The Gundam franchise uses the term “mobile suits” to classify its mechanical robots and to separate itself from other giant robot shows. The mobile suits’ moniker helps sell the idea that Gundam should be treated more seriously than its contemporaries. The franchise is a more somber media that deals with important topics, differentiating itself from the Super Robot subgenre that defined the 1960s and 1970s. Yet underneath the anti-war message and treating PTSD seriously at a time when it wasn’t, Gundam has always been a tool to sell merchandise.
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While the original 1979 toys based on the first Gundam anime didn’t take off, the Gundam model kits (Gunpla) from the 80s took the Japanese toy market by storm. Each mobile suit is designed to maximize its potential as a model kit, ensuring the robots remain intricate and visually appealing. Sunrise Studios, also known as Bandai Namco Filmworks, are masters of creating some of the best robot designs that have withstood the test of time. It may be because of marketing, but the results are undeniable. Here are the ten best mobile suits in the franchise, so exceptional that you’ll want to add them to your model kit collection.
Honorable Mention: RX-0 Unicorn Gundam
The RX-0 Unicorn Gundam has some of the largest selections of model kits in the franchise. Even the classic RX-78-2 and Wing Gundam Zero flinch when seeing how much merchandise there is for the Unicorn. It’s hard to deny how beautiful the Unicorn looks, offering a design that’s both simplistic yet complicated. Nonetheless, the mobile suit may be too intricate for its own good, but it still earns an honorable mention.
10) Tallgeese
The naming of the Tallgeese has always been odd and a tad confusing. Nevertheless, the mobile suit design is so great that you don’t care what its name means or what it represents. The bright white colors for the Tallgeese make it really stand out, and its Dober Gun is still one of the coolest weapons in the franchise. Just like a real goose, the Tallgeese is elegant and shouldn’t be underestimated.
9) Turn X
Turn A Gundam has some of the most unique designs in the franchise. American concept artist Syd Mead designed many of the main mobile suits for the series, infusing the show with his stylistic futurism that makes it look alien. His mustache-wearing Turn A Gundam is his most famous, but his best work in the series is the Turn X Gundam. The Turn X lacks the silliness of the Turn A, able to detach its limbs and feature a striking black X on its torso.
8) Freedom Gundam
The Freedom Gundam represents everything that made the mobile suit designs so great in Mobile Suit Gundam Seed. The slick and slender body makes the machine appear faster and more nimble. The black torso and blue wings make it look magnificent, helping it stand out from the ordinary compared to other protagonist mobile suits. The Freedom Gundam is a solid design, executed perfectly within the anime and Gunpla.
7) Aerial Gundam
The Aerial Gundam appears oddly feminine in contrast to the other protagonists’ robots. The Aerial’s waist is wider, and it has an overall shorter stature. The feminine features in Ariel are likely intentional, given that the main protagonist of The Witch from Mercury is a teen girl, and Aerial, as revealed later in the series, houses the data of another little girl.
This comrpises complicated backstory that makes the Aerial Gundam richer rather than confusing. The mecha has black strips across its body that glow different colors, helping make the Aerial stand out from other Gundam designs. All its design elements come together to make one of the best mobile suits in the franchise yet.
6) Gundam Vidar
Even though the Gundam Vidar barely did anything in Iron-Blooded Orphans, the mobile suit’s impact within the franchise can still be felt to this day. The Gundam Vidar is a strong design, using sharp lineart in its official design sheet to help sell it as the “edgy” Gundam. The Vidar primarily uses only two colors, blue and black. The overwhelming use of those two colors makes the Vidar striking and strangely menacing.
It’s a mobile suit that should’ve done more in the show, yet it continues to be one of the most popular Gundams from Iron-Blooded Orphans. The Gundam Vidar is one of the few mobile suits from Iron-Blooded Orphans to receive the coveted Master Grade Gunpla.
5) Gundam Barbatos Lupus
The first thing that came to fans’ minds when the Gundam Barbatos was revealed for Iron-Blooded Orphans was that it did not look like a Gundam. The Barbatos’ limbs didn’t match anything else portrayed in the franchise, and its head had a particular angular aesthetic that didn’t fit the samurai-inspired heads of the previous lead Gundams.
However, it’s these artistic differences that make the Barbatos design fantastic in the overall Gundam franchise. The Barbatos design was then greatly improved with its upgraded form, the Gundam Barbatos Lupus. The added colors, especially with its red shoulders, made Barbatos Lupus amazing.
4) V Gundam/Nu Gundam
Voted by Japanese fans as the best mobile suit in the franchise, the Nu Gundam from Char’s Counterattack is one of the most iconic robots in the entire series. The Nu Gundam retains the essentials of the classic RX-78-2, including the samurai-inspired head and the same body shape, and builds from it. The darker colors really work for the Nu Gundam, and its funnel wing makes it almost angelic.
Despite its wing, the Nu Gundam retains its mechanical aesthetic, appearing as an engineering achievement rather than a godly being. The Nu Gundam represents the pinnacle of Amuro’s character development, acting as the ultimate Gundam to save the Earth.
3) RX-78-2 Gundam
The RX-78-2 Gundam is the one that started it all, serving as the titular robot in the original Mobile Suit Gundam anime. Although the RX-78-2 would receive some tweaks to maintain its overall modern aesthetics, the original Gundam has stood the test of time. Its samurai-inspired head and patriotic color scheme of red, white, and blue have become templates for not only all other future Gundam mobile suits, but most other giant robots. It’s a symbol of the Gundam franchise and robots in general, pioneering a new era of real robots that continue to inspire people to this day.
2) Gundam Mk. II
The Gundam Mk. II from Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam is a simple yet terrific design. The mobile suit is, essentially, an updated variant of the RX-78-2, but with slicker features and better coloration. While the Mk. II is featured in two different types of color pallets, it’s the main white and dark blue one that steals our hearts.
The dark blue coloration really sells the more mature theming Zeta Gundam has, and the minor adjustments from the classic RX-78-2 make the Mk. II look so much cooler. The Gundam Mk. II is the Platonic ideal of what a Gundam should look like, presenting one of the greatest designs Sunrise Studio has ever produced.
1) Wing Gundam Zero (Endless Waltz)
Ignoring the impracticality of it, the angel-looking wings that the Wing Gundam Zero has in Endless Waltz continue to be one of the most striking visuals in the entire franchise. Mobile Suit Gundam Wing always had some of the franchise’s best mecha designs. Nonetheless, nearly every other robot design is overshadowed by the impact of the Wing Gundam Zero with its ethereal appearance. The Wing Gundam Zero has a dreamlike atmosphere in Endless Waltz, making it seem otherworldly, almost like a real-life angel. The angelic appearance of the mecha is a perfect contradiction to its emotionless pilot, Heero.
The Wing Gundam Zero represents Heero’s inherent altruism, which he has buried deep within himself. Furthermore, the Wing Gundam Zero unleashing its wings for the first time in Endless Waltz is one of the franchise’s all-time best scenes. While the concept of a robot with realistic-looking wings seems goofy, the execution of it within the anime and its overall design make it the most magnificent Gundam in the franchise.
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(Photo by Bruce Glikas/Bruce Glikas/FilmMagic)
