Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury - General Discussion Thread

[Twi]

Was the red glow a psycho-frame or something?

[Shinji103]

I’m glad to see there’s a lot of positive commenting on confirmation of the first female Gundam MC. I was a bit afraid there would be rantings of “awoke-ness” and SJWs and whatnot. (though sadly I wouldn’t be surprised if there was such BS talk going on in many other areas of the internet right now)


Anyway, I’ve been harping for a female MC for Gundam TV series since before GSD. Almost 20 years later and she’s finally here! Not much to go on at the moment beyond a quick glimpse of the MC and then some basic views of Gundam Aerial. The thighs definitely give off some Exia vibes, but I will admit I’m not quite sold on the general design. However, we’ve only gotten the briefest glimpses of it animated, and the sketches have a kind of rough feel to them. I’m willing to bet the actual animated, finished design will look a lot better so I’ll hold my final opinions until then.

Beyond that, the overall design and armaments are pretty basic, so maybe the story is going back to a 1st generation/mobile suit’s introduction into war kind of plot? Just a wild guess.

[GN0010 Nosferatu]

Originally Posted by Twi

Was the red glow a psycho-frame or something?

Psycho Frame expy most likely. Every Gundam series has an equivalent.

[Illsteir]

The linearts look wonky for the 2 Gundams, good thing they look better in model kit form. The AERIAL looks like Ippei Gyoubu's take on the 00 QAN[T] which I dig. And I'm afraid that the details on these MS might affect the mecha animation like what happened in Gundam 00 Season 1.

[wissenschaft]

Interesting, so we get the first female protagonist. That sure explains the title of the show. I guess this female protagonist is the "witch" in the title. The more feminine mecha designs look interesting as well. I just hope this show isn't a confused mess. I'm ok with it not being as dark as other gundams like the recent IBO. But I do want better the Age. Age issue wasn't so much being a kids show but rather than its production/story was rather messy. I hope for a higher quality production for Witch from Mercury.

[Firefly00]

Originally Posted by Shinji103

I’m glad to see there’s a lot of positive commenting on confirmation of the first female Gundam MC. I was a bit afraid there would be rantings of “awoke-ness” and SJWs and whatnot. (though sadly I wouldn’t be surprised if there was such BS talk going on in many other areas of the internet right now)

And I imagine the ranters conveniently overlook such pieces of sci-fi as Aliens and ST: Voyager. That, I believe, is all I will say for now about their nonsense.

As for the series itself... I would not be surprised if the title is also what the protagonist becomes known as, much like a certain Soviet aviation unit... 'die Hexe von Merkur' has a certain ring to it, does it not?

Bonus points if the Psycho-Frame-expy actually facilitates the sort of shenanigans Star Trek Online players refer to as 'space magic'... making the title even more apt.

[B214]

Originally Posted by wissenschaft

Interesting, so we get the first female protagonist. That sure explains the title of the show. I guess this female protagonist is the "witch" in the title. The more feminine mecha designs look interesting as well. I just hope this show isn't a confused mess. I'm ok with it not being as dark as other gundams like the recent IBO. But I do want better the Age. Age issue wasn't so much being a kids show but rather than its production/story was rather messy. I hope for a higher quality production for Witch from Mercury.

Age is still better than Reconguista if you ask me.

[ars89]

Happy finally female MC in a TV series. Not a fan of the Gundam design yet, it may grow on me. Don't want another Age or Reconguista.

[Tenzen12]

Originally Posted by tsunade666

It's been a while since a watched a good gundam series. (aside from their build series) The last I remember is iron blooded orphens gundam and its f&ckeded up ending.

It had great ending though.

Originally Posted by Shinji103

I’m glad to see there’s a lot of positive commenting on confirmation of the first female Gundam MC. I was a bit afraid there would be rantings of “awoke-ness” and SJWs and whatnot. (though sadly I wouldn’t be surprised if there was such BS talk going on in many other areas of the internet right now)


Anyway, I’ve been harping for a female MC for Gundam TV series since before GSD. Almost 20 years later and she’s finally here! Not much to go on at the moment beyond a quick glimpse of the MC and then some basic views of Gundam Aerial. The thighs definitely give off some Exia vibes, but I will admit I’m not quite sold on the general design. However, we’ve only gotten the briefest glimpses of it animated, and the sketches have a kind of rough feel to them. I’m willing to bet the actual animated, finished design will look a lot better so I’ll hold my final opinions until then.

Beyond that, the overall design and armaments are pretty basic, so maybe the story is going back to a 1st generation/mobile suit’s introduction into war kind of plot? Just a wild guess.

I don't think anyone would think so. Anti-woke crowd worship anime to point it's ridiculous. If anything there is about to be lot of talks how Japan show up western woke crowd how write actual strong female protagonist. Plus people who actually watch Gundam are probably happy we are getting competent female pilot. There is too few of them.

I am more worried about it being focused on younger audience. Main protagoinst looks pretty young and I really hope it will go more of Victory Gundam then AGE.

[Frontier]

Originally Posted by Tenzen12

I am more worried about it being focused on younger audience. Main protagoinst looks pretty young and I really hope it will go more of Victory Gundam then AGE.

I don't think anyone wants another Age but I don't think it'll get Victory Gundam dark.

I think I remember them saying they were making this with a worldwide audience in mind, but that could mean anything.

[Obelisk ze Tormentor]

Originally Posted by Tenzen12

I don't think anyone would think so. Anti-woke crowd worship anime to point it's ridiculous. If anything there is about to be lot of talks how Japan show up western woke crowd how write actual strong female protagonist. Plus people who actually watch Gundam are probably happy we are getting competent female pilot. There is too few of them.

Percentage-wise, we have about equal competent female pilots in Gundam franchise. Like, if you count all male characters & all female characters and then pick the competent pilots ones you'll get roughly the same percentage between male & female pilots (maybe even higher competent female percentage). Even more so if you count competent female ship captains.

Originally Posted by Tenzen12

I am more worried about it being focused on younger audience. Main protagoinst looks pretty young and I really hope it will go more of Victory Gundam then AGE.

I want neither of those two. There are many other good Gundam titles to take inspirations from.

Victory's writing is downright over the top & absurd to the point where some named characters' deaths feel more ridiculous instead of sad. I have no problem with Victory's depressing vibe but the writing is definitely not something you want to replicate considering Tomino was at his peak depression & spite when he did that show.

AGE is, of course, bad but for generally different reasons from Victory. If Victory is overwhelming, AGE is underwhelming and downright boring, draggy & cringy at many parts

[Tenzen12]

"Competent" is relative, in my case I mean not getting shot down every other time and those are rare. . IBO did good job with Turbines and I think Marida of Unicorn wasn't bad either (though not like it helped her, so maybe not), Even Roux who is one of better seriously underperformed. On enemy side it doesn't even matter how "competent" they are technicaly as they get mowed by OP gundams anyway.

Also by that statement, I want more Victory then AGE, I simply mean if we getting very young protagonist, I hope for its setting will not be defined by it and be more PG then G. I obviously don't hope for peple dropping like flies either.

[Tactics]

Female pilots in Gundam doesn't look significant due to UC era female pilots pretty much, "Unless you're Haman, death flag is inevitable".
Compare to that, current female pilots got much better treatment in how they allowed to display more prowess before conflict narrowed to protagonist vs. antagonist albeit I can understand if there's disagreement to case like Murrue (captain of ship, not pilot), Selene (Stargazer is not a combat unit) or Lady (not enough screentime) and Shia (a healer, not buff provider like Fumina).

Making it for all age is not a problem although part of me wished this series became the second Bernie vs. Alex but from Alex POV.

[Obelisk ze Tormentor]

Originally Posted by Tenzen12

"Competent" is relative, in my case I mean not getting shot down every other time and those are rare. . IBO did good job with Turbines and I think Marida of Unicorn wasn't bad either (though not like it helped her, so maybe not), Even Roux who is one of better seriously underperformed. On enemy side it doesn't even matter how "competent" they are technicaly as they get mowed by OP gundams anyway.

Female pilots getting overshadowed/defeated by the lead-character Gundams doesn't mean they are incompetent. It's the opposite. They are so competent that they can only be surpassed by the MC power or the plot requiring them to take a back seat.

Don't confuse character competence with plot hurdles.

For example, Lady Une can easily own any lead male pilots from Gundam Wing if she pilots an equally-strong Gundam (heck, she taught Wu Fei a lesson using only a Leo). But....

Spoiler for Gundam Wing plot:

The moment she gets Wing Gundam, she had to use it to defend Treize from a freakin' colony laser and took it like a champ and it unfortunately obliterated her Gundam. Yes, Lady Une actually saved the life of the most alpha-male/giga-chad character in the show during battle. Let that sink in.

That doesn't mean Lady Une is incompetent. It's the opposite. She was extremely competent in 90% of her screentime to the point where the plot needs to bench her or else she'd kick the lead-boyband's asses.

YouTube

https://youtu.be/iLcsiYu35E4

Sorry; dynamic content not loaded. Reload?

^ One of the best headshots in Gundam franchise btw.

[Tenzen12]

Yes it doesn't mean they are incompetent... technically. That said competence is decided by ability getting job done when and Gundam franchise don't make it easy with all those "plot hurdles".

Well I can make concession and just say there is too few of well written competent female pilots (though there is certainly fare share of well written competent women characters in general). It's still problem nonetheles. Lady Une is actually prime example of that. As you yourself said she didn't even get chance show how good pilot she would be compared to main character boyband.

[Obelisk ze Tormentor]

Originally Posted by Tenzen12

Yes it doesn't mean they are incompetent... technically. That said competence is decided by ability getting job done when and Gundam franchise don't make it easy with all those "plot hurdles".

It depends on the job. If the job is apprehending the MC (who are often leagues above other characters) then failing to do it is not a sign of incompetence. That means they just got outclassed by someone that is broken in skills & luck.

Originally Posted by Tenzen12

Well I can make concession and just say there is too few of well written competent female pilots (though there is certainly fare share of well written competent women characters in general). It's still problem nonetheles. Lady Une is actually prime example of that. As you yourself said she didn't even get chance show how good pilot she would be compared to main character boyband.

She did get a chance (albeit very little). She landed a hit against Wu Fei's Shenlong Gundam with a mere Leo. She saved Treize during battle from Colony laser (the same Treize who scared even Zechs when it comes to piloting skills). Treize himself was never defeated until he decided to...

Spoiler for important plot point of Gundam Wing:

...kill himself at the hand of Wu Fei.

YouTube

https://youtu.be/9cy_JZoMzms

Sorry; dynamic content not loaded. Reload?

But that's because Lady Une is more of an antagonist in a commander position & even political way (like when she decided to be an ambassador). She gave orders, not just a pilot like Heero Yuy & band.

[Tenzen12]

And she was indeed great commanding officer and politician duh. I never said Gundam franchise didn't have any competent female commanders/officers. I am saying female pilots get shot down on regular basis and do not get job done.

And if Une got more opportunity shine (which would be awesome, alas...), she's still be exception.

[Obelisk ze Tormentor]

Originally Posted by Tenzen12

I am saying female pilots get shot down on regular basis and do not get job done.

And that's not only limited to female either. The numbers of non-MC male pilots who get shot down (far) surpass that of female pilots.

So why are you complaining when male pilots get to be screwed more often than the female ones?

[Tenzen12]

Because there is plenty male pilots who can pull own weight to not care about those who don't. If every instalment had ONE female pilot who can fight against odds, there would be no reason complain. If you think about it, argument that lot of male pilots get shot down have no relation with whether there is enough badass female pilots or not. It's complete non-sequitur.

[Obelisk ze Tormentor]

Originally Posted by Tenzen12

Because there is plenty male pilots who can pull own weight to not care about those who don't.

That's your problem. You ignore so many male pilots who got shot down just to highlight the very limited number of female pilots who got shot down. Numbers & statistics matters if you want to generalize something.