Distinctive characteristics

Gundam is the name or nickname of several mobile suits or mobile fighters, although in some of the related series, such as G-Saviour do not use the term Gundam in the show and presume viewers can tell the difference of Gundam type mobile suits from its general characteristics. The OVA series Mobile Suit Gundam MS IGLOO mainly based upon other famous icons from the first series like the Zaku to relate the show with other Gundam series.

The term Gundam is more of an idea instead of a clear image. Each series can show very different design and colouring for the Gundams. Most of the Gundam in various shows normally have a head following the design of the first Gundam, from the design of Kunio Okawara. Some are different from others, like Zeta Gundam using an angular white mouth-piece instead of a squared red one. One of the notable incidents in early history of Gundammania design was when Katoki Hajime presented his line art design of S Gundam to the Sunrise officials, they felt that it did not look like a Gundam and rejected the design, yet when Katoki added in the major colouring, red, blue and yellow, to the same design and added a few more pictures displaying the suit from different angles at the next meeting, the same officials found it to look quite like a Gundam. The producer, Masahiko Asano noted in his notes that everyone had their own idea of Gundam, and in the meeting, they were trying to find the asymptotic view for everyone in the meeting.