Mobile Suit Breakdown: the Gundam Podcast
MSB is a weekly Gundam podcast for new fans, old fans, and not yet fans. Nina (a Gundam first-timer) and Thom (a lifelong Gundam fan) analyze, review, and research all 40+ years of the iconic sci-fi anime mega-franchise Mobile Suit Gundam in the order it was made. We research its influences, examine its themes, and discuss how each piece of the Gundam canon fits within the changing context in Japan and the world, from 1979 to today. Part history podcast, part discussion podcast, all Gundam podcast.
Kung Fu Hassle!
Show Notes
This week on MSB, we're visiting the ferocious world of wuxia action as Domon and a mysterious wandering chef follow the wreckage-strewn path of Neo China's Dragon Gundam and the Gundam Fighter Sai Saici. Plus theatrical fight director and martial artist Sean Michael Chin joins us to discuss megazords, how G Gundam resembles Westerns, the real purpose of a transformation scene, and a character who really isn't weighed down by gravity.
Ready? Go!
Mobile Suit Breakdown is written, recorded, and produced within Lenapehoking, the ancestral and unceded homeland of the Lenape...
Battles Over Broadway!
Show Notes
This week on MSB: prog rock, MTV VJs (that's Video DJ for any youngsters in the audience), a science fiction double feature, something even more evil than Ticketmaster, the greatest and only city in the world, and just a little bit of G Gundam. Plus, Nina reports back on three whole episodes of Gundam you've almost certainly never seen!
Mobile Suit Breakdown is written, recorded, and produced within Lenapehoking, the ancestral and unceded homeland of the Lenape, or Delaware, people. Before European settlers forced them to move west, the Lenape lived in New...
Combat, Neo-Italian Style!
Read transcript
Show Notes
This week we're lacing our podcasting gloves up and jumping back into the arena for a brutal and bruising battle, with the fate of the Earth and the colonies hanging in the balance. Rather than our usual pre-season prologue we've decided to get into the action right away with Mobile Fighter G Gundam Episode 1: Gファイト開始! 地球に落ちたガンダム aka Gundam Fight Begins! The Gundam That Fell to Earth. We've got high kicks, mysterious wanderers, spectacle, speculation, behind the scenes anecdotes, a report on the phantom Gundam project known to the west as "Polca Gundam," and lots more!
11th Gunda...
The Bikes of the Middle Ages (History of Motocross) Part 2
Show Notes
It's a short episode this week as Nina wraps up her research on the history of motocross, bringing us forward to the Xtreme sports era of the 1990s, offering our theory on why it took Japan so long to produce an internationally competitive motocross rider, and considering the connotations Duker Iq's biker lifestyle would have carried for a 90s audience. And next week... the 13th Gundam Fight is about to begin! Please listen to it!
Show notes are available at gundampodcast.com/patreon
Mobile Suit Breakdown is written, recorded, and produced...
Season 11 Announcement and 10+3: The Bikes of the Middle Ages
Show Notes
This week on Mobile Suit Breakdown, an important update about what's coming next for the podcast, plus Nina finally gets to sate her curiosity (and yours) about the origins of motocross, and the state of the sport in the 1990s. And don't miss the real explanation behind Victory Gundam's obsession with bikes and bike battleships: it's all Tomino's fault (kind of)!
Show notes will accompany part 2 next week.
Mobile Suit Breakdown is written, recorded, and produced within Lenapehoking, the ancestral and unceded homeland of the Lenape, or Delaware, people. Before European...
S10+2: The Environment Problem ft. Colin
Show Notes
This week on MSB, environmentalism consultant Colin returns to the program to discuss the role of the environment across the whole grand sweep of Tomino Gundam to this point. Is Tomino actually an environmentalist? Has he always been one, or did he become one at some point? And what does that really mean?
Please listen to it!
Mobile Suit Breakdown is written, recorded, and produced within Lenapehoking, the ancestral and unceded homeland of the Lenape, or Delaware, people. Before European settlers forced them to move west, the Lenape lived in New...
S10+1: The Diapers of Victory
Show Notes
This week in the first of our Season 10 extra research episodes, Nina explores the long history of diapers around the world and in Japan to better understand the subtext and significance of Karlmann's cloth diapers. Please listen to it!
Mobile Suit Breakdown is written, recorded, and produced within Lenapehoking, the ancestral and unceded homeland of the Lenape, or Delaware, people. Before European settlers forced them to move west, the Lenape lived in New York City, New Jersey, and portions of New York State, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Connecticut. Lenapehoking is still the homeland of...
September 2025 Status Update
Show Notes
A quick update on our work behind the scenes as we prepare for Season 11.
Mobile Suit Breakdown is written, recorded, and produced within Lenapehoking, the ancestral and unceded homeland of the Lenape, or Delaware, people. Before European settlers forced them to move west, the Lenape lived in New York City, New Jersey, and portions of New York State, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Connecticut. Lenapehoking is still the homeland of the Lenape diaspora, which includes communities living in Oklahoma, Wisconsin, and Ontario.
You can learn more about Lenapehoking, the Lenape people, and ongoing...
10.52C K A S A R E L I A
Show Notes
Thank you all for your patience and your kind words of sympathy. We're ready to talk about Gundam once again, and this week a question from a listener prompts us to look back at the whole Tomino Era of Gundam, and on that perfect note we end Season 10.
Mobile Suit Breakdown is written, recorded, and produced within Lenapehoking, the ancestral and unceded homeland of the Lenape, or Delaware, people. Before European settlers forced them to move west, the Lenape lived in New York City, New Jersey, and portions of New York State, Pennsylvania...
10.52B - Kasarelia?
Show Notes
This week we answer most of the outstanding listener questions, ranging from Haro to Hilda Bidan, missed opportunities, Family Guy, Tomino's improvisational writing style, and more! Please listen to it!
Mobile Suit Breakdown is written, recorded, and produced within Lenapehoking, the ancestral and unceded homeland of the Lenape, or Delaware, people. Before European settlers forced them to move west, the Lenape lived in New York City, New Jersey, and portions of New York State, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Connecticut. Lenapehoking is still the homeland of the Lenape diaspora, which includes communities living in Oklahoma...
Kasarelia!
Show Notes
Part one?? That's right, on this week's episode of MSB we start to answer your many thought-provoking questions about Victory Gundam. From the show's position on the role of women in society to its music to its relationship to Japan's New Religions, this episode has everything! And if everything isn't enough for you, then just wait for next week when we'll be back with even more. Please listen to it!
Mobile Suit Breakdown is written, recorded, and produced within Lenapehoking, the ancestral and unceded homeland of the Lenape, or Delaware, people. Before European...
Victory
Show Notes
This week on MSB: Victory Gundam episode 51. After a wild road-to-air-to-space trip that took us from Kasarelia all the way to Kasarelia, we've reached the final stop and we're ready to type up our TripAdvisor reviews. Opinions on Victory's ending seem to vary quite a big, and ours certainly did! Please listen to it!
As usual, this week we're focusing on the final episode itself and reserving our judgment of the show as a whole, along with our responses to listener questions, for 10.52 (in two weeks).
Mobile Suit Breakdown is written...
They Sing the Songs that Remind Them of the Good Times
Show Notes
This week, Victory Gundam's penultimate 50th episode! This one has it all: Tragedy! Heroism! Gender! There are shocking twists, heel turns, face turns! And the true audience surrogate is revealed at last! Please listen to it.
Mobile Suit Breakdown is written, recorded, and produced within Lenapehoking, the ancestral and unceded homeland of the Lenape, or Delaware, people. Before European settlers forced them to move west, the Lenape lived in New York City, New Jersey, and portions of New York State, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Connecticut. Lenapehoking is still the homeland of the Lenape diaspora...
In Hoc Signo Vinces
Show Notes
This week: Victory Episode 49! Nothing says Epic Space War like bikinis! Plus we ask the important questions, like is Haro a misogynist? What does Katejina keep in the trunk of her mobile suit? Is Uso finally over the girl from Uwig? Is the Universal Century actually overpopulated? And who is the League Militaire's highest ranking fujoshi? Please listen to it!
Mobile Suit Breakdown is written, recorded, and produced within Lenapehoking, the ancestral and unceded homeland of the Lenape, or Delaware, people. Before European settlers forced them to move west, the Lenape lived in...
Cleansing Fire
Show Notes
This week on MSB: Victory episode 48, plus... Maria makes things right by making everything worse, Warren gives Elisha exactly the kind of pep talk we'd expect from a thirteen year old boy, Thom is forced to acknowledge thinking some Kagatie-like thoughts, and we break out our cork boards and our red string to tie it all together. Please listen to it!
Mobile Suit Breakdown is written, recorded, and produced within Lenapehoking, the ancestral and unceded homeland of the Lenape, or Delaware, people. Before European settlers forced them to move west, the Lenape lived...
Two Lives in One
Show Notes
This week on MSB: we're covering Victory episode 47. The Gender of it all is overwhelming, Cronicle underwhelms in truly impressive fashion, Maria has a funny idea of compassion, and Marbet discovers a cool new power up with no sinister implications whatsoever. Please listen to it!
Mobile Suit Breakdown is written, recorded, and produced within Lenapehoking, the ancestral and unceded homeland of the Lenape, or Delaware, people. Before European settlers forced them to move west, the Lenape lived in New York City, New Jersey, and portions of New York State, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Connecticut...
Wheels on Wheels within Wheels
Show Notes
This week on MSB, we're joined by new consultant, and Bible scholar in training, Vivian 'Wheels' Wheeler to talk about the Ophanim, the famous 'wheels within wheels' from the Book of Ezekiel.
You can also find Wheels on Bluesky (@singularwheels) or on the podcast Very Random Encounters (www.vre.show)!
Mobile Suit Breakdown is written, recorded, and produced within Lenapehoking, the ancestral and unceded homeland of the Lenape, or Delaware, people. Before European settlers forced them to move west, the Lenape lived in New York City, New Jersey, and portions of...
Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep
Show Notes
This week on MSB: Victory Gundam episode 46. Kagatie's sinister plan is finally revealed (It's babies. Of course it's babies) and two characters surprise us by winning our (grudging) support. Plus Marbet's fighting for two, Fuala's fighting for the fun of it, and Uso is fighting for his life. Please listen to it!
Mobile Suit Breakdown is written, recorded, and produced within Lenapehoking, the ancestral and unceded homeland of the Lenape, or Delaware, people. Before European settlers forced them to move west, the Lenape lived in New York City, New Jersey, and portions of...
Jokers to the Left of Me, Clowns to the Right, and I'm Struck in the Middle by You
Show Notes
This week we're talking about Thompson v. White, 149 So.2d 797 (1963). Be sure to read along with us!
Mobile Suit Breakdown is written, recorded, and produced within Lenapehoking, the ancestral and unceded homeland of the Lenape, or Delaware, people. Before European settlers forced them to move west, the Lenape lived in New York City, New Jersey, and portions of New York State, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Connecticut. Lenapehoking is still the homeland of the Lenape diaspora, which includes communities living in Oklahoma, Wisconsin, and Ontario.
You can learn more about Lenapehoking, the Lenape...
Two Wings and a Prayer
Show Notes
This week: Victory Gundam episode 45. It's another(!) recap episode... kind of? We test out some new podcasting technology, the Angel Halo gets its first field test, Queen Maria tells all the kids to pick up their rooms, and Nina researches the healing powers of royal touch. Plus, Voltaire says a very funny thing. That's right, we got Voltaire to come guest on the podcast.
Please listen to it!
Mobile Suit Breakdown is written, recorded, and produced within Lenapehoking, the ancestral and unceded homeland of the Lenape, or Delaware, people. Before European s...
10.44B - Hope Springs Eternal (Research)
Show Notes
This week on MSB - it's the research from 10.44: Hope Springs Eternal! This is part four of our series on Yugoslavia and its influence on Victory Gundam, and the second of three research pieces covering World War II in Yugoslavia. This week we follow the Partisans, who led the resistance against the fascist occupation, from the beginning of the uprising through to what may have been their lowest point in the summer of 1943.
Mobile Suit Breakdown is written, recorded, and produced within Lenapehoking, the ancestral and unceded homeland of the Lenape, or Delaware...
Hope Springs Eternal
Show Notes
This week on MSB: Victory episode 44.
We've GOT to talk about Shahkti, plus the hard line between children and adults, the Desperation of Maria Pure Armonia, whether we like Victory or not, Gundam relationship any% speedrun, wheels (within wheels) and much more. Please listen to it!
Mobile Suit Breakdown is written, recorded, and produced within Lenapehoking, the ancestral and unceded homeland of the Lenape, or Delaware, people. Before European settlers forced them to move west, the Lenape lived in New York City, New Jersey, and portions of New York State, Pennsylvania...
Big Ship, Big Gun
Show Notes
Victory Gundam ep. 43
This week on MSB: Victory Gundam episode 43. We meet a new BESPA character who will surely be around for a long time, talk about comets and their characteristics, wonder whether Fuala Griffon is a Char or some other legacy character back for revenge, and find that our opinions of Uso's after school special dilemma diverge pretty widely. The research this week returns to Yugoslavia for Part 3 of our history of the Yugoslav Wars. Please listen to it!
Mobile Suit Breakdown is written, recorded, and produced within Lenapehoking, the...
Hearing without Hearing
Show Notes
This week on MSB we're talking about the Victory Gundam episode with a truly goth title: #42 'A Shining Vortex of Fresh Blood.' We discuss Sigmund Freud, weird facts, name and design references, the sour end to Lupe Cineau's improbably long career, what not having kids does to a woman (and how to fix it according to Dr. Uso), and a whole lot about the Zanneck's origins. Plus, Nina and Thom both reach their limits for very different reasons. Please listen to it!
Mobile Suit Breakdown is written, recorded, and produced within Lenapehoking...
The Bells of Zanneck
Show Notes
This week on MSB, it's Victory Gundam episode 41 and we have so much to say about it. We cover comrades and commanders, Uso's ten dads, Shahkti's burgeoning feelings, the price of pink paint, Karlmann's contribution to the family, the secret nobility of Jinn Jahannam, Zanscarist Dualism, and a conspiracy theory that will turn the whole Universal Century on its head. Please listen to it!
Mobile Suit Breakdown is written, recorded, and produced within Lenapehoking, the ancestral and unceded homeland of the Lenape, or Delaware, people. Before European settlers forced them to move west...
The Wrath of Heaven
Show Notes
This week on MSB, we're talking about Victory Gundam episode 40. It's got the full Victory package: a cool robot, a bad war, grief, comedy, vertically oriented death, continuity errors, Flanders doing something implausible, and a late night wikipedia binge! Plus, we finally figure out where Newtype powers come from. Please listen to it!
Mobile Suit Breakdown is written, recorded, and produced within Lenapehoking, the ancestral and unceded homeland of the Lenape, or Delaware, people. Before European settlers forced them to move west, the Lenape lived in New York City, New Jersey, and portions...
Guardian Angel
Show Notes
This week on MSB: Uso and the League Militaire crew discover that to BESPA 'ceasefire' means the opposite of what you'd think, as the soldiers of Largaine Base resolve to use up all their ammunition, and every Zolo they've got, in one last desperate attack on the White Ark. Uso deploys a pro-gamer strat using the V2's nigh-miraculous Wings of Light, fish rain from the sky, and friend of the podcast Sarah McCostumes returns to talk about greebles, closet cosplay, and the most intense costume choice of them all. Please listen to it!
<...Ocean on Fire
Show Notes
This week on MSB, we're talking about motorcycles, bikes, biking, riding on motorbikes, traveling by bike, touring, voyages conducted primarily via gasoline-powered two-wheeled vehicles and looooooooove. Plus, part 2 of our miniseries on Yugoslavia and the Yugoslav wars that may or may not have inspired this dang show. Please listen to it!
Mobile Suit Breakdown is written, recorded, and produced within Lenapehoking, the ancestral and unceded homeland of the Lenape, or Delaware, people. Before European settlers forced them to move west, the Lenape lived in New York City, New Jersey, and portions of New...
Live Well and Die Naturally
Show Notes
This week on MSB, it's Victory Gundam episode 37. We talk a lot about life, death, fluids, and another anime you might have heard of before that came out around the same time as Victory.
Please listen to it!
Mobile Suit Breakdown is written, recorded, and produced within Lenapehoking, the ancestral and unceded homeland of the Lenape, or Delaware, people. Before European settlers forced them to move west, the Lenape lived in New York City, New Jersey, and portions of New York State, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Connecticut. Lenapehoking is still the homeland...
This is My Mother
Show Notes
This week on MSB we're talking about Victory Episode 36. Tune in for tragedy! Comedy! Bullying! Robots! More Cronicle Asher discourse than you'd expect, and a gosh dang wonder of the natural world. Plus, should we cancel beavers?
The slideshow we used on this episode is here.
Please listen to it!
Mobile Suit Breakdown is written, recorded, and produced within Lenapehoking, the ancestral and unceded homeland of the Lenape, or Delaware, people. Before European settlers forced them to move west, the Lenape lived in New York City, New Jersey, and...
The Title Gives it Away
Show Notes
This week on MSB, we cover Victory Gundam episode 35 'Mother or Shahkti'. We can't even begin to guess what kind of impossible choice will be forced upon Uso! Plus - Flanders is there when you need him (somehow), Karlmann is so inured to weapons he doesn't mind becoming one, and Myra's impossibly good while Shahkti's just impossible. Then in the research, Thom thinks he knows precisely where Tomino found the name 'Zanscare'.
Please listen to it!
Mobile Suit Breakdown is written, recorded, and produced within Lenapehoking, the ancestral and unceded homeland...
No Good Choices, No Choices at All
Show Notes
This week - the fabled short episode finally manifests as the sheer magnitude of Zanscare's atrocities in Mexico leaves us with little else to talk about. Cronicle's crimes are as big as his tires, Nina makes (and loses) a new friend, Uso gets what he needs (with a little help from his friends) and Katejina's rhetorical strategy is unpersuasive.
Mobile Suit Breakdown is written, recorded, and produced within Lenapehoking, the ancestral and unceded homeland of the Lenape, or Delaware, people. Before European settlers forced them to move west, the Lenape lived in New...
Stella Maris
Show Notes
This week on MSB, we're covering Victory Gundam episode 33: The People Who Dwell in the Sea. We discuss cargo cults, infantilization as a function of government, virgin mothers, parallel character development, Victory's anti-feminism, all the stories that aren't being told, and of course: balls.
Mobile Suit Breakdown is written, recorded, and produced within Lenapehoking, the ancestral and unceded homeland of the Lenape, or Delaware, people. Before European settlers forced them to move west, the Lenape lived in New York City, New Jersey, and portions of New York State, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Connecticut. Lenapehoking...
The Snake and the Rat
Show Notes
We're joined by special guest and friend of the show Sean, aka 'Flying Grizzly,' who helps us cover episode 32 of Victory Gundam, aka 'Doggorla's Violent Advance.' Sean offers bold takes on mechanical design and the ideal TV format for Tomino, Thom is surprised to learn that nerds listen to this show, and Nina gets everything she wants: clumsy mobile suits, a familiar voice actor, and the vindication of being right about everything all the time forever.
Please listen to it!
Mobile Suit Breakdown is written, recorded, and produced within...
Shahkti's Big Adventure
Show Notes
This week on MSB, we're covering Victory Gundam episode 31: 'Launch the Motorad!' in which Shahkti learns all the wrong lessons from Uso, Cronicle picks up some bad habits from Fuala Griffon of all people, and Oliver delegates teaching the children to somebody else. Please listen to it!
Mobile Suit Breakdown is written, recorded, and produced within Lenapehoking, the ancestral and unceded homeland of the Lenape, or Delaware, people. Before European settlers forced them to move west, the Lenape lived in New York City, New Jersey, and portions of New York State, Pennsylvania...
Moonlight Rendezvous
Show Notes
This week on MSB, we're covering Victory Episode 30 'Mother's Gundam' - it's an unusual recap episode featuring the first appearance of a VERY unusual woman. Plus, did the fate of Yugoslavia and the end of the Cold War inspire Victory Gundam? It depends!
Please listen to it!
Mobile Suit Breakdown is written, recorded, and produced within Lenapehoking, the ancestral and unceded homeland of the Lenape, or Delaware, people. Before European settlers forced them to move west, the Lenape lived in New York City, New Jersey, and portions of New York State...
Full Frontal
Show Notes
This week we're talking about Victory Gundam's infamous episode 29 (which depicts Uso being assaulted in a bath by an adult woman) and then Nina's research takes us down a dark path to talk about the Holocaust, its influence on Victory, and the racism in Tomino's depictions of Jewish characters. There's also a new mobile suit, I guess. It's pretty cool. Please listen to it (with discretion)!
Mobile Suit Breakdown is written, recorded, and produced within Lenapehoking, the ancestral and unceded homeland of the Lenape, or Delaware, people. Before European settlers forced them to...
Let's Roll
Show Notes
This week on MSB we're covering Victory Gundam episode 28 (The Great Escape) with help from returning environmental justice consultant Colin! Please listen to it!
Mobile Suit Breakdown is written, recorded, and produced within Lenapehoking, the ancestral and unceded homeland of the Lenape, or Delaware, people. Before European settlers forced them to move west, the Lenape lived in New York City, New Jersey, and portions of New York State, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Connecticut. Lenapehoking is still the homeland of the Lenape diaspora, which includes communities living in Oklahoma, Wisconsin, and Ontario.
You...
Sayonara, Uso
Show Notes
This week on MSB, we return to covering episodes of Victory Gundam with #27 'A Flash that Runs through Space'.
The best podcasts come from episodes that are either really good or really bad. This week's is one of those... but which? Please listen to it to find out!
Mobile Suit Breakdown is written, recorded, and produced within Lenapehoking, the ancestral and unceded homeland of the Lenape, or Delaware, people. Before European settlers forced them to move west, the Lenape lived in New York City, New Jersey, and portions of New York...
Victory Q&A Part 2
Show Notes
Ooo-oh we're half way there! Livin' on another batch of great questions! This time we're talking about our process, where Victory excels and where it fails, ideas for mixing up the cast, thoughts on the show's place in the Universal Century, Cronicle's backstory, and much more!
Please listen to it!
Mobile Suit Breakdown is written, recorded, and produced within Lenapehoking, the ancestral and unceded homeland of the Lenape, or Delaware, people. Before European settlers forced them to move west, the Lenape lived in New York City, New Jersey, and portions of...
