Robotism,

I am an older guy, who got in on the ground floor in 1983. I like characters like Ramba Ral, who looked and acted like a mature, honorable man, and was a good soldier and leader.

I see the newer heroes as whiny emo children. Different generations. That got handed to me when I saw “The Force Awakens” with a friend’s kids.  We left the theater with me going off on how much I hated Adam Driver’s face, and how his character was unbelievably undisciplined.  After that tirade, my friend’s boy very calmly suggested “I dunno.  I kinda liked Kylo Ren.  I guess he just appeals to a different demographic.”

While I dislike most of the new Gundam series, I understand that it’s a business that must grow.  I really bristled when Build Fighters came out, seeing it as nothing but a crass commercial ploy to resell old, outdated model kits.  But when I saw that new fans were being drawn in and injecting energy into the property, I had to concede that it was a good thing.  And when the Bear Guy phenomenon took off I realized I was no longer the target market.  I guess they appeal to a different demographic.

I agree with you that the Zeta Plus and FAZZ were more to the fore than the S Gundam, and I dubbed the Ex-S as the “Excess” Gundam.  The Zeta Plus in particular was a really great design, which combined the anime Zeta with modern day aerospace aesthetics.  The FAZZ was overcooked, but when I first saw it I thought “Holy bazongas, what the heck is that?!”

I really hate the multi-arm thing that Thunderbolt embraced, but I realize that the Dendrobium from 0083 and the Xeku Zwei from Sentinel had them too.

And yeah, a beam saber is basically a highly focused plasma blowtorch, not a comic relief accessory.  I hope the live action movie keeps this in mind.

An UC purist? Not many of those around these days, I thought they all died of old age.. I'm more of an all in kind of guy when it comes to Gundam. I've sat through everything not SD.

Sentinel's screwed by the author owning the copyright to the characters which is a shame. The photonovel or a light novel is translated if you can track it down. I thought the FAZZ and Zeta pluses shone more than the Sentinel did. ZZ designs got even worse post CCA, There's now a Doven Wolf which carries multiple arms on it's back to use heavy weaponry. Just when you didn't think it could get any messier..

15 seconds in is 2 Zakus and the Gundam  They're not the worst designs ever. They look like Mobile suits at least. I was dreading another Ready Player One where the beam saber was a wiffle bat for all it's effectiveness. I only hope they can get back the actors from that live action PC game to play the cast. Char just wouldn't feel right as any one else..

Robotism, I confess to being a UC purist when it comes to shows like Igloo, F91, Victory etc.  The guys at the anime store coined me a nickname “Mr. Real Gundam”, which is actually where I got my screen name.  But, to each his own.  The Gundam universe is vast and varied, and there’s room for everybody (and really we’d like more to join).

Sentinel is an odd one, as it really only existed as a running photo story in Model Graphix magazine in the late 1980s to early 1990s.  There are no shows of it, although there are manga, including some wacky interpretations by artists like Makoto Kobayashi.

When I first saw the mecha design from CCA, it struck me as an odd change in the direction of the aesthetics.  I felt ZZ Gundam had gone over the top in overcooked MS (hey look at the titular mech), so it seemed like the designers had come to the same conclusion and dialed the designs back to 0079, except now they were in the 20 meter plus height range.  I do think the Sazabi is a cool MS.

And on the “overcooked” remark about ZZ, I will admit to liking suits like the Hamma Hamma, Geymalk and Doven Wolf.  The last one, although fully guilty of the ZZ aesthetic (covered in mega beam emitters, with lots of sticky out bits, and even more weapons) I think it actually looks well balanced.

Oh, so they ARE doing the 0079 timeline in the movie?  I am pleased and surprised at the same time.  While I am huge fan of the original series, I honestly don’t think it will sell to the masses unfamiliar with the property.  The 1979 TV show’s animation was TERRIBLE, so when Cartoon Network aired it, it tanked.  I liked the series for its in-depth world background, which was fully fleshed out like the 1977 Star Wars.  So what did the Gundam and Zaku look like?  I hope not too Transformer-y, i.e. metal garbage blizzard.  Too many recent mecha interpretations forget that these things are armored vehicles, so over panelizing and sticky out bits would be bad design.

Regarding the Dwadge (or Dowage), the kit is already pretty good, especially the new upper and rear torso.  Lots of layers of parts, including screen mesh molded detail.

After going through the parts, nothing really jumps out to be fixed.  Well, the bazooka sensor could use a clear lens, and the leg drop tanks have mounting points only on the outer leg halves.  The antennas should be replaced too.  But that’s about it.  I don’t feel like adding lagging around the joints, even though if the machine were real it would certainly need them.

You forgot MS Igloo and if you include late UC Unicorn, Narrative, F-91 and V. Sentinel is questionably canon, it's in that awkard space with Crossbone where it will probably be animated in some fashion soon but isn't quite yet. Origin is straight up AU though. It's like Thunderbolt where it's doing it's own spin on UC.

The movies has 2 designs shown, the Gundam and Char's Zaku. Both got lineart and maybe a kit reveal or at least a kit tease. Came in the 40th anniversary video release a week or two back.

I know it's a desert design in series but I meant more like mesh filters over things, changing pipes out to be sand proof sort of thing. It's mostly Zakus that get MSV like that but it's always fun to see. I'm a fan of the ZZ era of designs myself, have enough gimmicks to be interesting but not quite CCA where everything is huge and has funnels all over the place. Haman's Neo Zeons under represented by modelers sadly.

 RF Desert Dom is what I meant. The original RF dom lacks a lot of the filter vents.

It’s just a fodder mech made by tarting up an older design, but I really like it!

Nippon Sunrise, the studio responsible for the Gundam shows, recycled a lot of MS designs from the original 1979 TV show to use in later ones.  They still do it to this day, even more so, as I think the creative minds are running out of original ideas like the Star Wars franchise.  I can’t wait for a bunch of reverse color mobile suits...

Again I know nothing about this universe but that's friggin' cool!!! 

Robotism, the Dwadge is actually a desert MSV.  I think the show’s creators needed “filler” MS designs, so they went back to the original TV show and modded them.  The MS-09H Dwadge Custom is a further permutation, but like a lot of Double Zeta designs, is kind of overdone.  Anyway, the plan is to just get this bad boy together and to paint/weather it properly.

NucMedTech, the chronogy of the shows go like this:

Mobile Suit Gundam

08th MS Team

0080 War in the Pocket

0083 Stardust Memories

Zeta Gundam

Sentinel Gundam (actually parallel in time to Double Z) 

Double Zeta Gundam

Char’s Counterattack

Gundam Origins basically rewinds the tape prior to the events of the original TV show and represents a soft reboot of sorts.

The shows did not appear in chronological order, and their individual look is quite different from one another.

And a live action movie is due in 2020 from the same studio that did “Pacific Rim”.  No telling what it will be like.  Maybe the marketing guys will focus on the shows that most US fans are familiar with (Wing, Seed, Iron Blooded Orphans, etc.).  Personally I don’t want that, but money sells.

Nice kit, I like the 1/100 scale. I have tried the 1/144 but after building a 1/100, it just seemed to suit me better in size. I have only built one but I do have another that I just recently acquired. I am not familiar with timelines and such, they just strike me as interesting kits.

Now there's an MS I did not expect to see pop up. Nice to see the Dom's little brother getting some love.

Are you planning to modify it closer to some MSV desert MS or build it straight? Either way I'm looking forward to seeing what you can do with it.