SD Gundam

SD Gundam (SDガンダム)[1] is a media franchise that spawned from the Gundam franchise. SD Gundam takes the mecha (and characters) from Gundam and expresses them in a super deformed and anthropomorphic style.

Overview

SD Gundam began when a student designer, Koji Yokoi (横井孝二), submitted super-deformed Gundam illustrations to Bandai’s in-house hobby magazine Mokei Jōhō (模型情報) (“Model Information”). The magazine’s editor-in-chief, Satoshi Katō, invited Yokoi to serialize SD 4-panel comics, and through the editor’s introduction Yokoi met Bandai’s capsule-toy staff, an encounter that catalyzed the “super deformed” product concept and early SD character designs.[2]

The super-deformed format proved ideal for capsule toys: in 1985 Bandai launched the PVC capsule-figure line Gashapon Senshi Series: SD Gundam World (ガシャポン戦士シリーズ SDガンダムワールド) (popularly “Gankeshi (ガン消し)”). Contemporary official guides describe the line’s one-color PVC figures, of which consumers can obtain typically one or two per ¥100 capsule, an ideal price point for the school-age target, and the pencil-mounting leg holes that made them easy to play with. These features helped drive a late-’80s boom sometimes said to rival the “mainline” Gundam brand in popularity. The SD banner then expanded rapidly across model kits (BB Senshi from 1987), manga, Carddass trading cards, anime, and video games.[3][4][5]

Animated works

Animated works based on SD Gundam are generally adapted from existing toy lines or manga and are animated by Sunrise. A sequel to Sangoku Soketsuden with additional characters.[7] It incorporates historical and fictional elements from Romance of the Three Kingdoms, RoboCop/SD Command Chronicles, Journey to the West, King Kong, Arsène Lupin, the King Arthur mythos and Robin Hood/Knight Gundam, Sanada Ten Braves, the Golden Age of Piracy, Japan's Sengoku period/Musha Gundam and the reign of Cleopatra VII Philopator.[8][9]

• Mobile Suit SD Gundam (機動戦士SDガンダム) (movies, OVAs & TV series, 1988 to 1993)
• A series of animated short and feature-length films released during the height of SD Gundam's popularity in Asia. Initially feature characters and

Manga works

Game works

In the past most of the SD Gundam games are turn-based strategy video games and brawling-type games with shooting. However, the recent SD Gundam games started appearing in other genres.

Below is a rough list of game works, a more accurate and complete list is available at the Japanese wiki entry.

Through not treated as a title from the SD Gundam series, the RPG Gundam True Odyssey (MS Saga: A New Dawn in the US) also used super-deformed graphics for the mobile weapons that were found in the game.

The SD Gundam designs were also used throughout the earlier Super Robot Wars games (up through SRW F and F Final, stopping at SRW Alpha for the PS1), as can be seen by the pupils present in the eyes of the various Mobile Suits that appeared. From SRW Alpha and beyond, however, the eyes of Mobile Suits remain blank, though the robots themselves are still super-deformed (just as all mechs represented in typical SRW games are). The only exceptions are in Shin Super Robot Wars and the Scramble Commander series, where all series featured in these games used real-sized designs instead of the traditional SD-sized ones.

A real-sized Musha Gundam has been placed as a hidden, unlockable unit in Dynasty Warriors: Gundam series. Particular SD Gundams that has been converted to normal sizes are confirmed to participate in the Gundam War trading card game.

• SD Gundam Gachapon Senshi series

Model kits

While regular Gundam model lines strive for realism by introducing High Grade, Master Grade, and Perfect Grade models, SD Gundam models are designed for (and sometimes by) the customization crowd. Many SD Gundam models are designed such that variations of the stock models, as seen by SD Gundam comics, can be made by using parts from other SD Gundam kits. Modifying SD models is very popular in Japan, more so than the full-sized counterparts. In addition to made-up robots contributed to SD Gundam comics, Bandai also held monthly contests for custom Gundam (usually Musha-based) models.

The model kit series is called SD Gundam BB Senshi (SDガンダムBB戦士). The "BB" in the title comes from the fact that, initially, BB Senshi models came with airguns that shot BB gun pellets. Due to product liability and safety regulations, the feature was soon removed. 2007 saw the release of the 300th kit in the series. Forming the bulk of the series are Musha Gundam kits; the Musha kits have standard gimmicks like detachable armour and others, such as combination and compatibility of parts between kits. In recent years the G Generation kits have introduced a new proportion and enhanced poseability.

Scale is often inconsistent, especially in older kits where many characters from the same storyline are out of scale with one another. However, as the line continued these issues have mostly been addressed and sometimes been intentional. Dai-Shogun characters have often seen their final form released as a much larger figure (in some cases, this is included in the storyline by the character growing to giant size to combat an equally large foe).

Another model kit series called Ganzo SD Gundam (元祖SDガンダム), though discontinued in the 1990s, covered all the SD Gundam series but mainly focus on Knight Gundam kits. These kits are made from more durable plastic and are bigger than the BB Senshi kits. They can currently be found at auction sites, usually with high prices.

Century number releases (100, 200, 300, etc.) are often marked as special occasions.

External links