>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Reynolds, Jason M. wrote: > I am not asking as the typical geeky "Is Star Trek better than Star Wars" or > "Who would win in a fight between an Ewok and a Tribble" kind of way.
Wow 32 posts in 16 hrs (night time in US no less). Has the thread NOT turned into STvSW for you? Reading the last couple posts, I don't know... >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> It did kind of ended up changing from what I was expecting... ;) >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Do you want an answer in context or out of context? In context, I buy every model for 0079 because I love the show. And recent HGUC and MG engineering, boxart and promo are practically fan service for people like me. Best example is the 3 brats for MG Acguy. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> So for you nostalgia is a big factor. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Out of context, meaning judging purely on mecha design criteria, and ignore all emotional attachment to the story, character and memorable fight scenes: ALL Gundam mecha designs are anachronistic at best. I liked Mk.II and Alex for some minor updates on the original. I liked V Gundam because it's a transformer/combiner that doesn't suck and somewhat similar to the original Gundam (but emotional attachment again :P) I liked a lot of the weirdo bad guys, but mostly because of their "shock" value (best example is Baund Doc). Out of context, Gundam designs belongs in late 70s to early 80s. Macross designs (both Valks and bad guys) were a true step forward, but their time is passed also. Now I believe not only form and function is connected, but scale and form is also connected. I mean if a mecha is human scale, than there is some advantage to have a human form. But if a mecha is much larger or smaller than human scale, taking human form makes no sense. Giant humanoids belong in fairy tales and Ultraman not in serious sci-fi. One school of anime that understand this point is BGC and GITS/Appleseed. Especially in GITS, you have mechas of a wide scale range, both the very small and very large are non-human in form. And as you get closer to human scale, you get more human-like form. But at say 2.5m, you already get some very non-human features: neckless (actually headless) and extra arms. Out of context, all the latest Gundam designs, from V, 0083, W, Turn-A to Seed give me the same self-loathing indulgence as Power Ranger and Pokemon. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> I agree with you about not needing to keep everything Humanoid. I would say that Turn A at least ventured into not humanoid territory with the Wads and Wadomes. My main point in starting this topic was to stimulate conversation so that was successful. I guess mainly I am speculating for future kit releases. I also was curious what others thoughts were because I wonder why Bandai keeps coming back to the OYW well instead of giving us more unusual Gundam kits like a MG Gabthley, Hambrabi, Geymalk, etc. Is it purely nostalgia, or do the original concepts hold up better? While I can totally agree that the retroconned versions of the OYW MS are way better then the original lineart, the basic concepts are the same, and to be honest they hold up well in my opinion. The majority of the MS designs from Z and ZZ are too "80's" in my opinion. For some odd reason they make me think of Jem and the Holograms. I have yet to see a retrocon of any of the Z or ZZ MS (besides the Gundams) that hold up for me. I think the CCA designs hold up well because they are clean designs with reasonable color schemes. They aren't overly busy designs, nor are they as outrageous as the Z and ZZ MS. I love the Den-an Zon and Daghi Irusa from F91. I'd buy MG kits of them in a heartbeat. I dislike the other Crossbone Vanguard designs though. I used to be more ambivalent about the V Gundam designs but I like them a lot more having finally watched the series. There are a few designs that I don't like, but there are some that I think are fantastic. Since the Turn A is coming, it opens the door to maybe a MG Flat or Sumo, but I am not holding my breath. I like the range of G Gundam designs for their audacity even if I wouldn't buy the majority of them. I like the Wing designs, but am ambivalent about picking them up. I never really got into X so I can't comment there. As far as Seed/Destiny etc. I love the Manga Astrays, but that is it for me. -------------------------------------------------- The Gundam Mailing List MK-II [email protected] Archives: http://www.gundam.com/gml Help: Email [EMAIL PROTECTED] with this in the BODY: help list
