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{{Short description|Japanese media franchise}}
{{AI-generated|date=October 2025}}
{{About|the Japanese mecha media franchise|the mecha themselves|Gundam (fictional robot)|the first ''Gundam'' TV series|Mobile Suit Gundam}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2022}}
{{Infobox media franchise
|image = [[File:Gundam Official site logo.svg|300px|class=skin-invert]]
|caption = 
|title = Gundam 
|creator = [[Yoshiyuki Tomino]]
|origin = ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam]]'' (1979–80)
|owner = [[Bandai Namco Filmworks]]
| years = 1979–present
|films = [[#TV series, films, and video|See below]]
|tv = [[#TV series, films, and video|See below]]
|plays = 
|musicals = 
|games = ''[[Gundam War Collectible Card Game]]''
|rpgs = 
|vgs = [[List of Gundam video games|See list]]
|books = 
|novels = [[List of Gundam manga and novels|See list]]
|comics = [[List of Gundam manga and novels|See list]]
|magazines = 
|strips = 
|radio = 
|soundtracks = 
|music = 
|toys = [[Gunpla]] (plastic Gundam models)<br>The Robot Spirits<br>S. H. Figuarts
|otherlabel1 = Genre
|otherdata1 = [[Science fiction]]<br>[[Military science fiction]]<br>[[Mecha anime and manga#Real robot|Real robot]]
|otherlabel2 = 
|otherdata2 = 
|otherlabel3 = 
|otherdata3 = 
}}

{{Nihongo|'''''Gundam'''''|ガンダムシリーズ|Gandamu Shirīzu|lead=yes|{{lit.}} ''Gundam Series''}} is a Japanese [[military science fiction]] [[media franchise]]. Created by [[Yoshiyuki Tomino]] for [[Sunrise (studio)|Sunrise]] (now a division of [[Bandai Namco Filmworks]]), the franchise features giant robots, or [[mecha]], known as  "Gundam".<ref>{{cite web|last=Hodgkins|first=Crystalyn|title=Gundam Franchise Overview|url=https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime-franchise.php?id=1|website=[[Anime News Network]]|access-date=August 15, 2025}}</ref> The franchise began with the premiere of the [[anime]] series ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam]]'' on April 7, 1979, which defined the "[[real robot]]" [[mecha anime]] genre by depicting giant robots (including the [[RX-78-2 Gundam|original titular mecha]]) within a militaristic setting.<ref>{{cite web|title=Gundam: The Real Robot Revolution|url=https://otakuusamagazine.com/the-real-robot-revolution/|website=Otaku USA Magazine|date=April 7, 2019|access-date=August 15, 2025}}</ref>

The popularity of the series and its merchandise spawned a multimedia franchise that includes over 50 [[Television show|TV series]], [[film]]s, and [[Original Video Animation|original video animations]] (OVAs), as well as [[manga]], [[novel]]s, and [[video game]]s, along with a multimillion industry of [[plastic model|plastic model kits]] known as [[Gunpla]], which accounts for 90 percent of the [[Japan]]ese character plastic model market.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Linder|first=Courtney|date=July 21, 2020|title=Watch Engineers Take Their 60-Foot-Tall Gundam for a Walk|url=https://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/robots/a33381411/japan-giant-gundam-robot/|access-date=February 9, 2021|website=Popular Mechanics|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Gundam Releases First-Ever English Guide to Gunpla|url=https://comicbook.com/anime/news/gundam-gunpla-first-ever-english-guide-buy/|access-date=February 9, 2021|website=Comicbook.com|date=November 4, 2020 |language=en}}</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20081207100050/http://www3.jetro.go.jp/jetro-file/BodyUrlPdfDown.do?bodyurlpdf=05000892_001_BUP_0.pdf Flow of the Japan toy industry (日本の玩具産業の動向)], Japan Economics Department, Information section (日本経済情報課)</ref> Academics in Japan have also taken interest in the series; in 2008, the virtual Gundam Academy was planned as the first academic institution based on an animated TV series.<ref>{{cite news|last=Lewis|first=Leo|url=https://www.thetimes.com/culture/tv-radio/article/gundam-cartoon-academy-to-turn-science-fiction-into-reality-in-japan-zffmrwsvwgj|title=Gundam cartoon academy to turn science fiction into reality in Japan|newspaper=[[The Times]]|date=November 1, 2008|access-date=July 10, 2017}}</ref>

As of 2022, the Gundam franchise is fully owned by [[Bandai Namco Holdings]] through its production subsidiary Bandai Namco Filmworks and its wholly-owned subsidiary, Sotsu.<ref>{{cite web|title=Bandai Namco to reorganize Sunrise under new company, Bandai Namco Filmworks|url=https://gundamnews.org/bandai-namco-to-reorganize-sunrise-under-new-company-bandai-namco-filmworks|website=Gundam News|date=February 8, 2022|access-date=2025-08-17}}</ref> The ''Gundam'' franchise had grossed over {{US$|5 billion|long=no}} in retail sales by 2000.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/114029721/the-expositor/|title=Unique toy line encourages creative play|newspaper=The Expositor|page=38|date=December 13, 2000|access-date=2022-12-03|via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://biz.yahoo.com/bw/000613/ny_bandai_.html|title=Gundam Wing Phenomenon Grows With Addition of New Licensees as Television Ratings and Toy Line Sales Surge|website=[[Business Wire]]|publisher=[[Berkshire Hathaway]]|date=June 13, 2000|access-date=2017-01-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000821005011/http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/000613/ny_bandai_.html|archive-date=2000-08-21|url-status=live}}</ref> In the first quarter of fiscal year 2026 (April–June 2025), the Gundam franchise generated approximately ¥65.4 billion (approximately US$443 million) in IP-related revenue, making it Bandai Namco's highest-earning intellectual property during that period, driven by successes across streaming, model kits, theatrical releases, and experiential tourism initiatives.<ref>{{cite web|title=Mobile Suit Gundam IP revenue at all-time high in 2025, Bandai Namco reports|url=https://automaton-media.com/en/news/mobile-suit-gundam-ip-revenue-at-all-time-high-in-2025-bandai-namco-reports/|website=Automaton-Media.com|date=August 6, 2025|access-date=2025-08-17}}</ref>

==Overview==
===Concept===
[[File:Gundam.jpg|thumb|[[Gundam (fictional robot)|RX-78-2 Gundam]] by [[Hajime Katoki]]]]
''Mobile Suit Gundam'' was developed by animator [[Yoshiyuki Tomino]] alongside rotating members of Sunrise using the collective pseudonym [[Hajime Yatate]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Hall|first=Richard A.|title=Robots in Popular Culture|publisher=Greenwood|year=2021|isbn=978-1440873843}}</ref>

The series’ early working title was ''Freedom Fighter Gunboy'', reflecting the robot-centric focus and adolescent target demographic. Conceptual elements like naming the White Base "Freedom's Fortress", the Core Fighter "Freedom Wing", and the Gunperry "Freedom Cruiser" underscored the theme of freedom. The name ''Gundam'' was eventually chosen—combining “gun” and “dam”—to evoke imagery of a powerful weapon acting like a dam to hold back enemies.<ref>{{cite book|last=Yasuhiko|first=Yoshikazu|title=Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin, Vol. 1 – Activation|publisher=Vertical|year=2013|isbn=978-1935654872}}</ref>

Gundams are portrayed as prototype or limited-production mobile suits with superior performance compared to mass-produced models. These suits typically feature humanoid designs, cockpit control in the torso, and head units functioning as visual sensors. Across the franchise's numerous series and media formats, each Gundam variant reflects unique aesthetics, capabilities, and pilots.

===Innovations to the genre===
''Mobile Suit Gundam'' is credited with pioneering the [[real robot]] subgenre of [[mecha anime]], distancing itself from the fantastical “super robot” scene by introducing realistic mechanics, energy limitations, and equipment failures.<ref name="Oppliger">{{cite web|url=http://www.animenation.net/blog/2007/10/12/ask-john-which-gundam-series-have-had-the-most-impact-on-anime/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090616111552/http://www.animenation.net/blog/2007/10/12/ask-john-which-gundam-series-have-had-the-most-impact-on-anime/|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 16, 2009|title=Ask John: Which Gundam Series Have Had the Most Impact on Anime?|first=John|last=Oppliger|publisher=AnimeNation|date=October 12, 2007|access-date=July 28, 2009}}</ref> The franchise integrates plausible science—such as [[Lagrange points]], [[O'Neill cylinder]] colonies, and [[helium-3]] energy—with speculative constructs like Minovsky physics to support its mechanics.<ref>{{cite web|title=Gundam: The Real Robot Revolution|url=https://otakuusamagazine.com/the-real-robot-revolution/|website=Otaku USA|date=April 7, 2019|access-date=August 15, 2025}}</ref> Its sweeping narratives and political dimensions also align it with the [[space opera]] genre.<ref name="Stuckmann2018">{{cite book |author=Chris Stuckmann |title=Anime Impact: The Movies and Shows that Changed the World of Japanese Animation |publisher=Mango Media Inc. |date=May 15, 2018 |isbn=9781633537330 |page=42}}</ref> A recurring theme includes genetically advanced humans known as {{vanchor|Newtypes}}, endowed with extrasensory perceptions that enhance piloting capabilities and interpersonal empathy.<ref>{{cite book|last=Azuma|first=Hiroki|title=Otaku: Japan's Database Animals|publisher=University of Minnesota Press|year=2009|isbn=9780816653522|page=74}}</ref>

==={{anchor|Franchise}}Timelines===
Most of the franchise's entries are set in the Universal Century (UC)—the original timeline—spanning from UC 0079's One Year War and beyond. Alternate universes such as the Cosmic Era (e.g., ''Gundam SEED'') and the Anno Domini era (e.g., ''Gundam 00'') present standalone narratives inspired by, but not bound to, the UC timeline.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Universal Century, Explained|url=https://gamerant.com/gundam-universal-century-explained/|website=Game Rant|date=October 27, 2024|access-date=August 15, 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Gundam: The Real Robot Revolution …|url=https://otakuusamagazine.com/the-real-robot-revolution/|website=Otaku USA|access-date=August 15, 2025}}</ref>

===Spinoffs===
''[[SD Gundam]]'' employs a comedic style with [[Chibi (style)|chibi]] characters, debuting in the mid-1980s.<ref>{{cite web|title=SD Gundam|url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SD_Gundam|website=Wikipedia|access-date=August 15, 2025}}</ref>{{Circular reference|date=September 2025}} Later series such as ''[[Gundam Build Fighters]]'' and ''[[Gundam Build Divers]]'' explore modern-day settings where battles between [[Gunpla]] (model kits) serve as the central narrative device.<ref>{{cite web|title=Gundam Build Fighters|url=https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=15537|website=Anime News Network|access-date=August 15, 2025}}</ref>

== History ==

=== 1970s: Origins and slow ascent into a cultural phenomenon (1979-1982) ===
The original ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam]]'' anime series (1979) emerged from a planning process at [[Sunrise (company)|Nippon Sunrise]] (then still called [[Sunrise (company)|Soeisha/Sunrise Studio]]) that sought to break from [[Super Robot|super robot]] formulas and stage a [[war drama]] with mechanical plausibility. Early development carried the working titles ''Freedom Fighter'' and then ''Freedom Fighter Gunboy'', with planning led by Eiji Yamaura's office and scripting assistance from Hiroyuki Hoshiyama before director [[Yoshiyuki Tomino]] and character designer [[Yoshikazu Yasuhiko]] fully joined.<ref name="SimmonsFirst">{{cite web|url=https://www.gundamunofficial.com/production/firstgundam.html|title=Mobile Suit Gundam (Production History)|last=Simmons|first=Mark|website=Gundam Unofficial|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref> The production was mounted with [[Nagoya Broadcasting Network|Nagoya TV]] and the licensing agency [[Sotsu]] as co-producers and the toy firm [[Clover (toy company)|Clover]] as main sponsor, in a Saturday early-evening slot targeting younger children, conditions that shaped early merchandising-facing elements such as “three hero machines”, combining power-ups and the Core Fighter.<ref name="SimmonsFirst" /><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.gakushuin.ac.jp/univ/let/top/publication/JI_19/JI_19_020.pdf|title=想像の共同体としてのニュータイプ（学習院大学人文科学論集19）|last=可児|first=洋介|language=ja|page=12|quote=（当時の番組編成・若年層向け枠の文脈とファン層の青年化）|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref>

Mechanical designer [[Kunio Okawara]]’s hardware-first approach, Yasuhiko’s grounded characters, and Tomino’s insistence on limited ammunition, maintenance, and mass-production reoriented the show toward what critics and industry later labeled the [[Real Robot|real robot]] genre: robots as military materiel embedded in logistics and politics rather than functioning as invincible superheroes.<ref name="SimmonsFirst" /> In subsequent interviews and retrospectives, creators from the period describe ''Gundam'' as the pivot that opened the door to more militarized [[mecha]] narratives and to audiences beyond grade-school viewers.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://robot.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/2007/0713/takahashi.htm|title="リアルロボット"を作った男――高橋良輔インタビュー|website=Impress Watch/Robot Watch|language=ja|date=2007-07-13|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref>

Despite those creative aims, the television run ([[Nagoya Broadcasting Network|Nagoya TV]], Saturdays 17:30–18:00) struggled to reach its sponsor’s toy-buying demographic, and the series was shortened to 43 episodes. Internal accounts attribute the cutback chiefly to weak toy sell-through in the sponsor’s product line rather than to the absence of a core fanbase.<ref name="SimmonsFirst" /> Tomino later spoke candidly about frictions with “the toy-store sponsor,” underscoring the misalignment between the show's war drama ambitions and sponsor expectations.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.oricon.co.jp/special/52812/|title=ガンプラと歩んだ40年、ガンダムの生みの親・富野由悠季が語る|website=Oricon|language=ja|date=2019-04-07|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref>

After first-run disappointment, momentum shifted rapidly in 1980 through reruns and the decision, floated by Tomino as early as a March 1980 ''[[Animage]]'' interview, to compile the TV material into theatrical features.<ref name="SimmonsFirst" /> Anticipation culminated in the highly publicized “Anime New Century Declaration” rally at [[Shinjuku]]’s east plaza on February 22, 1981, where an estimated 15,000 fans gathered; the event marked the visible generational handover to an older, self-organizing [[otaku|anime audience]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.asahi.com/showbiz/manga/TKY200910170173.html|title=あのとき「アニメ」が変わった——1981年 アニメ新世紀宣言|website=Asahi Shimbun Digital|language=ja|date=2009-10-17|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.gakushuin.ac.jp/univ/let/top/publication/JI_19/JI_19_020.pdf|title=想像の共同体としてのニュータイプ（学習院大学人文科学論集19）|last=可児|first=洋介|language=ja|pages=12–15|quote=1981年2月22日、新宿東口アルタ前広場に15,000人が集結／宣言文の全文を掲載|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref> The [[Shochiku]]-distributed compilation films followed in quick succession: '''Mobile Suit Gundam'' (March 14, 1981), ''Soldiers of Sorrow'' (July 11, 1981), and'' Encounters in Space'' (March 13, 1982), each with substantial re-editing and new animation that reframed the narrative targeting an older teen/young adult audience.''<ref name="SimmonsFirst" /> ''

A decisive commercial turn arrived in parallel: [[Bandai]]’s plastic model line (“[[Gunpla]]”), launched in July 1980 with the 1/144 and 1/100 Gundam kits, created a new revenue pillar that matched ''Gundam''’s quasi-military aesthetic and scale-model appeal.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://bandai-hobby.net/site/gunpla_locus.html|title=ガンプラの軌跡|website=Bandai Hobby Site|language=ja|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bandai.co.jp/company/history/|title=バンダイ 会社ヒストリー|website=Bandai.co.jp|language=ja|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref> As Gunpla boomed and a youth–adult fandom consolidated around the films, the original sponsor structure that had supported super robot programming in the 1970s began to unravel: the long-time Nagoya-TV/Sunrise slot sponsor Clover exited the stage amid the industry upheavals of 1983, after which Bandai increasingly assumed lead sponsorship roles for Sunrise’s mecha programming.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://macc.bunka.go.jp/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/766b71c93de91efdf8fd15cb52b81daa.pdf|title=日本アニメーションガイド ロボットアニメ編|publisher=一般社団法人 マンガ・アニメCGM振興機構 (MACC)|language=ja|pages=16–17|quote=1983年8月、クローバー倒産／1984年タカトクトイス事業停止等の業界再編|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref> By the close of the compilation trilogy in 1982, ''Gundam'' had thus established both a creative template (the “real robot” grammar balancing tactics, politics, and character psychology) and a new business template where model kits, rather than die-cast toys, underwrote long-tail popularity.<ref name="SimmonsFirst" />

=== 1980s: Gunpla and SD Gundam fuel a boom (1982–1989) ===
Bandai's launch of Gunpla in July 1980 very quickly turned the franchise into a viable [[media mix]] business rather than a one-off TV show. Contemporary production notes and later corporate retrospectives record the first 1/144 [[RX-78-2 Gundam]] kit debut in mid-1980 and emphasize that the model boom helped catalyze [[Sunrise (company)|Sunrise]]’s decision with [[Shochiku]] to pivot into compilation features in 1981–82, which in turn expanded the adult fanbase that had discovered the series via reruns.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.gundamunofficial.com/production/firstgundam.html |title=Mobile Suit Gundam (Production History) |last=Simmons |first=Mark |website=GundamUnofficial (archival research) |quote=“The first of these [Gunpla], the 1/144 scale Gundam, was released in July 1980… Sunrise and Shochiku agreed to turn Gundam into a theatrical film.” |access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.asahi.com/articles/ASNCK2QH0NCKPLFA005.html |title=ガンプラ40年 静岡の工場から世界へ（イブニング） |website=Asahi Shimbun |language=ja |date=2020-11-17 |access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref>  By the 2010s–2020s, [[Bandai Namco Holdings|Bandai Namco]] would publicly credit Gunpla and [[SD Gundam]] product lines as core pillars of the Gundam business: the group’s factbooks place cumulative Gunpla shipments in the billions of units.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bandainamco.co.jp/files/ir/library/pdf_factbook2024.pdf |title=BANDAI NAMCO Fact Book 2024 |publisher=Bandai Namco Holdings |language=ja |date=2024 |page=34 |quote=「SDシリーズ（1987.7–）」累計出荷等の推移 |access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref>

On screen, the sequel cycle first deepened the [[Real Robot]] template for an older cohort with ''[[Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam]]'' (1985–1986), then consciously swung toward a lighter, youth-facing register in early ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ|Gundam ZZ]]'' (1986–1987), a tonal recalibration that later darkened as the Axis conflict came to the fore. Production staff have described ''ZZ'' as an “extension” born of scheduling alongside the next feature, underlining how sponsor and broadcast realities shaped story tone as much as auteur intent.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.gundam-cca.net/production/interview1.html |title=『機動戦士ガンダム 逆襲のシャア』製作当時の証言（スタッフインタビュー） |website=Gundam-CCA Official Site |language=ja |quote=『Ζ』の延長線上の企画として『ΖΖ』が走る一方で劇場企画が並行 |access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref>  The arc culminated theatrically with ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack]]'' (1988), marketed and remembered as the definitive conclusion to the [[Amuro Ray|Amuro]]-[[Char Aznable|Char]] rivalry for the filmgoing audience of the day.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://en.gundam.info/about-gundam/series-pages/cca.html |title=Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack (Series Page) |website=Gundam.info |date=2019-12-26 |access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref>

In contrast, chibi parody spinoffs evolved into a full sub-brand. ''[[SD Gundam]]'' began as [[Mobile Suit SD Gundam|theatrical shorts]] paired with marquee releases, first in March 1988 alongside ''Char’s Counterattack,'' before proliferating in [[original video animation|OVA]] and video formats with toy-line tie-ins (''SD Sengokuden'', ''Knight Gundam'') that broadened the demographic beyond “military sci-fi.”<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.sunrise-inc.co.jp/sd-gundam/world/index.html |title=作品紹介（SDガンダム：同時上映ほか） |publisher=Sunrise |language=ja |access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref>  Product-side, Bandai launched the ''BB Senshi'' model line in 1987 and sustained it for decades, evidencing how SD crystallized as a merchandising ecosystem in its own right.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bandainamco.co.jp/files/ir/library/pdf_factbook2024.pdf |title=BANDAI NAMCO Fact Book 2024 |publisher=Bandai Namco Holdings |language=ja |date=2024 |page=34 |access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref>  Outside models, Bandai's [[Carddass]] trading cards, where SD designs were prominent contributors, crossed 10 billion cards by 2012, a data point often cited as emblematic of the late-1980s SD boom's long tail.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://gigazine.net/news/20120329-bandai-carddass/ |title=バンダイの「カードダス」が累計販売枚数100億枚を突破 |website=GIGAZINE |language=ja |date=2012-03-29 |access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref>

The broader video market also mattered. Japan's late-1980s OVA surge, enabled by home video and premium unit pricing, created a space for higher-spec, fan-targeted projects outside weekly TV. Industry studies periodize a rapid rise in direct-to-video anime in the mid-1980s, with volume peaking around 1991, and frame OVAs as part of the media-mix economics that let [[anime]] recoup costs beyond broadcast.<ref name="テレビアニメにおけるメディアミックス展開の経済的根拠">{{cite journal |last=森 |first=祐治 |title=テレビアニメにおけるメディアミックス展開の経済的根拠 |journal=The Japanese Journal of Animation Studies |volume=23 |issue=1 |pages=3–13 |year=2022 |language=ja |url=https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/jjas/23/1/23_A-21-014-R3/_pdf |access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=アニメ産業の構造変化とアニメソングへの影響 |journal=情報処理学会 研究報告 |year=2024 |language=ja |url=https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/jsimconf/87/0/87_141/_pdf/-char/ja |quote=「OVA発売…ピークは1991年」 |access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref>  Sunrise and [[Bandai Visual]] moved quickly into that direction with ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket]]'' (1989), the franchise's first OVA, explicitly aimed at the older audience that had coalesced around models and movies; further OVAs like ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory|0083: Stardust Memory]]'' (1991–1992) followed, consolidating the “premium” side of the brand.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://sunrise-inc.co.jp/work/detail.php?cid=149 |title=機動戦士ガンダム0080 ポケットの中の戦争（作品情報） |publisher=Sunrise |language=ja |access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://sunrise-inc.co.jp/work/detail.php?cid=185 |title=機動戦士ガンダム0083 STARDUST MEMORY（作品情報） |publisher=Sunrise |language=ja |access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref>

Across the decade, then, Gundam's expansion was a feedback loop: Gunpla revenues and a diversifying SD business underwrote more ambitious screen projects; compilation films and ''Z'' cultivated older fans; ''ZZ'' tested how far the tone could pivot back toward youth before ''Char’s Counterattack'' restored a grand-finale solemnity; and the OVA boom gave Sunrise a high-spec, collector-oriented outlet that matched the maturing fan economy forged by the very model boom that began in 1980.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.gundamunofficial.com/production/firstgundam.html |title=Mobile Suit Gundam (Production History) |last=Simmons |first=Mark |access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.sunrise-inc.co.jp/sd-gundam/world/index.html |title=作品紹介（SDガンダム） |publisher=Sunrise |language=ja |access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref><ref name="テレビアニメにおけるメディアミックス展開の経済的根拠"/>

=== 1990s: Corporate consolidation, alternate universes, and growing pains (1991–1999) ===
At the start of the decade, the brand's center of gravity was still the SD Gundam phenomenon. Producer Masuo Ueda said at one point that SD sales were “briefly four times” those of the real kits.<ref>{{cite book|last=Inomata|first=Kenji|title=ガンダム神話|trans-title=The Legend of Mobile Suit Gundam|publisher=Diamond, Inc.|location=Tokyo|date=1995|isbn=978-4-478-95007-4}}{{cite web|last=Ueda|first=Masuo|title=瞬間リアルプラモの4倍もの売り上げ|url=https://twitter.com/mastin55/status/1493382608142897152|website=Twitter (archived)|date=February 14, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220215003309/https://twitter.com/mastin55/status/1493382608142897152 |language=ja|access-date=2025-08-17 |archive-date=February 15, 2022 }}</ref> Short films and OVAs eventually culminating in the theatrical omnibus ''[[Mobile Suit SD Gundam|Mobile Suit SD Gundam Festival]]'' (1993) kept chibi parodies in front of family audiences, backed by booming [[Carddass]] and BB Senshi merchandise lines.<ref>{{cite web|title=機動戦士SDガンダム 作品紹介|url=https://www.sunrise-inc.co.jp/work/detail.php?cid=244|website=Sunrise|language=ja|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=SD戦国伝・天下泰平編（『機動戦士SDガンダムまつり』内）|url=https://www.shochiku.co.jp/cinema/database/04380/|website=Shochiku|language=ja|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=SDガンダム外伝・聖機兵物語 第1章／第2章（『機動戦士SDガンダムまつり』内）|url=https://www.shochiku.co.jp/cinema/database/04379/|website=Shochiku|language=ja|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref> As the SD cycle wound down on screens by mid-1993, consumer tastes and TV economics were shifting. Bandai, which had launched the [[Gunpla#High Grade|High Grade]] (1990) and then the [[Gunpla#Master Grade|Master Grade]] (1995) model lines, increasingly targeted older hobbyists to stabilize Gunpla demand through higher-spec kits, an approach that shaped the decade's production bets.<ref name="GUNDAM TODAY：ガンプラ40年の歩み">{{cite web|title=GUNDAM TODAY：ガンプラ40年の歩み|url=https://www.gundam.info/special-series/gundam-today/01_243.html|website=Gundam.info|language=ja|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref>

Against that backdrop, ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam F91]]'' (1991) illustrates the uncertainty of the early 1990s. Planned as a new year-long [[Universal Century]] TV serial, it was compressed into a single feature with threads left for a hypothetical continuation; staff accounts and trade coverage have long read this pivot as a hedge on whether a full UC run could be sustained at that moment.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gundamunofficial.com/production/f91.html|title=Gundam F91 (Production History)|last=Simmons|first=Mark|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref> Two years later, ''[[Victory Gundam]]'' (1993–94) returned UC to a Friday 5 p.m. slot (now on [[TV Asahi]]) under tight conditions. Contemporary and retrospective interviews describe a difficult production climate and unusually stark story tone for that hour, reflecting a franchise searching for a post-boom footing even as it served broadcast and sponsor needs.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gundamunofficial.com/production/v.html|title=Victory Gundam (Production Notes)|last=Simmons|first=Mark|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=『Vガンダム』をめぐる富野由悠季の認識（インタビュー抄）|url=https://www.febri.jp/topics/tomino_interview/|website=Febri|language=ja|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref>

In February 1994, Sunrise formally joined the Bandai Group, aligning animation with toys, models, and home video under one corporate roof.<ref name="サンライズの歩み（1990年代）">{{cite web|title=サンライズの歩み（1990年代）|url=https://www.sunrise-corp.co.jp/guide/history/|website=SUNRISE Company Guide|language=ja|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref> The integration catalyzed more regular output and experimentation. ''[[Mobile Fighter G Gundam]]'' (1994–95) was the first fully non-UC TV entry, reframing Gundam around over-the-top martial-arts duels and national pastiche. Controversial at the proposal stage, it proved a durable template for “alternate universe” projects and broadened the franchise's tonal bandwidth.<ref>{{cite web|title=MOBILE FIGHTER G GUNDAM｜List of Works|url=https://www.sunrise-inc.co.jp/international/work/detail.php?cid=64|website=Sunrise International|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gundamunofficial.com/production/ggundam_animage.html|title=G Gundam in Animage (translated excerpts and notes)|last=Simmons|first=Mark|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref>

''[[Mobile Suit Gundam Wing|Gundam Wing]]'' (1995–96) cemented that strategic turn at home and, crucially, abroad. In the U.S., [[Cartoon Network]]’s [[Toonami]] block premiered the series in March 2000 and expanded its schedule around incoming [[mecha anime]] hits; industry trades noted the programming push, while contemporaneous coverage documented uncut night-time broadcasts and a strong ratings performance that lifted Gundam’s overseas profile and led to an ''[[Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz|Endless Waltz]]'' TV event.<ref>{{cite web|title=Ratings shift shuffles the upfront landscape|url=https://kidscreen.com/2000/03/01/28198-20000301/|website=Kidscreen|date=2000-03-01|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Toonami's anime history and expansion|url=https://www.polygon.com/anime/446097/toonami-original-anime-rick-morty-uzumaki-history/|website=Polygon|date=2024-09-02|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref>

The period was not uniformly smooth. ''[[After War Gundam X]]'' (1996) launched into Friday early-evening and, amid mid-run schedule moves at key stations, was shortened to 39 episodes, an oft-cited case study in how time-slot and merchandising headwinds could whipsaw mid-90s TV anime. Later Japanese media retrospectives detail the shift to a Saturday 6:00 a.m. slot and the curtailed run.<ref>{{cite web|title=『ガンダムX』はなぜ39話で終了したのか（放送時間移動と短縮）|url=https://realsound.jp/book/2024/11/post-1826202.html|website=Real Sound|date=2024-11-02|language=ja|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref>

Alongside TV, high-spec OVAs deepened the “real robot” grammar that the franchise helped define. ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team]]'' (1996–99) pushed ground-war tactility and small-unit drama.<ref>{{cite web|title=機動戦士ガンダム 第08MS小隊（作品ページ・スタッフ）|url=https://www.sunrise-inc.co.jp/work/detail.php?cid=16|website=Sunrise|language=ja|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref> In parallel, model-kit strategy continued to climb the value chain: Bandai's HG (1990) and MG (1995) ranges targeted a maturing base and helped keep Gunpla culturally visible even when weekly ratings fluctuated.<ref name="GUNDAM TODAY：ガンプラ40年の歩み"/>

The decade also saw [[video game]]s become a second content pillar. Bandai's hardcore strategy sims ''[[Gihren no Yabou|Giren's Greed]]'' (Saturn, 1998) and the crossover-builder ''[[SD Gundam G Generation]]'' (PlayStation, 1998) inaugurated long-running lines, while Saturn's ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam: The Blue Destiny|The Blue Destiny]]'' trilogy (1996–97) introduced original-timeline side stories that bled back into model and manga development.<ref>{{cite web|title=『ギレンの野望』が発売された日（1998年4月9日）|url=https://www.famitsu.com/article/202504/39059|website=Famitsu.com|language=ja|date=2025-04-09|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=SDガンダム ジージェネレーション（PS）基本データ|url=https://www.famitsu.com/game/title/1619/page/1|website=Famitsu.com|language=ja|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=機動戦士ガンダム外伝 THE BLUE DESTINY（発売情報）|url=https://www.gavas.jp/products/detail.php?product_id=1509|website=GAVAS|language=ja|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref>

The 1990s closed with ''[[Turn A Gundam]]'' (1999–2000), which brought [[Yoshiyuki Tomino]] back to TV with a reflective, pastoral tone and an international industrial-design sensibility (with [[Syd Mead]] among the credited mecha designers). Within Bandai/Sunrise's “alternate/UC” cadence, ''Turn A'' functioned as a capstone statement at the century's end—stylistically apart from mid-90s TV, yet seeded by the decade's experiments and by the corporate ability, post-1994, to greenlight distinct production bets within one brand.<ref name="サンライズの歩み（1990年代）"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gundamunofficial.com/production/production1.html|title=Franchise Production History Notes (context)|last=Simmons|first=Mark|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref> In parallel, Sunrise and Bandai mounted a 20th-anniversary live action experiment, ''[[G-Saviour]]'', broadcast on [[TV Asahi]] on 29 December 2000, which was then issued in a longer “Full Version” on DVD (25 May 2001).<ref>{{cite web|title=1/144 HG ジーセイバー（無重力仕様）|url=https://www.bandaispirits.co.jp/products/search/detail.php?grp_id=5325&prd_id=4902425786766000|website=Bandai Spirits|language=ja|quote=「12/29（金）にテレビ朝日系にて放送予定の『G-SAVIOUR』に登場する主役MS」|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=G-SAVIOUR フルバージョン|url=https://v-storage.jp/cont/item/?item_detail=BCBF-0807|website=V-STORAGE（バンダイナムコフィルムワークス公式）|language=ja|quote=「『機動戦士ガンダム』誕生20周年記念作品」／「未公開シーン約20分を加えたフルバージョン」|date=2001-05-25|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=作品情報 G－セイバー|url=https://www.sunrise-inc.co.jp/work/detail.php?cid=252|website=Sunrise|language=ja|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref> A broader multimedia push framed it as an anniversary tent-pole, complete with a [[PlayStation 2]] tie-in released ahead of broadcast and Gunpla timed to year-end shelves, but reception was tepid and the project remained a one-off, underscoring the limits of live action Gundam at the time.<ref>{{cite web|title=G-SAVIOUR（PS2）|url=https://www.famitsu.com/game/title/9367/videos/page/1|website=Famitsu.com|language=ja|quote=発売日：2000年9月14日／メーカー：サンライズインタラクティブ|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=LAUNCH CALENDAR 発売カレンダー（2000年12月下旬）|url=https://www.bandaispirits.co.jp/products/calendar/?month_frm=12&year_frm=2000|website=Bandai Spirits|language=ja|quote=「1/144 HG ジーセイバー（無重力仕様）」|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Exploring "G-Saviour": When Gundam Hit the Big Screen|url=https://film-cred.com/exploring-g-saviour-when-gundam-hit-the-big-screen/|website=Film Cred|date=2022-09-12|language=en|quote=“an oddball… live-action Gundam [that] struggled to capture the spirit of the mecha anime”|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref>

=== 2000s: ''SEED''-era resurgence and HD globalization (2002–2010) ===
The 2000s opened with a generational pivot in animation workflows and broadcast technology, and with a deliberate push to broaden Gundam's audience. ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam SEED]]'' (2002–2003) aired in the prime [[Mainichi Broadcasting System|MBS]]/[[Tokyo Broadcasting System|TBS]] Saturday 6pm slot and became a breakout TV hit that re-energized the franchise with younger viewers and a conspicuously large female cohort; contemporary coverage and later retrospectives note that character-driven plotting and the alternate universe setup eased entry for first-time viewers.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://realsound.jp/movie/2024/02/post-1564173_2.html|title=『機動戦士ガンダムSEED』は"初ガンダム"にうってつけの作品|website=Real Sound|date=2024-02-04|language=ja|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://mantan-web.jp/article/20230825dog00m200005000c.html|title=解説：多くの女性ファンも獲得した「機動戦士ガンダムSEED」|website=MANTANWEB|date=2023-08-27|language=ja|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref> Commercially it was a disc-era phenomenon: by March 2004, [[Bandai Visual]] reported ''SEED'' DVD/VHS shipments of 1.3 million, and its follow-up ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny|SEED DESTINY]]'' (2004–2005) passed 1.0 million disc sales by November 2005, exceptional numbers for TV anime at the time.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://av.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/20040406/bandai.htm|title=「機動戦士ガンダムSEED」DVD&ビデオが累計130万枚を突破|website=AV Watch|date=2004-04-06|language=ja|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://av.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/20051128/bandai.htm|title=「ガンダムSEED DESTINY」のDVDが累計100万枚を突破|website=AV Watch|date=2005-11-28|language=ja|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref>

Industry-wide, cel-to-[[Digital ink and paint|digital paint/post]] in the animation process accelerated around 2000, with [[computer-generated imagery|3DCG]] integration expanding through the decade; policy and industry reports periodize this shift from finishing/compositing into background/asset pipelines by the mid-2000s.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.meti.go.jp/meti_lib/report/2022FY/000254.pdf|title=アニメーションのデジタル制作に対応した効果的な人材育成等に関する調査研究|publisher=METI|language=ja|date=2023-03-01|page=115|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref> Within Gundam, ''SEED'' and ''DESTINY'' leaned into digital compositing and selective 3DCG (notably ships and effects), a direction staff later said they intended to push further in feature work; by the end of the decade, ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam 00]]'' (2007–2009) arrived as the franchise's first native HD/widescreen TV series, with [[Blu-ray]] releases announced during broadcast.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://hjweb.jp/article/1424014/|title=『機動戦士ガンダムSEED FREEDOM』でメカニック表現がCG中心に至った経緯|website=Hobby Japan Web|date=2024-03-24|language=ja|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://av.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/20080123/bandai.htm|title=「機動戦士ガンダム00」を'08年夏からBlu-ray化—シリーズ初のハイビジョン制作/放送|website=AV Watch|date=2008-01-23|language=ja|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://av.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/20080128/bandai.htm|title=「機動戦士ガンダム00」のDVD発売記念イベントが開催|website=AV Watch|date=2008-01-28|language=ja|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref>

Running in parallel to the TV slate, Sunrise and Bandai Visual launched Gundam's first fully 3DCG screen project with ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam MS IGLOO]],'' initially museum-only exhibition films (2004) before OVA releases (''Apocalypse 0079'', 2006), and the follow-on series ''MS IGLOO 2: Gravity Front'' (2008–2009). Sunrise's work notes and official sites emphasize the “full 3DCG” approach and the use of motion capture at Sunrise D.I.D., marking IGLOO as a pipeline-proving effort that fed into later CG deployment across the brand.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.sunrise-inc.co.jp/work/detail.php?cid=209|title=機動戦士ガンダム MS IGLOO 1年戦争秘録|website=Sunrise|language=ja|date=2004-07-19|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.b-ch.com/titles/923/|title=機動戦士ガンダム MSイグルー −1年戦争秘録−（作品解説）|website=バンダイチャンネル|language=ja|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.sunrise-inc.co.jp/international/work/detail.php?cid=210|title=MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM MS IGLOO: Apocalypse 0079|website=Sunrise International|language=en|date=2006-04-26|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.msigloo2.net/|title=MS IGLOO 2 重力戦線（公式）|language=ja|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.msigloo2.net/special/secretstory1.html|title=「重力戦線」開発秘話（第1回：モーションキャプチャー／サンライズD.I.D.）|website=MS IGLOO 2 公式|language=ja|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.gundam.info/special-series/gundam-works/special-series_gundam-works_20161208_1775p.html|title=ガンダム作品紹介：MS IGLOO 2 重力戦線|website=Gundam.info|language=ja|date=2019-04-04|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref>

Globally, Sunrise and Bandai also tested child-friendly, comedy-adventure positioning via ''[[SD Gundam Force]]''—a tri-party initiative with [[TV Tokyo]] and Cartoon Network. Bandai's September 2003 U.S. press release announced a Cartoon Network premiere (with Japan to follow), marking a rare case of a Gundam TV entry debuting in North America before domestic broadcast; the series subsequently aired on TV Tokyo in 2004.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bandai.co.jp/corporate/press/press_R/2003/press_2Q01-03.pdf|title=『SDガンダムフォース』米国カートゥーン ネットワークにて放送開始|publisher=Bandai Co., Ltd.|date=2003-09-01|language=ja|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.sunrise-inc.co.jp/work/detail.php?cid=213|title=SDガンダムフォース｜サンライズ作品一覧|website=Sunrise|language=ja|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://artist.cdjournal.com/d/-/4104050236|title=TVアニメ『SDガンダムフォース』音楽商品ページ（放送情報）|website=CDJournal|language=ja|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref>

Merchandising and manufacturing also evolved. The Gunpla business expanded on the back of ''SEED/DESTINY'' demand, while Bandai centralized model-kit production at the [[Shizuoka (city)|Shizuoka]] Bandai Hobby Center in March 2006—an investment that underpinned higher-mix, faster-turn kit rollouts for the late 2000s and beyond.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bandaispirits.co.jp/e/about/history/|title=History｜BANDAI SPIRITS（年表）|date=July 1950 |publisher=Bandai Spirits|language=en|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref> [[Bandai Namco Holdings|Bandai Namco]]’s annual reporting at the end of the decade describes a strategy to cultivate both youth and adult hobbyists via diversified Gunpla brands and large-scale events, a trajectory that would culminate in new lines at the decade’s turn.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bandainamco.co.jp/files/ir/integrated/pdf/en_2009_Annual.pdf|title=Annual Report 2009|publisher=Namco Bandai Holdings|language=en|date=2009|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bandainamco.co.jp/files/ir/integrated/pdf/en_2010_Annual.pdf|title=Annual Report 2010|publisher=Namco Bandai Holdings|language=en|date=2010|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref>

[[Video game]] production scaled up in parallel as a mainstream touchpoint. The arcade/console ''[[Gundam Vs. (series)|Gundam vs.]]'' entries became gaming fixtures; ''[[Kidou Senshi Gundam Seed: Rengou vs. Z.A.F.T.|Rengou vs. Z.A.F.T.]]'' earned a [[Japan Game Awards|CESA Game Awards “Future”]] selection in 2005.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://awards.cesa.or.jp/2005/prizelist/future/b.html|title=GAME AWARDS FUTURE（2005年）受賞リスト：機動戦士ガンダムSEED 連合VS.Z.A.F.T.|website=Japan Game Awards（CESA）|language=ja|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://awards.cesa.or.jp/2005/game.html|title=第9回 CESA GAME AWARDS 受賞作品|website=Japan Game Awards（CESA）|language=ja|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref> Bandai Namco also launched the networked dome-cabinet arcade title ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam: Bonds of the Battlefield]]'' (2006), showcased at character hobby expos and later remembered for its long service life and cockpit-immersion concept, emblematic of the company's post-merger arcade ambition.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://dengekionline.com/data/news/2006/8/1/bbcd7fe80b63dee9dd2c585b3f12e9c1.html|title=「キャラホビ2006」に『ガンダム』の最新AC用ゲーム機が多数出展（『戦場の絆』など）|website=電撃オンライン|date=2006-08-01|language=ja|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/olliebarder/2020/10/29/the-ultimate-gundam-arcade-game-is-finally-getting-a-sequel/|title=The Ultimate 'Gundam' Arcade Game Is Finally Getting a Sequel|website=Forbes|date=2020-10-29|language=en|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref> On consoles, collaborations broadened reach into action-game demographics, e.g., ''[[Dynasty Warriors: Gundam]]'' (''Gundam Musou'') for the [[PlayStation 3]] in late 2006.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.wired.com/2006/12/bandai-namco-ko/|title=Bandai Namco, Koei Team for "Gundam Warriors"|magazine=Wired|date=2006-12-21|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref>

Internationally, distribution patterns diversified. Whereas ''Gundam Wing'' built a North American audience via [[Toonami]] in 2000, the late-2000s ''00'' release used [[Syfy|Sci-Fi Channel]]’s “Ani-Monday,” reflecting shifts in U.S. TV anime carriage and the franchise's ability to re-enter foreign linear windows at HD quality.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://icv2.com/articles/news/view/15192/gundam-00-season-2-sci-fi|title='Gundam 00 Season 2' on Sci Fi Starting June 29|website=ICv2|date=2009-06-19|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.animationmagazine.net/2008/07/sci-fi-beefs-up-ani-monday/|title=Sci-Fi Beefs Up Ani-Monday（『ガンダム00』）|website=Animation Magazine|date=2008-07-10|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref> As the decade closed, high-spec home-video OVAs found a premium niche audience that Sunrise would fully exploit immediately thereafter with ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn]]'' (2010–2014), which set early Blu-ray benchmarks for original video releases and signaled durable demand for top-end Universal Century stories in the HD era.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.oricon.co.jp/news/73886/full/|title=『ガンダムUC』、BD初動最高の記録|website=ORICON NEWS|date=2010-03-17|language=ja|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://av.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/news/353040.html|title=BD初週売上で『ガンダムUC』が歴代1位|website=AV Watch|date=2010-03-17|language=ja|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref>

=== 2010s: Platform diversification—build, stream, and expand (2011–2021) ===
Across the 2010s, Sunrise and Bandai Namco normalized experimentation in various formats and targeting. Early in the decade, the companies partnered with [[Level-5 (company)|Level-5]] on ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam AGE]]'' (2011–2012), a multi-generational TV series slotted in the nationwide Sunday 17:00 block and overtly pitched to younger viewers and families; Level-5's [[Akihiro Hino]] supplied the overall story and the project was flanked by RPG/game tie-ins and magazine outreach to children's demographics (e.g., ''[[CoroCoro Comic]]'').<ref>{{cite web|url=https://mantan-web.jp/article/20111008dog00m200021000c.html|title=注目アニメ紹介：「機動戦士ガンダムAGE」レベルファイブの日野社長が描く100年間のストーリー|website=MANTANWEB|date=2011-10-09|language=ja|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://en.gundam.info/news/video-music/news_video-music_20110614_69664p.html|title=The new TV series "Mobile Suit Gundam AGE" starts in October 2011|website=Gundam.info|date=2011-06-14|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.famitsu.com/news/201110/15051996.html|title=『機動戦士ガンダム AGE』ゲーム化が決定—LEVEL5 VISION 2011|website=Famitsu.com|date=2011-10-15|language=ja|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref> In commercial and reception terms, ''AGE'' did not create a new long-running kid-first TV trend, but it did sharpen the strategy tension the decade would continually revisit: how to capture new cohorts without abandoning older hobbyists.

In that vein, Sunrise was able to incubate a new audience through the ''Gundam Build'' subfranchise. ''[[Gundam Build Fighters]]'' (2013–2014) returned the brand to TV Tokyo after-school hours, explicitly linking the narrative to contemporary [[Gunpla]] culture and [[kitbashing]], and streaming episodes online immediately after broadcast; its sequel ''[[Gundam Build Fighters Try]]'' (2014–2015) continued the approach with weekly free streaming and BS/[[Nippon BS Broadcasting|BS11]] carriage.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://en.gundam.info/news/video-music/news_video-music_20130702_66344p.html|title=New anime TV series "Gundam Build Fighters" to premiere on TV Tokyo this October|website=Gundam.info|date=2013-07-01|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://en.gundam.info/news/video-music/news_video-music_20131008_65810p.html|title="Gundam Build Fighters" episode 1 streaming free now|website=Gundam.info|date=2013-10-07|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://en.gundam.info/news/video-music/news_video-music_20141008_63636p.html|title=『ガンダムビルドファイターズトライ』本日放送開始|website=Gundam.info|date=2014-10-08|language=ja|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.sunrise-inc.co.jp/work/detail.php?cid=364|title=ガンダムビルドファイターズトライ｜作品紹介|website=Sunrise Inc.|language=ja|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.gundam.info/news/video-music/news_video-music_20140925_11595p.html|title=「ガンダムビルドファイターズトライ」毎週水曜20時より無料配信決定|website=Gundam.info|date=2014-09-25|language=ja|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref> The “Build” line then pivoted again with ''[[Gundam Build Divers]]'' (2018), re-imagining battles around a VR-MMO conceit on the TV Tokyo network, and closed the decade by trialing a streaming-first model: ''[[Gundam Build Divers Re:Rise|Build Divers Re:RISE]]'' (2019–2020) premiered on Sunrise's official [[YouTube]] “Gundam Channel” before later TV runs, illustrating a shift toward digital-first rollouts for youth-leaning entries.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://en.gundam.info/news/video-music/news_video-music_20180228_0011.html|title="Gundam Build Divers" Broadcast on April 3!|website=Gundam.info|date=2018-02-28|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://en.gundam.info/news/event/news_event_20180205_146122p.html|title=Series presentation of "Gundam Build Divers" held at THE GUNDAM BASE TOKYO|website=Gundam.info|date=2018-02-04|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://en.gundam.info/news/hot-topics/news_hot-topics_20190924_0020.html|title=Gundam Build Divers Re:RISE will stream on GUNDAM CHANNEL|website=Gundam.info|date=2019-09-24|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref>

At the same time, the franchise expanded late-night auteur and Universal Century prestige avenues. [[Yoshiyuki Tomino]]’s ''[[Gundam Reconguista in G]]'' (2014–2015), a 35th-anniversary original, aired in MBS/TBS’s late-night “[[Animeism]]” block with limited theatrical “event” screenings of early episodes and parallel day-and-date streaming on [[d Anime Store]] and Bandai Channel, reflecting a broadcast/streaming hybrid strategy for adult-skew originals.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.famitsu.com/news/201406/23055741.html|title=『Gのレコンギスタ』が「アニメイズム」枠で放送決定|website=Famitsu.com|date=2014-06-23|language=ja|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://it.gundam.info/news/video-music/news_video-music_20140926_112748p.html|title=「Gのレコンギスタ」放送時間決定＆dアニメストア他で配信|website=Gundam.info|date=2014-09-26|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://en.gundam.info/news/video-music/news_video-music_20141212_63276p.html|title="Gのレコンギスタ" Shinjuku special screening (episode 15 preview)|website=Gundam.info|date=2014-12-11|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref> UC-side, ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin|Mobile Suit Gundam THE ORIGIN]]'' (2015–2018) established a premium “event OVA + early Blu-ray + paid streaming” pipeline that would become a key revenue pattern for high-spec releases.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://en.gundam.info/news/hot-topics/news_hot-topics_20150303_62614p.html|title="THE ORIGIN I" two-week event screenings & paid streaming|website=Gundam.info|date=2015-03-02|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://en.gundam.info/news/video-music/news_video-music_20151126_60865p.html|title=Mobile Suit Gundam THE ORIGIN II on Blu-ray/DVD|website=Gundam.info|date=2015-11-25|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref> ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt]]'' (2015–2017) further pushed a digital-first [[Original net animation|ONA]] model with paid streaming windows and later compilation films, underscoring how Sunrise used online distribution to reach core UC fans between TV cycles.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://en.gundam.info/news/video-music/news_video-music_20170120_125148p.html|title="Gundam Thunderbolt" Season 2 available via paid streaming|website=Gundam.info|date=2017-01-19|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://en.gundam.info/news/video-music/news_video-music_20181015_001.html|title="Thunderbolt" director's cuts time-limited streaming on GUNDAM.INFO|website=Gundam.info|date=2018-10-15|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref> Other short-form experiments, such as the fan-club-led ONA ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam: Twilight AXIS|Twilight AXIS]]'' (2017), were explicitly structured around digital platforms (Gundam Fan Club/Gundam.info) before later theatrical compilations.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://en.gundam.info/news/event/news_event_20170706_134212p.html|title="Twilight AXIS" #1 free on Gundam Fan Club/Gundam.info; #2 advance streaming on Fan Club|website=Gundam.info|date=2017-07-05|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref>

A major tonal and scheduling shift arrived with ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans]]'' (2015–2017), which returned the brand to a domestic Sunday-evening network slot on MBS/TBS with a grittier, serialized human-drama focus; it simultaneously rolled out worldwide via licensed streaming (e.g., Daisuki, [[Hulu]], [[Crunchyroll]]), establishing a modern pattern for near-global, near-simulcast exposure.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://en.gundam.info/news/hot-topics/news_hot-topics_20150716_61786p.html|title=Press conference: "Iron-Blooded Orphans" Sunday 5:00 PM premiere|website=Gundam.info|date=2015-07-15|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://en.gundam.info/news/video-music/news_video-music_20151010_61209p.html|title=IBO Episode 2 preview & broadcast info (MBS/TBS Sundays 17:00; streaming blocks)|website=Gundam.info|date=2015-10-09|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.crunchyroll.com/news/latest/2015/10/2/crunchyroll-to-simulcast-mobile-suit-gundam-iron-blooded-orphans-anime-series|title=Crunchyroll to simulcast "Iron-Blooded Orphans"|website=Crunchyroll News|date=2015-10-02|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.crunchyroll.com/news/latest/2015/9/30/daisuki-to-stream-mobile-suit-gundam-iron-blooded-orphans|title=Daisuki to stream "Iron-Blooded Orphans" worldwide|website=Crunchyroll News|date=2015-09-30|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref>

By the latter half of the decade, Sunrise formalized a slate of UC follow-ups under the banner “UC NexT 0100,” positioning post-''[[Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack|Char’s Counterattack]]'' works as an ongoing multi-format initiative. ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam Narrative]]'' (2018) was announced as the project's first screen entry, followed by a ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam: Hathaway|Hathaway]]'' film trilogy as the second.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://en.gundam.info/news/event/news_event_20180423_0021.html|title=New Gundam Series "Mobile Suit Gundam Narrative" Announced — First entry in "UC NexT 0100 Project"|website=Gundam.info|date=2018-04-23|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.gundam.info/news/hot-topics/news_hot-topics_20181121_12.html|title="Gundam 40th Project" unveils five works; "Hathaway" is UC NexT 0100 #2|website=Gundam.info|date=2018-11-21|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.gundam.info/special-series/gundam-works/01_11334.html|title=機動戦士ガンダムNT｜作品解説（UC NexT 0100 第1弾）|website=Gundam.info|date=2023-05-16|language=ja|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.gundam.info/news/hot-topics/news_hot-topics_20181130_29.html|title=「閃光のハサウェイ」遂に始動（UC NexT 0100 第2弾）|website=Gundam.info|date=2018-11-30|language=ja|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref>

During the 2010s, Gunpla development emphasized both technical innovation and diversification of scales. Bandai's 2010 launch of the [[Gundam models#Real Grade|Real Grade]] (RG) line introduced 1/144 kits with Master Grade-level surface detail, extensive markings, and pre-assembled inner frames.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Gundam .info marks four years with "Remembering Gundam.info, by the numbers"|url=https://en.gundam.info/news/info/news_info_20110801_69502p.html|website=Gundam.info|date=July 31, 2011|access-date=2025-08-17}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Gundam School Part 16|url=https://en.gundam.info/about-gundam/gundam-school/66568p.html|website=Gundam.info|date=May 17, 2013|access-date=2025-08-17|language=en}}</ref> Advances in multi-color injection molding and the development of the “Advanced MS Joint” frame system allowed Bandai to engineer high part density and wide articulation even at small scales, reflecting a broader industry trend toward premium realism and accessibility. Alongside RG, the decade also saw continued refinements to the [[Gundam models#Master Grade|Master Grade]] and [[Gundam models#High Grade|High Grade]] lines, with more intricate surface detail, expanded articulation, and increasingly efficient build engineering, positioning Gunpla as both an entry-level hobby and a high-precision collector's product.<ref>{{Cite web|title=ガンプラの進化と挑戦 成形技術と商品企画の40年|url=https://www.itmedia.co.jp/news/articles/2007/24/news018.html|website=ITmedia News|date=July 24, 2020|language=ja|access-date=2025-08-17}}</ref>

The decade thus broadened tie-ins beyond TV and disc: Sunrise leaned into streaming windows (e.g., ''Thunderbolt'' paid online releases), YouTube premieres (''Re:RISE''), and recurring event screenings (''THE ORIGIN''), while Bandai Namco continued to cultivate hobbyists via Gunpla-driven exhibits and product cycles connected to on-air beats. Taken together, the decade's output reflected a calibrated portfolio: child-oriented “Build” cycles, late-night originals, digitally led UC projects, and a high-visibility Sunday-evening drama in ''IBO,'' that extended Gundam's reach globally via streaming while repeatedly attempting to onboard younger generations without abandoning longtime fans.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://en.gundam.info/news/video-music/news_video-music_20170120_125148p.html|title="Thunderbolt" Season 2 paid streaming|website=Gundam.info|date=2017-01-19|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://en.gundam.info/news/hot-topics/news_hot-topics_20190924_0020.html|title=Re:RISE to stream on Gundam Channel (YouTube)|website=Gundam.info|date=2019-09-24|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://en.gundam.info/news/hot-topics/news_hot-topics_20150303_62614p.html|title="THE ORIGIN I"—event screenings and paid streaming model|website=Gundam.info|date=2015-03-02|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref>

=== 2020s: Cross-media maturity, capacity strains, and renewed TV impact (2021–present) ===

The 2020s opened with Gundam operating at a full cross-media scale: films, television, streaming, live events, and VR; while the broader anime industry faced structural labor shortages that tightened schedules and shortened production horizons. Trade and mainstream reporting in Japan throughout 2024–25 described a chronic shortfall of skilled animators and CG staff, cost inflation, and knock-on delays, with surveys noting deteriorating margins at many mid-tier contractors despite topline demand growth.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.itmedia.co.jp/news/articles/2502/19/news149.html|title=アニメ業界、人手不足やコスト増で業績が悪化 制作下請けの約6割で低迷|website=ITmedia News|date=February 19, 2025|language=ja|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://prtimes.jp/main/html/rd/p/000000141.000043465.html|title=帝国データバンク、アニメ制作会社の実態調査—人手不足とコスト高の影響|website=PR TIMES（帝国データバンク）|date=February 19, 2025|language=ja|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/15432972|title=Anime industry tackles animator shortage amid global boom|website=The Asahi Shimbun AJW|date=October 13, 2024|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://aja.gr.jp/download/anime-industry-report-2023_summary_jp|title=アニメ産業レポート2023 サマリー|website=一般社団法人日本動画協会|date=February 10, 2024|language=ja|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref> Even as the [[The Association of Japanese Animations|Association of Japanese Animations]] tallied record market size, commentators warned that capacity constraints were leading committees to favor contained or split-cour runs and diversify pipelines (digital paint/CG, overseas vendors) to keep pace.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.screendaily.com/news/japanese-anime-industry-generated-record-22bn-in-2023-with-overseas-surpassing-local-takings/5198698.article|title=Japanese anime industry generated record $22 bn in 2023 with overseas surpassing local takings|website=Screen Daily|date=October 31, 2024|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref>

On the corporate side, the 2010s and early 2020s also saw structural changes in the stewardship of the Gundam franchise. Sunrise, long the animation studio responsible for Gundam, was reorganized within Bandai Namco Holdings in 2021 as ''[[Bandai Namco Filmworks]]'', reflecting the group's push toward an “IP axis” strategy that more tightly integrated animation, live action, and event production.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Sunrise becomes Bandai Namco Filmworks as part of group restructuring|url=https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2021-02-08/sunrise-to-become-bandai-namco-filmworks-in-april/.169280|website=Anime News Network|date=February 8, 2021|access-date=2025-08-17}}</ref> Separately, Gundam's licensing agent [[Sotsu]]—which had co-owned the rights to the property since the late 1970s—was merged into Bandai Namco Holdings in 2020, ending decades of dual-rights management and consolidating control of the franchise within the group.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Bandai Namco to absorb Sotsu, longtime Gundam rights-holder|url=https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2020-09-29/bandai-namco-to-absorb-sotsu/.164632|website=Anime News Network|date=September 29, 2020|access-date=2025-08-17}}</ref> These reorganizations allowed Bandai Namco to centralize production and licensing under a unified corporate structure, aligning the Gundam IP more closely with the company's global multimedia and merchandising strategies.

On television, ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury]]'' (2022–23) reactivated MBS/TBS's national “Nichigo” slot after a five-year hiatus and broadened Gundam's reach among school-age and young-adult viewers with a contemporary school setting, social-media traction, and a two-cour format tailored to modern broadcast cadence.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.gundam.info/news/video-music/01_6657.html|title=「日5」復活！『機動戦士ガンダム 水星の魔女』10月より放送開始|website=Gundam.info|date=January 29, 2022|language=ja|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://s.famitsu.com/news/202201/29249427.html|title="日5"枠が復活、『水星の魔女』が10月より放送|website=Famitsu.com|date=January 29, 2022|language=ja|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref>

In cinemas, momentum carried into ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Freedom]]'' (2024), which set the franchise's all-time box office record and confirmed the SEED sub-brand's long-tail appeal in the streaming era. Bandai Namco's IR feature in 2024 explicitly framed the film as a driver of IP value expansion, and one-year anniversary tallies reported more than ¥5.3–6.2 billion in receipts (depending on cutoff), the highest for a Gundam theatrical release.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bandainamco.co.jp/en/ir/library/feature01_02_2024.html|title=Mobile Suit Gundam SEED FREEDOM Contributing to IP Value Expansion|website=Bandai Namco Holdings IR|date=July 22, 2024|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.gundam.info/news/event/01_16494.html|title=『機動戦士ガンダムSEED FREEDOM』1周年記念舞台挨拶レポート（興行収入・受賞の紹介）|website=Gundam.info|date=January 27, 2025|language=ja|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://prtimes.jp/main/html/rd/p/000002223.000031998.html|title=U-NEXT 2025年4月の配信ラインナップ発表（『SEED FREEDOM』興収言及）|website=PR TIMES|date=March 31, 2025|language=ja|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_Suit_Gundam_SEED_Freedom|title=Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Freedom|website=Wikipedia|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref>{{Circular reference|date=September 2025}}

Global streaming platforms, particularly [[Netflix]], became central to Gundam's international reach in the 2020s. ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam: Hathaway]]'' (2021) followed its Japanese theatrical release with a worldwide Netflix launch, offering same-week access across many territories and establishing a distribution model Sunrise would revisit for UC-branded projects.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_Suit_Gundam%3A_Hathaway%27s_Flash|title=Mobile Suit Gundam: Hathaway's Flash|website=Wikipedia|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref>{{Circular reference|date=September 2025}}<ref>{{cite web|url=https://realsound.jp/movie/2021/07/post-808381.html|title=『閃光のハサウェイ』がNetflixで世界配信—旧作同時展開と実写計画の文脈|website=Real Sound|date=July 8, 2021|language=ja|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref> This was followed by ''[[Gundam: Requiem for Vengeance]]'' (2024), an Unreal Engine 5 production co-created with SAFEHOUSE and released globally as a Netflix exclusive, serving both as a technical showcase and as an experiment in simultaneous worldwide distribution within the Universal Century.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gundam%3A_Requiem_for_Vengeance|title=Gundam: Requiem for Vengeance|website=Wikipedia|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref>{{Circular reference|date=September 2025}}<ref>{{cite web|url=https://en.gundam.info/news/video-music/01_15712.html|title=Gundam: Requiem for Vengeance Begins Streaming on Netflix—Created Using Unreal Engine 5|website=Gundam.info|date=October 17, 2024|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref>

Outside traditional screens, Bandai Namco Filmworks and Atlas V launched the [[Virtual reality|VR]] film ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam: Silver Phantom]]'' for [[Meta Quest]] in October 2024; the project was later selected for [[Annecy International Animation Film Festival|Annecy]]’s VR program, emblematic of Gundam’s willingness to trial immersive formats tied to UC lore.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://en.gundam.info/news/video-music/01_15590.html|title=Meta Quest VR Movie ''Mobile Suit Gundam: Silver Phantom'' Releases Today!|website=Gundam.info|date=October 4, 2024|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://en.gundam.info/news/hot-topics/01_17295.html|title=''Silver Phantom'' Selected for Annecy's VR Category|website=Gundam.info|date=April 30, 2025|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref>

By 2025, Sunrise (Bandai Namco Filmworks) pivoted back to a major “gateway” television push with ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX]]'', a high-profile co-production with [[Khara (studio)|Studio Khara]]. A theatrical compilation of the opening episodes (''GQuuuuuuX Beginning'') premiered in Japan on January 17, 2025, with a limited global run ahead of the TV broadcast. The rollout included [[IMAX]], 4DX/MX4D, and re-release screenings, and by late July, box office receipts had surpassed ¥35.8 billion—second only to ''SEED Freedom'' among Gundam films—underscoring the strategy's goal of re-energizing lapsed fans before the series’ TV debut.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.gundam.info/feature/gquuuuuux/news/video-music/01_16105/|title=『機動戦士Gundam GQuuuuuuX』始動—劇場先行版は2025年1月17日公開|website=Gundam.info|language=ja|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.gundam.info/feature/gquuuuuux/|title=機動戦士Gundam GQuuuuuuX 公式特設|website=Gundam.info|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://diamond.jp/articles/-/368193|title=小形尚弘・BNFガンダム事業本部長インタビュー（興行収入等）|website=ダイヤモンド・オンライン|date=July 23, 2025|language=ja|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref> The series itself was notable for presenting an alternate Universal Century timeline, reimagining the events of the original ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam]]'' with Char Aznable as its central protagonist—positioning it as both a bold narrative experiment and a cross-generational entry point for the franchise.

Looking ahead, after early development with Netflix, the long-gestating [[Hollywood, Los Angeles|Hollywood]] live-action ''Gundam'' feature is now positioned as a [[Legendary Entertainment|Legendary Pictures]] theatrical project with [[Jim Mickle]] set to write and direct; corporate and trade reports through late 2024–mid-2025 describe the shift to theaters and a production start target within 2025.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.legendary.com/latest-news/|title=Legendary—Latest News (links to Deadline coverage of director attachment)|website=Legendary.com|date=October 31, 2024|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://gizmodo.com/live-action-gundam-movie-legendary-jim-mickle-2000519183|title=The Live-Action ''Gundam'' Movie Has Gone Back to the Drawing Board|website=Gizmodo|date=October 31, 2024|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.gundam.info/news/hot-topics/01_16574.html|title=『機動戦士ガンダム』シリーズ初のハリウッド実写版映画について（公式案内）|website=Gundam.info|date=February 5, 2025|language=ja|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref>

On the merchandising front, Gunpla remained the merchandising backbone, with cumulative shipments surpassing 700 million by early 2022 and Bandai Namco reporting record-high group sales in FY 2024–25 as it leaned into “IP-axis” rollouts.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://digital.asahi.com/articles/ASQ3H5DRZQ3HULFA00N.html|title=ガンプラ出荷累計7億個突破|website=朝日新聞デジタル|date=March 15, 2022|language=ja|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bandainamco.co.jp/en/ir/library/integratedreports2024.html|title=Integrated Report 2024|website=Bandai Namco Holdings|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bandainamco.co.jp/files/ir/financialstatements/pdf/en_20250513_Presentation.pdf|title=Fiscal Year Ended March 2025—Information Meeting (Presentation)|website=Bandai Namco Holdings (IR PDF)|date=May 8, 2025|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref>

Smartphone [[gacha game|gacha]] titles became a third pillar for the ''Gundam'' IP in the 2020s. ''[[List of Gundam video games|Mobile Suit Gundam U.C. Engage]]'' (2021, JP; global Oct 17, 2023) paired monthly, anime-quality story drops with 6-on-6 play in the [[Universal Century]], crossing 3 million Japanese downloads by October 2023 and posting ~US$0.54 million on ~433k downloads in its first two weeks after the global launch.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.gematsu.com/2023/10/mobile-suit-gundam-uc-engage-coming-west-on-october-17|title=Mobile Suit Gundam U.C. Engage coming west on October 17|website=Gematsu|date=October 13, 2023|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.gamerbraves.com/how-much-revenue-did-gundam-u-c-engage-global-made-in-its-first-2-weeks/|title=How Much Revenue Did Gundam U.C. Engage Global Made in Its First 2 Weeks?|website=GamerBraves (via AppMagic)|date=November 2023 |access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref> Sunrise/BNE foregrounded the production values through the official “Engage Documents” making-of series and promotional copy emphasizing animated story presentation.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://en.gundam.info/news/games/01_11638.html|title=Behind the Scenes "ENGAGE DOCUMENTS" 2–5 Now Available!|website=Gundam.info|date=August 8, 2023|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref> The pipeline broadened further with ''[[SD Gundam G Generation|SD Gundam G Generation ETERNAL]]'' (launched April 16, 2025), which surpassed US$100 million in its first two months, underscoring the genre's scale for the brand.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.gematsu.com/2025/04/sd-gundam-g-generation-eternal-launches-april-16|title=SD Gundam G Generation ETERNAL launches April 16|website=Gematsu|date=April 2, 2025|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.pocketgamer.biz/news/85058/sd-gundam-g-generation-eternal-earns-1215-million-in-two-months/|title=SD Gundam G Generation Eternal earns $121.5 million in two months — AppMagic|website=PocketGamer.biz|date=June 22, 2025|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref>

Gundam also evolved into a global tourism draw, building on the life-size statue projects first established in the late 2000s and 2010s. In Japan, installations such as the RX-93ff ν Gundam at LaLaport [[Fukuoka]] (2022) and the moving RX-78F00 at [[Gundam Factory Yokohama]] (2020–2024)—extended due to worldwide demand and concluded with a large-scale finale event—functioned as anchor attractions, with a new RX-78F00/E announced for the “Gundam Next Future Pavilion” at [[Expo 2025]] [[Osaka]].<ref name="en.gundam.info">{{cite web|url=https://en.gundam.info/news/hot-topics/01_14213.html|title=GFY Grand Finale – To the New Stage (program overview)|website=Gundam.info|date=March 19, 2024|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://en.gundam.info/news/hot-topics/01_15779.html|title=Life-Sized Gundam to Appear at "GUNDAM NEXT FUTURE PAVILION" (EXPO 2025)|website=Gundam.info|date=October 23, 2024|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref> Overseas, Bandai Namco introduced the first full-scale statue outside Japan with the Freedom Gundam in [[Shanghai]] (2021), and expanded global engagement through “Gundam Docks” exhibitions and touring retail-experience formats, including “The Gundam Base Mobile/Pop-Up World Tour” and the U.S. Mobile Tour (2024–2025).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gundam_Factory_Yokohama|title=Gundam Factory Yokohama|website=Wikipedia|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref>{{Circular reference|date=September 2025}}<ref>{{cite web|url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gundam|title=Gundam|website=Wikipedia|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref>{{Circular reference|date=September 2025}} Collectively, these deployments positioned Gundam as a “pilgrimage” brand for inbound visitors and overseas fans, complementing screen releases with destination-style attractions and large-scale experiential events.

Taken together, the 2020s have been characterized by two countervailing forces: structural strain in Japan's anime production capacity and Gundam's simultaneous broad-spectrum growth via television hits (''Witch from Mercury''), record-setting films (''SEED Freedom''), global streaming originals (''Requiem for Vengeance''), new-format experiments (''Silver Phantom'' VR), and large-scale pre-broadcast theatrical plays (''GQuuuuuuX''). Bandai Namco's disclosures frame the franchise around an “IP-axis” model designed to reach multiple audiences—Universal Century projects sustaining legacy fans, [[Parallel universes in fiction|alternate universe]] series recruiting new cohorts, and Gunpla and live events converting screen engagement into durable revenue.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bandainamco.co.jp/files/ir/financialstatements/pdf/en_20250513_Presentation.pdf|title=Fiscal Year Ended March 2025—Information Meeting (Presentation)|website=Bandai Namco Holdings (IR PDF)|date=May 8, 2025|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bandainamco.co.jp/en/ir/library/integratedreports2024.html|title=Integrated Report 2024|website=Bandai Namco Holdings|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref> In this framework, large-scale attractions such as the RX-93ff ν Gundam in Fukuoka, the moving RX-78F00 at [[Gundam Factory Yokohama]], and overseas deployments like the Freedom Gundam in Shanghai or the U.S. Mobile Tour function as tourism pillars, reinforcing Gundam's status as both a screen property and a destination brand within Bandai Namco's global multimedia strategy.<ref name="en.gundam.info"/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://en.gundam.info/news/hot-topics/01_15779.html|title=Life-Sized Gundam to Appear at "GUNDAM NEXT FUTURE PAVILION" (EXPO 2025)|website=Gundam.info|date=October 23, 2024|access-date=2025-08-16}}</ref>

=={{anchor|Franchise}}Media==

===TV series, films, and video===
Except for ''Mobile Suit Gundam 00'', which follows the [[Common Era|current calendar era]] albeit three centuries in the future, all ''Gundam'' series are set in a fictional era, with a new calendar adopted after a drastic event or chain of events and typically involving a major conflict involving Earth and space colonies (and in some cases the Moon and [[Terraforming|terraformed]] planets).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gundamunofficial.com/story.html|title=Gundam Timelines and Story Overview|website=Gundam Unofficial|access-date=August 15, 2025|archive-date=July 10, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240710235612/http://www.gundamunofficial.com/story.html|url-status=live}}</ref> An exception are the ''Gundam Build'' timelines, which are set in an alternate present time where all other ''Gundam'' installments are fictional.

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! scope="col" | Name
! scope="col" | Media
! scope="col" | Release date
! scope="col" | Timeline and year
|-
| rowspan="2" | ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam]]''
| TV series: 43 episodes
| 1979&ndash;1980
| rowspan="2" | Universal Century (UC) 0079
|-
| Compilation movies: 3
| 1981&ndash;1982
|-
| rowspan="2" | ''[[Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam]]''
| TV series: 50 episodes
| 1985&ndash;1986
| rowspan="2" | Universal Century (UC) 0087
|-
| Compilation movies: 3
| 2005&ndash;2006
|-
| rowspan="2" | ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ]]''
| TV series: 47 episodes
| 1986&ndash;1987
| rowspan="2" | Universal Century (UC) 0088
|-
| [[Original Video Animation|OVA]]: 2 episodes
| 2009
|-
| ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack]]''
| Movie
| 1988
| Universal Century (UC) 0093
|-
| rowspan="3" | ''[[Mobile Suit SD Gundam]]''
| Movies: 5
| 1988, 1989, 1991, 1993
| rowspan="3" | 
|-
| OVA: 9 episodes
| 1989&ndash;1991
|-
| Compilation TV series: 8 episodes
| 1993
|-
| ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket]]''
| OVA: 6 episodes
| 1989
| Universal Century (UC) 0079&ndash;80
|-
| ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam F91]]''
| Movie
| 1991
| Universal Century (UC) 0123
|-
| rowspan="2" | ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory]]''
| OVA: 13 episodes
| 1991&ndash;1992
| rowspan="2" | Universal Century (UC) 0083
|-
| Compilation movie
| 1992
|-
| ''[[Mobile Suit Victory Gundam]]''
| TV series: 51 episodes
| 1993&ndash;1994
| Universal Century (UC) 0153
|-
| ''[[Mobile Fighter G Gundam]]''
| TV series: 49 episodes
| 1994&ndash;1995
| Future Century (FC) 60
|-
| rowspan="2" | ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam Wing]]''
| TV series: 49 episodes
| 1995&ndash;1996
| rowspan="2" | After Colony (AC) 195
|-
| Compilation specials: 4 episodes
| 1996
|-
| rowspan="3" | ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team]]''
| OVA: 12 episodes
| 1996&ndash;1999
| rowspan="3" | Universal Century (UC) 0079
|-
| Compilation movie
| 1998
|-
| Special
| 2013
|-
| ''[[After War Gundam X]]''
| TV series: 39 episodes
| 1996
| After War (AW) 15
|-
| rowspan="2" | ''[[Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz]]''
| OVA: 3 episodes
| 1997
| rowspan="2" | After Colony (AC) 196
|-
| Compilation movie
| 1998
|-
| ''Gundam: Mission to the Rise''<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2019-09-26/gundam-40th-anniversary-promotional-anime-teased-for-this-winter/.151602|title=Gundam 40th Anniversary Promotional Anime Teased for This Winter |work=[[Anime News Network]]|date=September 26, 2019|access-date=September 6, 2021}}</ref>
| Short film
| 1998
| 
|-
| rowspan="2" | ''[[Turn A Gundam]]''
| TV series: 50 episodes
| 1999&ndash;2000
| rowspan="2" | Correct Century (CC) 2343&ndash;45
|-
| Compilation movies: 2
| 2002
|-
| ''[[G-Saviour]]''
| Live-action TV movie
| 2000
| Universal Century (UC) 0223
|-
| ''Gundam Neo Experience 0087: Green Diver''<ref>{{Cite web |title=E-field |url=http://www.e-field.gr.jp/index.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080512182900/http://www.e-field.gr.jp/index.html |archive-date=May 12, 2008}}</ref>
| Specialty format movie
| 2001
| Universal Century (UC) 0087
|-
| ''[[Gundam Evolve]]''
| OVA: 15 episodes
| 2001&ndash;2007
| 
|-
| rowspan="3" | ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam SEED]]''
| TV series: 50 episodes
| 2002&ndash;2003
| rowspan="3" | Cosmic Era (CE) 71
|-
| Epilogue OVA short
| 2004
|-
| Compilation specials: 3 episodes
| 2004
|-
| ''[[Superior Defender Gundam Force]]''
| TV series: 52 episodes
| 2003&ndash;2004
|
|-
| ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam SEED#Manga|Mobile Suit Gundam SEED MSV Astray]]''
| Promo OVA shorts: 2 episodes
| 2004
| Cosmic Era (CE) 71
|-
| ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam MS IGLOO|Mobile Suit Gundam MS IGLOO: The Hidden One Year War]]''
| OVA: 3 episodes
| 2004
| Universal Century (UC) 0079
|-
| rowspan="3" | ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny]]''
| TV series: 50 episodes
| 2004&ndash;2005
| rowspan="3" | Cosmic Era (CE) 73&ndash;74
|-
| TV special
| 2005
|-
| Compilation specials: 4 episodes
| 2006
|-
| ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam MS IGLOO|Mobile Suit Gundam MS IGLOO: Apocalypse 0079]]''
| OVA: 3 episodes
| 2006
| Universal Century (UC) 0079
|-
| rowspan="2" | ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam SEED C.E. 73: Stargazer]]''
| [[Original net animation|ONA]]: 3 episodes
| 2006
| rowspan="2" |  Cosmic Era (CE) 73
|-
| Compilation OVA: 1
| 2006
|-
| rowspan="2" | ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam 00]]''
| TV series: 50 episodes
| 2007&ndash;2009
| rowspan="2" | [[Anno Domini]] (AD) 2307&ndash;08, 2312
|-
| Compilation OVA: 3 episodes
| 2009
|-
| ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam MS IGLOO|Mobile Suit Gundam MS IGLOO 2: Gravity Front]]''
| OVA: 3 episodes
| 2008
| Universal Century (UC) 0079
|-
| ''Mobile Suit Gundam Battlefield Record: Avant-Title''
| OVA
| 2009
| Universal Century (UC) 0079
|-
| ''Ring of Gundam''<ref>{{Cite web |date=2009-08-21 |title=Part of Yoshiyuki Tomino's 'Ring of Gundam' Previewed (Updated) |url=https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2009-08-21/part-of-yoshiyuki-tomino-ring-of-gundam-previewed |access-date=2023-09-29 |website=Anime News Network |language=en}}</ref>
| Short film
| 2009
|-
| rowspan="2" | ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn]]''
| OVA: 7 episodes, 1 special episode
| 2010&ndash;2014
| rowspan="2" | Universal Century (UC) 0096
|-
| Compilation TV series: 22 episodes
| 2016
|-
| rowspan="2" | ''[[SD Gundam Sangokuden Brave Battle Warriors]]''
| Movie
| rowspan="2" | 2010
| rowspan="2" |
|-
| TV series: 51 episodes
|-
| ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam 00 the Movie: A Wakening of the Trailblazer]]''
| Movie
| 2010
| [[Anno Domini]] (AD) 2314
|-
| ''[[Model Suit Gunpla Builders Beginning G]]''
| Specials: 3 episodes
| 2010
| Our Century
|-
| rowspan="2" | ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam AGE]]''
| TV series: 49 episodes
| 2011&ndash;2012
| rowspan="2" | Advanced Generation (AG) 115&ndash;164
|-
| Compilation OVA: 2 episodes
| 2013
|-
| rowspan="2" | ''[[Gundam Build Fighters]]''
| TV series: 25 episodes
| 2013&ndash;2014
| rowspan="2" | Our Century
|-
| Specials: 3 episodes
| 2014
|-
| ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam-san]]''
| TV series: 13 episodes
| 2014
| 
|-
| rowspan="2" | ''[[Gundam Reconguista in G]]''
| TV series: 26 episodes
| 2014&ndash;2015
| rowspan="2" | Regild Century (RG) 1014
|-
| Compilation movies: 5
| 2019&ndash;2022
|-
| rowspan="2" | ''[[Gundam Build Fighters Try]]''
| TV series: 25 episodes
| 2014&ndash;2015
| rowspan="2" | Our Century
|-
| OVA
| 2016
|-
| rowspan="2" | ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin]]''
| OVA: 6 episodes
| 2015&ndash;2018
| rowspan="2" | Universal Century (UC) 0068, 0071, 0074, 0077, 0078, 0079
|-
| Compilation TV series: 13 episodes
| 2019
|-
| ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans]]''
| TV series: 50 episodes
| 2015&ndash;2017
| Post Disaster (PD) 323, 325
|-
| rowspan="2" | ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt]]''
| ONA: 8 episodes
| 2015&ndash;2017
| rowspan="2" | Universal Century (UC) 0079
|-
| Compilation movies: 2
| 2016&ndash;2017
|-
| rowspan="2" | ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam: Twilight AXIS]]''
| ONA: 6 episodes
| 2017
| rowspan="2" | Universal Century (UC) 0096
|-
| Compilation movie
| 2017
|-
| ''[[Gundam Build Fighters|Gundam Build Fighters Battlogue]]''
| ONA: 5 episodes
| 2017
| Our Century
|-
| ''[[Gundam Build Fighters|Gundam Build Fighters: GM's Counterattack]]''
| ONA
| 2017
| Our Century
|-
| rowspan="2" | ''[[Gundam Build Divers]]''
| Prologue ONA
| rowspan="2" | 2018
| rowspan="2" | Our Century
|-
| TV series: 25 episodes
|-
| ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam Narrative]]''
| Movie
| 2018
| Universal Century (UC) 0097
|-
| ''[[SD Gundam World Sangoku Soketsuden]]''
| ONA: 10 episodes
| 2019&ndash;2021
| 
|-
| ''[[Gundam Build Divers Re:Rise]]''
| ONA: 26 episodes
| 2019&ndash;2020
| Our Century
|-
| ''[[Gundam Build Divers Re:Rise|Gundam Build Divers: Battlogue]]''
| ONA
| 2020
| Our Century
|-
| ''Mobile Suit Gundam G40''<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-01-21 |title='Mobile Suit Gundam' Releases 40th Anniversary "G40 Project" Special Movie |url=https://hypebeast.com/2020/1/mobile-suit-gundam-40th-anniversary-g40-project |access-date=2023-09-29 |website=Hypebeast}}</ref>
| ONA
| 2020
| Universal Century (UC) 0079
|-
| ''Gundam Build Real''<ref>{{cite web|last1=Pineda|first1= Rafael Antonio|title=Live-Action Video Project 'Gundam Build Real' Debuts on March 29|url=https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2021-03-18/live-action-video-project-gundam-build-real-debuts-on-march-29/.170752|website=Anime News Network|access-date=September 15, 2022|date=March 18, 2021}}</ref>
| Live-action net drama: 6 episodes
| 2021
| Our Century
|-
| ''[[SD Gundam World Heroes]]''
| ONA: 24 episodes
| 2021
| 
|-
| ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam: Hathaway|Mobile Suit Gundam Hathaway]]''
| Movies: 3
| 2021&ndash;TBA
| Universal Century (UC) 0105
|-
| ''Gundam Breaker Battlogue''<ref>{{cite web|last1=Mateo|first1=Alex|title=Gundam Breaker Battlogue Anime Theme Song, October 19 Premiere|url=https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2021-09-24/gundam-breaker-battlogue-anime-theme-song-october-19-premiere/.177770|website=Anime News Network|access-date=September 24, 2021|date=September 24, 2020}}</ref>
| ONA: 6 episodes
| 2021
| Our Century
|-
| ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam: Cucuruz Doan's Island]]''
| Movie
| 2022
| Universal Century (UC) 0079
|-
| rowspan="2" | ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury]]''
| Prologue ONA
| 2022
| Ad Stella (AS) 101
|-
| TV series: 24 episodes
| 2022&ndash;2023
| Ad Stella (AS) 122
|-
| ''[[Gundam Build Metaverse]]''
| ONA: 3 episodes
| 2023
| Our Century
|-
|''[[Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Freedom]]''
|Movie
| 2024
|Cosmic Era (CE) 75
|-
| ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam: Silver Phantom]]''
| VR movie
| 2024
| Universal Century (UC) 0096
|-
| ''[[Gundam: Requiem for Vengeance]]''
| ONA: 6 episodes
| 2024
| Universal Century (UC) 0079
|-
| rowspan="2" | ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX]]''
| Compilation movie
| rowspan="2" | 2025
| rowspan="2" | Alternate version of Universal Century (UC) 0079, 0085
|-
| TV series: 12 episodes
|-
|''[[Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans Urdr-Hunt|Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans Urdr-Hunt – Path of the Little Challenger]]''
| Movie
| 2025
| Post Disaster (PD) 323
|-
|''Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Freedom Zero''
| TBA
| TBA
| Cosmic Era (CE) 
|}

===Live-action film===
At the 2018 [[Anime Expo]], [[Legendary Pictures]] and Sunrise announced a collaboration to develop a live-action ''Gundam'' film.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.thewrap.com/gundam-live-action-adaptation-movie-film/|title='Gundam' Film: Legendary Pictures to Make Live-Action Anime Adaptation|first=Jeremy|last=Fuster|work=The Wrap|date=July 5, 2018|access-date=July 5, 2018}}</ref> [[Brian K. Vaughan]] was brought in to write and serve as an executive producer for the film.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://deadline.com/2019/03/brian-k-vaughan-gundam-live-action-movie-legendary-1202569112/|title=Brian K. Vaughan To Pen 'Gundam' Live-Action Adaptation For Legendary|first1=Amanda|last1=N'Duka|first2=Geoff|last2=Boucher|work=[[Deadline Hollywood]]|date=March 6, 2019|access-date=March 6, 2019}}</ref> In April 2021, it was reported that the project had landed at [[Netflix]] and that [[Jordan Vogt-Roberts]] had been hired to direct.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://comicbook.com/anime/news/mobile-suit-gundam-live-action-movie-director-netflix/|title=Gundam Live-Action Movie Heads to Netflix with Director Jordan Vogt-Roberts|first=Megan|last=Peters|work=Comicbook.com|date=April 12, 2021|access-date=April 12, 2021}}</ref> In October 2024, it was announced that [[Jim Mickle]] would be the new director and writer, and that Netflix was no longer involved.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://deadline.com/2024/10/gundam-movie-sweet-tooth-jim-mickle-1236163584/|title= 'Gundam' Movie At Legendary Taps 'Sweet Tooth' Showrunner Jim Mickle To Direct|date= October 31, 2024|access-date= October 31, 2024|first= Justin|last= Kroll|work= Deadline Hollywood}}</ref> In March 2025, ''[[Deadline Hollywood|Deadline]]'' reported that actress [[Sydney Sweeney]] is in talks for a role.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://deadline.com/2025/03/sydney-sweeney-gundam-movie-legendary-1236355385/|title=Sydney Sweeney Circling Legendary's 'Gundam'|date=March 31, 2025|access-date= April 1, 2025|first= Matt|last=Grobar|work=Deadline Hollywood}}</ref> In September 2025, there have been reports that [[Benson Boone]] and [[Drew Starkey]] are in talks to join the movie.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/movies/articles/gundam-movie-cast-eyes-benson-173352726.html|title=Gundam Movie Cast Eyes Benson Boone for Acting Debut|date=September 16, 2025|access-date=September 26, 2025|first=Anthony|last=Nash|work=Yaho! Entertainment}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nexuspointnews.com/post/exclusive-drew-starkey-is-in-talks-to-lead-gundam-alongside-sydney-sweeney|title=EXCLUSIVE: Drew Starkey Is In Talks To Lead ‘Gundam’ Alongside Sydney Sweeney|date=September 17, 2025|access-date=September 26, 2025|author=Matthew W.|work=Nexus Point News}}</ref>

===Manga and novels===
{{Main|List of Gundam manga and novels}}

Manga adaptations of the ''Gundam'' series have been published in English in North America by a number of companies, such as [[Viz Media]], [[Del Rey Manga]] and [[Tokyopop]], and in [[Singapore]] by [[Chuang Yi]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/company.php?id=2915|title=Chuang Yi Publishing|website=[[Anime News Network]]|access-date=August 15, 2025}}</ref> Notable entries include ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin]]'', written and illustrated by original series character designer [[Yoshikazu Yasuhiko]]. It is a retelling of the first series with additional flashbacks surrounding one of the series' main characters, Char Aznable.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gundamunofficial.com/origin.html|title=Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin Overview|website=Gundam Unofficial|access-date=August 15, 2025|archive-date=July 10, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240710235843/http://www.gundamunofficial.com/origin.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Video games===
{{Main|List of Gundam video games}}
''Gundam'' has spawned over 80 video games for arcade, computer and console platforms, some with characters not found in other ''Gundam'' media. Some of the games, in turn, inspired spinoff novels and manga.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mobygames.com/browse/games/altjapan-co-ltd/list-games/|title=MobyGames: Game Browser|website=MobyGames|access-date=October 27, 2016|archive-date=February 12, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220212085620/https://www.mobygames.com/browse/games/altjapan-co-ltd/list-games/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==={{anchor|Gundam model}}Gunpla===
{{Main|Gunpla}}

Primarily made of plastic, but sometimes paired with resin and metal detail parts, hundreds of ''Gundam'' [[scale model|scale plastic model]]s, known as Gunpla, have been released since the early 1980s.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/feature/2020-07-31/gunpla-101-everything-you-ever-wanted-to-know-about-gundam-model-kits/.162422|title=Gunpla 101: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Gundam Model Kits|last=Beckett|first=James|website=[[Anime News Network]]|date=July 31, 2020|access-date=August 15, 2025}}</ref> They range in quality from toolless-build children's toy kits (Entry Grades) to hobbyist and museum-grade models, and most are in common scales such as 1:35, 1:48, 1:60, 1:100, or 1:144. Various Grades exist to target hobbyists, ranging from smaller-sized kits such as High Grade and Real Grade to larger Master Grade and Perfect Grade model kits.<ref>{{cite book|last=Yamaguchi|first=Takayuki|title=Gunpla: Building the World of Gundam Models|publisher=Hobby Japan|year=2019|isbn=978-4798619934|page=45}}</ref> The Real Grade (RG) Gundam series combines the Master Grade's detailed inner structure with additional color separation, making the 1:144-scale series complex in design and compact in size, with the final goal of retooling a Gundam to what it might look like in real life, similar to the full-size Gundam statues.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://gundamunofficial.com/rg-series-overview.html|title=Real Grade Series Overview|website=Gundam Unofficial|access-date=August 15, 2025|archive-date=July 10, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240710235211/https://gundamunofficial.com/rg-series-overview.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

Promotional 1:6 or 1:12 scale models are supplied to retailers and are not commercially available. For ''Gundam''{{'s}} 30th anniversary, a full-size RX-78-2 Gundam model was constructed and displayed at Gundam Front Tokyo in the Odaiba district;<ref>{{cite web|url=https://appetiteforjapan.com/2015/12/02/gundam-odaiba/|title=Diver City Tokyo: The Ultimate Gundam Experience|last=AppetiteForJapan|date=December 2, 2015|access-date=March 3, 2017}}</ref> it was taken down on March 5, 2017.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gundam.info/topic/17012|title=「実物大ガンダム立像」5年の歴史に幕。そして新たなプロジェクトへ！|website=Gundam.info|language=ja|access-date=April 12, 2017}}</ref> A new statue of the RX-0 Unicorn Gundam was erected at the same location, now renamed The Gundam Base Tokyo.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.japan.travel/en/uk/inspiration/the-gundam-statue-in-odaiba/|title=The Gundam Statue in Odaiba|publisher=Japan National Tourism Organization|access-date=August 15, 2025}}</ref>

===Other merchandise===
[[Bandai]], ''Gundam''{{'s}} primary licensee, produces a variety of products.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://na.gundam.info/index/white|title=GUNDAM.INFO {{!}} The official Gundam news and video portal|website=na.gundam.info|language=ja-JP|access-date=October 27, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161026105446/http://na.gundam.info/index/white|archive-date=October 26, 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref> Other companies produce unofficial merchandise, such as toys, models and T-shirts. Products include Mobile Suit in Action (MSiA) action figures and Gundam model kits in several scales and design complexities. Each series generally has its own set of products, MSiA and model lines such as Master Grade and High Grade Universal Century, which h may extend across series. The most popular action figure line has been the Gundam Fix series, which includes the mecha in the animated series, manga,  novels and accessories to create an updated version. In addition to Master Grade and High Grade Gundams, Bandai released a 30th-anniversary series of Gundam models in 2010.<ref>{{cite web|last=Suzuki|first=Toshiyuki|title=RX-78-2 Gundam (RG) (Gundam Model Kits)|url=http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10115841|publisher=Hobby Search Co., Ltd.|access-date=August 12, 2013|archive-date=September 27, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130927042523/http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10115841|url-status=dead}}</ref> After the introduction of the RG Gunpla line, Bandai released the Metal Build series in March 2011, beginning with the 00 Gundam.<ref name="Gundam metal build">{{cite web|title=METAL BUILD FREEDOM GUNDAM|url=http://www.gundamplanet.com/metal-build-freedom-gundam.html|publisher=Gundamplanet.com|access-date=August 12, 2013|archive-date=August 2, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130802034225/http://www.gundamplanet.com/metal-build-freedom-gundam.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Online engagement===
Bandai Namco Filmworks maintains several official websites to promote ''Gundam'' projects. The main Japanese-language portal is ''Gundam Perfect Web'', which provides news, product information, and event updates.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.gundam.jp/|title=ガンダムパーフェクトWEB|publisher=Bandai Namco Filmworks|language=ja|access-date=August 15, 2025}}</ref>

In July 2025, Bandai Namco Filmworks announced that the longstanding portal ''Gundam.info'' is undergoing a major overhaul, to be rebranded as the ''Gundam Official Website''. This new site, to be hosted at [https://www.gundam-official.com gundam-official.com], is slated to launch in 2025 and will serve as the international hub for series information, news, and product updates, replacing ''Gundam.info''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://en.gundam.info/news/hot-topics/01_17960.html|title=A new official website for the Gundam series is currently under development|website=Gundam.info|date=July 25, 2025|access-date=August 15, 2025}}</ref>

In 2005, ''Gundam.info''’s English counterpart hosted the ''Gundam Official User Forum'', which was based on the fan-run ''Gundam Watch'' forum and used many of its moderators. After the forum’s closure, ''Gundam Watch'' re-emerged independently as ''Gundam Evolution''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2005-02-04/gundam-official-user-forum-open|title=Gundam Official User Forum Opens|publisher=Anime News Network|date=February 4, 2005|access-date=August 15, 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gundamevolution.net/|title=Gundam Evolution (archived)|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060320074809/http://www.gundamevolution.net/ |access-date=August 15, 2025 |archive-date=March 20, 2006 }}</ref>

Series-specific promotional websites have also been created to highlight character info, mecha designs, merchandise, and special content like wallpapers or mini-games.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://gundamunofficial.com/archives/official-websites.html|title=Archived Gundam Official Websites|website=Gundam Unofficial|access-date=August 15, 2025|archive-date=July 12, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240712021132/https://gundamunofficial.com/archives/official-websites.html}}</ref> For example, the ''Superior Defender Gundam Force'' site featured an interactive game where the player takes control of Commander Sazabi in a comedic scenario.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=3281|title=Superior Defender Gundam Force|publisher=Anime News Network|access-date=August 15, 2025}}</ref>

The franchise also maintains an active presence on social media platforms, including [[Twitter]], [[Instagram]], [[YouTube]], and [[TikTok]], where official accounts post trailers, Gunpla showcases, news updates, and livestream content aimed at fans worldwide.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://twitter.com/gundam_official|title=Gundam Official Twitter|publisher=Bandai Namco Filmworks|access-date=August 15, 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/@GUNDAMOFFICIAL|title=Gundam Official YouTube Channel|publisher=Bandai Namco Filmworks|access-date=August 15, 2025}}</ref>

=={{anchor|Global debut}}Global spread==
''Gundam'' began expanding beyond Japan in the early 1980s through television broadcasts and home-video distribution across East and Southeast Asia, followed by Europe and the Americas in the 1990s, aided by Bandai’s international licensing and merchandise programs.<ref name="BandaiIR2022">{{cite web|url=https://www.bandainamco.co.jp/files/ir/financialstatements/pdf/20220805_en_Complement.pdf|title=Bandai Namco Holdings: FY2022 Financial Highlights (IP axis strategy; Gundam revenue)|publisher=Bandai Namco Holdings|date=August 5, 2022|access-date=August 15, 2025|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240210000000/https://www.bandainamco.co.jp/files/ir/financialstatements/pdf/20220805_en_Complement.pdf|archive-date=February 10, 2024}}</ref> In North America, mainstream recognition increased dramatically in 2000 when ''Mobile Suit Gundam Wing'' premiered on Cartoon Network’s Toonami block; industry trade coverage at the time noted Toonami’s rising kids’ ratings and cited ''Gundam Wing'' as a key acquisition driving the block's expansion that year.<ref name="Kidscreen-Mar2000">{{cite news|url=https://kidscreen.com/2000/03/01/28198-20000301/|title=Ratings shift shuffles the upfront landscape|work=Kidscreen|date=March 1, 2000|access-date=August 15, 2025|language=en}}</ref><ref name="Kidscreen-Jun2000-Acquisitions">{{cite news|url=https://kidscreen.com/2000/06/01/29174-20000601/|title=Next to originals, anime and Web tops the list for Cartoon Network|work=Kidscreen|date=June 1, 2000|access-date=August 15, 2025|language=en}}</ref><ref name="Kidscreen-Jun2000-Merch">{{cite news|url=https://kidscreen.com/2000/06/01/29210-20000601/|title=Mass-market Gundam Wing goods soar States-side|work=Kidscreen|date=June 1, 2000|access-date=August 15, 2025|language=en}}</ref> Subsequent home-video partnerships widened catalog access in the mid-2010s, including Sunrise's 2014 distribution agreement with Right Stuf/Nozomi for legacy ''Gundam'' titles in North America.<ref name="AnimeHerald-2014">{{cite web|url=https://www.animeherald.com/pressrelease/right-stuf-sunrise-distribute-gundam-franchise-north-america/|title=Right Stuf and Sunrise to Distribute Gundam Franchise in North America|website=Anime Herald (press release summary)|date=October 11, 2014|access-date=August 15, 2025|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191007004304/https://www.animeherald.com/pressrelease/right-stuf-sunrise-distribute-gundam-franchise-north-america/|archive-date=October 7, 2019}}</ref> In Europe, the brand's visibility has been reinforced by major pop culture events, with media in France highlighting Bandai hobby exhibits and large-scale Gunpla activations at Japan Expo in Paris.<ref name="LeMonde-2023">{{cite news|url=https://www.lemonde.fr/pixels/article/2023/07/13/le-salon-japan-expo-fete-ses-20-ans-avec-une-edition-record_6181672_4408996.html|title=Japan Expo fête ses 20 ans avec une édition record|work=Le Monde|date=July 13, 2023|access-date=August 15, 2025|language=fr|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230714000000/https://www.lemonde.fr/pixels/article/2023/07/13/le-salon-japan-expo-fete-ses-20-ans-avec-une-edition-record_6181672_4408996.html|archive-date=July 14, 2023}}</ref> More recently, global streaming has accelerated international reach; for example, Netflix announced a worldwide debut for the Unreal Engine-produced series ''Gundam: Requiem for Vengeance'', underscoring the franchise's contemporary, simultaneous release strategy outside Japan.<ref name="Netflix-PR">{{cite press release|url=https://about.netflix.com/en/news/gundam-requiem-teaser|title='Mobile Suit Gundam: Requiem for Vengeance' is Coming to Netflix|work=Netflix Media Center|date=December 3, 2023|access-date=August 15, 2025|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231208155612/https://about.netflix.com/en/news/gundam-requiem-teaser|archive-date=December 8, 2023}}</ref> Collectively, these developments—broadcast exposure, hobby merchandising, event marketing, home-video partnerships, and day-and-date streaming—have driven the franchise's sustained overseas growth and helped standardize access to both classic catalog and new installments.<ref name="BandaiIR2022" />

==Impact==
{{Main|Cultural impact of Gundam}}

''Gundam'' is a [[Culture of Japan|Japanese cultural icon]] and a multi-billion-[[Japanese yen|yen]] annual business for [[Namco|Bandai Namco]]. Annual revenue for the franchise reached ¥54.5 billion by 2006,<ref>Nekkei BP mook, Otona no Gundamu Perfect (Gundam for Adult's Perfect), Business & History+Character+Mechanic, Nekkei Entertainment, {{ISBN|978-4-8222-6317-1}}</ref> {{JPY|80.2 billion}} by 2014,<ref name="bandainamco.co.jp">[https://www.bandainamco.co.jp/files/ir/financialstatements/pdf/20220805_en_Complement.pdf Bandai Namco Fiscal Year 2022 Financial Statement]</ref> and {{JPY|145.7 billion}} by 2024.<ref>{{Cite web |date=May 9, 2024 |title=Bandai Namco Holdings Inc. Financial Highlights for the Fiscal Year Ended March 31, 2024 |url=https://www.bandainamco.co.jp/files/ir/financialstatements/pdf/en_20240509_Complement_2.pdf |access-date=October 19, 2024 |website=Bandai Namco Financial Statements / Presentation}}</ref> Examples of its cultural ubiquity in the country include the issuing of Gundam stamps, an Agriculture Ministry employee being reprimanded for contributing to [[Japanese Wikipedia]] ''Gundam''-related pages,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7029685.stm|title=Japanese workers in Wikipedia row |publisher=[[BBC News]]|date=October 5, 2007|access-date=October 1, 2009}}</ref> and the [[Japan Self-Defense Forces]] code-naming its developing advanced personal-combat system Gundam. Based on a December 16, 2023 survey conducted by ''[[Nikkei Business Publications|Nikkei Entertainment]]'', the fanbase of ''Gundam'' within Japan has an average age of 42 years, and a male-to-female ratio that skews 90:10.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://xtrend.nikkei.com/atcl/contents/18/00960/00001/|title=今、本当に推されている「人」「作品」が分かる 最旬"推し"新潮流|date=February 2, 2024|author1=Ayase Hirashima|author2=Eri Hatano|website=[[Nikkei Business Publications|Nikkei Cross Trend]]|language=ja|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240222142208/https://xtrend.nikkei.com/atcl/contents/18/00960/00001/|archive-date=February 22, 2024}}</ref> The impact of ''Gundam'' in [[Japan]] has been compared to the impact of ''[[Star Wars]]'' in the [[United States]].<ref name="Stuckmann2018" />

==See also==
*[[Bandai Museum]]
*''[[Mobile Suit Gundam]]''
*[[Gundam (fictional robot)]]
*[[Super Dimension Fortress Macross]] (1982) - another Real Robot a new concept mecha with the real life aircraft jet fighter-like can transformable into humanoid weapon.
*[[Genesis Climber Mospeada]] (1983) - new Real Robot, another concept the mecha are presented as transformable, powered suits and aircraft, such as the motorcycle-like.
*[[Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross]] (1984) - another Real Robot a concept with as it features mecha with a more grounded and realistic design and functionality

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{wikiquote}}
{{commons category}}
*[https://en.gundam-official.com/ Official ''Gundam'' website]
*{{anime News Network|anime|4189}}
*[https://www.mahq.net/gundammain/ ''Gundam''] at the MAHQ website
*[https://ggame.jp/ ''Gundam'' Perfect Games] {{in lang|ja}}
*[https://www.bandaivisual.co.jp/gundamdvd/ Bandai Visual's Gundam minisite] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161204044626/https://www.bandaivisual.co.jp/gundamdvd/ |date=December 4, 2016 }} {{in lang|ja}}
{{Portal bar|Japan|Anime and manga|Film|Books|Video games|Toys|Science fiction|Nudity|1970s|1980s|1990s|2000s|2010s|2020s}}
{{Gundam}}
{{Gundam video games}}
{{Sunrise}}

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