History Anime / MobileSuitGundamSEEDFreedom

** Character-wise, Shinn is a lot less mean-spirited and reckless, and his hostility towards his UnknownRival Kira is instead replaced with a senpai-kouhai dynamic.

* ATasteOfTheirOwnMedicine: Blue Cosmos has a knack for using nuclear missiles on PLANT colonies, which led to countless of Coordinator deaths, which ultimately transpired the [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEED First Bloody Valentine War]]. Here [[spoiler:The Foundation, a kingdom ruled by Coordinators, fired a nuclear missile at a Blue Cosmos headquarters at the end of the film's second act.]]

However, not everything is as it seems. And sure enough, Kira and his friends soon find themselves caught in a conspiracy related to the Ultimate Coordinator project and the late Gilbert Durandal's Destiny Plan that threatens to plunge the Earth into yet another destructive conflict.

* TheReveal: [[spoiler:Aura is, in a sense, Lacus' ''mother'', having created her as a means to control the governments, which has apparently been going on since even during the time of Siegel Clyne. As well, Aura claims Kira isn't the "Ultimate Coordinator", though the novelization makes clear she has a bias in that regard]].

* WhamLine: [[spoiler:Aura told Lacus that she's an Accord and Kira, despite being referred to as "the Ultimate Coordinator" by the previous villains, is actually a failed one.]]

* InternalReveal: [[spoiler:Agnes betraying Compass for the Foundation happens quite early in the film but Lunamaria does not learn this until the final battle as the ones who knew this were all thought to be dead]].

* MidfightWeaponExchange: [[spoiler:Happens between Mu and Shinn where the Akatsuki starts with the Zeus Silhouette and passes it to the Destiny Gundam Spec. II]].

** [[spoiler:The novel goes into great detail on Aura's past and how she got turned into her child form.]]

** First time an Al Da Flaga clone is absent in the story, fan-theories about Toyah Mashima (who is a very young IdenticalStranger to ''SEED''-era Mu) withstanding. On a related note, this is the first Cosmic Era work without a masked CharClone, though Athrun is briefly shown wearing sunglasses to emulate his "Alex Dino" disguise from ''SEED Destiny''.

** The Destroy Gundams used by Blue Cosmos were considerable threats in Gundam Seed Destiny, requiring at least one Nuclear Powered suit to take down, even after their first debut. Here, Kira solos one very quickly, and later both he and Shinn carve through another with little effort.

** [[spoiler:Stella's love for Shinn manifests where her spirit protects Shinn from the Black Knights mind control by transforming into a demon and scaring them. A Shinn and Lunamaria example is that when the Impulse runs low in energy, Shinn uses the Destiny Spec II's Deuterion Beam System to recharge the Impulse]].

* AdaptationExpansion: In the novels, [[spoiler:the Duel and Buster from ''SEED'' were officially decommissioned and collected by the Clyne Faction. The dialogue in the novel implies that the Duel Blitz and Lightning Buster are upgraded versions of the exact models Yzak and Dearka used in ''SEED'']].

* MeaningfulName: [[spoiler:The Proud Defender gives the Mighty Strike freedom immense defensive capabilities. Kira and Lacus even lampshade the trope InUniverse with the Proud Defender]].

* TheReveal: [[spoiler:Aura is, in a sense, Lacus' ''mother'', having created her as a means to control the governments, which has apparently been going on since even during the time of Siegel Clyne. As well, Kira isn't the "Ultimate Coordinator", but a failed member of the project]].

** When the [[spoiler: Millennium gets "hijacked" by pirates, Cagalli tries the "fire on the ships, but deliberately miss" tactic to get Kira and the others out into space." However, the Foundation were GenreSavvy enough to know that trick has been done by ORB multiple times and calls them out on it, knowing this is something that ORB would do.]]

* VictorySex: [[spoiler: All but stated to have happened between Kira and Lacus by the end credits. After defeating the Foundation, the couple immediately leave the battlefield for a beach and are last shown kissing while nude. ]]

* BreakOutTheMuseumPiece: [[spoiler: Though they've been retrofitted with nuclear reactors, ZAKU cockpits, all new weapons, and METEOR compatibility, the Duel and Buster, the two oldest surviving members of the G Project Gundams (and with the loss of the Archangel, the G Project in general), return as Yzak and Dearka's machines for the final battle]].

** Agnes suffers a similar fate to [[spoiler:The Frost Brothers, particularly Olba rather than Shagia who becomes crippled from Anime/AfterWarGundamX. Like the Frost Brothers, Agnes backstabbed her allies for personal gain with her ultimate goal to prove that she is special. In the end, she loses a battle against someone she considered was a "loser" in the past, similar to how the Newtype Frost Brothers lost against the Oldtype Garrod and are left alive but powerless. Their fates are that they are forced to see the world flourish and people care and help each other unconditionally while she remains alone.]]

* BreakOutTheMuseumPiece: [[spoiler: Though they've been retrofitted with nuclear reactors, ZAKU cockpits, all new weapons, and METEOR compatibility, the Duel and Buster, the two oldest surviving members of the G Project Gundams (and with the loss of the Archangel, the G Project in general) return as Yzak and Dearka's machines for the final battle]].

** [[spoiler:The Cavalier Armor is a reference to the Cavalier-0 from ''Anime/MetalArmorDragonar'' which Fukuda also directed.]]

* HourglassPlot: In ''Destiny'', Athrun's character problems from ''SEED'' were never truly resolved, and thus they flare right back up after a certain triggering event to cause more grief and drama for everyone around them until he finally flushes them out of system, and turn the tide to save the day. This time, it's Kira's turn, showing that his worse character traits while wrapped around Flay's finger are still there, and only being a ShellShockedVeteran kept them suppressed. [spoiler: And in both cases, the other delivers [[CurbStompBattle a serious beating]] to the other to get them to wake the hell up, although here, they do it with their fists than in Gundams]].

** HourglassPlot: In ''Destiny'', Athrun's character problems from ''SEED'' were never truly resolved, and thus they flare right back up after a certain triggering event to cause more grief and drama for everyone around them until he finally flushes them out of system, and turn the tide to save the day. This time, it's Kira's turn, showing that his worse character traits while wrapped around Flay's finger are still there, and only being a ShellShockedVeteran kept them suppressed. Fittingly, [[spoiler: it's Athrun who beats his face in to get him, punching him like he once did Shinn, only now is properly able to have a clearer idea of what to criticize him for ''and'' what to say to get him back from his rut]].

* DarkReprise: At several points, [[spoiler: the innocuous melody of "Shizuka na Yoru ni", Lacus' leitmotif, is played ominously. It then receives a TriumphantReprise after she has been rescued from the Foundation.]]