Can We Talk About: my Gundam Wing Rewatch, Episodes 01-05

[seventhe]

So safety_caesars got me to watch Gundam Wing with her, when we first moved in together. I need to talk about this a little bit because it will sort of set the stage for all of the future flailing that's going to happen here. She and I rewatched Evangelion back in May/June-ish while I was caring for the Weasley Kittens, and it was really fun and interesting to just rewatch old animes and flail and talk about them. (For a mental image that should basically cover all of "us rewatching Eva", please picture the two of us drunk as fuck, buried under blankets (yes it was May), clinging to each other in a state of terrified and desperate cathartic mindfuck as we scream at the creepified disgustingness that is all of the Evas -- and then, three seconds later, engage in hilarious debate about how we hate every character a little, and breasts. The end.)

Anyway. We had rewatched all of Avatar: The Last Airbender, we had watched some other stuff, and Becky says to me, do you want to watch Gundam Wing? Sure, I said. I was just a tiny bit too old to catch it at the time it was out on Toonami -- and this will become very important: I missed the entire first incarnation of the fandom as a whole. I didn't really know a lot about it except that there were boys and robots and it was back from the 90s. Becky said she had liked it a lot and was interested in seeing how it stacked up now; I said, hey, it was popular and even if I don't get into it, I'll be glad that I watched it. So we started watching eps during dinner (and often after dinner, into the second bottle of wine, because we make really good life choices).

Here's how that rewatch went.

• First ~1/3 of the show: huh, this is alright… it's kind of confusing and complicated for a kids' show and I'm having trouble keeping track of who is where and what is which, but I like these cutefaced characters a lot. It's fun! More wine please.


• Second ~1/3 of the show: Okay, these characters are actually really awesome; I'm still not sure how much of the story I'm picking up here, and every time I think I have it under control somebody switches sides or changes positions or otherwise mindfucks me, but I'll keep watching for PRETTY, AMAZING BOYS IN ROBOTS. I can see why people liked this, I get it.


• Final 1/3 of the show: JESUS IN A BARREL OF FUCKS WHEN THE HELL DID THIS SHOW GET SO AWESOME AND HOW DID IT CREEP UP ON ME AND WHY DO I HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA WHAT HAPPENED. WHAT IS HAPPENING. I AM NOT EVEN PREPARED. WHEN DID ALL OF THE CHARACTERS BECOME MASSIVE BAMFS AND WHY AM I GAY FOR ALL OF THEM OH MY GOD MY HEART, IT'S EVERYWHERE JESUS CHRIST PLEASE TELL ME THERE IS MORE


• after the last episode: *Becky and I just staring at each other and repeating, "Oh my fucking god," for about twenty minutes*

So of course I wanted to dive right into the fandom – never mind that it hasn't existed for like 10 years, jerks – but I realized the very first time I sat down to write shameporn anything that I definitely hadn't caught enough of the details of the backstories to really feel great writing anything more than, I don't know, clown blowjobs really dumb stuff. And I was finding other people who were all about a tiny little fandom revival – not just safety_caesars but katmillia, and then I met notraffic and it all went downhill towards the SHAME TRAIN – but I was like, oh god oh god what the fuck happened in Luxembourg? Where the fuck was that in the show. I don't even know. And I knew that Becky didn't want to rewatch it again, right away (and duh, she knows what happened), which was cool, so originally I thought maybe I'd just read up on stuff online, get episode recaps or read the GW wiki or something like that.

Then I remembered that

1. I run a lot every week, and it's on a treadmill now because it's cold
2. I have an iPad
3. Running is boring
4. Running to Gundam Wing would be less boring
5. I could watch the episodes with the English voices and learn something about the dub, too

So I now have the series on my iPad, and I watch 1-2 episodes every time I run, depending on the length of the run. :D The English dub is pretty different than what's in my head, and it's also easier to run with headphones and English – it can be hard to read subtitles when I'm doing sprint intervals – and I don't really give any fucks that I'm watching a kid's cartoon in a public gym, whooooops.

So anyway, let's talk about my feelings on episodes 01-05.


General Thoughts on the English Dub
- Quatre's English voice is hot
- Wufei's English voice is super hot
- Duo's American voice makes me laugh a lot. I continue to imagine him as a Ninja Turtle just because of the voice actor's inflections and all.

General Thoughts upon Rewatching
- By the second episode I could really understand why I was so confused. Like, conceptually I understood that the 5 Gundams were going to different places on the earth, but like – Heero and Duo meet up, and then Trowa and Quatre run into each other, and I was like wait. wait. so they are close. So they are… not close. What. The. Fuck. It is really hard for me, in this show, to figure out who is physically WHERE. It's something I am trying really hard to keep track of this time. Apparently Gundams travel really quickly across the planet.
- Other stuff was confusing too, like – Quatre's Maguanac army. It took me seriously like 4 Quatre episodes to be able to tell the Maguanac mobile suits from the other ones, so I was like, dude, why does this guy have [Leos/Aries/whatevers] following him around?? I seriously did not really understand what was up with the Maguanacs for a while. When they showed up in battle I just thought they were more mobile suits and I was really confused when Quatre didn't fight them too. This is how dumb I am, people.
- I'm getting a lot more of the Oz backstory this time, I think; I guess we'll see when it starts to get all twisted up and complicated, but, yeah.

Specific Thoughts on These Episodes
- I really like the way you learn so much about the pilots in their first and second appearances on screen. I want to talk about Heero in a separate point. But you know right away that Duo is this sort of happy, gritty, crazy-like-a-fox motherfucker who would be funny if he weren't ready to kill you; I had kind of forgotten how much I adore Duo's character type until he started showing up on screen again. Trowa is a badass who blows his first mission to smithereens to get it done – but then joins a circus and pets lions, I am sorry, I may never get over Trowa and the goddamn circus thing, ever, it's like 200 years in the future and there are still traditional circuses with clowns and shit, I like that giant robots are TOTES OKAY but my brain gets stuck on THE GODDAMNED CIRCUS. Thanks brain. Anyway, it shows two sides of Trowa, the ruthless trained soldier, and the guy who likes giant fluffy animals more than people (WHY I RELATE TO TROWA SOMETIMES 101). This thought was going somewhere. With Quatre, I think the scene that really got me this time was when he's watching all the flamingos on Sandrock and he says, "It's beautiful. Do they have any idea how beautiful it is?" talking about the earth and I am just like GUT MY HEART, WHY DON'T YOU. And Wufei is I think making a lot more of an impression on me this time; I want to wait to talk about him because he's one of the characters that kind of slipped through my fingers the first time through.
- Heero. Okay, so, I'm going to throw these thoughts out there upon this first rewatch: I was kind of like, hey, Heero, what the fuck. I realize that the show is trying to set up the self-destruct thing; I realize this is part of Heero's character and characterization, and that his dedication to the mission is important. But it seriously almost seemed… too easy for him. Like, doesn't he even care about getting his Gundam back and maybe being able to do more actual missions? Nope, fuck that, he did ONE mission and it's time to blow it the fuck up. It seems to me like his dedication to "the mission" is actually really short-sighted in the beginning here; he isn't looking at the broader picture. He's simply looking at the tiny fact that the Gundam might get into enemy hands. And rather than elaborately planning to go get it, he… elaborately plans to blow it up. It seems to me that all the energy he put into plotting that thing with the missiles could have gone into an infiltration-and-recovery plan just as easily. It's interesting to me. I am like, dude. I don't know.
- Relena. I had, um, forgotten just how fucking obnoxious her fan club was in these early episodes. I had reservations about Relena and I think a lot of it is my own personal ick factor against characters who think they know everything, characters who always think their interpretations have to be right: Relena has this obsession with Heero and it continues to continuously get her into trouble. But instead of I don't know staying away or what, she's all like "OH OKAY I will go out to the base and follow Heero it can only end well right", although I also realize that if she hadn't been so meddlesome the story may not have gone the same way at all. I am just saying. My feelings: they are complicated. I ended up being all about Relena, but here at the beginning, I am pretty unsure about her.
- I had seriously forgotten just how absolutely gay the flute-and-violin scene between Trowa and Quatre is. AND THIS IS FROM SOMEBODY WHO SHIPS THEM. My god, is that not a little over the top? The first time Becky and I watched it I am pretty sure I made a face; I made the same face this time while running. It's a pleasantly amused but a little bit cringing face, it's cool.
- I had forgotten that Relena meets up with the one crazy doctor and he tells her some about Heero. TOTALLY FORGOTTEN. So I guess… in some ways I can buy her sort-of-obsession with Heero building up based on their encounters AND that information. It's just very interesting – this is one of those things I had a super hard time keeping track of when I was still all OOH SHINY GUNDAM WHAT JUST WENT BOOM, the little details of who knows what and who was where.


I'm running tomorrow and probably Friday, so I'll share my thoughts as I go.

ALSO: need to obtain some GD Gundam Wing icons omg

Comments

[crankyoldman]

Ha ha omg, where can I get episodes so I can watch this show. I never got to see ALL of it, because I did too much as a jr high/high school kid (the majority of my free time now is catching up with the 90s it seems... I'm not sorry). I also want to do a Macross marathon at some point. I have a lot of Things to Sew coming up, so dubs preferred (so I can you know, not always have to be looking at the screen).

I have a couple distinct impression of GW:

- Watching Endless Waltz at a friend's 13th or something like that birthday party, asking her who Trowa was and her telling me he was someone's boyfriend. I forget which dude. And being confused.

- Occasionally catching episodes and bits here and there, and wanting to look awesome like Relena. >.>

- Also robots.

- And YES ALSO WTF THE CIRCUS.

[seventhe]

OMG. WELL. I have the English versions and I can send the to you somehow or burn them to a CD and mail them, your call. YOU SHOULD WATCH THEM AND THEN JOIN OUR OHAYOCON COSPLAY GROUP. it's pretty good and ridiculously gay!

[seventhe]

Oh and also:

UNIFORM

KINK

IS

EVERYWHERE

i'm just spamming you now

[seventhe]

I MEAN. UNF.

[jerkface]

OH NO, YOU'VE NEVER SEEN THE WHOLE THING? YOU POOR THING.

I mean, the whole show is pretty sweet, but the last five episodes or so are fucking EPIC BEYOND WORDS.

GET ON THAT.

[jerkface]

YES. YES. THERE NEEDS TO BE MORE GUNDAM WING LOVE IN MY DW CIRCLE. MAKE IT SO.

[seventhe]

...would you like to join our GAY GUNDAM WING PARTY? SERIOUSLY?

RY LET ME HEAR YOUR THOUGHTS

[hostilecrayon]

HI I AM RANDOMLY INTRUDING ON THIS CONVERSATION TO SAY THAT IF YOU WANT MORE GW LOVE IN YOUR DW CIRCLE, WE SHOULD BE FRIENDS. :D

THAT IS ALL.

[whitemage]

CLEARLY I need this show in my life. :O

Like, I used to avoid it because my brother was really into it and he is a dickwad and I rarely like what he likes but I SEE THE ERROR OF MY WAYS NAO.

*crais* FINALS, Y U NO OVER????

[seventhe]

You and Cendri should watch it!! I'm sending t to her!

Re: i'm just spamming you now

[crankyoldman]

Yes, we can totes watch it at my place away from the boys after your finals are done, because I will be done with Grad Application then and all will be happy. Or you know whenever it gets here in the mail cause I cannot get torrent to work on my internets.

[esmenet]

(Linked here through Tumblr; only about seven episodes in myself)

The music scene is INCREDIBLY gay, I love it. And Quatre is like 'come back some time soon, we can play together again!' which was super adorable.

I love love love the circus thing. TRADITIONS ARE IMPORTANT OKAY. At least the ones involving lions and stage makeup and giant tents and knives. Yeah.

And I am not surprised that your brain gets stuck on the circus! Giant robots & spaceships & etc. are totally expected in sci-fi. Circuses are NOT.

Prepare for FEELINGS ahead:

RELENA RELENA I LOVE RELENA of course I knew basically all of fandom hated her so I was determined to love her from the beginning, before I watched one second of the show. But I actually really like her characterization as a bored and kind of lonely rich kid, with lots of acquaintances but no close friends or people she really looks up to. And then a mysterious and good-looking person falls from the sky and steals an ambulance and shows up at her school; it makes sense that she goes I AM ON THIS SO HARD, and that she's not all that worried about dying, because this is literally the most interesting thing that's happened in her life. Her yelling for Heero to come & kill her actually makes sense too in that context, because goddammit he promised and that promise is the only thing she has to hold onto him with; if he leaves, she'll be right back to her boring life as a politician's neglected daughter, with no giant robots or car chases in sight. So although she could have stayed away and kept out of trouble, she really doesn't want that.

The meeting with Doctor J is really interesting too, I think, because it puts the name of Heero Yuy in not just a historical or background context but also a political one, which ties him into things she's familiar with.

So, idk, I don't think she's obsessed with Heero exactly? But she really, really wants what he represents: freedom, excitement, and ties to people on a personal level rather than just a political & polite one.

[seventhe]

HELLO TUMBLR FRIEND, THIS IS ACTUALLY AWESOME :D

The Quatre/Trowa scene is legitimately so cute you can see it from SPACE. (I will confess now, I have a GIANT crush on Quatre: I ship Quatre/me OTP, I am sure it is possible through the Zero system, DON'T JUDGE MY CHOICES.) I really do love it though. It's the entire "soldiers but not" thing that is awesome about this series: like, they play music! And then go shoot people. I don't know, I really like that kind of duality thing.

THE CIRCUS. I am really kind of amused by it, even if my brain took a while to get there. XD

RELENA: I actually am REALLY INTO your points here! Like -- I said in a comment somewhere and I don't know if it was here or LJ or what, but: what I really come to like about Relena is the path she takes in the series, how she grows. I like that she starts off as this character who, like you said, just seems to want bigger things in her life -- but then when she gets them instead of being like "oops no" she is like "NO, I WILL TAKE YOU ON AS A FUCKING PEACECRAFT. QUEEN OF THE WORLD, WHAT IS THAT." What I most like about her is her arc, which I think is why early!Relena feels so weird to me, because I like when she is moving.

Are you in the fandom at all?

[lil-1337.livejournal.com]

I've seen the full series five times, I think, and parts of it so many times that I lost count a while ago and yet there is always something that new every time I watch it. It is one of the few series I can watch over and over without getting bored.

Relena changes so much over the course of the series. She is such a spoiled brat at the beginning that she is hard to like.

I honestly do not understand how anyone can watch the duet scene and not walk away shipping Quatre and Trowa.

[first-seventhe.livejournal.com]

I think that's one of the things I liked about Relena, is watching her come so far throughout all the shit that happens to her during the series. However, to come that far she does start out in an unfortunate place, you know? But I really like the way the events shape her character; I think that's awesome.

And oh my god that scene. Ha. HA. It's almost funny. QUATRE'S FACE WHEN TROWA PICKS UP THE FLUTE

[shahrizai.livejournal.com]

Fun fact: 13x6 is my longest running continual ship!

I'm pretty sure I only survived the fandom by being an OZ fan and quickly learning that you never tell the het or yaoi fandoms you play for both teams. At least it taught me not to go near Weiss Kreuz with a ten foot pole.

[first-seventhe.livejournal.com]

I'm almost disappointed that I missed the fandom, because it sounds like it was batshit nuts. But then I remember how easily irritated I am, and I'm glad it's just me and some friends and some shameporn over here.

13x6 is ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS. I forgot to mention it here but "Shoot 'em down for me, Zechs" is like. Oh my god. Almost can't breathe I am happily shipping it so long.

[katmillia.livejournal.com]

i anticipate great things from the big gay roadtrip

[first-seventhe.livejournal.com]

that might be where i actually start sharing my thoughts in art form

because BIG GAY ROAD TRIP just makes me think of Heero with that white sunscreen on his nose and Trowa in a terrible hat

[madisuzy.livejournal.com]

I just spent the last half an hour watching fan videos of Quatre and Trowa on youtube and it is all your fault. *tries to resist the urge to get into yet another fandom* I'm going to have to watch this now. *pouts*

[first-seventhe.livejournal.com]

Yesss come to the fandom revival. I swear its awesome. Also are there any good fanvids?

[salarta.livejournal.com]

Clown blowjobs! I believe I am an expert in the field!

[first-seventhe.livejournal.com]

...legit LOL at my desk

[deadcellredux.livejournal.com]

.......I SAW THIS SERIES AT LEAST THIRTEEN YEARS AGO AND HAVE FORGOTTEN MOST THINGS ABOUT IT BUT I STILL CLEARLY REMEMBER THAT FLUTE AND VIOLIN SCENE

THAT'S HOW GAY IT WAS

I JUST FELT THE NEED TO SHARE THIS

[first-seventhe.livejournal.com]

THAT SCENE IS SERIOUSLY THE HOMO ICING ON THE CAKE OF GAY THAT IS GUNDAM WING