History Anime / MobileSuitGundamSeedDestiny

** The stolen Second Stage machines are almost a SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute to the three Gundams used by the Biological [=CPUs=] while taking inspiration from other Earth Alliance suits. The Abyss is a combination of the Forbidden's melee weapons and aquatic capabilities with the Calamity's firepower. The Chaos is similar to the Raider's transforming capabilities and claws, the Aegis's foot beam sabers and the Moebius Zero's {{AttackDrone}}s. The Gaia is the exception but its beam blades are similar in concept to the Sword Strike's [[BFS Schwert Gewehr]] and placement of weapons in its Mobile Armor mode is similar to how the Aegis does so.

* CharClone: ''Destiny'' has ''four'' of them[[labelnote:list]]Athrun Zala, Rey Za Burrel, Neo Roanoke[[spoiler:/Mu La Flaga]], and Gilbert Durandal[[/labelnote]] (five if you count [[PosthumousCharacter Rau]], who appears several times as an apparation to haunt both Durandal and Rey).

** While Neo Roanoke is the traditional CharClone of the series, Athrun Zala's role more closely follows Char as he was in ''Zeta''. Like Char he operates under an assumed [[PaperThinDisguise (and just as unconvincing)]] identity early on, eventually becoming a mentor figure of sorts for a younger pilot. He also frequently questions his role in the conflict, not living up to be the leader he has the potential to be.

* CustomUniform: ZAFT allows ace pilots to have custom colors for their pilot suit such as Rey with his white and purple pilot suit and Heine with his orange pilot suit. This tropes happens so often within female ZAFT Red Coats such as Lunamaria and Courtney that the ordinary female ZAFT Red Coat uniform is never seen.

** The stolen Second Stage machines are almost a SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute to the three Gundams used by the Biological CPUs while taking inspiration from other Earth Alliance suits. The Abyss is a combination of the Forbidden's melee weapons and aquatic capabilities with the Calamity's firepower. The Chaos is similar to the Raider's transforming capabilities and claws, the Aegis's foot beam sabers and the Moebius Zero's {{AttackDrone}}s. The Gaia is the exception but its beam blades are similar in concept to the Sword Strike's [[BFS Schwert Gewehr]] and placement of weapons in its Mobile Armor mode is similar to how the Aegis does so.

* TransformingMecha: The Savior, Chaos, Gaia, and Abyss Gundams all transform into various Mobile Armor forms (ironically, the Impulse is more of a CombiningMecha), as do several other ZAFT designs. ORB also debuts the Murasame as their new standard Mobile Suit.

** The Strike Freedom can be considered this with the original G-Project Gundams from ''SEED''. It inherits the Strike's performance multiplied as the original Freedom was mentioned to have four times the power of the Strike. The railguns are an upgraded version of the original Freedom's which are developed from the Duel Gundam Assault Shroud's "Shiva" railgun. The combining beam rifles are similar to the Buster Gundam's own rifles. The [[ChestBlaster Calidus beam cannon]] is reminiscent of the Aegis Gundam's own "Scylla" cannon. Not quite similar to the Blitz but the Wings of the Skies can be seen as a unique ability rarely seen on another Mobile Suits like the Blitz's Mirage Colloid.

* BeamSpam: If you thought Freedom was the master of this, just wait until you see [[MidSeasonUpgrade Strike Freedom]]. Also, in order: Destroy, Legend, Infinite Justice (with or without the METEOR), Abyss, Blast Impulse, and Yzak's Slash ZAKU Phantom.

* SoLastSeason: At one point, Kira sorties in the Strike Rouge, a machine pretty much identical to his old Strike Gundam. He nearly gets his butt handed to him by a group of ZAFT pilots in top-of-the-line ''grunt''-class Mobile Suits.

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* NGOSuperpower: Despite getting it's butt kicked in the previous series, Blue Cosmos remains a dangerous and influential threat. LOGOS is also this [[spoiler: considering that Blue Cosmos was merely a catspaw for them]]. And of course, the Clyne Faction/Three Ships Alliance. from the previous series.

* TwoGuysAndAGirl: Shinn, Rey, and Lunamaria and Sting, Auel, and Stella. Meyrin and ThoseTwoGuys from the Minerva and the Black Tri Stars of the Clyne Faction may also count.

* TwoGuysAndAGirl: Shinn, Rey, and Lunamaria and Sting, Auel, and Stella. Meyrin and ThoseTwoGuys from the Minerva may also count.

* GrayIsUseless: Mobile Suits with Phase Shift Armor depend on the color of their activated armor to determine its strength and power consumption. If the armor is deactivated from the suit being on standby in a hangar or the battery running low on power, the only color the armor will have is gray and leave the machine vulnerable.

* BlackAndGrayMorality: Unlike in the first series, ZAFT is portrayed as more moral and heroic in contrast to the OMNI Earth Alliance forces which have taken a turn for the worse. This is to such an extent that the neutral pilot Murrue Ramius says in Episode 17 that she "can't help wanting to take ZAFT's side and teach the Earth Forces a lesson." Furthermore, the extremist elements of ZAFT such as the Coordinators who tried to drop Junius 7 on Earth faced opposition from the main ZAFT forces. Whereas the Earth Alliance uses slave labor to build a base under construction uses orphan children and forces them to fight and kill each other as training to be TykeBomb child soldiers, attacks civilian cities in Europe to teach the Eurasian Federation who are their rivals a lesson, and happily tries to commit genocide against the Coordinators twice. The racist anti-Coordinator extremists are the norm in the Earth Alliance. ZAFT soldiers do engage in unscrupulous actions such as trying to assassinate Lacus Clyne and then later trying to destroy Orb, under the orders of [[spoiler:Chairman Gilbert Durandal]].

* NiceJobFixingItVillain: Nice job getting Kira to come out of retirement after [[spoiler:a failed assassination attempt on his girlfriend]], Durandal. You just earned yourself plenty of enemies, especially Lacus who gets busy investigating your ultimate plan.

* StrangeSalute: ZAFT military.

* TriggerPhrase: The Phantom Pain pilots have at least two; one that acts as an anger trigger and one that calms them back down again. They're seen using them on ''each other'' occasionally. [[spoiler:Shinn]] accidentally uses ''both'' on [[spoiler:Stella]] when they first meet - for some reason their handlers decided to use words that could easy come up in a normal conversation, and sometimes they do.

* VillainsNeverLie: [[spoiler:Gilbert Durandal]] pulls this off with his speeches of good doing in the beginning.

* TheGoodTheBadAndTheEvil: Lacus Clyne vs [[DarkMessiah Gilbert Durandal]] vs Lord Djibril.

* ILetGwenStacyDie: '''''Good grief''''', where do we even begin? The ''Archangel'' crew is really roughed up by the loss of many of their loved ones during the last one (Flay, Mu, Siegal Clyne, Representative Athha, etc.) and the ''Minerva'' crew starts falling apart as well with their own losses. Shinn, sadly, takes the worst of it.

* LandSeaSky: First half of GSD featured with Earth Alliance's [[TransformingMecha transformable]] [[SuperPrototype Gundam trio]] : ground combat Gaia (transform into dog-like mode), aquatic combat Abyss (transform into stingray-like mode), and aerial/space combat Chaos (transform into bird-like mode) representing land, sea, and sky respectively. The first two even bearing MeaningfulName.

** Athrun's first mobile suit after rejoining ZAFT is the [[Film/GSaviour Saviour]]. In a bit of DiscontinuityNod and TakeThat, the way Athrun was [[CurbStompBattle defeated by Kira]](piloting the Freedom) shortly after getting it led to the fan-made term "Savioured".

* NiceJobFixingItVillain: Nice job getting Kira to come out of retirement after [[spoiler:a failed assassination attempt on his girlfriend]], Durandal.

* NukeEm: The Earth Forces' troops try to do this to ZAFT again...except ZAFT has a huge weapon which allows them to wipe them all out and cause the Earth Forces' nukes to blow them up as well.

* OneManArmy: Kira, Athrun, Shinn, Stella in the Destroy, and Neo in the Akatsuki.

* PaperThinDisguise: Athrun's "Alex Dino" identity at the beginning of ''SEED: Destiny''.

* QuirkyMinibossSquad: Phantom Pain.
* RedEyesTakeWarning: Shinn.

* FighterLaunchingSequence: Gratuitously abused; the launch sequence combined with the combination sequence for the Impulse Gundam seemed blocked to [[EngagingChevrons eat the maximum possible amount of screen time.]]

* DownerBeginning: We start the show off on a [[SarcasmMode happy note]] with the protagonists family getting killed in what was considered one of the most brutal opening scenes of the franchise at the time of its airing.

On May 31, 2021, Fukuda [[https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2021-05-31/gundam-seed-director-mitsuo-fukuda-confirms-film-is-sequel-to-destiny/.173440 stated that the sequel movie first announced in 2006 was out of]] DevelopmentHell and is part of an ongoing CE "Ignited" project. On July 2, 2023, the aforementioned movie, now titled ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEEDFreedom'' was announced and is set to premiere January 26, 2024.

! All spoilers for ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEED'' are unmarked. Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned!

* ForWantOfANail: Meer's Lacus impersonation notwithstanding, Kira wonders if the assassination attempt on Lacus had not happened, he and the rest of the Archangel crew might have been okay with Durandal's "Destiny Plan" when it was finally revealed.

* OlderAndWiser: Subverted with the original ''SEED'' cast. They know more about the world thanks to their experiences in the last war, sure, but those same experiences left them more than a little [[ShellShockedVeteran burnt out]], and now they have to deal with a new list of issues. Athrun tries to play the role of mentor to the new cast, but his poor social skills leaves him struggling to properly convey his messages. Overall, the only characters to play this trope straight are Yzak and Dearka, who are DemotedToExtra anyway.