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Forbes
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
‘Gundam GQuuuuuuX' Believes In The Sign Of Zeta And Gets Interesting
The updated Psycho Gundam Mk II. It took a while, but the confluence of events over the past few episodes of Gundam GQuuuuuuX has finally borne fruit, and the story is getting interesting. In the prior build-up episode, which wasn't all that interesting, we were introduced to this timeline's version of Bask Om. Who, in this instance, is trying to kill Kycilia Zabi on her upcoming visit to the colony. Naturally, the Federation under new corporate guises smuggles in a new mobile armor and mobile suit. This is where the fun begins in our latest episode. The final Clan Battle turns out to be a battle with said Federation mobile armor and mobile suit as a front to kill Kycilia. The mobile armor is an updated version of the Psycho Gundam Mk II, and the mobile suit is a funky version of the Hamrabi. These are both mecha from Zeta Gundam, which is set during the same time period as GQuuuuuuX (it's also why Bask Om fits in here). When the Psycho Gundam does its whole transformation from flying brick of doom to giant mobile suit, we even get an insert of Zeta Gundam music, which was actually pretty neat. Naturally, the GQuuuuuuX and Red Gundam get floored by these two opponents, and it's only Challia Bull in his Kikeroga that saves the day. The latter is an updated version of the Braw Bro mobile armor, albeit smaller and with a mobile suit mode, the latter looking a bit goofy. FEATURED | Frase ByForbes™ Unscramble The Anagram To Reveal The Phrase Pinpoint By Linkedin Guess The Category Queens By Linkedin Crown Each Region Crossclimb By Linkedin Unlock A Trivia Ladder The Kikeroga is also a deep cut reference to a prototype mobile suit that was never animated in the original Mobile Suit Gundam, which is cool, but really cements this series as nerdy fanfiction. We also get to see a fancy new Gyan that saves Kycilia and later Nyaan, so there's at least some interesting mecha action in this episode. My only issue here is that in Zeta Gundam, the technological shift from the One Year War era was massive, and older mobile suits and mobile armors didn't stand a chance against the newer models. So it's weird to see that reversed here, and also emphasises that the Federation really lacks its necessary Amuro-level Newtype to reach combat parity. The corollary of all these events is that Nyaan ends up with Kycilia, by way of Olivier, and Machu with Challia. The latter also reveals his true plan to end the conflict between Zeon and the Federation by killing the remaining Zabi family members, which is what Char did in the original Mobile Suit Gundam, for all the good that did. Shuji and the Red Gundam also disappear again in another Zek Nova, which now seems to be a point of contention between Nyaan and Machu, as they both have clear feelings for him. In any case, the mostly dumb Clan Battle setup seems to be thankfully behind us, and we now have some actual story development to look forward to. It's clear that both Machu and Nyaan will end up as rivals in some kind of Zeon civil war, but how that will resolve remains to be seen. This series does still feel like revisionist Zeon fanboy fanfiction at times, but it's actually getting interesting even if the delivery is rather hamfisted. However, after this latest episode, it feels like something decent is potentially on the way. Gundam GQuuuuuuX is now streaming worldwide via Amazon Prime Video. Follow me on X, Facebook and YouTube. I also manage Mecha Damashii and am currently featured in the Giant Robots exhibition currently touring Japan.
Gizmodo
13-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Gizmodo
This Week's GQuuuuuuX Was for a Slightly Different Kind of Gundam Sicko
It's been clear since we first heard about the premise for Gundam GQuuuuuuX that it was a series being developed by creatives with an unyielding, loveably fannish reverence for the original 1979 anime that started it all. But this week as the series hit its halfway turning point—and ramped up its stakes significantly—GQuuuuuuX also revealed that it's also being made by people who are fans of another Gundam show. Specifically, Gundam's successor, Zeta Gundam. 'The Plot to Assassinate Kycilia,' GQuuuuuuX's sixth episode, sees young protagonist Machu assailed on multiple fronts, as pressure from her school and home life, lingering jealousy over Nyaan's awakening as a Newtype, and a new threat of being sold out by Clan Battle manager Annqi to Zeon all come to a head on the eve of her what might be her final scrap in the GQuuuuuuX. But beyond all that, the episode lays the groundwork for an intriguing political scheme simmering in the background surrounding the titular Kycilia Zabi, one of Zeon's ruling family members as she comes to visit Side 6. The episode does a lot to play up that the Zeon forces already at Side 6 serving under Challia Bull might not be entirely on board with 'her excellency'—there's doubts from his own subordinates as to where his loyalties lie between Kycilia and her brother Gihren, but we've known since Beginning's flashbacks to the alternate 0079 that Challia himself was onboard with Char's secret plans to overthrow the Zabis entirely, so there's multiple games at play. But it also throws in an extra complication: the titular plot is seemingly not coming from anyone affiliated with Zeon, but their former opponents in the One Year War, the Earth Federation, when it's revealed that the mysterious company behind Machu and Shuji's final clan battle opponents have very familiar faces. They are none other than Bask Om and Gates Capa, members of the Titans from Gundam's 1985 sequel, Zeta Gundam. Set almost a decade after the original series, Zeta flipped expectations by having its protagonists, a rogue independent group called AEUG, battle the Titans, the Federation's elite special forces division dedicated to wiping out Zeon remnants, but also an increasingly authoritarian and powerful branch of the Federation trying to usurp control of the planet and the space colonies alike. It seems so far that in GQuuuuuuX's re-imagining of Gundam's Universal Century timeline, the Titans are now more of a guerrilla group themselves in the wake of the Federation's defeat in the war. But while Om is an interesting addition to the new show (he was a major antagonist in Zeta), it's Capa who becomes more interesting here as GQuuuuuuX prepares to dabble with another fascinating element of Gundam history. In Zeta Gundam, Capa was a test subject from the Federation's Newtype labs, one of several pilots who undergoes a series of surgical and psychological upgrades (and face mentally destabilizing trauma in the process) to be enhanced as a 'Cyber Newtype', an artificially engineered version of the natural evolutionary process that makes humans living in space develop empathetic psychic abilities and heightened awareness. The emergence of the Cyber Newtypes is a major element of Zeta Gundam's worldbuilding, as the Federation and Zeon's remnants alike begin to try and exploit the emergence of Newtypes as weapons of war, using their abilities to pilot even deadlier mobile suits. And although Capa's got a different co-pilot here than he did in Zeta, a mysterious new character and fellow Cyber Newtype known only as Deux so far, they're piloting the same horrific weapon… The Psycho Gundam, briefly glimpsed in the next-time trailer at the climax of the episode. A transforming mobile armor developed by the Murasame Newtype Labs in Zeta, the Psycho Gundam and its successor suit were specifically designed for use by Cyber Newtypes, massive mecha multiple times the size of the average mobile suit, and stacked with a terrifying amount of weaponry. Both iterations of the Psycho Gundam also put tremendous mental pressure on their pilots, ultimately driving them to total mental breakdown before their deaths, so, suffice to say, things are about to get pretty rough on GQuuuuuuX! It's a fascinating development that the series itself its turning its eyes to the original Gundam's successor as a way to amplify the stakes getting bigger and bigger beyond any of its protagonists. In some ways, it's just a natural continuation of the mirror GQuuuuuuX has held up to the 1979 anime after all, although it's not exactly the same time difference its main story is set, like Zeta was, years after the conclusion of the war that shaped the original Gundam, following a generation of people who were raised in its aftermath. But it's also a telling one thematically: if the original Gundam was a more clear cut about its Earth vs. Zeon conflict, Zeta was all about muddying the lines and adding further layers of complexity to that conflict for its protagonists, asking them and the audience alike to critique systems of power beyond the expected idea of who was the hero and who was the villain. If things are about to get real for GQuuuuuuX's young trio of heroes, it's perhaps only fitting that the series begins to reflect on, and draw direct reference to, Gundam's own darker, morally messier successor in turn. Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX is now streaming on Prime Video
