Gilbert Durandal

>>15365380
He literally would have won if he didn't go ahead with the Destiny plan, and just ruled ZAFT as normal after they took out Requiem. At that point, he was the entire world's hero.

>>15365387
Kira and co. had resolved to oppose him BEFORE he even went public with the plan. He never could've won.

>tfw no GSD where Kira actually dies and Athrun becomes decisive and pilots a mash up of the Justice and Freedom to stop both a genocidal human front and a Durandal that goes complete Stalinist.

I'm a bit upset tbqh, but at least I have a new idea for a kitbash.

>>15365400
Yeah, but they literally were only justified in opposing him because he started pointing Requiem at everyone and threatening them to follow his Destiny plan. If he never went ahead with the plan, Kira would lose almost all justification and actually be a villain.

>>15365380

Very little wrong anyone can actually prove anyways

File: Joseph_McCarthy.jpg (577KB, 996x1191px) Image search: [Google]

577KB, 996x1191px

He was a pinko commie

>>15365400

Yeah but Kira never actually did anything of his own initiative in Destiny. He always either crashed battles other people started or otherwise reacted only. I think stealing the shuttle was the only time they made a move first.

He only started the final battle once he whipped out Requiem. If Durandal just said "ok peace achieved, war over, everybody do what you please" and leave Requiem destroyed then that would have been it. Kira would have sat there scratching his head waiting for a move that never came.

>>15365410
If I'm not mistaken, he never actually ordered the barrel he pointed at Orb. Orb had also declared their intent to oppose him militarily, and iirc were working on a most likely accurate assumption, but unlike Durandal, they didn't sue for diplomacy as a first option, and again, Durandal did NOT use civilians as targets.
While it's true he did zap the U.S. Pres, the Pres was an oath-breaking bastard, on a military installation, and announced intent of force
>>15365411
;^)

>>15365443

He did in fact order Requiem to Target Orb, and was about to fire right before Athrun and Neo blew it up.

So no, he was definitely gonna wipe them all out. You could argue Orb's leadership and military deserved it and Orb's civilians were a necessery sacrifice for peace, but he was definitely about to do it.

>>15365452
Ok, I had a sneaking suspicion I was wrong, but then again, >rewatching GSD.

Yeah, so for that argument, Durandal would've been Truman and then >>15365435 comes full circle.

>>15365380
>the way he handled Athrun's lack of commitment to "the cause" and the whole dubious nature of Meer.
I would contend these. He has Athrun placed under guard when he starts expressing sympathies for a known terrorist, which is perfectly understandable given that he's a soldier. The kill order only went out once he'd already broken out and for all purposes looked to have turned traitor.

And Meer makes perfect sense, he even gives a credible explanation of her to Atthrun, namely that for whatever reason people will listen to Lacus and only to Lacus when it comes to advocating peace, so (with the real Lacus nowhere to be found and doing nothing) he needed a body double to convince his people not to go off on another vengeful bloody genocidal rampage, since they weren't listening when he suggested it.

>He literally would have won
>At that point, he was the entire world's hero.
The bitter irony is that he'd actually already accomplished his impossible goal of getting naturals and coordinators on the same page at that point, he just didn't realise it before he went and fucked it all up.

>>15365452
>He did in fact order Requiem to Target Orb, and was about to fire right before Athrun and Neo blew it up.

Yeah after Orb was found guilty of harboring like a whole but fuck load of terrorists

>>15365635
>namely that for whatever reason people will listen to Lacus and only to Lacus when it comes to advocating peace


Which boggles my mind completely. I mean a lot of singer have advocated for peace and shit and that's fine that works for the story but they act like she's some long lost queen when at best she's the kid of a politician who herself has no real experience in the political world.

Relena was blood royalty or some shit right? That kind of shit makes sense but Lacus was just a bimbo spouting flowery gibberish

>>15365652
Maybe she had some Angel Halo-esque tech.

>>15365652
I know anon, I know it's dumb. Durandal knew too, actually, he admits to Athrun that it's completely silly. But the hell of it is that because SEED is poorly written trash he's absolutely right that it was the only approach that would work.

>>15365380
He was a great guy

>>15365669
I wish he was my dad.

>>15365671
>>15365669
Go away Shin. Be mad on the internet somewhere else

>>15365691
What the fuck did you just fucking say about me, you little traitor? I’ll have you know I graduated top of my class in ZAFT, and I’ve been involved in numerous secret raids on the Earth Alliance, and I have over 3 confirmed kills. I am trained in gorilla warfare and I’m the top sniper in the entire PLANT armed forces. You are nothing to me but just another target. I will wipe you the fuck out with precision the likes of which has never been seen before on your Earth, mark my fucking words. You think you can get away with saying that shit to me over the textcom? Think again, fucker. As we speak I am contacting my secret network of satellites in orbit and your coordintes are being traced right now so you better prepare for your Destiny, maggot. The Destiny that wipes out the pathetic little thing you call your life. You’re fucking dead, kid. I can be anywhere, anytime, and I can kill you in over seven hundred ways, and that’s just with my Anti-Ship Swords. Not only am I extensively trained in mobile suit combat, but I have access to the entire arsenal of the FAITH Special Forces and I will use it to its full extent to wipe your miserable ass off the face of the Earth Sphere, you little shit. If only you could have known what unholy retribution your little “clever” comment was about to bring down upon you, maybe you would have held your fucking tongue. But you couldn’t, you didn’t, and now you’re paying the price, you goddamn idiot. I will shit fury all over you and you will drown in it. You’re fucking dead, Kira.

>>15365706
The hell are you talking about? It's me, Ray. This is exactly why you need to get off the net. I know we all look alike and are clones, but you gotta let that go.

File: Shinn.Asuka.full.1613196.jpg (190KB, 554x1040px) Image search: [Google]

190KB, 554x1040px

>>15365706

god this pasta is great

>>15365706
>over 3 confirmed kills
Kek. What a loser.

>>15365706
>>15365782
I actually can't remember everyone he killed.
>ORB Navy commander
>That green haired druggie.
>His spot as protagonist

>>15365815
Some terrorists, a fuckton of Earth Alliance seamen, Kira.

>>15365815

>That green haired druggie.

Well, he also killed the blue haired druggie and an endless amount of EA grunts

>>15365815
He killed Sting and Auel.

>>15365647

While this is true, glassing the entire country, civilians and all (which is really all he'd accomplish since the only person of note in the country was Cagalli. Everyone else either died during the earlier battle or was in space) is kind of an overkill action, especially for someone who claimed to be a peaceful guy.

Didn't he sent that assassin squad to kill Lacus and that's why Kira came back?

File: c88540cb8f4687534f353a27e6c3fb65.jpg (26KB, 736x411px) Image search: [Google]

26KB, 736x411px

>>15365380

>Durandal and Rau were actually compelling characters, and their chess match in episode 29 "Fates" was the closest the show ever got to good writing.

Then this mother fucker shows up. If you removed Kira, would SEED/Destiny be infinitely better?

>>15366416

Honestly no. Not without extensive rewrites that you might as well just fix the parts with Kira then.

If Kira and his whole team just sat out of Destiny then Durandal would have just flawlessly killed his enemies and gotten the whole world to submit to him while every single plot point worked out for him perfectly. People would just be claiming Durandal and Shinn are the perfect invincible sues instead of Lacus and Kira.

It wouldn't make the show any better.

>>15366416
Actually, I think Kira's presence had he actually died would've a good thing in terms of allowing characters to develop. It sorta helped to radicalize ZAFT's crew.
If he had remained dead, knowing that Durandal had expressed early on he wanted Freedom dispatched (I think before Kira even starts piloting) because he considered it some sort of obstacle to his "designs", it would've maybe let him open up and really go full maniac.
It would've given Athrun more resolve and maybe he could've gone on some sorta peace crusade in Kira's stead, perhaps have that couples with the revelation that Durandal actually was the colony dropping fuck he was only implied to be.

Tee bee aitch, Athrun and Durandal's relationship was easily the best part of the show next to the Impulse and Freedom fight.

>>15366476
That said, GSD had a host of other problems, but the central plot was "acceptable" and I don't think Kira's absence would make up for the multitude of little mistakes.
Actually, now that I think about it, even before Kira gets back in the Freedom, the show already had some issues managing its ensemble, which was really the root of the biggest issues next to the absurd stock footage and inconsistent animation.

>>15366440

Well just because Kira is gone doesn't mean every other character does nothing.
How would other characters actually having development and challenge NOT make the show better? Maybe it would've actually had some stakes if Kira had just stayed dead and athrun was written as the avenger. Fuck, maybe Shinn could've actually been the protagonist?


>>15366476

Impulse vs. Freedom was good...until it didn't matter.

>>15366405
It was never outright said he did, but it pretty much was him.

>>15366492
>How would other characters actually having development and challenge NOT make the show better?

Kira was the only challenge they had. Shinn effortlessly walked over just about everyone when Kira wasn't there. I think the only time he ever seemed in danger was for a minute against the one MA, and then he instantly recovered and smashed it.

If Kira doesn't show up and nothing else changes then Shinn is just Kira who doesn't disable people, effortlessly crushing all who oppose Durandal with Stock Footage.

>>15366511
Different anon, but I think Athrun would've been able to play Kira's role very well as the face of the opposition to Shinn and Durandal's growing fanaticism.

Kira gets in the way, and is probably misguided, hell he gets people killed, so Athrun could've brought his perspective to become, Fukuda forgive me, a better Kira, while also skirting with his personal desire for revenge.

>>15365380
Best CHar

>>15368101
>CHar
Char wishes he was half as successful.

>>15369475

Tell me someone didn't actually write that and then receive a paycheck for doing so.

>>15369512

not the actual thing he says

>>15366694

Athrun whenever he's opposing Zaft is just Kira with a slight more willingness to kill random grunts he doesn't know.

He really wouldn't do anything different. How even could he do anything different? There's only really one way to oppose Durandal, and that's by attacking his forces.

He was a literal cuck

NOTchar (with a luxurious head of hair) did NOTHING wrong

>>15366440
You're forgetting that if the show didn't have to pander to the old characters, it would have to invent new ones.

>>15370670

They invented new characters for 20 episodes and none of them where ever really a problem for Shinn. The extendeds he pretty much got the hang of after his second encounter and easily held them off from that point forward. In 12 he easily took down an Mobile Armor and then a whole fleet by himself. In 16 he fought 30 Windam's and effortlessly killed all by the one that Neo was in. 18 he easily wrecked the fortress. Even the Destroy's he had no trouble with. Kira had more trouble with Stella's one that he did.

So no, creating more useless EA jokers wouldn't have made it any better, because from the start of Destiny EA sucked, well before Jesus came back.

If anything it seemed like he was tossed back in less to pander and more to provide a challenge for Shinn because EA had become such a joke since the end of Seed they couldn't get anything out of them.

>>15370704
How many of those characters are pilots? Or even enemies? I can think of 5 characters aligned with the EA, Neo, Stella, Auel, Sting and Djibirl. Seven if we're throwing in the names of the pilot of the Girty Lue and president of the EA that I don't care to look up again 4 of thos characters are the only named pilots around.

What you're not getting that if GSD was made with the intent of focusing on the new cast, they would have to invent much more new characters to oppose them, You know, something like Zeta Gundam?

>>15370880
>What you're not getting that if GSD was made with the intent of focusing on the new cast, they would have to invent much more new characters to oppose them,

Not with Fukuda and Morosawa in charge it wouldn't. Remember endgame Seed only had 3 named pilots on EA's side, and 1 on Zaft's side.

It wouldn't have improved. The old cast wasn't the problem. It was the people making it. They already had two battles of the week with scary MA's but piloted by faceless nobodies before Kira even showed up. Fukuda seemed to think that was the EA needed.

>>15370615
Athrun > Peacenik

Also, he had way more connection to the conflict and actually would've had a proper rival.

>>15374871
d-delet!

>>15374871
Gilbert should've filmed a sextape with Lacus(Meer) and released it instead.
Would've destroyed any credibility and hold she had on the populace.
Character assasination best assasination.

>>15377061
Fund it.

>>15377061
Meer was a huge waste of potential. She should have either been a clone of Lacus or so disillusioned that she actually believed she was Lacus.

>>15365647
The only ones you could really fault for Djibril/Logos being shelterd by Orb are the Seiran and there supporters who gave them sanctuary and Cagali who's hilariously incompotent politicing which let themm take power in the first place.

The rest were guilty however of just blindly following orders or displaying some seriously fucked up beliefs.

>Quick lets kamikaze the ship the leader we worship told us not to attack to show how much we belive in Orb.

Orb's blind worshiping of the Attha's was something truely insane.

>>15377147

To be fair that was one guy, who apparantly was under the belief that if they destroyed Minerva for EA they'd be satisfied enough with Orb's performance to not bug them for the rest of the war.

>>15377088
She WAS so disillusioned that she actually believed she was Lacus to at least some extent. She wasn't full-on crazy with it, but she was definitely in those early stages of starting to drink the kool-aid.

Killing her off was one of the biggest wastes of a subplot in the whole show. You could have gotten so much mileage out of her interacting with Lacus, assuming Lacus was a human being and not a perfect mary sue.

>>15379136

She knew she wasn't the real Lacus, she just wanted to remain Lacus and enjoyed that life better than her own nobody life (at least until the real Lacus emerged and Durandal shelfed her)

She had mental and self esteem issues but she'd never totally convinced herself she was the real one. In fact she pretty much doesn't actually know a thing about the real Lacus when it comes down to it.

>>15381607
dis