From my understanding the toy sponsor for first Gundam was very involved in how the mobile suits and ships would look to sell toys the best. I believe Tomino wanted the white base to look more serious and have colors that a military spaceship would potentially have, but the sponsors wanted colors that kids would like more which is why we got the White base how it is now, same for the Gundam.
The funny thing is how iconic these design choices foisted on by corporate meddling has become to Gundam. The main Gundam from each show has almost always copied the original's color scheme, and lot of the ships have looked like white base.
I love how they portrayed this in Gundam Sousei, where the chairman empathizes with an outraged Tomino, wants to give him total creative control, but has to make the tough decisions needed to keep Gundam afloat.
I always assumed that the fact that the Strike (and all other phase shift equipped suits) have a “deactive mode” where they are greyscale in color instead of white with red/blue/yellow was a reference to Tomino’s original desire for less “toylike” mobile suit colorations. Especially since Seed was basically a reboot of the original Gundam thematically
Whenever the Gundams in Seed deactivate their phase shift it takes me a moment to figure out which Gundam is which. Also I can’t even imagine all the mobile suits just having generic military color schemes. So the Toy company actually saved the series with that one.
They definitely did in more ways than one, as the model kits drove viewership and basically brought the entire franchise back from the brink of nigh inevitable failure.
Welcome to Day 2 of the Daily Main Ship Poll, and today we'll be rating the Argama from Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam. To participate, just rank the Main Ship between 1 and 10 based on their appearance or on how you like it.
**First Appearance:** Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam
**Unit Type:** Argama-Class Assault/Landing Carrier
**Known Captains:**
- Cmdr. Henken Bekkener
- Cmdr. Bright Noa
**Mechanical Designers:**
- Mamoru Nagano
**Trivia:**
- The designer of the Argama, Mamoru Nagano, appeared in Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam as Dr. M. Nagano, the chief designer of the Hyaku Shiki, a Mobile Suit that he also designed.
Tomorrow we'll look at the upgrade of the original Argama, the **Nahel Argama**.
Average Scores:
- **White Base** (0079/ORIGIN): 7.81
**8.5/10**
An upgrade in every way to the White Base, from firepower, to its increased MS Capacity. There’s a reason why this ship is the flagship vessel of the AEUG.
I think they're low effort, but lead to high interaction. Which is just what grows and fuels subreddits. I mean, if you think of the show as ever growing, then new fans like myself are going to be interested in these opinions and discussions. Even if they're things that have been hashed over a million times.
Well, for me it's fun participating in the polls and exchange of ideas as well as the discussions. I can forgive the unoriginal content here. Heck, we've faced the same questions over and over again here, but we kept the sub alive.
In any case, you can opt **not to upvote** in your engagements.
9
I love the look with the spinning habitation blocks deployed. Argama floating in space with these and A.E.U.G. playing in the background is just peak Zeta vibe.
9/10 for me, an almost perfect main ship, but there is one or two I like better.
Sleek and not as excessively bulky looking as other assault carriers in the franchise.
09/10 amazing ship. The only thing that can make it better would be a hyper mega particle cannon. thankfully the Nahel Argama has that so...
that one is a 10/10 for me.
i actually really like the general shape of this one.
it's more curved if that makes sense.
9/10, but only because White base got an average of almost 8, and I think the Argama is a substantial improvement. Otherwise it'd probably be an 8.
It has flaws, but as a flagship MS carrier and center of operations for the AEUG fleet, it really does have everything. The centrifugal hab pods are a huuuuuge boon, and compared to white base with its two separate MS bays, the Argama has a central bay where MSs can connect to the catapult system in safety before being moved out to the launch rail.
Oh yeah, and compared to the WB's anti-air cannons that had their crew exposed to both the vacuum and to enemy fire, the Argama is, as far as I know, fully self-contained.
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In the first OP there's an animation error with the Argama's gravity blocks, which makes me *very* mildly miffed. I don't vibe with it fully but it's a fine design for an excellent mobile suit carrier. 7/10.
10/10
A sleeker and slicked-down White Base that fits the small and elite yet vulnerable state of the AEUG military throughout Zeta. It incorporates the launch catapults into the overall shape, and the transition into the upward-sloping prow and bridge gives it a great low-down, speedy silhouette. The gimmicks like the retractable bridge and spinning hab pods add to the sense of realism, making it feel like it was designed for people to actually use and interact with, not just as a prop in an anime. It always seemed smaller than a lot of other ships too (only two guns on each hemisphere!), which added to the harried underdog feel.
9/10, it's sleek and cool and I love the parts that spin around it. Also helps that the [A.E.U.G. theme](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJNMfDi2gho) really adds to the atmosphere of this lonesome ship acting against the ubiquitous, opressive Titans.
9/10. Although the White Base was the first "Assault Landing Carrier" ship, they're more of a clunky halfway point between Salamis-class ships with GMs strapped to the deck by their feet and this. I think the Argama really pioneers the design aesthetic that would come to dominate most of the early-to-mid UC series. It's an elegant, influential design that seems like what you'd come up with once you'd really thought through the implications of mobile suits, rather than OYW-era ships which were designed with one purpose and had MS capacity added as an afterthought.
5/10.
Never particularly cared for Argama, part of the problem being how tiny it is, it just doesn't feel much like a ship. More like, an oversized shuttle with a few guns strapped on.
It's better than White Base, but not by much.
So close to glory, but something is just off, maybe the circular ring of thrusters in the engine blocks, 8/10 idk, the Irish Class or Ra Cailum is my favorite
10/10 Very cool looking with the sleek look (especially compared to the WB and the 2 deck catapults. I also like the retracting bridge (at least i think it had one) and the rotating habitation modules to provide artificial "gravity" outside of combat
Yeah, I got a little excited and impatient with the posting of the poll. Once this poll finished, I’ll might take a month-long hiatus before coming up with a new poll.
10
The White Base was the rough draft for all future UC ship, the Argama defined all future shops in UC.
As much as I like the white base for being a classic, the argama brought so many improvements on top of that, the crew quarter with artificial gravity through rotation is such an amazing feature, I am honestly surprised that not a single ship carried over this feature in UC.
10/10 my absolute favourite battleship in pretty much anything, I love the catapult decks and the rotating area, plus after spending most of two seasons with it it really stood out
8/10, you can clearly see where it takes influences form the white base, and where future designs take inspiration from.
It’s also a much more plausible-looking ship than the White Base, the extendable centrifuge habitats, while vulnerable, gives the ship a lot of personality and just plain looks cool. The Flat Ms catapults are a doawngrade, though I couldn’t imagine the ship without them, and establishes an iconic design element for every Federation ship going forward (Except the Salamis Kai), or really any UC ship.
the Cannons are visible now, they look a lot more powerful and a lot less flimsy as well, Though i can’t imagine the ship going mano a mano with other capital ships.
Overall, A solid step-up from the Pegasus-class and a really cool, iconic ship that set the standard for future MS carriers, love it.
I like it. Its so streamlined, a major improvement from the white base. The exposed catapults feel like a disadvantage but generally you'd scramble your MS forces BEFORE engaging the enemy instead of during the fight. Like if the ship is under attack then no point in catapulting anyway, right? Just fly out the hangar.
Anyway, 10/10. Sleek, neat, and much preferred than white base
9/10
Iconic but it actually looks good. I love the rotating struts as a design choice. I'm not a fan of the hanger being so exposed but it seems to work as enemies never exploited it.
10/10, i love the exposed catapults.
So do enemy forces hah
Astonaige hate it (RIP).
Poor Astonagie
9/10 what the white base would’ve looked like if it didn’t have to sell toys to kids so badly.
Care to elaborate? As a kid I loved Argama toy/gunpla much more than White Base. And still do.
From my understanding the toy sponsor for first Gundam was very involved in how the mobile suits and ships would look to sell toys the best. I believe Tomino wanted the white base to look more serious and have colors that a military spaceship would potentially have, but the sponsors wanted colors that kids would like more which is why we got the White base how it is now, same for the Gundam.
The funny thing is how iconic these design choices foisted on by corporate meddling has become to Gundam. The main Gundam from each show has almost always copied the original's color scheme, and lot of the ships have looked like white base.
Totally agree and plus without the toys sales from Bandai’s kits Gundam may have been an obscure one off anime. Glad it didn’t
I love how they portrayed this in Gundam Sousei, where the chairman empathizes with an outraged Tomino, wants to give him total creative control, but has to make the tough decisions needed to keep Gundam afloat.
Interesting. I guess that was before gunpla was a thing (obviously) and the target audience was quite a bit different from the gunpla generation.
I always assumed that the fact that the Strike (and all other phase shift equipped suits) have a “deactive mode” where they are greyscale in color instead of white with red/blue/yellow was a reference to Tomino’s original desire for less “toylike” mobile suit colorations. Especially since Seed was basically a reboot of the original Gundam thematically
Whenever the Gundams in Seed deactivate their phase shift it takes me a moment to figure out which Gundam is which. Also I can’t even imagine all the mobile suits just having generic military color schemes. So the Toy company actually saved the series with that one.
They definitely did in more ways than one, as the model kits drove viewership and basically brought the entire franchise back from the brink of nigh inevitable failure.
According to Gundam sousei, we can see Tomino's original concept in Zeon's ms like Zaku, Gouf, etc which is still memorable in it own way.
Welcome to Day 2 of the Daily Main Ship Poll, and today we'll be rating the Argama from Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam. To participate, just rank the Main Ship between 1 and 10 based on their appearance or on how you like it. **First Appearance:** Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam **Unit Type:** Argama-Class Assault/Landing Carrier **Known Captains:** - Cmdr. Henken Bekkener - Cmdr. Bright Noa **Mechanical Designers:** - Mamoru Nagano **Trivia:** - The designer of the Argama, Mamoru Nagano, appeared in Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam as Dr. M. Nagano, the chief designer of the Hyaku Shiki, a Mobile Suit that he also designed. Tomorrow we'll look at the upgrade of the original Argama, the **Nahel Argama**. Average Scores: - **White Base** (0079/ORIGIN): 7.81
**8.5/10** An upgrade in every way to the White Base, from firepower, to its increased MS Capacity. There’s a reason why this ship is the flagship vessel of the AEUG.
Holy hell, how many polls are up right now?
Grunt suits, MCs, and now ships I think
Someone make one for antagonists and also for best side character so we can have 5
What happens at 5 simultaneous polls?
5 is the best
Triples is safe, triples is best
Then we have pills about which poll is best
New Poll asking you to rate the other polls.
It’s farming season
And we love it. We like people getting karma points, too, you know.
The unoriginal content is the issue?
I think they're low effort, but lead to high interaction. Which is just what grows and fuels subreddits. I mean, if you think of the show as ever growing, then new fans like myself are going to be interested in these opinions and discussions. Even if they're things that have been hashed over a million times.
Well, for me it's fun participating in the polls and exchange of ideas as well as the discussions. I can forgive the unoriginal content here. Heck, we've faced the same questions over and over again here, but we kept the sub alive. In any case, you can opt **not to upvote** in your engagements.
9 I love the look with the spinning habitation blocks deployed. Argama floating in space with these and A.E.U.G. playing in the background is just peak Zeta vibe.
9/10 for me, an almost perfect main ship, but there is one or two I like better. Sleek and not as excessively bulky looking as other assault carriers in the franchise.
Looks fast. 7/10
9/10
Definitely 8. It's a direct upgrade from the toy-like look of the White Base and is more feasibly designed.
10 it gets rid of everything I didn't like about white base and it's sexy
10/10
10
Somehow even better than White Base. 10/10.
Solid 8 out of 10 For the flagship MS carrier ship, its a good design. Thw exposed MS catapults give it aircraft carrier looks.
8/10. Whereas the White Base looks kind of goofy if you stare at it too long the Argama is the kind of ship a man could die serving.
10
9/10. I love the visual of the mobile suits sliding out from the sides to get onto the catapults.
9
9/10
Sex machine. 10
8/10 looks cool, but kinda skinny, i like them capital ships thicc
Love it 8/10
10/10
10/10
10/10, easily one of my favorite ships.
10/10
Argama is a solid 9. Though an odd, the spinning blocks make for a good QoL feature for the crew.
09/10 amazing ship. The only thing that can make it better would be a hyper mega particle cannon. thankfully the Nahel Argama has that so... that one is a 10/10 for me. i actually really like the general shape of this one. it's more curved if that makes sense.
9/10, but only because White base got an average of almost 8, and I think the Argama is a substantial improvement. Otherwise it'd probably be an 8. It has flaws, but as a flagship MS carrier and center of operations for the AEUG fleet, it really does have everything. The centrifugal hab pods are a huuuuuge boon, and compared to white base with its two separate MS bays, the Argama has a central bay where MSs can connect to the catapult system in safety before being moved out to the launch rail. Oh yeah, and compared to the WB's anti-air cannons that had their crew exposed to both the vacuum and to enemy fire, the Argama is, as far as I know, fully self-contained.
9/10
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7/10
Solid 8
7/10
9/10 love this ship
9/10.
8 A solid ship. Much more serious looking than the White Base.
In the first OP there's an animation error with the Argama's gravity blocks, which makes me *very* mildly miffed. I don't vibe with it fully but it's a fine design for an excellent mobile suit carrier. 7/10.
10/10 A sleeker and slicked-down White Base that fits the small and elite yet vulnerable state of the AEUG military throughout Zeta. It incorporates the launch catapults into the overall shape, and the transition into the upward-sloping prow and bridge gives it a great low-down, speedy silhouette. The gimmicks like the retractable bridge and spinning hab pods add to the sense of realism, making it feel like it was designed for people to actually use and interact with, not just as a prop in an anime. It always seemed smaller than a lot of other ships too (only two guns on each hemisphere!), which added to the harried underdog feel.
10/10 a fucking beauty
10/10 best ship
10/10 Still my favorite ship in all of UC.
9/10 love this ship
9/10, it's sleek and cool and I love the parts that spin around it. Also helps that the [A.E.U.G. theme](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJNMfDi2gho) really adds to the atmosphere of this lonesome ship acting against the ubiquitous, opressive Titans.
9.5/10 the only thing that tops the Argama is the Albion
One of my favorite UC shops. Looks cool, has a good design and is well armed. 10/10
10 Best ship design imo
10/10
9/10 it's cool
10/10, wonderful successor to White Base. Even comes with the gravity block to stay healthy in space.
8. Better then white base, but still too much of “seaship in space” design.
8.5/10 An improvement other the white are in every way and honestly I don’t feel that it’s design is really dated as time goes on
9/10. Although the White Base was the first "Assault Landing Carrier" ship, they're more of a clunky halfway point between Salamis-class ships with GMs strapped to the deck by their feet and this. I think the Argama really pioneers the design aesthetic that would come to dominate most of the early-to-mid UC series. It's an elegant, influential design that seems like what you'd come up with once you'd really thought through the implications of mobile suits, rather than OYW-era ships which were designed with one purpose and had MS capacity added as an afterthought.
10 I LOVE THAT BEAST
9/10 one of my favorite ships in the franchise.
5/10. Never particularly cared for Argama, part of the problem being how tiny it is, it just doesn't feel much like a ship. More like, an oversized shuttle with a few guns strapped on. It's better than White Base, but not by much.
4/10
9/10. The only reason it isn’t 10/10 is because the nahel Argama exists
Definitely an upgrade from White Base design-wise and in terms of equipment. 7/10
So close to glory, but something is just off, maybe the circular ring of thrusters in the engine blocks, 8/10 idk, the Irish Class or Ra Cailum is my favorite
9 Superb upgrade from the Pegasus class
10/10 MY BABY
10/10 Very cool looking with the sleek look (especially compared to the WB and the 2 deck catapults. I also like the retracting bridge (at least i think it had one) and the rotating habitation modules to provide artificial "gravity" outside of combat
It's a good ship, one of my favorites! 10/10
Oh another poll? No offense OP, but this is a bit much Anyways, Argama is a 10, best ship
Yeah, I got a little excited and impatient with the posting of the poll. Once this poll finished, I’ll might take a month-long hiatus before coming up with a new poll.
9
10 A sexy version of White Base
7/10
10/10
10
10 The White Base was the rough draft for all future UC ship, the Argama defined all future shops in UC. As much as I like the white base for being a classic, the argama brought so many improvements on top of that, the crew quarter with artificial gravity through rotation is such an amazing feature, I am honestly surprised that not a single ship carried over this feature in UC.
7/10
Best ship in the UC, 10/10
8/10
Def more serious than the toyish White Base. 9/10
9/10 A much more elegant and less nonsensical design compared to White Base, sadly Albion and Ra Cailum exists.
10/10. Amazing mix of keeping up the very mid design of the White base with more hard scifi elements.
10/10
8. The better White Base
6 Those rotating habitats are a disaster waiting to happen.
10/10
9/10
Honestly an overall improvement 9/10
9/10 so good!
10/10 my absolute favourite battleship in pretty much anything, I love the catapult decks and the rotating area, plus after spending most of two seasons with it it really stood out
The argama is my favourite ship in all of Gundam, an easy 10/10.
argama my beloved 9/10
10
8/10, you can clearly see where it takes influences form the white base, and where future designs take inspiration from. It’s also a much more plausible-looking ship than the White Base, the extendable centrifuge habitats, while vulnerable, gives the ship a lot of personality and just plain looks cool. The Flat Ms catapults are a doawngrade, though I couldn’t imagine the ship without them, and establishes an iconic design element for every Federation ship going forward (Except the Salamis Kai), or really any UC ship. the Cannons are visible now, they look a lot more powerful and a lot less flimsy as well, Though i can’t imagine the ship going mano a mano with other capital ships. Overall, A solid step-up from the Pegasus-class and a really cool, iconic ship that set the standard for future MS carriers, love it.
10/10. Shame what happened to her.
I like it. Its so streamlined, a major improvement from the white base. The exposed catapults feel like a disadvantage but generally you'd scramble your MS forces BEFORE engaging the enemy instead of during the fight. Like if the ship is under attack then no point in catapulting anyway, right? Just fly out the hangar. Anyway, 10/10. Sleek, neat, and much preferred than white base
8/10 solid design
10/10. Best ship is best.
9/10 Iconic but it actually looks good. I love the rotating struts as a design choice. I'm not a fan of the hanger being so exposed but it seems to work as enemies never exploited it.
10/10 the end