Is Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX set in the Universal Century or in an alternate timeline? Gundam fans uncover clues about the new anime’s setting 

People were excited when Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX, the anime franchise’s sixteenth mainline installment, was announced during the Gundam Conference Winter 2024 earlier this December. Co-produced by Hideaki Anno’s studio Khara and directed by FLCL director Kazuya Tsurumaki, the upcoming anime series’ story centers around high school girl Amate Yuzuriha and her unexpected involvement with the underground mobile suit fighting sport called “Clan Battle”. With a narrative this intriguing, fans want to know what Gundam timeline the series is set in. 

Not all Gundam series take place in the same timeline. While the Universal Century (known as “Uchuu Seiki” in Japanese) is the original timeline of the Gundam metaseries and is the setting for most of the Gundam series, other timelines have been developed over the franchise’s 45-year history. 

For example, there’s the After Colony (AC) timeline, in which the Mobile Suit Gundam Wing anime and Mobile Suit Gundam Wing Endless Waltz OVA occur. These entries center around five teenage boys who are trained by scientists to free space colonies from the military organization known as the Organization of the Zodiac.  

The previous anime installment, Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury, occurs in the Ad Stella timeline. This timeline is dominated by various mega-corporations with a wide reach across Earth and space.  

There’s even a feudalistic Gundam timeline called the “Tenpou Era”, where the Mobile War History Gundam Burai manga is set. It is here where a martial arts tournament against a humanoid mecha called “Tetsuki” is held; with the winner being granted their heart’s desire. There are a lot of Gundam timelines, and a new series could be set in one of these existing timelines, or in an entirely new one. 

Going back to Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX, fans are using all available information to try to work out the upcoming anime’s timeline. The announcement trailer has hinted that it could be set in the Universal Century. One such clue is the talk of a space colony (a man-made structure in space made to house numerous humans) in the trailers’ opening seconds. While space colonies are featured in other timelines, they are most prevalent in the Universal Century. 

The enemy mobile suits that the protagonists fight in the trailer are also reminiscent of the Zakus of the Principality of Zeon found in the Universal Century. Likewise, the weapon used by the main mobile suit GMS-Ω GQuuuuuuX looks a lot like the Heat Hawk axe used by Zakus.  

Over on Reddit, fans are comparing the design similarities of the GMS-Ω GQuuuuuuX, the YG-111 Gundam G-Self from Gundam Reconguista in G, and the titular mobile suits in Mobile Suit Gundam AGE, thinking the new anime may be set in one of those universes.  

Some are going so far as to mention potentially leaked information that the RX-78-2 Gundam (the iconic mobile suit from the original 1979 Mobile Suit Gundam anime) was stolen by none other than Char Aznable – one of the anime’s main characters. As this never happened in the original Universal Century, many surmise that Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX takes place in an alternate version of the timeline. 

With only the announcement trailer and a short synopsis on the official Gundam website to go on, no one outside of Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX‘s production truly knows when or where the anime is set. The hints shown in the announcement trailer could end up being true or just a bunch of red herrings. Fans won’t need to wait too long to find out, however, as the anime will be broadcast soon, with a theatrical cut of the first few episodes hitting movie theaters in Japan on January 17, 2025.