New to /m/ in general, have only really watched 00, Wing, 08th Team, and G Gundam, as well as VOTOMS, Macross Plus, and a short stint in Robotech before life caught up and I lost track of where I was. I also tried SEED, but was ultimately unimpressed. I'm still trying to slog through it.
In all seriousness, opinions aside as much as possible, what's the "best" mobile suit in the Gundam franchise? Also, what series of them all have really awesome grunt suits? My favorite is the Tallgeese, and I love the Leo, but I'm aware that neither is necessarily the best. The Leo seems to compete a lot for best grunt suit from my lurking here, but I would like some direct commentary, please. Also, how do mobile suits seem to compare to Variable Fighters? I'm not including VOTOMS in this conversation so much because I'm aware that they're built with a different scale in mind. Less "robots that have replaced most of warfare," more "niche unit that has lots of uses in some areas, but still need support like any military unit."
>>13946530
>>13946534
>>13946538
>>13946542
>>13946530
>have only really watched 00, Wing, 08th Team, and G Gundam
watch the original Gundam trilogy and then go into Zeta Gundam. You'll see rather quickly why everything you watched was trash.
>>13946548
>08th Team trash
I've heard nothing but good things about it here, and ultimately had way more fun than I did in 00, Wing, and G combined.
The others I can understand. I mean, 00 was fun for the first season and Prince Ali and Feldt were really the only things making the second worth watching, but it did well enough I suppose.
>>13946548
Ignore literally everything this person says, including any replies he might make to this post or any other posts.
If you want to understand the true nature of Gundam and why every entry to the franchise is similar, watch the original Gundam series. You'll also understand why some things happen the way they did in 08th MS Team but some things were basically outright retcons that are only relevant to 08th MS. After you finish the original (usually considered the best anyway but opinions vary) you can either continue on to Zeta (then follow production order) or watch something else. There is no 'best' because the top spots are really dependent on opinion and how you like your mecha but the original and Zeta are usually up there. Personally my favorite is Victory. There are quite a few 00 fans here (still outnumbered by UCfags) and G Gundam has its place in many hearts but the rest don't really stack up anywhere close. Maybe X but that's for hipsters. Just watch it and form your own opinions, nobody can tell you what you'll like.
Don't really bother with SEED. Most people on here watch it because they finished everything else in the franchise up to that point and just want to complete it. No need to go out of your way to watch it first, it's shit. Destiny, the sequel, is amazingly even worse than that.
Variable Fighters are fucking hax, they can beat most mobile suits of any given time.
By the way, branch outside of Gundam, don't be trapped like so many others.
>>13946562
Dope. Will do.
>branch outside of Gundam
Any suggestions? I watched and enjoyed VOTOMs, though that was ages ago. I should watch it again. Also I have no idea where to start or go to with Macross--I watched Plus because a friend suggested it and told me that it had a story I could understand and appreciate without context--or if I should just rewatch Robotech. I'm vaguely familiar with the meta on Robotech's development.
>>13946578
>>13946562
Also
>VFs are hax
Explain? I only saw Plus, and they seemed awesome, if only vaguely overpowered, there. And those were supposed to be experimentals.
>>13946578
VOTOMs is great. I suggest you watch the original Macross (and DYRL, the movie re-imagining of it with 9000% visual goodness) because you can watch later entries in the franchise and know what's going on. Robotech has been dead basically since the series ended so you won't get much enjoyment out of that.
As for suggestions, it really depends on what you like. The mecha sub-genre is nearly as varied as anime as a whole so take your pick. Super hot-blooded things more leaning towards Transformers? You have the Braves franchise or Exkaiser. Classic monster of the week? Mazinger Z. Half sci-fi, half coming-of-age, 100% hard work and guts? Gunbuster. Fantasy mecha? Dunbine, Escaflowne, Panzer World Galient. Slice of life police officers? Patlabor TV and OVAs. Introspective, bordering on 2deep4u philosophical bullshit? Too many to count. Mecha that are actually ancient destructive deities? From Ideon to Demonbane, you're covered.
Basically look for things as you would normally but with a mecha tag on it.
VFs are much more advanced than all but the latest mobile suits, even in Alternate Universes (aka not the original Gundam timeline). They use alien technology to accomplish incredible feats. It isn't fair to compare the two things.
Totally forgot to add that there are a lot of people who love Turn A as the best Gundam entry. I liked it too but it's different than most Gundam series which can make or break your opinion on it.
Gundam X has similar designs to wing and in my opinion has the best grunts of any gundam series so you might like it OP
>>13946548
Nope, I just finished 0079 this evening and it was a giant waste of time watching the whole thing.
The newer shows, 08th MS Team being one of them is above and beyond a much greater show to watch. Not only is the animation good, the characters are better, the battles are better, and its not fucking old.
Are you talking about theoretical performance or just what we like?
>>13946530
It's utterly impossible to determine which mobile suit is the best, since different series work across entirely different scales of power. Devil Gundam is pretty shit hot, for instance, but may well be rendered useless by the Moonlight Butterfly. Speaking of which, Turn A is probably the one you'll see touted most often due to the aforementioned Moonlight Butterfly being a giant 'fuck technology' super attack, but if you went on the scale of its general performance rather than its biggest attack it would fall behind other more ostentatious suits, I feel.
It's a bit easier for 'best grunt', since they tend to lack any disproportionately powerful abilities, but again falls prey to differences in scale. Grunt suits like the Jesta would shit all over 99% of the suits from pre-Unicorn UC, while equally things from Late UC are in a different league entirely. This is all compounded by the fact that grunt suits exist to job in large quantities to protagonist suits, Leos being a standout example.
My personal opinion is that the GNX series are one of the top contenders, I can't think of many other true grunt suits that give the protagonists such a hard time, and having their own GN Fields is a big advantage.
>>13949615
>the turn A's general performance falls behind other suits
It isnt really highlighted but the Turn A has incredible performance
For a start it pushes the willgem into orbit (this means it can escape orbit on its own) and its I-field is easily the strongest shown in any gundam series
>>13946582
>And those were supposed to be experimentals.
Macross treats their prototypes as prototypes.
The mass-production models aren't too different specs wise from the prototypes.
The VF-19, depending on the variant, either is a close copy of the YF-19, or has a modified airframe with a different wing design that had similar performance as the prototype.
The VF-22 is basically the YF-22 with the BDI systems removed.
The YF-24 had 2 out of the 3 prototypes destroyed due to problems with the machine itself. Data from this failed prototype was given to several companies for them to try their hand at developing new VFs using the new tech they used in the YF-24.
>>13946582
To put it simply, insane speeds, strong armor, energy shield impassable to all but battleship caliber weapons, FTL travel, anti-matter weapons, and starting with Frontier came mini-black hole weapons. Grunt quality is also a major factor. These weapons and abilities aren't limited to just one or two special machines, rather entire fleets have access to these equipment.
>>13950805
The willgem was launched into orbit via a combination of a mass driver and its own engines. Turn A really didn't actually do jack shit.
Not that it necessarily couldn't lift a 20-40,000 ton space battleship into orbit if it wanted to, its propulsion system is apparently some hyper-advanced version of the minovsky craft system and it has a ridiculous supersicence powersource.
>>13946578
>I watched and enjoyed VOTOMs
Watch Dougram.
>>13946843
hg bertigo never
hg daughtress never
>>13951572
all grunts project never
>>13951572
>HG daughseat never
its literally the best aquatic ms in all of gundam
why
>>13951572
Tuskete. Itai.
>Dolphin HG never
>>13951572
>hg rasveht never
Why even live
>>13946552
Don't listen to that dickhead, his life revolves around trying to troll /m/ and /toy/, his opinions are retarded because he's a little kid with no life
>>13946530
Can someone explain the ridiculous timelines in the overarching Gundam metaseries? I'm familiar with UC and what series' fit in there. What about the other shows, and how do their timelines connect to UC, if at all?
>>13958281
They don't. They're called AU Gundams for a reason.
UC (the last two shows aren't strictly speaking "UC" because at some point they changed what the calendar was called)
Gundam > 08th, 0083, 0080, Zeta Gundam > ZZ Gundam > Crossbone Gundam > Gundam F90 > Gundam F91 > Victory Gundam > Turn A Gundam > G-Reco
AU
Gundam Wing > Endless Waltz > Frozen Teardrop
Gundam SEED/SEED Astray > SEED Destiny/SEED Stargazer
G Gundam
Gundam 00 > Trailblazer
And so on. Each has their own timeline.
Turn A is far enough in the future of UC that you could link all other Gundam series to it, and it contains possible references to AUs if you're willing to read that into the series, but you'd have to be silly to try to make it make sense.
For one thing, it's impossible to reconcile UC with CE (SEED) and AD (00).
>>13958281
At the time of Turn A you could plausibly place all gundam shows in a single timeline and it would make sense, but now it is quite silly
When Turn A aired the idea was that humanity would destroy itself and slowly rebuild again and again over ~10,000 years with some information surviving, and as the artifacts of these times built up it came to be known as the dark history
>>13946530
Pic related to the whole "best mobile suit" thing. The Jesta and Jegan are pretty badass too, but the GM Sniper II holds a special place in my heart. I suspect outside of the Scarlet Team they did pretty well.
...someday I'll actually put together the multiple boxes of HGUC kits I've had sitting in my closet since around 2012...
