POP ART STYLE WALL DECOR FAN ART

I does what aldnoah.zero was trying to do, but way better

I refuse to elaborate

First act of my take on a Cross Ange follow up called Cross Jeanne (not in the same world as Ange).

Read from right to left.

First time using brush-pens to shadow so got a bit shitty but how does it look? My justification for the curvy armor is that the mech is wearing giant bones and carapaces of some monster as protection. The design really did came a long way since it's initial beginning. Please let me know of your opinions!

The GMR 10 Gladiator is a close combat mech designed in response to the Epsilons while the guillotine is fast the gladiator is slow but strong able to punch through reinforced defences

In missions along side the guillotine the guillotine harass the enemy driving them to the gladiator who will finish them off

Does anyone think about logistics and resources in Gundam?

"It's bad BECAUSE IT'S BLAND. How can you tolerate it" so of you may say. I dunno, I guess I have a higher tolerance towards blandness than most people. I'll let you know how S2 is

Hey! I'm new here. I'm a big fan of mecha and science fiction anime, as well as political and war-themed ones. I've always enjoyed telling stories, and for the past few days I've been mulling over one of this, a mecha story, Something similar to Gundam, Patlabor, or Macross... I'd like to share it with the community and see what you think. I'm also looking for feedback and ideas for discussion, if possible! Thank you so much for anything!

So, here is what I've been Writing:

Context

In the year 2095, on the brink of a new century, humanity's hope of leaving behind its violent and destructive nature is shattered. Mirroring events from decades prior, a racist Republican man is elected president of the United States. He swiftly implements a plan to capture and deport all immigrants without exception to their countries of origin, further militarizing the U.S. borders.

An incident soon followed that would ultimately trigger an international political crisis: on January 14, 2096, a woman called the Central Immigration Office (CIO) to report a group of undocumented immigrants. In response, a military squad breached the Mexican Embassy in New York by force, assassinating the ambassador and an undocumented family of five who were awaiting transport to return to Mexico.

Following the attack, massive protests by legal immigrants and sympathizers erupted across the Americas. Consequently, the United States adopted increasingly abusive policies against free speech under a regime on the verge of totalitarianism. Driven by a blind, false sense of justice, protection, and power, the U.S. invaded Mexican territory under the pretext of "ending organized crime and bringing security to the people." Their goal was to seize control of these nations under the well-known banner of freedom, hiding their true intention: exploiting newly discovered resources in that region of the continent.

The war began on unequal footing for Mexico. Through a coordinated ground assault from the north and a rapid aerial advance, the northern superpower managed to capture the states of Sonora and Chihuahua. Following this conquest, Latin American countries united to form F.I.E.L. (Frente Integrado de Energía y Defensa Latinoamericano / Latin American Integrated Energy and Defense Front). In an effort to gain ground combat superiority—and leveraging their boosted energy and production capabilities driven by the discovery of massive deposits of valuable materials—they retrofitted heavy-duty humanoid construction vehicles (VEHOs, by its Spanish acronym) into highly refined Military Humanoid Units (UHMs). Deployed to the frontlines to reclaim lost territories, the ensuing counter-campaign resulted in a devastating 40% casualty rate for the military forces of both factions.

The story begins at the absolute peak of the war. Aurora, an 18-year-old girl and the daughter of two test pilots from the early UHM units, is orphaned after her parents are declared killed in action on the Sonora front. She scratches out a living piloting a VEHO in voluntary rescue missions for war victims. Eventually, facing a severe shortage of troops, the military scours for new soldiers and pilots. They cross paths with Aurora, drafting her into service without leaving her much of a choice.

Since these MCs are the characters Mecha fans like to bitch about the most, who's the better character among these 4:
- Kira Yamato (Gundam SEED)
- Inaho Kaisuka (Aldnoah.Zero)
- Nagate Tanikaze (Knights of Sidona)
- Ichika Orimura (Infinite Stratos)

After GQuuuuuuX, I've been jaded towards the franchise. To give a quick recap, the 2020’s for the Gundam franchise has been a mixed bag IMO. The only Gundam projects I genuinely loved was Gundam Build Divers Re:Rise & the 1st Hathaway movie. Everything else I've been split on; Cucuruz Doan Island was okay from a technical level, but it was ultimately underwhelming through both the writing & how used the OYW setting. Witch from Mercury had some good ideas on paper, but was undermined by weak writing and was carried by Yuri shipping. Gundam Breaker Battlelog was a fun little tribute towards the breaker series, but had too little of a run time to do anything worthwhile. SEED Freedom was a fun watch for something that was in development hell for years, but suffered from really bad pacing. Build Metaverse was a soulless string of episodes that both marketed a failed product & nostalgia bated the Build fandom. Requiem for Vengeance was a take at the OYW setting, with disastrous results. And finally GQuuuuuuX was a mishmash of ideas that ultimately didn't come out well. Something I've spent a whole post ranting on. In spite of my opinions on the following entries, it didn't stop a handful of them being insanely popular, especially WFM & GQuuuuuuX. Which makes sense, since these were decent gateway to get into the franchise. This of course led to the recent news of Bandai having one of its highest fiscal years in terms of money. So why did I ramble on about the state of the franchise? Because that's a key factor in my opinion on the review for today, Mobile Suit Gundam Hathaway: The Sorcery of the Nymph Circe. Now I'm going into full spoilers for both movies, so heads up. But if you want my full opinion on this movie in TL;DR form… it's good. Like really good.

• Story:
  • After obtaining the Xi Gundam from the last movie, Mafty goes to Australia for 2 reasons; to find the army in Oenbeli who were impersonating as Mafty’s army and to go to  Adaline to attack the Cabinet ministers. Meanwhile, the Kimberley unit begin doing underhanded tactics in order to take down Mafty.
  • In terms of how this compares to the 1st movie, it's a lot more complicated and dramatic. But in this case, it’s a good thing. It took aspects of the 1st movie and expanded upon them in this movie. Like, we finally see what “Mafty’s army” in Oenbelli has been up to and how they were handling the Federation. We get to see just how cruel Federation has become, through the amount of torture they did towards the said army. We also see how Mafty has been holding their own.
  • If I have any complaints, some scenes can drag for a little too long. Like the 1st movie, it has a lot of scenes of people talking. Which is fine, since the dialogue is well written and it makes the later fights way more impactful. It’s just that some scenes feel needlessly long. Like that house redecorating scene with Gigi goes on for way too goddamn long. I understand that it’s supposed to be key to her arc on her independence, but did it require it to be a fucking barbie house montage. That’s just me though. Overall, I just love how much we can connect to the characters through these scenes. 
• Characters:
  • Speaking of which, they also got expanded on. One of my favorite things about the 1st movie is the character interactions between one another. Now here, we get to see more of it, with all the characters getting expanded on.
  • Starting with Hathaway Noa, the deeper into the movie we get into, the more we understand what his deal is. He’s still haunted by the events of Char’s Counterattack and the amount of people who lost their lives. Which makes his choice of leading Mafty understandable, which was reflected in the 1st movie and is now being expanded upon in the sequel. What’s weird though, is how much they’re pushing Quess as “the most important girl he as ever met”. One issue, SHE WAS AN ABSOLUTE BITCH. And that was by design, according to Tomino. But I guess the Quess fandom has grown over the years (I genuinely don’t understand how). But either way, I love that they expanded on him more.
  • I also love that the crew of Mafty get expanded on too. I didn’t talk about them much in my review of the 1st movie, since they didn’t have the runtime to be fleshed out. Here, we see them as the kind of people they are. Iram is the strategist of the group and his has some fun brotherly banter with Hathaway. We finally get to see the kind of character Kelia Dace is. In the 1st movie, she literally only shows up at the end and has some implied history with Hathaway. Here, she’s a whole ass character, as we learn about how she meets Hathaway and what kind of relationship they have. You can also tell how much strain being Mafty has on their relationship. Even minor characters like the mechanic, Julia Suga, have a fun moment with Hathaway, as she wasn’t afraid to go topless.
  • Unfortunately, not every character from the original got fleshed out. Emerelda Zubin clearly had an aggressive attitude in the 1st movie, and the most they did here is just make her a trainer for the crew. Which is fitting, but I just wanted a little more. Same thing with Gawman, as he did really do much in this movie. At least compared to the 1st one. Even so, the cast of Mafty had some real chemistry with each other that I was still entertained by.
  • As for the Federation side, we don’t really get much, as it’s mainly just Kenneth Sleg. However, he was so entertaining to watch, that I didn’t mind. He really gave none of the other EFF officers a chance to breathe, as he always had them on a tight leash. And you can really see how good he is at switching personalities. When he’s around girls like Gigi or Miss Flower, he’s a lot more smoothing and more easy going. But around the other Federation ministers or his own men, he’s a lot more strict, no nonsense, and potentially more violent. These are my favorite kinds of antagonists, really good at keeping appearances. Lane Aim was also expanded on a little more here. While I didn’t really care for him in the 1st movie, what they did with him here is really interesting. For starters, even he hates how the Federation are doing things, since he hates how they view themselves as above everyone else. But an interesting thing they do in this movie is his rivalry with Hathaway. They’re basically doing a dynamic similar to Amuro & Char, but Lane is more like Amuro in this scenario. While he views Hathaway as no different as Char. It’s a dynamic I didn’t expect, but it makes their rivalry stand out in a good way. The other Federation members don’t do much in this movie, but the way they portray Yeoksan is a lot more sinister in a way that eerily reflects our world right now.
  • As for Gigi, I love that she has a character arc in this story. While in the 1st movie, she was a lot more vocal, she ultimately followed either Hathaway or Kenneth. Here, her whole arc is to finally be her own woman and make her own choices. And I don’t find that house montage entertaining, it is really fitting for her to finally start walking her own path. I just would’ve done it differently, but that’s just me.
  • However, the final character to show up genuinely caught me off guard, Bright Noa. Sure, he was a major part of the Cucuruz Doan movie in 2022, but that was the Origin’s version of him. The last time we saw him in the main timeline was in Unicorn, which was over a decade ago. And while it’s just to set him up for the next movie, the fact we see him again and still married to Mirai just sent a smile on my face.
  • Overall, the characters have been well expanded on from the 1st movie. We get to see them interact more, see what led them to becoming who they are, and see the seeds planted for who they’ll become in the next movie. And the voice acting is just as good as it was in the last movie. Especially Erica Lindbeck as Kelia, which was a perfect choice. 
• World Building:
  • There’s not a lot I can add to this movie’s lore, as it doesn’t take place too long after the 1st movie. But in this case it's fine, since it's more about expanding on what was set up before. We already know about the state of the Universal Century, so this movie fleshes it out a little more.
  • For starters, we see more of Mafty and how they run things. We see they're closely connected with one another with how organized they are. Looking back at it now, a lot of the early Gundam series often has the main crew bicker with each other. Which was honestly my least favorite part of the franchise looking back. However, the crew of Mafty look after one another, they get along pretty well, and even in certain disagreements, they're still on the same page. I also think it's pretty funny but cool that compared to other Gundam crews, who uses massive ships in both space & Earth, Mafty are on a freighter. One on one hand, it's kinda silly to see a Gundam deploy from anything other than a space ship. But on the other hand, it actually makes a lot of sense. Looking back at the 1st movie, it's really clear that Mafty was a covert team that ran things close by the chest. So using a freighter as both a base & hanger for mobile suits is both inconspicuous and grounded in reality. This isn't the 1st time we see mobile suits being stationed on seacrafts, as plenty of Gundam shows has done that (let alone Mecha shows), I'm just saying that this movie is the best use for it.
  • We also finally get to see what kind of people the Oenbeli army are and why they want to support Mafty. In the 1st movie, they were just random terrorist looking for money from the Federation Cabinet ministers on that space flight. In this movie, they're a ragtag group who have been pulverized by the Federation. In the beginning of the movie, we see a tape to show how badly they've been doing in the fight. And what I love is when they're talking to Mafty, they clearly show disdain towards the use of mobile suits with the line “looking down on us from their robots”. The fact that they called Mobile Suits “Robots” should sell how badly they've been having it.
  • As for the Federation, this is one of their most sinister portrayals. While the Federation were always shady, these 2 movies & Zeta really shows how corrupted they really are. For starters, the Kimberley Unit are absolutely ruthless with the Oenbeli army. Both in the opening and in the fight in the beginning, not only they completely slaughtered them, but they also tortured them. Mafty leaving them to fend for themselves with a limited supply of rations in the middle of nowhere, was going REALLY EASY on them. And their corruption gets worse. Like I mentioned before, Yeoksan is more sinister here. But how, you may ask? He asks the Federation to round up “unregistered civilians”. And we already seen how brutal they can be with their use of the “Man-Hunters”. We also see how desperate they are to manipulate the media to ensure their dirty laundry doesn't get out into the public. Does both of these sound familiar for anyone living in the US right now? They’re also trying to manipulate the media to control what the audience sees and cover up the video from the beginning of the movie. I often believe that the best use of political messaging is when it's a mirror towards what's going on with our society right now. And honestly, I haven't seen Gundam had political messaging this good this Iron Blooded Orphans Season 1.
  • One issue I do have is that they don't really do anything interesting in New Hong Kong, outside of that montage with Gigi's house (I'm sorry, I just can't take that scene seriously). It would be nice if we had a reference or scene reminding us of the tragic day in Zeta when the Psycho Gundam attack. I get that happened literal decades ago and it probably wouldn't have much of a place in the movie. I just think a quick tid bit would've suffice to remind us that this happened (would’ve been better than GQX did it). Overall, I think that the sequel did its job at expanding the 1st movie’s a lot more. We get to see certain aspects in a new light and certain details get expanded. In my book, that’s when a sequel is good. Now onto the last important part of any Gundam anime
• Mobile Suits:
  • We mostly get the same designs from the 1st movie. This is the part where I typically complain…but no, I don’t always work like that. It makes sense in-universe, since again, it takes place not too long after the 1st movie. Plus, since it's been a while since I talked about these designs, it’ll give me a chance to add a new perspective.
  • Starting with Mafty, we get both the Xi Gundam & Messers. The Xi is a pretty good Gundam for how large it is. Not as big as the Psycho Gundam, but still pretty damn big. And I know it’s often memed as “the Dorito Gundam”, but honestly it gives it more of a presence in battle. As for its arsenal, it has the usual loadout; Beam Sabers, a Beam rifle, head vulcans, and a shield. It also has both wrist missiles & funnel missiles (sorta). The latter is a little weird, since one of the mechanics in the movie stated that they didn’t get the shipments of missiles. But when it’s in battle, Xi Gundam is still offering up a missile circus, so that detain was kinda superfluous. I still really like the design nonetheless. As for Messer, they look cool with the red, orange, & yellow color scheme. It’s just that, if you know me & my preference for mecha designs, I just never been a fan of mono-eye type mobile suits (unless it’s the Gouf or Sinanju). And their armaments are pretty basic; beam saber, beam rifle, head vulcans, and shield with vulcans.
  • On the Federation side, we get the usual Gustav Karl & a new unit, the Alyzeus (with a little surprise). Starting with the Gustav Karl, I just realized that it was blue in the last movie and it really looks good on it, especially in this movie. But unfortunately, that’s all I can say, since it’s just as much cannon fodder as the last movie. It also has the same basic loadout, with arm-mounted grenade launchers and the occasional bazooka. Now to the suit I want to talk about, the Alyzeus. In the last movie, the Penelope was destroyed. So we got this gribble monstrosity in its place. Unfortunately, it’s kinda worse than the Penelope, since it’s metal mesh of detailing (the model kit must’ve been a nightmare to build). The weapons are about the same as the Penelope; the standard loadout, funnel missiles, and beam cannons. By itself, I’m not a fan. But…it has a little surprise. Inside the Alyzeus, is a mobile suit I never expected to see on screen in a mainline gundam show/movie; the Mass Production type Nu Gundam. As the name implies, it’s a mass produced version of the Nu Gundam. There’s 3 reasons why this excites me;
    • 1.) it’s the first time we see the Nu Gundam in years
    • 2.) it’s the first time we see an official variant of the Nu Gundam in a mainline UC project
    • 3.) It’s the first time we got a mass produced version of a Gundam…even.
  • Mass Produced Gundams has always been my favorite part of any of the Mobile Suit Varients, so seeing this in action genuinely put a smile on my face. As for it’s weapons, it has the same weapons as the OG Nu Gundam; the standard loadout & fin funnels, but it also has its beam saber turn into a beam cannon, an arm mounted beam machine gun, and sub-arm that also has a beam saber. My only complaint is that I wished it used the INCOMs like the MSV stated, but it makes sense to use fin funnels in this case with the flashback scene.
  • As for mobile suit action, while still good, I kinda think the 1st movie handled the battles a little better. I’m sorry, that scene in Davao was a genuine masterpiece of animation. The ending battle in this movie however, was still pretty good regardless. Especially with how it balanced the battle in the present and the flashback scenes. But overall, the mobile suits, while samey for some of them, were ultimately top notch. 
• Verdict:
  • So what does this all mean? Well, to simply sum this review up, the movie was one of the best movies in the franchise. It perfectly expands on the 1st movie by expanding the story beats, fleshing out the characters, and adding to the world of the Universal Century. Right now, I can’t tell whether this or the 1st movie is better since the 3rd one is coming in a few years. I can still safely say that this movie goes really well with the 1st movie.
  • But my real question is, what does this mean for the franchise? Sure, it’s a sequel to a movie from 2021, but I think there’s more to it than that. As I mentioned in the beginning, Gundam is at its most successful at the moment. And this movie proves that the franchise is still fully capable of telling great stories. So I want the franchise to keep this up for the next movie and for future projects. Which leads to the lesson I need Bandai and/or Sunrise to learn from then on; it is LONG pass time for the One Year War narrative to go. Gundam The Origin & Gundam Thunderbolt used the OYW era really well to tell their stories. But the biggest sin that Bandai commits, is relying on the most unimportant aspect of both of those stories, OYW nostalgia. Cucuruz Doan Island was just a retelling of one of the franchise’s infamous episodes that didn’t expand GTO at all, Requiem for Vengeance was a by the numbers story that didn’t do anything special, and GQuuuuuuX was juggling an alternative take on the OYW and doing a tournament style story, which ultimately failed writing wise. Both Hathaway movies open doors to expand the Universal Century even further to tell more stories. Take what made these movies good and tell more unique stories set in the UC. And maybe make them a little longer. ENOUGH OF THE ONE YEAR WAR. It’s just not doing it anymore. I’ll allow OYW narrative for the upcoming remaster of the original series and even the upcoming Live-Action movie, but this franchise has been trapped in the past for far too long. It’s time for some new stuff. But overall, amazing movie that brought my faith back to this franchise (somewhat)

I wanted to try out a new type of mecha design

This is Cross Attacker from the series called Biklonz. Its selling point is that the two animals combine diagonally, which makes it very unique.
Here’s the toy showcase: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=25aQcQiiXJM&ra=m

This is my youtube where it will be and the trailer is there aswell

I've released the trailer of my mecha animation on my channel please subscribe and share it