Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn OVA!

[Gman2887]

[Dr Kain]

[Dr Kain]

[Andrew Nguyen]

[Gman2887]

[Andrew Nguyen]

[O.Supreme]

[Gman2887]

Well that's rather disheartening. Especially after how popular it was during the Gundam Wing explosion back in 2000. I suppose it went on a steady decline from there.

It's still just baffling to me. I consider Gundam to be one of the greatest anime franchises of all time and to think that there is no longer a distributor for it here in the States is beyond hard to swallow. What's worse is this truly marks a dark era for Gundam fans and yet there doesn't seem to be much of an uproar.

[O.Supreme]

I know this is kind of sad, but I blame it on 9/11. I remember the explosion of Gundam Wing in 2000. Heck I remember the Gundam Semi-Truck parked outside Wal-Mart that had a tour inside the trailer featuring all the prospective DVD's, games, toys, models etc...

After Gundam Wing, Bandai released many of the shorter series- 0080, 0083, 08th MS team, then finally, the one I waited years to see... The Original MS Gundam. Unfortunately when 9/11 happened CN stopped airing it, and jacked with the schedule even since then. G Gundam got pretty good exposure, but starting with Seed, things really started to crap out in 2004. Its is sad & disheartening one of the best longest-lasting mecha series has no presence in North America once again.

[Gman2887]

I also feel like many of the people who fell in love with Wing didn't give the other series a proper chance. I recall a lot of head butting between the Wing fans and the less mainstream (to North America) UC fans over ten years ago. Granted that's not the only reason Gundam collapsed, but it didn't help.

Admittedly I had fallen off the wagon by the time Seed came in. I had no interest in that show and still can't finish it. It wasn't until I saw some of 00 on Syfy that I got back in to it. From my point of view it was making something of a comeback abouts that time. I guess I was wrong.

[metal_bryan]

I agree with the whole Wing fans vs general Gundam fans thing. It continues even to this day if you dare say a bad word about Wing. They all come out of the woodwork. I remember back then it was way worse. None of them had any interest in the other Gundam series. It was like Wing was the best for them and everything else didn't matter. (Though G Gundam did reach some notoriety, even among those people, as you pointed out.)

As far as not liking Gundam Seed... I felt the same way until very recently when I decided to give it another chance. I pushed through it (almost done with the first series actually) and it does have a nice payoff. I've heard that Destiny is even better, so I've been looking forward to that. Can't wait to see the large number of resurrected original UC series mecha in it.

[Gman2887]

[metal_bryan]

[O.Supreme]

I fortunately wasn't part of those Wing vs Everything else discussions. But it did slightly annoy me at the time, the idea that everyone was jumping on the bandwagon. Many people didn't realize Wing was just a single series in a much larger Gundam universe. I remmeber at my local comic shop seeing import models and MSIA toys from various series, all advertised as "Gundam Wing"

I will say it was a stroke of Genius for Bandai USA/ CN to introduce Wing first in 2000 of all the series they could have chosen from. I just wonder how Gundam Fandom in the United States would have been shaped differently if a different series was chosen to be first.

Also just for the record I had been into Gundam long before it hit North America. I had the Movies 0083, Char's Counterattack, and F91 on bootleg VHS. I also got the very early releases of the International English dub of the 3 MS Gundam Movies

[metal_bryan]

[Gman2887]

Admittedly, I didn't get in to Gundam until Wing aired on CN. It's still probably in my top three favorite Gundam releases, but I was never resistant to other takes on the story. I loved 08th MS Team and was chomping at the bit to finally see the original series-- And then it was cancelled on me... With the exception of G Gundam and SEED I've found everything else to be very enjoyable though.

[Shonokin]

The dub of the original Gundam (1979) series is on .

I started watching Gundam in the 80s and so am a solid UC-raised fan. I've tried watching several of the other series but felt it either strayed too far from what I thought Gundam should be about or was retreading the same story. Probably War in the Pocket is one of my favorite OVAs. And the movie Char's Counterattack is IMO the height of the franchise, which makes Unicorn a big draw for me.

[Andrew Nguyen]

For those that missed out on the DVDs of Gundam Unicorn last time, here is some information:

[O.Supreme]

Cool news. At least I wont have to repurchase 1-4 when the rest are released. I wonder why they didn't release volume 3 (5&6) at the same time on August 10?