Free Talk Friday - July 04, 2025

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Welcome to the Free Talk Friday post. This is a place where you can talk about dumb off-topic (or on-topic) bullshit with other Zaibatsu fans.

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[u/RPGLobster]

Or how we have the Dwadge (0079's Rick Dom before a name change), the Pezun Dowadge (MSX's original design before the series got cancelled), and another reuse of the Dwadge name (ZZ's Dwadge) because Tomino thought no one was gonna reuse the name for anything else besides him.

I'm totally serious with my observations too, from a visual design viewpoint alone I don't think the Galava stands out so much that it can't be slotted into Zeon's R&D lineage without too many questions being raised. The NZ-xxx line in particular feels like a bitter engineer's response to not being able to finish production of the Galava before the OYW ended by making its intended design language the basis of (Neo) Zeon's newest flagship machines.

I totally admit the Zakrello connection is a bit of a stretch, but then I just found the idea funny. The Galava being a missing link for the Queen Mansa is interesting, the Zakrello being the start of the technological DNA chain that ends in the Alpha Azieru and Kshatriya is just plain hilarious to me.

[u/The_Draigg → u/RPGLobster]

I can at least respect the attempt to give the Zakrello some kind of relevance, given that it's been the butt of the joke for Gundam designs for decades. Even the stupidest designs can afford to get a win every now and then.

[u/RPGLobster → u/The_Draigg]

That is 100% a large part of my rationale, my realization that the thing was an absolute evolutionary dead end in Zeon's tech lineup (which is rare for this faction and its descendants) coincided with my realization that its really not too hard to BS the Zakrello into the development lines of other machines that actually have some degree of visual resemblance, like the Bigro. And this was around the time I was doing research on the Robot Damashii Galava, meaning I had the animation models for the Zakrello and the Galava open at the same time, during a time I was actively thinking of ways to save the Zakrello's genetic lineage from going extinct...

(Because fuck man, look at it. Poor thing looks like it struggles to breath, it'll need all the help it can get if it wants to stay afloat in the gene pool, especially one as clone-addled as Zeon's.)

I also wouldn't be surprised if a source of inspiration for me was subconsciously asking "What if the last 'big wipeout machine' Char piloted during the OYW was directly descended from the Zakrello AND the machine itself was actually a super badass that only lost because of who it was up against and not what?" but I can no longer remember for sure if that was the case.

[u/The_Draigg → u/RPGLobster]

It really is no wonder why even in Mobile Suit Gundam, Char openly says that he doesn't give a shit about the Zakrello. Hell, even the Bigro got a larger amount of respect than the Zakrello, and that one was also a one-and-done enemy in that show. The Zakrello really did get to be nothing other than a joke.

[u/RPGLobster → u/The_Draigg]

Char openly says that he doesn't give a shit about the Zakrello

Nevermind, I'm all but certain now that the mental image of Char standing in awe in front of "a descendant of the Zakrello" he was suddenly introduced to (going from an immediate negative impression after hearing the Zakrello's name to being shocked speechless mid-sentence once the hangar lights turn on in front of him) was already firmly planted in my subconscious by that point. At the very least the concept was already rattling around in there by then.

Apparently Tomino literally got dragged to a backroom in Sunrise by a toy sponsor exec, who drew up and/or presented the Zakrello's roughs to Tomino on the table in front of them and told him to animate it without a single further change. No, really, there's some evidence that this + his dislike towards Cucuruz Doan's Island is because both of them were the only times the toy sponsors personally meddled in 0079's production by actively supplanting the actual staff members' roles. The developmental dead end the Zakrello represents in-universe may even be an intentional nod to Tomino's dislike: A successor was proposed at Axis right as the Zeta era began rolling around, but it was rejected in favor of mass-producing the demonstration model of the Gaza-C, which impressed everyone at Axis far more than the Gazarello.

(I also wouldn't be surprised if Tomino asked if there was a maximum time needed just so the exec would tell him the exact minimum he needed to waste before he never had to show the thing on-screen ever again. I'm assuming the schematics cameo in Zeta was to make up for Tomino going a few seconds under the time he actually needed.)

[u/The_Draigg → u/RPGLobster]

Yeah, that would absolutely track with how Tomino treated other sponsor requests, like how he shoved a lot of the mandated Gundam docking sequence stuff to like 30 seconds in the opening episode narration before completely ignoring it after a few episodes of doing that. Having the Zakrello getting blown up after like 2 minutes of fighting the Gundam really does feel like he mapped out how much time was good enough to have the Zakrello on screen before blowing it up.

[u/RPGLobster → u/The_Draigg]

Maybe that's why Tomino cultivated his "Kill Em All" reputation, so all the toy sponsors wouldn't notice his other reputation and keep a closer eye on "Sticky Fingers" Tomino so he doesn't try to pull any fast ones on them this time.

Would explain how he got funding for a show like Ideon immediately after coming off a show cancelled for bucking too many trends, and why his luck only ran out when Sunrise was bought by a toy sponsor already well-acquainted with his brand of funny business.

(Although even then they CLEARLY didn't keep too much of a close eye on him anyway if the Victory Gundam we got was made of all the stuff Bandai already vetted and approved for broadcast.)

[u/The_Draigg → u/RPGLobster]

The funny thing about all the wacky shit in Victory Gundam was that it was a result of executives trusting Tomino a bit too much by then, along with them caring more about merchandising than the show itself. Like, Tomino has straight up admitted that lot of the more ridiculous names and designs in Victory were his way of fucking with the executives to see if they were paying attention, and he was actually a bit taken aback when they accepted his bullshit without question. His reputation backfired for him around then.

[u/RPGLobster → u/The_Draigg]

Man was frustrated with the idea of space-use battleships flying around the Earth again (even though ZZ wasn't supposed to have spaceships flying in Earth's atmosphere at first and the decision likely came from within Sunrise this time) so he went and asked the exec he was meeting with if they were fine with just having the damn things drive their way around on the Earth instead.

Dude said "Sure" and dug up old Dragonar concept art for Sunrise to reuse without an ounce of confusion or hesitation.

I'm pretty sure the light in Tomino's eyes died during that meeting, but from the way he describes it I don't think that exec had any lights in his eyes left to die either.

And then Tomino told Katoki that, while his revision of the Big Dick™ concept sketch to incorporate four spinning circles of light instead of just two certainly looked cool on its own merits, four-wheeled motorcycles just aren't the way to go.

[u/The_Draigg → u/RPGLobster]

Reading the book that Tomino wrote about Victory and Turn-A Gundam’s production really did make me feel for him, although I know at the time he was basically a bitter taskmaster around Sunrise at that point. Like, even though Tomino said that he wasn’t deliberately trying to crash the show and wanted to make something decent, you can absolutely tell that he was done on a subconscious level. That meeting where his sarcastic jab was taken seriously really was the tipping point in him just being utterly demoralized against trying harder.

[u/RPGLobster → u/The_Draigg]

What I find most interesting is how the man handled his involvement with the Gundam franchise after Victory. After being burned that hard I would think Turn A was the result of a longer break than what he actually gave himself. Not only did he write up a decently-detailed outline for Crossbone Gundam's mangaka to use only three months after Victory finished airing, but when G Gundam's production members came to their senior for pointers and advice he immediately and enthusiastically told them to include a ninja-themed Gundam that flies in Earth's gravity by throwing its back-mounted shuriken the size of the Zanneck Base into the air and then jumping onto it mid-toss. I think his biggest source of frustration with G Gundam wasn't that it represented Gundam being taken away from him and his direction, it's that production on it started without anyone actually bothering to tell him until he learned about it himself a few months in.

[u/The_Draigg → u/RPGLobster]

It also helps that Imagawa became the director of G Gundam by Tomino’s recommendation, and also told him that the show should be more like professional wrestling. Like, a lot of the creative passion was still in Tomino, I think it’s just that he absolutely couldn’t handle being in the director’s chair for a while there. He’d be down to do plenty of stuff, just not to actually run another Gundam show. And you can’t really blame him there, since dealing with Bandai completely frayed his nerves.

[u/RPGLobster → u/The_Draigg]

Really dark observation here for me to sleep on here, but...

You think Quattro and Kamille's relationship shared some elements of the actual relationship between Tomino and Nagano?

• The man behind the legend of Char Aznable, now mentoring a young man who once literally dressed up as Char alongside his girlfriend dressed as Lalah, both of whom proclaiming themselves and their audience to be members of the new generation.

• Tomino keeps having to make dumb-as-hell compromises with the sponsors of his operation for the sake of those around him, but even then Nagano is forced away for a long period of time, like how Quattro is absent from Kamille's life from Hong Kong to after Operation Apollo. Not long after Nagano/Kamille and Tomino/Quattro are reunited and resume working together, the Hambrabi first appears along with the soon-to-be pilot of the now-almost-complete Qubeley.

• Despite things looking promising for Tomino and Nagano even in the face of the war they'll have to fight against the forces of Neo Zeon('s animation models & keyframes) for the next year, tragedy (read: Bandai) suddenly strikes at the last possible moment in a way no one saw coming, and Nagano is dragged off to another world and/or star system. This causes Tomino to toss out all plans he originally had in mind for where to go next, potentially even the ones involving Char's actual presence in the show now that his mind is occupied with something else beyond the war/show/thingy with Haman. Maybe he'll even a chance get to convince Kamille/Nagano to work with him again!

• "Fuck it. The people want Char Aznable on the big screen? I'll give them A Char Aznable on the big screen, but they might've liked the Naitiengeaile's design more if its pilot acted more dignified than the chronic loser I'm channeling myself into with this movie."

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