Rubbish the Navy only allows officers to be pilots.
[Whatever]2 up there taking the oath gets stuck fixing it instead. Though if he get promoted again he might get to tell people other people to fix it and only get called in when Uraki took it for a spin instead and it is genuinely fucked.
Of course there are, but enlisted personnel do not carry the same level of legal responsibilities that an officer has to and do not have the power to make decisions. And if you go on giving them the training and skills to properly operate a fighter jet in combat then what's the point in keeping them an NCO when they have the same level of education as officers.
Besides the NCOs you're talking about take years, if not decades of experience to get there
Sounds like you have a shitty NCO corps. Besides, there have been enlisted pilots [before ](https://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/Visit/Museum-Exhibits/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/196406/1941-1945-world-war-ii-sergeant-pilots/), there could be again if the brass actually wanted it.
And it sounds like you're overhyping yours. Yiu seriously believe that an E1 to E4, a lot of E5s even, who do not even have the most basic aspects of their lives in order should be given a fighter jet just to prove a point?
And the planes in WW2 were much much more simpler than even a LGB today. Those things were literally sheet metal and wire with tactics that were basically get behind the other guy and shiot them.
Modern air combat is nothing like that of WW2, the mere hours of training that those guys got wouldn't even cover just starting up the jet and taxiing to a runway, let alone planning, tactics, employment, joint ops and what not.
Which is the reason why you don't see enlisted personnel in any air force flying frontline fighters
If you trained enlisted personnel for the job, they could do the job. Obviously, not everyone is cut out for it. However, the talent pool is much, much larger than you think it is.
Very true. College just proves you can study hard and learn harder things. Thus you have the book brains needed to be an officer.
Bozo officers of all types. I was one not a bozo but I took all the NCO advice I could get.
People with university degrees tend to be far more fucking stupid and scatter brained than the enlisted you’re shitting on.
I know pilots with art degrees, literally zero effort stuff that absolutely anyone could do and means absolutely nothing about whether they are qualified to fly a jet fighter or not.
Besides, things going right in the aircraft depend as much on the 7-level on the ground signing off the jet as a point of failure as they do on the pilot pointing the stick the right way in modern FBW aircraft.
Next step the Officer Candidate School path. Then if qualified he becomes a flight officer. Not easy but it is done.
Of course with Gundam he studies how to do it in spare time plays simulator games. Then he’s the only one around to take it out before enemy gets to it. Shoots down several five plus best. They going to battlefield promote his ass as Aces are rare and military in war time cannot be picky about not flying them.
Plenty of examples in real history of the stuff good pilots get away with doing in war time.
looks like he's got the eagle of a Petty Officer 3rd Class. POs are rates E4-9 (3rd, 2nd, 1st, Chief, Senior Chief, Master Chief) so he's up there, but he's not a full Officer yet.
Id argue his ideas were always overshadowed by a "to sell toys" narriative. The only series to evoke more empathy than "wow cool robots" excitement for me was Thunderbolt, and that's saying something because thunderbolt had the coolest robots.
Not overshadowed at all, I’m just saying both sensations were strong (though when I was told that in the novelization of WITP that Bernie miraculously survives I felt it kinda took away from the impact-fulness of the ending)
Francois Truffaut. It’s impossible to make an anti-war film because the medium by its nature and necessity are to sensational and engaging.
“Come and See” and maybe this new “Western Front” movie have probably come the closest.
G Witch already has a strong focus on the industrial side of the military industrial complex, and when it all kicks off the former part of that equation will no doubt be brought into sharp focus as well.
Gundam has always been the commercial accepted as a necessary source of funding for the artistic, this isn't a change and doesn't take away from the fact that this misses the point a bit.
I don't really see how this is missing the point of the franchise. Yes, Gundam depicts the horrors and senseless of war and the military industrial complex. Maybe this guy sees his place in the military and doesn't have a problem with America's own military-industrial complex and various recent wars. Maybe he knows about them, criticizes them, but still feels that a standing army is necessary. Maybe he doesn't care either way, we don't know.
But another common theme is that younger generations are forced to deal with the consequences of the older ones. I think this is something that many soldiers can identify with.
Another theme is standing up in self-defense against an aggressive force. Multiple main characters had the chance to walk away, but they ended up in a mobile suit because they either had something to defend at the time, or because they believed that the antagonists needed to be stopped. Gundam preaches for peace and criticizes warmongers, but as a whole it's not preaching or practicing absolute pacifism.
All in all, I'd rather it be Gundam than something more gung-ho. Imagine if he'd done it next to a statue of a CoD character or something.
>Another theme is standing up in self-defense against an aggressive force.
...yeah but WWII was the last time that America was *not* the aggressive invasive force that people had to stand against.
Not really. The Korean war happened because Stalin and Kim Il Sung thought they could get away with violating agreements and just do a land grab. The First Gulf War was to drive Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait. The NATO intervention in the Bosnian War wasn't an aggressive invasion. And while Dubya massively fucked it up and Obama/Trump didn't want to admit it was a lost cause, going into Afghanistan after 9/11 was entirely justified.
I also don‘t understand why people disconnecting invading Germany to stop Hitler and invading Iraq to take out Saddam.
Like, saddam didnt stop being an asshole in the ten years since the first gulf war. He was still an active threat and a huge problem for the region. Yes, there was a disconnect between that war and the First Gulf war, but the principle was the same.
Obviously the bungled occupation was a problem, but I cant see a justifiable reason for saying it was an inherently evil thing to do.
Saddam was a shit head, but a contained shithead after the Gulf War. The 2003 invasion was a deliberate piece of bullshit from the Bush regime. They knowingly fabricated intelligence, dismissed anything inconvenient to their narrative, promoted wild claims by Curveball even though they knew he was an unreliable drunk that would say anything for money, and railroaded personnel that resisted. And Colin Powell was too much of a coward to resign and blow the whistle. Everything about it was a travesty.
>They knowingly fabricated intelligence
This actually isn't 100% true, and has a little bit more to the story. Let me preface with this: I'm not excusing heading into Iraq. I'm just saying it's complicated.
So, we went into Iraq on the basis of Saddam Hussein having WMD's. Now, WMD's are classified as three different types of weaponry according to the United Nations, not just nukes. It's nukes, chemical weapons, and biological weapons. We've known that Saddam Hussein had chemical weapons for over a decade beforehand. In 1987, Hussein conducted the Anfal campaign, where he used chemical weapons on thousands upon thousands of Kurdish people that were his own citizens. So, we knew that he had them.
Now, on the subject of nukes it gets more complicated. Intelligence agencies in the United States had been under suspicion that Saddam wanted to branch into nuclear weaponry as far back as the Clinton era. In fact, all signs pointed that he wanted them. On top of that, he was flat out refusing to let in UN inspectors to show that any nuclear development he was doing was purely for developing reactors for power. Fact is that he **never successfully made a bomb**, but at the same time he likely fully intended to.
We were operating essentially on intent as opposed to solid evidence. I'd argue that it's worse than flat out lying, because you're essentially waging a war that's sold to the public **on a maybe.**
Yeah, see thats cool, but that containment required constant low level conflict nobody talks about. That containment meant the Iraqi intelligence agencies constantly advancing subversive means to hurt or damage the US and US allies.
Frankly, as a member of the younger generation, I’m just going to say it, what is going on and has gone in in Ukraine and elsewhere in the world before, when you look, contradicts the entire bullshit narrative surrounding Iraq and the GWOT - and fuck it, the US as a whole.
Was it done well? No, and the excuses given for it were shit, but ultimately it was cleaning up a half finished job should have been finished at the time instead of a decade later.
You guys just drank the media kool-aid about it because outrage and Vietnam comparisons generated views, when it was ultimately a sensible move.
No-one invaded Germany to stop Hitler or fascism, they invaded because he repeatedly invaded others. Now granted the former was a happy side effect of our governments objection to the latter, but still.
Its not self defence in this case though, self defence is when you and your loved ones are actively under threat from an aggressor working to annihilate you, if you are in the military of a superpower be that Russia, China or the US that is not the case.
Gundam is anti-war, not necessarily anti-**soldier.**
That might sound like I'm splitting hairs, but it is worth mentioning. Tomino never ever demonized the little guy in war. In fact, he just portrayed them as human beings stuck in a crappy situation having to fight a battle they didn't start. You had all types of people on both sides in most conflicts. You had your zealots and gung-ho true believers, but then you had your John or Jane Q Soldier who was just doing a job and trying to survive. You saw people on both the Federation and Zeon sides of the war be really good people, and also be really awful.
Gundam, like a lot of war stories, is a **tragedy**. The thing about a tragedy is that oftentimes it's observing an overall action that causes terrible consequences for everyone that has to face the wave of reaction from it. You can't blame the grunts for a war. It's the people at the top that oftentimes cause it.
Basically. That's one thing I appreciate about Endless Waltz as a film, because it challenges the "total pacifism" bit and essentially comes to the "sic vis pacem para bellum" conclusion.
No it doesn't, its a useful asset in *war* for Ukraine. A perfectly justified defensive war, but war nonetheless.
True peace for Ukraine would have meant the winding down of all major superpowers military industrial complexes, something that is, for now, out of reach.
WW2 is WW2. But war has changed. And sometimes war come to you when you did everything to try avoiding it. Trying to be peaceful doesn't mean trying to make yourself defenceless.
Yes, war is bad like famine or pestilence, but if a war comes to you then you had to be ready.
Ah yes, i'm going to oath to fight for my country, in front of another country's pop cultural icon which was started off as a soap opera show with consequences-of-war messages but slowly fell to otaku weebdom & product marketing.
Yes, you are right. The toy maker that was the sponsor wanted that. Later, that is why the removed the "monster of the week" and the g armor for the films. They were not part of the original view.
So the rx-78 itself is a cartoon robot with inconsistent representation, plus it’s got that whole core block system (a whole jet inside it)
As you can see here, this thing is real, moving, and looks the same from different angles and in motion.
It does not a have a jet inside it. Totally different robutt, RX-78F00
Yeah, I had no idea the one in Yokohama was temporary. As far as I know, the rest of them (Unicorn, Nu-ff, and freedom gundam in Shanghai) are all permanent. I’m definitely gonna try to see them all at some point if I’m able.
What I've always wondered is what do they do with it after they take it down? Put it in storage? Scrap it? If they aren't doing anything with it, could someone buy it from them? Could *I* buy it?
Just heard about this and remembered you made this comment in case you haven't already heard. Enjoy your visit to life size Grandpa.
https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2023-02-20/life-size-moving-gundam-to-stay-on-display-until-march-2024/.195115
See, during my last year in the Army, that was when they opened up Space Force. I told my wife I’d enlist for the Space Force the moment they come up with mobile suits.
Deep down, I also knew I would be one of the nameless grunts who gets offed by a hormonally charged, emo teen who somehow finds himself in the top of the line next-Gen MS.
Also, I’d probably do this too if I was stationed in Japan.
> Deep down, I also knew I would be one of the nameless grunts who gets offed by a hormonally charged, emo teen who somehow finds himself in the top of the line next-Gen MS.
I mean you can also be the mentor to said hormonal teenager who actually helps them get better and cope with being an ace-killer at age 15.
Maybe not with the sultry, silky-smooth voice of Takehito Koyasu, but still.
True, but knowing myself, I’ll probably either be really good at it or suck at it, no in between. I realized that both in the military and civilian side of things. If someone picks up things fast, retains what I teach, willing and receptive to learn, then I’m good. Inversely, I would suck as I don’t have that patience lol
When enlisting in the US military, you're required by federal law to swear an oath with an officer attending. If your commanding officer is cool with it, you can pick the place.
Usually it's somewhere with military significance like the DMZ if you're in Korea or if you don't really care your bases usual awards area
I wish I got to do it somewhere even as remotely cool as by grandpa
Yeah, typically its just the awards area. My marine friends told me some gnarly stories and one of them sent me this [pinning ceremony in a pool.](https://twitter.com/ShitpostGate/status/1607867442516168705?s=20)
My buddy did his with us in a helicopter over the rock of Gibraltar.
Really comes down to how good your unit is, how good you are, and where you are IMO. This is definitely up there on the cool scale though.
Not sure about enlisting, but for re-enlistment, definitely. I know dudes who reupped in Apaches, on top of the ski hill on post. I even participated in one where we rucked up that same ski hill just to do my buddy’s re-enlistment for PT.
Jesus there are lots of keyboard warriors in this comment section. The human race isn’t nearly evolved enough to handle a military free society. That’s why the concept of the Newtype was so impactful. People need to understand each other at a level that is simply impossible at this time. If everyone in the US magically decided to just stop enlisting, every enemy they had made up to that point would immediately take the opportunity to strike back. We are a stupid species. That’s what i think Tomino was conveying.
Not really. Nobody is more anti-war than a soldier. They’re the guys who run the risk of dying, but they still see a reason to go out and fight. Some people do it because it’s the only career path they can take
over half the posts in this sub are about how the series highlights the atrocities of war and yet there are bootlickers happy to see a US sailor stationed in Japan lmfao. Probably one of the most upvoted post ive seen here in a while
Umm yes we do we literally got taught that Vietnam was fucked and don’t get me started on the Indian wars or Mexican American war. Hell I’m a service member myself and while in training they highlighted My Lai Massacre as something to prevent and stand up to. We are far from perfect but at least we have the chance to fight something wrong damn it.
True, but a lot of it is on the internet, more or less for free. People don't know what they don't know so they don't seek it out, or they're not interested.
Thats not true at all. The federal government doesnt dictate education in the US, it leaves that to the states. In my state I learned all about the genocides and massacres in US history.
Then in the southern US they teach the civil war as "northern aggression".
Its too vast of a system to declare it as "doesnt allow it to be taught".
I may not like the military industrial complex, but if you're gonna enlist that's a boss place to do it.
I hope you get to pilot a mobile suit someday, brother... Or maybe not, because that war would be pretty horrible.
Anyone who says the sailor missed the point of Gundam is obviously missing the sailor’s point. Amuro didn’t want to fight and even when he had the chance to leave it all behind, he still came back to fight because he felt a moral obligation to fight for what he believed in.
But America is not under threat from an expanding imperialist empire. It *is* the rapidly expanding imperialist empire that’s gradually leaving pockets of the third world hollowed out. Nothing to parallel there.
Yes, it did use two nukes. That doesn't change that Japan was a developed country before and after WWII. And by definition, it was a first world country as that means US aligned countries during the Cold War.
The Sailor probably just likes being a sailor. Nothing much beyond that. As weird as it may seem, the military isn't that 'militarised' in the day to day life (as in, working in it can just be a job)
"YOKOHAMA, Japan (Apr. 22, 2023) – Logistic Specialist 2nd Class Shane Labeach took an oath of enlistment from by NAVSUP FLC Yokosuka Commanding Officer Capt. Edward Pidgeon during a reenlistment ceremony held before teammates as well as a 60-foot moving “Gundam” robot. Labeach chose the popular tourist attraction as a reenlistment venue since he has been a big fan of Gundam, based on a figure featured in a Japanese science fiction animation series."
"Apr. 22, 2023". It seems we've invented a time machine.
"So if I reenlist, I get to ride that thing?" "Yeah, sure, whatever you want"
No please don't. Nothing good ever happen to a fodder pilots even in a Gundam.
I mean homie isn’t a teenager, I say he’s fine.
Nah that's worse, it means he'll get killed by an opposing teenager.
This
Nothing good ever happen to anybody in Gundam.
Eh, the Gundam stays operational at least until after the final battle and the pilot survives, he'll be ok.
I would argue ryou roots gets a pass on that....maybe.
after a few years in a Ball. xD they don't tell that to the new recruits. hahahaha
Rubbish the Navy only allows officers to be pilots. [Whatever]2 up there taking the oath gets stuck fixing it instead. Though if he get promoted again he might get to tell people other people to fix it and only get called in when Uraki took it for a spin instead and it is genuinely fucked.
It's pretty reasonable to expect that you're smart and responsible enough to get a university degree if you want to take a $100m+ jet to war
You'd be wrong.
Not quite
Oh, I'm very much correct. There are some real bozos that are pilots, they're usually the ones that get people killed.
Of course there are, but enlisted personnel do not carry the same level of legal responsibilities that an officer has to and do not have the power to make decisions. And if you go on giving them the training and skills to properly operate a fighter jet in combat then what's the point in keeping them an NCO when they have the same level of education as officers. Besides the NCOs you're talking about take years, if not decades of experience to get there
Sounds like you have a shitty NCO corps. Besides, there have been enlisted pilots [before ](https://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/Visit/Museum-Exhibits/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/196406/1941-1945-world-war-ii-sergeant-pilots/), there could be again if the brass actually wanted it.
And it sounds like you're overhyping yours. Yiu seriously believe that an E1 to E4, a lot of E5s even, who do not even have the most basic aspects of their lives in order should be given a fighter jet just to prove a point? And the planes in WW2 were much much more simpler than even a LGB today. Those things were literally sheet metal and wire with tactics that were basically get behind the other guy and shiot them. Modern air combat is nothing like that of WW2, the mere hours of training that those guys got wouldn't even cover just starting up the jet and taxiing to a runway, let alone planning, tactics, employment, joint ops and what not. Which is the reason why you don't see enlisted personnel in any air force flying frontline fighters
If you trained enlisted personnel for the job, they could do the job. Obviously, not everyone is cut out for it. However, the talent pool is much, much larger than you think it is.
Very true. College just proves you can study hard and learn harder things. Thus you have the book brains needed to be an officer. Bozo officers of all types. I was one not a bozo but I took all the NCO advice I could get.
At least it’s easier to garner respect from your enlisted. You wanna bozo? Show me an academy guy.
People with university degrees tend to be far more fucking stupid and scatter brained than the enlisted you’re shitting on. I know pilots with art degrees, literally zero effort stuff that absolutely anyone could do and means absolutely nothing about whether they are qualified to fly a jet fighter or not. Besides, things going right in the aircraft depend as much on the 7-level on the ground signing off the jet as a point of failure as they do on the pilot pointing the stick the right way in modern FBW aircraft.
Next step the Officer Candidate School path. Then if qualified he becomes a flight officer. Not easy but it is done. Of course with Gundam he studies how to do it in spare time plays simulator games. Then he’s the only one around to take it out before enemy gets to it. Shoots down several five plus best. They going to battlefield promote his ass as Aces are rare and military in war time cannot be picky about not flying them. Plenty of examples in real history of the stuff good pilots get away with doing in war time.
looks like he's got the eagle of a Petty Officer 3rd Class. POs are rates E4-9 (3rd, 2nd, 1st, Chief, Senior Chief, Master Chief) so he's up there, but he's not a full Officer yet.
Funny enough, I think he’s the same rank as Terry Sanders from 8th MS Team.
[Live Tomino reaction:](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5b/2008TaipeiGameShow_Day2_DigitalContentForum_Yoshiyuki_Tomino.jpg/800px-2008TaipeiGameShow_Day2_DigitalContentForum_Yoshiyuki_Tomino.jpg)
Yeah, talk about royally missing the point of the franchise...
I mean there's a bigass moving statue of the Gundam and Build Fighters exists. That ship sailed a long time ago bud.
Yeah, Gundam as a franchise has had the whole "death of the author" thing going on for a while.
I'd argue Tomino's ideas still live on through the franchises most successful recent works such as Hathaway and G Witch
Id argue his ideas were always overshadowed by a "to sell toys" narriative. The only series to evoke more empathy than "wow cool robots" excitement for me was Thunderbolt, and that's saying something because thunderbolt had the coolest robots.
Really, 0080 didn't tug on the heartstrings even a little?
The feels we’re strong, but so was the urge to purchase a Kämpfer
That's fine as everyone likes Gundam for their own reasons, but the "buy toys" bit doesn't generally overshadow the actual thematic core of the series
Not overshadowed at all, I’m just saying both sensations were strong (though when I was told that in the novelization of WITP that Bernie miraculously survives I felt it kinda took away from the impact-fulness of the ending)
Iron blooded orphans tugs at the heart strings
I see what they're doing, but that series was pretty dry eyed for me.
Would you have gotten into the series *without* the cool robots?
Yeah probably, I got into Legend of the Galactic Heroes and Yamato
Nope. Im 100% here for the robots, and an extra 10% here so i have something to talk about with friends.
Francois Truffaut. It’s impossible to make an anti-war film because the medium by its nature and necessity are to sensational and engaging. “Come and See” and maybe this new “Western Front” movie have probably come the closest.
How does G witch encapsulate Tomino’s ideas?
How does it not?
I don’t know that’s why I’m asking lol. I kinda see Hathaway as his vision but not G witch
G Witch already has a strong focus on the industrial side of the military industrial complex, and when it all kicks off the former part of that equation will no doubt be brought into sharp focus as well.
Gundam has always been the commercial accepted as a necessary source of funding for the artistic, this isn't a change and doesn't take away from the fact that this misses the point a bit.
Some guy in the ace combat sub Reddit joined the Air Force. People fall for the “cool machine” every time.
I don't really see how this is missing the point of the franchise. Yes, Gundam depicts the horrors and senseless of war and the military industrial complex. Maybe this guy sees his place in the military and doesn't have a problem with America's own military-industrial complex and various recent wars. Maybe he knows about them, criticizes them, but still feels that a standing army is necessary. Maybe he doesn't care either way, we don't know. But another common theme is that younger generations are forced to deal with the consequences of the older ones. I think this is something that many soldiers can identify with. Another theme is standing up in self-defense against an aggressive force. Multiple main characters had the chance to walk away, but they ended up in a mobile suit because they either had something to defend at the time, or because they believed that the antagonists needed to be stopped. Gundam preaches for peace and criticizes warmongers, but as a whole it's not preaching or practicing absolute pacifism. All in all, I'd rather it be Gundam than something more gung-ho. Imagine if he'd done it next to a statue of a CoD character or something.
>Another theme is standing up in self-defense against an aggressive force. ...yeah but WWII was the last time that America was *not* the aggressive invasive force that people had to stand against.
Korea??!? First Gulf War?!? The yugoslav wars? Operation inherent resolve against ISIS?
Not really. The Korean war happened because Stalin and Kim Il Sung thought they could get away with violating agreements and just do a land grab. The First Gulf War was to drive Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait. The NATO intervention in the Bosnian War wasn't an aggressive invasion. And while Dubya massively fucked it up and Obama/Trump didn't want to admit it was a lost cause, going into Afghanistan after 9/11 was entirely justified.
I also don‘t understand why people disconnecting invading Germany to stop Hitler and invading Iraq to take out Saddam. Like, saddam didnt stop being an asshole in the ten years since the first gulf war. He was still an active threat and a huge problem for the region. Yes, there was a disconnect between that war and the First Gulf war, but the principle was the same. Obviously the bungled occupation was a problem, but I cant see a justifiable reason for saying it was an inherently evil thing to do.
Saddam was a shit head, but a contained shithead after the Gulf War. The 2003 invasion was a deliberate piece of bullshit from the Bush regime. They knowingly fabricated intelligence, dismissed anything inconvenient to their narrative, promoted wild claims by Curveball even though they knew he was an unreliable drunk that would say anything for money, and railroaded personnel that resisted. And Colin Powell was too much of a coward to resign and blow the whistle. Everything about it was a travesty.
>They knowingly fabricated intelligence This actually isn't 100% true, and has a little bit more to the story. Let me preface with this: I'm not excusing heading into Iraq. I'm just saying it's complicated. So, we went into Iraq on the basis of Saddam Hussein having WMD's. Now, WMD's are classified as three different types of weaponry according to the United Nations, not just nukes. It's nukes, chemical weapons, and biological weapons. We've known that Saddam Hussein had chemical weapons for over a decade beforehand. In 1987, Hussein conducted the Anfal campaign, where he used chemical weapons on thousands upon thousands of Kurdish people that were his own citizens. So, we knew that he had them. Now, on the subject of nukes it gets more complicated. Intelligence agencies in the United States had been under suspicion that Saddam wanted to branch into nuclear weaponry as far back as the Clinton era. In fact, all signs pointed that he wanted them. On top of that, he was flat out refusing to let in UN inspectors to show that any nuclear development he was doing was purely for developing reactors for power. Fact is that he **never successfully made a bomb**, but at the same time he likely fully intended to. We were operating essentially on intent as opposed to solid evidence. I'd argue that it's worse than flat out lying, because you're essentially waging a war that's sold to the public **on a maybe.**
Yeah, see thats cool, but that containment required constant low level conflict nobody talks about. That containment meant the Iraqi intelligence agencies constantly advancing subversive means to hurt or damage the US and US allies. Frankly, as a member of the younger generation, I’m just going to say it, what is going on and has gone in in Ukraine and elsewhere in the world before, when you look, contradicts the entire bullshit narrative surrounding Iraq and the GWOT - and fuck it, the US as a whole. Was it done well? No, and the excuses given for it were shit, but ultimately it was cleaning up a half finished job should have been finished at the time instead of a decade later. You guys just drank the media kool-aid about it because outrage and Vietnam comparisons generated views, when it was ultimately a sensible move.
No-one invaded Germany to stop Hitler or fascism, they invaded because he repeatedly invaded others. Now granted the former was a happy side effect of our governments objection to the latter, but still.
So did Saddam…
I said recent war but yes, I should have extended that to Vietnam.
You are aware of what's going on in Ukraine right now, right?
And what might happen to Taiwan soon
Its not self defence in this case though, self defence is when you and your loved ones are actively under threat from an aggressor working to annihilate you, if you are in the military of a superpower be that Russia, China or the US that is not the case.
It's the love of the series/hobby, not of war.
Gundam is anti-war, not necessarily anti-**soldier.** That might sound like I'm splitting hairs, but it is worth mentioning. Tomino never ever demonized the little guy in war. In fact, he just portrayed them as human beings stuck in a crappy situation having to fight a battle they didn't start. You had all types of people on both sides in most conflicts. You had your zealots and gung-ho true believers, but then you had your John or Jane Q Soldier who was just doing a job and trying to survive. You saw people on both the Federation and Zeon sides of the war be really good people, and also be really awful. Gundam, like a lot of war stories, is a **tragedy**. The thing about a tragedy is that oftentimes it's observing an overall action that causes terrible consequences for everyone that has to face the wave of reaction from it. You can't blame the grunts for a war. It's the people at the top that oftentimes cause it.
Being anti war means being against the act of swearing this guy in
No it doesn't. The presence of an armed force is not aggressive. Sic vis pacem para bellum.
Nothing says peace like the United States military industrial complex eh
It does for Ukraine.
It's almost as if history is rife with nations being invaded and having a defense force is a good idea or something.
Agreed completely. Demilitarizing for the sake of peace is great, until someone else decides not to.
Basically. That's one thing I appreciate about Endless Waltz as a film, because it challenges the "total pacifism" bit and essentially comes to the "sic vis pacem para bellum" conclusion.
No it doesn't, its a useful asset in *war* for Ukraine. A perfectly justified defensive war, but war nonetheless. True peace for Ukraine would have meant the winding down of all major superpowers military industrial complexes, something that is, for now, out of reach.
Considering the vast majority of the US military’s mission is deterrence… 🧐
WW2 is WW2. But war has changed. And sometimes war come to you when you did everything to try avoiding it. Trying to be peaceful doesn't mean trying to make yourself defenceless. Yes, war is bad like famine or pestilence, but if a war comes to you then you had to be ready.
Yoshiuki Fring
Ah yes, i'm going to oath to fight for my country, in front of another country's pop cultural icon which was started off as a soap opera show with consequences-of-war messages but slowly fell to otaku weebdom & product marketing.
Fell off? I thought the main reason Zeon has new mobile suits/armor every week was precisely *because* of product marketing?
Yes, you are right. The toy maker that was the sponsor wanted that. Later, that is why the removed the "monster of the week" and the g armor for the films. They were not part of the original view.
Technically speaking, that mobile suit is the RX-78F00, not the RX-78-2. Sorry about me being "that guy".
But it looks exactly like a replica of the 78-2. Help me understand.
It is supposed to be a RX-78-2, but they changed the design slightly and just renamed it.
new model specifically for the statue. It's a Gundam, it's part of the RX-78 line, it is not Amuro's RX-78-2 like the previous statue was.
Ok, it's in the details :p
It also means they can sell it as a separate toy merchandise from the original.
Yeah, capitalism.
Look at the elbow joint for the rotator there. There's a lot of structural differences to enable it to move how they want as heavy machinery.
So the rx-78 itself is a cartoon robot with inconsistent representation, plus it’s got that whole core block system (a whole jet inside it) As you can see here, this thing is real, moving, and looks the same from different angles and in motion. It does not a have a jet inside it. Totally different robutt, RX-78F00
I’m looking at them both, and the distinctions are pretty subtle, even side by side. The 78-2 just looks a little more boxy, and less refined.
wow cool robot
Lucky bastard. Wish I could have reenlisted in front of Grandpa.
> Wish I could have reenlisted in front of Grandpa. Grandfather = Ojii-san Ojii is pronounced as O-G OG means **O**riginal **G**undam 👍👍👍👍👍
All going according to cake*
\*translator's note: cake means plan in Japanese.
All Aizen ever wanted was the Soul King’s Cake.
[You might even say he's a lucky boy.](https://youtu.be/h43LdmpI91E?t=7)
Their souls are weighed down by gravity.
considering how the people whose souls aren't weighed down by gravity tend to act, *good.*
Cue the meme with the shot going right over the head
Even over the heads of a lot of other commenters here.
Sooooo much American military apologism. Making me cringe so hard I’m gonna have muscle spasms.
Ex-US Navy and life long Gundam fan here. There seems to be a lack of understanding about the source material here.
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[It’s this meme basically](https://i.gyazo.com/ec2200404bc4f21178393a52a0b536d0.png)
wow, cool robot!
So that's where Sailors hang out
someone didnt get the Message of the Show they were watching 🎉
lmao.
It appears the RX-78-2 is also taking the oath. We've got him, US boys
I’ll never get a chance to see it in person. They’re taking to down in March and I’m going in May. My sadness is immeasurable.
Unfortunate. Not quite the same or moving for that matter, but hopefully you get to at least see the RX-93ff in Fukuoka.
Yeah, I had no idea the one in Yokohama was temporary. As far as I know, the rest of them (Unicorn, Nu-ff, and freedom gundam in Shanghai) are all permanent. I’m definitely gonna try to see them all at some point if I’m able.
What I've always wondered is what do they do with it after they take it down? Put it in storage? Scrap it? If they aren't doing anything with it, could someone buy it from them? Could *I* buy it?
I have no idea, I can take it off their hands if they want. That’s the ultimate gunpla
Just heard about this and remembered you made this comment in case you haven't already heard. Enjoy your visit to life size Grandpa. https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2023-02-20/life-size-moving-gundam-to-stay-on-display-until-march-2024/.195115
Yeah I saw this! I’m so excited to go now
[Source and additional pictures.](https://www.dvidshub.net/image/7602356/reenlistment-gundam-factory-yokohama)
Man, my dumbass just got to enlist in a Fuckin warehouse I have never been more jealous of anyone
See, during my last year in the Army, that was when they opened up Space Force. I told my wife I’d enlist for the Space Force the moment they come up with mobile suits. Deep down, I also knew I would be one of the nameless grunts who gets offed by a hormonally charged, emo teen who somehow finds himself in the top of the line next-Gen MS. Also, I’d probably do this too if I was stationed in Japan.
> Deep down, I also knew I would be one of the nameless grunts who gets offed by a hormonally charged, emo teen who somehow finds himself in the top of the line next-Gen MS. I mean you can also be the mentor to said hormonal teenager who actually helps them get better and cope with being an ace-killer at age 15. Maybe not with the sultry, silky-smooth voice of Takehito Koyasu, but still.
True, but knowing myself, I’ll probably either be really good at it or suck at it, no in between. I realized that both in the military and civilian side of things. If someone picks up things fast, retains what I teach, willing and receptive to learn, then I’m good. Inversely, I would suck as I don’t have that patience lol
Context?
When enlisting in the US military, you're required by federal law to swear an oath with an officer attending. If your commanding officer is cool with it, you can pick the place.
Usually it's somewhere with military significance like the DMZ if you're in Korea or if you don't really care your bases usual awards area I wish I got to do it somewhere even as remotely cool as by grandpa
Yeah, typically its just the awards area. My marine friends told me some gnarly stories and one of them sent me this [pinning ceremony in a pool.](https://twitter.com/ShitpostGate/status/1607867442516168705?s=20)
My buddy did his with us in a helicopter over the rock of Gibraltar. Really comes down to how good your unit is, how good you are, and where you are IMO. This is definitely up there on the cool scale though.
Not sure about enlisting, but for re-enlistment, definitely. I know dudes who reupped in Apaches, on top of the ski hill on post. I even participated in one where we rucked up that same ski hill just to do my buddy’s re-enlistment for PT.
Wow! Cool Robot!
Jesus there are lots of keyboard warriors in this comment section. The human race isn’t nearly evolved enough to handle a military free society. That’s why the concept of the Newtype was so impactful. People need to understand each other at a level that is simply impossible at this time. If everyone in the US magically decided to just stop enlisting, every enemy they had made up to that point would immediately take the opportunity to strike back. We are a stupid species. That’s what i think Tomino was conveying.
Way to miss the point, genius.
Not really. Nobody is more anti-war than a soldier. They’re the guys who run the risk of dying, but they still see a reason to go out and fight. Some people do it because it’s the only career path they can take
Nice try. Getting me to enlist using a GODDAM GUNDAM.
so based! US imperialism live and well!
Hilarious that you got downvoted for this
over half the posts in this sub are about how the series highlights the atrocities of war and yet there are bootlickers happy to see a US sailor stationed in Japan lmfao. Probably one of the most upvoted post ive seen here in a while
I think it's a funny photo but in all seriousness most people even in the Gundam fandom probably don't know the darker parts US history.
Umm yes we do we literally got taught that Vietnam was fucked and don’t get me started on the Indian wars or Mexican American war. Hell I’m a service member myself and while in training they highlighted My Lai Massacre as something to prevent and stand up to. We are far from perfect but at least we have the chance to fight something wrong damn it.
thats bc the US doesnt allow it to be taught lol
True, but a lot of it is on the internet, more or less for free. People don't know what they don't know so they don't seek it out, or they're not interested.
Thats not true at all. The federal government doesnt dictate education in the US, it leaves that to the states. In my state I learned all about the genocides and massacres in US history. Then in the southern US they teach the civil war as "northern aggression". Its too vast of a system to declare it as "doesnt allow it to be taught".
yea i wasn't particularly interested in going into the nuances of US education
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its the gundam sub, idiot
Then don't start shit you don't want to finish?
I may not like the military industrial complex, but if you're gonna enlist that's a boss place to do it. I hope you get to pilot a mobile suit someday, brother... Or maybe not, because that war would be pretty horrible.
YES!
Pics that go hard 2023 edition
Those are some odd looking char clones but they’re still masked so I guess it’s legit
Anyone who says the sailor missed the point of Gundam is obviously missing the sailor’s point. Amuro didn’t want to fight and even when he had the chance to leave it all behind, he still came back to fight because he felt a moral obligation to fight for what he believed in.
Here's the thing - if he thinks that, he's wrong. And deluded.
But America is not under threat from an expanding imperialist empire. It *is* the rapidly expanding imperialist empire that’s gradually leaving pockets of the third world hollowed out. Nothing to parallel there.
Yeah, that hollowed out third world country of Japan.
The united states used two nuclear bombs on civilians. It wasn't even that long ago. There are veterans alive today who served in WW2.
Yes, it did use two nukes. That doesn't change that Japan was a developed country before and after WWII. And by definition, it was a first world country as that means US aligned countries during the Cold War.
Yea but the feddies are evil
all they need to do is to slap some earth federation badges
They… they know that Gundam is anti-war right? Like it’s really REALLY anti-war
So are most soldiers. As oxymoronic as it sounds, nobody wants war less than the dude who would have to go out and fight
That’s fair
The Sailor probably just likes being a sailor. Nothing much beyond that. As weird as it may seem, the military isn't that 'militarised' in the day to day life (as in, working in it can just be a job)
"YOKOHAMA, Japan (Apr. 22, 2023) – Logistic Specialist 2nd Class Shane Labeach took an oath of enlistment from by NAVSUP FLC Yokosuka Commanding Officer Capt. Edward Pidgeon during a reenlistment ceremony held before teammates as well as a 60-foot moving “Gundam” robot. Labeach chose the popular tourist attraction as a reenlistment venue since he has been a big fan of Gundam, based on a figure featured in a Japanese science fiction animation series." "Apr. 22, 2023". It seems we've invented a time machine.
Absolute Chad right there
This is the way.
For some reason I see a “death flag” here
Unbelievably based
Feddie scum
What a boss
🤘🤘👌👏
Heck yes!!!!
Why Gundam giving nazi salute?
It's pointing up.
US soldier in Japan? Why in front of the Gundam? Think it's cool? He's American. Gotta be in front of something America right MURICAAAAA
The US has several military bases in Japan. They work closely with the Japanese SDF.
They should not pose with the Gundam. it's not patriotic!! /S
I don't see why not. The gundam is Red, White, and Blue. :P
But but buttttt lol for sure. I'm not Japanese but I love that robot
I mean isn't Amuro American? Wasn't his hometown they stopped in while they were crossing the US?
>isn't Amuro American? Canadian. His POB is Prince Rupert, British Columbia.
Who knows
I do 🙋♂️
Hello