Gaia Gear

[Daishikaze]

What was this story about?

the artwork that I have seen makes me extremely interested, its definately not typical Gundam.

[Tachyon]

I'm still trying to find artbooks to buy for this novel series.

[Daishikaze]

If they animated this story is would definately be a breath of fresh air, The mecha are very cool looking and they don't follow the usually design style for gundam.

I heard that because of other stories written, this one has become redundant, which is a shame because it seems really interesting for sure.

[Xavadis]

The story involves the clone of Char, from what I remember. It was a radio/text serial; here is a page with the mecha from the series. The design and art are by Marahmou Ito(sp); I picked up a couple of the expensive resin kits that were released, the Gaia Gear Alpha and the Gussa. I really like the designs a lot; a more serious approach design-wise, like Sentinel:
http://www.bad-words.com/images/gaiagear.html

[Daishikaze]

It seems like alot of great gundam stories will never be animated, I mean this one looks awesome, as does Sentinel, Hathaway's Flash, and Crossbone Gundam. It seems so ridiculous that These stories have been bypassed in favor lesser stories like Wing and SEED.

Sadly it seems that these stories will be forgotten in favor of another flashy AU series.

[Tachyon]

I certainly agree with you however there is one thing to consider: animation concerns.

I've heard that the Ex-S Gundam and Penelope Gundam haven't been animated because they have so much detail and so many moving parts that it would be quite costly to animate them.

As Kuruni said, many of the best Gundam designs are never animated.

[Daishikaze]

hmm, I don't know, they may have to alter a few things, but I think they could probably pull it off without compromising the design too much, I'm guessing there just isn't any interest in doing so

[Nu Soard Graphite]

Also from what I understand, the use of computers in Animation these days has considerably reduced the cost in comparison to traditional Cell animation. Thats why so many TV series of today have as good or better animation than many 90's OAV's. In this day and age, complexity of moving parts shouldn't even be an issue, if you look at some of the videogames out there and how detailed those can be.

[Daishikaze]

So in actuality, they wouldn't have to change anything it the design if they went down that route. The big problem seems to be that either Bandai and sunrise aren't interested, or Tomino doesn't want them to be animated.

[Xavadis]

I think it's true that designs had to be simplified for cell animation, and that CG can add more detail without costing as much time/money. But another thing to consider as far as Bandai's interest in animating any of these is the merchandising. There seems to be a rule now to have a ton of Gundam variants in each show so Bandai can sell more model kits; Gundams are going to sell more than GMs or non-Gundam Federation or Zion MS, with the exception of the Zaku. The solution? Have a AU where there are all kinds of Gundams running around. These older stories don't have that setup, and it's riskier for Bandai money-wise. I think it is harder for them to adapt an older story as opposed to coming up with something from scratch that can have a trendier look that will catch the eye of general anime fans.
I would love to see a Sentinel OVA, and the release of the MG and HGUC Sentinel models shows that there is still love for it, so it may happen down the road.

[Daishikaze]

The problem with more gundams per show is that they run out of interesting designs, which seemed to have happened already, most of the more recent designs are rehashed older designs from another show.

Gaia Gear, Sentinel, Hathaway's Flash, and Crossbone Gundam had designs that are definately alot fresher that the recent gundam fare. If Bandai keeps running gundam in the current fashion, fans are going to get tired of their Rehashed designs and stop buying the models.

[Grebo Guru]

Gaia Gear happened in UC 0203 or so, and was about Maha (the Federation's "Manhunter" agency) taking on a group of Zeon revivalists called Metatron (who went under the rather obvious cover of the "Z-Organization"). The main character was Affranche Char, a "Memory Clone" of the original Char who Metatron made to be their leader. However, he takes off on his own. There is no Gundam at all in the story, and the Mobile Suits are all called "Man Machines". The Gaia-Gear and the Zorin Soul (called RX-166 because it was made in UC 0166 and then mothballed for 40 years) look gundam-ish but are not Gundams. No artbooks were ever made for the story, sadly. The only place to get all the cool art is from the old issues of Newtype the story was serialized in, and from the pages of the novels.

From the Gundam Project:

"Up until the debut of G-Saviour, Gaia Gear represented the final chapter of the Universal Century saga, though it's possible that the subsequently-released Gundam F91 and Victory Gundam may have diverted the course of history so as to render Gaia Gear's version invalid. In this far-future saga, set more than a century after Char's Counterattack, the resistance group Metatron struggles against the Federation police force known as Maha. Metatron's secret weapon is their genetically-engineered leader, a "memory clone" of legendary hero Char Aznable.

Penned by Gundam creator Yoshiyuki Tomino, this epic saga was serialized for five years in the pages of Newtype magazine, starting in April 1987. The in-progress story was published as a series of five novels. After the serial's conclusion, Gaia Gear was adapted as a 26-episode radio drama, which aired in 1992. The radio drama was then repackaged as a five-part "CD book" series."

[Zoxesyr]

Is it just me, or does that "air force" green plane look copyright-infringinly like Thunderbird 2?

[RX-104FF]

I think Tomino is the main reason behind GG's demise. He won't let them republish any of the novels or radio drama CDs, and IIRC, when fans asked for him to give permission for the publisher to put GG back in production, he said something along the lines that he was crazy when he penned it and to forget about it like it never existed. So, even if going against the will of the fans, Tomino doesn't want it around anymore. Perhaps he doesn't like it, but he didn't like Victory Gundam either, but V has a big fanbase.

As far as reasons stated by people as whats in GG that contridicts areas of the timeline such as F-91 and V, they mostly state the technology, mainly that the MS(or "Man-Machines") are back to a size around like that of the 0090-0105era, and I believe IIRC that Beam Shield aren't used. Well, from what I know of Gaia Gear tech, those are the only things. Perhaps going big again in size is the thing to do to get the highest performance possible at the time. And with the wide used of I-Fields on the best suits of the era, perhaps with that no Beam Shield is needed, or it can't power both, so going with a traditional shield and having a I-Field is the best bet. And to refer on the situation of non-I-Fielders having regular shields, well, perhaps power requirements, or MS high-speed renders the Beam Shield unable to operate on this era of suits, or no longer needed. I suspect the metal shields of the era to be far superior to those used before wide use of Beam Shields, and I would think that the cost of these new and improved regular shields would still be far lower than a Beam Shield.

Overall, I think GG from what I've seen at least could still fit in the UC timeline. Perhaps if Tomino doesn't like it how it is, maybe he should remake it, at least in a revised novel series, to make it to his likeing, better, more canonicle or whatever.

Tomino maybe letting up on his boycott on the present form, however. I think they re-released the music soundtracks of the music from the radio dramas. However, that doesn't mean a re-release of other GG related goods is around the corner.