Get ready, Gundam fans! The highly anticipated 2025 anime series, "Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX," is set to blast off in April, a joint production from two animation giants: Khara (of "Neon Genesis Evangelion" fame) and Sunrise (the studio behind the "Mobile Suit Gundam" series). Its先行劇場版 (prequel movie), "Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX -Beginning-," has already raked in over 3 billion JPY at the Japanese box office and seen strong performance internationally, including a solid showing in Taiwan.
One character from the new series has been generating a ton of buzz: Sharia Bull, affectionately nicknamed "Green Uncle" (緑のおじさん) by fans. His updated character design has garnered widespread love, so it came as a surprise when toy manufacturer Bandai recently unveiled a new Sharia Bull acrylic standee. The catch? It's based on his original "Mobile Suit Gundam" design, leaving fans exclaiming, "They went with *that* version?!"
Back in the day, Sharia Bull's original "Mobile Suit Gundam" design made him look quite a bit older, but he was actually only 28! Fast forward five or six years to his new design, and he's looking incredibly handsome and stylish, prompting many fans to jokingly ask if it's even the same person. LOL.
Still, the new "Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX" version of Sharia Bull has definitely captured hearts. Fans are calling him a "handsome older character" (イケオジ) and, of course, giving him the "Green Uncle" moniker, which has sent his popularity skyrocketing!
So, what does Bandai do? They seize the moment to release an acrylic standee of the *old* Sharia Bull! For those who don't remember, despite his formidable skills, the character only appeared for a single episode in the original series before being defeated by Amuro's Gundam and biting the dust. Who would've thought that years later, he'd get such a massive reputation boost? Bandai really knows how to cash in on fan nostalgia!
Given that a standee for the new Sharia Bull design has already been released, Bandai's choice to go with the original version this time around had fans reacting with "Talk about a deep cut!" and "It's a total meme product!" Some even joked, "Did Bandai get a flood of petitions to make this happen?"
But when you think about it, being able to display both the old and new Sharia Bull standees side-by-side to appreciate his character evolution? That's actually pretty cool!
It's wild to think that a character who was killed off in a single episode from a decades-old series could suddenly become such a sensation. Is it the animation studio's genius, or Bandai's uncanny business sense? You decide!