#last Gundam ship I loved this much was Athrun/Cagalli

[carnelianwings]

Finished Mobile Suit Gundam: the Witch from Mercury and oh my god that series finale. One of the best I’ve seen in a while, probably the only one where I feel satisfied by the ending for the main ship.

(Spoilers behind the cut, plus some rambling as a casual Gundam fan - mostly of Wing/SEED/00 for comparison)

First off - explicit confirmation that SuleMio got married during the time skip? Can’t believe Bamco really said “Finale airs close enough to the end of June, let’s not only have both of them survive, but we’ll have them get married.”

I know there’s some people who think it wasn’t overt enough but if you ask me, this is the sort of ending Gundam does for their main ships. Like yeah Kira/Flay got pretty explicit but she wasn’t the End Game girl for him, that was Lacus and Kira/Lacus is super chaste in comparison (and we’re not going to get into the potential Unfortunate Implications of that here). But even then, in the SEED Destiny remaster finale all we get is a Big Damn Hug for them. The most we ever got for Heero/Relena was the moment where Heero tells her he’ll take out the leaders of both the Earth and Space Colony factions to lay the world at Relena’s feet for her to lead into a new era of peace. (There’s a reason the BL ships are way more popular in Wing fic than the canonical one! 😂) And as for 00’s Setsuna? He merged with an alien consciousness and essentially gets Put On A Bus for 50 years and reunites with his Princess when she’s 81 and blind.

Which brings me to my next point - because the lead writer for G Witch worked on Valvrave (trigger warning for sexual assault if you want to watch Valvrave - it was a late night anime and it showed), I was worried they’d either kill off Miorine in the series finale or put Suletta in a coma (highly possible with how Gundam technology works in universe, plus all the warning signs around Calibarn) to keep things “nebulous” between them and give the writers an out for not having a F/F ship final couple. And it’s not like Gundam doesn’t have precedent for that either - see the Zeta Gundam finale and what happened with Kamille (not sure if that ending got changed with the movies).

But no, we get an “and they lived happily ever after, making their dreams a reality one step at a time” for both girls. I couldn’t believe my ears when Eri referred to herself as Miorine’s sister in law. I started crying when I saw the rings, not just because that was Suletta’s dream, but also the fact that it meant they got married, and that they’ve just been put on a level above most other (Straight) canonical Gundam ships. (Seriously I can’t name another canonical Gundam ship where the characters met, dated, and got married in the course of their own series.) It also meant all the times Miorine reached out to Prospera by saying they’ll be family wasn’t just lip service but had some very real weight behind it. That the Ship Tease moments were meant to be real romantic relationship development beyond the sort of “fake engagement” set up they had in the beginning. And somehow just by doing that it also means they had a much stronger and better fleshed out relationship than what I’m used to for on screen main Gundam ships.

So there you have it. My (not so) hot take on the G Witch finale.

Final rating: 🌈/10, thank you for not Fridging/Coma-ing either Suletta nor Miorine, would watch again, would definitely buy and play their Super Robot Taisen debut game (assuming I have a platform to play it on). Second season could’ve been better with an extra ep in there especially with all the rapid fire politics and side switching, but at the same time I feel like it might’ve slowed things down a bit much so I’m happy with what we got. Also, Super Robot Taisen debut when, Bamco?

[psychewritesbs]

When Opposites Attract, part 2: Turning Point

Listen. Gundam Seed, Athrun and I are all having turning points. 

For Athrun, he finally gets some character development. 

As for me and Seed? Well we’re making peace with each other because I must admit that I like melodrama. I am soooo not above melodrama. So I am going to go ahead and stfu about Gundam Seed’s melodramatic plot because... 

Here I am... because #blorbo. 

It is, after all, a known fact that I have a tendency to self-insert my own psyche into male deuteragonists with black hair and green eyes. It’s like my brand.

This time I’m nitpicking at GS episodes 26-30 for juicy asucaga and individual character development. I am officially insufferable...

So the last time we saw Athrun and Cagalli together in a scene they were parting ways in much different terms than when they first met each other. Having humanized each other after exchanging names, Athrun and Cagalli parted ways most likely assuming their Gundanium Alloy chance encounter was a once in a lifetime kind of encounter.

Meaning, they likely thought they’d never run into each other.

Oh but little did Athrun and Cagalli know that the 8 writers in the Gundam Seed writing staff had #plans for them and that they would bend the plot as needed to unfold their potential as the fantastic ship that they are.

Athrun

And so it is how In chapter 26 we get the very melodramatic exchange between Athrun and Kira meant to remind us that these two kids are really good friends. And, you know, this all happens just before they try to kill each other.

So in this little exchange we get to finally see the internal conflict that Athrun is having around this whole situationship with Kira. 

Part of the reason this conflict exists is because Athrun is not just a soldier, but is also incredibly and stupidly single-minded. 

Basically, Athrun is told by his superiors that “enemy = bad, must kill”, and Athrun goes “understood, enemy = bad, must kill.”. No questions asked.

But again, that’s one of the things I like about how Athrun is written. 

This kid has an ease with “logic” and mechanics that does not necessarily translate into the realm of “irrational emotions”. This is ESPECIALLY poignant because, since he’s been a soldier most of his life, he’s used to being told what to do and to blindly following those directions.

The thing to keep in mind is that it’s not just that the military suits Athrun’s personality. It’s a bit more complex than that as he’s also following in the steps of a distant father figure whose approval he might seek unconsciously. 

So in a sense, the military = dad and it makes me feel like there’s something very Oedipal at the core of Athrun having to defy his father.

Athrun has been told he MUST kill the Strike’s pilot if he wants to protect the PLANTs. 

But at this point in the story, Athrun has not begun to think for himself or to wonder whether blindly following directions is the smartest thing to do.

So when Cagalli approaches him and Kira in that scene, Athrun literally and symbolically turns his back on his heart and walks away from them. He leaves Kira behind because not only does he see the world in neat boxes where everything can be easily explained, the logical course of action is that Kira has chosen the wrong side of the war and that makes him an enemy by default.

Enemy = bad, must kill.

Any other narrative outside of this statement is uncharted territory that Athrun has been encouraged never to consider by the mere fact that he’s a soldier.

Now, I did love how dramatic this interaction is for asucaga. As soon as Athrun notices Cagalli is headed their way, he turns around so as to not be seen. After all, she had expressed to him already that she didn’t want him to hurt others with his Gundam... which is totally what he ends up doing.

So he walks away totally emotionally constipated torn between his heart (which he can’t comprehend because it’s illogical) and the blind obedience that is and/or has become part of his character.

Athrun has the kind of cold logic devoid of “conscience” that can be very dangerous. But as Athrun opens up emotionally and starts questioning both his logic and the authorities he was taught to obey, Athrun symbolically introduces the idea of the heart as “Conscience”. 

But alas, we have not had enough character development for that because most of the budget was spent animating boob jiggle in the openings, smexy shower scenes, and Kira crying. 

No mam/sir/whatever label you prefer. We’re halftheway through the show and Athrun has had about as much character development as a goldfish. No offense to goldfish.

So before Athrun can get to that turning point, well... in a fit of rage after witnessing Kira killing Nicol... Athrun does THE #thing...

Enemy = bad, must kill. 

And this is where we leave things off with Athrun before he meets up with Cagalli, who is going through some actual character development, once again.

So let’s look at Cagalli’s growth and where she meets Athrun in the middle as she becomes his impetus for development.

Cagalli

A number of things.

First, I have to add a very important quality about Cagalli I did not mention before. Even though I love calling her a Princess (because she is a literal Princess and behaves like one), the fact that Cagalli chose to go out and learn about the world beyond the safe confines of her lifestyle is so metaphorically Siddhartha.

Siddhartha is a Prince who is better known as Buddha for renouncing to the worldly riches available to him so that he could learn about the world and seek enlightenment. 

Not saying Cagalli is enlightened per se, but rather that she represents that budding light of consciousness that comes from expanding one’s horizons.

And I absolutely loved how when her father told her “you don’t know anything about the world,” and Cagalli basically said “watch me!” and put herself in circumstances that grew her as a person.

In episode 27, Turning Point, in an attempt to dissuade her from joining the Archangel as they battle ZAFT forces, this time her father challenges her to try to think of the causes of war instead of focusing on the symptom--fighting.

Clearly her dad’s words encouraged the kind of introspection that led to choosing not to join the Archangel like she initially intended to. But this wouldn’t have been possible if she had not been changed by what she’s seen. 

Is fighting going to get anyone anywhere when all that comes from it is an endless cycle of hatred and death, thus feeding into the cycle of senseless conflict?

When she finally understands this, she decides to stay behind. The Goddess of Victory is grounded until further notice because the writers needed Cagalli to be the one who rescues Athrun she has to think through how to end this war without fighting.

This is how thanks to that thick ass plot armor, Athrun and Cagalli have their second “fated” encounter.

The thing is that now that Athrun has done the #thing, he is finally ready to start to ask himself what he wants to fight for (as opposed to someone telling him who and why to fight) precisely because he came to realize that his logic led him astray--and the one who shows him the new way is Cagalli.

“Kira was a crybaby”

Cagalli rescues Athrun and brings him abroad her Orb ship where, unlike Dearka abroad the Archangel, he is treated with utmost respect as Cagalli’s guest.

Something that even Athrun snarks about remarks.

Honestly, this interaction was a pain to get through because it’s so over the top melodramatic... But HEY! The power of #blorbo and #otp compelled me so I march on.

Anyways...

Athrun is emotionally distraught--he’s like on “crazy person distraught by grief” mode. 

It’s kind of interesting to see the difference in how Athrun and Kira react differently to their trauma. Kira cries and Athrun represses.

As @ikuzeminna​ rather eloquently put it, Athrun is emotionally constipated af and acts accordingly.

So Athrun gets all Snarky McSnark and taunts Cagalli because he probably expects that she’ll liberate him from his misery through death. After all, don’t we all just kill people out of hatred?

NO ATHRUN, NO! 

Someone, please! Give this boy some character development.

Ok but in all seriousness, this IS Athrun’s turning point. This is the moment when all of what he thought was true about the world starts to crumble under the weight of a decision he made that he wished he had not made. This is the conflict at the crux of his sense of self also idk if I used this last sentence properly, it just sounded cool.

And my favorite part about all of this was Cagalli almost beating the crap out of him for the lame ass answer he gave about his reasoning for killing Kira: 

Enemy = bad, must kill.

And that’s one of the themes I love about asucaga--they push and challenge each other to be better. 

In other words, Athrun’s realism grounds Cagalli’s idealism the way Cagalli’s idealism inspires Athrun’s realism.

It is then that, after telling Athrun to quit being a dumb crybaby for not stopping to think for himself, Athrun and Cagalli find common ground again in the most unlikely of places: the mutual agreement that Kira cries way too much.

And so it is that by the time they go their separate ways once again, Athrun and Cagalli have changed each other. 

For Athrun who just killed his “bestest of friends”, this is the moment when he has to face his past choices. In their brief time together, Cagalli showed him how one can make the difficult choice not to take revenge out of hatred and instead love one’s “enemy”. She opened up Athrun’s mind to look beyond its logic.

For Cagalli, this interaction served the purpose of showing her exactly what her dad was trying to teach her--look for the causes of war. This lets her know that if she wants to end the war, then she needs to go after that senseless hatred.

So it is that as they say their goodbyes...

All he can think to say is “you’re weird” and sort of thanks her... this is what romance is made of guys! I swear does he not have social skills or something? What is wrong with him?!

And Cagalli is like “thanks dude, I’ll take that as a compliment? I guess...” and gives him that necklace because we need an object that he can use to pine over her. 

Win for the writers and their thick ass plot armor.

Woo hoo! I am finally able to move on to the next episodes... I am almost to the kiss scene. Almost there!

Thanks for reading my shitpost! Over analyzing Gundam Seed is lots of fun precisely because the writing is hit or miss. 

[dearkaelsman]

Because I’m currently unemployed and my province is in recession wooo

GET TO KNOW THE BLOGGER.

Can be used for RP and non-RP blogs to get to know a bit about the person behind the screen!

1. FIRST NAME: Ashli

2. STRANGE FACT ABOUT YOURSELF: I can say the alphabet faster backwards than forwards. I am also a proud BlackBerry user in 2020.

3. TOP THREE PHYSICAL THINGS YOU FIND ATTRACTIVE ON A PERSON: Eyes and smile are the first things I notice. After that I feel like it’s different things I find attractive on a person or reflective on personality.

4. A FOOD YOU COULD EAT FOREVER AND NOT GET BORED OF: Hungarian-style cabbage rolls. Beef belongs in them, not pork.

5. A FOOD YOU HATE: Meat pies of any sort (they’re too rich for my palette to handle and literally make me feel sick).

6. GUILTY PLEASURE: I don’t believe in feeling guilty about things I enjoy if they’re not hurting anyone. 

7. WHAT DO YOU SLEEP IN: In the winter I go full-on fleece PJ’s because I’m Albertan and it gets down to -40*C here. In the summer, a t-shirt or tank top and Lululemon pants/shorts.

8. SERIOUS RELATIONSHIPS OR FLINGS: Serious relationships because I lack self esteem.

9. IF YOU COULD GO BACK IN THE PAST AND CHANGE ONE THING ABOUT YOUR LIFE, WOULD YOU AND WHAT WOULD IT BE: Generally speaking I believe everything happens for a reason, however, as a recently unemployed journalist, I do wish I had paid more attention to job openings while working at my last newspaper that was shut down in January. I genuinely loved what I was doing, where I was working ( the pay was practically minimum wage but it was a job), so I didn’t pay attention to them before, and now I’m literally living in one of the worst areas of my country to find a job, and unable to afford moving to where there’s work.

10. ARE YOU AN AFFECTIONATE PERSON: If I’m comfortable with the person, yes.

11. A MOVIE YOU COULD WATCH OVER AND OVER AGAIN: The Star Wars prequels.

12. FAVOURITE BOOK: I read a lot so it’s impossible for me to narrow down to one book. The Harry Potter series (specifically Prisoner of Azkaban) will probably be amongst my favourites, especially given it was the first book series that made me love reading. Beastly by Alex Flinn is one of my go-to rereads when I’m looking for something romantic because I really enjoy the way the book is written, and as a girl that often ends up RPing guys, it’s nice to have that “male” type perspective on a romantic relationship. The Immortals Series by Tamora Pierce is also a long-standing favourite. 

13. YOU HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO KEEP ANY ANIMAL AS A PET, WHAT DO YOU CHOOSE: Cats. I could so easily by a “crazy cat lady,” but I just have two at the moment.

14. TOP FIVE FICTIONAL SHIPS [IF YOU ARE AN RP BLOG, YOU CAN USE YOUR OWN SHIPS AS WELL]: Dearka x Miriallia (Gundam SEED, obvs.), Anakin x Padme (Star Wars), Trunks x Pan (DBZ), Mitsuhide x Kiki (Snow White with the Red Hair), Sakura x Syaoran (Cardcaptors)

15. PIE OR CAKE: Cake. I’m super picky with pie.

16. FAVOURITE SCENT: The smell in the air after it’s rained in the summer, OR what my sister and I like to call “warm sunny kitty,” which is how the kitties smell after they’ve been sleeping in a sunbeam all afternoon.

17. CELEBRITY CRUSH: I don’t really crush on celebrities as much as I’ll find a character attractive in a show or movie that I’m watching. I recently binged “Spinning Out” on Netflix which unfortunately got cancelled after the first season, and I really liked Justin Davis, played by Evan Roderick, so I guess he might count as my current celeb crush?

18. IF YOU COULD TRAVEL ANYWHERE, WHERE WOULD YOU GO: Right now  I’m very much in Star Wars obsession mode so I’d like to go to Disney World to check out Galaxy’s Edge. Eventually I want to see the life-size Gundam in Japan and visit Cat Island, and visit Greece and Italy.

19. INTROVERT OR EXTROVERT: 100 per cent an introvert.

20. DO YOU SCARE EASILY: Probably.

21. IPHONE OR ANDROID: Android. Apples rot.

22. DO YOU PLAY ANY VIDEO GAMES: Yeah, I’m slowly catching up on games while I’m unemployed. Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order is a recent favourite, but I’m super excited about the remaster of FFVII coming out.

23. DREAM JOB:  I don’t like limiting myself which is why I like being a journalist/photojournalist where I get to experience and do a number of different things. That said, if I could do nothing but shoot events for a newspaper - and sadly newspapers don’t employ straight photographers anymore - that would be ideal. Potentially I wouldn’t mind delving into the political realm with behind the scenes stuff, or combine my love for nerdy things with writing/photography and somehow get paid for it. And paid more than just above minimum wage LOL.

24. WHAT WOULD YOU DO WITH A MILLION DOLLARS: Buy my dream camera, the Canon ID X, repair the gear I have that needs to go in. I’d look into opening up a viable independent local newspaper for central Alberta that isn’t tied down to a corporate, American-based chain or operating as a political propaganda machine, and once I have some job security, move into a place of my own.

25. FICTIONAL CHARACTER YOU HATE: Athrun Zala. He’s very much a self-righteous character that believes he’s the only one that really knows what’s going on, and the only one who NEEDS to know what’s going on. Much of the friction he created within the Le Creuset Team was as a result of him not letting his teammates know that Kira was a friend and Coordinator piloting the Strike. I believe they would’ve approached battles differently if they had known, and it would’ve eliminated the doubts of Athrun’s leadership when they were searching for the Archangel on Orb, and honestly may have saved Nicol’s life in the end. If he wasn’t so self-righteous, he also wouldn’t have played into Durandal’s hand in Destiny, trust Kira and even Lacus to be on the right side of things, and perhaps even prevented that whole Cagalli-Yuuna situation. He might even actually let one of the many women fawning over him (he honestly doesn’t seem interested in ANY OF THEM, Cagalli included), and let Dearka and Yzak know what was going on in Destiny when they were left in the dark about Durandal’s master plan, and what role the Archangel and Athrun were playing in the war.

I guess what bothers me, too - and it could just be the Dearka in me talking - but he gets preferential treatment a lot. As far as I know, the story is Dearka was demoted for his defection from ZAFT, while Athrun, who defected AFTER Dearka and didn’t even have the balls to return right after the war returned in Destiny and was given back his red coat and a FAITH badge as if he’d never done anything wrong in ZAFT’s eyes....only to pull the same shit again.

Honestly, the man has no direction in life, and is somehow lauded as a hero and exempted from any sort of repercussions of his actions.

26. FANDOM THAT YOU WERE ONCE A PART OF BUT AREN’T ANY LONGER: Voltron. Miriallia-mun and I were both into Voltron when it came out and even cosplayed Hunk and Keith together and it was the best. But as it goes with many fandoms, the show got hijacked by brutal shipping wars where one couldn’t just enjoy the show. The fandom then became really toxic, calling for the creators to be assaulted or worse at conventions, or insinuating they were homophobic because they didn’t make their slash pairing canon. I couldn’t have cared less about ships in the show, and the final season showed some catering to toxic fan pressure and had some poor plot points which honestly left me uninterested in watching the show after the final season.

tagged by: Stole it from @aegis-destiny

tagging : Anyone who wants to.

[the-stray-liger]

fandom asks: gundam seed, gundam wing, persona 5

*cracks knuckles* putting this under a readmore just in case!

Gundam SEED

favorite male character: Shinn! (yes I’m including Destiny I’m That Bitch)favorite female character: It’s a tie between Natarle, Lunamaria and Stellar!least favorite character: I’m gonna have to say Flay...prettiest character: Lunamaria!!!!! BICH!! SHE’S SO PRETTY!!!funniest character: There is no such thing as fun in Gundam Seed Waltfeld his fucking? flightsuit? has tiger stripes? BITCH WHATfavorite season: Destiny lmaofavorite episode: The last few eps of SEED, specifically the scene of Natarle’s death. I could not imagine a more heroic death and a most intense end to her story. It was such a climatic moment. I wish she’d lived? but this is a death I will forgive. favorite romantic ship: me/Natarle Athrun/Cagalli!favorite family ship: the Archangel,,, that’s a whole ass family and a fucking ship QvQfavorite friend ship: Natarle and Murrue’s. They had such a tense relationship but I think they considered each other friends and it’s preciousworst ship: Kira/Flay that was. oof. awful

Gundam Wing

favorite male character: That stupid blonde bitch. You know the one with the mask.favorite female character: LUCREZIA NOIN!!! MY FAVORITE LESBIAN!least favorite character: Ok honestly? HONESTLY? WUFEI.prettiest character: Relena!!! or maybe Sally?funniest character: H-Heero....favorite season: I don’t... have a favorite in particular...?favorite episode: Pretty much any episode where Relena goes ape and does something cool and stupid? but tbh the one where she tries to shoot lady Une at the party to avenge her dad. Relena Peacecraft went, snatched my wig and threw it into spacefavorite romantic ship: 3x4 (let’s be honest??? romance in Wing is TERRIBLE and these two were g a y)favorite family ship: the four stupid teens with hte giant robotsfavorite friend ship: Heero and Trowa’s bc it feels like they’re both serious and aloof but you can TELL they’d dare each other to drink from a toilet or somethingworst ship: Noin/Zechs why did I like this ship. I’ve done a couple of rewatches and. It makes no sense? It’s bad. But romance in Wing in general is b a d

Persona 5

favorite male character: Ryujiifavorite female character: HARU! HARU! HARU! HARU!J JSFHIAWPOEJFWAFELDKFASOHEJFPKSEF!!!!least favorite character: Akechiprettiest character: Tae!funniest character: Yusukefavorite season: I haven’t kept up with the anime and I don’t know if this counts but I do love to pieces Ryuji’s story and just thinking about it makes me cryfavorite episode: *points at Ryuji*favorite romantic ship: pego/Ryuji fight mefavorite family ship: Futaba and Sojiro and pego,,,,favorite friend ship: the girls’! I love how Ann, Makoto, Haru and Futaba are always there to validate and support each other. worst ship: Imma be that bitch but. Ann/pego. Ann big gay. Or Akechi/pego but that’s just me really disliking Akechi