SD Gundam Full Color Theater (SDガンダムフルカラー劇場) is a manga authored by Azuma Yuuki. It is a Yonkoma gag manga based on the SD Gundam Full Color gashapon toy line, which was the precursor to the modern Gashapon Senshi line. It was serialized in the magazine Comics BomBom from 1997 to the magazine's cancellation in 2007 (Making it one of the last SD Gundam manga series published in the magazine alongside Sangokuden). The series went on temporary hiatus, moving to the TV Manga Heroes magazine until it finished its run in 2009. The series was reprinted as a set of three compilation volumes in 2016.
The plot of the series revolves around Gundam, a member of the Earth Federation Forces who gets into various instances of trouble with almost everyone around him. One of the central points of his trouble is his rivalry with Char, a pink ball who wears various Char Custom MS as clothing. The cast list and story grows from that point on. The manga's structure is standard to yonkoma, with several (mostly) related four-panel strips sandwiched between an overarching plot.
Tropes associated with SD Gundam Full Color Theater are:
- All Just a Dream: The plot twist behind the two-part Sentai Heroes arc. When Gundam tried to hypnotize everyone into following through with the plan, he accidently put himself to sleep.
- Androids Are People, Too: Stargazer Gundam is the only character in the series that is actually a robot. However, Gundam and a few of the other characters treat them as a person, with Strike Noir going as far as to say he was taught that even robots have a soul because of them.
- Beach Episode: There is always at least one of these per volume.
- Big Storm Episode: One of the chapters involves everyone preparing for a giant storm that appears in the colony. This includes getting people to help reinforce White Base, the AEUG getting excited over the rain, Justice Gundam getting upset over a tiny uneven space between the pins reinforcing the tarp, and God Gundam challenging the storm to a duel.
- Camping Episode: There was an arc where the group goes camping. This arc is also used to introduce Lacus, who appears to help GP03 look for the Haro he lost.
- Cerebus Syndrome: Downplayed. Some of the arcs still have serious moments, such as the Char's Counterattack arc, the two-part Giant Killer Strawberry arc, and the Formula Triple-K chapter, but they are generally mixed with Black Comedy to make light of the serious situation. An example of this can be seen after Char drops an asteroid on Earth in the Char's Counterattack arc:Nu Gundam: "DON'T YOU KNOW THAT DROPPING ASTEROIDS IS DANGEROUS!?"Char: "It's supposed to be dangerous, stupid!!"Nu Gundam: "DON'T YOU KNOW THAT A LOT OF PEOPLE DIED!?"Nu Gundam: "Oh. That's right."
- Christmas Episode: This kind of episode was done a few times. One of the more notable chapters was when Old Man Zaku I, who usually takes the roll of Santa, throws out his back and makes Stargazer Gundam take his place. Considering that Stargazer is a curious robot that doesn't understand much about social interaction, Hilarity Ensues.
- Cross-Cultural Kerfluffle: Gyan's Formula Triple K, a spray that causes siblings to fight with each other, is written in the manga as "KKK". While the acronym is meant to be short for the phrase "Kyoudai ga kanarazu kenka suru"note , English speaking readers more commonly associate it with the highly infamous Ku Klux Klan.
- Fictional Video Game: SD Gundam Full Color RPG, the game which the manga's RPG arc takes place in.
- Midseason Upgrade: Generally, if a character's pilot basis gets a Mobile Suit upgrade, that character will get a power up in the form of that MS. For example, Gundam gets upgraded to Nu Gundam in the Char's Counterattack arc. He later gains the ability to swap between the two forms as he pleases.
- Mythology Gag: There are several references to major Gundam works hidden within the series.
- The two Guncannon brothers that appear in the series are named Guncannon 08 and Guncannon 09. In Mobile Suit Gundam, the unit numbers used to distinguish the two Guncannons on White Base were C-108 and C-109.
- The characters in this series take their personalities mostly from their first pilot, so why is Stargazer a robot? Because Stargazer Gundam in the OVA was first piloted by an AI, of course!!
- Speaking of the Stargazer OVA, considering the original fate of the Blu Duel courtesy of three Kerberos BuCUE Hounds, it makes a lot of sense for Blu Duel in Full Color Theater to be afraid of dogs like Bu Cue.
- No Fourth Wall: With how often Azuma Yuuki barges into the series to explain things such as why Gundam X's scavenger hunt item is Gundam Leopard, how the series makes references to Gundam works airing at the time the chapter was published, crossing over to other panels in one chapter, and even Blitz pondering the fate of the series if Comics BomBom gets canned, one can assume that the fourth wall is almost nonexistent.
- Rage Against the Author: In the chapter that announces the results for the second popularity poll, Gundam captures and interrogates the author, Azuma Yuuki, and her assistant because they got 7th place in the popularity polls.
- Ridiculously Human Robots: Almost all the mechas that appear in the series are human-like with feelings and personalities.
- Running Gag: Being a comedy manga, there are several. Some of the most notable include:
- Zeta Gundam having dry ice in his head.
- Wing Gundam Zero self-destructing due to failing a mission, embarrassment, or because it's the only hobby he has.
- Zock being so forgettable that when Gyan unleashed a cold virus onto everyone in Gundam's colony, the only reason why he was one of the only people unaffected by it was because even the virus forgot he existed.
- Sick Episode: One of the chapters involved Gyan spreading a cold virus throughout the colony with only three people being unaffected. These were Shining Gundam, whose hot-blooded nature naturally killed the virus, Zeta Gundam, who is so cold the virus couldn't inhabit him, and Zock, who is so forgettable the virus didn't know he existed. The virus eventually died off on its own.
- Time Travel Episode: The last half of the Char's Counterattack arc has the ghosts of Nu Gundam and Char go back in time to around the time of the One Year War after straying from Lalah when returning to the world of the living. There's also a subplot of the group in present-day being split between waiting for them to come back to life and just burying them.
