The following will contain spoilers and plot details for Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX -Beginning-.
It’s been a full day, at the time of this post, since Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX -Beginning-, the theatrical cut of the first few episodes of the series proper, was released in Japanese theaters. And if you did some quick sleuthing over your social feeds, then you’ve likely encountered scans of the pamphlet given during the initial screenings, which very much confirmed the plot leaks a month or so ago. I didn’t delve into these during that time since Bandai Namco was actively purging related posts. But now that the film is out, at least in Japan, I believe I can say my unsolicited thoughts. At least for the reimagined mobile suit designs.
Yes, Gundam GQuuuuuuX is an alternate take on the events of the original Mobile Suit Gundam and flips the outcome of the One Year War. Instead of Amuro Ray boarding the Gundam during the Side 7 attack, Char Aznable steals it, along with the White Base, and eventually leads the Principality of Zeon to victory, at the cost of his disappearance, along with the Gundam, towards the end of the war. GQuuuuuuX takes place in U.C. 0085, five years after the One Year War when Char’s Red Gundam reappears, along with the introduction of the GQuuuuuuX, a Zeon-made Gundam-type mobile suit sent to capture the Red Gundam.
In the original Mobile Suit Gundam, only the Gundam unit Amuro piloted survived the Side 7 attack, with the other units destroyed and were just used for spare parts. In GQuuuuuuX, since Char stole this unit, the Federation was able to respond by sending the Prototype Gundam, which has the designation RX-78-01 01 Gundam in the divergent timeline. It shares the same body design as the stolen machine, albeit with a different head unit featuring a visor. It also has the same core block system that becomes the backpack of the unit.
The point of timeline divergence centers on this unit, the RX-78-02 White Gundam, part of the Federation’s Project V for mobile suit development. As mentioned, the design shares the same elements as the 01 Gundam albeit the obvious color and head unit differences. Compared to the original, this version has a whole lot of yellow parts which appear to help reinforce the internal frame. Unlike the 01 Gundam, this guy has vulcan guns in the head, which are essentially gatling guns bolted from the back, a detail often hidden in more orthodox Gundam designs.
Since the Gundam was stolen in this timeline, the Federation wasn’t able to mass produce it as planned (i.e. no GMs) and instead utilized the Guncannon as the base with some data they have of the Gundam. This led to the development of the Light-Type Guncannon or Lightcannon.
After successfully capturing the Federation’s prototype, Zeon painted it in Char’s personal colors and it’s now redesignated as the gMS-α Red Gundam. The alpha in the serial number apparently represents the Alpha-Psycommu system installed to it, allowing Psycommu weapons, like bits, to be used. It disappeared, along with Char towards the end of the war and surprisingly reappeared in U.C. 0085, piloted by Shuji Ito, to travel from one colony to another and paint their exteriors with graffiti.
Finally, we have the gMS-Ω GQuuuuuuX, a Gundam-type mobile suit utilizing the Omega-Psycommu system, which is more powerful than the one installed in the Red Gundam. While not called a Gundam per-se, this is pretty much a Gundam since this timeline resulted in the Federation not creating all those derivative units like those in the Gundam Project from 0083 or the Gundam Mk-II. This is basically Zeon’s take on the same concept.
We already have the HG GQuuuuuuX, and it was just released, and we’ll likely have an HG of the Red Gundam. But what I really want are kits of the White Gundam and 01 Gundam, which shouldn’t be that difficult since they’re basically recolors of the Red Gundam with different head parts, and of course colors. As of this post, and a day after the release of GQuuuuuuX -Beginning-, we’ve yet to see announcements of other kits from the series. The premiere of the actual series proper is yet to be announced as well.
