Colonel Lady Une
I thought it might be time for an "Intelligent Convo on Gundam Wing" thread when I saw the "Gundam Trivia Stuffs (No Wing or American SD)" thread. I ruminated on the situation and wondered why Gundam Wing fans should be excluded from intelligent conversation. Contrary to popular belief, not all Gundam Wing fans are n00bs. I should know owing to the fact that I have met several intelligent Gundam Wing fans (Miyuki Yuy, Midii, Philshy Chan) and detractors (Hitokage) I've also met tons of n00bs *cough* Hypersoup *cough* who don't understand Wing. Gundam Wing is a mecha anime of the Gundam franchise and is composed of Gundam Wing: Episode Zero (Manga), Gundam Wing (TV Series), Gundam Wing: Ground Zero (fan manga), Gundam Wing: Blind Target (radio drama and manga), Battlefield of Pacifists (manga), Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz (OVA) and the controversially unfinished Preventer 5 (side story). The male characters in the series are bishounen, which resulted in Gundam Wing getting a huge following of fangirls with no retrospect or care for the plot. The series also features wonderful J-pop opening themes by Two-Mix plus an ending theme animation sequence nobody can comprehend (How is Relena going on a safari linked to mecha and politics?) Gundam Wing was my first and only mecha anime owing to the fact that it aired on weekends and was the only thing I could catch before my 8:00 p.m. bedtime. I enjoyed it thoroughly and that led me to watching the midnight run and getting the manga. No, I have not seen SEED or the original series. I'm sure they're wonderful and I'd love to watch them but the political turmoil here in Southeast Asia has caused a fluctuation in the exchange rate and I am not going to shell out 5,995 pesos for a box set. So please do not insult my intelligence and call me a n00b when I say Wing is my favorite series. This is a thread for Gundam Wing fans to discuss intelligently so if you're going to put a message like 'omg Duo is so cute!!!' Please don't because it makes the rest of us Wing fans look stupid. Also, please do not use slang like 'U r rite, GW is cool' because it insults Gaians' English skills. I'd also like to cite that Wing haters are welcome here as long as they do not flame this topic and have something intelligent to say. We don't mind being told that Zechs is a Char clone just as long as you mention why. OK, I think that's all.
Reminders:
1. Check your spelling and grammar.
2. Avoid cursing.
3. You may go off-topic a bit but not too much, ok? ^_^
4. You may discuss other Gundam series but please do not forget that this is a Gundam Wing thread for discussing Gundam Wing.
5. Meiran and Meilan are spellings of one person's name and neither is incorrect for you spell her name Meiran but pronounce it Meilan (It's the Japanese accent. Almost all the r's turn into l's)
6. I called Ground Zero a fan manga because the original artists didn't draw it and I suspect that a fan made it but feel free to correct me if I am wrong.
7. If you're looking for another Gundam Wing thread which has had much more discussed on it. I suggest you look up the "Gundam Wing Fans?" thread.
Here are some Gundam Wing FAQ courtesy of gundamw.net:
The following FAQ is 100% accurate (well, actually, the only thing more accurate then my answers is the actual creator, himself). I have HEAVILY researched the answers for these questions. My sources are: Animerica magazine (May Issue, 2000), Protoculture Addicts (#59, March 2000), around 30 different websites, watching all 49 episodes of the TV series and reading translated copies of G-Unit and Episode Zero manga. The following may contain plot spoilers, if you have not viewed the entire series by now.
Q: Is Gundam Wing part of the Gundam timeline?
A: Nope. Gundam W takes place in AC (After Colony) timeline, the others are mostly UC (Universal Century), with the exception of Gundam G, Turn A, and X, which have their own respective timelines.
Q: So, Gundam the movies, 0080, and 0083 have no connections to this
timeline?
A: That's right! All of those that you see in the video stores are from the Universal Century timeline.
Q: Is this a run-of-the-mill "Giant Robot" anime?
A: Not really. It does have lot's of cool mecha combat, however this series is fun for the whole family (excuse the cheesy pun). It has the mecha for the guys, and the "pretty boys in armor" (a la Ronin Warriors) for the ladies (Author's Note: In an interview with Animerica Magazine, The creator of Gundam Wing stated that it was never intentional to have a pretty boy [or bishonen] type characters). It also has a lot of story to it. It isn't all "beat-down" time in this program. Be happy about this. At least it's not "music can save the motherf---ing galaxy" like Macross 7.
Q: How many episodes is there for Gundam Wing? Are there any sequels?
A: There are 49 episodes (Author's Note: 3 eight-hour tapes work nicely to record all of GW), There is a 3-part OVA sequel called "Endless Waltz"
Q: What is 'Endless Waltz?'
A: It's the sequel to Gundam Wing (actually GW is the only Gundam alternate universe theme to spawn it's own sequel), it takes place 1 year after the final battle with White Fang. It tells the story about a new enemy arising out of the L3 colony and Team Gundam is back in action to take them down.
Q: Is there Gundam Wing manga available?
A: Yep, Mixx entertainment has already released a Gundam Wing monthly comic book. There are also four mangas. They are Episode Zero (which I was able to read a translated version of it), G-Unit, Ground Zero, and Blind Target. They are mainly side stories and have no official standing in the Gundam Wing universe. That means that what you see in the anime, is what you get. The only reason why they are "Semi-official" is Sunrise (The Company that owns the rights to Gundam) allows the writers/artists of the manga/novels/video games to sell these stories that involve Gundam Wing. To give you an example, take the 1986 movie Aliens. As some of you may be aware, Dark Horse comics has permission through 20th Century Fox (Folks who own the rights to the movie) to do their own adaptation of the events after the Aliens movie. However, these events are not "official" and what you see in the sequels (Alien 3 and Alien: Resurrection) is. Essentially, all it is glorified fan fiction.
Q: Does OZ stand for anything?
A: It stands for Organization of Zodiac. Also another fun fact is that all of the Mobile Suits that Oz uses are named after signs of the Zodiac.
Q: Is there a difference between OZ, the Federation, and the Romefeller?
A: Well, at one point in the story, they're all the same. Just got different
goals. Also different leaders: Treize/Oz, Marshall Noventa/Alliance, and Duke Dermail/Romefeller. Now militarily speaking, Alliance is like the US Army, Oz (Author's note: aka, the specials) would be like the Green Berets and Romefeller would be like McDonald Douglas who makes the Apache Attack Choppers for the army. That's basically it in a nutshell. It's like the Green Berets are getting cash from McDonald Douglas, and they revolt and destroy the Army. Then the leader of the Green Berets don't like the way McDonald is doing things and quits. This pisses off McDonald, then they make up their own little military to destroy the Green Berets. I guess that might be a good explanation.
Q: Why do OZ officers dress like they were in Napoleon's time?
A: Oz and Romefeller are aristocratic organization that basically means they like dressing all fancy and stuff. The creators of the show probably wanted to copy the imagine of Euro noblemen during that time era.
Q: What is a Gundam?
A: It's an advanced mobile suit. It's made of Gundanium (hence the name "Gundam" wink , It is also far superior to most mobile suits in fighting ability,
speed, armor, etc. It also usually has a "V" shaped antenna on it's head.
Q: Which Gundam is the best?
A: None of them are really better then the other actually. First, It all depends on the pilot. The Wing 0 and Epyon are definitely powerful, however, each Gundam has it's own strengths and weaknesses. For instance, The Heavyarms has lots of Rapid-fire weapons, but none of them are as powerful as the Wing's buster rifle. However, the buster rifle does not have the H-ARM's rapid fire.
Q: What is the "zero system"?
A: This is an advanced Fire Control System (FCS) that uses the pilot's
brainwaves to shorten reaction time. Unfortunately, this system has two bad side effects. First the pilot can experience wind-warping hallucinations, because it's messing with the pilot's brain. Also because it uses the pilot's thoughts, it can determine friend or foe and fire upon it. Basically what this means is if the pilot has an ally who annoys him sometimes, the Zero system may read that as an enemy, and it will open fire on that ally until it is destroyed.
Q: Who is Howard?
A: Howard is part of the Sweeper group. The Sweeper group is a team of space salvage/recovery that assists Duo on Earth, later assists Zechs, and finally commands the Peacemillion. Interestingly enough, he was one of the original creators of the Tallgeese.
Q: Who are the scientists?
A: They are the ones who originally designed mobile suits for Romefeller.
However, due to some falling out, they left and joined the colony resistance and thus built the Gundams. They are also the Gundam pilot's superior officer, giving them mission briefings and stuff.
Q: Who is the real Heero Yuy?
A: Heero Yuy was an advocate of peace for the colony's 20 years before operation meteor. The Earth Sphere Alliance assassinated him because he was considered to be a threat.
Q: Who was King Peacecraft and what is the Sanc Kingdom?
A: King Peacecraft was the ruler of the Sanc (also spelled the "Cinq" kingdom, whatever, same damn thing.) kingdom. The interesting thing about the Sanc Kingdom is it was all about Pacifism (kind of like Switzerland). Unfortunately, yet again, the Alliance didn't like the way they were looking at them, so they dropped by blew a lot of stuff up and killed King Peacecraft and co. (with the exception of Relena and Zechs) in the process.
Q: What are the Maganacs Corps?
A: They are Quatre's personal army; they each possess their own individual and unique Mobile Suits that assist Quatre in his missions (sometimes).
Q: What is White Fang?
A: A group of colony rebels, former alliance, and Oz members who are bent out claiming total separation from the Earth. They're kind of like the Zeon from the UC timeline. They want total independence from the Earth and if they have to blow up the Earth to achieve this, then so be it.
Q: What is up with Lady Une?
A: She has a split personality complex. Basically, she has some severe mental issues. One minute, with her glasses off and her hair down, She becomes a sweet, caring individual. However, with her glasses on, she goes into psycho mode. However, after she is shot by Tuberov, things change for a good and her two personalities merge.
Q: How do all the other Gundam relationships develop?
A: Well, the relationships were never really a big factor, because the Gundam W creator really didn't care (Author's Note: He stated also in Animerica that love relationships were beyond him and that the main goal of GW was story, action, and characters). Many fans have his/her own interpretation of who ends up with whom. The ones that are hinted in the TV and Endless Waltz are Heero/Relena, Duo/Hilde, Trowa/Catherine, Quatre/Dorothy, Wufei/Sally, and Zechs/Noin. However, because it is never it stated, it's not that important. (Author Fun Fact: If any of you have ever watched any of the Gundam movies you might be aware of what is called the "Gundam Curse". This curse is that every time a couple falls in love with each other, one usually gets killed in combat, sometimes both. Maybe that's the real reason why there's no relationships in GW, because the law applies to them as well.)
Q: Is there any good websites that have tons of information on Gundam Wing and other Gundam series?
A: The sites I recommend are www.gundam.com, and www.gundamw.net. these are the best fan sites on the web. Also you can check out the official GW site www.gundamofficial.com and the Toonami site www.toonami.com.
And here are the numbers significant in Gundam Wing:
Heero - 1
Duo - 2
Trowa - 3
Quatre - 4
Wu Fei - 5
Zechs/Milliardo - 6
Otto - 8
Noin - 9
Dekim - 10
Une – 11
Midii- 12
Treize - 13
Quinze - 15
Trent - 30
Reminders:
1. Check your spelling and grammar.
2. Avoid cursing.
3. You may go off-topic a bit but not too much, ok? ^_^
4. You may discuss other Gundam series but please do not forget that this is a Gundam Wing thread for discussing Gundam Wing.
5. Meiran and Meilan are spellings of one person's name and neither is incorrect for you spell her name Meiran but pronounce it Meilan (It's the Japanese accent. Almost all the r's turn into l's)
6. I called Ground Zero a fan manga because the original artists didn't draw it and I suspect that a fan made it but feel free to correct me if I am wrong.
7. If you're looking for another Gundam Wing thread which has had much more discussed on it. I suggest you look up the "Gundam Wing Fans?" thread.
Here are some Gundam Wing FAQ courtesy of gundamw.net:
The following FAQ is 100% accurate (well, actually, the only thing more accurate then my answers is the actual creator, himself). I have HEAVILY researched the answers for these questions. My sources are: Animerica magazine (May Issue, 2000), Protoculture Addicts (#59, March 2000), around 30 different websites, watching all 49 episodes of the TV series and reading translated copies of G-Unit and Episode Zero manga. The following may contain plot spoilers, if you have not viewed the entire series by now.
Q: Is Gundam Wing part of the Gundam timeline?
A: Nope. Gundam W takes place in AC (After Colony) timeline, the others are mostly UC (Universal Century), with the exception of Gundam G, Turn A, and X, which have their own respective timelines.
Q: So, Gundam the movies, 0080, and 0083 have no connections to this
timeline?
A: That's right! All of those that you see in the video stores are from the Universal Century timeline.
Q: Is this a run-of-the-mill "Giant Robot" anime?
A: Not really. It does have lot's of cool mecha combat, however this series is fun for the whole family (excuse the cheesy pun). It has the mecha for the guys, and the "pretty boys in armor" (a la Ronin Warriors) for the ladies (Author's Note: In an interview with Animerica Magazine, The creator of Gundam Wing stated that it was never intentional to have a pretty boy [or bishonen] type characters). It also has a lot of story to it. It isn't all "beat-down" time in this program. Be happy about this. At least it's not "music can save the motherf---ing galaxy" like Macross 7.
Q: How many episodes is there for Gundam Wing? Are there any sequels?
A: There are 49 episodes (Author's Note: 3 eight-hour tapes work nicely to record all of GW), There is a 3-part OVA sequel called "Endless Waltz"
Q: What is 'Endless Waltz?'
A: It's the sequel to Gundam Wing (actually GW is the only Gundam alternate universe theme to spawn it's own sequel), it takes place 1 year after the final battle with White Fang. It tells the story about a new enemy arising out of the L3 colony and Team Gundam is back in action to take them down.
Q: Is there Gundam Wing manga available?
A: Yep, Mixx entertainment has already released a Gundam Wing monthly comic book. There are also four mangas. They are Episode Zero (which I was able to read a translated version of it), G-Unit, Ground Zero, and Blind Target. They are mainly side stories and have no official standing in the Gundam Wing universe. That means that what you see in the anime, is what you get. The only reason why they are "Semi-official" is Sunrise (The Company that owns the rights to Gundam) allows the writers/artists of the manga/novels/video games to sell these stories that involve Gundam Wing. To give you an example, take the 1986 movie Aliens. As some of you may be aware, Dark Horse comics has permission through 20th Century Fox (Folks who own the rights to the movie) to do their own adaptation of the events after the Aliens movie. However, these events are not "official" and what you see in the sequels (Alien 3 and Alien: Resurrection) is. Essentially, all it is glorified fan fiction.
Q: Does OZ stand for anything?
A: It stands for Organization of Zodiac. Also another fun fact is that all of the Mobile Suits that Oz uses are named after signs of the Zodiac.
Q: Is there a difference between OZ, the Federation, and the Romefeller?
A: Well, at one point in the story, they're all the same. Just got different
goals. Also different leaders: Treize/Oz, Marshall Noventa/Alliance, and Duke Dermail/Romefeller. Now militarily speaking, Alliance is like the US Army, Oz (Author's note: aka, the specials) would be like the Green Berets and Romefeller would be like McDonald Douglas who makes the Apache Attack Choppers for the army. That's basically it in a nutshell. It's like the Green Berets are getting cash from McDonald Douglas, and they revolt and destroy the Army. Then the leader of the Green Berets don't like the way McDonald is doing things and quits. This pisses off McDonald, then they make up their own little military to destroy the Green Berets. I guess that might be a good explanation.
Q: Why do OZ officers dress like they were in Napoleon's time?
A: Oz and Romefeller are aristocratic organization that basically means they like dressing all fancy and stuff. The creators of the show probably wanted to copy the imagine of Euro noblemen during that time era.
Q: What is a Gundam?
A: It's an advanced mobile suit. It's made of Gundanium (hence the name "Gundam" wink , It is also far superior to most mobile suits in fighting ability,
speed, armor, etc. It also usually has a "V" shaped antenna on it's head.
Q: Which Gundam is the best?
A: None of them are really better then the other actually. First, It all depends on the pilot. The Wing 0 and Epyon are definitely powerful, however, each Gundam has it's own strengths and weaknesses. For instance, The Heavyarms has lots of Rapid-fire weapons, but none of them are as powerful as the Wing's buster rifle. However, the buster rifle does not have the H-ARM's rapid fire.
Q: What is the "zero system"?
A: This is an advanced Fire Control System (FCS) that uses the pilot's
brainwaves to shorten reaction time. Unfortunately, this system has two bad side effects. First the pilot can experience wind-warping hallucinations, because it's messing with the pilot's brain. Also because it uses the pilot's thoughts, it can determine friend or foe and fire upon it. Basically what this means is if the pilot has an ally who annoys him sometimes, the Zero system may read that as an enemy, and it will open fire on that ally until it is destroyed.
Q: Who is Howard?
A: Howard is part of the Sweeper group. The Sweeper group is a team of space salvage/recovery that assists Duo on Earth, later assists Zechs, and finally commands the Peacemillion. Interestingly enough, he was one of the original creators of the Tallgeese.
Q: Who are the scientists?
A: They are the ones who originally designed mobile suits for Romefeller.
However, due to some falling out, they left and joined the colony resistance and thus built the Gundams. They are also the Gundam pilot's superior officer, giving them mission briefings and stuff.
Q: Who is the real Heero Yuy?
A: Heero Yuy was an advocate of peace for the colony's 20 years before operation meteor. The Earth Sphere Alliance assassinated him because he was considered to be a threat.
Q: Who was King Peacecraft and what is the Sanc Kingdom?
A: King Peacecraft was the ruler of the Sanc (also spelled the "Cinq" kingdom, whatever, same damn thing.) kingdom. The interesting thing about the Sanc Kingdom is it was all about Pacifism (kind of like Switzerland). Unfortunately, yet again, the Alliance didn't like the way they were looking at them, so they dropped by blew a lot of stuff up and killed King Peacecraft and co. (with the exception of Relena and Zechs) in the process.
Q: What are the Maganacs Corps?
A: They are Quatre's personal army; they each possess their own individual and unique Mobile Suits that assist Quatre in his missions (sometimes).
Q: What is White Fang?
A: A group of colony rebels, former alliance, and Oz members who are bent out claiming total separation from the Earth. They're kind of like the Zeon from the UC timeline. They want total independence from the Earth and if they have to blow up the Earth to achieve this, then so be it.
Q: What is up with Lady Une?
A: She has a split personality complex. Basically, she has some severe mental issues. One minute, with her glasses off and her hair down, She becomes a sweet, caring individual. However, with her glasses on, she goes into psycho mode. However, after she is shot by Tuberov, things change for a good and her two personalities merge.
Q: How do all the other Gundam relationships develop?
A: Well, the relationships were never really a big factor, because the Gundam W creator really didn't care (Author's Note: He stated also in Animerica that love relationships were beyond him and that the main goal of GW was story, action, and characters). Many fans have his/her own interpretation of who ends up with whom. The ones that are hinted in the TV and Endless Waltz are Heero/Relena, Duo/Hilde, Trowa/Catherine, Quatre/Dorothy, Wufei/Sally, and Zechs/Noin. However, because it is never it stated, it's not that important. (Author Fun Fact: If any of you have ever watched any of the Gundam movies you might be aware of what is called the "Gundam Curse". This curse is that every time a couple falls in love with each other, one usually gets killed in combat, sometimes both. Maybe that's the real reason why there's no relationships in GW, because the law applies to them as well.)
Q: Is there any good websites that have tons of information on Gundam Wing and other Gundam series?
A: The sites I recommend are www.gundam.com, and www.gundamw.net. these are the best fan sites on the web. Also you can check out the official GW site www.gundamofficial.com and the Toonami site www.toonami.com.
And here are the numbers significant in Gundam Wing:
Heero - 1
Duo - 2
Trowa - 3
Quatre - 4
Wu Fei - 5
Zechs/Milliardo - 6
Otto - 8
Noin - 9
Dekim - 10
Une – 11
Midii- 12
Treize - 13
Quinze - 15
Trent - 30
