Is Gundam about Real Robots or a Marketing Ploy?

[Myk JL 1,731]

I'm sure this goes way back to debates Tomino had with marketers about RX-78s color scheme & ends with Turn A Gundam.

Although I did enjoy G Gundam & Gundam Wing overall what real purpose did they serve? As far as I can tell AUs were just made to sell action figures. And once an AUs 15 minutes of fame are up it's off to the next AU.

This all ends with Turn A Gundam trying to tie in the AU with UC. Not only that, but probabley the last time Tomino will make a Gundam series. He even stated if he were to continue Turn A Gundam its sequal would be something like Turn A Space as he is done with Gundam.

But over all I think Turn A Gundam was a sign from Tomino for the Marketers to get their heads out of their asses & stick with one timeline.

I think Marketers failed to see that when they started making Gundam Seed. And now with another Gundam AU coming on the way I'm sure GSs 15 minutes of fame are up. As for the next AU I see mainly a lot of shiny robots & a lot of J-Pop Metrosexuals.

[Eppy 3,446]

all i gotta say is WHO CARES...its called ENTERTAINMENT for a reason

[minion_general 235]

I'm sure this goes way back to debates Tomino had with marketers about RX-78s color scheme & ends with Turn A Gundam.

Although I did enjoy G Gundam & Gundam Wing overall what real purpose did they serve? As far as I can tell AUs were just made to sell action figures. And once an AUs 15 minutes of fame are up it's off to the next AU.

This all ends with Turn A Gundam trying to tie in the AU with UC. Not only that, but probabley the last time Tomino will make a Gundam series. He even stated if he were to continue Turn A Gundam its sequal would be something like Turn A Space as he is done with Gundam.

But over all I think Turn A Gundam was a sign from Tomino for the Marketers to get their heads out of their asses & stick with one timeline.

I think Marketers failed to see that when they started making Gundam Seed. And now with another Gundam AU coming on the way I'm sure GSs 15 minutes of fame are up. As for the next AU I see mainly a lot of shiny robots & a lot of J-Pop Metrosexuals.

I agree ZAKO!!

[Strider Hiryu 2,704]

Welcome to getting the point (if that sounds sarcastic, sorry. I just got up). It's been stated by Bandai/Sunrise over and over that the latest AU series were created with selling a ton of Gundam Models in mind. If you've noticed, since Tomino's hay days with the UC timeline the formula for Gundam has changed to incorporate multiple Gundams for model sales and pretty boy pilots to keep bringing in female fans.

Gundam has degraded into nothing more then a way to make massive profits off of model kits for Bandai/Sunrise. They've effectively killed what made Gundam so awesome back in the day just to make more money. Gundam Wing served it's purpose when it was aired, it effectively revived a dying series. It also brought female fans into an all male fanbase and it revived model kit sales with it's multiple Gundams. G Gundam, outside of model sales, doesn't really have a purpose that I can find (plus it was degraded to a Super Robots show).

I realize I have yet to see Turn-A but I have to tell you it did not try to fuse AU and UC or tie them together in any way. It's effectively the last Gundam Tomino will ever make and he made it with that in mind so he did it his way. If any series tried to tie the two timelines together it was Gundam X (for obvious reasons). Turn-A is just Tomino's last entry into a series he created. Sadly Tomino sees that he must step down because what people want now-a-days is something he just can't provide (he won't compromise his standards or storytelling to give Bandai/Sunrise what they want which is a watered down plot with multiple Gundams and pretty boy pilots).

Outside of this I suggest you actually do some research on Gundam 00 and make a more educated guess on it then what you've listed. True, it'd degraded to the new Gundam formula with pretty boy pilots and multiple Gundams but you can't judge a series till you've seen it or researched it. Really all this boils down to now is exactly what Epples said, who cares? It's entertainment (I've given up all hopes of seeing a good Gundam anymore so I watch the new ones purely because it's entertainment (and in some cases refuse to watch them because they suck, the SEED franchise comes to mind)).

[Myk JL 1,731]

I realize I have yet to see Turn-A but I have to tell you it did not try to fuse AU and UC or tie them together in any way. It's effectively the last Gundam Tomino will ever make and he made it with that in mind so he did it his way. If any series tried to tie the two timelines together it was Gundam X (for obvious reasons). Turn-A is just Tomino's last entry into a series he created. Sadly Tomino sees that he must step down because what people want now-a-days is something he just can't provide (he won't compromise his standards or storytelling to give Bandai/Sunrise what they want which is a watered down plot with multiple Gundams and pretty boy pilots).

Outside of this I suggest you actually do some research on Gundam 00 and make a more educated guess on it then what you've listed. True, it'd degraded to the new Gundam formula with pretty boy pilots and multiple Gundams but you can't judge a series till you've seen it or researched it. Really all this boils down to now is exactly what Epples said, who cares? It's entertainment (I've given up all hopes of seeing a good Gundam anymore so I watch the new ones purely because it's entertainment (and in some cases refuse to watch them because they suck, the SEED franchise comes to mind)).

Everywhere I go for info on Turn-A says it ties the UC & AUs.

As for 00, I'm not going to have anything else to really say about it untill I see it.

[Strider Hiryu 2,704]

You're probably referring to the Turn-A theory that's been circulating the net for years (you've probably only heard snippets and what not). It's only speculation that Turn-A ties in the multiple timelines, not proven fact. Turn-A does have various aspects that are borrowed from previous series and makes homage to some of the previous Gundams but it does not tie the timelines together (Tomino has never confirmed this theory nor has he really denied it either (most people believe he didn't mesh the timelines together but in fact just took what he liked out of others and added his own flare to it to mesh it in with the current story he had set up).

As I said it's just fan speculation that Turn-A meshes the timelines together. To this date this theory has not been confirmed or denied (unless Tomino has recently stepped forward to given us a true answer).

[gokuDX7 2,871]

I agree with Strider. Gundam X is probably the closes series that tried to tie everything in together (for the most part), bringing the end of Newtypes and trying to solve the conflict with earth and space colonies.

Also I agree with Eppy. It doesn't really matter anymore, every anime is out to try and get as much money as possible by selling merch. Still it's really no reason to look down on the show/series. If you don't like it then just don't by the merch that they sell.