Season 9, Episode 4: White Devil (Patreon)

On the podcast this week, Thom wants to know how we know what we know about Amuro Ray's war-time nickname. He emerges from the sticky morass of continuity with a surprising answer and a few thoughts about benefits and downsides in the Gundam franchise's approach to developing its own imaginary history.

Show Notes

Correction: In the episode Thom said that Amuro's other nickname, White Shooting Star of the Federation, debuted in Super Robot Wars (possibly as early as 2nd Super Robot Wars, released December 12, 1991). However it seems that name actually made its first appearance in the quasi-official source book Entertainment Bible #39 (released earlier in 1991), which includes a ranked list of OYW ace pilots. A translation of this section can be found here; other parts of EB39 have been translated here. Thank you to patron HitTheTargets for directing our attention to the book.

• Essential research assistance for this episode was kindly provided by Mark Simmons (http://www.ultimatemark.com/gundam/) who sent us the text from the parts of the 0083 novels in which the nickname 白い悪魔 / White Devil is given to Gato.
• Other books consulted:
  
  Yamaguchi Hiroshi, 機動戦士ガンダム0083 / Mobile suit Gundam 0083 (Kadokawa 1992), pp. 123 and 152.
  
  Marc Steinberg, Anime's Media Mix: Franchising Toys and Characters in Japan (Minnesota UP 2012).
  
  
• You can find Japanese-language discussions about the origin of the 白い悪魔 / White Devil nickname in various places, including: Yahoo Japan, mixi, Nico Nico Pedia, and www5f.biglobe.ne.jp (archived) (links are to specific discussions).
• Some lists of other things that get called "White Devil" in Japan, on pixiv and Japanese Wikipedia.  
• Page about The White Devil of the Transportation Bureau (a loud train).
• Some other colors of devil: Pink, Green, Blue, and Black.
• The earliest known use of the "White Devil" nickname in Gundam: this SD Qubeley CARDASS card from 1988:

• More information about the ギレンの野望 / Gihren's Greed series of games, from pixiv, Japanese Wikipedia, English Wikipedia, and HatenaBlog.
• A detailed breakdown of the way one game in the series expands on the characterization of Anavel Gato. 
• Relevant clips from Gihren's Greed games:
  1) In the original version of Gihren's Greed for the Sega Saturn (1998), Anavel Gato calls Amuro the White Devil of the Federation for the first time. 
• 2) The same scene recurs in the most recent New Gihren's Greed for the PlayStation Portable (2011). 
• The same line appears in this list of quotes by Anavel Gato from his appearances in the Super Robot Wars game series.

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 efforts to honor the relationship between the land and indigenous peoples by visiting the websites of the Delaware Tribe and the Manhattan-based Lenape Center. Listeners in the Americas and Oceania can learn more about the indigenous people of your area at https://native-land.ca/.We would like to thank The Lenape Center for guiding us in creating this living land acknowledgment.

You can subscribe to Mobile Suit Breakdown for free! on fine Podcast services everywhere and on YouTube, visit our website GundamPodcast.com, follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, or email your questions, comments, and complaints to gundampodcast@gmail.com.

Mobile Suit Breakdown wouldn't exist without the support of our fans and Patrons! You can join our Patreon to support the podcast and enjoy bonus episodes, extra out-takes, behind-the-scenes photos and video, MSB gear, and much more!

The intro music is WASP by Misha Dioxin, and the outro is Long Way Home by Spinning Ratio, both licensed under Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 licenses. All music used in the podcast has been edited to fit the text.

Mobile Suit Breakdown provides critical commentary and is protected by the Fair Use clause of the United States Copyright law. Gundam content is copyright and/or trademark of Sunrise Inc., Bandai, Sotsu Agency, or its original creator. Mobile Suit Breakdown is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Sunrise, Bandai, Sotsu, or any of their subsidiaries, employees, or associates and makes no claim to own Gundam or any of the copyrights or trademarks related to it.

Copyrighted content used in Mobile Suit Breakdown is used in accordance with the Fair Use clause of the United States Copyright law. Any queries should be directed to gundampodcast@gmail.com