Mobile Suit Gundam is one of the longest-running anime franchises of all time. It has been developed into movies, television shows, video games, card games, and even (or especially) mobile suit model kits called Gunpla that come in just about every variation a person could want, and that’s not even completely covering its reach.
But there are a lot of things to know about the series, and there are even more facts that most people do not know, even if they’ve been fans of the franchise for a long time.
10 Gunpla’s Popularity
Gunpla, a portmanteau of “Gundam plastic model,” kits are incredibly popular all around the world. Bandai, the company that makes them, has sold more than 450 million Gunpla kits, and there are more than 2,000 different designs Gunpla builders can choose from. Gunpla sails make up 90 percent of the market for Japanese character models, which shows just how widespread and beloved the Gundam franchise is.
9 Gundam Academy
In 2008, Japan made plans for a Gundam Academy. The academic institute would focus heavily on the kinds of technology that make Gundam what it is.
They specifically wanted to focus on creating the necessary mechanisms to actually make Gundam mobile suits. But also of interest are things like space colonization, helper robots, and the kinds of humanities work, like linguistics, that would make this a possibility as a worldwide endeavor.
8 Had A Different Name
When the creators of Gundam were putting the series together, they originally had an entirely different concept for it planned, along with a totally different name for the series. The series initially wanted to focus more heavily on guns, and so the series was originally called Freedom Fighter Gunboy, Gunboy for short. This isn’t too different from the name the series ended up with.
7 Amuro Was Supposed To Die
The original plan for the original Mobile Suit Gundam series was a lot darker than what the series ended up doing.
Originally, Amuro was supposed to die halfway through the series, and White Base would end up becoming allies with Char, only to have him betray them and take over Zeon to become their enemies again. Both Zeta Gundam and Char’s Counterattack have elements of this original concept.
6 It Was Originally Spelled “Gundom”
A lot of fans know the portmanteau that forms the word “Gundam” to be “gun” and “freedom,” but this is actually only half the story. While that is the original concept, which is how the creators got to “Gundom,” they ultimately went with “Gundam.” Yoshiyuki Tomino, one of the animators on the series who helped develop the concept, thought the Gundam would be a robot that was holding a gun that is so powerful it would hold back enemies like a dam holds backwater.
5 Gundam Technology Is Based On Real Science
While there are definitely a lot of things about the way mobile suits work that is fictitious, like the Minovsky Particles that help power them, a lot of the technology draws inspiration from real science.
Some examples of this are Lagrange points and the O’Neill cylinder and the fact that Helium-3 is used as an energy source. Other things are technologies that haven’t quite been invented yet but seem feasible with the right research in the future.
4 Brian K. Vaughan To Write The Movie
Brian K. Vaughan is one of the most popular and successful comic book writers on the scene today. He has made his name with science fiction fantasy series like Y: The Last Man and Saga, both of which draw on some of the same themes as Gundam. The live-action film, which has been in production in the U.S. since 2008, will be written and produced by Vaughn.
3 A Full-Size Statue Stands in Tokyo
Japan sincerely loves Gundam, and many have compared the love for the series to that of Star Wars in the West.
In Tokyo, there is a Gunpla store called The Gundam Base Tokyo, outside of which stands a full-size statue of the Unicorn Gundam. The statue replaced the RX-78-2 Gundam model that stood there from 2009 until 2017.
2 Japanese Self-Defense Forces
The Japanese Self-Defense Forces, Japan’s military force, use “Gundam” as a codename. The project it describes is for an advanced personal combat system and particularly refers to technical developments when it comes to fire fighting. There seems to be some evidence that they might be looking into the technology to actually build a Gundam themselves.
1 Syd Mead Designs
Syd Mead, a well-known concept designer for science fiction movies like Blade Runner and Tron, was the first non-Japanese person to design a Gundam. His designs can be seen in 1999’s Turn A Gundam, where he designed both the titular Turn A Gundam, with its iconic mustache, and Sumo, the antagonist of the series. Sumo was actually Mead’s initial design for Turn A Gundam, but Yoshiyuki Tomino felt it was too different from previous Gundam designs.