So how would you rank Gundam protagonists?

My fave is probably Setsuna F. Seiei from Gundam 00. He's one of the few non-Japanese main characters in the franchise (despite his weird-ass name) and one of the fewer Middle-Eastern characters portrayed in a balanced light.

I hated him outright at first. I felt his character was just a blatant cash-in on the use of the Middle East as a setting like almost every major video game, TV series and movie post-Afghanistan/pre-Iraq. His backstory annoyed me and as a character he was stoic and rather boring. But as the series progressed I realized his blank characterization was purposeful. Unlike most other Gundam pilots, Setsuna was a killer from the start. He didn't stumble upon a giant robot, he wasn't motivated by love or friendship (though that changes when we see the 2nd season), his belief in the dogma of Celestial Being and the power of the Gundam bordered on fanatical due to his on faith being twisted and shattered by Ali Al-Saarchez.

I think favorite Setsuna moment was probably when he had no choice but to kill Anew when she was about to kill Lyle. He even warned Lyle that when it came down to it, if she was a threat, he'd eliminate her. Other main characters would have fallen into some kind of internal turmoil at the choice. Setsuna killed her without flinching and Lyle beat the crap out of Setsuna for it but he took it without fighting back.

Agreed. Despite what UC purists say, I found 00 to be one of the best Gundam series. Is Celestial Being good or bad? I guess it depends on your point of view. I like how the Gundams are almost potrayed as a force of nature. The "horror-like" theme music that plays everytime they show up, vs uplifiting heroic music we expect to hear with protagonists. They make Gundams almost scary and very threatening for sure.

I think 00 have a very strong season 1 but not so much for most of season 2. The movie also was a let down.

*double post*

This. Season 1 was great. Season 2 was clearly put through a retool to make it more like UC. I think if they had stopped at the end of season 1 it would be among my favorites, but season 2 spoiled most of the things I liked about season 1.

The movie is quite possibly the biggest let down in the franchise if you ask me. It's just so poorly constructed :(

I however loved Season 2.

Season 2 was basically because the more "hardcore" Gundam fans wanted to see the usual tropes. Titans-like villains= A-LAWS, Char-like Rival=Mr.Bushido, Newtype-like BS=Innovators.

People originally complained about the 1st season because as far as they were concerned, it was very unlike Gundam series in the past which was actually why it was a good thing. The 2nd Season was basically crafted with these old Gundam tropes to "homage" these things.

I still defend the movie though. Yes it was a radical change from usual Gundam analogy. But there was a message in it I felt a lot of people missed out on. Moreover I liked how they handled the ELS. See for the longest time Sci-Fi has always handled First Contact type stories to be between Humanity and an Alien species which were for the most part similar to humans (verbal communication, bipedal, technologically advanced...etc).

The ELS took the Alien concept to the extreme. A race of sentient metallic creatures who could only communicate through the use of a certain Quantum Brainwave pattern, which is why they were drawn to Innovators/Innovades/Super-Soldiers who emitted these Brainwaves.

Plus the movie had some more touching death scenes. Smirnov dying to uphold his parents legacy was a tear-jerker for me. And Graham Aker's famous "This is not death! This is a sacrifice for Humanity to live on!" last words were perhaps the greatest of any Gundam-Rival ever.

It pissed of a lot of Gundam fans expecting Robot-on-Robot epic action. But as a Sci-Fi movie, I think it did pretty OK, especially the scenes where you see a flashback to Aeolia talking about how if Humanity could not learn to communicate openly and cordially with one another, it would not be able to take its proper place in the stars.

Again, it wasn't for everyone. I liked the movie though it was a radical as hell change from the regular Gundam traditions. But I guess I felt it was in keeping with the tone of the series. I guess it felt like an old Trek movie with Gundams in it.

http://www.amiami.com/top/detail/rev...%24pagecnt%3D1
http://i.imgur.com/eqj9wPf.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/wgc542I.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/juLiP72.jpg

I'm a big UC fan but sometimes I like when Gundam does something different. Season 1 of 00 shared a lot with Gundam Wing but they just dropped a lot of the good things they had developed when season 2 came around. I don't mind them putting in more classic Gundam themes but not at the cost of what was already established. It just became a mess.

Having aliens in the movie wouldn't have been a problem except that none of really fit and they just didn't grab my interest. The movie did still have a couple of good moments finishing character development. There is a reason that most sci-fi goes with bipedal aliens who have similar features to our own. Most evolutionary theories say that if we do end up meeting intelligent life it will most likely look a lot like us. To survive in nature some things just work best.

So Fix Figuration Barzam. Is there even one person who cares?

http://blog.yahoo.com/_ED274AZGFINLE.../1280448/index

For something that was originally supposed to be the mass production model of the Gundam Mark 2, it's ugly as hell. Can't believe it's getting this treatment. Next thing you know it's Metal Build Lotos! :lol