YMMV / Gundam 00: A Wakening of the Trailblazer

• Alas, Poor Scrappy: Andrei was a rather unsympathetic character in Season Two, but his death saving Earth from the ELS tugs at the heartstrings.
• Awesome Music: All of the awesomeness in this movie is accompanied by equally awesome (and sometimes downright scary) music.
  • Kenji Kawai took at least three ("Trans-Am Raiser", "Masurao", "Fight") scores from the TV series, remixed them with a much larger orchestral group, and combined them together with vocal accompaniment (via One-Woman Wail and Ethereal Choir). The end result is called "Final Mission ~ Quantum Burst", and it's not only eight minutes of pure concentrated awesome but also the movie's cue for the Meisters to hand the ELS their collective asses. If you somehow have yet to hear it unimpeded by the action going on when it's playing, stop doing yourself such a disfavor.
• Contested Sequel: You can roughly break reaction to the film into 3 groups: Those who love it unconditionally, those who think it's a blight on Gundam as a whole, and those who agree that thematically and action-wise it's very fitting, but ultimately flawed film that does not live up to its hype yet isn't a write-off either. Currently, the last group seems to be the largest.
• Fan Nickname:
  • "InnoRindt" and "Mao" for Descartes Shaman.
  • "Realbbons Almark" for E.A. Ray, the guy who talks with Aeolia in the stinger.
  • "Dual Core Haro" for the Two-Haro setup used in Gundam Zabanya's cockpit.
  • The 00 Qan[T] is known as the "Nu Exia", due to it resembling a fusion of Exia and the Nu Gundam.
  • "Naked Qan[T]", due to it shedding its parts and staying "naked" after doing Quantum Burst.
  • "Telephone" or "Quantum Telephone" for the 00 Qan[T], because it ended up being used as a conduit to communicate with the ELS.
  • Desu-Yellow for Mileina.
  • Mena Carmine was known as "Nena 2" or "Dr. Nena" until her name was revealed.
  • ELS-tan for Amia Lee.
  • Upgreyd, a portmanteau of Upgrade and Grey for the ELS.
• Funny Moments:
  • The movie spoofing the events of the series proper, which manages to fake you out until Alejandro Corner shows up, the 00 Gundam starts doing dramatic hand motions, and the Gundams all have unique Trans-Am colors, which they combine to fire a huge beam. After watching it, when finally alone, Saji states (with a bit of disappointment) that he wasn't in the movie.
    • During said Show Within a Show, for a split second one can see that the sub captain of the Katharon ship is a bear.
    • The in-universe movie’s take on the Meisters is pretty hilarious, too: Setsuna has bangs and a cross-shaped scar, Lockon looks to be a Stoic Spectacles type, Tieria is a Scary Black Man, and H/Allelujah is a Rose-Haired Sweetie.
    • And at the meta-level, the whole thing has been added to Sunrise's official MS Files.
  • Then there's any scene with Patrick in it.
  • Saji actually manages to have one. In the hospital scene, when an ELS resembling Ribbons Almark enters the room, Saji goes on to actually protect Louise... by throwing a chair in Ribbons' head.
  • When Hallelujah takes over in the beginning of the movie:
    Hallelujah: Of course it is! Those things are swarming towards Marie's Quantum Brainwaves."
    Allelujah: Hallelujah? What are you doing here?
    Hallelujah: We don't have time for idle chatter... I'm borrowing your body, partner!"
  • Meena's interactions with Billy, especially her flying tackle when the two meet up.
  • Ian's reaction to Mileina's confession to Tieria. Made better with Linda's AND Setsuna's response (implying a Shipper on Deck status).
    Ian: (Upon hearing Mileina's confession over the intercom) WHAT DID SHE JUST SAY?!
    Linda: Oh my; that's wonderful! Congrats on your new boyfriend.
    Ian: Linda!
    (Setsuna floats towards the 00 Qan[T]'s cockpit while letting off a light smile to Ian.)
    Ian: This is no laughing matter!
• Heartwarming Moments: Setsuna returning to Marina in the epilogue, 50 years later, with his upgraded 00 Qan[T] standing in a sunny field full of flowers... itself covered in flowers.
  • The entire sequence from Setsuna waking up from his coma through to him launching in the 00 Qan[T], it begins with Feldt hugging Setsuna, who hugs her back (a rather telling action as he is usually rather protective of his personal space), Feldt then goes back to her post rather than follow the crews' suggestion that she stay with him, when asked why she won't say says that she'll be able to feel his presence no matter where he is, and then offers a gentle smile when he personally contacts her right before he launches.
  • Mileina Vashti declaring her love for Tieria, regardless of his physical form, was one of the most heartwarming moments in the movie. People in the theater collectively went "d'aww!" and laughed at Ian's reaction following this moment Even Setsuna of all people couldn't help but smile.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • The super-deformed omake that parodied the preview of season 2 stated the world would be invaded by aliens and that Setsuna would turn into Gundam for real. Did the writers accidentally spoil the movie?
  • We have a Celestial Being: The Movie in A wakening of the Trailblazer with dragon-like mobile suits, surely this won't be unintentional foreshadowing or anything....
  • Again in Celestial Being: The Movie, it's shown Tieria is played by black guy. Which is become funnier that Hiroshi Kamiya (Tieria's Seiyuu) ever intend to be a seiyuu of black character named Shams Couza, who also wear glasses on Mobile Suit Gundam SEED CE.73: Stargazer.
• It Was His Sled: The trailers generally tried to avoid showing the ELS, and when they did they tried to avoid identifying them as aliens. Nowadays, anyone going into this movie is likely to have heard about it as "that Gundam movie with the aliens''. The fact the ELS are not evil is also very well-known.
• Jerkass Woobie: Descartes Shaman, the Earth military's first recognized Innovator, is an arrogant jerk who is painfully aware that his superiors see him as nothing more than a living weapon. Kati's reaction when she first meets him is about as mixed as the audience's.
• Moment of Awesome: Basically everything in the movie, but especially when the 00 Qan[T] shows up and the Gundams and Braves absolutely unload on the ELS.
  • The 00 Qan[T] gets about eight minutes of screen time, but in those 8 minutes, it easily manages to outstrip the 00 Raiser in every single category. Tellingly, 00 Qan[T] is often unequivocally compared to the Turn A as the most powerful mobile suit in the entire Gundam multiverse.
• Narm: Several instances.
  • For one, was the rotating shot of Setsuna's crotch while he was being Mind Raped by the ELS strictly necessary?
    • Most likely, that was meant to be symbolic of a conflict taking place in Setsuna's core being, which in many Eastern philosophies is believed to exist at the navel.
  • Setsuna's appearance in the post-credits scene is really hard to take seriously.
    • Think of it as Setsuna finally achieving his dream of becoming Gundam.
  • Parts of Setsuna's little spirit journey shortly before he wakes up from his coma can come off as pretty silly. Big battle sequence, lots of people dying, solemn music track . . . and a confused-looking, ghostly Setsuna shoved into the frame like some awkward photoshop.
• Nightmare Fuel: What happens to those being assimilated is unpleasant.
  • Case in point: If you look closely you can actually see blood on the crystals passing through the skin.
• No Yay: To a minor extent: Setsuna piloting a modified Union Flag instead of his Gundam. Justified as this was used to conceal his affiliation with Celestial Being
• Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: Andrei gets a Dying Moment of Awesome that acts as a better sendoff than before.
• Ship-to-Ship Combat: The Movie may have ended the 00 universe, but not the number of Setsuna/Marina and Setsuna/Feldt shippers clawing at each others’ throats. In fact, it probably made it worse.
  • In the manga adaptation, which isn't part of the official canon according to Sunrise's policy, Setsuna ends up marrying Marina in the Distant Finale, which itself is noted by the artist to be purely symbolic.
• Spiritual Antithesis: In many ways, this story acts a a counter to the Black History with the ELS Quanta especially acting as the Antithesis to the Turn A. Both are machines born from the best of both human and alien tech, but where as the Turn A comes to represent humanities refusal to learn for their mistakes and giving up on them as a species, the ELS Quanta instead becomes a symbol of hope for humanities future, confident that they will be able to overcome their flaws and to evolve into something more. This even reflects in their abilities. The Turn A is a machine of wholesale and indiscriminate destruction that sweeps the past under the rug, the ELS Quanta is a machine of resurrection, communication and understanding that blazes a trail to the future.
• Tear Jerker: Andrei's death, despite his previous status as The Scrappy. The accompanying music was what really did it, though.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: Descartes was actually billed as the fifth main character alongside the Gundam pilots, and is played up in advertising as a counterpart/rival to Setsuna if not the film's main antagonist but he's assimilated half-way through the movie. Which ties into...
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: Given the early focus on Descartes and his uber-mecha Gadeleza it seems kind of surprising that neither reappears in the movie once the pair have been assimilated.
  • Could be Fridge Brilliance on the ELS' part, as they might think that the machine and its pilot are one. Descartes was noticeably hateful towards the ELS, which might have influenced them.
  • Unlike Nena, we never meet who’s related to the people whose DNA Johann and Michael are from and if they’re somehow connected.
• Too Cool to Live: Graham. Though he gets better in the Mobile Suit Gundam 00 Festival 10 "Re:vision" manga.
• Visual Effects of Awesome: The whole movie's animation quality is the best in the Gundam franchise yet, and the battles among the best choreographed ever. Special mention, however, must be given to the flashback of the ELS' origins.
  • So far, only Gundam Unicorn has ever come close to it in terms of visual effects.
• The Woobie: Saji and Louise may have settled down, but they're still having a rough time of it due to the latter suffering the effects of being turned into a pseudo-Innovator.

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