DEACKYCHU

Supreme Commander, Zeonic|Scanlations
Specialization: Translation, archive material recovery, prolonged engagements with Japanese prose
Personnel strength: Please stop counting the departments separately

Long before anyone thought to ask whether this was all a reasonable use of his time, deackychu began translating Gundam. More than two decades later, the operation continues. Attempts to establish a manageable mission scope have been highly unsuccessful.

Originally operating under the designation Zeonic-Corps, the outfit set its sights on Gundam Sentinel before advancing into manga with Crossbone Gundam. What followed was a sustained campaign through manga, novels, interviews, and reference material, with subsequent incursions into radio dramas and subtitling. Command’s original assessment of “a translation project” has been revised to “a dire situation.”

Today, deackychu oversees procurement, research, translation, scanning, image editing, and release promotion. He also performs those duties. Requests for additional personnel have been forwarded to the other departments, where he will review them when he has a moment, but the inbox is overflowing. Some claim it’s a circular file.

The mission is and always has been to make more of Gundam accessible to English-speaking fans, including the material tucked away in novels, old magazines, and books whose existence tends to come as an unpleasant surprise to anyone who thought they had finally caught up. Stories get translated. Interviews get scrutinized. Supporting documentation gets brought into the briefing room, occasionally to the discomfort of a perfectly good argument.

Reports from out in the field are generally appreciative, particularly from readers finally able to experience works they had only heard about. Reports concerning the release schedule are somewhat less tranquil. Command acknowledges that waiting for the next installment can be frustrating. Command would also like to remind everyone that the translator has a civilian life and cannot currently be mass-produced.

His own enthusiasm does not require unconditional approval of everything bearing the Gundam name. In fact, many missions frustrate him to no end. Translating a work gives people the chance to read it and reach their own conclusions. It does not require the translator to salute every plot development or authorial direction.

Behind the imposing organizational name is a fan doing the work in his spare time, with support from readers helping keep the operation supplied. The objective remains much as it was at the beginning: share the stories, dig into the material, and give people more of Gundam to enjoy, and, inevitably, argue about.

For the first time in its operational history, Zeonic|Scanlations reports that the backlog is finally under “control.” Command has authorized a brief celebration and instructed deackychu not to purchase, discover, or remember any additional Gundam material.

He has asked whether magazines count.

The celebration has been postponed.

Zeonic|Scanlations launched back in the summer of 2003 (as Zeonic-Corps) with the lofty goal of translating the Gundam Sentinel novel before eventually stumbling down a path of manga translation starting with Crossbone Gundam!

First Website Layout Circa 2004

I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that the group has a storied past. There’s a reason why I have kept the tongue-in-cheek blurb in the footer of “Emoing out since 2004!” Ah, yes, the days of being a fledgling group trying to drum up support only to devolve into some big emo drama-fest shit that I shake my head over to this day. Of course, the emo rants/closings/”dropped” projects/spats have mostly faded from memory now, but some logs still remain, and boy do they bring a chuckle.

The fond memories of IRC and my early college years of screwing around online instead of heading to class. Staff that worked tirelessly (did they?) to see so many projects brought to light over those formative years. That was also when I earned the wonderful ire of a slew of spiteful assholes for taking on entirely too many projects (I’ll admit, that’s always been bad) and taking forever to release stuff. Those who bitch about free material not being released fast enough never cease to amaze me. Much of that still continues to this day, hilariously enough. As I update this in 2022, a lot has changed. Pumping out a huge backlog of releases has been pretty cathartic, honestly. But, that too hasn’t been without its share of hilariously lame attempts at drama. Yup. I’m still the asshole, apparently.

My mission and goal have always been to continue spreading a love for all things Gundam with accurate translations of manga, novels, and other reference materials (along with cited documentation!). I do this all in my spare time, which is why I ask for a few spare hytes and cools tossed my way to keep the lights on. For those that commission me for certain projects, I’m grateful for your trust in my abilities and my commitment to you of quality you’ve come to trust over the years. I’d like to think I’ve gotten better as time goes on!

Special thanks to an exhaustive list of former staff, commentators, trolls, etc.:

Zanejin
KumaGichou
mchicken
Zanku (Ashitsuki)
Aoi
Jeid
AirMaster
BAMF
Blackthornhiei
Kira/Auel/Dalek/Dan
Derringer
RedTail
Martin
RaoGaiGar
Lt Walker
Newtype
Section9
phage80
HEDGESMFG
Zero_Wing
Konst
groan77
ZakuII
ChronoZeroX
Black_Comet
Mad_Barber
SirEzhnoLothairMorreaux
MagnaKaiser
Andy^
Point Blank Sniper
Darth Blade
HCPS1
Vekou
brinkmanship
Nathan