On Fandom, Spoilers, and Being the 'Gundam Newbie' (Patreon)

There is a new Gundam show airing, which means I am once again pondering the very specific conundrum this podcast has created for me:

In our dynamic duo, I'm the 'noob' - I'm the one coming into each series with no (or at least, fewer) preconceptions, and no prior judgements. Fresh eyes.

At the same time, I've been making a Gundam podcast for more than 6 years! I've made a lot of friends within the Gundam fandom, and, I'm sure you'll be shocked to hear this, Gundam fans LOVE to talk about Gundam. My participation in the fandom is an important part of this job, and has become a really fun part of my daily life, so I can't very well cloister myself just to avoid the possibility of ever seeing a spoiler.

Most of the time, it's easy enough to avoid conversations about older series. They simply aren't talked about as much, and I have a knack for letting my eyes glaze over the moment I see the title of a series we haven't covered yet in someone's social media posts. But new series are a whole different animal! Enough different people are interested in and following a new series that it reaches a kind of saturation, and my eyes-glazing-over trick becomes less effective.

What is someone who is trying to preserve their 'Gundam noob' status to do?

Well, the screenshot says it all! I have confidence that our pace of coverage (let's call it 'ponderous'), and my own unexceptional memory will mean that, by the time Mobile Suit Breakdown actually covers Qquuuuuux (probably more than a decade from now!), I will have forgotten any spoilers I was unable to avoid.

And this is just my opinion, but most truly great stories aren't ruined by knowing what's going to happen.

... but if you spoil things for me on purpose I will block you 😇

~ Nina