Iron-Blooded Beasts (fan art)

First of all I want to blame Austin for all of this. His Gunpla segment on the GOTY videos sparked a dark seed in me that grew with time like rot eating away at my sanity. Before I knew it I had started watching that new Gundam anime (yuck!) Iron-Blood Orphans. I've heard Austin mention how it's good, or that it subverts expectations by centering around a narrative of child soldiers. Well let me tell you, if you look up "cliche" or "trite" in the dictionary, there really should be a picture from this show. Maybe I fell off from anime since my high school days, maybe I grew up, or maybe this show is just plain bad, but every imaginable trope you can think of from Japanese animation can be found right here. The quiet, extremely gifted protagonist. The princess pulled from her privileged life, constantly shocked by realities of the lower classes. The too-cool-for-school mannerisms. The constant looking away while blushing. There is a kid named BISCUIT and his sisters name is COOKIE, and he's fat, cause he LOVES FOOD GET IT YOU IDIOTS, BISCUIT, GET IT?! The fights are alright, but out of the 12 episodes I've watched there haven't been all that many. I literally just watched three entire episodes of a GUNDAM anime with almost no fighting whatsoever. I'm too deep in to quit now.. but by God this show..

Which brings us to this illustration. In my Gundam-haze I got it in my head that I need to make something with Gundams and Giant Bomb. So here it is, the fruits of my labors. It's the G.Bombatos, a legendary Gundam from the Nacho Calamity Wars. Equipped with not two, but FOUR Ahab Reactors. I hate myself for knowing what that even is..

I love his pudgy little knees. They add so much personality.

Perfect. Bomb Mechas are 100. I'm enjoying IBO but I'm a sucka for most Gundam shows so...

That Gundam is scary for a whole host of reasons...

There's some really awesome Gundam shows! But Iron-Blooded Orphans is awful.
To continue your dark path, check out Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket, Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team, or, if you're feeling like something that's recently come out, check out Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt. It's got jazz and styyyyyyle.

Also, that poster is perfect. They need that up in their studio.

Pretty funny. I'd like to know what the fuse wick on top is made out of. Is it like a floppy strand of metal or perhaps it doubles as one of those whip heat rods that you see on Gouf models.

This is just great. I want this Gundam as a figure.

@humanity: Sorry you have such incredibly wrong opinions about Gundam IBO, but yeah the illustration's okay I guess.

After the Mechwarrior QL I kind of need that Urbanmech for Vinny.

@mezmero: I imagine the wick is like a flexible steel cable and it lights up when he goes into "overdrive" or whatever.

Who would be the Char clone of the 3 duders though? My intial thought would be Alex but then I thought of Zeon Youth Minister Jeff Char-kalar.

@instantryan: Yeah, BakaChar Aznable is the obvious move.

Gundam IBO gets way more fighty once they get into space, so stick with it.

As to your poster, considering there's a canonical Dutch Gundam shaped like a fucking old timey windmill a Gundam shaped like a bomb isn't too out there. Nice work duder.

I don't have experience with mech shows outside of Gurren Lagann and the evangelion movies but did not like what I watched of Iron-Blooded Orphans. The characters are neither relatable or likable. The villains are terrible. It looks really good but I couldn't care about most of the stuff going on in the 7ish episodes I watched.

I like IBO, but my god there hasn't really been any meaningful plot for the first 14 episodes, and it seems like it is just getting around to shit happening.

Also upon seeing this pictures, my brain immediately thought to how to mod a Ball to turn this thing into plastic reality...

Yes, 0080 and 08th MS Team are the ONLY Gundam serials I would ever recommend, the others are just plain bad (SEED, Wing, Orphan) or can only be enjoyed if you're already deep into Gundam (Zeta, Char's Counterattack, Turn A).

Amazing artwork by the way.

I think Iron Blooded Orphans is pretty good. I haven't seen many mech shows though.

Alex looks like the perfect 'mastermind/evil CEO' type of guy, with Austin and Vinny being gruffy Lieutenants or second in commands.

All of them capable of piloting gundams.

Pretty great.

Man, I just watched that Thunderbolt commercial and it looks like it has STTYYYLLLEEE. The artwork and music look really great. I also might check out 0080 since it's a short OVA series.. but.. the kid aspect isn't terrible in it is it? I don't particularly like kids in shows.

Also to dig even deeper into this dark deluge of mecha anime.. what is the UC universe? I made the mistake of reading some comments under the Thunderbolt trailer and people are up in arms about it!

EDIT: ALSO, I never showed it off on the forums, but I did make a Gundam inspired illustration for GB a while back. Here is a L-I-N-K

There is a kid and is the focus at the start however it soon became about the adults around him just as much as him....also it might just make you cry like it does me.

@akyho: I watched "Now and Then, Here and There" fairly early when I was in High School, so I don't have anymore feelings when it comes to children in war environments.

@humanity:Every Gundam show is set in a timeline. Universal Century or UC is the main timeline and what the first Gundam series took place in. I don't know what comments were up in arms about since reading those is a baaaaaad idea. There's a lot of different timelines if you deep dive into it. War in the Pocket and 08th MS Team are both UC while something like G Gundam is in its own world.

@instantryan: G Gundam is the first Gundam series I ever watched and I think it's really awesome actually. I mean it's campy and silly but I think it has a ton of charm to it. Shining... burning...

@humanity: It's the campiest of camp and I love it more than I should. When the main move from your show is still talked about 2 decades later (Holy shit, G Gundam is that old), you did something memorable at the very least.

Now I'm curious as to what the comments were saying since Thunderbolt is a UC series. I know there's some purists out there that think most AU stuff is garbage and UC is the only way to go so it can't be that. There's probably people who think the opposite of that as well.

The bomb shaped Gundam is great.

Fun fact that G Gundam was the first Gundam series to take place in a timeline not UC.

And as stated above already, the kid aspect of 0080 is intrinsic to the storyline. The OVA takes place at the tail end of the One Year War, which was the war that took place during the first Gundam series, Mobile Suit Gundam.

Cool art, I just wish it wasn't associated with IBO bashing because I think it's a decent show that has done a lot more nuanced things with characters that were ripe for typical anime bullshit than I expected.

@humanity said:

I'm with you duder. I will fully admit that the kid made it real hard to watch in the beginning, but eventually it got better and personally I feel like it was worth watching to the end, even with the kid. I started a thread recently saying I planned to go back and watch some old Gundam stuff and review them. Spare time has been hard to come by and I have some strong thoughts on 0080 War in the Pocket, so that might take longer to be done, especially as I still have to find time to edit my Char's Counterattack review...

As for the UC thing, that's the "primary" timeline that has a lot of shows interconnected to the events and outcome of the One Year War, which happened in Mobile Suit Gundam. A lot of the other series, such as Iron-Blooded Orphans, Gundam Wing, G Gundam, etc., all take place in their own independent alternate universes. Therefore, they have no relation to one another and completely no relation to the story line of the UC universe, which is likely the one which is most fleshed out.

@wchigo: Cool thanks for the short and sweet summary. When watching the show I kept wondering if all these Gundam series are actually connected somehow on a timeline. Now that is a little more clear.

@seinenfeld: I don't mean it as bashing although I guess thats basically what it is. Personally I think it has very little going for it but maybe thats because I saw so many more serious and nuanced shows when I was in my teens. Or maybe I was in my teens and thought all those older shows were way more nuanced than they actually were.. who knows. I do know that I can watch Bebop or Now and Then.. today and still get something out of it. Not all of it was great of course, like Trigun was fun at the time but I'm guessing it hasn't aged very well. Similarly Tenchi Muyo which I checked out recently online also has not aged as well as I remembered. Either way, glad you enjoy "the Orphans" man - don't take my negativity as anything more than just a guy talking on the internet. As long as you like it thats what matters most.

@instantryan:The comments (if you haven't looked it up) were basically an argument between people saying they should stop making UC storylines Gundam shows already and let that whole timeline go - against the people that thought UC is the only good thing Gundam has going for it.

amazing

@humanity: Yeah, I took the dive into some comments on multiple videos and it's basically the same old, same old that's been going on forever: People who think all UC shows tread the same water or is a tired timeline and like their laser fights against people whose preference is UC.

I personally lean towards UC but that's because I think it has the better shows overall and generally isn't as over the top as most of the AU shows. I can enjoy both sides (Except SEED since that's just garbage) but I can only take so much Dragon Ball Z-esque mech fight scenes. It's why I've been enjoying Orphans since it's been fairly grounded so far. Also, 08th MS Team is one of the best Gundam series but it can also works for people who don't like Gundam.

Very nice work!

This is good. I am grateful for its existence.

Gundam IBO is absolutely incredible.

ATTENTION ARTISTS: if you're incredibly bored, can you draw any of the GB crew as 80s-style sci-fi anime characters? I submit this as a sample reference:

@bisonhero: I think the closest stuff you get is the work of SupernormalStep at his(/her?) page. Here, the Bomb Crew are drawn as characters from Persona 4:

http://www.giantbomb.com/profile/supernormalstep/blog/persona-4-the-golden-duder-project-gb-crew-as-p4-c/96302/

@byrjun: True dat, but it's not quite as 80s and awkward enough looking. Also, man, I miss Dave Snider. Wish they'd bring him around for UPF once in a blue moon or something.

The thing about Orphans is that it tries to be centered about the cast of Tekkadan, how they learn to bond together as a militia through camraderie and stuff but for me at least, it fails to be relateable and subvert the clichés of the characters. That's extremely problematic when most of the episodes are about character interaction. Mari Okada, the screenwriter, is very hit or miss with this stuff, and here it seems that she's failing to connect with most of the Gundam audience. Now I haven't watched a ton of Gundam, so YMMV.

Nice work on the mech though!

Out of plain curiosity what makes this show so absolutely incredible in your opinion? I'm not trying to be condescending or anything I'm genuinely curious what about it makes you feel it's really awesome and if it's just a generational gap sort of thing.

I've seen a lot of anime when I was a lot younger so I get a lot of deja vu when trying to watch modern shows because it's mostly the same stuff I've seen years ago but in my opinion not executed nearly as well. I can see how for people who are starting to watch anime now this is all really cool, new stuff when compared to like the Cartoon Network or whatnot.