Behind the Scenes: Gundam Gets a New Lease on Life in North America

Original Title: Behind the Scenes: Gundam Gets a New Lease on Life in North America 

Publication Date: 10/11/2014

Author: Samantha Ferreira

In this day and age, it's pretty odd to think that the legendary Gundam franchise would be anything less than a huge deal in North America. Classics like Gundam Wing and Gundam 00 get the royal treatment with lavish limited editions, and modern masterpieces like Iron-Blooded Orphans are finding a home on Toonami. 

Every release has become an event, with big reveals, flashy lead-ups, and surprising amounts of support in the convention scene. Heck, Sunrise is even working with Legendary Pictures to produce a Hollywood Gundam movie!

That wasn't always the case, though.

Before Right Stuf picked up the mantle to work with Sunrise as champions of the Gundam franchise, Bandai Entertainment was regarded as the primary steward of the brand. Despite countless Herculean efforts by the defunct publisher, though, they were unable to really build Gundam beyond its super-devoted fanbase.

And, I mean, they tried. They gave the original Mobile Suit Gundam, G-Gundam, and others airings on Cartoon Network. They screened Gundam 00 during Sci-Fi's AniMonday block. They were advocates for Zeta Gundam, and they tried to get as much in the west as they had access to. Heck, they even released G-Saviour here!

Waaaaait. Back that up. I'm going to pretend that last sentence didn't happen.

Anyway! Despite their efforts, Bandai was unable to really make Gundam grow outside of a small and dedicated niche. Popular wisdom at the time dictated that most fans went gaga for Gundam Wing, they generally liked G-Gundam, and otherwise watched little more than the iconic "must-see" pieces like Char's Counterattack or Gundam 0080.

In 2012, the industry crash had finally caught up with Bandai Entertainment, who announced that they were ceasing operations. There are numerous reasons behind this (which I, and many others discussed at length), but they were ailing for a long time before closure. At the time of the announcement, Bandai Entertainment was down to just five employees.

With Bandai gone, the Gundam license kind of fell into limbo. The title disappeared entirely from the market within a year. And, as stocks dwindled, prices climbed ever-higher. Copies of the original Mobile Suit Gundam began to regularly fetch $100, $150, even $200 on the convention circuit, and fans began to seriously talk about importing works like Gundam Unicorn.

To be fair, it was very import-friendly, with English subs and a dub.

So, when Right Stuf announced that they'd partner with Sunrise to distribute Gundam in North America, many were floored. Not only would the original Mobile Suit Gundam be coming back, but long-sought works like Turn ∀ Gundam would finally see a real release in the west. Gundam the Origin, which was then an up-and-coming project, was getting a dub, and there was hope for the brand-new (at the time) Gundam: Reconguista in G.

Look, I know it was bad, but we didn't know that yet!

As I was saying! The excitement was palpable through the industry, as people began to chatter with possibilities. There was some concern milling about, but the mere fact that Gundam was back proved to be enough to drive the hype train toward the sun.

Which brings us to the article. This was a fairly short piece, all considered, clocking in at just over 700 words. But, at the same time, it was one that didn't need much more than that. We reached into the depths of history, bringing new research on the history of Gundam (and Bandai Entertainment) in North America, which brought events to their current point. We used this as a point to springboard discussions, offering a quick and clear walkthrough of events, from Gundam's disappearance, to Right Stuf's 2013 Unicorn releases, to the big partnership announcement.

I'll admit that we really didn't say much at the time. To be honest, I don't know what could be said until a few years later. The deal was still new, and we had no clue on where things would go from there. At the same time, though, it was an article that needed to be written in the environment we lived in. 

Gundam was (and still is) a point of hope in the industry at large. It wa a bright light that pointed to things getting better, as the behemoth that is the anime world finally shook the final remnants of the great crash off of its back. 

Gundam's return, in that light, was a signal of that real, comfortable normalcy that everybody craved after hearing tale upon tale of doom and gloom from Japan and elsewhere. It told many of us that everything was going to be okay: we had Gundam, and we had our classics. This dark, frightening period of uncertainty was finally coming to an end. It was time to start looking toward the future, with a firm grasp on the past events that brought us to this point.

Plus I got to show off the Gundam Hammer, which is always super rad. 💖