Gundam Wing was not the first Gundam series, not the cleanest Gundam series, and definitely not the easiest political plot to explain after missing an episode. It was the one Toonami aired in 2000, which made it the first Gundam for an entire generation of North American viewers. That matters more than any argument about where it ranks now. Wing put mobile suits, colony politics, masked rivals, tragic child soldiers, and Relena Peacecraft on television after school and trusted kids to keep up.
The dub became part of the memory. So did the edited daytime broadcast, the uncut late-night airing, the model kits, and Endless Waltz showing up later with redesigned Gundams that looked impossible and immediately became the versions everyone wanted. You did not need to know Universal Century continuity. You needed to know that Duo called himself the God of Death and Heero could survive almost anything except a normal conversation.
Forty-nine episodes of beautiful boys making catastrophic military decisions. It worked.
Guides and reference pages for this series. More coming.