Gundam Wing Ramblings.

   

     Yep, it's been sometime since I did an animu related blag. So here's one about a series near and dear to my heart. Gundam Wing.  Like most fans of Gundam Wing, I was introduced to the series via Toonami back in 2000. Fuck, that was 13 years ago, damn I'm old. It's a show about colorful giant robots waging guerrilla war on an evil organization, and the pilots and young pretty men.So really, what's not to love ?

From left to right- Wufei, Heero, Duo, Trowa, and Quatre.

    In the future, people live in space, on spinning cylinders known as space colonies! Wheeeee! It is the year After Colony 195. You know what ? I'm going to just copy the opening dailogue,  Campbell Lane does it much better than I ever could:
     "With high expectations, human beings leave Earth to begin a new life in space colonies. However, the United Earth Sphere Alliance gains great military powers and soon seizes control of one colony after another in the name of *justice* and *peace.* The year is After Colony 195. Operation Meteor: In a move to counter the Alliance's tyranny, rebel citizens of certain colonies scheme to bring new arsenals to the Earth, disguising them as shooting stars. However, the Alliance Headquarters catches on to this operation."
     This basically sets up the series. Five young pretty boys, as seen above are sent to earth in their giant near indestructible robots, to fight the good fight, and bring peace to the colonies. Naturally they each have a separate robot to sell model kits. The pilots and their robots are as follows. All pilots are 15 years old.
Heero Yuy- A super soldier with little emotion, high pain tolerance, damn near indestructible, and anti social to boot. The lead more or less. He pilots Wing Gundam, and Later Wing Zero.

Duo Maxwell- an orphan raised by the church, considers himself the God of Death, and is a pretty light hearted fun guy, especially compared to the rest. Pilots Gundam Deathscythe, and later Deathscythe Hell.

Trowa Barton- a mercenary with no real name. He is a clown in the circus, and has the emo kid hair cut.  Pilots Heavyarms

Chang Wufei- Angry Chinaman with a great reservoir of pride, and misogynistic to boot. Naturally, he knows martial arts, and explosions. Pilots Shenlong, and later Altron.

Quatre Reberba Winner- Some sort or Aryan Arab, rich, gay, and has a team of many followers. Pilots Sandrock.

Zechs Marquise ( Milliardo Peacecraft- 18, Millitary officer for OZ, and later leader of White Fang, dedicated to killing all people on earth. Oldest son of the Peacecraft Family, the royal leaders of a nation of pacifists, the Sanc Kingdom. Pilots Tallgeese, and later Epyon.

Relena Peacecraft- Current leader of the Sanc Kingdom, love Heero, and later become Queen of the world really.

 

 

Relena sitting down

Char Aznable. . .  oh wait, that's Zechs Marquise, or is it Milliardo Peacecraft ? Fuck him and his billion names.

   Anyway the series begins with the Gundams and their pilots fighting the Alliance on Earth, until the fighting faction known as OZ takes over the Alliance,  the leader of OZ is known as Trieze Kushrenada.Zechs leaves OZ around this time, and begins going around as Milliadro Peacecraft. Then Oz and the Alliance fight over who will rule space. The Gundam pilots are captured in space, save Quatre. Quatre goes insane after his father is killed by OZ, and creates the bestest Gundam Ever- The Wing Zero, and goes around destroying colonies, because in his words "Outer space has gone crazy." Trowa at this point has snuck into OZ as a soldier, and Heero is being used as a test pilot for the new protoype suit Mercurius. The end result is Trowa is set adrift in space, with amneisa, Heeor and Quatre are dumped on earth, while Wufei and Duo escape with their new suits. Awesome.
   

     The above paragraph is the best I can do to  summarize the first half of Gundam Wing. Here goes the second half! On earth the reformed Sanc Kingdom lead by Relena pick up Heero and Quatre, and have them fight . . . for peace!  Heero is given the Epyon suit by Treize, who has since stepped down from OZ, and wants to die. Milliardo gets Wing Zero in space, while Duo and Wufei fight their own battle in space. Relena is threatened by OZ's new replacement- the Romefeller Foundation to join them as their Queen, or everyone in their Kingdom will be killed. Milliardo heads to earth in Wing Zero after hearing of this,  finding only Heero, and they throw-down. They swap suits in the end- with Milliardo in Epyon, and Heero in Zero. The space forces are split between the Treize faction, people unhappy with Treize being forced down, and the Romefeller forces, headed by Duke Dremail. Looks like it's space time!

    Last paragraph of plot go! The Treize faction is wiped out, but a new force with a giant battleship (Libra) arises to take it's place! White Fang- lead by none other than Milliardo Peacecraft! He basically says fuck earth, you guys suck, I love the colonies (ironic, because he was born on earth.) The Gundam pilots all team up in space on Peacemillion, a battleship that appears out of nowhere earlier in the series. White Fang uses it's giant laser to attack earth, stiring up Treize to take command of the remnants of the Romefeller foundation, and every force on earth. Treize dies in the final battle, killed by Wu fei. The scientists who created the original Gundams destroy Libra, except for one chunk that falls to earth. Naturally, Heero destroys it, the colonies decide to work together for peace, and Relena becomes a delegate between the colonies and earth. The end! Or is it ?

    Two years after Gundam Wing came Endless Waltz- a series of OVAs dealing with the aftermath of the war. Trieze's daughter has an army of robots, and she declares herself ruler of everything! The Gundam Pilots return with brand new model kits to sell! It's a pretty solid movie, and it takes place on Christmas! No Shane Black was not involved.

      What turned many people off about Gundam Wing was politics. I learned all I needed to know about dem dere politically thingys from Gundam Wing. About rulers of nations, pacifism, the need to fight wars to create a better country, all of it. Plus my love of Gundam only snowballed from there. I loved Gundam Wing, and still do. The beginning is a bit dull- with the voice acting quality being sporadic, and the names being well . . . really odd. Still, the series runs like a non stop train ride of action, with some political sprinklings.I still love the suit designs, the characters are likeable, and Heero is the man,  I marathoned it last week, and the nostalgia was euphoric. I give Gundam Wing a 9/10. 

Now enjoy some extremely Gay official art:

It's cannon baby.

I saved the gayest for last!