Combat Mecha Xabungle

Then in October of 1980, midway through the Ideon run, a Gundam film project is announced, with the first movie releasing in March '81, just after Ideon finished.

1981 would be the last year for a very long time where Tomino did not have a new TV series on the air, as he worked on the Gundam films, which came out in March '81, July '81, and then March of 1982, with Combat Mecha Xabungle premiering in February 1982, and the Ideon movies coming out in July.

The Gundam film trilogy was the commercial zenith for Tomino, Gundam, and Sunrise at the time.

The trilogy took in revenues of close to 3 billion yen collectively, while with the third film in particular standing as one of the highest grossing anime films to date at that time, and for some time to come.