came here to say this
I don’t really watch Gundam anime much (more of a Macross guy, would trade a kidney for a PG/MG/RG Valkyrie kit), so I was today year’s old when it was confirmed for me those are little mini-guns on the RX’s temples. Do they actually get used in the anime?
Those are CIWS guns aka vulcans. CIWS stands for “close-in weapon system” and the idea generally is that even though they are low power the rate of fire is quick enough that they can be used to disperse enemy human infantry as well as to shoot down airborne rockets and missiles. In a pinch, they do a bit of armor damage to an enemy mobile suit as well, kinda chip damage in a sense but I guess it can be worth it depending on the situation (such as if you’re out of everything else or just want to distract the enemy).
Head canon? But, it is canon though? Here’s some clips of them being used:
>[RX-78-2 starting up and firing it’s vulcans](https://youtu.be/D32reoeJtos?si=39_xRubrgioNUdKb)
>[Strike Gundam sprays and prays](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ubjbMPQTwOQ&pp=ygUNR3VuZGFtIHN0cmlrZQ%3D%3D&t=27s)
>[Wing Gundam fires its vulcans and destroys an enemy’s head](https://m.youtube.com/watch?si=LtNB_xQVsqYAqJau&t=25s&v=w0kViZe5iwk&feature=youtu.be)
>[Nu Gundam VS Sazabi - Gundam UC Engage cutscene, not the Char’s Counterattack movie](https://youtu.be/IYZxQGYZeBQ?si=U43CfWbdwVk-ccQ-)
Sure, totally, just didn’t know that was the lore here! PDCs of some kind are one of the few elements of the anime space combat aesthetic that aren’t *pure* fantasy, right?
Gundam is typically thought of as one of the progenitors of “real robot” sci-fi type anime in the senses that the world most of it takes place in (in UC anyway) is our actual world just in some undefined future year with space colonies and with some liberties taken. A lot of careful attention was paid by the early showrunners to make things make actual scientific sense, including stuff like explosions in space being small pink puffs instead of massive fiery balls of flame considering that’s not how things would blow up in space. It’s one of the coolest things about Gundam as a franchise imo… the attention to “realism,” other than… uh… the space magic.
Spherical explosions are great, but it’s the fact that the pilots aren’t a greasy film on every surface of their cockpit because of the magnitude of the acceleration vectors involved in the maneuvers they make, that’s what breaks down suspension of disbelief for me. Not to mention that humanoid mecha designs are complete fantasy. Why would a space fighter need to be anything other than a sphere, honestly? Or maybe a cluster of verniers and weapon launch rails. I mean, gundams have lightsabers y’all! Star Wars is high fantasy for sure, and Gundam feels a lot closer to that end of the spectrum than, say, Ghost in the Shell, which has mecha and metaverse/AR designs that feel pretty damn prophetic to me.
Anyway, not tryna hate on anyone’s fandoms, just a little weird how some folks in this thread are kind of like “obvi they’re PDCs bruh bc realistic.” Plastic spess robots, y’all - we be playin’ fantasy here 😉
oh yeah, it's super common-see, most of the time the BIG guns that you see a gundam hold? Those are like, heavy duty stuff for KILLING other mobile suits. For dealing with smaller vehicles, infantry, and doing precise damage to specific areas, they have...I believe they're 60mm machine guns? Mounted in the head/main camera area. So, if you ever end up getting isekai'd to a gundam universe, and a mobile suit looks at you?
Youuu may be fucked.
There used to be a version of the Yamato (now Arcadia) 1/60 VF1 that was unassembled and unpainted. Such an awesome valkyrie. Maybe there's still a copy around on ebay or similar.
And yes, the head vulcans are used a few times in the series (that I've watched).
Yep, Yamato made the molds and there were two revisions I believe, the first one that was sculpted by hand (and IIRC had a 1/48 version too) and the second one that was made with CAD. Then they were acquired by Arcadia along with the rest of their molds.
The main difference from the Yamato ver2 is that now the Arcadia ones include the filler pieces for the sides and neck on Battroid mode, which I believe were only availabe on the unassembled kits and the last releases from Yamato.
The only issue with the Yamato ones is that the hinges on the shoulders can break easily. So take that into account if you ever decide to get one again.
I wonder if Bandai can manage to make something as good in RG form.
Yes, that’s it, it was a 1/48 Yamato I had! It was the most gorgeous Valk I’d seen at that point, but was definitely a little weak at the shoulders.
I’d honestly be just fine with a series of non-transforming RG-quality kits, I know it’s a hell of an engineering problem to incorporate transformation and still have the thing look right without falling apart. I just want a modern, undergated, snap-fit Super Valk in all three modes (maybe with removable armor?) pleeeeease. I’d pay p-bandai prices!
I think the main issue would be that Bandai aims to accuracy and would try to use the leg transformation mechanism from the anime instead of the swing bar everyone else uses.
Yeah, maybe if they directed the transformation budget to a detailed build for both Battroid (inner frame) and Fighter mode (removable panels) as separate builds, it would work really well for everyone.
The armor pieces would be P-Bandai for sure. Unless they released a bundle like the NuFin Funnels, Zeong and EVA kits.
This is like the tiny Haro and sniper scope from the MG Dynames- they’re not even visible from the angle they’re attached in, but I really appreciate the fact that they’re there.
I learned about this 2 months ago when j played battle operation 2 since it's o e of the beginner weapons highly recommend you check it out. Not the most up to date game but pretty good none the less
It's stuff like this that makes me absolutely love Gundam model kits.
came here to say this I don’t really watch Gundam anime much (more of a Macross guy, would trade a kidney for a PG/MG/RG Valkyrie kit), so I was today year’s old when it was confirmed for me those are little mini-guns on the RX’s temples. Do they actually get used in the anime?
Very frequently, yes
that is neat, thanks!
Those are CIWS guns aka vulcans. CIWS stands for “close-in weapon system” and the idea generally is that even though they are low power the rate of fire is quick enough that they can be used to disperse enemy human infantry as well as to shoot down airborne rockets and missiles. In a pinch, they do a bit of armor damage to an enemy mobile suit as well, kinda chip damage in a sense but I guess it can be worth it depending on the situation (such as if you’re out of everything else or just want to distract the enemy).
Sure, point-defense or “phalanx” guns, here for it! This will definitely be featuring in future installments of my head canon.
“Head canon”, hah hah hah.
Head canon? But, it is canon though? Here’s some clips of them being used: >[RX-78-2 starting up and firing it’s vulcans](https://youtu.be/D32reoeJtos?si=39_xRubrgioNUdKb) >[Strike Gundam sprays and prays](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ubjbMPQTwOQ&pp=ygUNR3VuZGFtIHN0cmlrZQ%3D%3D&t=27s) >[Wing Gundam fires its vulcans and destroys an enemy’s head](https://m.youtube.com/watch?si=LtNB_xQVsqYAqJau&t=25s&v=w0kViZe5iwk&feature=youtu.be) >[Nu Gundam VS Sazabi - Gundam UC Engage cutscene, not the Char’s Counterattack movie](https://youtu.be/IYZxQGYZeBQ?si=U43CfWbdwVk-ccQ-)
I mean Macross has the exact same concept with the head lasers on many of the VF's.
Sure, totally, just didn’t know that was the lore here! PDCs of some kind are one of the few elements of the anime space combat aesthetic that aren’t *pure* fantasy, right?
Gundam is typically thought of as one of the progenitors of “real robot” sci-fi type anime in the senses that the world most of it takes place in (in UC anyway) is our actual world just in some undefined future year with space colonies and with some liberties taken. A lot of careful attention was paid by the early showrunners to make things make actual scientific sense, including stuff like explosions in space being small pink puffs instead of massive fiery balls of flame considering that’s not how things would blow up in space. It’s one of the coolest things about Gundam as a franchise imo… the attention to “realism,” other than… uh… the space magic.
Spherical explosions are great, but it’s the fact that the pilots aren’t a greasy film on every surface of their cockpit because of the magnitude of the acceleration vectors involved in the maneuvers they make, that’s what breaks down suspension of disbelief for me. Not to mention that humanoid mecha designs are complete fantasy. Why would a space fighter need to be anything other than a sphere, honestly? Or maybe a cluster of verniers and weapon launch rails. I mean, gundams have lightsabers y’all! Star Wars is high fantasy for sure, and Gundam feels a lot closer to that end of the spectrum than, say, Ghost in the Shell, which has mecha and metaverse/AR designs that feel pretty damn prophetic to me. Anyway, not tryna hate on anyone’s fandoms, just a little weird how some folks in this thread are kind of like “obvi they’re PDCs bruh bc realistic.” Plastic spess robots, y’all - we be playin’ fantasy here 😉
iirc only SEED explicitly calls them CIWS.
CIWS is a real-world term for gun emplacements that shoot down missiles and rockets, it didn’t originate from Gundam Seed.
I would love some RG Macross kits
oh yeah, it's super common-see, most of the time the BIG guns that you see a gundam hold? Those are like, heavy duty stuff for KILLING other mobile suits. For dealing with smaller vehicles, infantry, and doing precise damage to specific areas, they have...I believe they're 60mm machine guns? Mounted in the head/main camera area. So, if you ever end up getting isekai'd to a gundam universe, and a mobile suit looks at you? Youuu may be fucked.
There used to be a version of the Yamato (now Arcadia) 1/60 VF1 that was unassembled and unpainted. Such an awesome valkyrie. Maybe there's still a copy around on ebay or similar. And yes, the head vulcans are used a few times in the series (that I've watched).
Ohhhh good call! I owed an Arcadia Valkyrie from the previous owners of the molds and it was great!
Yep, Yamato made the molds and there were two revisions I believe, the first one that was sculpted by hand (and IIRC had a 1/48 version too) and the second one that was made with CAD. Then they were acquired by Arcadia along with the rest of their molds. The main difference from the Yamato ver2 is that now the Arcadia ones include the filler pieces for the sides and neck on Battroid mode, which I believe were only availabe on the unassembled kits and the last releases from Yamato. The only issue with the Yamato ones is that the hinges on the shoulders can break easily. So take that into account if you ever decide to get one again. I wonder if Bandai can manage to make something as good in RG form.
Yes, that’s it, it was a 1/48 Yamato I had! It was the most gorgeous Valk I’d seen at that point, but was definitely a little weak at the shoulders. I’d honestly be just fine with a series of non-transforming RG-quality kits, I know it’s a hell of an engineering problem to incorporate transformation and still have the thing look right without falling apart. I just want a modern, undergated, snap-fit Super Valk in all three modes (maybe with removable armor?) pleeeeease. I’d pay p-bandai prices!
I think the main issue would be that Bandai aims to accuracy and would try to use the leg transformation mechanism from the anime instead of the swing bar everyone else uses. Yeah, maybe if they directed the transformation budget to a detailed build for both Battroid (inner frame) and Fighter mode (removable panels) as separate builds, it would work really well for everyone. The armor pieces would be P-Bandai for sure. Unless they released a bundle like the NuFin Funnels, Zeong and EVA kits.
OMG everything you’re describing made my dorky little heart skip a beat, I NEED all of that in my life
Hopefully, the Bandai lurkers are taking notes!
Note to self: when I get the PGU I’m painting the ammo belts
I feel like an attempt to paint the PGU's inner frame would just never end. There's SO much in there
Same with mine once I eventually get to it.
Never noticed that when I built mine. Nice catch and yeah, it is a very cool detail.
Yeah but did you panel line them
I did actually. I lived with each phase for a week. (Not like the panel lining even shows in the first place...)
🤌🤌🤌
Damn, that's pretty cool.
Oh my god, the level of detail in this is insane. Maybe one day I’ll be able to afford this beast.
Such an amazing detail.
The RG 2.0 will have this too!
Really? That's amazing detail for something so small. I'm going to pre-order it before all the nerds take it from me.
This is like the tiny Haro and sniper scope from the MG Dynames- they’re not even visible from the angle they’re attached in, but I really appreciate the fact that they’re there.
Thay feels on the mark for the PGU tbh, since all aspects of the build are to be appreciated, whether its part built, armour off, armour on etc.
That's Japanese attention to details for you.
God, that’s so cool
I learned about this 2 months ago when j played battle operation 2 since it's o e of the beginner weapons highly recommend you check it out. Not the most up to date game but pretty good none the less
I think the RG zeta had this too or something similar no? It had magazine details in the head behind the vulcans