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From a practical standpoint, the Gundams in 00 actually make sense.
When building a superweapon, layering it with one backup after another seems as a more likely plan than popping out a new Gundam mid-season. As the viewers, because we are not privy to all the design details of the Gundams, we see Trans-Am as an upgrade. From the Celestial Being viewpoint, however, the GN Swords, Full Shield, etc. are pre-planned equipment; the Trans-Am is a built-in failsafe. If the GN Drive is all the technology that can be developed a century ahead, then a Gundam cannot be considered much of a superior suit at all.
The GN Drives are also obviously expensive, not to mention the Gundams themselves. Bandai's objective has always been to trash Gundams in the anime so they can put more model kits out, but trashing Gundams (*cough* pushing self-destruct) is resource-consuming, time-consuming, and logically not a good choice at all. If the suit falls into enemy hands, having a very good security system in the first place is a better idea than obliterating the suit. Thus the biometrics + retina scan + voice activation process of recognition in 00; the problem lies only within how the operation and security systems are all entrusted to Veda.
Perhaps what bugs viewers is how the Meisters are relying constantly on superior technology to obtain victory. However, take into account the experience the pilots are gaining while the ace pilots catch up in technology; Setsuna holds out longer each time he faces Ali (excepting the exhaustion of 15, of course), and this time he is even up against the mercenary as the man pilots a Gundam. Also, relations improving between the Meisters will most likely make way for better teamwork and increased capability of individual action (a la episode 19, formation S32). Looking back to the beginning, when they lacked experience, teamwork, and followed orders to the dot, the state the Meisters are in now is an evolution.
You can still ooze like a puddle of goo at the feet of gods like Graham Aker. Lone stars shine brilliantly, but I think four stars in constellation are just as wonderful.
Earlier this week I was assigned a short story to read that began in the most cliché manner possible; that method of presentation almost ruined my objectivity on the story. Worse yet, the whole story was littered with plotholes and clichés and the people did not seem to act logically. But the themes presented were still poignant and thought-provoking, and some people in the class felt the ideas from the story were deep.
That's the problem with how many viewers are watching Gundam; their eyes are glued to the scenes for plotholes, and consequently they fail to see the actual themes and symbols, lose their objectivity, and complain about the story and characters when they haven't 'read' either properly. Yes, presentation is important—but how can a person pick so terribly at the slightest detail in one series and act ignorant in another?
We all have the ability to suspend disbelief. We all also have the ability to watch indiscriminately and for the sake of entertainment and not argument. Or is it impossible for the next three episodes?
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Fly since ↔...
, Bounceback Beam Coating, and Mirage Colloid invisibility during fighting, then I MIGHT agree with you...
