La Valse Interminable

So I was looking to see if anyone had noticed the eye-going-back-and-forth-thing on the Cylons is the same as the one on the Zakus in Gundam (I think also some other Zeon suits?). And I came across a debate where a guy was pointing out that everything people were praising in the new BSG was found in the original, 0079, Amuro Rei vs. Char Aznable, Mobile Suit Gundam. He's understating the case; Gundam also has much harder science fiction, like launching the suits by railguns, the colonies being Von Braun habitat rings located in Lagrange points, and oh yeah, no FTL.

But this other jackass responded, and I shall reproduce his remark in full:

Your demand for Gundam respect is pointless, and I doubt many people can get past the sill[y] toy factor of the giant robots. I hav[e]n't seen much of the original Gundam, but I'm not prepared to take your word that it was all that good or sophisticated, either.

Gundam isn't the sort of things the Battlestar Gallactica people are talking about, anyway. Gundam's giant robots are just as silly as "stock characters, techno-double-talk, bumpy-headed aliens, thespian histrionics and empty heroics time travel or parallel universes or cute robot dogs" There's nothing "naturalistic" about giant robot anime.

Ahahahaha! Oh god, stop, you're killing me, you comedic genius!

See, when I think of Gundam, I don't primarily think of giant robots; I think of half-baked pacifistic preaching and ill-considered talk of moral equivalency. So yeah, there's a hell of a lot of parallel between MSG and BSG. But then again, Gundam was made by an ex-Axis power that can't admit they were evil in a war; they can only comfort themselves by saying war is always evil. What, precisely, is BSG's excuse?

But even leaving that to one side, no, actually, Gundam's "giant robots" are not as silly as Star Trek. Indeed, they're not even as silly as BSG. At least Gundam knows a mobile suit—which is not a giant robot, by the bye, it's an anthropomorphic vehicle—would have to completely power down, if it wants to remain undetected. BSG had Stealth In Space; after that all we can say is, "at least Star Trek's a sometimes-entertaining children's show, while BSG is a pointlessly dark children's show." Gundam's mobile suits, as that asshat monkey would know if it had ever bothered to watch a single episode, are the equivalent (except more realistic) of BSG's Vipers. But I do not doubt that the distinction between Real Robot and Super Robot is lost on this drool-soaked mouth-breathing halfwit.

What's really funny is, in Gundam Wing, Lucrezia Noin explained why the mobile suits are humanoid: it's for the psychological value. Yeah, in combat it performs like some combination of a light tank with a heavy attack helicopter (usually more the former), but your enemy will see it as you bestriding the field as a mighty colossus. Doesn't matter if it's a Zaku, a Leo, or a Gundam itself; the mere sight of one is a major morale boost to friendlies and a morale drop to hostiles (not to mention the logistics strain of all the pants they'll have to replace). There's also the ultra-modularity of its weapon system (it has hands) and the extreme versatility of its mobility (it can walk).

Even funnier was this one idiot who (though doing the Lord's work in pointing out how Avatar sucks), said that mecha don't make sense because the walking wastes energy. Again, hah! Maybe if you'd watched an episode of any mecha series, you'd know nearly all mecha had wheels (sometimes treads) in their feet, and roll on good terrain; the walking is only for bad terrain...the kind that completely precludes the presence of conventional armored vehicles. The one exception I can think of is the Original 7 in GunXSword, but those fly back up to their satellites for a recharge after about 20 minutes.

But then again, really, gentlemen, ask yourselves: what are the odds you've noticed a detail a Japanese audience—especially the model-kit building otaku audience that's Gundam's key demo—did not notice? The only really valid criticism of Gundam is moral: there really are good guys and bad guys in wars, and pacifism is not only suicide on the individual level, it's mass murder on the government level. But the criticism goes double for BSG, which also has absolutely nothing else going for it—if I have to sit through ill-thought out ideas on politics, at least make it look cool.

Gundam wins. Sorry.

Late addendum: Forgot to mention another superiority of Gundam, or rather two. First is that these series are set in Earth and its colonies, and yet are much less "our" culture simply transplanted to space, than BSG, where the government probably follows the American model more closely than that in the West Wing. And the other is that people in Gundam understand the concept, "I don't want to fight but if I don't people will die." Nobody in BSG actually gets that. And Gundam is just an ad for model kits.