WIP - Gundam Woundwort Biomecha
Added 2023-12-14 12:30:02 +0000 UTCSomething i'm planning to noodle with on/off over the next few weeks probably is this attempt to portray Kenki Fujioka's inimitable "Gundam Woundwort" design from Advance of Zeta in biomechanical form, like several other mobile suits in the past. The Woundwort exemplifies Fujioka's approach to mecha design with it's slightly neotenous proportions contrasted with enormous projecting leg forms, an attempt to push the traditional silhouette of a Gundam to a new limit, anchored only by the familiar visor and golden v-fin (although in some variants the v-fin itself is wholly abstracted into an ornate figurehead).
Without wanting to go on too long about my deep reverence for Fujioka's work, one aspect of AOZ that always tickled me as a childhood fan of the books and the infamous animated adaptation was the naming scheme for the majority of the Gundam suits and suit attachments, which draws from names and terminology from Watership Down - the Woundwort itself, despite it's delicate constitution, being named for the brutal General Woundwort, the grizzled veteran who acts as antagonist. I decided to take this as an opportunity to incorporate lapine anatomy, and specifically the thighs felt like an ideal place to insert forms recalling rabbit skulls - the piece is far from done, and i'll be continuing to wrestle with it for some time I think, but I wanted to share what I had so far!
