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Originally Posted by Demongod86
I have to disagree with all of those that say this is better than wing...IMO this is Wing toned down.
The character personalities aren't as strong, and when they are, they're killed off, as was the case with Lockon (unless confirmed otherwise) and Hallelujah (unless Allelujah gets stuck in a position that he has to summon him again)
The biggest discrepancy from Wing though was Alejandro. Treize had his own schemes, but face it--the guy was a class act and AFTER death, he has essentially found immortality through Mariemeia, Wufei, and Zechs (one of the two easily best pilots in the series and the post U.C (just so the fanboys won't be offended) gundam franchise barring perhaps Killer Tomato). In the meantime, Alejandro tried to be set up as that scheming politician but he just went completely evil and died a death befitting of a typical villain, rather than a dignified one like Treize or dare I even say Durandall (shit the guy died happily with his "family" around him).
Wing and SEED are both visibly better than G00 IMO, although we're judging G00 from the halfway point and it can get even more epic, but I have a feeling G00 will only be Exia 1.5 rather than something akin to Strike Freedom or Wing Gundam Zero.
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I think Wing's biggest "strength", its dominating characters and their personalities, also happens to be its greatest weakness. Wing is a notable Gundam series because the show examines the role of war, peace, and revolutions behind human history, and gives a viewpoint on what happens when personal or social ideals clashes with the realities of politics. That's similar to Gundam 00.
The problem with Wing is that, because its characters have such dominating presences, that we as the audience are forced to see the world through their eyes only. In other words, only the Gundam pilots (and along with Relena and Zechs) really matters in this world, but we don't get to see how the average soldier or the average civilian react to events. We also don't get to see how the destruction of the war affects the average person, because we see everything through the eyes of only a few important characters. It becomes a narrow viewpoint.
Wing also gives you the sense that only a few characters can change the world. Think about it: the Gundam pilots, Relena, Zechs, they pretty much all steer the world on their own. They are almost god-like in their abilities to just change the world. For example, Marina Ismail didn't change Azadistan by herself. In fact, even with Setsuna's help, we saw that she was unable to really guide her country from its civil war and its economic crisis. On the other hand, Marina's "counterpart" Relena Peacecraft singlehandedly rebuild her old home, the Sanc Kingdom, from its ashes. Again, not realistic.
On the other hand, 00 does a VERY nice job of showing the world events through the side characters' eyes. That's why we have characters like Saji or Louise or Billy or Howard; we see how the war affects them. It gives you a greater perspective on the world at large. And all these characters play a role in the story. Louise's death will likely affect Saji's future, and Saji knows Setsuna and may eventually come to know him as a Celestial Being.
Also, 00 gives you characters who you can relate to. Lockon Stratos may be a Gundam pilot, but you can understand his motivations because you know that his parents were killed by terrorists. And these terrorists, among whom one of them is Ali Al Sarches, allegedly used religion as their justification, since Setsuna was trained when he was a child to believe that what he did was "for God." Does that premise sound familiar? If you're from real-life Ireland or Iraq, I'm sure you know all about sectarian violence that comes out of religious intolerance.
And that's why Lockon feels like such a real character, because I can easily imagine meeting an Irish man on the streets whose past history is just like Lockon's. Only that man isn't a Gundam pilot.
IMO, 00 isn't a toned down version of Wing. In fact, it's the exact opposite. 00 is what Wing SHOULD have been. Where Wing examines world events like war and peace through characters with whom you CANNOT relate (because they are all superbeings), 00 actually gives you characters with whom you can emphasize.
SEED is a different animal altogether, but the focus of SEED is on character personalities and emotions rather than on ideals. Also, the fatal flaw of SEED is that it gets bogged down by the very fact that it focuses on "character relationships." There are times when I feel like I'm watching a soap opera. And of course, if you're going to talk SEED, then you have to talk about its immensely disappointing sequel SEED Destiny too.
Fly since ↔...
(unlike the GS Destiny 
). Another great thing was the character designs/introductions because I thought it was well done (considering how I saw the characters and what role they had).
(Crazy I know, but when talking Gundam this is cheese on a cracker)...Now I'm not saying Gundam 00 will try this or won't try it, but there is already a precedent for retconning technology in Gundam based on events that basically restart the world...Now both Turn A Gundam and Gundam X both specifically deal with world's that are in-effect forced to start over because of cataclysmic events...If Gundam 00 wanted to (not that they should) at some point blend the timeline there is relevance in Gundam lore to support it...
