TL:DR Modern UC somewhat overglorifies and woobifies the importance of newtypes in its setting to the point where the series accidentally loses all semblance of irony in doing so. X meanwhile gives as much importance to both old and new as necessary and has the restraint to not give them potential super god powers that a select few may posses. Here's the summary. Loved the video.
Honestly I read the importance of newtypes recently as a change in outlook towards cautious optimism towards humans changing in a franchise previously devised by a very sad man about how it's possible for humanity's conditions to improve even after the majority of the population is wiped out but because the bureaucrats and fascists keep winning, it'll never happen--i.e. a stance of pretty rampant pessimism. I don't really view it as weird or out of character or anything close to bad for the overall outlook of a show to change. Like, think of it this way. V Gundam is a show that's filled with a tremendous amount of focus on the non newtype schlubs and has the constant tragedy gundam fans seem to crave, but Tomino doesn't seem to care for it. Things change.
@@christopherferrin5662 Just cause Tomino doesnt care for it doesnt mean V gundam isnt good or it doesnt emulate the best the franchise has to offer. Sure the franchise can change but for the core foundations to be changed so drastically in the MAIN TIMELINE OF THE SHOW is kinda iffy to be quite generous. Thats why it doesnt really sting as hard when this gets fucked in alternate installments and such. Im okay with the idea of newtypes having more of a presence in a series but only if it represents the best of what the franchise has to offer and from what ive seen, it mostly results in very muddled themes as Boo explained here. Its basically the reason why the Live action Ghost in the shell didn't work. Most of the series has a very pragmatic and overall optimistic look on how technology can enhance the human experience and the consequences of that, but the movie goes along with the typical diatribe of "Technology is bad, mmkay". Whiplash does not begin to describe that shit.
Hmm. I think foundations shifting in a franchise and timeline that's past its 40 year mark is to be expected and, honestly, probably better for it. I don't really agree with the character designer or boo here that "it's about the little guy" is a necessary core theme to the series and is pretty flatly contradicted by both how much the original shows revolved around Char, the True Prince of Spacenoids, or the simple fact that the feature protagonists are almost invariably prodigiously talented. That said I appreciate you going to bat for Victory. There's not a chance in hell it represents the best the series has to offer (though the fights were creative and a few of the tragic character deaths were neat--albeit lessened in impact when they happened every few episodes), but it'd be the redheaded stepchild if destiny didn't exist and I am not sure that's fair.
@@christopherferrin5662 Yeah Victory Gundam isnt a very bad installment of the series anyways. And yes you do have a point that most of the protags and certain characters in the series are reveled around because of their prodigial nature. However we need to take into account two things: 1. Even when the series focuses on those like Char, they are still at their best when they give some or equal representation to the little guy. Hell despite Amuro being prodigy starchild himself still has down to earth relatable aspects that arent overshadowed by any greater cosmic importance he might have. and 2. Yes there is nothing wrong with a series growing, expanding and trying out new things, especially one going on for this long. There is room for gundam to be different. But that doesnt necessarily mean that the literal core of the franchise needs to be changed in the main timeline thats its established because thats what gave UC its identity. Those are the things that represent it at its best. So replacing it with something that was not only contradictory but also much less narratively compelling is just asking to lose what made the thing special. Like i said, leave that to other alternate shows like 00 or IBO to have completely different themes as long as they are done well.
Newtype's have become overly important, and that's mostly because they basically put all of the elements of newtype tech into a single unit. RX-0 has... Fully integrated Psycho-Frame [Like a psycho-frame on steroids that can also just break the laws of physics.] NT-D (Newtype-Destroyer) [Like a bio-sensor on steriods except its also automatic and can (and will) literally pilot the machine for you (whether you like it or not).] IAS (Intention Automatic System) [Basically the Alice system, except its like a second copy of your own brain once again the machine will pilot for you.] This is a similar issue that arose (imo) in Full Metal Panic when they decided to keep going. As much as I love the Laevetainn's design the absurd hyper-technology that is the Lambda system should've been kept to a minimum last-ditch effort thing. Instead they went whole hog on it. If I had to guess this was because it would be an easy way to cash in on model kits as this is where most of their sales come from.
Is why I like crossbone gundam. There's a pretty iconic scene where tobia meets a group of newtype supremacists that try to convince him to just not get involved in the conflict between earth and jupiter. Tobia's response is to cut his hand and tell them that he, a newtype, bleeds like anyone else does. He rejects the idea that being a newtype holds some special meaning, and points out ultimately he's only one thing; human.
@@perotekku i think it's just straight up not gonna happen at this point, people have been begging for that for like 16 years now and sunrise literally straight up ignored its overwhelming vote count on a poll for works that fans want to see adapted
@@youngkappakhanIf the demand is coming from the West then yeah they will be ignored for the demand for an Acguy kit and the west never bought it and left it in stock and ever since then they basically say The West can go eff themselves.
@@perotekkuIt is not, just because it has some good scenes. That one in particular was not even in the original Crossbone, but instead the sequel Steel 7, which was an improvement but still pales in comparison to Zeta and 0079.
To me, a newtype is exactly what Dome said it was in the last Episode of X. It's a mutation, nothing more. Not the next step, not a gift from god, just an accident no different than an albino or a person born with eyes of two different shades.
I don't get the "it's just a mutation" thing. Like, duh, but also that's how evolution happens. Mutations create change and genetic variation that can be selected for and against until you can consider a new species as having formed.
@@mandarinduck Yes Mutation happens, but the real message here is that the future of humanity should not be relied on those with the specific mutation. They should be treated like anyone else being a human, nothing more nothing less. Putting labels and categorizing people just encourages division and elitist mentality.
The thing I like about Gundam NT is that it serves as some sort of send-off to the super-robot-esque newtype phenomena and leads into Hathaway's flash and F91 where things become more grounded.
Yeah, too bad Hathaway's flash is excessive in misery and pointless, and everything that follows in UC just copies the Fed/Zeon conflict only without the depth and complexity present in Side 3 and the Earth Sphere.
@@tiberiuskirk2593 Read the crossbone mangas my dude, the complexity comes from the federation and their fall of grace, how doing nothing, or ignoring the past forces history to be repeated again and again until a eventual downfall of humanity, Crossbone dust is almost X like for what i have been told
@@LinkDeHablaHispana Just first Crossbone is enough to get it. Tobia's meaningful words to Sherindon, who urged him to stay with her and realise his potential as Newtype: "I am a human. Being a human is enough." Ascending beyond "Newtype"/"Oldtype" stuff, Tobia almost directly stated that neither of those matter. "Being human is enough." Humans not divided by any category are all you need to repair what was destroyed. To understand what was misunderstood. To end all conflicts. Man how much am I longing for a Crossbone anime...
Crossbone remembers what Modern UC forgot Jokes aside that scene in crossbone has always stuck with me and imo its a good message for gundam. Tobia kind of makes a similar statement about Newtypes that Dome does: Newtypes don't really exist, just people who adapted to their environments.
@@nickgennady Emma was showing signs of being a newtype near the end of Zeta and Bright showed signs in both. Hell, Quess was only in space for a day and became one herself.
I think the major reason why Gundam Unicorns ending wasn't as satisfying in comparison to After War X is because Unicorns story isn't completely over and the story is just leading up to crossbone, f91, and victory, in fact Banaghers story isn't over during that show nothing is yet resolved which is why he shows up in gundam NT and thats before it leads to him leading Mars Zeon so unlike the after war timeline UC never truly ends that it even reaches from correct century leading up to its more recent century which is the regild century and over the years it reaches the same outcome, someone has to take up the Gundam and they have to return the peace its an endless cycle, meanwhile After war timeline is an alternate universe of UC that ended very horribly that it only took one more war to finally end all wars resulting in its beautiful end as they are all forced to work together to heal the world and humanity and finally abandon all ideas of war
On a related note to the tagline you keep noting on the themes of Gundam ("Don't let your soul be weighed down by gravity"/ "let go of past hatreds")... I just now imagined an alternate take on this: where people trying to escape past hatreds by fleeing into space are being hunted down and brought back down to Earth by force... Essentially a story about it is not necessarily a natural force that leaves you trapped by past hatreds, but more of a crabs in a bucket situation where those who refuse to let go of their hatreds will drag everyone else under, refusing to let them abandon past hatreds. ... Thinking about it, After War X gets pretty close to this when you point out (I think it was in the other video) that only a handful of people actually want war, and everyone else isn't keen to see it happen.
I was going to say that both UC and X basically go that route, but you noticed as well. It does seem like the idea of 'let go of old hatreds' is a long standing thread of Gundam. From the more immediate of 'you killed Sune' to the Zeon revival's long past the time it ought to be left in the dust, to the 'we want the war back' exemplified by the Frost brothers in X.
I find it amusing and ironic how Tomino, Yas and all others who contributed to the rise of Gundam eventually became like their own characters - preaching to the ignorant world that doesn't understand their message.
Tomino is a little crazy, like many brilliant creators. I find Yas' take on early UC much more cohesive. Yas also said in an interview that MSG was a team effort, but once it got famous, Tomino basically took over sole creative authority going forward with Zeta, ZZ, and CCA.
@@laststrike4411 many people preach to our "ignorant world" maybe the preachers just aren't what we think they are. Garzy's wing and much of MSG is a plot structure mess and fans find ways to make it more than it really is...*sigh*
One of the things I respect about Gundam X is the fact that they didn't feel the need to make the protagonist a newtype despite forming close attachments and existing in a world with newtypes. It gives the newtype concept respect that not alot of other shows do.
What I also like was that Garrod Ran felt realistic as a 15 year old. He's young and acted a lot on feelings and passion without being annoying. What I also like was that while he is physically fit, he's not a super human and he's still unfairly outmatched even when hand to hand fighting a random vulture joe, which is why he brings a gun with him everywhere. I also like his piloting skills, he makes mistakes but is still fast on his feet at correcting them. He's not as clueless as Judau was early on but he's not Kamille level. I love how he excels in melee, in a suit made for long range bombardment.
If you want a good example of Newtypes being abused as tools in U.C, look no further than the Blue Destiny side story. Specifically the EXAM-equipped machines.
Gundam CCA Novel Timeline would be fun to look into. Also G Reco made new types nonexistent through not making overt Newtypes like Belri and even minor characters using Newtype weaponry without realising it.
@@danielchew8739 Beltorchika's children and Hathaway's flash is available but Gaia gear is hard to find. The radio drama is mostly recorded and subbed on UA-cam.
Getting the Gundam subreddit to understand this is like banging your head on a wall. The super robot aspects of Unicorn turned me off to it and I find myself going back to older Gundam like 0080, 0083, CCA, Zeta etc because as you say, it feels like those Gundam shows didn't miss the point of Gundam.
Having watched all UC shows, I wholeheartedly agree. I think the original show is literally the best, and while I think Zeta is my favourite; none of the sequels to 0079 ever quite get Gundam "right".
Great video. It’s true that new types get burnt out the most. From ms gundam light of lif chronicles special, amuro states that new types were reduced to flying aces in war.And the whole human reformation idea is completely forgotten.
Ok in UC there's a lot of definitions of what a Newtype is, there is also what a Newtype is in concept and what a Newtype is in genetics. To put it in Syam Vist's perspective, it's the same as Zeon Daikun's " Humans who adapted to the vastness of space develop the ability to understand each other without miss conceptions." This is the Newtype Concept. Newtypes in Genetics are just people with the ability of Newtypes, completely separate from whether or not they desire to understand each other. To make it clear as possible, let's replace the term Newtypes with "people who desire to understand people". SYAM VIST EPISODE 7: "That is why I want to entrust it to -Newtypes- people who desire to understand people like the two of you." "If -Newtypes- people who desire to understand people in actuality existed, I want to entrust Laplace's box to their care, for I truly believe that they will be the ones to put the box to better use and reclaim the future for the world that was meant to be." BANAGHER EPISODE 7: "If it's true, that -Newtypes- people who desire to understand people are the future of humanity, It's unlikely that current humans will even be able to identify them. If that's the case, I can't be certain that either of us has the qualities you are looking for, and I don't know what's best, I'm sorry." "Even so, as a HUMAN BEING, I want to believe in the future, in people, and the possibility that HUMANS possess." Syam's definition of Newtypes is that of people who show compassion and understanding to humans regardless of who they are. So when he desires the world to have Newtypes work in the government, he means he wants compassionate, patient and understanding people to help guide the world. I don't mind the idea that Newtypes > Humans in this case because they are using the idea of a Newtype as an example of character that people should aspire to be like. the separation of identity is not about Genetics but about ideals and desires. Most Newtypes aren't even like the Ideal Newtype Syam envisioned, Genetic Oldtypes and Newtypes must aspire to be like the Perfect Newtype, that is the message of Unicorn. Take a look at the Nahel Argama crew, they are not Genetic Newtypes, the are all Oldtypes, but they carry the ideals of what a Newtype ought to be. They work together with Zeon because they believe in a better world and desire to live together in harmony with them. In a sense, they are Newtypes, in a sense, anyone could be a Newtype, that is why RE:0096 has the slogan, "Awaken the Newtype that lies within you." Because they're using the term "Newtype" as an example of character. Psychoframe is used in Unicorn, to exemplify the potential of humans in physical form, If humanity can overcome the greatest physical challenges, then they are capable of overcoming the hatred and despair that plagues their hearts. That's why Banagher and Minerva are collecting/ destroying all trace of Psychoframe in NT, because Psychoframe has already served its purpose.
I agree and along with that Newtypes could be in a way the spacenoid people as a whole in the Charter which makes more sense why Laplace box was so dangerous to the Federation as it would show just how much on their end of blame the One Year was contrary to the blame they place on Zeon
Point of the video still stands: few such people can not achieve anything. Instead of looking for and identifying such people like in Unicorn, everyone should just be them like it is implied in X.
@@Mattatiah95 lol what. do you expect Cardeas vist to just hand over the box to anyone? The point of the goose chase was to find people both worthy and with the intention of using the box to improve humanity, worth defined by their character and beliefs. The end goal was always the same, to have humanity move forward as a whole and not just the selected few and not by genetics but by showing everyone that humanity has the potential to be better. Like I said before, those like the Nahel Argama crew are Newtypes just as much as Banagher in terms of definition Syam Vist uses, which he defines Newtypes as a ideal/ set of characteristics and not of genetics. So the end goal of Unicorn is to have everyone as the human race become the Newtype ideal and not the Newtype genetic. If you thought that the intention was that only Newtype Genetic have the potential to become the Newtype Ideal then you've missed the point. In the end the point is the same, Humanity as a whole must not be closed minded, acknowledge pain of yourself and others, be hopeful and optimistic in despair, chose to not perpecuate hatred and do everything with the best of intentions for those who come after us.
@@Mattatiah95 how did you get that out of anything I said? Do you really think making sure you find people who won't use the box for perpetuating war = finding elites? The box had the potential to cause war how'd you expect Syam Vist to not find people responsible enough to use it right?
Blue Destiny's E.X.A.M. system did a Newtype weapon pretty well, like in Gundam X it was a horrific and dangerous weapon that came at an evil, inhumane cost.
On a shallower level the god powers that Unicorn and NT introduce just ruin the action. Similar things happen in the Zeta shows and CCA but even lifting the meteor doesn't compare to Banagher sending MS reactors back in time or what ever the hell is going on at the end of NT. The psycommu weapons and instant understanding fit really well, serving to increase the tension and add real weight to the most important battles but NT and Unicorn really just render every normal human almost completely irrelevant. Hell even the crazy stuff Zeta does is set up with how Minovsky particles react to Newtypes.
Also char's counter attack somewhat jumps the shark with new type space magic stopping the apocalypse kinda creating a precedent that is really hard to comeback from.
@@danielnolan8848 I would not have mind it in CCA as it show as the "will of humanity" coming together to stop the Axis Drop. But in the case of Unicorn and Narrative, they can't pull that excuse as both event are rather hidden from the wider population.
@@danielnolan8848 No disagreement there. Honestly, at this point I just want something like 0080, 0083 or 08th MS team again. Basically more war stories.
@@danielchew8739 yeah the one year war remains the best part, before gundam had the George Lucas problem with so many op jedai to gundam's so many new type op powers
I wrote a thesis way back regarding UC Gundam and its contradicting messages regarding Imperialism. Going from the original Gundam to Unicorn, I came to some problematic conclusions... Laplace's Box just doesn't make any fucking sense. What evidence did people at the beginning of UC have that made them think a new group of people who are divergent to a point to be an entirely different race? And why did they think this should give the Earth Federation government explicit reason to give these people political representation specifically? And with Zeon Deikum' the ideological founder of zeon... Do we discredit his position as the creator of Cantolism? Is he just a plagiaristic populist, if the furnace of creation does not go to him? Plot holes aside, what I feel most problematic is the timeframe in which the Laplace's box is discovered in the UC, as well as Fukui's attempted recontextualization of the one year war. Even if Cantolism and newtypes were meant to bring peace and understanding- in a sense akin to the Ubermensch or the Japanese Co-Prosperity Sphere (actually referenced in UC Unicorn) - the blood spilt by Zeon and the newtypes that plagued its power structure means that such ideals are unfortunately forever tainted. The One Year War did that, and so did Operation Stardust, and finally Neo Zeon. The Laplace Box says that ultimately, the newtypes were right. It justifies Zeon's actions because their rights were stripped off the UC charters. It justifies Zeon's countless genocides by saying they were equal to the brutish actions of the Earth Federation (explicitly stated when Banagher eats with the sleeves family). And the solution to this entire mess is to give exclusive representation to the ghost that haunts so much of UC's war tattered history? It's downright fucking ridiculous. And it is ridiculous because Tomino's original gundam saw newtypes ultimately as cautionary tales and symbolic tragedy, which you have said quite eloquently in your video. It really doesn't help when we remember that the Original Gundam was Tomino's counternarrative to Battleship Yamato's reaffirmation of Japan's Imperialism, and when you also remember that Fukui effectively reaffirmed pro-imperialistic ideas into a series technically born to speak against it.
Uh...no? Laplace's Box does not justify all the mass murder Zeon did. At best it says the EF is not legitimate, but since when EF is good? During the 30 Bunch incident, the EF looked to Titans gassing protestors (that were ANTI ZEON AS WELL) and were all "Not a crime." EF is as good as Zeon. Your thesis do not work because you assume the EF was supposed to be the Allies for Zeon's Nazi Germany.
The fundamental problem is Tomino is just not a strong writer in terms of setting design and followthrough. The One Week War in 0079 makes no sense with how people behave in the series. Part of this is the obvious M'Quve issues that led to Tomino practically writing him out of existence in the movies. Part of it is if Zeon annihilated half the Colonies per the novel that would leave almost no surviving colonies outside of Side 3 and the Side 7 bluster based on the math given for how large a side is supposed to be. Hence for instance the notion Side 6 somehow remained neutral is either a failure to understand the ramifications of their own Math, or a sick joke where Zeon slaughtered practically every other Spacenoid except them for reasons... Then just randomly decided to stop and ratify the Antarctic Treaty, while having full intentions to have the capability to violate it readily on hand to someone like M'Quve. If the One Week War proceeded as described in the novel the word Zeon should be be a noun effectively meaning 'omnicidal" with anything resembling associated with it treated similar to someone claiming they boil kittens alive to listen to their screams. On the NewType front Tomino originally had a somewhat interesting idea, which After War X followed up on, with the whole Espers versus NewType labeling/interpretation of events and the reality Amuro was born in Canada and Lalah in India showing Zeon Deikun was a false prophet. Tomino however didn't follow up on that, like After War X. No he quadrupled down on it being "right" associated with his Student Activist bent. In turn he didn't care that Zeta Char to CCA Char should be an ideologue that's been pushed to a resigned conclusion to solve what he sees as a great evil like we got in Avengers Infinity War. Not to mention the issue of a lack of proper counterarguments versus the self-evidently wrong ideologue. No, no CCA Char is stopping short of evilly chortling with things like the "I'm doing something wicked Amuro" which utterly divorces the character from his Zeta counterpart...
@@Jose-yt3qz You mean Tomino as part of not being a strong writer in Zeta decided "grey" means Psychotically Backstabbing Nazis that Mass Murder entire Colonies for Kicks versus Crazy Woman who punctuates her madness by threatening to render Earth uninhabitable and crashing Axis into a Titan's Asteroid Fortress for fun with the intent of subjugating literally everyone? Who then fight over a Colony Laser on the basis of which psycho should be allowed to TAKE OVER THE WORLD!!! That series? I suppose you're right, Lord Kill'em All was denied his succor by anyone being allowed to survive as part of making everyone literally EVIL with a capital E-V-I-L. Meanwhile in realm of what people pretend Tomino cares about Macross and Macross DYRL came out before Zeta and it's really hard to argue Tomino doing it after Ideon and Dunbine wasn't the result of Bandai demanding a competitor to Macross to sell their competing line of transformable toys. And yet wonder of wonders unlike Macross there's no redeemable villains, nor serious attempt at setting up a dialogue. Almost like Lord Kill'em All couldn't care less about that and would go on to try to push how psychotic he could make the baddies in Victory while grumpily fighting broadcasting standards and associated personnel wondering why Lord Kill'em All was so hell bent on being as grotesque as possible.
@@jebe4563 I think you misunderstand the conflict that arose inside UC in Zeta. EF didn't care whether the Titans were mass murdering spacenoids because of the actions of Zeon. Summarizing, they blamed the whole for the acts of a few that weren't even liked by the whole. Now, the fact there were sides who just stood neutral in the OYW implies something. That the EF isn't clean-cut goody-do-gooders as people like to paint them. So yes. The dislike of spacenoids by earthnoids and the dislike of earthnoids by spacenoids seem to be old. Now, you will be angry with how Zeta went solely because you wish clear cut GOOD FACTION to stand against the evil guys (funny because in no moment I said the Titans or Neo Zeon were 'grey'? I am not sure what are you arguing about there) that is the AEUG.
I thought I was the only one who didn’t really like Unicorn and NT cause they placed so much importance on being a newtype that they turn into a super robot show. NT is literally only there to retcon Unicorn cause they made it too OP. Give me more Shiro, Garrod and Asemu. Look forward to HF where being one doesn’t mean anything.
some people even thinking that Gundam was super Robot show all the time despite being real robot for some reason. since the newtype shinenegans are exist and explored into deep since Zeta with Cyber newtype. However they're not Crazy Batshit like NT or Unicorn. The newtype idea were become Superpower Godlike that crossing what UC supposed to be as a Real Robot Series. and they're people who okay with these idea, but i personally didn't. Since HF Movie is Coming, the newtype are become Basic again and seems like they're Going to basic for the next Late UC series.
@@kiryusannagi5171 ugh no Let's not act like the final act of Char's counterattack isn't basically the NU Gundam going SUPER MODE and pushing the Axis back all by itself. Space Magic has existed since the beginning of Gundam and if you're ok with one and not the other is kinda contradicting your own point. All of it is ok, or none of it is. PERIOD
@@kiryusannagi5171 what do you mean it is not crazy batshit like unicorn? CCA by the end is as batshit crazy as unicorn is, only thing it is not is that it is not as crazy as NT because from the start NT is already batshit insane
I think I’ll play devils advocate for a bit. Gundam Unicorn’s message to me made sense because I’d also recently seen Zeta and ZZ and realized that these NewType characters were little more than slaves. People either didn’t believe they existed or knew and kept it a secret because it suited them. To declare more or less that NewTypes exist at the end of Unicorn is to introduce a group of people into the consciousness of society and by so doing allow for them to be acknowledged as human beings in the first place, because to deny someone their identity and their agency is to deny them their humanity and if you don’t exist, you don’t have rights. This is what I took away from Unicorns ending because it’s nice to say that the differences between people don’t matter since we are all human and I guess that works for Gundam X (not criticizing here) but with so much NewType related baggage in the UC, something had to be said or acknowledged about the existence and suffering of a group of people who have never had successful representation coughcharcough just successful oppression. Maybe they’re an allegory for underrepresented real world people or something who knows. You can probably read a lot into this beyond what I’ve brought up but basically the tldr is this, you have to be acknowledged before you can be equal. A difficult task when the powerful may wish you weren’t.
I think that if spacenoids as a whole were acknowledged and given agency to begin with, then the exploitation of newtypes would likely either never have appened or have been so widespread. The ending of unicorn doesn't truly adress the main source of conflict within the UC (being spacenoid independence and agency).
Ya unicorn very clearly shows Merida Cruz being Literally shoved into a Brainwashing machine by VIST. NT gives us a much more grimdark POV of what happened at the NT labs.
At the end of the day, the writers are falling back on a fairly common trope. The Japanese have a thing for the singularity in the same way that Americans have a thing for machines becoming self-aware; see Picard, Westword, etc. Both concepts become frustratingly tedious in their overuse and ridiculous execution. The idea of newtypes was interesting when they were merely enhanced humans who could sense emotions. On the one hand you have the distrust by normal humans and on the other you have the hope for better understanding. It would also be interesting to see newtypes pitted against unmanned, AI-piloted mobile suits and explore concepts of automation. That said, I realize that I'm speaking from my own biases in the West and acknowledge that it might not be as culturally relevant in Japan. I disliked Gundam NT because it devolved into pseudo spiritual nonsense. It's not that I dislike those themes, it's that I don't think UC Gundam is the place for it. There is plenty of anime that has handled these concepts for effectively and here it just distracted from more compelling ideas.
@@thomasffrench3639 Technology, AI, whatever becomes so advanced that it has a profound and permanent impact on humanity. That's the idea, but sometimes it gets depicted as happening independently of tech, like we see with newtypes.
If newtypes were so important they would have been in Turn A Gundam or Reconguista in G. I remember reading about a novel Yoshiyuki Tomino wrote where in his central character proclaims that newtypes were just people and all were equal. Hell even the Moonrace of Turn A, set over 2000 years after the last Gundam story, didn't have anything like newtypes, or any of the other kinds of advanced humans that Gundam is secondarily known for. In fact Turn A Gundam is the first mainline gundam series where there isn't something like Newtypes, Hyper Mode, Zero System, SEEDs, Innovators or X-Rounders (Some crazy enhancement to humankind that gives the protagonist super powers) cluttering up the plot.
Turn A and G Reco actually solve the Newtype issue with basically how we treat the Flu( 1917 one not the current at the moment) sure it killed countless people but we've developed immunity to it. In G Reco new types are treated as superstition( Gaia Gear a tomino novel showed that as well) and are fictitious. Yet in G Reco we see normal people use Newtype weapons and show abilities those in early UC would call Newtypes( Mask piloting a Phenex replica and Belri being able to disable it with a Zeta style Newtype boost). SEED completely missed the point.
This is why I’m excited for Hathaway’s Flash since (assuming they don’t radically change the story) all the Newtype stuff is largely stripped back down to the absolute basics. Makes all the action and drama better with no space magic bs getting in the way.
Ya but the magic shit didn't happen until unicorn.... Sure there were hints of it in the eariler years of the UC timeline but I don't think it got batshit crazy with the magic until unicorn came around.... I do think the alternative universes gundam series like this and gundam 00 can get away with it though, since you know.... They are alternative universes there could be literal wizards piloting mobile suits in some other timeline with some kind of werid high tech medival era. I'm just saying it's not all that bad...
@@TheHipisterDeer Zeta and ZZ went pretty crazy with it too though, with the psycichic force fields, astral projection and long range mind rape happening at the later half of the shows, While CCA had the whole asteroid event. Unicorn really isn't that much far off, although the time warping aspects are indeed in a higher level of otherworldlyness.
@@zettovii1367 Yes but personally I felt like most of the fights came to pure skill for those. With unicorn it's defently heavily reliant on those elements.
@@TheHipisterDeer Other than the Unicorn's red NT-D form, which is really mostly just a performance boost no different than the Bio Sensors used in Z/ZZ, most fights there where also pretty skill based Id say. Especially for every fight that didn't involve the gundams. Didn't become full blown psychic battles until the green awakened form was introduced, when that only happened at the end of the series.
The newtype mythos was always there from the beginning to be explored and further expanded from the get-go. It only makes sense that the 'space magic' took as much of a hold as it does in Unicorn and NT. Personally I've never had an issue with it, nor can I really understand how people find it as such a detractor. The more 'skill based' fights are nice and all but that's simply not all there is, nor should be. With that logic we should discount Char and Amuro since their abilities pretty much meant nearly seeing the future and into eachothers heads, even if it wans purely animated to show that's what was up early on
Did it "forget" as much as it simply highlighted a pivotal moment in history which was bound to play out, for better or worse. As an evolutionary step, humanity must take notice and acknowledge it, while understanding indeed that we mist all get along in the end
This is why I like Blue Destiny and Missing Link. They’re not glorifying newtype involvement in war, instead it shows that they’re caught in the middle, exploited as a means to an end.
I think this makes a lot of sense. I've always enjoyed reading about Yasuhiko's perspective on the themes and ideas of Gundam, and the things he disagreed with Tomino and later creators on. I always felt conflicted and confused about the ending of Unicorn. The idea of Full Frontal feeling a greater desire for violent supremacy than for liberation, and thus desiring to use the box as a prop for another war, is a fascinating idea, but it didn't land as well as it could have. You've mentioned in other videos that the ending to Unicorn seems like a recreation of the axis shock, but without the thematic core that made that scene work. When I watched Narrative, I really started to agree. Narrative is a weird movie to talk about, because it introduces a new cast of characters, attempts to set up and resolve another conflict between Zeon remnants and federation related military corporations, depict the effects that the Laplace declaration has had on the world, and also explain the entire concept of newtypes via a plot where a dead newtype goes back in time while her soul possesses the Phenex to stop humanity from using philosophical WMDs...in 89 minutes. Its pacing is unbelievably frustrating if you're someone like me and don't know what cocaine is like, but it offers some very valuable information to the discussion. Obviously private militaries kidnapping war-orphans to experiment on is powerful shit, but in the context of Unicorn specifically, the newtype explanations make sense to me. The reason the colony laser block feels hollow compared to the axis shock, to me, is because the laser block is done by two cool guys who are newtypes and have really good robots, while the axis shock scene involves individuals in the midst of combat seeing an atrocity for what it is, and coming together to stop it, even though there is no feasible way to do so. The psycho frame mobile suits harnessing the power of newtypes is goofy and overcomplicated, but if what we know from Narrative is true, newtype empathy is a result of the ability of newtypes to interact with a plane of consciousness beyond death, and beyond time. When a newtype enters a duel, they may be subconsciously aware of the suffering they are inflicting on their opponent because they are in contact with the deceased soul of that opponent; no matter when they die, their souls are able to be felt by newtypes because the plane of death is not bound by time. If you really squint, the colony laser plot is almost an exact copy of axis shock in concept, but way more science-fantasy-bullshit oriented. The newtypes empathize with the souls of all those who suffer from war, and the pyscho frame mobile suit is able to convert that into physical energy. So the colony laser block is the culmination of the modern U.C. interpretation of newtypes as a scientific Übermensch of sorts. No matter how well explained the internal logic of newtypes is, Yasuhiko is correct in identifying that making newtypes more complicated to justify their importance is never going to mean as much as portraying humans for what we are; and Unicorn falls short twice in a row by implying that newtypes, even in their most pure form of empathetic people who can live without war, are ultimately unable to save anyone if they're not piloting a magical space tank. The more you explain newtypes, the more you risk backing yourself into a canonical corner, where the only exit is framing horrific weapons of war as not only benevolent, but righteous. Opposition to war cannot come from a beast of possibility.
Absolutely well put. I agree on that they backed themselves into a corner with Unicorn. I like the show still but its protrayal of newtypes never sat well with me.
As a neurodivergent (disabled in old terms) person who often finds the shows (unintentionally?) tend to characterize Newtypes similarly to neurodivergent folks, I kind of get what Unicorn's going for. Newtypes have different strengths and weaknesses, different needs than oldtypes. While newer UC shows make the mistake of seeing Newtypes as superior, which errs dangerously close to eugenics, it has a point that they need legal protections. There need to be structures in place to stop atrocities like the EXAM System from occurring. They need representation, yes, but not as a separate race. They need civil rights protection.
If you want eugenics just look at Gundam Seed. Instead of Newtypes they have Coordinators, people genetically engineered to be superior in every aspect, and the show portrays them as victims.
Unicorn's ending is SEED's prequel, in a way. Spawning an entire race that deviated from humanity will lead humanity to resent said race and trigger an even bigger war.
Important sidenote, apologies if another comment mentioned it: Yoshikazu Yasuhiko is the author of "Gundam: The Origin". There's a scene where Sayla and Char meet again on Texas Colony, and Char basically says he's moved past Spacenoids vs Earthnoids, and now he believes his true mission is to lead Newtypes vs Oldtypes. Sayla basically calls him out and says regardless of his intentions, it's just another way to divide people and create a different sense of elitism. Telling that he not only mentioned it in his interview, but also put it in his manga. Explains Char's mentality going forward through Zeta and CCA very well, that he doesn't care really about a certain philosophy or political ideal, but forcing humans to awaken to their Newtype potential.
I think the objections on Unicorn and NT stem from the fact that they're supposed to be a manifestation of the Newtype mythos that began in the first series going up to CCA. Something like that tends to make a work very idealistic, contrasting with X, which takes a more realistic approach in its treatment of the Newtype mythos. Unicorn/NT treats Newtypes with reverence, X treats Newtypes with insouciance (as in, they're people first and foremost). For a third alternate viewpoint into the "Newtype mythos", how about Gundam 00? The whole "innovation" thing was fast-tracked because of imminent First Contact, and a lot of the supplemental material depicted humanity's growing pains as they began to examine their transcendent existence in the wake of the first Trans-Am Burst.
"These guys are even crazier and it's great" God I'm glad others appreciate the Frost brothers and their antics. They even pull one of the best shitposts antagonists can do (spoilers): By surviving the final battle and getting a chance at redemption. I really hope they went on to become better people.
To me, all that New-Type stuff they pulled at the end of Zeta and CCA was just complete BS. Just random space magic that comes clean out of nowhere that just appears to solve to the plot. Gundam X on the other hand I felt handled the idea with some of the most grace I have ever seen, at it is not even UC. What it is is clearly defined and yet elusive. It is the very core of the narrative and yet it is nothing but an illusion. And most of all, it was consistent. What you saw at the start is what you saw at the end. No random magic solving the plot for the heroes.
Well, the war was already over with Zeta. Kamille using those powers to kill Scirroco was just some icing on the cake. With CCA, the power of the psychoframe had been getting built up since the beginning, with people discussing it with awed tones. Beyond that, the miracle that took place required multiple lives to work and the combined will of the people (which, you know, ties into the themes the series had since its INCEPTION), so I don't see how it's all that out of place. And what about the Newtype dolphins in X?
Thank you! People really wanna excuse the 'Classics' from the popular 'space magic criticism' most fans use on non-UC and later UC gundam. it should either be all ok or none of it is.
Space magic...... Look at the Tyrant Sword being the only MS to make Scirroco shit his pants in fear. Yes in a side story a Newtype reactive MS made Scirroco feel genuine fear.
I was fine with the biosensor in Zeta but the time power unicorn has is a bit to much. Makes me wonder if unicorn is going to get rid of all psycho frame technology before F91?
I could stomach it in zeta and CCA because in the original series newtypes were very trippy, it had a psychedelic element to it and was mostly confined to newtype characters. Episode 47 of Zeta Gundam has Kamille and Haman peering into each others souls, seeing the loved ones that motivate them and maybe even implying Scirocco may have charmed Haman at one point, like Char did. After CCA, every oldtype witnesses a CCA level miracle basically every few years and it just doesn't feel as extraordinary. It feels expected. Also, yes, Zeta had problems. All of the shows do but I still do love rewatching at least yearly.
@boofire191 I love your videos- going through sd cross rays right now and watching each of your deep dive takes as I go, while also going back and watching the series- I cannot get enough of the amount of depth you take when going through the motifs and themes, so glad you’re posting these- great work!
I wasn't able to fully get the whole "Newtype has no meaning" in X, but this explains it quite well. And with Unicorn and watching through Super Robo stuff like Mazinger and Getter Robo it's almost like there's no real difference. The Newtype pilots have superpowers, their machines can run on unlimited energy and are powered by souls (something since Zeta), etc.
Great video, this really clarifies my own feelings on the ending of Gundam Unicorn (haven't seen NT yet) and as much as I love Unicorn for its story and other parts of its message, the portion discussed isn't a part of it. Jamel of AWGX always reminded me of an old Amuro Ray that was trying to push through his own PTSD so that no one else had to suffer like he did.
I'm not much for Newtypes. It's not that the concept of Newtypes is bad, it's just usually handled with all the care of a Saturday morning cartoon. I'm not much for the character that's better than everyone just because he's a space wizard, in shows like that I tend to find myself rooting for the badass normals are keeping up with people who are predestined to be the best. Not a surprising take considering my favorite group in Star Wars is Mandolorians, my favorite Gundam series (so far) is 8th MS Team, and as far as I'm concerned the GM is the finest weapon of war the Federation ever built.
1) But MS team sucks 2) What about the likes of Haman, Char, Katz, Quess, and Jerid? 3) What can Kamille do in a vacuum with his powers? If your answer is "not much without the help of others," then you'd be correct.
@@laststrike4411 1.) 8th MS Team rocked, it's your tastes that suck. 2.) All of those characters have their Saturday Morning Cartoon moment if their every breathing moment isn't a Saturday Morning Cartoon (looking at you Katz). 3.) I don't know if you meant "vacuum" figuratively or literally but either doesn't excuse sloppy or lazy writing.
There's a reason Yazan is one of my favourite characters. Not only is he unrepentant villain, he's one of the most skilled MS pilots ever, with not a shrewd of Newtype in him.
I kind of find that too but I think eventually modern gundam will get back to the idea of new types being just normal humans and that there’s really nothing special eventually.
I disagree, ZZ did Newtypes well. Original and Zeta treated Newtypes as plot devices to move the story forward without care about character development.
Brave of you to praise X in an age of 'miracles' becoming standard fare in UC entries. I get the message they're trying to send but exactly how many New types have surpassed even Judau at this point?
As someone who recently just got done watching Unicorn for the first time, I completely understand this. Newtypes went from being in support of the point to being the point. Its like everyone forgot what Amuro says to Char at the end of Char's Counterattack, "I'm not as impatient as you, I can wait for humanity to learn and grow". Key word, HUMANITY. Not one thing about Newtypes specifically. I don't hate or even dislike Unicorn, it's fine, but honestly, the UC should've ended at Char's Counterattack
all humanity will eventually become newtypes. That's the entire point of the UC. People like Char didn't want to wait and took the easy way to make humanity evolve. Amuro was for waiting for natural evolution to take its course and not doing stupid shit like killing every human on the planet. You can clearly see that Newtypes are way more common in shows like ZZ, CCA or Unicorn. People like Jona starts out as normal people and end up becoming Newtypes
@@dracopo8862 that doesn't change what I said. It doesn't matter if most if not all of humanity becomes Newtypes. Newtypes alone aren't going to solve the issue as seen with Scirocco, Haman and eventually Char. All of humanity becoming Newtypes doesn't mean anything if humanity still makes the same mistakes which as seen before, Newtypes still can. The point isn't "All of humanity will become Newtypes"
I guess the reason Unicorn highlights the split between newtype and non-newtype is that the plot is all about that. Anaheim Electronics have plotted the whole UC Plan in order to find newtypes to that the Laplace's Box can be handed down to them and change the world. It doesn't necessarily play down the importance of ordinary people, or extend the elitism of newtype. There're smaller fronts (08th MS Team, Thunderbolt, Igloo), and bigger ones like Unicorn, and they have the spotlight on different things, and I think the expandability of the UC timeline is what makes it fascinating.
Do you plan to make a similar video about Turn-A? It would fit quite well together with this video thematically (though with the focus being on super-weapons rather than super-humans). I think that's the most underrated of all the Gundam series. A true hidden gem that many disregard due to the somewhat funny appearance of the title-giving machine and the initially light tone.
Unicorn and NT are my second least and least favourite UC series respectively. I just find the way Newtypes are treated in it to be a bit cringe. Banaji stopping the colony laser really dampens the axis shock.
"in zeta it is properly fleshed out and hits well" - flashback to mind control powers and kamilles ability to both block beams with his mind and make his sword bigger..... Ya zeta is definitely the best at newtypes....... ((Mind you brilliant video and great analysis😊😊👍👍))
Love your pov mate. It sums up my dissatisfaction against the Fukui-related-UC's. You should check out the Manga Crossbone-Gundam too. Tomino wrote the plot for the first arc of the series, and it has the same approach against the idea of NewType as X did. And like everyone else, i reccomend Turn A Gundam too
Even in my original Gundam Story, MS Gundam Mars, I've portrayed as being a Newtype as it sucking royal, sure you have crazy psychic abilities and such but because they are emphatic this makes them being in a war situation as sucking royally, hence why the martians while they view it as the 'next stage in human evolution' understand that having newtypes on the battlefield would be terrible so they are largely left out of the war (At least for now), while the Earth Forces exploit the hell out of them and turning them into psychopathic monsters that need to be put down, turning a emphatic individual into a apathetic monster, heck almost all of them want our protagonist's to put them down because they hate being a tool, with some notable exception (I added a Kefka like character as one of the villains). So yeah being a Newtype should never be glorfied as being 'The Special Snowflake' but instead 'Suck on so many levels' something I agree modern UC has largely been forgetting.
For my own timeline, rather than spaceborn psychics, I went with physical enhancements to a small percentage of children born on Earth. While the space colonists have forgotten human compassion and how precious their original home is, the Earth's best soldiers struggle to relate to normal humans completely. But only through both sides genuinely trying to understand each other can peace be made. But sadly it is far easier said than done. Earth's powerful superhuman guardians vs colonists destroying their bodies and completely throwing away any and all empathy to prove they can stand up to them.
I agree with your arguments boofire191, but your sentence in which you said glorification of weapons is a bit wrong. New UC Gundam types are like axes, a weapon of destruction, which can be a tool of creation in the right hands. Newtypes are just the first ones who use them as such tools. I understand that what I say may be garbage, but it connects to my theorie that everyone can become a real newtype and isn't born as one.
one of the first notable things we are introduced to in all of UC was a colony drop, a thing meant to be a step forward for all humanity being used as a weapon of mass destruction, resulting the pointless deaths of earthlings and spacenoids alike. So of course it would be a fitting end to that theme that a weapon that is explicitly meant to destroy newtypes, who are the future of humanity, is used instead to selflessly protect that future.
As someone who's a bit of an ardent Gundam 00 fan, even I can say I feel it has this same problem with Innovators. The idea of them isn't some warning like Newtypes are with their "cheat" abilities and WHY understanding is important. 00 turns it's message into "humanity needs to change/evolve to overcome our flaws and achieve mutual understanding". And I just... don't feel like that works out. I don't like the message that humanity needs to change from how we are as the only solution to overcome our flaws, rather than naturally overcoming those flaws to understand one another better. Because why should we?
00 said evolution is part of the equation. The ELS also show why its only part. Setsuna sacrifices his humanity to allow both to finally create dialogues and an understanding. Showing peace cannot be taken without sacrifice.
Overcoming flaws is changing even if it’s done naturally or otherwise. If humanity never changes then that means that all the flaws that exist at the time it stoped changing will exist until humanity starts changing again.
If humanity could just get over it's own flaws so simply and easily it would be done. Some amount of either physical or metaphorical evolution is needed to not come across as hopelessly naive
Maybe because to overcoming ones own flaw, a changing as a person need to happens? To change from lazy person, just say "i will be a diligent and hard working person" and the flaw of being lazy is gone isn't going to work. One needs to change own way of thinking, how they would love how they would act. Same goes for humanity as a whole, if we as hunmanity said "we won't cause anymore tradgedy" and it work. Shit like Civil war in thedifferent country, terrorism, world war 2 wouldn't happen in the first place.
new type in old uc was a jedi force empath that learn and understand people and feelings with just having the slightest contact while new uc is like im a force super hero and have time? magic that are powered by green ghosts
What happened to the original Gundam X video? That's my favorite video from you and watch it quite a bit. Did it get nuked by UA-cam? Did Turn A blew your mind and have a change of heart?
ok, I got a gundam concept for you. mobile suit gundam-Demiurge the year is 2279 ME (modern era).the 'Zeon' and 'federation' of the setting are 2 different racial supremacist factions within a larger solar system spanning human empire-one for newtypes and oldtypes respectively. the government uses the 2 organizations to keep the 2 strains oh humanity in line out of racist fear for both. this explores and show that there truly are no angels or demons only humans though no one is willing to admit it and the responsibility of the collective to act. the idea is that one/both factions develop mobile suits and the necessary evil of peace becomes the sadistic whims of war. no one acts to stop the 2 factions and so the human race is permanently divided with peace becoming impossible.
Can you do a video about the Expanded Universe Galactic Empire in Star Wars about how they were able to manage over 2 million systems with only 25,000 star destroyers which is a extremely small amount of ships for the scale of the Empire. Realistically they would need over a million star destroyed in order to keep security and protection across their territories. Even the EU GAR and CIS before the Empire had much larger navies then they did.
Things gets even more strange with Cross bone, Cross Bone Ghost and the current Cross Borne. It's a weird way of dealing with the whole next stage of human evolution kerfuffle.
Yeah, I mean it does address the kind of supremacy groups that would form from people being told Newtypes are the next stage in human evolution making them "superior" in some way and Tobia clearly having some sort of psychic powers but repeatedly insisting that he's just a normal person because they are just people. These ideas could be explored in more depth or nuanced differently though
@@clarehidalgo It's trying to deal with all those problems by doing.... something *Spoiler? For Steel seven, Ghost and Borne* As most of the NTs have gone with Grey Stoke's colony ship and just plain exiting earth's solar system the population of NT has gone down significantly and not as "pure" as there are more psychers around. Then there's Font Baud from Ghost, Tobia "pinged" him by reaching out with the NT sense when someone asked if Font is a NT. While Font isn't a NT he is also not an OT either, as Tobia has noted that Font has gone down another evolution route thanks to the rapid advancement of technology and that caused him to evolve in such a way to make better use of them and using them to it's fullest potential and beyond. Also a certain someone has... evolved? to a NT? It's definitely something.
I'll doubt that UC and NT "uses Newtypes as solution to problems, " because as far as I remembered they didn't. Sure, the main characters being overpowered Newtypes did serves for lazy writing to some degree, but at the end of UC, Banagher didn't change much of the world he lives in. The revelation of the original constitution was merely nothing but a "hope", which happens to be the main theme of UC. Aaaannd NT is just a sad romance.
I think modern UC is trying to connect the Newtype phenomenon (especially NT with the Phenex)with the butterfly of the Turn A. Since the turn A ends the UC timeline
I agree with a lot here. Unicorn I think overall is a very good series with great story telling and characters (definitely not perfect but it's handled well for the majority of its run) but the more they focused on Newtypes, especially with the last 2 episodes and more so the finale it really took a nosedive. NT I was hesitant on, I remember going to see it in theaters and when the interview was playing before the movie and they compared Newtypes to the Force from Star Wars... I got scared of what sort of Newtype shenanigans were going to happen. Low and behold NT while not the worst thing Gundam's ever put out, it wasn't great and the levels of BS they did with Newtypes made it absurd. NT definitely felt like it was supposed to be handled like Unicorn and be episodic instead of all crammed together with mach speed pacing and poor writing but it did leave me knowing that I want to be a bird.
This is the reason why I liked original crossbone . Tobia after being imprisoned by sherin as he had newtype potential asking him to let crossbone and earth the be destroyed to allow humanity to become newtype .Tobia think that a insane future he does not want to be. Saying that He is human he dosn't care being a newtype or old type being human is all he need he punches sherin who is a newtype. Making her bleed in the mouth tobia then cut him arm to showing her that she as much a human as him before leaving to protect what he loves . which is the reason why I love crossbone tobia show you do not need to be a newtype to change the world or bring in peace only to have the will to bring change
Great video as always made me see a Gundam series in a new and interesting perspective. About Gundam Unicorn in my opinion, the main problem of the series was not the newtype overpowered nonsense, or the fact that the Unicorn is a super robot that can deflect a colonylaser (and that's a GREAT problem) but in the Laplace Box itself. There was little to no reason to start a war for a secret like that, not to mention that the federation media could turn that "true" into a conspiracy theory pretty quickly. Is pretty unbeliveable that the federation would make a racist law like "superhuman should rule over normal people" and write it on a Stone monument... The writer of Gundam Unicorn is the same of the movie of Captain Harlock, and in both stories he tries to create an hype about an objective that in the end makes Little sense, and seems like a poor excuse to start a fight.
Well put. Problem I find with a lot of Gundam sidestories or sequels after the main trilogy, is they all need some "MacGuffin", some world changing item to fight over. Gundam is more poignant when people are fighting and dying over regular stakes. It's easy to die for something that might change the world, harder to accept dying for some stupid war.
I would honestly think the real answer is somewhere in the middle... Are Newtypes important, and will they change the world, and make humans "better" in some regard? Yes... Will they make their lives better? Not necessarily, as you've demonstrated. There's two points on evolution worth noting; evolution does not necessarily improve a species, just makes individuals of that species less likely to die than others, as such the weak can persist by showing no threat to the strong. Conversely, strength comes at a fundamental cost to the individual in question, and if its not a time of plenty, it can doom them to self destruction. Newtypes show contradictory traits in this regard; they possess the abilities necessary to survive any conflict they are forced into, but also by nature are destined to become averse to it. In its most cynical form, its the power to run from conflict; once that puts massive strain on the ones who possess the trait. In that way, even if the rest of humanity disappears due to war, the newtypes will remain... And yet one fact remains that throws that on its head... If they survive while humanity fails, they will be left broken, leaving a situation where they're drawn to do everything they can to prevent the fall of the rest of humanity. So basically, newtypes cannot bring prosperity to humanity alone, in order to do so, humanity would need to support them, which all signs point in the direction that they do not... The only future that Newtypes can create alone, is no less catastrophic than what awaits humanity without them; it merely changes the nature of the catastrophe.
I like NT becoz it explore Titan Cyber Newtype Experiment and the throw back to Nu gundam but ... in char counter attack the final scene is based on how both Neo Zeon and Federation soldier in synch with Amuro feelin' to stop Axis create miracle instead of just Psycho frame deus ex machina only
This was a great video and a good dissertation about newtypes and how they were originally meant to be portrayed. I have a small question that isn't that important to the topic of the video in question, some of your CAC's in Crossrays have some faces I've never seen, how did you get them?
If you're using the PC version of Cross Rays, you have the ability to mod the game so that you have certain pilots from other series that you can use. (Gundam or not)
Isn't Judau the only pilot that just leaves? I know Amuro disappeared but the other pilots either live on earth or the colonies. Judau left for Jupiter didn't he?
He shows up in Crossbone Gundam manga later. I would have liked of CCA had Char/Kamille vs Amuro/Judau; as a final conclusion to the Early-UC canon. They keep adding more and more stuff afterwards, like Unicorn, NT, and now Hathaway's Flash; kind of makes CCA feel unimportant.
Nah for me it is still is about being human Unicorn and NT. But you simply can't ignore it and have to simply acknowledge their existence. Like real life racism. We are all humans but we are all different asian, latin african Caucasian etc etc. And you have to officially acknowledge it. That we are all different despite being human. Similar to Newtypes. Unicorn it literally a NewType Destroyer. Kill that which is different. That is new. And in the end you figure out the pilots piloting the NTD Gundams are also newtypes even Rhidde. GUNDAM X has framed it so Newtypes are not so different from 'oldtypes' Unicorn has framed it so tha Oldtypes are not so different from NewTypes. Sorry to Meme a little here but. Don't let your Soul be weighed down by Gravity, and view the series under the lens of and Oldtype. Thinking Unicorn, modern UC glorified Newtypes. It put Newtypes under the lens that is all and acknowledges who they are. There is even this prevailing trend of Giving Oldtypes the same abilities as Newtypes. And once they reached techno singularity, turns out Rhidde and Oldtype was/became a newtype. And he is literally no different. I could even compare it to Xmen.
X prentends after the paradigm shift of human evolution, you can just ignore it and go back to the way it used to be, the very worst of the seinen, preserve and idealize the old while rejecting or deny anything new.
What he means is that it places too much importance on being one. Crossbone is also full of Newtypes but it doesn’t turn into the super robot mess that is NT and Unicorn.
@@rabbani3094 After CCA jumped the shark, there was no going back unfortunately. Best to not solve all your problems, charter arcs, and overarching plotlines with space friendship magic
@@rabbani3094 Zeta & CCA were the ones who started the "my magical mech can solve problem with my Newtype boost!!!" yet you blame NT & Unicorn? Unicorn & NT are only fleshing out the mess that Tomino created and making it more make sense.
I don’t think Unicorn is bad with its new types but Unicorn punching into Neo Zeog at the end was dumb and makes no sense from a mechanical standpoint. NT was the worst thing in UC. The new type powers were ridiculous and the stupid failed Char clone plot is so dumb and brought no actual substance (He could have just been a crazy cyber newtype and that be better). I like Hathaway’s flash a lot though as its more grounded but still has some new type stuff (Beginning scene on shuttle).
Unfortunately the novel and ova for unicorn is drastically different. The box is one of those, the novel stated the charter is about people are free from earth grips which inspired Zeon Zum deikun philosophies. And even Full Frontal plans to use the box in the ova is what Banagher and Minerva did in the novel, kept the box in secret and indirectly allowing colonies to be autonomous. Current UC stories is obsessed woth transcendence, something that miss Tomino whole points about UC. From F91 to Victory the idea of newtypes is become irrelevant. In crossbone there're characters that despite showing newtypes abilities they refer themselves as 'psychic'.
Late to the party here. But just getting back into the Gundam series after a long time. I’ve only seen Gundam seed and seed destiny. What other series would you all recommend?
@@93kupper GundamInfo here on youtube has Gundam 00, would recommend you can also find 0083 here on youtube Netflix has the 0079 movie trilogy, CCA, and Hathaway
The main problem with newtypes in most gundam series is that the protagonists are newtypes themselves, and their powers and related technology often become the power-ups needed to win the fight and drive the story onward, giving the impression that newtype weapons are needed. Gundam X solves the problem by having a protagonist that isn't a newtype.
I've gotta be honest here, as much as I liked Unicorn and NT, I didn't like how they treated Newtypes. There was so much importance put on them and their abilities. Newtypes are supposed to show why war is a bad thing. It hurts people, so here's people that are psychologically damaged more easily than normal. Also they can make tiny remote controlled lasers fly around because it adds to the robot fights. In Unicorn and NT, it was almost like the show was telling the viewer "If you're not a Newtype, you're worthless in this universe. Only they can accomplish things here." And honestly, I would love to see an alternate interpretation of the aftermath of Unicorn where some Newtypes start thinking exactly that. Maybe some see what the RX-0 series is capable of, or just what Newtypes in general are actually capable of, and start trying to take over, attempting to make oldtypes second class citizens, or even eliminate them. It would show that Newtypes are just as capable of enacting atrocities as anyone else, and show how what may have seemed like it was for good, actually made things much worse. But in the end, we got a very super-robot-like series. I still like it, just makes me feel like there was some wasted potential. Honestly, my problems with Unicorn's Newtypes are similar to those I have with SEED's Newtypes, Coordinators, Newtype Coordinators, SEED Bearers, and we can't forget the protag who is a Newtype SEED Bearing Coordinator because apparently being superhuman in just one way wasn't enough.
I might be biased, I’d argue that Kira (at least in SEED, because SEED Destiny is hot garbage) isn’t as bad compared to how Newtypes have been handled recently, because the hubris that led to his birth isn’t portrayed as a good thing, nor is he treated as some sort of messiah to lead humanity into a new age.
I am watching them in release order and I just got to seed. So far after x is my favorite. So many of my frustrations with other gundams were not an issue in it.
Splendid explanation! Your points are the points UC elitists tend to ignore about X. They think X's ending applies only to the After War universe, without ever considering the message that it implies can be applied to not just to Newtypes, but to people across the different Gundam universes as well. As you have clearly pointed out, at war, people forget to stay as people. They become tools or whatever. This is the universal truth about Gundam.
I always thought new types are superheroes who are just soldiers taking orders or not…the real robo genre always felt like a made up word by srw game series. Look at those SD gundam games, none of them look remotely human
This also translates how culture views robo genre as a whole, super robo like Zambot really shows the protagonist winning at the end with presumably ptsd that will never heal. Making a kid doing all those killings will catch up to him. Now look at the super robo now, it’s really just glorified action pieces that fulfill the fantasy of being super
And that’s also why turn A being used as a washing machine was iconic.
Fr fr
Strongest weapons make the strongest daily life materials
TL:DR Modern UC somewhat overglorifies and woobifies the importance of newtypes in its setting to the point where the series accidentally loses all semblance of irony in doing so. X meanwhile gives as much importance to both old and new as necessary and has the restraint to not give them potential super god powers that a select few may posses. Here's the summary. Loved the video.
Honestly I read the importance of newtypes recently as a change in outlook towards cautious optimism towards humans changing in a franchise previously devised by a very sad man about how it's possible for humanity's conditions to improve even after the majority of the population is wiped out but because the bureaucrats and fascists keep winning, it'll never happen--i.e. a stance of pretty rampant pessimism. I don't really view it as weird or out of character or anything close to bad for the overall outlook of a show to change.
Like, think of it this way. V Gundam is a show that's filled with a tremendous amount of focus on the non newtype schlubs and has the constant tragedy gundam fans seem to crave, but Tomino doesn't seem to care for it. Things change.
@@christopherferrin5662 Just cause Tomino doesnt care for it doesnt mean V gundam isnt good or it doesnt emulate the best the franchise has to offer. Sure the franchise can change but for the core foundations to be changed so drastically in the MAIN TIMELINE OF THE SHOW is kinda iffy to be quite generous. Thats why it doesnt really sting as hard when this gets fucked in alternate installments and such. Im okay with the idea of newtypes having more of a presence in a series but only if it represents the best of what the franchise has to offer and from what ive seen, it mostly results in very muddled themes as Boo explained here.
Its basically the reason why the Live action Ghost in the shell didn't work. Most of the series has a very pragmatic and overall optimistic look on how technology can enhance the human experience and the consequences of that, but the movie goes along with the typical diatribe of "Technology is bad, mmkay". Whiplash does not begin to describe that shit.
Hmm. I think foundations shifting in a franchise and timeline that's past its 40 year mark is to be expected and, honestly, probably better for it. I don't really agree with the character designer or boo here that "it's about the little guy" is a necessary core theme to the series and is pretty flatly contradicted by both how much the original shows revolved around Char, the True Prince of Spacenoids, or the simple fact that the feature protagonists are almost invariably prodigiously talented.
That said I appreciate you going to bat for Victory. There's not a chance in hell it represents the best the series has to offer (though the fights were creative and a few of the tragic character deaths were neat--albeit lessened in impact when they happened every few episodes), but it'd be the redheaded stepchild if destiny didn't exist and I am not sure that's fair.
@@christopherferrin5662 Yeah Victory Gundam isnt a very bad installment of the series anyways.
And yes you do have a point that most of the protags and certain characters in the series are reveled around because of their prodigial nature. However we need to take into account two things:
1. Even when the series focuses on those like Char, they are still at their best when they give some or equal representation to the little guy. Hell despite Amuro being prodigy starchild himself still has down to earth relatable aspects that arent overshadowed by any greater cosmic importance he might have.
and 2. Yes there is nothing wrong with a series growing, expanding and trying out new things, especially one going on for this long. There is room for gundam to be different. But that doesnt necessarily mean that the literal core of the franchise needs to be changed in the main timeline thats its established because thats what gave UC its identity. Those are the things that represent it at its best. So replacing it with something that was not only contradictory but also much less narratively compelling is just asking to lose what made the thing special. Like i said, leave that to other alternate shows like 00 or IBO to have completely different themes as long as they are done well.
Newtype's have become overly important, and that's mostly because they basically put all of the elements of newtype tech into a single unit.
RX-0 has...
Fully integrated Psycho-Frame [Like a psycho-frame on steroids that can also just break the laws of physics.]
NT-D (Newtype-Destroyer) [Like a bio-sensor on steriods except its also automatic and can (and will) literally pilot the machine for you (whether you like it or not).]
IAS (Intention Automatic System) [Basically the Alice system, except its like a second copy of your own brain once again the machine will pilot for you.]
This is a similar issue that arose (imo) in Full Metal Panic when they decided to keep going. As much as I love the Laevetainn's design the absurd hyper-technology that is the Lambda system should've been kept to a minimum last-ditch effort thing. Instead they went whole hog on it. If I had to guess this was because it would be an easy way to cash in on model kits as this is where most of their sales come from.
Is why I like crossbone gundam. There's a pretty iconic scene where tobia meets a group of newtype supremacists that try to convince him to just not get involved in the conflict between earth and jupiter. Tobia's response is to cut his hand and tell them that he, a newtype, bleeds like anyone else does. He rejects the idea that being a newtype holds some special meaning, and points out ultimately he's only one thing; human.
It's crazy how Crossbone is some of the best written, Tomino Gundam.
I hope we get an animation adaptation one day.
@@baloowailey6278 oh yea i forgot he does punch her in the face XD
@@perotekku i think it's just straight up not gonna happen at this point, people have been begging for that for like 16 years now and sunrise literally straight up ignored its overwhelming vote count on a poll for works that fans want to see adapted
@@youngkappakhanIf the demand is coming from the West then yeah they will be ignored for the demand for an Acguy kit and the west never bought it and left it in stock and ever since then they basically say The West can go eff themselves.
@@perotekkuIt is not, just because it has some good scenes. That one in particular was not even in the original Crossbone, but instead the sequel Steel 7, which was an improvement but still pales in comparison to Zeta and 0079.
To me, a newtype is exactly what Dome said it was in the last Episode of X. It's a mutation, nothing more. Not the next step, not a gift from god, just an accident no different than an albino or a person born with eyes of two different shades.
I mean, in UC, they can literally come back and visit people from heaven.
I don't get the "it's just a mutation" thing. Like, duh, but also that's how evolution happens. Mutations create change and genetic variation that can be selected for and against until you can consider a new species as having formed.
@@mandarinduck Yes Mutation happens, but the real message here is that the future of humanity should not be relied on those with the specific mutation. They should be treated like anyone else being a human, nothing more nothing less. Putting labels and categorizing people just encourages division and elitist mentality.
The thing I like about Gundam NT is that it serves as some sort of send-off to the super-robot-esque newtype phenomena and leads into Hathaway's flash and F91 where things become more grounded.
Yeah, too bad Hathaway's flash is excessive in misery and pointless, and everything that follows in UC just copies the Fed/Zeon conflict only without the depth and complexity present in Side 3 and the Earth Sphere.
@@tiberiuskirk2593 Read the crossbone mangas my dude, the complexity comes from the federation and their fall of grace, how doing nothing, or ignoring the past forces history to be repeated again and again until a eventual downfall of humanity, Crossbone dust is almost X like for what i have been told
@@LinkDeHablaHispana Just first Crossbone is enough to get it. Tobia's meaningful words to Sherindon, who urged him to stay with her and realise his potential as Newtype: "I am a human. Being a human is enough."
Ascending beyond "Newtype"/"Oldtype" stuff, Tobia almost directly stated that neither of those matter. "Being human is enough."
Humans not divided by any category are all you need to repair what was destroyed. To understand what was misunderstood. To end all conflicts.
Man how much am I longing for a Crossbone anime...
Even Crossbone disregards new types as nothing more as adaptation to space not a new race
Crossbone remembers what Modern UC forgot
Jokes aside that scene in crossbone has always stuck with me and imo its a good message for gundam. Tobia kind of makes a similar statement about Newtypes that Dome does: Newtypes don't really exist, just people who adapted to their environments.
Remember how Zeta and ZZ imply that anyone could be a newtype. I don’t like how later UC just ignore that.
How was it implied? I do not remember that.
@@nickgennady Emma was showing signs of being a newtype near the end of Zeta and Bright showed signs in both. Hell, Quess was only in space for a day and became one herself.
I think the major reason why Gundam Unicorns ending wasn't as satisfying in comparison to After War X is because Unicorns story isn't completely over and the story is just leading up to crossbone, f91, and victory, in fact Banaghers story isn't over during that show nothing is yet resolved which is why he shows up in gundam NT and thats before it leads to him leading Mars Zeon so unlike the after war timeline UC never truly ends that it even reaches from correct century leading up to its more recent century which is the regild century and over the years it reaches the same outcome, someone has to take up the Gundam and they have to return the peace its an endless cycle, meanwhile After war timeline is an alternate universe of UC that ended very horribly that it only took one more war to finally end all wars resulting in its beautiful end as they are all forced to work together to heal the world and humanity and finally abandon all ideas of war
I thought in the original series it was implied that most of the White Base crew almost became newtypes.
On a related note to the tagline you keep noting on the themes of Gundam ("Don't let your soul be weighed down by gravity"/ "let go of past hatreds")... I just now imagined an alternate take on this: where people trying to escape past hatreds by fleeing into space are being hunted down and brought back down to Earth by force... Essentially a story about it is not necessarily a natural force that leaves you trapped by past hatreds, but more of a crabs in a bucket situation where those who refuse to let go of their hatreds will drag everyone else under, refusing to let them abandon past hatreds.
... Thinking about it, After War X gets pretty close to this when you point out (I think it was in the other video) that only a handful of people actually want war, and everyone else isn't keen to see it happen.
I was going to say that both UC and X basically go that route, but you noticed as well. It does seem like the idea of 'let go of old hatreds' is a long standing thread of Gundam. From the more immediate of 'you killed Sune' to the Zeon revival's long past the time it ought to be left in the dust, to the 'we want the war back' exemplified by the Frost brothers in X.
I find it amusing and ironic how Tomino, Yas and all others who contributed to the rise of Gundam eventually became like their own characters - preaching to the ignorant world that doesn't understand their message.
One day people will understand the genius of Garzy's wing.
Tomino is a little crazy, like many brilliant creators. I find Yas' take on early UC much more cohesive. Yas also said in an interview that MSG was a team effort, but once it got famous, Tomino basically took over sole creative authority going forward with Zeta, ZZ, and CCA.
@@laststrike4411 many people preach to our "ignorant world" maybe the preachers just aren't what we think they are. Garzy's wing and much of MSG is a plot structure mess and fans find ways to make it more than it really is...*sigh*
One of the things I respect about Gundam X is the fact that they didn't feel the need to make the protagonist a newtype despite forming close attachments and existing in a world with newtypes. It gives the newtype concept respect that not alot of other shows do.
What I also like was that Garrod Ran felt realistic as a 15 year old. He's young and acted a lot on feelings and passion without being annoying. What I also like was that while he is physically fit, he's not a super human and he's still unfairly outmatched even when hand to hand fighting a random vulture joe, which is why he brings a gun with him everywhere. I also like his piloting skills, he makes mistakes but is still fast on his feet at correcting them. He's not as clueless as Judau was early on but he's not Kamille level. I love how he excels in melee, in a suit made for long range bombardment.
If you want a good example of Newtypes being abused as tools in U.C, look no further than the Blue Destiny side story. Specifically the EXAM-equipped machines.
Was kind of surprised he never mentioned the EXAM system
Gundam CCA Novel Timeline would be fun to look into. Also G Reco made new types nonexistent through not making overt Newtypes like Belri and even minor characters using Newtype weaponry without realising it.
I'm not too familiar with the CCA novel, is it available in English?
How does it compare to the movies?
@@danielchew8739 Beltorchika's children and Hathaway's flash is available but Gaia gear is hard to find. The radio drama is mostly recorded and subbed on UA-cam.
@@barrybend7189 Alright, thanks.
@@barrybend7189 wait, all of hathaway's flash is translated? I thought there was only one chapter available
@@poymannyng1845 there were a few translations of the novel though I don't know if any are still around.
Getting the Gundam subreddit to understand this is like banging your head on a wall. The super robot aspects of Unicorn turned me off to it and I find myself going back to older Gundam like 0080, 0083, CCA, Zeta etc because as you say, it feels like those Gundam shows didn't miss the point of Gundam.
Having watched all UC shows, I wholeheartedly agree.
I think the original show is literally the best, and while I think Zeta is my favourite; none of the sequels to 0079 ever quite get Gundam "right".
you can't win because UC has cool looking mechs, thats all
Great video. It’s true that new types get burnt out the most. From ms gundam light of lif chronicles special, amuro states that new types were reduced to flying aces in war.And the whole human reformation idea is completely forgotten.
There is a reason MS IGLOO is so loved by the ones who know. It's grunt only warfare
#GruntsArePeople Too.
Yeah that's true
MS IGLOO? You spelled 08th MS Team wrong.
@@DoctorKnow00 you mean thunderbolt?
@@chriscueva1866Naw. None of the characters in Thunderbolt are memorable or fleshed out. The best they've got is Io Fleming and he's a psychopath.
Ok in UC there's a lot of definitions of what a Newtype is, there is also what a Newtype is in concept and what a Newtype is in genetics.
To put it in Syam Vist's perspective, it's the same as Zeon Daikun's " Humans who adapted to the vastness of space develop the ability to understand each other without miss conceptions." This is the Newtype Concept. Newtypes in Genetics are just people with the ability of Newtypes, completely separate from whether or not they desire to understand each other.
To make it clear as possible, let's replace the term Newtypes with "people who desire to understand people".
SYAM VIST EPISODE 7:
"That is why I want to entrust it to -Newtypes- people who desire to understand people like the two of you."
"If -Newtypes- people who desire to understand people in actuality existed, I want to entrust Laplace's box to their care, for I truly believe that they will be the ones to put the box to better use and reclaim the future for the world that was meant to be."
BANAGHER EPISODE 7:
"If it's true, that -Newtypes- people who desire to understand people are the future of humanity, It's unlikely that current humans will even be able to identify them. If that's the case, I can't be certain that either of us has the qualities you are looking for, and I don't know what's best, I'm sorry."
"Even so, as a HUMAN BEING, I want to believe in the future, in people, and the possibility that HUMANS possess."
Syam's definition of Newtypes is that of people who show compassion and understanding to humans regardless of who they are. So when he desires the world to have Newtypes work in the government, he means he wants compassionate, patient and understanding people to help guide the world.
I don't mind the idea that Newtypes > Humans in this case because they are using the idea of a Newtype as an example of character that people should aspire to be like. the separation of identity is not about Genetics but about ideals and desires. Most Newtypes aren't even like the Ideal Newtype Syam envisioned, Genetic Oldtypes and Newtypes must aspire to be like the Perfect Newtype, that is the message of Unicorn.
Take a look at the Nahel Argama crew, they are not Genetic Newtypes, the are all Oldtypes, but they carry the ideals of what a Newtype ought to be. They work together with Zeon because they believe in a better world and desire to live together in harmony with them. In a sense, they are Newtypes, in a sense, anyone could be a Newtype, that is why RE:0096 has the slogan, "Awaken the Newtype that lies within you." Because they're using the term "Newtype" as an example of character.
Psychoframe is used in Unicorn, to exemplify the potential of humans in physical form, If humanity can overcome the greatest physical challenges, then they are capable of overcoming the hatred and despair that plagues their hearts. That's why Banagher and Minerva are collecting/ destroying all trace of Psychoframe in NT, because Psychoframe has already served its purpose.
I agree and along with that Newtypes could be in a way the spacenoid people as a whole in the Charter which makes more sense why Laplace box was so dangerous to the Federation as it would show just how much on their end of blame the One Year was contrary to the blame they place on Zeon
Point of the video still stands: few such people can not achieve anything. Instead of looking for and identifying such people like in Unicorn, everyone should just be them like it is implied in X.
@@Mattatiah95 lol what. do you expect Cardeas vist to just hand over the box to anyone?
The point of the goose chase was to find people both worthy and with the intention of using the box to improve humanity, worth defined by their character and beliefs.
The end goal was always the same, to have humanity move forward as a whole and not just the selected few and not by genetics but by showing everyone that humanity has the potential to be better.
Like I said before, those like the Nahel Argama crew are Newtypes just as much as Banagher in terms of definition Syam Vist uses, which he defines Newtypes as a ideal/ set of characteristics and not of genetics.
So the end goal of Unicorn is to have everyone as the human race become the Newtype ideal and not the Newtype genetic. If you thought that the intention was that only Newtype Genetic have the potential to become the Newtype Ideal then you've missed the point.
In the end the point is the same, Humanity as a whole must not be closed minded, acknowledge pain of yourself and others, be hopeful and optimistic in despair, chose to not perpecuate hatred and do everything with the best of intentions for those who come after us.
@@TSOMcrew No, I expect whole Unicorn to not propagate elitism.
@@Mattatiah95 how did you get that out of anything I said?
Do you really think making sure you find people who won't use the box for perpetuating war = finding elites?
The box had the potential to cause war how'd you expect Syam Vist to not find people responsible enough to use it right?
X definitely nailed down Gundam’s true message.
Blue Destiny's E.X.A.M. system did a Newtype weapon pretty well, like in Gundam X it was a horrific and dangerous weapon that came at an evil, inhumane cost.
Blue Destiny adaptation when?
On a shallower level the god powers that Unicorn and NT introduce just ruin the action. Similar things happen in the Zeta shows and CCA but even lifting the meteor doesn't compare to Banagher sending MS reactors back in time or what ever the hell is going on at the end of NT. The psycommu weapons and instant understanding fit really well, serving to increase the tension and add real weight to the most important battles but NT and Unicorn really just render every normal human almost completely irrelevant. Hell even the crazy stuff Zeta does is set up with how Minovsky particles react to Newtypes.
Also char's counter attack somewhat jumps the shark with new type space magic stopping the apocalypse kinda creating a precedent that is really hard to comeback from.
@@danielnolan8848 I would not have mind it in CCA as it show as the "will of humanity" coming together to stop the Axis Drop. But in the case of Unicorn and Narrative, they can't pull that excuse as both event are rather hidden from the wider population.
@@danielchew8739 Will of humanity or not, it is still a new type power that makes all other sources of power and authority irrelevant
@@danielnolan8848 No disagreement there. Honestly, at this point I just want something like 0080, 0083 or 08th MS team again. Basically more war stories.
@@danielchew8739 yeah the one year war remains the best part, before gundam had the George Lucas problem with so many op jedai to gundam's so many new type op powers
I wrote a thesis way back regarding UC Gundam and its contradicting messages regarding Imperialism. Going from the original Gundam to Unicorn, I came to some problematic conclusions...
Laplace's Box just doesn't make any fucking sense. What evidence did people at the beginning of UC have that made them think a new group of people who are divergent to a point to be an entirely different race? And why did they think this should give the Earth Federation government explicit reason to give these people political representation specifically?
And with Zeon Deikum' the ideological founder of zeon... Do we discredit his position as the creator of Cantolism? Is he just a plagiaristic populist, if the furnace of creation does not go to him?
Plot holes aside, what I feel most problematic is the timeframe in which the Laplace's box is discovered in the UC, as well as Fukui's attempted recontextualization of the one year war.
Even if Cantolism and newtypes were meant to bring peace and understanding- in a sense akin to the Ubermensch or the Japanese Co-Prosperity Sphere (actually referenced in UC Unicorn) - the blood spilt by Zeon and the newtypes that plagued its power structure means that such ideals are unfortunately forever tainted. The One Year War did that, and so did Operation Stardust, and finally Neo Zeon.
The Laplace Box says that ultimately, the newtypes were right. It justifies Zeon's actions because their rights were stripped off the UC charters. It justifies Zeon's countless genocides by saying they were equal to the brutish actions of the Earth Federation (explicitly stated when Banagher eats with the sleeves family).
And the solution to this entire mess is to give exclusive representation to the ghost that haunts so much of UC's war tattered history?
It's downright fucking ridiculous. And it is ridiculous because Tomino's original gundam saw newtypes ultimately as cautionary tales and symbolic tragedy, which you have said quite eloquently in your video.
It really doesn't help when we remember that the Original Gundam was Tomino's counternarrative to Battleship Yamato's reaffirmation of Japan's Imperialism, and when you also remember that Fukui effectively reaffirmed pro-imperialistic ideas into a series technically born to speak against it.
Uh...no? Laplace's Box does not justify all the mass murder Zeon did. At best it says the EF is not legitimate, but since when EF is good?
During the 30 Bunch incident, the EF looked to Titans gassing protestors (that were ANTI ZEON AS WELL) and were all "Not a crime."
EF is as good as Zeon. Your thesis do not work because you assume the EF was supposed to be the Allies for Zeon's Nazi Germany.
The fundamental problem is Tomino is just not a strong writer in terms of setting design and followthrough.
The One Week War in 0079 makes no sense with how people behave in the series. Part of this is the obvious M'Quve issues that led to Tomino practically writing him out of existence in the movies. Part of it is if Zeon annihilated half the Colonies per the novel that would leave almost no surviving colonies outside of Side 3 and the Side 7 bluster based on the math given for how large a side is supposed to be.
Hence for instance the notion Side 6 somehow remained neutral is either a failure to understand the ramifications of their own Math, or a sick joke where Zeon slaughtered practically every other Spacenoid except them for reasons... Then just randomly decided to stop and ratify the Antarctic Treaty, while having full intentions to have the capability to violate it readily on hand to someone like M'Quve.
If the One Week War proceeded as described in the novel the word Zeon should be be a noun effectively meaning 'omnicidal" with anything resembling associated with it treated similar to someone claiming they boil kittens alive to listen to their screams.
On the NewType front Tomino originally had a somewhat interesting idea, which After War X followed up on, with the whole Espers versus NewType labeling/interpretation of events and the reality Amuro was born in Canada and Lalah in India showing Zeon Deikun was a false prophet. Tomino however didn't follow up on that, like After War X. No he quadrupled down on it being "right" associated with his Student Activist bent.
In turn he didn't care that Zeta Char to CCA Char should be an ideologue that's been pushed to a resigned conclusion to solve what he sees as a great evil like we got in Avengers Infinity War. Not to mention the issue of a lack of proper counterarguments versus the self-evidently wrong ideologue. No, no CCA Char is stopping short of evilly chortling with things like the "I'm doing something wicked Amuro" which utterly divorces the character from his Zeta counterpart...
@@Jose-yt3qz You mean Tomino as part of not being a strong writer in Zeta decided "grey" means Psychotically Backstabbing Nazis that Mass Murder entire Colonies for Kicks versus Crazy Woman who punctuates her madness by threatening to render Earth uninhabitable and crashing Axis into a Titan's Asteroid Fortress for fun with the intent of subjugating literally everyone? Who then fight over a Colony Laser on the basis of which psycho should be allowed to TAKE OVER THE WORLD!!! That series?
I suppose you're right, Lord Kill'em All was denied his succor by anyone being allowed to survive as part of making everyone literally EVIL with a capital E-V-I-L. Meanwhile in realm of what people pretend Tomino cares about Macross and Macross DYRL came out before Zeta and it's really hard to argue Tomino doing it after Ideon and Dunbine wasn't the result of Bandai demanding a competitor to Macross to sell their competing line of transformable toys.
And yet wonder of wonders unlike Macross there's no redeemable villains, nor serious attempt at setting up a dialogue. Almost like Lord Kill'em All couldn't care less about that and would go on to try to push how psychotic he could make the baddies in Victory while grumpily fighting broadcasting standards and associated personnel wondering why Lord Kill'em All was so hell bent on being as grotesque as possible.
@@jebe4563 I think you misunderstand the conflict that arose inside UC in Zeta.
EF didn't care whether the Titans were mass murdering spacenoids because of the actions of Zeon. Summarizing, they blamed the whole for the acts of a few that weren't even liked by the whole.
Now, the fact there were sides who just stood neutral in the OYW implies something. That the EF isn't clean-cut goody-do-gooders as people like to paint them. So yes.
The dislike of spacenoids by earthnoids and the dislike of earthnoids by spacenoids seem to be old. Now, you will be angry with how Zeta went solely because you wish clear cut GOOD FACTION to stand against the evil guys (funny because in no moment I said the Titans or Neo Zeon were 'grey'? I am not sure what are you arguing about there) that is the AEUG.
I thought I was the only one who didn’t really like Unicorn and NT cause they placed so much importance on being a newtype that they turn into a super robot show. NT is literally only there to retcon Unicorn cause they made it too OP. Give me more Shiro, Garrod and Asemu. Look forward to HF where being one doesn’t mean anything.
some people even thinking that Gundam was super Robot show all the time despite being real robot for some reason. since the newtype shinenegans are exist and explored into deep since Zeta with Cyber newtype. However they're not Crazy Batshit like NT or Unicorn. The newtype idea were become Superpower Godlike that crossing what UC supposed to be as a Real Robot Series. and they're people who okay with these idea, but i personally didn't.
Since HF Movie is Coming, the newtype are become Basic again and seems like they're Going to basic for the next Late UC series.
He didn't say he didn't like them though
@@kiryusannagi5171 ugh no
Let's not act like the final act of Char's counterattack isn't basically the NU Gundam going SUPER MODE and pushing the Axis back all by itself.
Space Magic has existed since the beginning of Gundam and if you're ok with one and not the other is kinda contradicting your own point. All of it is ok, or none of it is. PERIOD
@@JoeSmithGOAT "However it's not Crazy Batshit Like Unicorn or NT"
@@kiryusannagi5171 what do you mean it is not crazy batshit like unicorn? CCA by the end is as batshit crazy as unicorn is, only thing it is not is that it is not as crazy as NT because from the start NT is already batshit insane
I think I’ll play devils advocate for a bit. Gundam Unicorn’s message to me made sense because I’d also recently seen Zeta and ZZ and realized that these NewType characters were little more than slaves. People either didn’t believe they existed or knew and kept it a secret because it suited them. To declare more or less that NewTypes exist at the end of Unicorn is to introduce a group of people into the consciousness of society and by so doing allow for them to be acknowledged as human beings in the first place, because to deny someone their identity and their agency is to deny them their humanity and if you don’t exist, you don’t have rights. This is what I took away from Unicorns ending because it’s nice to say that the differences between people don’t matter since we are all human and I guess that works for Gundam X (not criticizing here) but with so much NewType related baggage in the UC, something had to be said or acknowledged about the existence and suffering of a group of people who have never had successful representation coughcharcough just successful oppression. Maybe they’re an allegory for underrepresented real world people or something who knows. You can probably read a lot into this beyond what I’ve brought up but basically the tldr is this, you have to be acknowledged before you can be equal. A difficult task when the powerful may wish you weren’t.
Well said!
Bravo.
Yes Thank you.
Glad I am not the only one.
I think that if spacenoids as a whole were acknowledged and given agency to begin with, then the exploitation of newtypes would likely either never have appened or have been so widespread. The ending of unicorn doesn't truly adress the main source of conflict within the UC (being spacenoid independence and agency).
Ya unicorn very clearly shows Merida Cruz being Literally shoved into a Brainwashing machine by VIST. NT gives us a much more grimdark POV of what happened at the NT labs.
At the end of the day, the writers are falling back on a fairly common trope. The Japanese have a thing for the singularity in the same way that Americans have a thing for machines becoming self-aware; see Picard, Westword, etc. Both concepts become frustratingly tedious in their overuse and ridiculous execution.
The idea of newtypes was interesting when they were merely enhanced humans who could sense emotions. On the one hand you have the distrust by normal humans and on the other you have the hope for better understanding. It would also be interesting to see newtypes pitted against unmanned, AI-piloted mobile suits and explore concepts of automation. That said, I realize that I'm speaking from my own biases in the West and acknowledge that it might not be as culturally relevant in Japan.
I disliked Gundam NT because it devolved into pseudo spiritual nonsense. It's not that I dislike those themes, it's that I don't think UC Gundam is the place for it. There is plenty of anime that has handled these concepts for effectively and here it just distracted from more compelling ideas.
What do you mean by “singularity”
@@thomasffrench3639 Technology, AI, whatever becomes so advanced that it has a profound and permanent impact on humanity.
That's the idea, but sometimes it gets depicted as happening independently of tech, like we see with newtypes.
If newtypes were so important they would have been in Turn A Gundam or Reconguista in G. I remember reading about a novel Yoshiyuki Tomino wrote where in his central character proclaims that newtypes were just people and all were equal. Hell even the Moonrace of Turn A, set over 2000 years after the last Gundam story, didn't have anything like newtypes, or any of the other kinds of advanced humans that Gundam is secondarily known for. In fact Turn A Gundam is the first mainline gundam series where there isn't something like Newtypes, Hyper Mode, Zero System, SEEDs, Innovators or X-Rounders (Some crazy enhancement to humankind that gives the protagonist super powers) cluttering up the plot.
True but Boo likes to talk about Gundam X so who knows on his take with Turn A
Newtypes became a problem, like the force to starwars. Nothing else matters, so they wrote out thier oun mistakes
Turn A and G Reco actually solve the Newtype issue with basically how we treat the Flu( 1917 one not the current at the moment) sure it killed countless people but we've developed immunity to it. In G Reco new types are treated as superstition( Gaia Gear a tomino novel showed that as well) and are fictitious. Yet in G Reco we see normal people use Newtype weapons and show abilities those in early UC would call Newtypes( Mask piloting a Phenex replica and Belri being able to disable it with a Zeta style Newtype boost). SEED completely missed the point.
It’s implied that Bellri is a Newtype a few times throughout the show. Not so sure about Loran though.
@@rabbani3094 yes but then there's the use of funnel weapons on the Lucifer and Geon. Then the whole point of new types being a myth.
This is why I’m excited for Hathaway’s Flash since (assuming they don’t radically change the story) all the Newtype stuff is largely stripped back down to the absolute basics.
Makes all the action and drama better with no space magic bs getting in the way.
Ya but the magic shit didn't happen until unicorn.... Sure there were hints of it in the eariler years of the UC timeline but I don't think it got batshit crazy with the magic until unicorn came around....
I do think the alternative universes gundam series like this and gundam 00 can get away with it though, since you know.... They are alternative universes there could be literal wizards piloting mobile suits in some other timeline with some kind of werid high tech medival era.
I'm just saying it's not all that bad...
@@TheHipisterDeer
Zeta and ZZ went pretty crazy with it too though, with the psycichic force fields, astral projection and long range mind rape happening at the later half of the shows, While CCA had the whole asteroid event.
Unicorn really isn't that much far off, although the time warping aspects are indeed in a higher level of otherworldlyness.
@@zettovii1367 Yes but personally I felt like most of the fights came to pure skill for those.
With unicorn it's defently heavily reliant on those elements.
@@TheHipisterDeer
Other than the Unicorn's red NT-D form, which is really mostly just a performance boost no different than the Bio Sensors used in Z/ZZ, most fights there where also pretty skill based Id say. Especially for every fight that didn't involve the gundams.
Didn't become full blown psychic battles until the green awakened form was introduced, when that only happened at the end of the series.
The newtype mythos was always there from the beginning to be explored and further expanded from the get-go. It only makes sense that the 'space magic' took as much of a hold as it does in Unicorn and NT.
Personally I've never had an issue with it, nor can I really understand how people find it as such a detractor. The more 'skill based' fights are nice and all but that's simply not all there is, nor should be. With that logic we should discount Char and Amuro since their abilities pretty much meant nearly seeing the future and into eachothers heads, even if it wans purely animated to show that's what was up early on
Did it "forget" as much as it simply highlighted a pivotal moment in history which was bound to play out, for better or worse.
As an evolutionary step, humanity must take notice and acknowledge it, while understanding indeed that we mist all get along in the end
This is why I like Blue Destiny and Missing Link. They’re not glorifying newtype involvement in war, instead it shows that they’re caught in the middle, exploited as a means to an end.
I think this makes a lot of sense. I've always enjoyed reading about Yasuhiko's perspective on the themes and ideas of Gundam, and the things he disagreed with Tomino and later creators on. I always felt conflicted and confused about the ending of Unicorn. The idea of Full Frontal feeling a greater desire for violent supremacy than for liberation, and thus desiring to use the box as a prop for another war, is a fascinating idea, but it didn't land as well as it could have. You've mentioned in other videos that the ending to Unicorn seems like a recreation of the axis shock, but without the thematic core that made that scene work. When I watched Narrative, I really started to agree. Narrative is a weird movie to talk about, because it introduces a new cast of characters, attempts to set up and resolve another conflict between Zeon remnants and federation related military corporations, depict the effects that the Laplace declaration has had on the world, and also explain the entire concept of newtypes via a plot where a dead newtype goes back in time while her soul possesses the Phenex to stop humanity from using philosophical WMDs...in 89 minutes. Its pacing is unbelievably frustrating if you're someone like me and don't know what cocaine is like, but it offers some very valuable information to the discussion. Obviously private militaries kidnapping war-orphans to experiment on is powerful shit, but in the context of Unicorn specifically, the newtype explanations make sense to me. The reason the colony laser block feels hollow compared to the axis shock, to me, is because the laser block is done by two cool guys who are newtypes and have really good robots, while the axis shock scene involves individuals in the midst of combat seeing an atrocity for what it is, and coming together to stop it, even though there is no feasible way to do so. The psycho frame mobile suits harnessing the power of newtypes is goofy and overcomplicated, but if what we know from Narrative is true, newtype empathy is a result of the ability of newtypes to interact with a plane of consciousness beyond death, and beyond time. When a newtype enters a duel, they may be subconsciously aware of the suffering they are inflicting on their opponent because they are in contact with the deceased soul of that opponent; no matter when they die, their souls are able to be felt by newtypes because the plane of death is not bound by time. If you really squint, the colony laser plot is almost an exact copy of axis shock in concept, but way more science-fantasy-bullshit oriented. The newtypes empathize with the souls of all those who suffer from war, and the pyscho frame mobile suit is able to convert that into physical energy. So the colony laser block is the culmination of the modern U.C. interpretation of newtypes as a scientific Übermensch of sorts. No matter how well explained the internal logic of newtypes is, Yasuhiko is correct in identifying that making newtypes more complicated to justify their importance is never going to mean as much as portraying humans for what we are; and Unicorn falls short twice in a row by implying that newtypes, even in their most pure form of empathetic people who can live without war, are ultimately unable to save anyone if they're not piloting a magical space tank. The more you explain newtypes, the more you risk backing yourself into a canonical corner, where the only exit is framing horrific weapons of war as not only benevolent, but righteous. Opposition to war cannot come from a beast of possibility.
Absolutely well put.
I agree on that they backed themselves into a corner with Unicorn. I like the show still but its protrayal of newtypes never sat well with me.
As a neurodivergent (disabled in old terms) person who often finds the shows (unintentionally?) tend to characterize Newtypes similarly to neurodivergent folks, I kind of get what Unicorn's going for. Newtypes have different strengths and weaknesses, different needs than oldtypes. While newer UC shows make the mistake of seeing Newtypes as superior, which errs dangerously close to eugenics, it has a point that they need legal protections. There need to be structures in place to stop atrocities like the EXAM System from occurring. They need representation, yes, but not as a separate race. They need civil rights protection.
If you want eugenics just look at Gundam Seed. Instead of Newtypes they have Coordinators, people genetically engineered to be superior in every aspect, and the show portrays them as victims.
Unicorn's ending is SEED's prequel, in a way. Spawning an entire race that deviated from humanity will lead humanity to resent said race and trigger an even bigger war.
Important sidenote, apologies if another comment mentioned it:
Yoshikazu Yasuhiko is the author of "Gundam: The Origin". There's a scene where Sayla and Char meet again on Texas Colony, and Char basically says he's moved past Spacenoids vs Earthnoids, and now he believes his true mission is to lead Newtypes vs Oldtypes.
Sayla basically calls him out and says regardless of his intentions, it's just another way to divide people and create a different sense of elitism.
Telling that he not only mentioned it in his interview, but also put it in his manga. Explains Char's mentality going forward through Zeta and CCA very well, that he doesn't care really about a certain philosophy or political ideal, but forcing humans to awaken to their Newtype potential.
I think the objections on Unicorn and NT stem from the fact that they're supposed to be a manifestation of the Newtype mythos that began in the first series going up to CCA.
Something like that tends to make a work very idealistic, contrasting with X, which takes a more realistic approach in its treatment of the Newtype mythos.
Unicorn/NT treats Newtypes with reverence, X treats Newtypes with insouciance (as in, they're people first and foremost).
For a third alternate viewpoint into the "Newtype mythos", how about Gundam 00? The whole "innovation" thing was fast-tracked because of imminent First Contact, and a lot of the supplemental material depicted humanity's growing pains as they began to examine their transcendent existence in the wake of the first Trans-Am Burst.
this strengthen my love for gundam X after war
"These guys are even crazier and it's great"
God I'm glad others appreciate the Frost brothers and their antics. They even pull one of the best shitposts antagonists can do (spoilers):
By surviving the final battle and getting a chance at redemption. I really hope they went on to become better people.
A Video i been waiting for
FINALLY!!
Since you promised this video last gundam X video i CAN'T wait but at last it came
Tobia Arronax from Crossbone has the best line to sum up this video:
"I am a human. Being a human is enough."
Suprise suprise a fictional übermench is a cautionary tale.
soemthing Gundam seed didn’t even think about Lmao
@@billyboleson2830
Seed doesn't think*
Boofire, have you seen Turn-A or Late UC Gundam series? Would love to hear your opinion on those.
I would also like to know his opinion on Victory Gundam and turn A gundam as well.
@@Spacefrisian And G-Reco as well.
F91 too
08 ms team too
To me, all that New-Type stuff they pulled at the end of Zeta and CCA was just complete BS. Just random space magic that comes clean out of nowhere that just appears to solve to the plot.
Gundam X on the other hand I felt handled the idea with some of the most grace I have ever seen, at it is not even UC. What it is is clearly defined and yet elusive. It is the very core of the narrative and yet it is nothing but an illusion. And most of all, it was consistent. What you saw at the start is what you saw at the end. No random magic solving the plot for the heroes.
Well, the war was already over with Zeta. Kamille using those powers to kill Scirroco was just some icing on the cake.
With CCA, the power of the psychoframe had been getting built up since the beginning, with people discussing it with awed tones. Beyond that, the miracle that took place required multiple lives to work and the combined will of the people (which, you know, ties into the themes the series had since its INCEPTION), so I don't see how it's all that out of place.
And what about the Newtype dolphins in X?
Thank you!
People really wanna excuse the 'Classics' from the popular 'space magic criticism' most fans use on non-UC and later UC gundam.
it should either be all ok or none of it is.
Space magic...... Look at the Tyrant Sword being the only MS to make Scirroco shit his pants in fear. Yes in a side story a Newtype reactive MS made Scirroco feel genuine fear.
I was fine with the biosensor in Zeta but the time power unicorn has is a bit to much. Makes me wonder if unicorn is going to get rid of all psycho frame technology before F91?
I could stomach it in zeta and CCA because in the original series newtypes were very trippy, it had a psychedelic element to it and was mostly confined to newtype characters. Episode 47 of Zeta Gundam has Kamille and Haman peering into each others souls, seeing the loved ones that motivate them and maybe even implying Scirocco may have charmed Haman at one point, like Char did.
After CCA, every oldtype witnesses a CCA level miracle basically every few years and it just doesn't feel as extraordinary. It feels expected. Also, yes, Zeta had problems. All of the shows do but I still do love rewatching at least yearly.
Thank you so much for putting into words what's been stuck in my head about Unicorn.
@boofire191 I love your videos- going through sd cross rays right now and watching each of your deep dive takes as I go, while also going back and watching the series- I cannot get enough of the amount of depth you take when going through the motifs and themes, so glad you’re posting these- great work!
Which is why I always tell people to give AWGX because it was much better than most modern Gundam shows.
I wasn't able to fully get the whole "Newtype has no meaning" in X, but this explains it quite well. And with Unicorn and watching through Super Robo stuff like Mazinger and Getter Robo it's almost like there's no real difference. The Newtype pilots have superpowers, their machines can run on unlimited energy and are powered by souls (something since Zeta), etc.
Except their super powers are worthless on their own, so...
Great video, this really clarifies my own feelings on the ending of Gundam Unicorn (haven't seen NT yet) and as much as I love Unicorn for its story and other parts of its message, the portion discussed isn't a part of it. Jamel of AWGX always reminded me of an old Amuro Ray that was trying to push through his own PTSD so that no one else had to suffer like he did.
I'm not much for Newtypes. It's not that the concept of Newtypes is bad, it's just usually handled with all the care of a Saturday morning cartoon. I'm not much for the character that's better than everyone just because he's a space wizard, in shows like that I tend to find myself rooting for the badass normals are keeping up with people who are predestined to be the best.
Not a surprising take considering my favorite group in Star Wars is Mandolorians, my favorite Gundam series (so far) is 8th MS Team, and as far as I'm concerned the GM is the finest weapon of war the Federation ever built.
1) But MS team sucks
2) What about the likes of Haman, Char, Katz, Quess, and Jerid?
3) What can Kamille do in a vacuum with his powers? If your answer is "not much without the help of others," then you'd be correct.
@@laststrike4411 1.) 8th MS Team rocked, it's your tastes that suck.
2.) All of those characters have their Saturday Morning Cartoon moment if their every breathing moment isn't a Saturday Morning Cartoon (looking at you Katz).
3.) I don't know if you meant "vacuum" figuratively or literally but either doesn't excuse sloppy or lazy writing.
There's a reason Yazan is one of my favourite characters.
Not only is he unrepentant villain, he's one of the most skilled MS pilots ever, with not a shrewd of Newtype in him.
I kind of find that too but I think eventually modern gundam will get back to the idea of new types being just normal humans and that there’s really nothing special eventually.
I disagree with some points but, I appreciate your perspective.
Thanks for this vid.
I disagree, ZZ did Newtypes well. Original and Zeta treated Newtypes as plot devices to move the story forward without care about character development.
Brave of you to praise X in an age of 'miracles' becoming standard fare in UC entries. I get the message they're trying to send but exactly how many New types have surpassed even Judau at this point?
As someone who recently just got done watching Unicorn for the first time, I completely understand this. Newtypes went from being in support of the point to being the point. Its like everyone forgot what Amuro says to Char at the end of Char's Counterattack, "I'm not as impatient as you, I can wait for humanity to learn and grow". Key word, HUMANITY. Not one thing about Newtypes specifically. I don't hate or even dislike Unicorn, it's fine, but honestly, the UC should've ended at Char's Counterattack
all humanity will eventually become newtypes. That's the entire point of the UC. People like Char didn't want to wait and took the easy way to make humanity evolve. Amuro was for waiting for natural evolution to take its course and not doing stupid shit like killing every human on the planet. You can clearly see that Newtypes are way more common in shows like ZZ, CCA or Unicorn. People like Jona starts out as normal people and end up becoming Newtypes
@@dracopo8862 that doesn't change what I said. It doesn't matter if most if not all of humanity becomes Newtypes. Newtypes alone aren't going to solve the issue as seen with Scirocco, Haman and eventually Char. All of humanity becoming Newtypes doesn't mean anything if humanity still makes the same mistakes which as seen before, Newtypes still can. The point isn't "All of humanity will become Newtypes"
Late UC also remembers what Modern UC forgot.
I guess the reason Unicorn highlights the split between newtype and non-newtype is that the plot is all about that. Anaheim Electronics have plotted the whole UC Plan in order to find newtypes to that the Laplace's Box can be handed down to them and change the world. It doesn't necessarily play down the importance of ordinary people, or extend the elitism of newtype. There're smaller fronts (08th MS Team, Thunderbolt, Igloo), and bigger ones like Unicorn, and they have the spotlight on different things, and I think the expandability of the UC timeline is what makes it fascinating.
Well to be fair by the time the UC timeline hits the Unicorn era it's like everyone uses magic powers.
GUNDAM X IS GONNA TAKE OVER ALL OF GUNDAM. MARK MY WORDS
Do you plan to make a similar video about Turn-A? It would fit quite well together with this video thematically (though with the focus being on super-weapons rather than super-humans).
I think that's the most underrated of all the Gundam series. A true hidden gem that many disregard due to the somewhat funny appearance of the title-giving machine and the initially light tone.
Unicorn and NT are my second least and least favourite UC series respectively. I just find the way Newtypes are treated in it to be a bit cringe.
Banaji stopping the colony laser really dampens the axis shock.
"in zeta it is properly fleshed out and hits well" - flashback to mind control powers and kamilles ability to both block beams with his mind and make his sword bigger.....
Ya zeta is definitely the best at newtypes.......
((Mind you brilliant video and great analysis😊😊👍👍))
Love your pov mate.
It sums up my dissatisfaction against the Fukui-related-UC's.
You should check out the Manga Crossbone-Gundam too. Tomino wrote the plot for the first arc of the series, and it has the same approach against the idea of NewType as X did.
And like everyone else, i reccomend Turn A Gundam too
Even in my original Gundam Story, MS Gundam Mars, I've portrayed as being a Newtype as it sucking royal, sure you have crazy psychic abilities and such but because they are emphatic this makes them being in a war situation as sucking royally, hence why the martians while they view it as the 'next stage in human evolution' understand that having newtypes on the battlefield would be terrible so they are largely left out of the war (At least for now), while the Earth Forces exploit the hell out of them and turning them into psychopathic monsters that need to be put down, turning a emphatic individual into a apathetic monster, heck almost all of them want our protagonist's to put them down because they hate being a tool, with some notable exception (I added a Kefka like character as one of the villains). So yeah being a Newtype should never be glorfied as being 'The Special Snowflake' but instead 'Suck on so many levels' something I agree modern UC has largely been forgetting.
I'm also writing an original Gundam story, and to stop the NewType Bullshit(tm), there's just no humanity adapting to space by biological evolution.
For my own timeline, rather than spaceborn psychics, I went with physical enhancements to a small percentage of children born on Earth. While the space colonists have forgotten human compassion and how precious their original home is, the Earth's best soldiers struggle to relate to normal humans completely. But only through both sides genuinely trying to understand each other can peace be made. But sadly it is far easier said than done. Earth's powerful superhuman guardians vs colonists destroying their bodies and completely throwing away any and all empathy to prove they can stand up to them.
This is a really good explanation on newtypes, I wonder what you think of Gundam 00's or other series concept of this idea.
I agree with your arguments boofire191, but your sentence in which you said glorification of weapons is a bit wrong. New UC Gundam types are like axes, a weapon of destruction, which can be a tool of creation in the right hands. Newtypes are just the first ones who use them as such tools. I understand that what I say may be garbage, but it connects to my theorie that everyone can become a real newtype and isn't born as one.
one of the first notable things we are introduced to in all of UC was a colony drop, a thing meant to be a step forward for all humanity being used as a weapon of mass destruction, resulting the pointless deaths of earthlings and spacenoids alike. So of course it would be a fitting end to that theme that a weapon that is explicitly meant to destroy newtypes, who are the future of humanity, is used instead to selflessly protect that future.
As someone who's a bit of an ardent Gundam 00 fan, even I can say I feel it has this same problem with Innovators. The idea of them isn't some warning like Newtypes are with their "cheat" abilities and WHY understanding is important. 00 turns it's message into "humanity needs to change/evolve to overcome our flaws and achieve mutual understanding". And I just... don't feel like that works out. I don't like the message that humanity needs to change from how we are as the only solution to overcome our flaws, rather than naturally overcoming those flaws to understand one another better. Because why should we?
00 said evolution is part of the equation. The ELS also show why its only part. Setsuna sacrifices his humanity to allow both to finally create dialogues and an understanding. Showing peace cannot be taken without sacrifice.
Overcoming flaws is changing even if it’s done naturally or otherwise. If humanity never changes then that means that all the flaws that exist at the time it stoped changing will exist until humanity starts changing again.
If humanity could just get over it's own flaws so simply and easily it would be done. Some amount of either physical or metaphorical evolution is needed to not come across as hopelessly naive
Maybe because to overcoming ones own flaw, a changing as a person need to happens?
To change from lazy person, just say "i will be a diligent and hard working person" and the flaw of being lazy is gone isn't going to work. One needs to change own way of thinking, how they would love how they would act.
Same goes for humanity as a whole, if we as hunmanity said "we won't cause anymore tradgedy" and it work. Shit like Civil war in thedifferent country, terrorism, world war 2 wouldn't happen in the first place.
new type in old uc was a jedi force empath that learn and understand people and feelings with just having the slightest contact while new uc is like im a force super hero and have time? magic that are powered by green ghosts
What happened to the original Gundam X video? That's my favorite video from you and watch it quite a bit. Did it get nuked by UA-cam? Did Turn A blew your mind and have a change of heart?
ok, I got a gundam concept for you.
mobile suit gundam-Demiurge
the year is 2279 ME (modern era).the 'Zeon' and 'federation' of the setting are 2 different racial supremacist factions within a larger solar system spanning human empire-one for newtypes and oldtypes respectively. the government uses the 2 organizations to keep the 2 strains oh humanity in line out of racist fear for both. this explores and show that there truly are no angels or demons only humans though no one is willing to admit it and the responsibility of the collective to act. the idea is that one/both factions develop mobile suits and the necessary evil of peace becomes the sadistic whims of war. no one acts to stop the 2 factions and so the human race is permanently divided with peace becoming impossible.
finally! been waiting out of this!
Can you do a video about the Expanded Universe Galactic Empire in Star Wars about how they were able to manage over 2 million systems with only 25,000 star destroyers which is a extremely small amount of ships for the scale of the Empire. Realistically they would need over a million star destroyed in order to keep security and protection across their territories. Even the EU GAR and CIS before the Empire had much larger navies then they did.
UC and NT didn't forget what Newtypes were. They didn't know what they were to begin with.
Who takes Gundam as a warning? Giant robots son.
Can someone pls tell me the ost being played throughout the video?
Things gets even more strange with Cross bone, Cross Bone Ghost and the current Cross Borne. It's a weird way of dealing with the whole next stage of human evolution kerfuffle.
Yeah, I mean it does address the kind of supremacy groups that would form from people being told Newtypes are the next stage in human evolution making them "superior" in some way and Tobia clearly having some sort of psychic powers but repeatedly insisting that he's just a normal person because they are just people. These ideas could be explored in more depth or nuanced differently though
@@clarehidalgo It's trying to deal with all those problems by doing.... something
*Spoiler? For Steel seven, Ghost and Borne*
As most of the NTs have gone with Grey Stoke's colony ship and just plain exiting earth's solar system the population of NT has gone down significantly and not as "pure" as there are more psychers around.
Then there's Font Baud from Ghost, Tobia "pinged" him by reaching out with the NT sense when someone asked if Font is a NT. While Font isn't a NT he is also not an OT either, as Tobia has noted that Font has gone down another evolution route thanks to the rapid advancement of technology and that caused him to evolve in such a way to make better use of them and using them to it's fullest potential and beyond.
Also a certain someone has... evolved? to a NT?
It's definitely something.
I'll doubt that UC and NT "uses Newtypes as solution to problems, " because as far as I remembered they didn't. Sure, the main characters being overpowered Newtypes did serves for lazy writing to some degree, but at the end of UC, Banagher didn't change much of the world he lives in. The revelation of the original constitution was merely nothing but a "hope", which happens to be the main theme of UC. Aaaannd NT is just a sad romance.
Fallout: Gundam: including Raiders with Zakus.
I think modern UC is trying to connect the Newtype phenomenon (especially NT with the Phenex)with the butterfly of the Turn A. Since the turn A ends the UC timeline
What’s the background music?
It's called
"Event BGM: Somber (IBO Gekko) - SD Gundam G Generation Cross Rays OST" on UA-cam
I agree with a lot here. Unicorn I think overall is a very good series with great story telling and characters (definitely not perfect but it's handled well for the majority of its run) but the more they focused on Newtypes, especially with the last 2 episodes and more so the finale it really took a nosedive. NT I was hesitant on, I remember going to see it in theaters and when the interview was playing before the movie and they compared Newtypes to the Force from Star Wars... I got scared of what sort of Newtype shenanigans were going to happen. Low and behold NT while not the worst thing Gundam's ever put out, it wasn't great and the levels of BS they did with Newtypes made it absurd. NT definitely felt like it was supposed to be handled like Unicorn and be episodic instead of all crammed together with mach speed pacing and poor writing but it did leave me knowing that I want to be a bird.
Scott McNeil should of voiced Garrad he has a personality similar to Duo
This is the reason why I liked original crossbone . Tobia after being imprisoned by sherin as he had newtype potential asking him to let crossbone and earth the be destroyed to allow humanity to become newtype .Tobia think that a insane future he does not want to be. Saying that He is human he dosn't care being a newtype or old type being human is all he need he punches sherin who is a newtype. Making her bleed in the mouth tobia then cut him arm to showing her that she as much a human as him before leaving to protect what he loves . which is the reason why I love crossbone tobia show you do not need to be a newtype to change the world or bring in peace only to have the will to bring change
Great video as always made me see a Gundam series in a new and interesting perspective. About Gundam Unicorn in my opinion, the main problem of the series was not the newtype overpowered nonsense, or the fact that the Unicorn is a super robot that can deflect a colonylaser (and that's a GREAT problem) but in the Laplace Box itself. There was little to no reason to start a war for a secret like that, not to mention that the federation media could turn that "true" into a conspiracy theory pretty quickly. Is pretty unbeliveable that the federation would make a racist law like "superhuman should rule over normal people" and write it on a Stone monument... The writer of Gundam Unicorn is the same of the movie of Captain Harlock, and in both stories he tries to create an hype about an objective that in the end makes Little sense, and seems like a poor excuse to start a fight.
Well put. Problem I find with a lot of Gundam sidestories or sequels after the main trilogy, is they all need some "MacGuffin", some world changing item to fight over.
Gundam is more poignant when people are fighting and dying over regular stakes. It's easy to die for something that might change the world, harder to accept dying for some stupid war.
I would honestly think the real answer is somewhere in the middle... Are Newtypes important, and will they change the world, and make humans "better" in some regard? Yes... Will they make their lives better? Not necessarily, as you've demonstrated.
There's two points on evolution worth noting; evolution does not necessarily improve a species, just makes individuals of that species less likely to die than others, as such the weak can persist by showing no threat to the strong. Conversely, strength comes at a fundamental cost to the individual in question, and if its not a time of plenty, it can doom them to self destruction.
Newtypes show contradictory traits in this regard; they possess the abilities necessary to survive any conflict they are forced into, but also by nature are destined to become averse to it. In its most cynical form, its the power to run from conflict; once that puts massive strain on the ones who possess the trait.
In that way, even if the rest of humanity disappears due to war, the newtypes will remain... And yet one fact remains that throws that on its head... If they survive while humanity fails, they will be left broken, leaving a situation where they're drawn to do everything they can to prevent the fall of the rest of humanity.
So basically, newtypes cannot bring prosperity to humanity alone, in order to do so, humanity would need to support them, which all signs point in the direction that they do not... The only future that Newtypes can create alone, is no less catastrophic than what awaits humanity without them; it merely changes the nature of the catastrophe.
Well we can hope that Hathaway’s flash is about everyday people.
I like NT becoz it explore Titan Cyber Newtype Experiment and the throw back to Nu gundam but ... in char counter attack the final scene is based on how both Neo Zeon and Federation soldier in synch with Amuro feelin' to stop Axis create miracle instead of just Psycho frame deus ex machina only
i like GX series bc Garrod
i didn't expect this whole explanation lmaoo
good job man
This was a great video and a good dissertation about newtypes and how they were originally meant to be portrayed.
I have a small question that isn't that important to the topic of the video in question, some of your CAC's in Crossrays have some faces I've never seen, how did you get them?
If you're using the PC version of Cross Rays, you have the ability to mod the game so that you have certain pilots from other series that you can use. (Gundam or not)
@@GenesicShinZyraelKai Ah damn it, I have it for PS4
@@spacecoast5889 PC Master Race!! hahahaha!
What’s the background music by the way?
Love your content. Thanks. Much love from Washington
Isn't Judau the only pilot that just leaves? I know Amuro disappeared but the other pilots either live on earth or the colonies. Judau left for Jupiter didn't he?
He shows up in Crossbone Gundam manga later.
I would have liked of CCA had Char/Kamille vs Amuro/Judau; as a final conclusion to the Early-UC canon.
They keep adding more and more stuff afterwards, like Unicorn, NT, and now Hathaway's Flash; kind of makes CCA feel unimportant.
@@perotekku well Unicorn and Hathaway rely pretty heavily on CCA, definitely still important.
Nah for me it is still is about being human Unicorn and NT.
But you simply can't ignore it and have to simply acknowledge their existence.
Like real life racism.
We are all humans but we are all different asian, latin african Caucasian etc etc.
And you have to officially acknowledge it.
That we are all different despite being human.
Similar to Newtypes.
Unicorn it literally a NewType Destroyer.
Kill that which is different.
That is new.
And in the end you figure out the pilots piloting the NTD Gundams are also newtypes even Rhidde.
GUNDAM X has framed it so Newtypes are not so different from 'oldtypes'
Unicorn has framed it so tha Oldtypes are not so different from NewTypes.
Sorry to Meme a little here but.
Don't let your Soul be weighed down by Gravity, and view the series under the lens of and Oldtype.
Thinking Unicorn, modern UC glorified Newtypes.
It put Newtypes under the lens that is all and acknowledges who they are.
There is even this prevailing trend of Giving Oldtypes the same abilities as Newtypes.
And once they reached techno singularity, turns out Rhidde and Oldtype was/became a newtype.
And he is literally no different.
I could even compare it to Xmen.
Seems like a shows are pointing tyo X men
X prentends after the paradigm shift of human evolution, you can just ignore it and go back to the way it used to be, the very worst of the seinen, preserve and idealize the old while rejecting or deny anything new.
What he means is that it places too much importance on being one. Crossbone is also full of Newtypes but it doesn’t turn into the super robot mess that is NT and Unicorn.
@@rabbani3094 After CCA jumped the shark, there was no going back unfortunately. Best to not solve all your problems, charter arcs, and overarching plotlines with space friendship magic
@@rabbani3094 Zeta & CCA were the ones who started the "my magical mech can solve problem with my Newtype boost!!!" yet you blame NT & Unicorn? Unicorn & NT are only fleshing out the mess that Tomino created and making it more make sense.
Glad you could finally get it uploaded despite all this virus stuff
-Ready for this to get taken down and get reuploaded?-
I don’t think Unicorn is bad with its new types but Unicorn punching into Neo Zeog at the end was dumb and makes no sense from a mechanical standpoint. NT was the worst thing in UC. The new type powers were ridiculous and the stupid failed Char clone plot is so dumb and brought no actual substance (He could have just been a crazy cyber newtype and that be better). I like Hathaway’s flash a lot though as its more grounded but still has some new type stuff (Beginning scene on shuttle).
Unfortunately the novel and ova for unicorn is drastically different. The box is one of those, the novel stated the charter is about people are free from earth grips which inspired Zeon Zum deikun philosophies. And even Full Frontal plans to use the box in the ova is what Banagher and Minerva did in the novel, kept the box in secret and indirectly allowing colonies to be autonomous.
Current UC stories is obsessed woth transcendence, something that miss Tomino whole points about UC. From F91 to Victory the idea of newtypes is become irrelevant. In crossbone there're characters that despite showing newtypes abilities they refer themselves as 'psychic'.
Late to the party here. But just getting back into the Gundam series after a long time. I’ve only seen Gundam seed and seed destiny. What other series would you all recommend?
And where can you watch all the Gundam series?
@@93kupper GundamInfo here on youtube has Gundam 00, would recommend
you can also find 0083 here on youtube
Netflix has the 0079 movie trilogy, CCA, and Hathaway
Imagine showing the scene from Crossbone to folks working on Unicorn. You know, the scene with the Newtype Monkeys?
Don't Let Fukui Touch that
They'll certainly make the Crossbone story make more sense & tasteful than what the manga did.
@@androyus But it's already good. Why change it?
@@SMAXZO So many wacky things in Crossbone. So many.....
@@androyus And? At least it's not super lore breaking. Like TIME TRAVEL. Or Moon Moon having a Gundam.
The main problem with newtypes in most gundam series is that the protagonists are newtypes themselves, and their powers and related technology often become the power-ups needed to win the fight and drive the story onward, giving the impression that newtype weapons are needed. Gundam X solves the problem by having a protagonist that isn't a newtype.
I've gotta be honest here, as much as I liked Unicorn and NT, I didn't like how they treated Newtypes.
There was so much importance put on them and their abilities. Newtypes are supposed to show why war is a bad thing. It hurts people, so here's people that are psychologically damaged more easily than normal. Also they can make tiny remote controlled lasers fly around because it adds to the robot fights.
In Unicorn and NT, it was almost like the show was telling the viewer "If you're not a Newtype, you're worthless in this universe. Only they can accomplish things here."
And honestly, I would love to see an alternate interpretation of the aftermath of Unicorn where some Newtypes start thinking exactly that. Maybe some see what the RX-0 series is capable of, or just what Newtypes in general are actually capable of, and start trying to take over, attempting to make oldtypes second class citizens, or even eliminate them.
It would show that Newtypes are just as capable of enacting atrocities as anyone else, and show how what may have seemed like it was for good, actually made things much worse.
But in the end, we got a very super-robot-like series. I still like it, just makes me feel like there was some wasted potential.
Honestly, my problems with Unicorn's Newtypes are similar to those I have with SEED's Newtypes, Coordinators, Newtype Coordinators, SEED Bearers, and we can't forget the protag who is a Newtype SEED Bearing Coordinator because apparently being superhuman in just one way wasn't enough.
I might be biased, I’d argue that Kira (at least in SEED, because SEED Destiny is hot garbage) isn’t as bad compared to how Newtypes have been handled recently, because the hubris that led to his birth isn’t portrayed as a good thing, nor is he treated as some sort of messiah to lead humanity into a new age.
I am watching them in release order and I just got to seed. So far after x is my favorite. So many of my frustrations with other gundams were not an issue in it.
Splendid explanation! Your points are the points UC elitists tend to ignore about X. They think X's ending applies only to the After War universe, without ever considering the message that it implies can be applied to not just to Newtypes, but to people across the different Gundam universes as well. As you have clearly pointed out, at war, people forget to stay as people. They become tools or whatever. This is the universal truth about Gundam.
I always thought new types are superheroes who are just soldiers taking orders or not…the real robo genre always felt like a made up word by srw game series. Look at those SD gundam games, none of them look remotely human
This also translates how culture views robo genre as a whole, super robo like Zambot really shows the protagonist winning at the end with presumably ptsd that will never heal. Making a kid doing all those killings will catch up to him. Now look at the super robo now, it’s really just glorified action pieces that fulfill the fantasy of being super
what ost you use?