When Watership Down met Gundam

As many know, I'm a big fan of Bandai's Metal Robot Spirits line, the combination of premium finish, metal parts and stunning articulation make it a superior successor to the similarly-scaled Gundam Fix Figuration line, of which I was also an avid collector. 

I've been catching up with some of last year's figures and immediately found a new favourite in the Gundam Hazel Custom. I didn't recognise it from any particular series, but I was intrigued by the chunky boosters on the legs that look like air conditioning units, the classic Gundam head and the idea of the mecha using three shields as boosters. It was a design that had retro-futuristic elements, nowhere near as sleek as a Gundam SEED or 00 design, but very different again to other UC canon like Unicorn.

So I bought one.

It's funny how the small things catch your eye. Unboxing the small, heavy and very premium figure I took in every detail. Collectors can happily stare at a new purchase for hours, taking in every line, every interesting detail and fiddling with it to get the best poses and then repeating the "staring at it" ritual all over again. Premium releases often feel museum grade, and this was no different. But what was the bunny logo on its butt? 

And so down the proverbial rabbit-hole I descended.

The Titan Test Team Logo

The origin of Gundam Hazel, I discovered, was a photo light novel published in Dengeki Hobby magazine, written by Bin Kanno called Advance of Zeta: The Flag of Titans. Set in the main Universal Century timeline of year 0084, it occurs after the One Year War and post Stardust Memory. The magazine included mechanical designs for the units in the story and technical specifications provided by Kenki Fujioka.

The story follows the Titan Test Team's Black Otter squad and, in particular, Eliard Hunter, an officer in the Earth Federation Forces that is asked to join and test mobile suits. However, following the Gryps War, he is put on trial on four different charges and it's left to lawyer Conrad Norris to find Eliard's old comrades and clear his name.

Illustration for Advance of Zeta - love the rabbits on the finger!

Both the light novel and manga remain untranslated (officially) and are, to say the least, fairly niche side-stories even by Gundam standards. All the more unusual then that Metal Robot Spirits has gone so hard on releasing mecha from such an obscure story. And so we come to the part of all this that caught my attention.

That rabbit logo used by the Titans Test Team was adopted in-universe by the leader of the test team, Wes Murphy, who happens to be a big fan of rabbits and keeps one as a pet. It was his insistence that the insignia be used (despite the objections of fellow officer Audrey April) and Murphy who names the mobile suit units after his favourite book - Watership Down.

Now it has been said on various Youtube channels that it was Tomino's odd naming conventions that emboldened other writers, but I still have no idea whether the naming conventions adopted from Watership Down came from the writer or the mecha designer. Given the backstory for Murphy and his fondness for rabbits, I'd assume Bin Kanno is the culprit, but whoever adopted Richard Adam's character names, Metal Robot Spirits has given us:

• Hazel Gundam and many variants, named for the protagonist of the book, Hazel
• Woundwort, named after the Efrafa General
• Haze'n Thley, the former Efrafan rabbit who becomes Hazel's mate Hyzenthlay
• Hrududu - a support pack named for the monicker given to cars by the rabbits and used to create Hazel-Rah (Chief Hazal)

Other mecha named for Watership Down include the Fiver/Hrairoo, Dandelion, Kehaar and Bigwig. You can find pictures of all of these units over at the Gundam Fandom page which covers all the books in the series.

The Woundwort in all its odd-legged glory

So what does all this Watership Down naming get us? Well for me, it's a delightful little detail that got me chasing the series down to discover more. The idea that Watership Down as a story exists in Tomino's Universal Century just tickles me. It gives the characters a bit of real-world heritage, a touchstone shared by the characters with those of us watching or reading this fantastic world of science fiction. It's a little shared British culture worked into the show in a subtle nod that makes an obscure magazine-based light novel side-story feel more distinctive and important. 

More importantly for Bandai it's got me buying merch.

The Gundam Hazel - just beautiful!

Despite the fact that few outside of the most avid Gundam fan will have even heard of the light novels, they are a great source for a line of Gundams. The constant evolution of the Hazel, as its fitted with new loadouts, heads, torsos and so forth are a great way to duplicate parts between releases and save on costs. Both the Hazel and Haze'n Thley (pictured above and below) share the same legs, forearms, rifle and backpack booster. That's a lot of parts you can mass produce. Where the Haze'n Thley differs, such as it's torso, shoulders, wonderful "long-sleeved" booster arm adjustments and shoulder guns, well those all look great and make the variant worth getting. Plus there's that shield with the Mega Particle Cannon just adds a massive pointy bit to play with. The "Battle Colours" Hazel Custom is just the same unit as the Hazel in different colours, another release that can save on tooling. Clever Bandai.

The Gundam Haze'n Thley - chock full of gorgeous detail! I've skipped the additional arm pack as it's too bulky for my tastes, but nice to have so many options!

So yes, it's a very niche source, but one that makes sense for a toy-line. It certainly got me, I do love this particular style of chunky Gundam with the Alex being a personal favourite of mine. Having this additional British connection does make me feel a little more linked to Advance of Zeta and its many Gundam variants.

So does this little discovery change the face of Gundam? No, it's just a cosy little curio that, in a very reserved way that suits the British and Japanese cultures, sits quietly in a corner and smiles when you notice it. Not big, not flashy, but down to Earth and humble.

And I like that.

You can find the fan-translation of Advance of Zeta: Flag of the Titans at Zeonic. You can even show your appreciation by visiting their Patreon where more translations are available to download.