6/16/2011

New Gundam Series - Gundam AGE

Looks like the hot topic for Gundam/Gunpla fans these few days is the announcement of a new Gundam series - Gundam AGE. If you didn't already know from various sites on the internet, here's the article on the announcement of Gundam AGE:


Apparently majority of Gundam fans are raging over it, criticising that the Gundam AGE's design is a combination of recycled designs from various Gundam. Most people are also fuming over the chest design, which looks like jet engine intake according to some. Not only that, they are complaining that the storyline is too childish, it's to cater for younger audiences, especially that the lead character is a young kid.

I'm not really excited about it when the announcement was made, but nor was I particularly hating it. After watching the promo trailer, I'm now pretty looking forward to watch it, as it's pretty nice in my opinion =).
I don't understand those people who criticised this new series before even it was even aired. They are basing their opinions on the not-so-much information about the series and bashing it up before they know the full extend of the story. Ironically, when Gundam 00 was announced, the same thing happened, but now most of the criticism died out, with a large fan database some more. Some of them happened to be those who criticised it in the first place =_=.

Enough said about my opinions, here is the promo trailer:


Official Gundam AGE site

Here's a short summary of the story:

The new series will have three generations of "father, child, and descendant" as the lead characters. The main characters pilot the Gundam unit to fight against an unknown attacking enemy (UE) and save Earth in a "One Hundred Year War" — an apparent homage to the One Year War of the first Gundam series.
The first main character is Furitto Asuno, who developed the Gundam AGE-1 mobile suit (humanoid mobile weapon) equipped with the AGE System (a self-adapting computer). The second main character is Asemu Asuno, Furitto's child. The third main character is Kio Asuno, Furitto's descendant who inherits the Gundam. The Gundam AGE-1 can be augmented as the Gundam AGE-1 Titus for more power, or as the Gundam AGE-1 Sparrow for more speed.
Other characters include Emily, Furitto's friend since he was 7. Guruudekku is a Commander in the Earth Federation Forces and the captain of the battleship Diva. Mireesu is a Lieutenant (junior grade) in the Federation Forces aboard the Diva.

The Gundam featured in this series is obviously Gundam AGE. Seems like Gundam AGE has artificial intelligence embed based on this sentence:

The Gundam AGE-1 is the main characters unit. Although it’s a machine, surprisingly, the Gundam grows with the “AGE SYSTEM”. It’s form seems to change with growth from experience in battle!

Gundam AGE will also have 3 different battle/armour configuration:

GUNDAM AGE-1 NORMAL
GUNDAM AGE-1 SPARROW (Speed Type) – A cool blue unit is the highlight. The enemy is torn to shreds with the cutting edge of the sharp Sigl Blade.
GUNDAM AVE-1 TITUS (Power Type) - Though it doesn’t appear to carry weapons, with it’s unbelievable destructive power it crushes the enemy.

Seems like Bandai is going all out to promote this series as they have already produced Gundam AGE gunpla kit of various grades! Surprisingly, or shockingly for some, that a MG kit of Gundam AGE is already in the works while other more popular Gundams/MS from older series don't even have MG kit yet!
Apart from the usual HG 1/144 kit, a Mega Size 1/48 kit is also announced, with another 2 new grades: AG 1/144(Advanced Grade) & GB 1/100(Gage-ing Builder).
Apparently GB kits are figure kits embed with a Gage-ing chip, used at GAGE-ING BATTLE BASE in Japan, a kind of arcade game. This seemed to be aimed at children market, another reason for older fans to grumble, lol.

For more information, please check out my source of these information:
gundamguy.blogspot.com

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