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Site & Series FAQ

Hopefully this section will answer any lingering questions you might have about Shuffle Alliance and the series it's dedicated to.  The SPOILER FAQ has been maintained as such for those who have not seen or finished watched the series in its entirety.  This is a courtesy to new fans, so please do not email me about "missing information," which is located only in the spoiler area.

One final note: All the characters' and gundams' names on this site are CORRECT.  Do not email me to tell me it should be "Burning" instead of God.  God is the original Japanese name.  Do not email me and tell me that Nastasha is incorrect, it is not "Natasha."  There is also a bit of  debate of whether the official spelling is Sai Sici or Sai Saici.  (And if you happen to see Biazury instead of Beardsley or Urube instead of Ulube on this site, it just means I haven't gotten around to changing over the to English release version, yet.)
 
 

Site FAQ
Why build a site to G Gundam?
Can I get a little info about the lunatic who runs this place?
Why'd you name the site "Shuffle Alliance"?
How do you decide on name spellings?
Why non-yaoi/non-yuri/non-hentai?
How can I help with the site?
Can I use any scans, etc from this site for my own?
Why haven't you posted my fan art/fan fic yet?
Why don't you post video and song clips, or music videos?

Q: Why build a site to G Gundam?
A:  For one, I love the series to death, and for another, there are hardly any good G sites out there.  Those that do exist are either only half functional and no longer updated, or aren't even in English.  I wanted to put together a site that would cover as much as possible.

Q: Why'd you name the site "Shuffle Alliance"?
A:  First off, I'll say we got lucky on the name.  Our VHS fansubs listed the group as being "Shuffle Alliance" part of the time and "Shuffle Delegation" the rest of the time.  Alliance sounded better, so that's what we chose.  (I guess Badai/Sunrise decided the same for the official translation!)  The name idea itself came from my boyfriend, Domon, and was reinforced by a group of friends we had online at the time.  There were five of us, all role players, so each of us took a crest.  (Click here to find out what the Shuffle in the actual series is about.)

Q: How do you decide on name spellings?
A:  The official spellings were released in The Official Gundam Guide, written by Mark Simmons and Benjamin Wright, published by Viz Communications under their Animerica title.

Q: Why non-yaoi/non-yuri/non-hentai?
A:  Simply put, I don't like any of that kind of thing.  While I am tolerant in that I think that people can have their own individual preferences, those things are forbidden on this site.  You may have your yaoi and your hentai and whatnot, but not here.  Keep it over there, away from me.  I don't like hentai because so much of it is just so horribly done and distasteful, and I don't support yaoi in the G Gundam fandom at ALL because I see no basis for it.  Domon has Rain.  Sai has Cecil.  George has Maria Louise.  Chibodee has an all female Gundam crew and hits on Rain.  Argo has Nastasha.   And some of these guys would do anything for the ladies they protect; I'm sure George would sooner die then let Maria Louise perish (episode 33, anyone?), and Domon would fight to the bitter end for Rain.   I don't think yuri with Rain and Allenby is a good idea, either.  If anything, looking at how the characters are, that's rather ridiculous, seeing as how Rain is totally devoted to Domon.  My personal take on ALL yaoi and yuri is this...  Unless it's official or strongly implied, I'm not interested in hearing about it. 

Q: Can I use any scans, etc from this site for my own?
A: Okay, here's the deal, flat out and simple.  If you want to use any UNALTERED images for your site, that's fine so long as you don't try to edit out the "SA" mark I've put on most everything.  I've spent a lot of time and money on many of the scans and such that are on this site, and the mark is just my way of saying, "I put this up first."  If you want to use/alter an image for a message board avatar or signature banner, that's also fine, so long as you don't direct link to the pic and steal my bandwidth.  And, if you really want to please me, put a link on your site to mine, giving me credit for the pics/scans/etc.

This does not, however, apply to the wallpapers, winamp skins and such that are also here.  I and the people who put those together want permission asked before those are taken and used elsewhere.  A good rule is that if it's been heavily altered in some way, shape or form, ask before you take.  The same is doubly true for the fan art and fan fiction; don't ever repost those pieces anywhere online without asking the artist/author first.  In addition, do not ever, EVER direct link anything and steal the site's bandwidth.  This has been a major problem in the past and if I catch you trying to take what I've paid for, I cannot guarentee that my reaction will be a civil one.  More than likely, it will be to yell and scream at you about how you have committed theft.

That said, DO NOT email me about using images unless you are asking permission to post fan art, fan fic, wallpapers, banners, winamp skins, etc.

Q: Why haven't you posted my submission yet?
A:  Well, at this point, if you've sent me something for the site via email, I haven't posted it because the site is now static and no longer accepting any kinds of submissions, period.

Q: Why don't you post video and song clips, or music videos?
A:  Quite simply, it's a bandwidth issue.  Before G Gundam's release on Cartoon Network, I was able to post video clips and music videos because not as many people accessed the site to download them, but now that Shuffle's being accessed far more often, the site can't handle the strain of so many people downloading such large files.  It's limited to 20 gigs of transfer a month, and with clips up, it would easily hit that limit before the end of the month.  Does anyone remember when I had to shut the site down during the last week of each month for a while, and re-open on the 1st of the next month?  If I put up video clips and music videos, that will start happening again.  As for mp3s, my host does not permit me to post them on the site; it's a violation of the service agreement.
 
 

Series FAQ
What does the "G" in "Mobile Fighter G Gundam" stand for?
Who are the main cast of seiyuu (Japanese voice actors and actresses)?
Who are the English VAs?
What are the rules and regulations that govern the Fight?
What is Mobile Trace?
Are there any Newtypes in G Gundam?
Where did the idea for the Shuffle Alliance come from?  Why card suits?
Who are the previous Fight winners in tournaments 1-12?
Just what IS the Shuffle Alliance, anyway?
I've noticed that some of the Shuffle symbols are labeled with numbers.  What do they mean?
Do you have full color images of the Shuffle crests?
What are the Four Heavenly Kings?
What is the story history behind G Gundam?

Spoiler FAQ
Where did Devil Gundam come from?
When does Domon trade out the Shining Gundam for the God Gundam and why?
Who is behind the mask of Schwarz Bruder?
Why did Master Asia turn evil and betray Domon?
I've seen pics of God Gundam riding Fuunsaiki around.  How did Domon get Foonie?
Who lives and who dies?  (Full causality list!)

Q: What does the "G" in "Mobile Fighter G Gundam" stand for?
A:  According to gundam guru Mark Simmons, the "G" stands for multiple things, the most obvious being "God Gundam", but also for "Gundam the Gundam", which is the title given to the champion gundam at the end of each Fight Tournament.  There is a possibility it also stands for "Grapple."

Q: Who are the main cast of seiyuu (Japanese voice actors and actresses)?
A:  According to the listing on Gundam Fight Round 5, the cast list is as follows -
 

Domon Kasshu - Tomokazu Seki
Chibodee Crocket - Ootsuka Yoshitada
Sai Sici - Yamaguchi Kappei
George de Sand - Yamazaki Takumi
Argo Gulskii - Ugaki Hidenari
Rain Mikamura - Yuri Amano
Schwarz Bruder - Hideyuki Hori
Allenby Beardsley - Narumi Hidaka
Master Asia - Yousuke Akimoto

Q: Who are the English VAs?
A:  Thanks to Mark Gatha, the voice of Domon Kasshu in the dub, we now have this list!

Domon - Mark Gatha
Rain - Jennifer Holder 
Stalker - Steve Olsen 
Sai - Zoe Slusar 
George - Scott Roberts
Master - Dave Pettitt 
Argo - Stephen Holgate 
Chibodee - Roger Rhodes 
Allenby - Carol Anne Day 
Michelo - Jonathan Love (also VA directed the first 25 eps)
Nastasha - Onalea Gilbertson
Stalker - Steve Olson
Thug 2, Episode 3 - Cam Desmond 
Shuffle Alliance - Jim Sarantis / Maureen Jones / Allan Boss

The following is the list of rules applied to the tournament each year.  Blatant disrespect of the regulations may result in the disqualification of a Fighter and the dishonor of the nation they represent.  Gundam fighting is a way to preserve peace through sportsman like contests of strength, endurance, agility, speed and intelligence, so order must be maintained.
 

• 1.  A Gundam with its head destroyed is disqualified.
• Supplement to Article 1:  Killing and wounding caused in error during competition is permissible.
• 2.  Never attack your opponent's cockpit.
• 3.  Fighters damaged in any part of the body except the head may repair the damage as often as necessary and continue to compete.
• 4.  Gundam Fighters must protect their own Gundams at all times.
• 5.  All battles are to be one-on-one.
• 6.  Gundam Fighters must not damage nor mar the honor or dignity of the nations they represent.
• 7.  The ring for each battle is the Earth.
• Supplement to Article 7:  Gundam Fighters will not be prosecuted for destroying buildings on Earth during the competition.

Q: What is Mobile Trace?
A: If you're relatively new to G Gundam, you're probably not sure what the Mobile Trace System is all about.  This is, however, another aspect of the series that sets it apart from every other Gundam series out there.  Simply put, mobile trace is a system that allows a Gundam to mimic every move the pilot inside of it makes.

The cockpit system is more or less made up of a couple separately rotating metal rings that come down over the pilot when the cockpit is entered and the system activated.  The top-most ring has a stretch of material within it (sort of like spandex, one would assume) that comes down over the pilot's head.  A hole in the material allows the pilot's head to go through without being covered, while the rest of his or her body is covered over in the material, the excess of which snaps clear when the top ring hits bottom.  The color of these trace suits vary upon the pilot and country they're from, sometimes taking on colors or symbols of the flags (for instance, Domon's suit has the large red dot on the center chest area that helps to identify him as being from Neo-Japan).

In addition to the suit, itself, the pilot also wears several antennae like projections from his or her shoulders, wrists, ankles and back that allow the system in the spherical cockpit around them to track movement. One could assume these projections are connected to a vast array of circuits within the suit material that move over the pilot's whole body and track motion to be relayed to the antennae.  Mobile trace is also able to check the vitals of a pilot, including heart rate, breathing, blood pressure and brain waves.

This does cut two ways, however.  In a normal core cockpit system, if the suit is struck by something, like a missile, the pilot does get rattled around.  But with mobile trace, if the suit is struck, the feedback from the hit is sent back through the system to the trace suit, and the pilot gets a nice, painful little shock as if he or she had actually been hit.  So if you're male, pray no one decides to nail your Gundam in the groin.  :)

Finally, the camera system in each Gundam in G is linked to the cockpit so that the pilot is seeing things at his or her suit's eye level.  The screen around the cockpit is spherical, and contains a multitude of screens that can display everything from what's around the Gundam to system stats, com screens, etc.  It's also my personal belief that the system does, in fact, read brain waves to allow the pilots easy access to their ultimate attacks and the com system.

Q: Are there any Newtypes in G Gundam?
A: No, unless you count George's short time as a "level 5" (on a scale of 1-9) Newtype for the game G Generation 0.  That was eliminated by G Generation F, however, and he is not a Newtype for the actual series. (Information provided by Gundam Phallus from the old Gundam.com forums.)

Q: Where did the idea for the Shuffle Alliance come from?  Why card suits?
A:  To answer this one, let's go with Neo-Era's theory on the matter. "The idea of the Shuffle Domain was probably drawn from the sentai shows like JakQ, which also used playing cards as an inspiration (the five main characters of JakQ are named "Spade Ace", "Dia Jack", "Heart Queen", "Clover King", and "Joker")."  You can find more info on JakQ here

Q: Who are the previous Fight winners in tournaments 1-12?
A:  As listed in the booklet for Round 4 and as translated by Vaeran:

FC 8: Neo Greece
GF1-035NGR Vulcan Gundam / Heroda Diokonsu

FC 12: Neo America
GF2-014NA Gundam Freedom / Fia Filadel ("Filadelfia". Ha ha.)

FC 16: Neo Egypt
GF3-013NE Pharaoh Gundam III / Dahal Muhammad

FC 20: Neo China
GF4-005NC Feilong Gundam / Sai Feilong

FC 24: Neo France
GF5-026NF Baron Gundam / Fernando Rowal

FC 28: Neo Italy
GF6-021NI Gundam Tornado / Victorio Argento

FC 32: Neo Germany
GF7-021NG Kaiser Gundam / Rolf Heinrich

FC 36: Neo Russia
GF8-011NR Cossack Gundam / Sukishi Jirinofusu (this is the katakana - I have no idea what it's trying to say.)

FC 40: Neo England
GF9-003NEL Britain Gundam / Gentle Chapman

FC 44: Neo England
GF10-001NEL Britain Gundam / Gentle Chapman

FC 48: Neo England 
GF11-001NGR Britain Gundam / Gentle Chapman

(There's no listing for FC 52.. either this is an error in printing the CD booklet or for some reason there wasn't a Gundam Fight that year. Maybe they got sick of Neo England winning. :P)

FC 56: Neo Hong Kong
GF12-035NH Kowloon Gundam / Master Asia

Q: I've noticed that some of the Shuffle symbols are labeled with numbers.  What do they mean?
A:  Kudos to PP Gundam of the noew defunct gundam.com for coming up with the best answer for this one when many of us were stumped for a possible answer.  It's simple if you think about it, but most of us were trying to come up with more complex answers and missed what was right in front of us!

It's a little hard to see, but four of the five symbols are marked with numbers as follows:

King of Hearts - 4711
Queen of Spades - 1713
Club Ace - 0001
Jack of Diamonds - 1271

Each of those is also marked with a larger number as follows:

King of Hearts - 13
Queen of Spades - 12
Club Ace - 1 (under the large A)
Jack of Diamonds - 11

So:

4711 = 4+7+1+1 = 13 = King
1713 = 1+7+1+3 = 12 = Queen
1271 = 1+2+7+1 = 11 = Jack
0001 = 0+0+0+1 = 1 = Ace

And because the Joker in a deck of cards has no numerical designation, neither does the Black Joker symbol.
 
 
 
 

Q: Do you have full color images of the Shuffle crests?
A:  Yes, they are all located in the Gallery.

Q: What are the Four Heavenly Kings?
A:  The Heavenly Kings of G (Master Gundam, Walter Gundam, Grand Gundam and Heaven Sword) are an homage to the Four Heavenly Kings in Buddhism; Jikokuten (East), Zochoten (South), Komokuten (West),  and Bishomonten, aka Tamonten (North).  You can find more info about the Four King in Buddhist religion here.

Q: What is the story history behind G Gundam?
A:  Too access a fully translated timeline from Fighting G, click here.
 
 
 

*** SPOILER ALERT ***
Beyond this mark you'll find information that contains spoilers for the series.  Do not read on if you do not want to find out more than the basic plot premise for G Gundam!  The answers have been left in white text, so you'll have to highlight it if you really want to read it.  These may also contain information on character deaths!  You have been warned!

Q: Where did Devil Gundam come from? 
A: Well, someone had to build it, and that someone was Dr. Kasshu, Domon's father.  The good scientist was assisted in his efforts by Domon's older brother, Kyoji, the father and son pair working as a team to build what would be the "Ultimate Gundam" that would be able to restore the Earth from its state of ruin.  However, Urube Ishikawa wanted the Gundam for himself, and Dr. Mikamura, out of jealousy over Professor Kasshu's talent, helped him find the Ultimate Gundam and attempt to seize it.  Soldiers were sent to arrest Kyoji and his father, but before they could be taken into custody, the eldest Kasshu son hijacked the Ultimate Gundam to get it away from the Neo-Japanese military.  In all the confusion, Domon's mother was killed trying to shield her son. Kyoji managed to escape to Earth, but things only got worse from there.  Damaged in the crash landing, the Ultimate Gundam's programming went haywire, and it concluded that the only way to save Earth was to annihilate mankind.  It seized Kyoji and pulled him into the cockpit to use him as the "Seitai unit", making him a prisoner who had little control over the monster's actions.  Domon's father was put into a state of suspended animation to keep his mouth shut, and the story was altered by Urube and Mikamura when Domon returned from his training to make it look as though Kyoji had gone mad and stolen the Ultimate Gundam when it had been "revealed" that the point of the Gundam was for the father/son pair to take over Neo-Japan.  Fooled by this illusion, Domon joined the 13th Tournament, swearing to clear his father's name, destroy the Devil and kill his brother...

The reason the Devil Gundam is so deadly and feared is that it makes use of special nano-technology that allows it three incredible abilities: self-evolution, regeneration, and self-resurrection.  It can repair itself after taking damages, then evolve into higher and more dangerous forms if given enough energy to do so.  And unless you manage to kill it and kill it good, it will continually resurrect itself.

In addition, the Devil Gundam is also able to spread its terrible power through a plague like nanotech disease in D-G Cells.  These cells can infect machinery AND living things, including humans.  The cells appear as silvery scale-like coverings on the skin, and will spread over time until they consume the entire being they have infected, eventually turning their victim into a D-G cyborg.  The side effect of the cells is one of increased speed and power for the victim, but it's a false gift.  Once a cyborg, you become a willing and mindless slave of the Devil Gundam and whoever or whatever is commanding it, and at that final stage, there is no turning back.  There is hope for those with early stages of infection, however.  Chosen by the original Shuffle delegates, Domon, Chibodee, Sai, George and Argo have found their purity of heart and can use their inherited power to lift the curse of the Devil Gundam.

Q: When does Domon trade out the Shining Gundam for the God Gundam and why?
A: At the end of the Guyuana Highlands arc (episode 24), the Neo-Japanese officials send the God Gundam down to the highlands, concerned that the Shining was destroyed in the conflict with the Devil Gundam there.  While the Shining survived that, it was destroyed by the Master Gundam as Domon used it for a shield while rushing to the God's drop ship.  The Shining's cockpit and core lander were completely destroyed, the Master Gundam's arm impaling it.  Many believe that the God was allowed to replace the Shining at the finals because it could not function without the data from Shining.  (The God was created specifically for use in the finals.)

Q: Who is behind the mask of Schwarz Bruder?
A: The real Schwarz Bruder was killed early on the Fight by the Devil Gundam, but Kyoji managed to use the Devil's powers to make the body into a DG cyborg programmed with his own memories and ideals.  He told the cyborg to look after his younger brother, and guide him in the direction that would help him to defeat the Devil, even if it meant death for both Kyoji and the new Schwarz.  Are Kyoji and Schwarz the same person really?  Perhaps it started out that way, but I think the cyborg gained a soul through his experiences in his short life, since when you see both Schwarz and Kyoji appear during episode 48 in a vision to Domon, they are two separate people...not one. 

Q: Why did Master Asia turn evil and betray Domon?
A: At the end of the 12th Gundam Fight, Master Asia realized that the Earth was being destroyed by the Gundam Fight and humans in general.  Being a martial artist with ties to nature, he felt it was necessary to do whatever it took to restore the planet, even if it meant forging an alliance with the Devil Gundam, betraying Domon, using hundreds of people as pawns and even threatening all of humanity.  By the end of episode 45, however, the strength of Domon in their final battle helps the Unbeatable East to realize the error of his ways...  (Master Asia was never infected with DG cells.)

Q: I've seen pics of God Gundam riding Fuunsaiki around.  How did Domon get Foonie?
A:  Master Asia dies in the second season, and Fuunsaiki chooses Domon as his new master.

Q: Who lives and who dies?  (Full causality list!)
A: Want to know if your favorite character is going to survive, or if the guy you hate is going to really get it?  Here's a list of those who are doomed to die -  Prime Minister Wong, Michelo Chariot, Gentle Chapman, Schwarz Bruder, Kyoji Kasshu, Master Asia, Dr. Mikamura, Ulube Ishikawa, and all the pilots of the Jester, Zeus and Cobra gundams.  Most of these people deserved it, but I'll admit to almost crying when Master Asia, Schwarz and Kyoji died...