[IkuzeMinna]

Originally Posted by SkullFaerie

It's pretty disturbing, actually. Both of them need to go see someone. At least Heero doesn't call himself creepy names yet.

He doesn't need to, others are doing it for him already. Seriously, "Princess Aurora"? I bet Zechs is behind it.

Originally Posted by Mareike

I remember something about Heero's motto of living life in accordance with his feelings. I think that's why he is able show bits and pieces of affection towards Relena. He may not show it much, but at least he is able to act on them every once in a while. :3 As for Zechs... *kicks Zechs in the head* In Noin's own words, he's got too many secrets and he needs to open up. I think he's the type to show his care in VERY discrete ways. Or at least in thought. That's a really striking difference between those two ace pilots - Heero and Zechs. They've experienced all these tragedies in their lives but they handled their losses differently.

It gets better. Noin and Zechs have been around each other for presumably more than 10 years, which means they ought to know each other by heart, yet the most "romantic" scene those two have in the series was that weird sword tapping in episode 4. Or perhaps Zechs not killing Noin when she guarded Peacemillion.
Heero and Relena on the other hand have known each other for hardly a year, yet half their time they spend saying each other's name or rescuing each other. Or leaving birthday gifts on shuttles.
As far as showing affection goes, Heero is leagues ahead of Zechs, which isn't really difficult but anyway. But maybe it's just Relena? After all, she was hugged by Zechs, whereas Noin was only helped out of her MS by him.

Originally Posted by SkullFaerie

In recent years, how many females had piloting abilities equal to or superior to the guys and weren't just piloting for eye-candy reasons while actually being mainly complementary to the guys or fulfilling other roles?
Arguably none in Wing, unless you count Noin.

Are you serious? Une handed Wu Fei's butt to him in a crappy Leo (at first), Sally and Noin wrecked havoc on OZ in only two Pisces (or was it Cancer?) suits and Dorothy almost killed four Gundam Pilots with only Mobile Dolls. Even Hilde, a greenhorn in MS battle, managed to fend off MDs in a crappy Space Leo to allow Duo to infiltrate the Lunar base.
It's just that the women in Wing never got their hands on Tallgeeses or Gundams. But the fact that they were still able to keep up with the guys in grunt suits definitely bears testimony to their strength and skill. And let's not forget that the Gundam pilots are highly trained professionals.

Actually, we can make a comparison... Mei Lan and Zechs piloting the Tallgeese; the former managed to fight an entire battle before getting killed because she took a direct hit for her hubby, unlike the latter who was lucky to just get out of the fight without kicking the bucket. Okay, one can argue if that makes her more skilled but fact is, she lasted far longer than anyone else piloting that thing. And everyone else was male, older and a trained soldier. So yeah.

Originally Posted by SkullFaerie

Obviously badass doesn't need you in a pilot suit. What I don't particularly appreciate about Gundam in general is that female pilots are almost never on-par with their male counterparts in terms of ability AND suit- and usually it's not really relevant in the end that they are pilots, as the important fights are between guys.
Which is pretty misogynistic imo. Obviously it's a shounen- series, but somehow girl's skills are mostly presented as inferior, while they have other roles instead (which are equally or even more important though). And this irks me a little every time.

First of all, let's not confuse misogyny with sexism, please. The women in Gundam aren't hated, they just don't get the same treatment as the guys in terms of skill, importance or suits. Or lack of fanservice. >_>

Second, why don't you just say "Lunamaria" and be done with it?
A ZAFT redcoat, which supposedly means she belongs to the elite, who can't even hit the dang target practice let alone an escaping shuttle and deems it necessary to walk around in skimping miniskirts. And when everyone gets shiny, new Gundams, who's the odd one out? Of course her. All she got were Shinn's leftovers.

At least in Wing the women had other roles they had to fulfill. The only one of them who was an experienced MS pilot was Noin and I'll eat my shoe if she isn't considered on par with the guys. If you can fight 250 enemies in an outdated, space MS while the others prance around in Gundams, you rule.

Still, I agree. I'd like to see a woman among the main pilots sometime. Too much testosterone is getting boring.