Your favorite Gundam timeline?
Universal Century
70.0%
21
After Colony
6.7%
2
Cosmic Era
10.0%
3
After War
0.0%
0
Future Century
3.3%
1
Anno Domini
10.0%
3
30 votes
| I posted this on reddit a few days ago and thought it might serve the MAL community well. The Gundam franchise is very large, and can be very intimidating for first time viewers. I have had a lot of my friends ask me "Where the heck do I even start?" So I figured I would take the time to illustrate a few of the different timelines and universes within the Gundam Multiverse to help out anyone with a motivation to tackle the gundam series, but a complete fear at how large and spread out it is. Hopefully it will give you an idea of where you want to start if your new to the Gundam community. There are 6 different accepted universes within the Gundam Multiverse. Each has its own characters unique to its timeline, and does not intersect with any other timelines (ex: In Gundam Wing, the events from Mobile Suit Gundam never happened). I shall list them as follows: Universal Century Time line If you are going to get into Gundam, I highly suggest starting here. Pretty much every single Gundam series out there is rooted in characters/gundam from this time line. In order they are: Mobile Suit Gundam MS Zeta Gundam MS Gundam ZZ Chars Counterattack MS Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket MS Gundam F91 MS Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory MS Victory Gundam MS Gundam 08th MS Team MS Gundam Unicorn Turn A Gundam After Colony Timeline This is probably where most of you were introduced into the Gundam world. A group of space colony scientists build Gundams piloted by young boys in hopes of weakening Earths oppressive Government. Is it the best Gundam series? Not by a long shot in my opinion. Will the vast majority of Anime fans tell you its the best Gundam series? Probably, although Unicorn is making a solid play. Gundam Wing Endless Waltz Cosmic Era Timeline If the Universal Century seems to "old" for your tastes, this is a great place to jump into Gundam. While I am not a really big fan of Gundam SEED, the series does highlight some of the qualities of the UC timeline and make it more palletable for the modern viewer. Gundam SEED Gundam SEED Destiny Gundam SEED MSV Astray Gundam SEED Stargazer After War Timeline Welcome to your post apocalyptic Gundam universe. The X is one of my favorite Gundam in all gundam universe to be honest. Basically the series take place after a giant colony is dropped on Earth, wiping out almos the entire population. Gundam X Future Century Timeline The ever dreaded Future Century. Just about ALL hardcore Gundam fans will shun this series. Me on the other hand? LOVED IT. Instead of giant wars and colonies fighting one another, rulers are decided by a Gundam tournament that occurs every 4 years. This one isn't for everyone, but some of you just may like it. G Gundam Anno Domini Timeline This is bleh bleh bleh. Ok if you liked Gundam Wing then your probably going to like this one. Several factions are constantly vying for power when a mysterious group known as Celestial Beings creates Gundams that are years beyond an current MS technology. So on and so forth. Gundam 00 That concludes our journey through the very bumpy Gundam multiverse lane. There are a few movies/specials I intentionally left off this list, but I think I covered the meat and potatoes of the universe. Also some of the newer series like Builder and SD are not included here simply because I haven't see them. Keep in mind that a lot of these series are hit and miss. Some are boring, some are stupid, and some are fantastic. It all really depends on what your in the mood for. I left out a few movies and tv specials, but I think I captured the bigger picture here. Now go forth, and become Gundam maesters! Mod Edit: Title changed to clarify subject of thread. |
rodacJan 31, 2015 1:40 AM
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| nice post about information on gundam timeline. Wow, the air time and the sequential order of gundam series seems pretty complicated. |
| My Reviews and Rants: http://bunny1ov3r.wordpress.com/ 痛就是爱 |
| I could swear that I had seen this exact thread before... Anyway, it should be noted that this is release order, not chronological order (e.g., Staurst Memory is set before Zeta Gundam in spite of being released later). Also, you're missing IGLOO. Thanks for the post. |
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| Gundam 00 isn't that bad, GSD is far worse than everything in the AD timeline, also if anyone wants to get into Astray (which is better than the main series, how better depends on the manga), you also have to read the various manga. |
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| Im almost done all the main gundam series now and so far this is how I rate the eras. Cosmic, after war, after colony, correct century, anno domini, future century, advance generation, universal century. Oh and you left out gundam age's advanced generation and turn a is correct century. |
| Pretty helpful post I Wonder how long till this thread turns into gundam A vs Gundam B Hoppy said: GSD is far worse than everything in the AD timeline That's not actually saying much Hoppy said: also if anyone wants to get into Astray (which is better than the main series, how better depends on the manga), you also have to read the various manga. I've looked for the manga online but could'nt find it Sol_Ou said: Oh and you left out gundam age's advanced generation and turn a is correct century. Maybe he's like alot of us,who'd rather assume some gundams never happened |
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| Unfortunately MAL doesn't have a specific sub-forum for franchises. If it did, OP could've posted this there... A really helpful guide, but I'll be that guy and tell you to expect the cruel fate of your thread being slowly pruned to oblivion in the next hours and forever forgotten. Maybe someone already did something like this, but hey, how can we know? Anyway, gonna save the link for future threads of dumb people asking where to start. Thanks. Redruum said: Anno Domini Timeline This is bleh bleh bleh. 10/10 |
| I also forgot they slapped the gundam name on g reco so you have to add the regild century as well. Hand_of_the_King said: Well this is supposed to be a gundam guide. It should have all the main series regardless of how bad it may or may not have been.Sol_Ou said: Maybe he's like a lot of us, who'd rather assume some gundams never happenedOh and you left out gundam age's advanced generation and turn a is correct century. |
yazio said: I could swear that I had seen this exact thread before... Anyway, it should be noted that this is release order, not chronological order (e.g., Staurst Memory is set before Zeta Gundam in spite of being released later). Also, you're missing IGLOO. Thanks for the post. Cool, hopefully my thread added to the previous one in some way. I intentionally left IGLOO off due to my disgust for CG anime. There are few things in this world as awful as putting CG into Anime. |
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Sol_Ou said: Im almost done all the main gundam series now and so far this is how I rate the eras. Cosmic, after war, after colony, correct century, anno domini, future century, advance generation, universal century. Oh and you left out gundam age's advanced generation and turn a is correct century. Thanks Sol, like I mentioned at the end of my post. I left a couple out simply because I have not seen some of the newer ones (Build Fighters, AGE). So I didn't want to impose my thoughts on the ones I have not seen. |
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xbobx said: Unfortunately MAL doesn't have a specific sub-forum for franchises. If it did, OP could've posted this there... A really helpful guide, but I'll be that guy and tell you to expect the cruel fate of your thread being slowly pruned to oblivion in the next hours and forever forgotten. Maybe someone already did something like this, but hey, how can we know? Anyway, gonna save the link for future threads of dumb people asking where to start. Thanks. Redruum said: Anno Domini Timeline This is bleh bleh bleh. 10/10 Thanks for the heads up, and really appreciate the kind words. |
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xbobx said: In the LoGH sub-forum a similar thread was stickied.Unfortunately MAL doesn't have a specific sub-forum for franchises. If it did, OP could've posted this there... A really helpful guide, but I'll be that guy and tell you to expect the cruel fate of your thread being slowly pruned to oblivion in the next hours and forever forgotten. Maybe someone already did something like this, but hey, how can we know? Anyway, gonna save the link for future threads of dumb people asking where to start. Thanks. OP can always ask a mod to do the same. |
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| Good list. Except: Gundam 00> Gundam SEED |
Sloth_ said: xbobx said: In the LoGH sub-forum a similar thread was stickied.Unfortunately MAL doesn't have a specific sub-forum for franchises. If it did, OP could've posted this there... A really helpful guide, but I'll be that guy and tell you to expect the cruel fate of your thread being slowly pruned to oblivion in the next hours and forever forgotten. Maybe someone already did something like this, but hey, how can we know? Anyway, gonna save the link for future threads of dumb people asking where to start. Thanks. OP can always ask a mod to do the same. Yea, but it's kind of a different issue... While LoGH is notoriously famous for the 110 eps series, GUNDAM is fragmented in a lot of sub-franchises and entries, so anyone looking for this info might have trouble finding the correct forum board it will be. It's worth a shot, tho. Maybe in the MS Gundam sub-forum. |
xbobx said: Sloth_ said: In the LoGH sub-forum a similar thread was stickied. OP can always ask a mod to do the same. Yea, but it's kind of a different issue... While LoGH is notoriously famous for the 110 eps series, GUNDAM is fragmented in a lot of sub-franchises and entries, so anyone looking for this info might have trouble finding the correct forum board it will be. It's worth a shot, tho. Maybe in the MS Gundam sub-forum. Its quite alright if this post disappears into the MAL black hole. If I was able to assist even one person with the Gundam dilemma, then I am satisfied. There is no sensation quite like getting someone else interested in a new anime title that they previously were not interested in. |
RedruumNov 28, 2014 10:27 AM
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| UC is the only one I've seen stuff from but most of the others don't really interest me either. After War is the only other one I''ll definitely check out at some point. For now I still have War in the Pocket and CCA left as well as Unicorn and Turn A so UC will keep me busy for a while. |
| I probably regret this post by now. |
Sol_Ou said: .....Im almost done all the main gundam series now and so far this is how I rate the eras. Cosmic, after war, after colony, correct century, anno domini, future century, advance generation, universal century. |
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| UC is God. |
Nope said: Problem?Sol_Ou said: .....Im almost done all the main gundam series now and so far this is how I rate the eras. Cosmic, after war, after colony, correct century, anno domini, future century, advance generation, universal century. |
KokkoClaus said: UC is God. /Thread For the record, the only Gundam I dropped half-way, is G Gundam. Haven't seen AGE and any of the GunPla series, except the first episode of the 2010 OVA in Italian. UC (plus Correct, Unicorn, and Reguild) Anno Domini After War After Colony whatever You could put The Origin and MS igLOO in UC as well. |
| Gundam Build Fighters. /thread |
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zellami said: KokkoClaus said: UC is God. /Thread For the record, the only Gundam I dropped half-way, is G Gundam. Haven't seen AGE and any of the GunPla series, except the first episode of the 2010 OVA in Italian. UC (plus Correct, Unicorn, and Reguild) Anno Domini After War After Colony whatever You could put The Origin and MS igLOO in UC as well. The only reason I did not add IGLOO is simply because I detest with great passion any anime that is in CG. It angers me to no end. |
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| Good guide, though I'd recommend for anybody to skip over everything in Cosmic and After Colony. Universal Century is best should always be the starting point for anybody getting into Gundam |
Redruum said: zellami said: /Thread For the record, the only Gundam I dropped half-way, is G Gundam. Haven't seen AGE and any of the GunPla series, except the first episode of the 2010 OVA in Italian. UC (plus Correct, Unicorn, and Reguild) Anno Domini After War After Colony whatever You could put The Origin and MS igLOO in UC as well. The only reason I did not add IGLOO is simply because I detest with great passion any anime that is in CG. It angers me to no end. ...but you have no problem with Unicorn? |
fst said: Redruum said: The only reason I did not add IGLOO is simply because I detest with great passion any anime that is in CG. It angers me to no end. ...but you have no problem with Unicorn? As long as the actual Gundam and mechas themselves are not saturated in CG, I can withstand it. There is a certain detail and discernible character that only pen and ink can convey. If they want to make other elements in the frame CG or 3D (I cant understand for the life of me why they would want to), then I can deal with it. |
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Redruum said: There is a certain detail and discernible character that only pen and ink can convey. They draw in pencil though. I mean, they trace over it with ink afterwards, but... Redruum said: If they want to make other elements in the frame CG or 3D (I cant understand for the life of me why they would want to), then I can deal with it. Why might they do the mobile suits in CG? Because it allows you to easily do really complicated camera movements without distorting the geometry. It allows you to have super-detailed models that would be impractical to draw. It generally allows you to maintain more consistent geometry. |
fst said: Redruum said: There is a certain detail and discernible character that only pen and ink can convey. They draw in pencil though. I mean, they trace over it with ink afterwards, but... Redruum said: If they want to make other elements in the frame CG or 3D (I cant understand for the life of me why they would want to), then I can deal with it. Why might they do the mobile suits in CG? Because it allows you to easily do really complicated camera movements without distorting the geometry. It allows you to have super-detailed models that would be impractical to draw. It generally allows you to maintain more consistent geometry. I appreciate and respect your opinion, but will kindly have to disagree. |
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| ...that wasn't an opinion. I'm just stating how they do things in the industry, and listed some reasons why the animators may choose to use CG. I never actually said what I thought about them using it. |
| I made a chronological timeline of the Universal Century Gundams as a recommendation for someone looking for a Gundam Series: Space Runaway Ideon The Ideon: Be Invoked Mobile Suit Gundam Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team War in the Pocket Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam ZZ Gundam Char's Counterattack Unicorn Gundam Mobile Suit Gundam F91 Mobile Suit Victory Gundam Gundam: G no Reconguista(ongoing) I don't think Turn a Gundam is UC? Correct me if I'm wrong. Also, pretty much every other timeline is rubbish. Wing & Seed are terrible & are insulting to the franchise. |
SightScreenNov 28, 2014 5:24 PM
| There is sadly no sub-forum for this. It is a nice guide that would help a ton of people when watching gundam. I'll be locking the thread so that if people use the search function, they can find this thread. Thread Locked |
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| Gundam is the war film that america needs. Instead of blatant propaganda like American Sniper. |
| Its never gonna end simply because they sell a shiton of related mecha merchandise/toys worldwide and the interest is still there for them to make new series in order to commercialize said merchandise. Overall its a very tired franchise that hasnt brought anything new to the table for ages and only hit its absolute peak with Zeta and War In The Pocket |
| Copied & pasted [spoiler] Anyway, the Gundam franchise being 30 years old can be daunting, so here's the rough explanation. There are multiple timelines, one of them is the main Gundam Timeline while the others are just one-offs that don't have any relation to any other series. The main timeline is called Universal centuray, or UC as it is often dubbed (and yes, if you don't already know but may have just guessed Unicorn is set in the UC timeline). The other timelines have names, however they are collectively called Alternate Universe series (AU series). Gundam 00 was an AU series, to give you an example. Now, for the order of the timelines and what they all are. Universal Century (UC) -Mobile Suit Gundam (The first ever Gundam series, and begining of the UC timeline) -Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam (sequel to the original, set a fair few years after it) -Mobile Suit ZZ (Double Zeta, set almost imediately after the events of Zeta) -Char's Counter Attack (a full length movie that wraps up the story of Char and Armuro, the main rivals since the first series) That is the order of the UC timeline. There are however, a lot more OVA's and one more series in it, however these can all be watched in any order, however I will list them in chronological order: -8Th Mobile Suit Team (Side story OVA that takes place during the original series) -War in the Pocket (Takes place after the first series) -0083 Stardust Memory (Takes place just before Zeta, technically a prequel) -Unicorn (Takes place three years after Chars Counter Attack, ongoing, will be seven episodes once completed) -F91 (Takes place a fair amount of time after Unicorn) -Victory (the full series I was talking about, takes plave a very long time after the main UC story) There are more I believe, but those are the major series and the only ones I remember right now. Now, on to the AU's, I'll list them in the order they were made (I may make a msitake though since I haven't watched any of these besides SEED and the series after it). FC (Future Century) -Mobile Fighter G Gundam (Self contained series, unrelated to anything else) AC (After Colony) -Mobile Report Gundam WIng (another new series unrelated to anything else) -Mobile Report Gundam Wing Endless Waltz (OVA sequel to the series) AW (After War) -After War Gundam X (Another standalone AU series) CC (Correct Century) -Turn A Gundam (full length series, technically standalone, however...) CE (Cosmic Era) -Mobile Suit Gundam SEED (effectively considered a modern day remake of the first series, however it is it's own thing, and is awesome) -Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny (the sequel to Gundam SEED, generally considered to be very bad, so you're advised to skip this one) -Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny Stargazer (Short OVA related to Destiny, people say it's pretty good but I haven't seen it myself) AD (Anno Domani) -Mobile Suit Gundam 00 (you've already seen this so I'll skip the intro) -Mobile Suit Gundam 00 Second Season -Mobile Suit Gundam 00 A Wakening of the Trailblazer AG (Advanced Generation) -Mobile Suit Gundam AGE (The latest Gundam series, rather mediocre but still entertaining) And that's it. As for where you should go next, SEED is a pretty good series and unrelated to anything else, so no big obligations. AW X is supposed to be good as well, as is Turn A. And if you want to watch any UC series you'll need to start at the beginning for the most enjoyment. Hope all that helps. |
| At least Gundam's titles have little to do with one another, they're usually independent unless they have the same name. (I know, the timelines. Still independent tho.) Mod Edit: rhetorical question removed because people started to answer it and derail the thread. |
rodacJan 24, 2015 3:00 PM
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| At this point Gundam has had so many different adaptations with so many branching timelines that it can really only be described as a "mixed bag". Some series are masterpieces, some are just "meh", and still others are straight up throwaway crap. Gundam is a metaverse; there exists several different timelines with different sets of characters and entirely different plots that are unrelated to each other. You can start from several different points really if you're interested, but it's not going away any time soon. |
kingcity20 said: Oh for the love of -_- nvm gotta love MAL |
| The anime pretty much exists to sell the figures. Heck, Sunrise gets more money off the gundam figures than the anime! So, using the money they get from figurine sales, Sunrise makes more Gundam anime to release/advertise their new figures which in turn nets them more money. It's pretty much a vicious money making cycle. I agree, the Gundam series may seem like the same thing over and over again. However, I quite enjoy the UC timeline (arguably the best) in the Gundam metaseries. As a newcomer to Gundam, I recommend you jump into Gundam Seed and Seed Destiny as the HD remake is fairly easy to get into. Afterwards, I reckon you should try watching the Universal Century timeline. As jarring as the animation is in Mobile Suit Gundam, it's well worth it (especially when you get to Gundam Unicorn). After UC, go ahead and watch whatever timeline you want (notable mention to Gundam Wing and 00). Hope that answered your question and happy Gundam watching! |
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| lol i was looking up on gundam history, and found out about "A Romance of the Three Kingdoms retelling using SD Gundams. " @_@ and no, it's not going to end if i wanted to watch it, i'd search MAL for gundam, sort by rating, and watch the highest rated ones |
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| Lock maintained with duplicate discussion merged. [i]As the previous moderator's note said, there is no subforum for this specific topic and discussion tends to be limited, so the lock will be maintained so that users can retrieve it by searching for the information contained therein. |
Please don't feed the trolls! In my next life I want to collide at the corner with the cute transfer student carrying a piece of toast in her mouth...rodac |
| Google is your tomodachi c: |
| There are different timelines and whatnot, I'll let some other guy explain it. Some series are independent (Gundam 00, Gundam Seed), while others are somewhat connected (Gundam ZZ, Turn A). |
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troro1 said: I used google first. Then I turned to experts at myanimelist for accurate quality answers. http://myanimelist.net/forum/?topicid=307359 |
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