Talk:SD Gundam

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Original and current usage by Bandai (Japan)

The 1985 SD Gundam product from Bandai was スーパーデフォルメガンダム or Special Defense Gundam. デフォルメ(déformer) itself is a standard Japanese art jargon that's obviously from French, and スーパーデフォルメ(Special Defense) spelled out this way instead of ＳＤ is still used by Bandai. I think it was only a convenient coincidence that SD could be anglicized as Special Defense, and Bandai America seems to find the linguistic fluke convenient too.

Meanwhile, Bandai (Japan) never spells out SD in English, and on the few occasions it's done by a non-Bandai Japanese source, it's the ungrammatical Special Defense.

I'm actually amused to see that older usenet FAQs like rec.arts.manga FAQ actually knew what SD originally stood for.

That's for the Japanese side of the story of what SD is meant to spell out. I think it's perfectly legitimate to see it anglicized to 'Special Defense', but it's good trivia for the fan. It might be essential knowledge for anyone wishing to communicate with a Japanese artist.--67.121.120.67 (talk) 02:23, 12 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]