Mailbag 3: The Bald Wizard Strikes

Posted March 4, 2005

It's time for another fun installment of the Mailbag.

Eric Manansala asks:
Hello there, I was wondering if ever Gundam SEED DESTINY would be much more popular than its predecessor, will there be a movie version of it? Will it be almost similar to Char's Counterattack? Thanks for reading.
Chris responds:
I doubt it. In the entire history of the Gundam franchise, there have only been three original movies. There is always the possibility of DESTINY compilation movies, but I think it's more likely any sequel to DESTINY would be another TV series. Mobile Suit Gundam SEED ETERNITY, anyone?

Rodney Brumbaugh asks:
1. I was wondering why they never show the reactor output or even the
output of the thrusters, I've always wondered since this is how I got
into Gundam.

2. What would be called the official end to the UC era, would it be
G-Saviour, Victory Gundam, or Gaia Gear.
Chris responds:
1. I'm not exactly sure if by 'show' you mean in the anime or in reference books. In terms of Gundam specs, various series have different levels of technical detail. Universal Century series, for example, all have more detailed specs than any of the six Alternate Universe series. I would imagine that the decision of how technical to be with a series falls on the director and his staff.

2. I wouldn't say there's an official end to the UC continuity. It is still very popular in terms of model kits, games and manga. Although AUs dominate the anime scene now, in the end it's all done by Bandai to bring people to UC. That said, Gaia Gear is not counted as canon, and Sunrise has re-classified G-Saviour as "Alternate UC," thus removing it entirely from continuity. I think that someday we will see another UC anime, but if not, Victory Gundam is certainly a fitting end to the continuity.

Nick Latham asks:
In Gundam, what does GM stand for? I've heard many ideas, but they all have one or three words instead of two...
Chris responds:
This is one of the great mysteries of Gundam. A lot of people believe it stands for "Gundam Mass-Production", but Sunrise has never specifically stated what it means. However, because the RX-78's model number is derived from Mazda's RX-7, it could just be that someone at Sunrise really likes General Motors and wanted to put in an homage to them.

Bob Knuckles asks:
1. What are the chances of Tomino's Gundam novels and his manga Crossbone Gundam being translated for the U.S. sometime soon?

2. Is MAHQ still planning to set up review pages of Aura Battler Dunbine and Armored Trooper VOTOMS? I have an undying curiosity about these shows.

3. What kind of reputation does Yoshiyuki Tomino have with colleagues, coworkers, and animators?
Chris responds:
1. Aside from the 2004 re-release of Tomino's Mobile Suit Gundam novels, the only thing I see as having even the slightest chance of coming here is ASTRAY B if TOKYOPOP decides to pursue that. Unfortunately, Gundam's profitability in the U.S. has drastically decreased in the last few years. With UC having mostly been written off here, the only manga in general we're likely to keep seeing here is SEED related.

2. I can say with absolute certainty that one of these is being worked on now, but I won't tell you which. Keep reading to find out.

3. From what I've read and heard from some secondhand sources, he sounds like he's pretty difficult to work with. I think he's even been described as insane. Tomino was supposedly suffering from depression in the early 1990s at the time that he was working on Victory Gundam. So much so that the allegedly did things like introduce the hot Shrike pilots and kill them off immediately in an attempt to sabotage the show so that it would end Gundam. The truth behind this account is sketchy, as is any information about his depression. According to Tomino, he made a turnaround while working on Turn A Gundam, hence why he wrote a book called The Cure of Turn A.

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