phenix, operating without fuel or propellant, and doing all kinds of weird stuff like IIRC rewind time in a localized area.

In GQuuuuuuX, both Char and Shuji both reiterate some form of Lalah's "I can see time" line.

So my key takeaway from what we've been shown and told in GQuuuuuuX so far is that we have a Star Trek (2009) type situation on our hands.

FG Lalah didn't just use her fully awakened Newtype powers to stop time and have a conversation with Amuro. Either by instinct or inexperience, FG Lalah used her newly unrestrained Newtype power to save herself by freezing herself and the Elmeth in the instant before her demise. Her newly awakened ability to perceive and control time, combined with her desire to save Char, are what creates that first zeknova (which prime Amuro and Char mistake for the Elmeth exploding) that sends the Elmeth and its pilot back through space and time.

Lalah and the Elmeth's arrival in the past and their subsequent discovery and study by Zeon changes the course of history and creates a divergent parallel universe timeline. The timeline may have diverged further with some prodding from Lalah, who we know has interfered with events several times.

We know she intervened to save Char from Sayla aboard Solomon as it was falling on Granada. She was almost certainly responsible for spiriting Shuji away from the Titans attack on Izuma colony so that he wouldn't be captured by Zeon as well. She may have done other things like disabling Gene's Zaku so that Char would be able to intervene in the fight at Side 7 and remove the Gundam from the field. She may have also steered Char through the war via the Red Gundam's Alpha psycommu the way she steered Shuji.

If GQuuuuuuX Lalah's dreams are any indication, she may have done this time travel parallel universe stunt multiple times in a bid to create a Golden Timeline where she and Char survive and can be together. She's clearly miffed that Char is rebelling against her plan, since she's summoning a powerful Newtype and the First Gundam to stop Char from stopping her.

[HussarZwei]

Sugai is interesting in that she seems like a normal young woman, but she’s hiding a deep obsession with defeating Char as revenge for what happened to her Mav, who clearly was Sayla. - Chris Guanche's review of Ep. 4

Are you sure Sayla was Sugai's MAV?

[Seto Kaiba]

After thinking about it a bit, I'd actually feel better about the parallel world shenanigans going on here in GQuuuuuuX if it turns out that...

Spoiler

... First!Lalah has been Zero Escape-ing her way through screwing with history multiple times in a bid to create a Golden Timeline where she and Char can live free.

We've seen Newtypes do some insane things to time in the Unicorn-era materials, and if Lalah is powerful enough that she can warp space and time to avoid death AND fling herself into the past... well... that raises a number of interesting metaphysical questions that I'm sure the creators probably haven't actually considered, but are nevertheless fascinating to me.

If the Newtype ability to perceive time from an outside context is a product of higher consciousness being external to the body existing in four-dimensional space (ala Rupert Sheldrake's infamously bonkers pseudoscience morphic field theory), that would explain an awful lot of the more supernatural aspects of Newtypes. Like Rita Bernal's precognition that was able to see years into the future, or several powerful Newtypes being able to speak with the dead.

I happen to really love those old and stupidly convoluted Spike Chunsoft escape room games, so I recognize a lot of folks would probably think that's some shark-jumping bull****, but it'd really piece things together for me.

[Seto Kaiba]

Series finale time!

Spoiler

Poor Komori's stuck in the Councilor Troi position... standing around the bridge doing Not Much and occasionally being asked if she can sense something.

Xavier's arguing with Challia that Kycilia HAS TO survive because if she dies and Zeon collapses, Newtypes will die out. Challia, for his part, is now Mr. Democracy? I feel like this fight would be a lot more visually interesting if it weren't just twirling against a blank background. Xavier almost lands a hit on Challia, and then gets REKT at the last second.

So we've got a multi-gambit pileup in the last episode...

Spoiler

Shuji's here from The Other Side to clean house and apparently Destroy The Universe. Char's here to banish First!Lalah back to the main UC universe. Kycilia's been shot in the arse and maybe wants to destroy Earth. Char claims HE had Yomagn'tho built specfically to send First!Lalah back to her own universe.

Shuji out here saying what everyone was thinking at the end of the last episode...

Spoiler

"The real Gundam has appeared..."

We get some clarity on the whole Lalah situation... and it seems I was right about what she's been doing.

Spoiler

Rose of Sharon Lalah is from a timeline where Char, not Lalah, died fighting Amuro Ray's Gundam. Her despair triggered a zeknova within the Elmeth's Alpha Psycommu, flinging her back in time and space and creating an alternate universe. She's been using the Alpha psycommu to Zero Escape herself repeatedly to create diverging alternate timelines in a bid to create a universe where Char doesn't die. She has failed every time, as in every universe Char dies fighting the White Gundam.

We get to see some of Char's custom machines from those alternate timelines including a Gouf, a Zudah, a Bigro, a Big Zam, a Galbaldy Beta, and a machine I don't recognize that looks vaguely like a Kampfer?

Every time she fails, her despair causes the universe she created to collapse. Having finally hit on a winning combination by having Char become the Gundam's pilot, Shuji believes she'll fall into despair now that Char is REJECTING the world she's created and that it will be so traumatic for her that it'll take both this world and The Other Side down. Shuji's goal is to save one reality by killing Lalah and sacrificing the GQuuuuuuX universe. Shuji's apparently been doing this more times than he can count, coming in at the end of the universe to kill Lalah and start the cycle over.

Finally - FINALLY - we got some character development for Shuji and you have to feel for the poor guy.

Spoiler

Being Death, the literal Destroyer of Worlds, has to suuuuuuuck... especially since he has to watch the same girl get her heart broken over and over and then kill her in the depths of her despair.

Kycilia gets a fresh helping of despair, flashing back to her youth and her apparent attraction to young Char. She's lamenting the potential loss of the world she was going to create for Newtypes before Challia Bull takes a whack at assassinating her, and then Char recreates his infamous First Gundam assassination of her from the Red Gundam.

All that's before the station break!

Spoiler

So now Machu and Shuji are squaring off over Lalah. Nyan intervenes. Now Nyan and Machu are teaming up on Shuji. That Shuji's holding his own against two much newer MS's with this timeline's equivalent of the Intention Automatic system using an RX-78 is pretty impressive.

Challia's endgame is apparently to put Artesia on the throne in Zeon, so he attacks Char. He seems to have had visions of this universe's equivalent of Char's Counterattack, noting that Char would one day turn on Earth the same way Kycilia did.

Shuji... turns the RX-78 into a kaiju? It just swells up until it's big enough to comfortably grab the GFreD and GQuuuuuuX in its hands, and seems to be beam-proof now. It swats the other Gundams around a bit and then crushes the GFreD to bits. The GQuuuuuuX goes full Evangelion and develops a mouth as its psycommu goes into overdrie and she blocks Shuji's attack. Lalah wakes up while Machu is using Talk no Jutsu on Shuji. We get a very forced conclusion to the Machu/Shuji ship.

We learn that the GQuuuuuuX's Omega Psycommu includes tech from the other side, like the Rose of Sharon. Apparently it's called the Endymion Unit? Machu's screaming monster Evangelion of a Gundam beheads Shuji's giant RX-78 and then Lalah creates a massive zeknova that destroys Yomagn'tho.

Shuji and Lalah have seemingly vanished from the face of the universe in a zeknova. Machu is crying it out in orbital space with Nyan. Challia and Char part ways, with Char flying off in the Gundam's Core Fighter and Challia's escape pod being rescued by Xavier. Artesia takes over Zeon. Char finds this universe's Lalah living on Earth. The Pomeranians are shown aboard whatever ship they fled Side 6 in. Apparently they've founda a new machine for Clan Battle (Looks to be a Zock?) Machu finally bothers to text her mother from a beach on Earth with Nyan.

All in all, a mad rush of a resolution like most of us expected. Probably still the best episode of the series, and certainly the most action-packed. It has a lot of unexplained buzzwords and arse-pulls, but with just twelve episodes that was always going to be the case.

I wouldn't call it great... with a different writer and more runtime it probably would've been. They left a lot of interesting plot threads on the table to push what was essentially filler.

[gxb]

Spoiler

Definitely rushed, and I honestly have no idea what point Machu was making about Newtypes at the end. Almost felt a bit like a Newtype Supremecy speech, but whatever

Yeah this ending wasn’t it for me

[domino]

Spoiler

a machine I don't recognize that looks vaguely like a Kampfer

That's the Sazabi but Ikuto Yamashita's design for it.

I enjoyed the re-animated Gundam & G-Fighter (It's interesting that they didn't use the Corebooster like in the movies IIRC!) vs Gelgoog & Elmeth battle and it certainly confirmed many rumours that this might be an alternate Lalah.

I am left to wonder why did Lalah say thanks to Shuji after she woke back up. Did she come to the realization that all of her efforts were futile so she should instead return to (our?) reality and sacrifice herself instead of trying to create a reality where Char is protected from the Gundam? I'm wondering if there will ever be a direct tie-in to connect these events to the original timeline....perhaps not and perhaps that's not necessary either.

I certainly wish that we saw a lot more character development for our main female stars. This was definitely a missed opportunity to define this new Gundam series without depending so much on the lore from the original series however I enjoyed this new take on a previously un-explored bit of the lore (ie why did Lalah's death look so spectacular - besides the obvious importance of that "canon event" for both Char & Amuro)

[Kuruni]

Spoiler

I am left to wonder why did Lalah say thanks to Shuji after she woke back up. Did she come to the realization that all of her efforts were futile so she should instead return to (our?) reality and sacrifice herself instead of trying to create a reality where Char is protected from the Gundam? I'm wondering if there will ever be a direct tie-in to connect these events to the original timeline....perhaps not and perhaps that's not necessary either.

I think...

Spoiler

she finally accepted that she can't prevent Char's death and moved on instead of making more alternate universe.Technically, there are two alternate universes going on at the end of this series.

[BrentD15]

Spoiler

I'm just glad the Galbady Alpha is getting animated love.

[gxb]

damn this show let me down.

Spoiler

It spent most of its runtime being a hot mess, but then turned into hot garbage by the finale.

It’s a show that kinda was saying “move on from the old “ but also devoted the entire back quarter of the story to glazing old characters

No one really grew. No one reflected. Machu started off pissy and selfish and basically ended the show that way too.

It felt like an indirect theme of the show was basically “if you’re a Newtype they let you do it”. All of the main Newtypes did whatever the F they wanted and suffered no real consequences.

Nyaan tries to reflect on her acts and machus like “nah it’s fine”

Challia tries to take responsibility for his actions and Xavier’s like “nah you’re fine”

It was one of the worst cases of protagonist centric morality I think I’ve ever seen.

Since when has Sayla ever been interested in taking political power?

I wish I had something to say about Shuji but there was so little to him that I’ve got nothing other than to say he kinda sucked

And For gods sake it took however many weeks or months after landing on earth and finding a job and a place to stay before Machu let her folks know she wasn’t dead or incarcerated. She basically ruined their lives and it doesnt seem to register.

So much about this finale left me thinking “Wtf!!?!!?”

I don’t think it was intentional, but it’s a little uncomfortable to me that most of the Newtypes in the cast regard Oldtypes with scorn at worst and indifference at best. It’s just a bad vibe.

This was like fanfiction from old Gundam fans that really wanted to ship char and lalah at the expense of anything else.

And this is me being dense, but is it really a love letter to UC just because it has a lot of references? Not to me it isn’t.

And I’m tired of Newtypes being turned into super heroes. They’re not supposed to be literal Ubermenschen. Sometimes I wonder whether these Japanese creatives who grew up on Gundam watched the same thing I did.

Just …. What the hell?

[domino]

And I’m tired of Newtypes being turned into super heroes. They’re not supposed to be literal Ubermenschen. Sometimes I feel like these Japanese creatives who grew up on Gundam watched the same thing I did.

Definitely this. However, I don't think we can blame GQuuuuuX for following the example set by Gundam Unicorn and Gundam Narrative series. Unfortunately, it does diminish the core message that I thought Newtypes and their spatial awareness/perception abilities were used to represent - that we can only achieve peace by actively trying to understand each other

Spoiler

Since when has Sayla ever been interested in taking political power?

That was definitely a head scratcher. Perhaps Sayla was disgusted at the corruption that took over the Federation after its defeat and Ramba Ral (who I assume is on the steps behind her) was working with Chalia all along and they together (with others?) convinced her to join Zeon in their plot to dethrone the Zabis....or not. Just spitballing here.

I think GQuuuuuX was another experiment by Bandai to test younger audiences and this time they used the joint anniversaries of Gundam & Evangelion to create this collaboration - even if only for the spectacle. It certainly explains the rushed and on-the-nose nature of it.

I won't lie though, a lot of the fanservice was very very fun to watch.

[Seto Kaiba]

... feeling weird that, after getting my chops busted for being critical of the series, I seem to be the only one with anything nice to say about the ending.

Spoiler

It felt like an indirect theme of the show was basically “if you’re a Newtype they let you do it”. All of the main Newtypes did whatever the F they wanted and suffered no real consequences.

Granted, the series was leaning pretty hard into the...

Spoiler

... idea that the emergence of a Newtype race was both inevitable and imminent.

That may be a result of the Principality of Zeon's "victory" in the One Year War. Gihren may have grown disenchanted with the idea, but the idea of the Newtype as proof of spacenoid superiority was part of Zeon's wartime propaganda in the One Year War. Kycilia seems to still be a true believer in the idea since she's spent a huge amount of time and capital on psycommu research.

At least with Xavier and Challia, I got the feeling that it was less a matter of "Nah, it's fine" and more one of "You broke it, now you have a responsibility to fix it." Challia was the one pushing for the assassination of Gihren and Kycilia, after all, and with Zeon now leaderless someone has to take point to prevent the state from collapsing on itself like a failed souffle.

Spoiler

And For gods sake it took however many weeks or months after landing on earth and finding a job and a place to stay before Machu let her folks know she wasn’t dead or incarcerated. She basically ruined their lives and it doesnt seem to register.

To be fair, Machu has been depicted as extremely self-centered since the start... so that's not really new.

Spoiler

And I’m tired of Newtypes being turned into super heroes. They’re not supposed to be literal Ubermenschen. Sometimes I wonder whether these Japanese creatives who grew up on Gundam watched the same thing I did.

That's acknowledged to be a persistent problem in-universe.

Well, in the main/prime UC universe anyway.

Spoiler

Because the emergence/existence of Newtypes was first identified during the One Year War, research into Newtypes during and after the One Year War revolved around the idea of them as super-soldiers. Cyber-Newtypes were certainly developed to be exactly that. So much so that by the UC 100s the concept of a Newtype was essentially synonymous with "ace pilot" or someone with the makings to be one.

Of course, because Gundam has always played with the idea that Newtypes are the Next Evolutionary Stage for humanity, it has frequently flirted with treating them as actual ubermenchen. The original Universal Century charter in Unicorn plays that laser-straight with the idea that when there emerges a new breed of human optimized for space that new breed of human will get priority in governance.

[gxb]

... feeling weird that, after getting my chops busted for being critical of the series, I seem to be the only one with anything nice to say about the ending.

Haha yeah, it’s funny how things work out like that sometimes.

Spoiler

It felt like an indirect theme of the show was basically “if you’re a Newtype they let you do it”. All of the main Newtypes did whatever the F they wanted and suffered no real consequences.

Granted, the series was leaning pretty hard into the...

Spoiler

... idea that the emergence of a Newtype race was both inevitable and imminent.

That may be a result of the Principality of Zeon's "victory" in the One Year War. Gihren may have grown disenchanted with the idea, but the idea of the Newtype as proof of spacenoid superiority was part of Zeon's wartime propaganda in the One Year War. Kycilia seems to still be a true believer in the idea since she's spent a huge amount of time and capital on psycommu research.

At least with Xavier and Challia, I got the feeling that it was less a matter of "Nah, it's fine" and more one of "You broke it, now you have a responsibility to fix it." Challia was the one pushing for the assassination of Gihren and Kycilia, after all, and with Zeon now leaderless someone has to take point to prevent the state from collapsing on itself like a failed souffle.

Spoiler

saying they’re imminent and inevitable is a bit different than saying they don’t have to live by the same rules and mores as everyone else

Spoiler

And For gods sake it took however many weeks or months after landing on earth and finding a job and a place to stay before Machu let her folks know she wasn’t dead or incarcerated. She basically ruined their lives and it doesnt seem to register.

To be fair, Machu has been depicted as extremely self-centered since the start... so that's not really new.

Yeah but when it’s the protagonist, it’s not unreasonable to want that character to go through some growth, otherwise it’s kind of hard to root for them or care about their happy ending.

Spoiler

And I’m tired of Newtypes being turned into super heroes. They’re not supposed to be literal Ubermenschen. Sometimes I wonder whether these Japanese creatives who grew up on Gundam watched the same thing I did.

That's acknowledged to be a persistent problem in-universe.

Well, in the main/prime UC universe anyway.

Spoiler

Because the emergence/existence of Newtypes was first identified during the One Year War, research into Newtypes during and after the One Year War revolved around the idea of them as super-soldiers. Cyber-Newtypes were certainly developed to be exactly that. So much so that by the UC 100s the concept of a Newtype was essentially synonymous with "ace pilot" or someone with the makings to be one.

Of course, because Gundam has always played with the idea that Newtypes are the Next Evolutionary Stage for humanity, it has frequently flirted with treating them as actual ubermenchen. The original Universal Century charter in Unicorn plays that laser-straight with the idea that when there emerges a new breed of human optimized for space that new breed of human will get priority in governance.

Spoiler

Right, and that’s one reason why Unicorn is …. Not my favorite of the bunch.

But anyway, I have a couple of thoughts. I think it’s maybe telling that Tomino eventually stopped using Newtypes in his later work because he changed his mind and thought it was a silly idea, but you have other creatives who are basically like “nope, let’s double down on the Master Race-y ness of it all”

Also, one thing about the really old stories is that they are sprinkled with doubt. Doubt about whether they’re useful beyond piloting mecha, doubt from the characters (some Newtypes either reject the label or don’t really think it means much ), etc. but Gqx is like “you guys are special and BETTER”, and most of the characters’ response is basically “Hell yeah we are”.

It’s just not a great look to me. It’s like rooting for Magnetos mutants instead of Spider-Man.

[MythSearcher]

Yeah but when it’s the protagonist, it’s not unreasonable to want that character to go through some growth, otherwise it’s kind of hard to root for them or care about their happy ending.

Well, she does saw some growth, not the kind of growth you want to see, but at the same time it is not really a happy ending considering she's still internationally wanted.

In some way this is actually kinda like Eva, the pace and stories are different, but you basically get both of the protagonist being pushed to despair, then at the end accepting themselves as they are.

[Seto Kaiba]

Spoiler

saying they’re imminent and inevitable is a bit different than saying they don’t have to live by the same rules and mores as everyone else

Spoiler

Granted... but nobody in the series is saying that Newtypes don't have to live by the same rules and morals as everyone else

Also, this is Gundam we're talking about. Everyone's at least a bit of a bastard, the good guys run on Good Is Not Nice, and Zeon is usually handwaving past genocides as they plan the next one. [iGQuuuuuuX[/i] isn't any different in that regard. Perhaps standards have slipped a bit given that Zeon "won" the war. Challia Bull himself is awfully cavalier about Zeon having massacred half of the human race with nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons in the One Year War when he talks to Machu about it.

Everyone in the story is frighteningly blasé about the fact that Kycilia assassinated Zeon's head of state and started a Zeon civil war on Earth's doorstep, then committed one genocide with Nyan's help and was about to commit a second before she was stopped.

Challia's attempted regicide is awfully petty compared to the other crimes committed that day, and unlike Char he actually has a plan to get Zeon onto a reasonable postwar government.

Yeah but when it’s the protagonist, it’s not unreasonable to want that character to go through some growth, otherwise it’s kind of hard to root for them or care about their happy ending.

Yeah, I've been saying that one of the show's biggest failings is the near-total lack of character development for what was ostensibly the main trio of characters.

Spoiler

Right, and that’s one reason why Unicorn is …. Not my favorite of the bunch.

But anyway, I have a couple of thoughts. I think it’s maybe telling that Tomino eventually stopped using Newtypes in his later work because he changed his mind and thought it was a silly idea, but you have other creatives who are basically like “nope, let’s double down on the Master Race-y ness of it all”

Also, one thing about the really old stories is that they are sprinkled with doubt. Doubt about whether they’re useful beyond piloting mecha, doubt from the characters (some Newtypes either reject the label or don’t really think it means much ), etc. but Gqx is like “you guys are special and BETTER”, and most of the characters’ response is basically “Hell yeah we are”.

It’s just not a great look to me. It’s like rooting for Magnetos mutants instead of Spider-Man.

Spoiler

Eh... Tomino was never exactly consistent about Newtypes and what they represent, and other creators working on Gundam have acknowledged discomfort with the whole concept.

I've often suspected that the changing interpretation of Newtypes was driven by Tomino's own personal issues. Look at the transition from the original series to Zeta. Tomino's original premise for Newtypes was a hopeful one. The prospect and promise that Humanity was evolving into a new type of enlightened being that could leave conflict behind thanks to achieving a deeper and more profound level of mutual understanding. That the species was maturing.

From Zeta onwards, Newtypes are instead presented as tragic figures. The concept of Newtypes as precursors of a future utopian human race is crushed under the reality that they're still people. Their ability to communicate and connect on a deeper and more profound level than mere words doesn't in any sense stop them from being human and prone to all of the usual human failings. They're not the promised utopians. The One Year War shaped public perception of Newtypes into "supersoldiers", and Newtype theory itself becomes a justification for bigotry... by "Oldtypes" who see "Newtypes" as dangerous mutants, and by "Newtypes" who see "Oldtypes" as inferiors who need to get out of the way. Hope for the future has instead been twisted into a source of future conflict, with Newtypes destroying each other over ideals the same as Oldtypes. Humanity never changes and never learns.

IMO, that they gradually fade out of existence in the Universal Century mirrors Tomino's own descent into depression. To him, they're still symbols of hope for the future to some extent. The more he lost hope, the more Newtypes faded from the story. When Tomino was more optimistic and at peace with himself, suddenly the idea of Newtypes and the possibility of abolishing war came back in Reconguista in G.


Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX is an alternate, apparently more hopeful, Zeta Gundam. Instead of being objects of despair and failed ambition, the people who care about that kind of thing in GQuuuuuuX seem to still believe that Newtypes can (and will) become that ideal human that can avert conflict.