[SENTINEL] Complete Version

I just wanted to take a moment to thank all of you who have supported me in retranslating the very first project my (then) group tackled way back in 2003. I'll be honest, the novel wasn't done justice back then. But, given the times, we didn't put a lot of effort into proper research or finding better source material.

For those that are unaware, a translation of Sentinel was initially started by CWMODELS sometime in 2000 on the old rec.arts.anime.models. I don’t think they did anything past the second chapter, but it wouldn’t be posted over on the old Gundam Mailing List until back in January 2001. After reaching out and asking the original translator if they had any plans to continue, I received a blessing of sorts to start my own version through Zeonic-Corps (at the time), picking up right where they left off.

So, I set out to try and locate someone to help in translating it. By the saving grace of Liathional, the project took shape and kicked off. While most are probably aware of another version of this is floating around that was edited by Lt. Walker, who stepped in to assist some our projects at the time (during the heavy drama days and whatnot), ultimately, the version is just inferior. This is not to demean the efforts they put into editing the original, it’s just that the initial CWMODELS version was missing context and it seemed like the Chinese translation glossed over just as many details and whatnot in their fan version (it was from a fansite, after all).

While I had known this fact for quite some time, there was a lot going on and I just didn’t know when and if I could dedicate myself to redoing it. Ultimately, the misconceptions over the entire Sentinel serialization in Model Graphix and parroted misinformation back in 2021 told me I needed to focus on redoing everything from the ground up, including digging into the false claims and original serialization.

In hindsight, I feel as though the old version may or may have given people a bad impression of the supposed “gritty, militaristic” novel that was quite a defining avenue for Gundam at the time. I think some people felt it fell flat, and I wouldn’t blame them. Despite that, I do hope that fans give this another go with a new version. I slaved over this to bring to the table the best possible version I could, and I hope that shows.

Granted, I’d be remiss if I didn’t thank the individuals who toiled over it back then, a truly thankless effort in the formative years of the group. Despite differences that happened, and some bizarrely weird “bad blood” that still exists toward me to this day, I wouldn’t be where I am two decades later if it weren’t for their efforts.

Thank you, despite our differences.