Wow, it has been a long time since the last update, right? Well, real world obligations have been a time sink so far this year, but that situation will be changing soon. But let's move on to another subject - you know what time it is. Another year has come and gone, and today MAHQ is 21-years-old. This time last year, I showed off a mock up for a total site redesign. So what happened to that? In a word, 2020 happened. We all know how that experience has felt like, but I can assure you that the work continues in the background, and hopefully I'll be able to show some of our progress in the near future.
Some other things promised last year haven't happened, including some new review sections and a teased return for Laplace's Box. Why? Again, 2020. The former will still come at some point, but I have no news to report on the latter. It's customary to have some kind of special update to match the occasion, but this is going to end up being a quiet year in that respect. As always, I want to thank our contributors, visitors, and our community on Mecha Talk, Facebook and our Gundamn! livestreams. Whether you're new to it all or a seasoned veteran, I'm glad you choose to spend your time here. The last year is best left in the past where it belongs, and I'm looking forward to better things.
It has been a long time since I've done anything relating to Gundam Wing, but today's update is a re-review for volume 1 of the original 1990s manga adaptation. In addition to going through this TV adaptation, I'll also be re-reviewing some of the vintage side story manga.
It definitely took longer than intended to get the first update of 2021 up, for a variety of reasons. That update is a review for the one-shot manga Mobile Suit Gundam: Hunter of Black Clothes.
12.31.20 - Return to Walkure World by Chris 10:30 A.M.
The year is coming to a close, and given everything that has happened in 2020 with COVID-19, here's to hoping for better times ahead. For the final update of 2020, I have two related items: a review for the first Macross Delta movie, Passionate Walkure, and a movie mecha section. Unfortunately, I've now officially run out of Macross content to review, at least until the second Delta movie is out. As 2021 begins, expect a continued focus for a while on Gundam manga reviews.
12.28.20 - Concluding a legacy by Chris 10:24 A.M.
As the year winds down, I'm attempting to wrap up a few things. One of those things is a review for volume 3 of the Gundam Legacy manga, which concludes the series. You can expect a lot more Gundam manga reviews in 2021.
12.21.20 - More Walker Machines by Chris 9:44 A.M.
More Xabungle stuff is on deck today, as Brian has also provided reviews for episodes 34-41.
12.20.20 - Continuing a legacy by Chris 11:02 A.M.
Today's update is a review for volume 2 of the Gundam Legacy manga. After this series concludes, I'll be working on additional manga reviews.
12.19.20 - Return of the Walker Machines by Chris 1:33 P.M.
Shifting gears (pun intended), for today's update Brian has sent in reviews for episodes 26-33 of Xabungle.
12.17.20 - Establishing a legacy by Chris 12:15 P.M.
In a sense, this update is a continuation of the previous ones, as new and old faces pop up in the review for volume 1 of the Gundam Legacy manga.
12.13.20 - The blaze extinguishes by Chris 8:33 A.M.
Continuing in the vein of yesterday, today's update is a review for volume 3 of the Gundam Side Story: Space Beyond the Blaze manga, which concludes this series. Next stop: another related manga series, Gundam Legacy.
Today's update includes a review for volume 2 in the manga series Gundam Side Story: Space Beyond the Blaze.
11.22.20 - The Return of Lelouch by Chris 9:20 P.M.
Breaking away from the Macross theme, today's update is a new mecha section for the 2019 movie Code Geass: Lelouch of the Re;surrection.
EDIT: Several units in this new section featured screenshots that have been replaced with lineart courtesy of Kuruni. He also submitted new lineart for the Aquila and Equus from the Code Geass DS game.
Wrapping up the theme of Macross 7-related updates, today sees the addition of Burke's expanded profiles for mecha and vehicles from Macross Dynamite 7.
For a change of pace, today's update switches the focus to Macross. The following units from Macross 7 and Digital Mission VF-X have been upgraded to Burke's expanded format:
The time has come and Build Divers Re:RISE has ended, so today's update includes the final reviews for episodes 25-26. The series has also been added to the Review Averages. Sunrise has already announced that the Battlogue shorts will premiere in November, so expect coverage of those at that time.
Shifting back to Build Divers Re:RISE, today's update is a review for episode 21.
07.22.20 - Return to the One Year War by Chris 11:39 A.M.
The passage of time presents an opportunity to reappraise things, and that ties in to today's update. The reviews for the Mobile Suit Gundam compilation movies are almost 20 years old, and they are not even remotely near my current standards for a review. So today I present a re-review of Gundam I, with the rest of the trilogy to follow soon. However, the reappraisal won't end with the movie trilogy. Once Build Divers Re:RISE is over and I've caught up on some other reviews, I'll be doing a complete re-review of the Zeta Gundam TV series (not sure yet about the movies).
06.11.20 - People of the Gunpla by Chris 3:22 P.M.
The streak of updates for Build Divers Re:RISE ends today with my reviews for episodes 16-18. As the broadcast has been delayed due to COVID-19, I'm completely caught up with nothing more to review. Whenever the broadcast resumes, so will the reviews.
After a run of manga reviews, I'm switching things up by returning to Build Divers Re:RISE to fully catch up on that series. Today's update includes reviews for episodes 7-9.
On a separate note, if you follow us on Twitter, you probably noticed a lack of tweets starting in April. Unfortunately, Twitter locked our account for a bogus reason and did not respond to multiple unlock requests through the required forms or many tweets to their support account. In addition, after 30 days passed, they simply deleted the account, which wiped out more than 11 years of tweets and follower counts. We did set up a new account, and as a result of the old one being deleted, we reclaimed the name. If you wish to follow us again, you'll have to re-follow @mahqdotnet.
05.07.20 - The legend of Grey Stoke by Chris 10:50 A.M.
Today's update is also manga focused, but this time it's for Yuichi Hasegawa's one-shot Victory Gundam Side Story.
05.06.20 - To live and die as a space pirate by Chris 10:27 P.M.
Today's update completes the coverage of the original Crossbone Gundam manga series with a review for volume 6. Expect more manga reviews in the near future.
Gundam Build Divers Re:RISE has resumed its broadcast, and today I'm still catching up with reviews for episodes 4-6.
04.01.20 - In anticipation of your insight into the future by Chris 8:13 A.M.
The first time I used this update title was exactly 10 years ago to both celebrate MAHQ's 10th anniversary and to unveil our current design. Ten years is a long time in internet years, and many things change. Unfortunately, MAHQ's current design is woefully outdated and difficult to maintain.
Which means it's time for another change.
Today is MAHQ's 20th anniversary, and it's time for the biggest change we've ever undergone. The cite will be shifting to a content management system (CMS) which will make updates far easier. What it means for visitors is an entirely new design, which you can see a sample of here. Our thanks go out once again to Design Forward Creative for providing our new logo. This new version features responsive design, which means MAHQ will finally look good on your phone or tablet. It also means streamlined navigation to improve user experience, and native integration of our social media channels on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.
You may have noticed that the Gundamn! @ MAHQ YouTube channel was recently rebranded to just MAHQ, and that's part of this effort as well, which means that you'll see a wider variety of content on there. We'll also be looking at changes to Mecha Talk, which last month celebrated its 14th anniversary. Mecha Talk will finally have its own logo (in the same style as the mock up screenshot linked above), and we intend to add some new themes that will bring it in line visually with MAHQ 3.0. This redesign is a large-scale effort, but Dale and I expect that it will take far less time to complete than the previous design, and we look forward to having that rolled out later this year. In the meantime, updates will continue under the current template, but perhaps at a slower pace as our focus behind the scenes will be the redesign.
One more thing...
It wouldn't be an anniversary update if I didn't either announce or unveil some new content. In this case, it's the former. After the redesign is complete, expect these two series to join the MAHQ roster:
-Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex (TV series, Solid State Society, and eventually SAC 2045, plus other titles in the franchise, possibly)
-FLAG
There may be another series beyond those two, but I'll leave it at that for now. In closing, on behalf of Dale, I'd like to once again express my gratitude to the visitors who keep coming back to MAHQ, some of whom have been doing so for many years. I never expected that I would spend half my life so far running any one website, let alone one as large as MAHQ. It's going to be a bright future.
In today's update, I start catching up on Gundam Build Divers Re:RISE with reviews for episodes 1-3. My intention is to be caught up before the series returns in April.
Today's update returns to Iron-Blooded Orphans, starting with new Reginlaze lineart courtesy of Deacon Blues. In addition, the following units are now in Burke's expanded format:
It has been some time since the last update, but there's a substantial amount of new content today. The following mobile suits from Iron-Blooded Orphans and Moon Steel are now in Burke's expanded format:
