History DethroningMoment / GUNDAM

* Tropers/mbeowulf: [[CharClone Neo. Freaking. Roanoke]]. More specifically, from Episode 33. Up to that point he'd been a fairly typical [[CharClone Mysterious Masked Man]] - kind of a less crazy and better-dressed version of his predecessor Rau Le Creuset. Then they made him Mwu La Flaga, who in [[HeroicSacrifice one of Gundam Seed's most memorable moments]] had sacrificed himself to save the lives of his teammates by throwing himself into the path an antimatter weapon that had literally vaporized the entire cockpit block of his mobile suit...with no explanation. To add insult to injury, the finale recycles that entire scene again, minus the HeroicSacrifice part.

Given how [[LongRunners long the Gundam franchise has been around for]], there are bound to be some moments where even [[GetAHoldOfYourselfWoman a]] good [[GetAHoldOfYourselfMan bright slap]] isn't enough to get over our angst.

* Tropers/{{Retloclive}}: The second half of season 2 has quite a rushed feel to it. Almost as if there was supposed to be another season, but the budget was cut short. This was no better demonstrated than how the original Elan Ceres was handled where he was built up as a potential end-game villain throughout the series. However, it turned out that his story ends with him basically just walking away from the villains' Peil Technologies, and suddenly starts working with the heroes' Jeturk Heavy Machinery. Not only does this make him a huge KarmaHoudini for how he treated his Elan copies, it puts him overall in TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter territory. Definitely feel jipped here. The original Elan Ceres had everything going for him to be a great villain as if the story was just waiting for him to finally explode onto the scene in a big way, yet he just ended up remaining a background character.

* Tropers/{{Retloclive}}: The second half of season 2 to the finale has quite a rushed feel to it. Almost as if there was supposed to be another season, but the budget was cut short. This was no better demonstrated than how the original Elan Ceres was handled where he was built up as a potential end-game villain throughout the series. However, it turned out that his story ends with him basically just walking away from the villains' Peil Technologies, and suddenly starts working with the heroes' Jeturk Heavy Machinery. Not only does this make him a huge KarmaHoudini for how he treated his Elan copies, it puts him overall in TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter territory. Definitely feel jipped here. The original Elan Ceres had everything going for him to be a great villain as if the story was just waiting for him to finally explode onto the scene in a big way, yet he just ended up remaining a background character.

* Tropers/{{Retloclive}}: The second half of season 2 to the finale has quite a rushed feel to it. Almost as if there was supposed to be another season, but the budget was cut short. This was no better demonstrated than how the original Elan Ceres was handled where he was built up as a potential end-game villain throughout the series. However, it turned out that his story ends with him basically just walking away from Peil Technologies, and suddenly starts working with Jeturk Heavy Machinery. Not only does this make him a huge KarmaHoudini for how he treated his Elan copies, it puts him overall in TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter territory. Definitely feel jipped here. The original Elan Ceres had everything going for him to be a great villain as if the story was just waiting for him to finally explode onto the scene in a big way, yet he just ended up remaining a background character.

* Tropers/{{Retloclive}}: The second half of season 2 to the finale has quite a rushed feel to it. Almost as if there was supposed to be another season, but the budget was cut short, so the producers chose to end it early. This was no better demonstrated than how the original Elan Ceres was handled where he was built up as a potential end-game villain throughout the series. However, it turned out that his story ends with him basically just walking away from Peil Technologies, and suddenly starts working with Jeturk Heavy Machinery. Not only does this make him a huge KarmaHoudini for how he treated his Elan copies, it puts him overall in TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter territory. Definitely feel jipped here. The original Elan Ceres had everything going for him to be a great villain as if the story was just waiting for him to finally explode onto the scene in a big way, yet he just ended up remaining a background character.

[[AC:''Anime/MobileSuitGundamTheWitchFromMercury''

** Tropers/MasterN: The worst part? The game finally got added to ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars30'' via DLC... and yet does nothing to change the ending whatsoever -- in fact, their story is not even shown! One of the big appeals of SRW games is giving a happier ending to series that had a DownerEnding, and giving any KarmaHoudini characters their comeuppance, so for one of the most contentious endings in anime history to not get this treatment just feels like a wasted opportunity. Hopefully, a future game will properly introduce their series and allow for an AdaptationalAlternateEnding. I have no interest in ''Witch of Mercury'' or any other ''Gundam'' property outside of SRW until the characters get the happy ending they deserve, because otherwise I cannot trust the (steadily downhill) franchise to not pull this again (and also because, after ''Anime/YashahimePrincessHalfDemon'' went and made a downright pedophilic ship canon, I have decided to respond by boycotting Creator/{{Sunrise}} outright).

** Tropers/MasterN: The worst part? The game finally got added to ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars30'' via DLC... and yet ''does nothing to change the ending whatsoever''- in fact, their story is not even shown! One of the big appeals of SRW games is giving a happier ending to series that had a DownerEnding, and giving any KarmaHoudini characters their comeuppance, so for one of the most contentious endings in anime history to ''not'' get this treatment just feels like a wasted opportunity. Hopefully, a future game will properly introduce their series and allow for an AdaptationalAlternateEnding. I have no interest in ''Witch of Mercury'' or any other ''Gundam'' property outside of SRW until the characters get the happy ending they deserve, because otherwise I cannot trust the (steadily downhill) franchise to not pull this again (and also because, after ''Anime/YashahimePrincessHalfDemon'' went and made a downright pedophilic ship ''canon'', I have decided to respond by boycotting Creator/{{Sunrise}} outright).

[[AC:Zeta Gundam]]

[[AC:Char's Counterattack]]
* Tropers/{{Larkmarn}}: The chain of events leading to [[spoiler: Chan Agi's]] death (not to mention the destruction of the [=ReGZ=], which was my favorite mecha in the film).First, Hathaway and Quess fall completely in love. Okay; we're already StrangledByTheRedString. Then [[spoiler: Chan launches in the heavily damaged [=ReGZ=] and basically accidentally kills Quess in self-defense. So Hathaway murders her out of anger]]. She was already an underdeveloped character, but I sure liked her more than anyone else involved in that little MeleeATrois.

[[AC:Gundam Wing]]

[[AC:Gundam SEED]]

[[AC:Gundam SEED Destiny]]

** Tropers/JusticeGundam: The absurd love story between Shinn and Lunamaria? Sorry, was I supposed to cheer for such a poorly done, nonsensical and StrangledByTheRedString relationship? I don't care what people say about Shinn and Stellar, at least that pairing had a logical base instead of "Shinn, you killed my sis and my boyfriend... HOLD ME!".
** Tropers/{{Chrono}}: The duel between Kira and Rey. What the hell was that about? They were freakin evenly matched before their little argument on their ideology! All it took was one (cheesy) line from Kira, and Rey was basically one-shot killed immediately after that. Sure, in-battle chat is always a constant in Gundam battles, but that scene almost tainted that concept as a way to force your opponent into submission. You don't win fights with heroic speeches!
** Tropers/CommandoDude: The duel between Kira and Shinn. Where Shinn for some reason is able to completely kick Kira's ass just because he can 'analyze' that Kira never aims for the cockpit...so he's able to dodge everything thrown at him? Okay, it wouldn't be so bad. But then the series completely contradicts its [[MinovskyPhysics own physics]] and Shinn finishes off Kira by ramming Impulse's physical anti-ship sword through Kira's shield [[GreenRocks and his Phase Shift armor]]...the armor that is suppose to be impervious to physical weapons
*** Tanebi: The Impulse's sword is SUPPOSED to be able to extend the laser blade past the physical end of the sword, which would have explained that last part; though an animation error that bad is no less jarring. Adding to the above, if Kira really did deactivate his N-Jammer Canceller, why does the Freedom go up in a nuclear blast? Don't get me wrong, out of context it looks freaking awesome, but in context, it just makes no damned sense and seems to contradict the series's logic even further.
** Tropers/mbeowulf: [[CharClone Neo. Freaking. Roanoke]]. More specifically, from Episode 33-ish onwards. Up to that point he'd been a fairly typical [[CharClone Mysterious Masked Man]] - kind of a less crazy and better-dressed version of his predecessor Rau Le Creuset. Then they made him Mwu La Flaga, who in [[HeroicSacrifice one of Gundam Seed's most memorable moments]] had sacrificed himself to save the lives of his teammates by throwing himself into the path an antimatter weapon that had literally vaporized the entire cockpit block of his mobile suit...with no explanation. To add insult to injury, the finale recycles that entire scene again, minus the HeroicSacrifice part.
*** Tropers/AmuroNT1: Adding to the above, the Akatsuki. ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamSeed Gundam SEED]]'' established that Cagalli's relationship with her father was strained because he opposed her participation in LaResistance due to his being an ActualPacifist, but then we got the beautiful HeroicSacrifice where he re-affirms his love for his daughter. Then in ''Destiny'', we find out he was secretly building a super-advanced Gundam for her, to show that he accepted her choices in life and so she could defend Orb with a machine that symbolized its willingness to defend itself. It's a very touching moment...and she immediately hands it over to Neo after one battle, when he was still in "I don't know who this Flaga guy you keep talking about" mode, so she can spend the rest of the series sitting in an office. I've heard rumors that the head writer hated Cagalli's voice actress personally and took it out on her by screwing over her character; I don't know if it's true, but with crap like this it's easy to see where the rumors come from.
*** Tropers/{{Larkmarn}}: The reveal of Akatsuki at all is a huge wallbanger. Technology has been moving to fast that a state-of-the-art non-nuclear mech from the last series is inferior in pretty much every way to a grunt unit at the beginning of Destiny. And yet, halfway through the series (when the modern units have gotten even stronger) they reveal the Akatsuki. Which, despite being made halfway through SEED can keep up with bleeding-edge suits. It's not even nuclear, and its special armor comes from nowhere. The armor supposedly is made of mirrors that reflect beam weapons, which makes no sense on a lot of levels (such as the fact that it seems to absorb attacks, then fire it back directly at the shooter a moment later). And then it gets freaking DRAGOONS (with beam shields) because... well, why the hell not? Even though that technology didn't exist then, it's somehow got all these incredible gimmicks that didn't exist when it was built, performance up to par with current bleeding-edge suits, and no issues with powering these gimmicks for some reason.
*** Tropers/Kirby0189: If you want an idea of how stupid the {{Retcon}} for Mu's death is, back when he totally died in ''[=SEED=]'' (I say it like that because [[FanonDiscontinuity I prefer to ignore]] ''Destiny''), his helmet was seen floating among the Strike's wreckage. In space. Where there is no air and he would have asphyxiated even had he managed to somehow survive being obliterated by the Dominion's canon. At least with Kira surviving the Aegis exploding and the Freedom getting stabbed ([[DamnedByFaintPraise not that those are instances of good writing though]]), there is some leeway (you could assume even without reading the ''Astray'' manga that Kira could have been blasted out of the Strike by the Aegis' explosion for the former, and closer inspection for the latter reveals that Shinn really did miss the cockpit and FridgeBrilliance says that Kira turning off the Freedom's N-Jammer Cancelers would have caused the surrounding N-Jammers to remove the possibility of the Freedom exploding and killing him), but here there is literally no way that Mu could have survived. It's so bad that the [=HD=] Remaster [[OrwellianRetcon edited out his helmet from the wreckage]], but it still makes no sense because there's still the issue of him surviving the Dominion's shot to begin with. Ugh, I love ''SEED'' to death, so why did ''Destiny'' have to take such a hit in {{Sequelitis}}?

[[AC:Gundam 00]]
* Tropers/ChrisX: ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundam00 Gundam 00]]'' finally had this after they had a TimeSkip and [[JumpedTheShark jumped for about 9000 sharks]]. Where do we begin? Well, for one thing, they killed Wang Liu Mei and Hong Long without shedding any backstories that they terribly needed in order for them to be well rounded characters... and secondly? They threw Nena's [[EvenEvilHasStandards redeeming actions]] in episode 13 out of the window, reintroduced her as a psycho bitch again and then got her killed (yes, it's [[KarmicDeath well deserved]], but [[TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot still]].) Pretty sure there will be more dethroning moment, but this troper can only quote WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd: "What were they thinking!?"
** Tropers/FatR: I was willing to cut the second season of ''Gundam 00'' some slack for a long time, thanks to its great battle animations. I forgave them their poor handling of turning sociopathic {{Designated Hero}}es into real heroes. And making antagonists eviler than forty Hitlers (after the morally ambiguous first season, mind you). And turning Graham into a fucking joke. [[{{Chickification}} And]] turning [[ActionGirl Soma Peiris]] into Marie. And turning Colonel Smirnov into a wuss. Making Louise go stark raving mad and turning Setsuna practically invincible with a GodMode upgrade (after which the series had almost no interesting battles) started to stretch it. But the final drop was DeusExMachina of episode 24, which must be seen to be believed. A word to authors: [[Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion Instrumentality]]-like magic is not a good way to resolve personal conflicts and main characters going all Super Saiyajin and single-handedly turning imminent defeat into victory is not only an overused trope, but also isn't really appropriate for "realistic" series.
** Tropers/CharredKnight: The revelation of Schenberg's plan being to evolve humanity into a new species by bombarding them with GN particles. Not only does it make a complete mockery of the series attempt to be realistic (a group of people are willing to spend 200 years and trillions of dollars following a guy whose plan is entirely based on theories) but the series claim that all wars are caused by misunderstanding is ridiculous. It shows that no one on staff has any understanding of current events, world history, or Japan's history. The entire thing doesn't even take into account the effect it would have on different culture or religion. The worst part is that it presents Celestial Being as right and anyone who dares stand against them as evil and misguided. Its like if Durandal was the hero of ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamSeedDestiny Gundam SEED Destiny]]''.
[[AC:Mobile Suit Gundam Age]]
* Tropers/{{Flamemario12}}: While I kinda enjoyed [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamAGE Gundam AGE]] I really didn't like Episode 32. So who's the spy? Answer: Shanalua. While Shnalua does have a reason to spy Diva, her reason? She needs money for her sick sister. Seriously, Shanalua? You do realize that there's many other ways to earn money, do ya? She flees before they knew she was a spy. Then a Wrozzo attempts to attack Kio's Gundam AGE-3 Fortress. Shanalua saves him [[HeroicSacrifice at the cost of her life.]] WHAT? Is this the best you can think about it? This episode also leads to fans starting to realize the writers treated most females character like trash. You know what pissed me off? [[{{Hypocrite}} She stabs the Wrozzo's head with her beam saber even through she scolds Kio for killing a pilot in the previous episode!]] Not to mention that her sister is never mentioned after that episode.
** LilyNadesico2: Episode 47. Kio goes into an UnstoppableRage when [[spoiler:his Vagan friend Deen is killed by Zanald, for a reason so illogical and detached from reason that it might as well have been ForTheEvulz. Kio goes apeshit on the bastard and dismembers his Mobile Suit... and then goes MyGodWhatHaveIDone just when he's one second away from ending Zanald's worthless life. What have you done, Kio? You almost stopped a scumbag from wasting everyone's oxygen and possibly killing more innocents, this is what you've done. But you were too much of a pussy to go through with it.]] This was Kio's chance to [[RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap rescue himself from the scrappy heap]], and he blew it. I completely gave up on that DesignatedHero by that point.
** ShadowRevolution: Kio's Understanding alone was enough to be a dethroning moment itself. Kio's constant failures grew irritating and is a reminder of why people are getting sick of Gundam. Aka, having your cake and eating it too.
** RoarkTenjouin: While I did have my fair share of problems with AGE, had it not been for Kio suddenly deciding to hand over the [=AGE=] Device to Ezelcant, I probably would've found it to be slightly above average by the end at least - but because he handed it over ''without even hesitating'', the show started to really go downhill from there. If Kio had made them promise to not use data from the [=AGE=] Device for mobile suit development, Ezelcant had offered stricter terms (i.e., Kio originally had to hand over the [=AGE-3=] in return for the medicine) that Kio had bargained down from, or if it had been a ''cure'' for what Lu was suffering from that Ezelcant was offering, I would've been more lenient with it, but this feels like it was just put there to give Kio's detractors even more reasons to hate him (which, if that was the goal, congratulations, you did a perfect job).
[[AC:Gundam Build Fighters]]
** Daishomaru: Episode 4. Kiara. Just... WOW. Kiara was a disappointment. The first three Gunpla Builders were AMAZING at first. Then the next episode preview shows us Kiara, who seems to be kicking Reiji's ass. It seems she would be a promising character, being a lookalike of Lacus Clyne/Meer Campbell, but an action girl as well. But nope,[[spoiler: she's a cheating scumbag in the end. She could have been an interesting character, but all the potential just went down the drain.]]
** Calamity2007: Replacing my last entry since in my opinion Nils is RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap but my new one is for episode 21. Just ugh, as soon as the [[MindRape Embody]] system got introduced last episode I should have thought this would happen. But we get an overly drawn out emotional episode when Reiji thinks that Aila was in control when she humiliated Felini, so a good majority of the episode is them coming to terms with their feelings. But my problems don't really come up with until the battle itself, when the Embody system was turned on, the battle was quickly becoming a one-sided battle in Aila's favor but the charm she received from China and Reiji's bracelet reacted, giving them an "understanding" scene like the Trans-Am scenes in ''00''. Now while she did still decide to fight, she still was easily beaten in the next scene. Just so many things annoying about this episode like why couldn't she avoid a simple punch, even if it was enhanced by the RG System it still was coming from a ways away, and how did Sei and China know that the charm would do this? Also the whole "understanding" thing doesn't really fit right with this series and it just seems to highlight an ever increasing problem with the show to exploit the Plavisky Particles as AppliedPhlebotinum that can do anything and is starting to border on magic now.
[[AC: Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans]]
** xxebb1993xx: The GrandFinale has left a lot of bad impressions on my mind after having seen it. Now granted, ''Gundam'' has always been dark, but not to the point of being totally nihilistic. Not even ''[[Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam Zeta]]'' or ''[[Anime/MobileSuitVictoryGundam Victory]]'', two of the [[DarkerAndEdgier darkest]] series the ''Gundam'' franchise had to offer before ''Iron-Blooded Orphans'' came out, went this far. The series ended with [[LastStand Mikazuki and Akihiro holding off Gjallarhorn with their last breaths]] before they finally get killed off. In the end, Mikazuki and Akihiro both die, with Mikazuki holding the title of being the first Gundam protagonist to bite the dust since Amuro Ray in ''Char's Counterattack''. But what breaks my heart is that [[BigBad Rustal]] actually [[KarmaHoudini gets scot-free by the end of the series]], not having to answer for the crimes he had committed. This alone gave me second thoughts of the series and makes me never want to watch it again. In fact, [[ShootTheShaggyDog I feel like I shouldn't have watched this anime from the start, because I feel like Tekkadan was doomed from the beginning]]. If there's any consolation, at least Akihiro managed to turn Iok into an [[VideoGame/ResidentEvil1 Iok sandwich]] and Ride executes [[HateSink Nobliss]] in retaliation for Orga's death. Hopefully this changes in a ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars'' game or in a movie adaptation where Rustal gets the comeuppance he deserves.

[[AC: Mobile Suit Victory Gundam]]
* RoarkTenjouin: ''Victory Gundam'' is what I consider to be the worst entry in the franchise (yes, even worse than Seed Destiny), and what really earned it the position of worst series in my mind was episode 29, where Repet was trying to see if Uso was a newtype - that in of itself wasn't the problem, it was the way she went about it. If you were to ask me how I would go about seeing if a 13 year old kid was a newtype, I'd test their blood, run some aptitude tests, or do some brain scans. What I would not do is have a grown woman basically rape a 13 year old boy. While ''Victory'' had been a chore for me to watch, it was tied with AGE at that point (I hadn't seen Seed Destiny yet), but this was what really solidified it as the worst series in my mind (and to this day, I can't even understand how anyone could consider it ''decent'', let alone one of the best series). While I'm glad Tomino didn't succeed in killing off the franchise, I really wish he had just called it quits after ''F91'' instead of making this abomination.

** xxebb1993xx: The GrandFinale has left a lot of bad impressions on my mind after having seen it. Now granted, ''Gundam'' has always been dark, but not to the point of being [[TooBleakStoppedCaring totally nihilistic]]. Not even ''[[Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam Zeta]]'' or ''[[Anime/MobileSuitVictoryGundam Victory]]'', two of the [[DarkerAndEdgier darkest]] series the ''Gundam'' franchise had to offer before ''Iron-Blooded Orphans'' came out, went this far. The series ended with [[LastStand Mikazuki and Akihiro holding off Gjallarhorn with their last breaths]] before they finally get killed off. In the end, Mikazuki and Akihiro both die, with Mikazuki holding the title of being the first Gundam protagonist to bite the dust since Amuro Ray in ''Char's Counterattack''. But what breaks my heart is that [[BigBad Rustal]] actually [[KarmaHoudini gets scot-free by the end of the series]], not having to answer for the crimes he had committed. This alone gave me second thoughts of the series and makes me never want to watch it again. In fact, [[ShootTheShaggyDog I feel like I shouldn't have watched this anime from the start, because I feel like Tekkadan was doomed from the beginning]]. If there's any consolation, at least Akihiro managed to turn Iok into an [[VideoGame/ResidentEvil1 Iok sandwich]] and Ride executes [[HateSink Nobliss]] in retaliation for Orga's death. Hopefully this changes in a ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars'' game or in a movie adaptation where Rustal gets the comeuppance he deserves.

* Tropers/{{Flamemario12}}: While I kinda enjoyed [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamAGE Gundam AGE]] I really didn't like Episode 32. So who's the spy? Answer: Shanalua. While Shnalua does have a reason to spy Diva, her reason? She needs money for her sick sister. Seriously, Shanalua? [[WhatAnIdiot You do realize that there's many other ways to earn money, do ya?]] She flees before they knew she was a spy. Then a Wrozzo attempts to attack Kio's Gundam AGE-3 Fortress. Shanalua saves him [[HeroicSacrifice at the cost of her life.]] WHAT? Is this the best you can think about it? This episode also leads to fans starting to realize the writers treated most females character like trash. You know what pissed me off? [[{{Hypocrite}} She stabs the Wrozzo's head with her beam saber even through she scolds Kio for killing a pilot in the previous episode!]] Not to mention that her sister is never mentioned after that episode.

** Tropers/FatR: I was willing to cut the second season of ''Gundam 00'' some slack for a long time, thanks to its great battle animations. I forgave them their poor handling of turning sociopathic {{Designated Hero}}es into real heroes. And making antagonists eviler than forty Hitlers (after the morally ambiguous first season, mind you). And turning Graham into a fucking joke. [[{{Chickification}} And]] turning [[ActionGirl Soma Peiris]] into [[TheChick Marie]]. And turning Colonel Smirnov into a wuss. Making Louise go stark raving mad and turning Setsuna practically invincible with a GodMode upgrade (after which the series had almost no interesting battles) started to stretch it. But the final drop was DeusExMachina of episode 24, which must be seen to be believed. A word to authors: [[Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion Instrumentality]]-like magic is not a good way to resolve personal conflicts and main characters going all Super Saiyajin and single-handedly turning imminent defeat into victory is not only an overused trope, but also isn't really appropriate for "realistic" series.