With all my recent work on Zeonic Germania (even if, admittedly, most of RP on NSEurope is stalled by the damnable abomination that is NSEurope1920), I've been thinking a lot about Gundam lately. And there's something about Gundam I'd like to get off my chest for now, something I'm not sure I've ever mentioned before:

Why the FLAMING FUCK is Mobile Suit Gundam considered the "pioneer of the Real Robot genre"?

No. Stop. Don't talk about Zakus and GMs and the integration of mecha into a unified military force. I'm a Zeon fanboy. I KNOW THESE THINGS. Yes Gundam is one of the first series to have giant robots that weren't utterly invincible. Yes a Zaku could be taken down by a single tank (though it would have to catch it by surprise or hit a weak spot). Yes GMs were for the most part equal to equivalent Zeon MS, even weaker than some of the late-OYW MS being fielded like the Gelgoog. Yes, overall, the UC setting IS a good ur-example for Real Robot anime.

And then you factor in the franchise's namesake, and all that goes straight into the shitcan.

Glaringly obvious Red-White-Blue paint job (Why'd the Japanese even use those colors? Expectation of the series' popularity in America? Random whim? Hard drugs?). Made out of a 'super-rare, super-strong alloy' FROM WHICH THE MECHA DRAWS IT'S NAME. PILOTED BY A SCHOOLBOY. A SCHOOLBOY JEDI. ARMED WITH A LIGHTSABER. ABLE TO SHRUG OFF 120mm ZAKU MACHINEGUN ROUNDS AND RETURN FIRE WITH A LASER RIFLE EXPLICITLY STATED TO BE AS POWERFUL AS A BATTLESHIP CANNON.

All this, built as the PROTOTYPE by a group that had NEVER BUILT MS BEFORE. WHAT THE FLYING FUCK.

Mobile Suit Gundam's status as a Real Robot anime doesn't just get wobbly legs when you consider the hideously overpowered status of it's titular mecha - the charade implodes completely! I could stand - slightly - Zeon's defeat by the Federation due to superior resources, superior manpower, hell, even superior MS designs being pulled out of their ass halfway through the war or simply not having Zabi power struggles weakening their command structure... but I draw the line at a PSYCHIC TEENAGER piloting a GODMODE HAX SUPER ROBOT ARMED WITH A LIGHTSABER winning the war apparently single handedly. Don't even bother trying to explain it any other way - the original series makes it glaringly, Campingly obvious that the "Good Guys" are supposed to "Triumph over the Evil Space Nazis with the power of Love and Friendship". And apparently The Force.

Simple fact: Zeon held the advantage throughout most of the war. Things stalemated around the middle, but even then Zeon was in a position of strength (occupying large portions of the planet), and had (if M'Quve can be trusted, which admittedly is suspect) already obtained enough resources from Earth to carry on the struggle for years. Then Skywalk-er, Amuro and the Gundam show up, the Zeon commanders all suddenly catch the Idiot Ball, pretty much EVERYTHING goes wrong for Zeon from that point onward and the war is over in about three months.

Even Sunrise knows how bad that shit smells: see their half-assed attempts at retconning the Gundam's impact on the war and humanizing the 'Evil Space Nazis' in their later UC Gundam shows before abandoning the timeline altogether to focus on bishounen and insipid romances (as far as I'm concerned, all non-UC timeline Gundam series can rot with the likes of Dragonball [Z, not the at least halfway decent original series] and Naruto).

Frankly, someone needs to make In Vain Doth Valor Bleed ( [link] ) canon, throw the Newtypes under a bus (except Haman, Haman can stay), and melt the RX-78 and all it's successors down into limited edition commemorative coins.

Nanoha Takamachi's more than enough White Devil for the anime world anyway.