I am almost 2/3 of the way through with Victory Gundam and I had some thoughts/questions. This will veer into spoiler territory so you have been warned,
1. Why is the Zanscare Empire even fighting the Federation? They obviously have control of the Earth already if they can go around beheading people at will. Do they really want to rule the Earthnoids or are they really just trying to wipe them out? I know there is all of this talk about changing society from a patriarchy to a matriarchy, but I find that a little ridiculous when most of the leaders in the BESPA army are men. 2. Has there been any attempt to justify their war strategy? They spend all of this time and effort to send the Motorad fleet down just to sign a cease fire. It seemed more like anime plot physics to present a scenario to kill off Oliver and Usso's Mom. I know that Bandai allegedly shoehorned in the whole wheeled battle fleet business, but it looks like a complete waste of time. 3. If the rumors about Bandai forcing Tomino to use the Motorad designs are true, what was the point? I am not aware of any attempts to actually merchandise any of the wheeled designs. Even the wheeled MS weren't merchandised as far as I am aware of. Am I missing something? 4. Despite my issues with how BESPA is handled, I absolutely love Shakti and Usso. They are very believable without going too extreme. Shakti is a pacifist, but not ridiculous like Relena. Usso is very layered and conflicted, but not overly melodramatic for melodramas sake like other protagonists. More thoughts as I think of them...
