Discussion Post: Side-Stories and Other Non-Animated Gundam

[taichara]

From manga to gunpla variations to light novels and everything in between, there is a lot of Gundam material that isn't found in any given main anime series in the franchise.


Which brings us to our new discussion topic:

What do you think of the Gundam 'side' materials?


Do you have a favorite, or least favorite? Do you consider it all canon, or only certain parts -- or maybe only for some Gundam universes and not others -- or does it even matter? Are there side-stories you're interested in but haven't read/seen/watched yet?

Lay it all out here!

Comments

[redsixwing]

I'm so torn about side materials.

On the one hand, the side story manga for Wing, Last Outpost, was SO much fun. On the other, if they had suits that advanced and we see multiple trips way out of Earth orbit in the main series, it makes a plot hole you could drive a Gundam-hauling truck through.

And on the mechanical gripping claw, I couldn't get into the side story for 00 at ALL. :p Not sure what it was about it.

One of my favorite Gundams came out of side stories (Hydra!) and I'm inclined to count "more cool gunpla" as a positive overall, haha.

[taichara]

(I am so slow)

I've picked up a fair few manga and other suchsorts in the Gundam multiverse, many of which I find myself being attached to probably as much, sometimes more, than the original source material in many ways, oops --? (Frozen Teardrop yaaaaaaay ~~~)

Major examples, hmm ...

G00F and G00P I'm really fond of, G00P probably more than the actual G00 anime despite having pieced together the contents from summaries and brute force (damnit Bandai you should have translated that one and not 00F even if I do love Fon) and despite G00-proper having Lockon in it ... but G00I is just ... it's from a stupid part of AD's timeline and written after Chiba fell into the crazy zone is all I can say about it >.>;;

I faaaaar prefer the various Astray series to actual SEED/SEED Destiny, oops. Except for VS Astray because what even the merciful godfuck was that o_x

And of course Gundam Wing Frozen Teardrop is absolutely amazeballs and if they ever ever actually do use it as a launchpad for something animated I will die of joy :D


On canonicity, that one gets weird, lol. Sunrise-Bandai likes to claim sometimes that absolutely nothing but what is animated is canon, but then you get things like Red Frame in SEED's OP ~~ And that pretty much the entirely of G00's background hinges on 00P. Things like that. (but especially Red Frame because that shit's hilarious and I sometimes sweat bullets overwonder what might have been if Astray stuff had actually been in the anime ...)

[moon_blitz]

I'm interested in the side stories, but being familiar with only a few of the newer series, the material is either only partially translated (the Astray manga) or not translated at all (all the Age and Build Fighters side material).

The Lost War Chronicles manga is my current favourite, since I really liked all the characters involved and how the story played out.

[(Anonymous)]

Unfortunately, I don't have access to a lot of the side materials. The ones I have read tend to be more UC (though I do want to snag some Wing stuff) which is the universe I tend to prefer. That being said some of the UC side stories sound so ridiculous I'd rather just ignore them. I did read bits and pieces of "The Plot to Assasinate Ghiren Zabi" and I enjoyed that. Would Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin count? It's got an animated piece now, but as far as I know it'll only cover the flash back volumes of the manga (which is fantastic btw, available in hardback even). I basically consider that manga to be something of an alternate universal century.

I definitely want to get at some point:
Blue Destiny
Anything Wing related
the new 0083 manga (the artwork is so pretty)

tl;dr I'm definitely interested in side stories

[samuraiter]

*looks up from stack of SD Gundam G Generation games*

There are times when the 'side' stuff is more fun than the main material! (IMO.)

[kalloway]

Someday I'll get the rest of Sentinel printed out, flop down, and spend a nice sunny afternoon reading it.

Someday.

*pets Alice*