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.
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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.
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