Mobile Suit Gundam Wing

Gundam Wing was not the first series in the Gundam franchise to be dubbed and distributed in the U.S. (the compilation film version of the original Mobile Suit Gundam, as well as the OVAs War in the Pocket and Stardust Memory, preceded it by about two years), but it is well known as the first Gundam series to be aired on American television. This dub was licensed by Sunrise and the voice work was done by Ocean Productions.[3] The series aired on Cartoon Network's weekday afternoon after-school programming block Toonami, premiering on March 6, 2000. In the first extended promo leading up to the series' premiere, voice actor Peter Cullen narrated the back story, evoking memories of Voltron's opening credits. The promo was said to be so riveting that Bandai decided to use it as the official promo for the series.[4] Gundam Wing was a huge ratings winner for Toonami (often outperforming veteran series such as Dragon Ball Z and Sailor Moon) and became, for a time, not only the highest rated series on Toonami but on all of Cartoon Network.[5]

It was broadcast in two formats: an edited version shown in the daytime on Toonami and an uncut version shown past midnight as part of Toonami's "Midnight Run." Examples of the edits included the removal of blood, profanity, atheism, and the word "kill" being replaced with the word "destroy" (this was extended to Duo's nickname, "The God of Death," changed to "The Great Destroyer," forcing the alteration of two episode titles), though the word "death" was mostly left intact. All Gundam Wing episodes have been released to VHS and DVD in the U.S. Differences between the two video systems is that the VHS episodes contain the edited version while the DVD episodes contain the uncut version.

Due to the closure of Bandai Entertainment, the series was out-of-print for sometime. On October 11, 2014 at their 2014 New York Comic Con panel, Sunrise announced they will be releasing all of the Gundam franchise, including Gundam Wing in North America though distribution from Right Stuf Inc., beginning in Spring 2015.[6] Right Stuf released the series on Blu-ray and DVD in two sets in November 2017.[7] In addition, a collector's edition set containing the complete series, Endless Waltz, Operation Meteor and the Frozen Teardrop picture drama was released in December 2017.

After the series ended, four original video animation (OVA) episodes, compiling various scenes from the series along with a few minutes of new footage, were released in 1996 as Gundam Wing: Operation Meteor I and II.

A three-part OVA titled Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz was produced in 1997 as a sequel to the TV series; plot-wise, it brought the "After Colony" timeline to a close. The OVA was also notable for its massive redesigns of all the Gundams by Hajime Katoki, such as the Wing Gundam Zero's new "angel-winged" appearance.[8] A compilation film version of Endless Waltz (featuring additional footage, alterations of the music score and a different ending theme) was later released in Japan on August 1, 1998. Endless Waltz premiered on Cartoon Network in the U.S. on November 10, 2000. Both the OVA and film versions of Endless Waltz were later released together on DVD.[9] Right Stuf released both OVAs on Blu-ray and DVD in December 2017 (though Operation Meteor remains un-dubbed).[7]

In addition to manga adaptations of the series and Endless Waltz, several manga sidestories have also been produced. Episode Zero is a prequel, detailing the events leading up to series; the stories have been collected in a volume that also contains one brief open-ended interlude, Preventer 5, that details an operation that occurs after Endless Waltz.[10] A coincident storyline to the series is presented in Last Outpost (G-Unit). Several sequel manga, occurring between Gundam Wing and Endless Waltz, have also been written: Blind Target, Ground Zero and Battlefield of Pacifists.[11][12][13]

The Gundam Wing, Battlefield of Pacifists and Endless Waltz manga series were published in English by Tokyopop, while Blind Target, Ground Zero and Episode Zero were published by Viz Communications. Another sequel manga detailing the future of the colonies entitled Tiel's Impulse was printed in 1998 and has not been published in the United States.

In September 2010, Gundam Ace magazine began serializing a manga titled New Mobile Report Gundam Wing Endless Waltz: The Glory of Losers that retells the events of the anime while incorporating facts from Episode Zero and the novel Frozen Teardrop. The manga ended in November 2017 and was compiled into fourteen volumes. The manga also uses Hajime Katoki's Gundam redesigns from Endless Waltz and other subsequent media, instead of the original Kunio Okawara designs featured in the anime. Vertical published English editions of the manga volumes under the title Mobile Suit Gundam Wing Endless Waltz: Glory of the Losers from July 2017 to November 2019.[14]

In early 2010, Gundam Ace magazine announced they would serialize a "New Gundam Wing Project".[15] The project was eventually revealed to be a novel, titled New Mobile Report Gundam Wing: Frozen Teardrop. Written by Katsuyuki Sumizawa, the novel begins a new timeline, following the "Mars Century" calendar ("MC") which was the successor of the previous "After Colony" calendar.[16] According to an interview with the author, the novel spans backwards into the AC century and the Gundam pilots, Relena, and their children make appearances.

A fighting video game titled Shin Kidō Senki Gundam Wing: Endless Duel was developed by Natsume and released for the Super Famicom in Japan on March 29, 1996.[17] A second fighting game titled Shin Kidō Senki Gundam Wing: The Battle was developed by Natsume and released for the PlayStation in Japan on October 11, 2002 as the 13th volume of the Simple Characters 2000 series.[18] Gundam Wing characters and mecha have also appeared in several other video game series including Super Robot Wars, Gundam Battle Assault, Another Century's Episode, Mobile Suit Gundam: Extreme Vs. and Dynasty Warriors: Gundam.

Upon the series' debut in North America, Gundam Wing received a large roster of licensees for merchandise including wallscrolls, apparel, school supplies, skateboards, trading cards, model kits and action figures.[19]