The original Gundam series is still the most sound in terms of military strategy and tactics.
- There are numerous support fighters, tanks, and other vehicles filling the bulk of the Zeon and Federation armies until late in the War. Even Amuro spends a ton of time fighting in the Core Fighter against other support units as opposed to just in the Gundam alone, often switching to it only for more specific roles against other MS.
- Even some of the Gundam's more ridiculous power up components like the G-Bull emphasize the tactical use of tanks or fighter planes on the battlefield over purely just mecha.
- Later, more experimental Mobile Suits and Mobile Armors are more closely tied to non-mecha vehicles like aquatic units, or fighters.
- Minovsky particles may be a plot convenience, but they remain one of the more sound excuses for why mecha do exist, along with other in universe explanations like their deep ties to space construction and development.
- Giant robots sell toys, so eventually them taking over most of the gundam franchise was inevitable, but if you remove everything after the original TV series (even the movies), you're left with a surprisingly competent old work about a massive war. One that I don't think any later gundam work approaches to the same degree, as all shows and OVAs after rely most on mobile suit warfare. Some early parts of 00 or even SEED get closer to this, but they all turn super robot very quickly as the shows progress. And the UC timeline becomes more mobile suit reliant as it progresses, escewing conventional warfare elements almost entirely (mostly due to the mass production and industrialization of MS tech as a whole).
It's funny to think of how much ol' man Tomino probably just wanted a regular ol' war show but got stuck with Giant Robots forever. I love them dearly, but it stands out much more if you watch the original and see how much mobile suits were outnumbered compared to other weapons of war.
are you seriously trying to argue that G-Bull, which is a gigantic tank with none of the sturdiness of an actual tank nor agility of a mobile suit, is a relatively sensible design? Even in the show, every time it's used halfway through the episode Amuro transforms it back into the gundam because, guess what, it's more viable
It's a shame, since planes and tanks can be cool af too and they can often flesh out a setting more. Sadly at best we get support craft in newer stuff, including UC. At least Zeta had the whole trend of MS being made with the idea of overlapping into plane roles.
If you want a giant robot focused setting that still emphasizes combined arms warfare, look into Battletech. Mechs are essentially the apex of warfare within the setting, but other ground vehicles feature prominently thanks to being FAR cheaper to produce/maintain/train crews for, and aerospace units (fighters, bombers, etc) are about as dominant as they are in real life. Even within the setting, they're generally as feared as the mechs are when in capable hands.
this is the kind of shit you see on reddit or wikia
>reddit
Those people over there don't have free thought
neither do we
nobody on reddit has seen 0079 because it's old. they only watch seed and ibo
>The original Gundam series is still the most sound in terms of military strategy and tactics.
No, that would be Full Metal Panic.
Isn't that the series in which they introduce a device that allows a pilot to stop bullets with their minds and do tons of stupid shit by the third episode or something?
No, that stuff gets introduced much later and only in the context of extremely experimental technology. Psychics are established very early into the series, though.
That isn't any less BS than newtype precognition and soul bonding
Yeah but the animation sucks.
Agreed, the combined arms aspect of the original MSG is one of the aspects I love the most about it.
>scifi setting with space colonies being something we can not only make, but also mass produce
>still using tanks
yeah no
Clay Bazookas are still my favourite thing and it's pathetic they really don't show up after Zeta
destroying the sensors of a million dollar robot so you can capture it later instead of having to shoot either the wienerpit or reactor to take it out is perfection for both tone and plausibility within the UC
using tanks
what's wrong with still using tanks?
they're just big guns on tracks, this becomes more redundant as the weapons on aircraft become better
the last conflict that actually had tanks really being used as a significant part of the conflict was the Gulf war and even that was because the US was getting goofy with how they waged war
they do have a place in putting them in a location you'd like to hold against poorly armed more militant groups. As soon as the the opposition gets anti armour they start to eat shit, which has been an issue with tanks since WW2 with all the epic wehraboo tanks getting decimated by small anti-armour squads who can set up anywhere
I mean currently the closest parity on armor combat is Ukrainian War right now which is being waged by 2 drunken monkeys in terms of planning. But it also IS a good point on why there should be more small Anti-MS squads on the ground.
The issue I see with the Gundam universe compared to the Battletech universe is that In BT they would be throwing beam cannons onto tanks rather than conventional kinetic weapons (though even in BT KE weapons can be devastating), a good example is the Myrmidion and it's PPC, which if you had a tank formation can shred large targets like MS while also being far easier to setup in defensive positions.
Gundam's issue is that MS are the star of the show so anything other than mook-mechs are sidelines unless they want to show grunts getting wiped out. As some said the OG series and even MS08 did a good job of having a combined arms display compared to later series.
You're very mistaken about how modern war works. Tanks combine firepower, protection and speed into one package on the ground. Without tanks there would be no way to assault an enemy position that you can then hold with infantry following behind being carried by APC/IFVs. It would just be destroy some things with aircraft and then you go home, ultimately accomplishing nothing permanent because the enemy can just reinforce it while you're rearming. They're designed for offense, not defense.
Also tanks do eat shit a lot, it's just that they eat the least amount of shit compared to sending thin armored vehicles or marching soldiers like it's WW1 to be the front of an assault. In urban combat it's the opposite with infantry screening for tanks at the front, the infantry shoots AT down but don't get eat shit as much because there's cover everywhere then the tank destroys fortifications for the infantry.
To be fair, the reason why so much later UC works focus on Mobile Suits is because they move away from a setting where tanks and other ground-bound machines can easily follow.
Space.
i really like when enemy pilots don't see the MCs' suits transform and blurt out something like "Another suit?! I'm surrounded!" thinking it's a different unit entirely
0079 doesnt have enough cute lesbians for nu-/m/
I just started watching gundam, bought a gunpla (MG helios for anyone who cares) at the recomendation of a friend, and i am full on addicted to these frickers now...
Just finished watching 0079 for the first time, and good god how have i missed this KINO
>have you heard of ADOLF HITLER
>Why yes i am a hitler follower
like what tHE FRICK HE JUST FRICKIN OWNS IT
Go back to twitter.
>Just finished watching 0079 for the first time
I'm attempting to do the same, but I have trouble with how dated and sluggish it is. The artstyle is fine in a vacuum but the animation is very weak.
Bait.
Dead serious. In episode 3 they reuse the same shot of the Musai's helm like three times and they almost never show the Gundam and any Zaku on screen at the same time. A disproportionate amount of the runtime is focused on Amuro sitting in the wienerpit making various faces and thinking to himself.
Watch more anime moron.
I watch a ton of anime, that's why shitty animation is annoying. There's more visual flair in any given minute of, say, Thunderbolt than there is in any episode of 0079. I understand the concept of budget constraints and all but that doesn't make 0079 any more visually appealing and I'll probably just end up reading the manga instead.
>I watch a ton of anime
>visual flair
Yeah I bet you do.
I like the art of Gundam but the show is fricking terrible.