T5W#250-Top 5 Things Id Do Differently With Gundam Wing

Mobile Suit Gundam Wing.  If it isn’t clear to anyone yet, this is one of my most favorite Anime of all time.  It introduced me to Gundam, got me to really stick with Anime and opened the door to one of the biggest and best times of my fandom in the early 2000s.  It’s been 20 years since Gundam Wing ushered in the Golden Age of Toonami.  Since then, I’ve had a lot of time to reflect and think on this title that changed my life.  I adore this show.  I love the characters, the mecha, the action, the story, it’s just a very special show to me.  It is not perfect.  I know this because I have seen far better Gundam shows since then and it’s made me think about Wings shortcomings.  Once the nostalgia goggles come off, there are a few things that could really make this show just…better.  I’m not crapping on a classic, if anything I offer these opinions because I love the show so dearly and happily shelled out a couple hundred dollars just to get the Special Edition Blu Ray box set cause I’m that kind of a fan.  So, to celebrate my 250^th Top 5 Wednesday, I’m sitting down to discuss the Top 5 Things Id Do Differently With Gundam Wing.  Agree, disagree or agree to disagree, I hope someone will find these “What if’s” a little interesting.  Onwards.

#5-Episode Zero

I’ve talked about this one enough, hence why it’s at the bottom of the list.  The Episode Zero manga is comprised of the various origin stories for all of the main characters and was meant to be included in the Gundam Wing Anime at the halfway mark.  However, behind the scenes drama caused these episodes to be scrapped in favor of two clip shows.  These stories contain vital insights and clues to the histories of Heero, Duo, Trowa, Quatre and Wufei that make them so much more layered and fascinating.  The cast is just fine in the Anime but with these backstories and histories accessible to everyone in Anime form, they could be remembered for more than just their Backstreet Boy good looks.  Also, there are little nuggets and nods to characters and events in Endless Waltz…which makes me think that OVA was always planned and these backstories could’ve better set things up for it.

#4-Give Heavyarms and Sandrock their redesigns

 

It isn’t uncommon for a Gundam to undergo a bit of a facelift during the series.  Either theyre heavily damaged or destroyed or simply outdated, it’s rare the main character doesn’t get to operate more than one machine.  Heero, Duo and Wufei all get this honor: Duo and Wufei pilot the Deathsythe Hell and Altron Gundam upgrades while Heero trades in the Wing Gundam for Wing Gundam Zero.  All are heavy updates on their original models.  Trowa and Quatre…don’t get squat.  Heavyarms gets an extra gatling gun and Sandrock gets a small sub machine gun…that’s just unfair.  Were these Gundams not popular enough to warrant more substantial upgrades?  Hell everyone got a redesign in Endless Waltz.  This is Gundam, it shouldn’t be that hard to give everyone a fair shot at a shiny new mecha to pilot.

#3-The Barton Foundation Replaces the White Fang

One of my biggest gripes about the series is the last act.  The White Fang revolutionary group comes almost out of nowhere to become the final big bads of the series.  There are hints that some of their members are connected to a shadier group but it’s never outright confirmed.  There is one group that has always been in the shadows from the beginning that could’ve easily been slotted in and even set up sooner through whispers: The Barton Foundation, the group who masterminded the original Operation Meteor.  The Gundam Pilots and their Doctors rebelled against them at the beginning of the series in order to carry out a less genocidal version of the operation.  What if the Barton Foundation had been consolidating its time and forces to finish the job at the end of the series rather than suddenly appearing in Endless Waltz?  Setting these guys up sooner would make for a smoother transition after Relena pacifies Romafeller.  But I guess someone really wanted to recreate Char’s Counterattack and give Heero and Zechs a weak excuse to fight one more time.

#2-Wufei Dies, Trieze Lives

One of my favorite lines in movies is from Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.  Klingon Chancellor Gorkon tells Kirk, “If there is to be a brave new world, our generation is going to have the hardest time living in it.”  That speaks to Kirk finding a new place where the Klingons and Federation aren’t enemies anymore.  Hell, James Bond had to figure the same thing out when the Cold War ended.  Same could be said for Treize Kushrenada.  After all he’s done to conquer the world and the countless deaths he’s ordered, what would he be like if he survived the end of Gundam Wing and Wufei had died instead?  Would he help Relena usher in the new era of peace or just retire to watch from the sidelines?  Would he actually defeat Wufei rather than letting him win?  How the heck would Endless Waltz play out if Treize had to come back into the picture to face his daughter, Mariemeia?  I could even settle for Treize losing something in killing Wufei and the young Gundam pilot could haunt him from time to time. It’s the best “What if” I can think of out of all of these options.  That said…

#1-Trowa is killed by Quatre

When it comes to Gundam Wing, it might have one of the lowest main character casualty lists of any Gundam series.  The only one I can think of who actually bites it by the end is Treize.  It kind of robs the show of a sense of urgency when your five main characters seem virtually untouchable after surviving multiple Mobile Suit explosions.  So how could this change?  Well, if we’re gonna nominate main characters to kill off, I nominate Trowa Barton.  In recent rewatches, he’s certainly the most mysterious but he doesn’t have as defined as story as say Heero, Quatre or Wufei.  Duo kind of lacks one too but…I love Duo, don’t touch him.  The story could gained a huge kick if Trowa had died protecting Heero from Quatre’s Wing Zero charge at the mid point of the series.  His alleged death shock Quatre back to sanity and put Quatre on the path to redemption.  But, as we know, Trowa survived, got amnesia and then got it sorted with a nice Zero System session.  I know I’ll get some hate for this…Trowa could’ve stayed dead and the story would’ve benefited because it really would’ve put the rest of the boys on notice and make us wonder if we were going to really lose anyone else.