'Gundam' Manga Reveals Why Mobile Suits Make Noise In Space

One of the biggest in-jokes in science fiction narratives among fans is how various machines make [...]

By Nick Valdez

One of the biggest in-jokes in science fiction narratives among fans is how various machines make sounds in space despite space existing in a vacuum. Mobile Suit Gundam is no stranger to these kinds of criticisms and jokes, but like most other things in the series, this has an explanation as well.

Mobile Suit Gundam once answered as to how Mobile Suits make noise in space, and it's because of a high-tech system that matches sounds with video.

Twitter user @alleycat346 shared a few pages from the Ark Performance's Gundam manga, Mobile Suit Gundam: Sparking A Baoa Qu, which gives a proper explanation as to why the suits make sounds in space. In the pages shared above, one character asks the other why he can hear huge sounds in space's vacuum and the other responds that there is a stereophonic sound system inside of the cockpits and helmets of the mobile suits.

According to the manga, first a camera collects footage from the outside, and a computer then registers those images and plays pre-registered sounds that matches what pilots are seeing. The character then explains that if the system sees an explosion, then the pilot will hear and feel the explosion in return. On the third page, the same character then says that he and a few fellow students at school used to change the pre-registered sounds during training as a way to entertain themselves.

While this explanation is a bit of a contrivance, it does reflect how much attention to detail the Mobile Suit Gundam franchises pays to the way its world works. Even something as small as sounds in space has an explanation.

One Mobile Suit Gundam fan even calculated what kind of power the mechas would yield in real life. Taking one of the most oft-ignored mechs in the series, that fans wouldn't consider too powerful, they calculated an incredible range that would surely do damage in the real world.

Premium Bandai is currently taking pre-orders on their site for the two pillows representing a cute version of Char's Masai cruiser and the SCV-70 White Base. They will be taking orders until the the product completely sells out.

Financial magazine Weekly Toyo Keizai commissioned the 70 year old character designer forMobile Suit Gundam, Yoshikazu Yasuhiko, to draw their cover for their 2018 financial forecast issue.The cover depicts President of the United States Donald Trump partying for the new year with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping, and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The most damning, however, is the depiction of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un, who sits on top of a nuclear missile in-between all of them.

The most recent Gundam series, Gundam Build Divers, is set to premiere April 3 and Sunrise describes the show as such:

"The Gunpla Force Battle Tournament is a big event held in GBN once per year. Competing in the final round are Avalon, led by the champion Kyoya Kujo, and the elite 7th Panzer Division led by the cunning Rommel. Starting with Kyoya's Gundam AGE II Magnum, a variety of Gunpla take to the field to determine which is the strongest force!"

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