[Mobile Suit Gundam Fun Club] The White Base Editing Room Vol. 3 (1979) - ホワイトベース編集室 機動戦士ガンダムF・C ホワイトベース 3号

 

One of the many texts I acquired from M while in Hyogo, this being one of the earliest Gundam fanzines/groups ever made. This early text, launched by its relatively small team high school age fans and artists, mainly female, was published during the earliest inceptions of Gundam's original broadcast. Many of the observations in this zine were made real time with 0079 Gundam's broadcast time and this particular issue features tons of otherwise internal documents, such as the script for ep. 1 of 0079 and settei that no other club had access to. 

Written with a mix of hand and professionally set text, the Gundam Fun Club's mascot was that of an anthropomorphic Kikka who sported both cat ears and a tail. This in turn introduced yet another subcultural element to the fanzine as is, which I found charming. Reading further, fans were quick to account for "important" characters, their traits and personalized observational data that blurred the lines between that of canon and the "head canon", or ideas surmised to fit personal ideas for fictional characters than delineate the ones set by the actual production staff / creators. This zine has a very proactive presence like vol. 2 and the group were far more integrated in Sunrise's studio system and seem to have had access to things before magazines even did. 

To quote the editor, known simply as "The Chairman" and their co-editor Mari; Mom and Dad, Mari has become a good girl once again. She made the magazine properly this time during her summer vacation, please praise her! However, the number of people writing here is gradually decreasing already. I'd hate it if there was only one who was writing in the next issue, and I wish someone would come on as my helper (dad). This issue was hard because everyone went back to their hometowns during their summer vacation. By the way, the three dimensional illustration in the fold out (of Sayla) is amazing! It was drawn by Takioto Ryuji (滝音竜士), who draws for a certain Harlock fanzine.