[SPLIT LIP]

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Originally Posted by Powerman293

Apparently you can't have stakes in a show without death. What? Losing is still a possibility and there's stakes in that.

I didn't say that, I actually said the exact opposite as a pre-emptive measure because I knew it'd be the first thing someone would try to refute when they flipped into defense mode. But losing in a fictional, even within the universe, fight between toys is trivial and mundane as far as stakes go. It's childish, literally.

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Originally Posted by Yellow Ranger

Except Build Fighters did have a story you might not like but it did have one.

It's a very token story though.

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Build Fighters story was about a kid learning to have confidence in himself and make his dreams come true Reiji and Sei both talk about this in the last episode.

You could've done that without the silly setting of fictional Gunpla battles, though. Rather than be those concepts in earnest, it's put against a backdrop that by its nature removes tension because it's a game for kids. You could apply all those character traits to actual pilots in other Gundam universes and it'd be even more engaging.

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Build Fighters was also a giant love letter to the Gunpla community showing the creativity and joy that comes from Gunpla building which is why so many enjoyed it.

I'm sure it would like you to think that. As a Gundam fan who's gradually but surely expanding his knowledge of the Gundam franchise, I know now that unlike other toy selling properties, Gundam's roots don't lie in toys. It lies in drama, and story, and the toys were actually a vehicle for the show to tell its tale, not the other way around as I once suspected. You'd think a show that was trying to homage and be a massive love-letter to it's fans and community wouldn't trivialize itself and within it's own story and put the toys ahead of the plot and history of the brand. Oh cool, a black Turn-A showed up for a second. Whoopie. How about homaging and paying respects to Turn-A's charatcers, or it's dark history plot? Why not homage its deep history and character-focused dramas by making its own deep history and character-focused story?

Oh, no, I guess seeing Ramba Ral show up as a funny old man with a plastic toy of his Mobile Suit is neat, I guess. Oh look, they referenced the Dom he never got. Huh. (And I actually really want the Dom R35, too)

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So Sei's confidence issues,Mao's desperation to beat a rival,Nils' learning to loosen up and enjoy himself more and Yuki's using Gunpla to escape from others' expectations aren't relatable?

No, because those are all problems born about by the characters, rather than real problems. They're non-quantifiable, token strifes that, like I said, lose what little weight they could have because of the silly backdrop.

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Build Fighters did have stakes the pride in winning with the model you built with your own hand or losing and having it destroyed. They aren't world changing or life&death but wholly relatable to anyone who's played a sport or game competitively

You say that like competative sports are themselves at all compelling fictionally as well.

See, G Gundam also had a tournament setup, but that was actual fighting by actual fighters with real stakes because the fights were real. Even though they were mostly non-lethal due to the rules, the conflict was real within the universe. Plus, because it was real conflict, higher stakes and greater threats were still possible without changing the setting.

In Build Fighters the conflict is fake. Literally, it's a game in a computer. It's the same reason stories about kids playing video games are boring because it's not real. I'm honestly surprised I have to describe the difference between pretend fighting with toys and real fighting with weapons, and why one is more intense than the other.

EDIT: And let me just clarify, and bring this back to my original point and why I brought up BF to begin with. I don't like BF personally of course, but I don't hate it. My initial point of contention was because it's such a unremarkable, standard kid toy vehicle show, is out-performing more quality, story and character-driven shows that have real nuance and more mature themes. And when I say mature, I don't just mean violence. Turn-A is one of my favourite Gundam shows and has little real violence in it. Ditto G Gundam. I also certainly don't think it's the worst Gundam show, as AGE and SEED which were both brought up are easily worse.

But it's easily one of the safest Gundam shows. It's not terribly violent, heady, or ambitious. It lacks identity as a result, and just feels so typical of anime, especially children's anime. You look at other Gundam series like IBO or even OVAs like Thunderbolt, and those have veyr clear identities. They have their own feel, their own voice and world, and you can feel the creator's own vision, regardless of if you like it or not. Build Fighters doesn't feel like the product of a vision, it just feels like product.