As we all know, the Gundam franchise is one of the most well-known franchises in sci-fi/anime/Japanese pop culture in general, being described as the "Japanese equivalent of Star Trek/Star Wars". It has been highly influential on various aspects of pop culture, particularly in Japan, what with the prevalence of references to the francise that other media works there, from Megaman to Detective Conan, make. Such references have even been made in western works, like Adventure Time!
With such a decades-long history (almost 40 years), and so much material across various mediums like anime, movies, video games, manga, novels, and of course model kits (Gunpla), it's interesting to see where the franchise would have gone if different decisions were made at different points in time in respect to OTL (Kinda like a "meta" version of stuff that happens in the Gihren's Greed video games, where the player, if they make certain choices can get different results from what happened in the actual animes/movies/etc).
Besides, there has been quite lot discussion regarding different PODs and AH trajectories for Doctor Who, Star Trek, and Star Wars, so why not one for one of Japan's major sci-fi franchises?
To start with: (of course there's a lot more possible PODs than these!)
-It's very well known that the original Gundam series, Mobile Suit Gundam, didn't do well in the ratings and ended up being cancelled early, but developed a devoted fanbase who bought the tie-in merchandise (model kits), and those sales, along with reruns of the show, resulted in movies being made ("compilation movies" that recut the show into a movie trilogy format), which in turn kickstarted the franchise's prominence in Japanese pop culture, getting tons of sequels and spinoffs to this very day.
What would be the impact on Japanese pop culture, as well as the world, if that never happened though?
-All the different entries in the franchise had different possibilities with respect to how the story could have gone for them, such as Gundam SEED going with a "everyone dies at the end except for Athrun (who would be maimed)" ending, Wufei being a Newtype who could "sense evil", or Gundam IBO's Season 1 ending being even more darker than OTL, to name a few examples...What would be the effects of these changes?
-What if F91 actually was made as a TV show, instead of being a movie?
-G-Saviour: what if it was never made/actually good/successful?
-What if Tomino wasn't depressed when working on shows like Zeta and Victory Gundam? (or conversely, what if he was depressed when working on Turn A Gundam?) How would they turn out?
-What if Morosawa wasn't sick when working on Gundam SEED Destiny?
-What if Imagawa didn't work on G Gundam?
-What if Gundam 00 was set in the UC continuity like it was originally planned?
-What if Dragonair did better than Gundam ZZ? How would that affect the franchise?
-Video game PODs: What if Mobile Suit Z Gundam: Hot Scramble was localized? Or any of the Gihren's Greed games? Or games like the ones in the Super Robot Wars and Another Century's Episode series? Or these Gundam battle pods like the ones found in Japanese arcades, to name but a few examples?
-What if Sunrise wasn't bought by Bandai?
-What if the change in directors didn't happen in the production of the Gundam 0083 OVA?
-What if the director of the 08th Mobile Suit Team OVA didn't die halfway through production?
-What if Gundam X was localized in the West/US after Gundam Wing, instead of the original Mobile Suilt Gundam? Could that have allowed Gundam to retain a bigger Western fanbase, as many fans and anime industry analysts have suggested?
-What if Gundam Wing wasn't the first Gundam series to be localized to the West? How would that affect the development of the Western Gundam fanbase?
With such a decades-long history (almost 40 years), and so much material across various mediums like anime, movies, video games, manga, novels, and of course model kits (Gunpla), it's interesting to see where the franchise would have gone if different decisions were made at different points in time in respect to OTL (Kinda like a "meta" version of stuff that happens in the Gihren's Greed video games, where the player, if they make certain choices can get different results from what happened in the actual animes/movies/etc).
Besides, there has been quite lot discussion regarding different PODs and AH trajectories for Doctor Who, Star Trek, and Star Wars, so why not one for one of Japan's major sci-fi franchises?
To start with: (of course there's a lot more possible PODs than these!)
-It's very well known that the original Gundam series, Mobile Suit Gundam, didn't do well in the ratings and ended up being cancelled early, but developed a devoted fanbase who bought the tie-in merchandise (model kits), and those sales, along with reruns of the show, resulted in movies being made ("compilation movies" that recut the show into a movie trilogy format), which in turn kickstarted the franchise's prominence in Japanese pop culture, getting tons of sequels and spinoffs to this very day.
What would be the impact on Japanese pop culture, as well as the world, if that never happened though?
-All the different entries in the franchise had different possibilities with respect to how the story could have gone for them, such as Gundam SEED going with a "everyone dies at the end except for Athrun (who would be maimed)" ending, Wufei being a Newtype who could "sense evil", or Gundam IBO's Season 1 ending being even more darker than OTL, to name a few examples...What would be the effects of these changes?
-What if F91 actually was made as a TV show, instead of being a movie?
-G-Saviour: what if it was never made/actually good/successful?
-What if Tomino wasn't depressed when working on shows like Zeta and Victory Gundam? (or conversely, what if he was depressed when working on Turn A Gundam?) How would they turn out?
-What if Morosawa wasn't sick when working on Gundam SEED Destiny?
-What if Imagawa didn't work on G Gundam?
-What if Gundam 00 was set in the UC continuity like it was originally planned?
-What if Dragonair did better than Gundam ZZ? How would that affect the franchise?
-Video game PODs: What if Mobile Suit Z Gundam: Hot Scramble was localized? Or any of the Gihren's Greed games? Or games like the ones in the Super Robot Wars and Another Century's Episode series? Or these Gundam battle pods like the ones found in Japanese arcades, to name but a few examples?
-What if Sunrise wasn't bought by Bandai?
-What if the change in directors didn't happen in the production of the Gundam 0083 OVA?
-What if the director of the 08th Mobile Suit Team OVA didn't die halfway through production?
-What if Gundam X was localized in the West/US after Gundam Wing, instead of the original Mobile Suilt Gundam? Could that have allowed Gundam to retain a bigger Western fanbase, as many fans and anime industry analysts have suggested?
-What if Gundam Wing wasn't the first Gundam series to be localized to the West? How would that affect the development of the Western Gundam fanbase?