>>9156979It sounds like existential terrestrial defense style super robot stuff is more up your alley than anything, but if you like Metal Gear I'm sure the real robot genre isn't a total lost cause for your tastes.
IBO is pretty awful, and a lot of the Gundam AUs are more typical anime fair that simply throw Gundams in. Obviously it's hard to always recommend people start with the original because not everyone can sit through an 80's toy commercial just to see the kino moments and finale. You might want to try watching the 90's OVAs, 0080 War in the Pocket, 0083 Stardust Memory, and The 08th MS Team. If you enjoy any of those I suggest going back to the original for context, even if it's just the compilation movies to save yourself time, and maybe Zeta Gundam, which is an outright masterpiece.
You may even enjoy Char's Counterattack, but without some context from the early shows it's absurd writing will be even more lost on you. Animation is stellar though.