The New Gundam Present Would possibly Be Hiding Its Wild Twist in Plain Sight

In the present day Bandai launched one other tiny new take a look at Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX, the subsequent main entry within the venerable mecha franchise born out of an unprecedented partnership between the studio and Neon Genesis Evangelion powerhouse Khara. However throughout the tiny flashes of latest imagery there’s some very fascinating seems at a brand new character that appear to offer us a greater concept of simply what the brand new present is about… and the character may not be so new in any respect.

The brand new trailer for the theatrical compilation launch of GQuuuuuuX‘s opening episodes, The Starting—set to roll out in Japanese theaters subsequent week on January 17—provides us a number of extra seems on the important characters of the collection, in addition to the titular cell swimsuit. However one new character stands out: an older gentleman with blue-white hair, carrying an olive swimsuit and a few very intriguing stylization on his shirt and collar. The uniform has distinct parallels to the formal navy put on of one of many main factions within the unique Cellular Swimsuit Gundam and its successors—the secessionist house colony Zeon—and between that and the person’s design, there’s undoubtedly some evocation of a selected, intriguing character from the 1979 basic: Challia Bull, an essential determine in Gundam‘s early explorations of considered one of its most fascinating concepts, newtypes.

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劇場先行版『機動戦士Gundam GQuuuuuuX -Starting-』
1月17日（金）の公開まであと7日！
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— 機動戦士Gundam GQuuuuuuX（ジークアクス） (@G_GQuuuuuuX) January 9, 2025

Launched within the thirty ninth episode of the original series “The Newtype: Challia Bull,” Bull is a senior Zeon officer summoned by the principality’s navy commander Ghiren Zabi to be examined as one of many fabled newtypes. Believed to be a pure evolution of people after their migration into house—having developed extrasensory enhanced notion expertise and, in some instances, latent psionic skills—newtypes had been a late addition to the narrative of the unique Gundam. The phrase itself is simply first uttered a handful of episodes earlier than Bull’s introduction, as numerous events start to imagine that Gundam‘s important protagonist and antagonist, Amuro Ray and Char Aznable (in addition to the latter’s mysterious consort, Lalah Sune), could be among the earliest creating newtypes because the struggle between the Earth Federation and Zeon rages on.

However exploration of the thought was short-lived: Bull is killed in a battle with Amuro in the identical episode he’s launched in, and Gundam itself ended only a handful of episodes later, its future at the time unsure. It was solely in successor materials after Gundam‘s future as a franchise is secured that the newtype idea was explored additional, till it turned a defining touchstone of narratives in its beloved main continuity, the “Common Century”—the setting of the primary Gundam and its direct successors Zeta and ZZ Gundam, in addition to a litany of different reveals and flicks from the franchise—each in the way it explores humankind’s capability to evolve higher understanding of itself away from the struggles of interstellar battle, and the tragedy of newtypes’ exploitation by the hands of navy powers the ruling lessons to perpetuate the cycles of that battle.

Gundam as a franchise isn’t any stranger to echoing parts of the UC within the myriad, usually unconnected, alternate universes that exist across the series. Many reveals within the collection are sometimes in dialog with concepts first explored within the Common Century, just like the idea of the newtype and humanity’s spacebound evolution, or provide their very own variations of its story regardless of not being in the identical continuity, like After War Gundam X or Gundam SEED, and even the current Witch From Mercury. Simply as many borrow parts of design language from them both only for aesthetic parallels or to attach themselves distantly to the occasions of these main collection. GQuuuuuuX, for as little as we’ve seen of it, isn’t any exception: the primary swimsuit wields an axe weapon not not like the “warmth hawk” wielded by Zakus within the unique Gundam, and in each this new trailer and the prior announcement footage there’s been a mono-eyed police cell swimsuit that borrows lots of design language from the Zaku itself as nicely. So it wouldn’t too stunning if this mysterious determine was a brand new character supposed to be a parallel to Challia Bull in both design or character—similar to how Gundam loves itself a Char Clone, thematic and design parallels of considered one of its most beloved figures, throughout numerous iterations of the franchise.

However there’s additionally an intriguing chance raised by this parallel—this determine may truly be some type of Bull himself, somewhat than only a stand-in. When GQuuuuuuX was first revealed, an early Italian-language model of the collection’ promotional web site launched (and then quickly retracted) a short plot synopsis for the collection that teased that the present itself is just not an alternate Gundam universe, however an alternate timeline: a model of the occasions of the Common Century the place Zeon defeats the Earth Federation within the One Yr Struggle. If that’s finally what GQuuuuuuX is doing, then there’s a definite probability this character is a model of Bull that survives his encounter with Amuro, and that GQuuuuuuX might need much more to say about his position within the awakening of newtypism on this model of the narrative somewhat than leaving him to his unexpectedly doomed destiny from the unique collection.

Gundam chronology is huge and complicated, however the collection has by no means tried to do one thing like an alternate timeline like this (there have been numerous video games and manga that discover the thought, however by no means one of many main anime entries). It’d be becoming for a present introduced for the collection’ forty fifth anniversary 12 months in 2025 to be the one which tackles re-imagining the Common Century like this—and if it does, we can’t wait to see what alternative it takes with characters from the unique collection, like Challia Bull or in any other case, because it charts its personal spin on this beloved story.

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