Gundam Artworks: Initial Concept Gundam Design
Upon seeing the other designs... I am so glad that the RX-78-2 Gundam survived all the horrible initial desgins.
The concept art below had evolved into what we now know as the Guntank & Guncannon.
Images via Toysdaily
My Eyes, they Burn!!!
ReplyDeleteAnd dear god, apparently no one in the 70's ever thought, even in the final design, of how in the hell the thing should be able to move independently from the waist? In all drawings they look welded together. There is simply no room for movement.
Those were the 70's man, its not like they had advanced mechanics, physics, civil engineering know how and expertise back then (when it came to futuristic concepts of course!)
DeleteGundam won't survive for 30 years with that shitty design. Looking at that 4 images, RX - 78 stand out, even today. hehehe...
ReplyDeleteI forgot that in the original designs the skirt armor didn't move and the thighs would have been stuck in place. I wonder who it was that got sick of trying to animate this stuff and made them design robots with hip joints.
ReplyDeleteCut it some slack---Every other robot show before Gundam was about Super Robots (not realistic IMHO, though SRW fans would stone me to death for sayign that about their Mazingers). The RX-78 too isn't really all that realistic or well thought-out but it was a start. If not for Gundam, later "Real" robot series would not have come to pass and we'd all only have robots that look like multicolor moving boxes with superpowers...
ReplyDeleteI didn't know Voltes V is a gundam!
ReplyDeleteIt also survived to it's original name: The Gunboy.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, the final RX-78 design is not much better, only later re-designs made it look a little morealisticre .
The concept art for the original RX-78 looked like a baboon or a monkey of some sort. The designs could have been a lot worse though
ReplyDeleteAt Gunboy's left, it's Daitarn 3!
ReplyDeleteback in the days, the buttons in the chest and torso were all the rage. going for a vader look ha.
ReplyDeleteYeah all the toys they made were all like that because all the decorations compensated for the lack of poseability
DeleteGo Freedom Fighter Gunboy!
ReplyDeleteI can see a lot of design elements that'd go into the Zaku. Take a close look at the top right and bottom left examples.
ReplyDeleteOops, I meant the top left and bottom right.
Deleteyou guys realize that the Gundam cant actually turn its waist, right?
ReplyDeleteI think there was a sketchbook that detailed the original designs and these were some some of them.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the others, those other concepts were just HORRIBLE.
I prefer the original Guncannon and Guntank. Those look beast compared to the awkward looking final designs.
ReplyDeleteYea, but the original Guntank has tit-cannons...
DeleteGundam: Making the yellow visor cool long before Halo lol
ReplyDeletei kinda like the one that looks like daitarn XD
ReplyDeleteIts strange tat Guntank & Guncannon actually had the least dramatic change (their basic shape is pretty much the same). However 4 Gundam,it seems like it gained a growth spurt, from a very super robotic design 2 a ...er, i don't think real robot is the word since the genre wasn't relly invented then. I wonder how did they came w/ such a 'revolutionary' design all of a sudden? I wonder did Tomino ever explain about this sudden change in design? Can any1 shed some light on this?
ReplyDeleteTo be honest I like the old designs. The real paradime shift for the Gundam was when they incorporated design elements that were inspired by Samurai armour. The Gundam face is basically a samurai helmet and face mask. Total genius if you ask me. Alsothe name Gundam has a subconscious appeal regardless of the fact that is has no real meaning.
ReplyDeleteActually the name does have a meaning. This is taken directly from Wikipedia:
Delete"During its conceptual phase, the series was titled Freedom Fighter Gunboy, or simply Gunboy for the gun the robot was armed with, and the primary target demographic were shōnen (boys). In the early production stages, there were numerous references to the word "freedom": the White Base was originally "Freedom's Fortress", the Core Fighter was the "Freedom Wing", and the Gunperry was the "Freedom Cruiser". The Yatate team combined the English word "gun" with the last syllable of the word "freedom" to form the name Gundom. During its conceptual phase, the series was titled Freedom Fighter Gunboy, or simply Gunboy for the gun the robot was armed with, and the primary target demographic were shōnen (boys). In the early production stages, there were numerous references to the word "freedom": the White Base was originally "Freedom's Fortress", the Core Fighter was the "Freedom Wing", and the Gunperry was the "Freedom Cruiser". The Yatate team combined the English word "gun" with the last syllable of the word "freedom" to form the name Gundom. Tomino then changed it to the current title, suggesting that Gundam signified a powerful unit wielding a gun powerful enough to hold back enemies, like a hydroelectric dam holding back floods."
Yea I heard about this once but was not sure if it was legit. Still feel like the appeal is mostly intangible though.
DeleteI like old guntank's twin breast cannons
ReplyDeleteHey its no more ridiculous than a gundam with a bulls head, sombrero, mermaid or sailor scout uniform haha
Delete@Anon (4:07 PM):
DeleteGo easy on Nobel Gundam. It may seem a bit odd for anyone to see at first, but it's a better executed (and far less ridiculous-looking) than other mobile suits; whether it be the others you mentioned, that windmill Gundam, Skull Gundam, or some O.Y.W. Zeonic designs like the Acguy knockoffs from MSV or the Zock (which looks like it can become a Sesame Street character after a couple of modifications).
Plus, I feel Nobel Gundam is (loosely) the basis for one of the many awesome designs Katoki did for Virtual On. And besides, a good part of G Gundam seems to be parody in it's nature, so of course they look more ridiculous than MSs in other series.
Sorry if you mistook my jab, I actually love the Nobel Gundam and most of the G designs. It just made the show more awesome :)
DeleteThis is so much more than i needed!!! but will all come in use thanks!!
ReplyDeleteBest Moving Company NYC
for the f****ing god's sake, if there were none of these, there will be no what so called "Gundam" so that you could watch, make models of them and so on, just like from ape to human, the way you look at these is just like the way you look at you old fashionable parents, no respect, and i realy wanna say "fk u" for what you think about these designs, not all of you though
ReplyDeleteGuncannon initial design looks better/powerful
ReplyDeleteI hope they make models 4 these concept design AND don't say it is a bad or absurb idea bcuz Star Wars does tis all the time w/ their own concept design arts particularly Ralph Mcquarrie's one.
ReplyDeleteThe first picture on the right seems to be White Base before it was a ship.
ReplyDelete