Trivia / Mobile Suit Victory Gundam

• Creator Backlash: This show is rather infamous for how much Sunrise and Bandai tried to wrestle creative control away from Tomino and was filled with Executive Meddling. As a result Tomino doesn't have the highest opinion of the show. Tomino has also made no secret of the fact that Victory was produced at a time when his depression was at its worst, and has repeatedly spoken of having regrets about making the series too bleak and negative in its outlook.
• Creator Breakdown: The production of the series coincided with what can be considered the low point of Tomino's depression, and it shows, being easily the darkest Gundam series, even surpassing Zeta at times.
• Franchise Killer: Not for the Gundam franchise as a whole, but between the show not meeting sales expectations and Tomino deciding to step away from the franchise for a while, it led to the end of the Universal Century on TV for twenty years and instead all future Gundam TV series were set in Alternate Universes. It wouldn't be until the TV edit of Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn that another TV series set in the UC timeline would air; all future animated additions to the UC timeline would either be in the forms of OVAs or movies.
• God Never Said That:
  • For years, fans would quote Tomino as saying that "for people like Katejina, death is the easy way out" to illustrate just how evil she was. But the actual quote from this interview was that he wanted to give her a punishment heavier than the blindness that was ultimately decided upon. Tomino pitied Katejina, and insisted that though he was obligated to punish her at the end, he wanted to leave her alive so that she has the chance to work hard to atone for her evil deeds and earn her happy ending eventually. Basically, Tomino's stance on Katejina's fate shows that he believes she is redeemable, rather than the opposite.
  • Nor did he say "This series is garbage, don't waste your money on it", despite the persistent rumor that he did say on a Laserdisc interview in which he actually simply discusses his mindset while making the series.
• Late Export for You: There was no official release outside Japan until 2016, well over a decade after other Gundam shows were being dubbed. Tomino had considerable sway with regards to international licensing when he really doesn't want other people to see things (see "Kukuruz Doan's Island" from the original Mobile Suit Gundam), and the persistence of the above-mentioned rumour of him telling people not to watch it in an interview included with the Laserdisc release has said a lot about his overall view on the series.
• Marth Debuted in "Smash Bros.": Despite the series not being released outside of Japan until 2016, various Gundam games featuring characters and mobile suits from this series have made it to the West beforehand. Examples being the Dynasty Warriors: Gundam games and MS Saga: A New Dawn.
• No Dub for You: Considering the lack of attention it gets in comparison to other series, even in Japan, it isn't really surprising that the show still hasn't gotten an English dub.
• Out of Order: Due to Executive Meddling, the order of the first 4 episodes was rearranged in order to show the eponymous Gundam in the first episode, which makes for confusing watching. The TV Edit of Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn also shows the titular Gundam in the first episode, but as a Flash Forward; here, it starts with what should have been episode 4, then goes back to episode 2, 3 and 4, with nothing to indicate this to the viewer.
• Torch the Franchise and Run: Tomino has later admitted that one the main of the reasons why Victory is so dark and bleak, is because his severe Creator Breakdown made him weary of working on the Gundam franchise, and as a result he deliberately tried to make the series as unpleasant a viewing experience as possible in a bid to destroy the franchise by turning its fans against it.
• Word of God: Fans had a theory that, because Uso's mother's maiden name was Miguel, that she was the love-child, or daughter of the love-child, of Char Aznable, whose last lover was Nanai Miguel, and therefore Uso is Char's grandson or great-grandson. This was refuted by Tomino, but notably the production crew were actually big fans of this idea. It helps that Uso's mother has some of Char's features, like his hair and eye color and his facial structure.
• What Could Have Been:
  • By some accounts, the plot was originally going to be a slightly re-worked version of Tomino's earlier novel Gaia Gear, including the main character being a descendant of Char. By the time they'd finished editing the only vestige of this that remained was Usso's mom's Strong Family Resemblance to Nanai Miguel.
  • Katejina Loos was meant to come off as much more sympathetic than she did, but according to Tomino, he was not permitted to portray the relationship between her and Chronicle and subsequent corruption of her mind and soul the way he intended, in which it would have been clear that she was being made crazy through Cyber Newtype enhancements. He also wanted Uso and his side to suffer a penalty at the end as well as Katejina, such as Uso potentially losing a limb, and he also wanted Katejina's penalty to be more severe than in the final product — badly burned over her body as opposed to blindness. (Source.)