zala-taichou said:
Wing was the first series I watched. After that I saw all the others and preferred the newest ones because of the awesome battles. But in retrospect I thought that under that presentation they were a bit shallow. Gundam 00, G Gundam and Wing were the exception (not counting UC), but were G Gundam and Wing were consistent in what they wanted to present, 00 went steeply downhill and became very cliché in the second season. Where the first season had the dual morality of CB being the outlawed by a government system and the public as well, the second season just threw up the Innovators as the puppetmasters behind it all and took away the stage that was so carefully set up by the first season.
Gundam Wing had a similar premise of fighting a corrupt government to protect the public (the colonies in this case), but here the colonies eventually warmed up to the occupants and left the Gundams without a purpose and fighting a losing battle against a militaristic regime. Wing followed up with an interesting interplay (call it side-swapping, but it certainly wasn't without motivation) between different political factions (OZ, Treize, White Fang, Sanc Kingdom, The Colonies, the dying Alliance, the Gundams themselves) and underlying arcs about the duality of the Zero System and the rivalry between Treize, Zechs and Heero.
The classic Gundam storyline is a coming of age story with some revenge plotlines running through it. Wing had that plus some decent political intrigue (Treize, you magnificent bastard). Yes, the Wing boys were assholes, but I could understand why within the plot. I preferred gloomy Heero and Trowa over Shinn screaming 'Mayu!' into a cellphone and Saji being emo. Ah, to each his own.
I think Wing is people's favorite because it was the first one for a lot of them. It was my first and I goddamn loved it, but I just can't go back; it's almost painful to watch.
How is the multiple factions in Wing anything BUT shallow? The political interplay is really childish, particularly when one of the primary factions just goes PEACE PEACE PEACE (and the ending of Endless Waltz is "and nobody fought wars ever again"? Give me a break!). Wing just felt like it kept pulling factions out of a hat without any rhyme or reason, and the White Fang is really the most egregious example of the bunch. Oh, we didn't have a really good final boss faction, so here, have one, and it'll be led by some douchebag you've never heard of (and Zechs!)
In contrast, SEED and 00 pretty much present you all the factions right off of the bat, except for the ones that end up getting founded during the story (TSA/Terminal in SEED, for instance). SEED had the standard earth vs space war, but then it turned out that BOTH sides were genocidal bastards, which was interesting. 00 had the three blocs, and then in second season A-LAWS and the Innovators and Katharon - we knew all about them from the beginning, but it was interesting seeing how they interacted instead of just having, say, Ali found another faction at the very end.
And I'm sorry, but I can't ever say that ANYTHING is interesting when it involves Heero
Treize and Zechs I will give you, because Treize and OZ were to me the only remotely interesting characters on the show. Treize was awesome, Zechs was okay, Noin and Une were great, everyone else was cardboard.
In contrast, SEED has interesting setups with Athrun and Kira, which was a much more interesting relationship to me than anything Kira ever had, and Mwu and Rau. 00 had some great ones too like Setsuna and Ali, and... well, most of the inter-CB stuff was really interesting. You say that Shinn just cried over Mayu a lot (and he did) and that Saji was a wimp (he was), but Shinn had his moments like the assault on the Lohengrin gate and where he beat Kira by fighting
smart, and Saji totally matured by the end of 00 - honestly, his development might have been the best in the series.
Personally, I got very annoyed with the flashy beam spamming SEED and 00 battles where every other MS seemed to carry a BFG. I liked the simplicity and purposefulness of the Wing Gundams. They weren't practical or, depending on your taste, aesthetically pleasing, but perfectly reflected their users and their purpose within the story. I liked that.
Wait, what? Really? If we're talking about the Gundams themselves, you have it backwards - only two of them have any immediately obvious role: Heavyarms shoots stuff, and Epyon is a melee beast. The others? Uh, Deathscythe goes invisible, and Wing has a big gun, and Sandrock and Altron... do... stuff...? They don't have defined roles at all, the only thing that seems to matter is what their guns/melee weapons look like.
Compare that to 00? 00/Exia is a melee monster, Dynames/Cherudim is designed for range, Virtue/Seravee are huge tanks with huge guns, and Kyrios/Arios are quick, nimble interceptors. They all have clearly defined roles and their designs match.
Even in SEED: Buster is a gunner, Aegis is a close range fighter, Strike is variable, Blitz cloaks. The Gundams in SEED and 00 have waaaaaay more defined purpose than the ones in Wing do.
