Started binge watching 00 for the first time today. Why are

Because the original plane was specifically for that technology gap to exist. The pilots themselves wouldn't matter so much, so long as they're "bitchin crazy" to go along with CB's plans.

They do get better, of course.

>>13487814
They've never actually fought on that scale before. Look at the other pilots in the show, they're all squadroned up soldiers with the only real pilots of note being bushido, ali, and that fuccboi char clone ribbons.

>>13487814
How do they seem incompetent? There's a possibility they were chosen based on other factors than piloting, like >>13487823 said maybe its just based on how loyal they are to Veda's plan. Either way their early plans don't typically rely on sheer piloting ability, that's foolish. They rely on the technological gap, and in some instances teamwork.

>>13487814
All of the Meisters are horribly incompetent pilots if the dialogue regarding the machine specs is at all to be believed. The Virtue was >6x the thrust of a taozi spacetype as given to us in the episodes where the bear of russia nearly captures two of the suits early on. Now I may not be an expert, but a giant robot over six times as good is better than six of the weaker robots.

>>13487876
>6x the thrust of a taozi spacetype
>over six times as good
That's kind of a jump in logic, more thrust doesn't necessarily mean better performance overall.

>>13487814
It gets way worse when they get their late series power up. It's all they rely on.

>>13487892
>A fully loaded Virtue is being restrained in space by 6 Taozi's
>The Virtue is able to simply fly away despite the six taozi's resisting it at max thrust
>Somehow the virtue isn't zipping around the battlefield with its immense thrust
It may not be an overall x6 to stats, but their armour and weapons are all far, far better and that's something we both know. The only thing left is speed.

>>13487814
>Technology made 2 centuries ago
>Is still 2 centuries ahead of its time when it first appears
>Whole World's armament of Mobile Suit vs 4 Mobile Suits
>At the beginning of Season 2 everyone gets a Mobile Suit upgrade

>Ali Al Fucking Sachez shows up in some Mobile Suit Tractor and outfights two of these Mobile Suits 1v2

Ali Al Sachez should've worn the mask.

>>13488292
I don't think you followed the story.

The Gundams aren't 200 years old, they are newly developed in secret by the organization the old guy set up 200 years ago. Setsuna and the gang upgrade later on because those new upgrades are fresh out of their factory at that time, too.

>>13487915
Soma also put some absurd trauma on Virtue's frame before that.

>>13487823
This.

The criteria of trained MS pilots willing to fucking terrorize the entire planet with 4 mobile suits and a barely armed ship does not exactly open up a wide pool of skilled candidates.

>>13487814

They were chosen for their values, not their skills. Did you miss the fucking memo? Everyone in cb and ptolemy was chosen based on their background. Everyone has something to gain from ending war and they aren't the kind of people who would betray cbs cause. If they just recruited the most skilled people, you would have people like ali who don't give a shit about eradicating war. Even with aeolia's plan, there are still issues.

>>13487814
>VEDA TAKE THE WHEEL

>>13488326

Plus at least one of them, Lockon I was actually a really good pilot and able to stand toe to toe with Ali, Graham or Sergei - even just by word of god, but within the show itself too from what I recall. And while Al might not have been great, Hal was (or was it the other way around), while Tieria was chosen more for his ability to interface with Veda than anything to do with piloting. He just happened to double as one. Really, Setsuna is the only exception and Tieria calls him out on that a few times as someone who was an anomaly.

File: aha!.gif (698KB, 320x240px) Image search: [Google]

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>>13490060

>>13490219
Hal was the violent alter ego.

>>13490219
>Setsuna is the only exception

He was handpicked by Ribbons since he orgasmed after first seeing GUNDAM.

>>13488292
Nigga should have been the end boss. Guy like that who loves war getting his hands on veda and taking over the a-laws as well?
Would have been the worst case scenario and been a really bad ending for everyone.
Actually hate how it became a lockon and lockon, the boring cunt edition villian and we were left with ribbons and his boring quasi newtype bullshit. Goddamnit the entire second season was just filled to the brim with awful gundam tropes that made it just suck ass.

>>13487814

They really were awful, weren't they? I don't recall them winning any fight without a massive tech advantage. As soon as the playing field is equalized, they get their shit pushed in.

>>13487814
> They just dont seem like competent pilots period. If you dropped them into pretty much any other gundam show, theyd be dead within an episode or two

Everything about 00 was shit. Especially the characters.

That was part of the point, anon. Because the original plan eventually involved their demise. Had Aeolia not changed his mind and kept Trans-Am hidden the plan would have continued as such.

>>13487814
Setsuna's an outlier, Ribbons hacked the system to put him there because muh god complex
Lockon's a brillant sniper but not that good in an actual fight (IIRC he didn't even want a saber on his mech but Ian put it there anyway), Lockon Mk II's more well-rounded
Allelujah's competent but only when he's going nuts
Tieria's there because muh Veda

>>13487814
If you think about it they were chosen mostly for their loyalty rather than their skills. It kinda plays into which gundams they use.

Tieria is one of Veda's own Innovedes. Above all the rest his loyalty to the Plan is absolute. As such, he's not only given the most destructive gundam but also the Trial system.

Lockon has firm motivations to see the Plan through. The loss of most of his family drives him to see the principles of the Plan through even if he has no personal attachment to the organization. Lockon, both of them, receive the second most destructive gundams.

Allelujah definitely wants to fight for CB but he's also crazy. His abilities as a supersoldier makes him valuable but his loyalty to the cause is probably the weakest. The Kyrios and Arios have less firepower than the other gundams besides Exia.

By any other metric, Setsuna shouldn't even be here. He's a child soldier with a laundry list of issues. He's anti-social and lacks any particular skills. However, Setsuna is a Fanatic. He will move heaven and earth to see the Plan through. As a result, he's given Exia. Exia is probably the least destructive Gundam. It's a close combat monster but at range it's more limited. What the Exia does have is solid GN Blades, the one weapon designed to pierce GN fields. In many ways this makes the Exia an anti-gundam gundam. Fitting for the most dedicated of the pilots.

>>13493102
>not that good in an actual fight
yet he holds his own in melee against Ali with only a single eye.
>>13493405
>In many ways
They literally spell it out in the show, senpai

The technology gap and the fact that good pilots were getting fucked purely because of it was one of the reasons that I couldn't really get into 00 for a long time.
There's just something really wrong about rooting for the magical terrorist assholes with their advanced machinery. Even if the three factions were led by a bunch of dicks.

Sure, the gundam has always been the most advanced machine on the field, at least until IBO. But it was never called attention to as much as here.

>>13493405
The only reason Setsuna is there is because Ribbons disrupted the plan and stuck him in there for shits and giggles, which is factually stated in the show by Ribbons himself. Setsuna being socially inept is neither a plus or minus for his contributions.

I think people are forgetting that for the most part all four Gundams were meant to work in tandem with each other, to cover for each suit's weaknesses incase their hit-and-run tactics failed. The fact that the Gundams were so overpowered was a happy coincidence.

>>13496585
That's another point people forget. Celestial Being IS the "villainous" faction. You're supposed to be torn that you're essentially rooting for the bad guys because they're pretty and troubled. Don't worry, the concept was lost on the Japanese fandom as well.

>>13496585
That was... kind of the point? You're not supposed to root for CB at the beginning. Not only are they the bullies, they're, individually, sorta all assholes. Tieria is unemotional, Setsuna is focused to the point of the exclusion of other people, Neil is more genial than Setsuna but otherwise similar, and Al is only nice because he's afraid of unleashing his homicidal alter ego. The rest of the crew is on edge, too. And everyone kind of hates each other for not living up to what they believe CB should stand for. The reason 00 is compelling as a narrative is because you see CB's members open up and come together even as their perfect plan and perfect machines fall apart around them - maybe even because of that.

>>13499265

It's definitely because of it. A big part of what changes Setsuna and Tieria is the fact that Lockon died, along with the loss of a connection to Veda in Tieria's case. It was happening even before that point, but it was happening because they were being challenged and having to band together to face that challenge.

>>13488292
>Technology made 2 centuries ago
It's more like one century. The theory is two centuries old.
http://gundam.wikia.com/wiki/Anno_Domini#Chronology

>>13499265
Don't forget that their opposition (that we follow) are unilaterally honourable and nice people fighting for global stability, and receive just as much screentime as their counterparts.

>>13490219
Al and Hal were both good, but both had very exploitable weaknesses in their fighting style. The few times they fight together, they're FUCKING INVINCIBLE - that applies to both seasons and the movies.

Setsuna wasn't really a good pilot early on, but he was still pretty good, and by the end of S1 you had him doing things like taking on and beating Alejandro Corner with Lasse, then taking on and beating Graham Aker by himself (before someone tries to say he didn't win, Graham was horribly scarred and had his MS destroyed, Setsuna got off perfectly fine and the Exia was still capable of fighting shit four years later on minimal repairs. He won.), or the time Exia Repair 1 beat a bunch of MSes that were technically more advanced.

>>13499265
The exception, of course, being when they took on people like Ali Al Saachez, who was unilaterally an asshole. (which makes it ironic that he's killed by the guy who's pathologically incapable of taking revenge on anything)