Nightmare Fuel / Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans

His lack of reaction is telling of what this series entails.

This page contains unmarked spoilers. You Have Been Warned!

In a span of fifty episodes, the Iron-Blooded Orphans franchise has proven to be the darkest incarnation of Gundam, resembling more of something akin to Call of Duty or Gears of War as opposed to an otherwise futuristic space opera-like series, and it's not hard to see why.

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In General

• The mobile suit weapons used in the show are a general example. Rather than the traditional Gundam Energy Weapons, IBO uses kinetic weaponry like solid blades and shell-firing guns to give its combat a more visceral edge. It works, too - giant-robot-sized conventional weaponry is terrifying. As an example, most Gundam shows give the main suit a beam rifle that obliterates enemy machines in pretty pink explosions, and a pair of beam sabers that neatly slice enemies in half (and make pilots vanish in a flash of light). The Barbatos, on the other hand, has a gigantic artillery piece as its main gun that pounds enemy suits until they go eerily still, and its melee weapons are a colossal mace that crumples anything (or anyone) it hits like a tin can (and has a Pile Bunker attachment for impaling enemy pilots) and a smaller but still-huge sword that can and does slice pilots in half vertically. This is against other giant robots, mind you - the effects of mobile suit weaponry on tanks and infantry are shown, but best left unmentioned. All of the above is conveyed through a combination of lovingly-detailed mechanical (and occasionally human) carnage and the odd unnerving Gory Discretion Shot. IBO knows War Is Hell, and wants you to know it too.
  • The warfare in Gundam Iron Blooded Orphans is a living violation of the Geneva Conventions.
• Mika will do anything Orga says. Anything. Including putting bullet holes in two CGS First Squad personnel and casually killing old man Crank from Gjallahorn in a 'honorable' duel. Equally creepy is how he remains in perfect 'whatever' mood all the time while doing so. Maybe he is used to fighting for survival, or maybe he just didn't know the implication of what he has done.
  • Episode 13 manages to up this, with the pilot of the Gundam Gusion crying out that Mikazuki is out-right enjoying killing people. Mika seems to find this true on some level or another; before killing the guy in his usual nonplussed manner. However, he is later shown to be actually somewhat disturbed by the implications.
  • Episode 22 is a good example of how scary a character with no moral compass of their own is. He made a promise with Orga, and he will make damn sure the latter hold onto it at any cost. And Episode 23 follows up with showing how frightening it is when a guy like that is pissed off. Three mobile suits are deployed to block Tekkadan's path. None of them are alive by the time the episode ends.
  • Come Episode 26 (season 2) and he still doesn't ask questions, simply accepting whatever work Orga presented to him. A fatal flaw to have in the world riddled with war.
• The recurring concept of "Human Debris." Individuals whose lives literally have no real value to others, sold off for cheap labor or other means for a quick buck and easily replaceable in the eyes of those that own them. As Orga expresses, the Human Debris in the CGS could've left after the reformation to Tekkadan, but they'd likely gain no other efficient jobs. Often, those with the title are orphaned or abandoned kids; the second episode itself outright shows a montage of various children in this position, starving and forced to survive for themselves with one even collapsing to the ground in a likelihood of death. Other Gundam series have been Harmful to Minors with plenty of Child Soldiers, often as certain character backstories, but this series repeatedly and explicitly spells out just how awful the whole scenario is for both the heroes and others they encounter.
  • Worse still, Human Debris are so ingrained with both worthlessness and survival/loyalty to whomever they serve, they will still attack even when presented with rescue efforts, forcing Tekkadan to continually kill them even when they know who they're fighting. They can't go easy on them, because they'll be killed if they don't think of those attacking as an enemy, hardening the kids in Tekkadan to the point that even Merribit acknowledges they don't have a choice but to fight.
  • Oh, and Season 2 just strengthens the case, when it turns out that the human debris of Tekkadan throwing down with Gjallarhorn just made the Human Debris problem worse. The market for child slaves to be turned into murder machine expanded, and we're shown in montage children being bound and escorted by men with guns
• Gjallarhorn. Many examples of what they're willing to do lie below, but the mere concept is terrifying as is; they're essentially the Earth Federation equivalent from older continuities, with all nations united under one banner, except it's ruled by an aristocracy with an iron fist that will eliminate anything in their path. Corruption is commonplace, to the point that it's considered rare to have individuals with a sense of honor and dignity, and they even fully condone lesser rights for Martians and colonists so that they're easier to oppress. The very first episode of the series shows them sniping Tekkadan kids in the head with brutal efficiency, and obliterating their Mobile Workers with glee thanks to their Mobile Suit superiority in their attempts to kill one publicly-known young woman advocating for Martian rights.
  • As the series goes on, especially into Season 2, the corruption goes deeper and deeper, and their research and development produce things like turning human brains into system cores for Mobile Suits to allow them to cheat Alaya-Vijnana systems and devastating weaponry and Mobile Suits. It doesn't matter who their victims or targets are, they will mercilessly slaughter anyone in their path because they're a threat to their power. It reaches the point that even the Hero Killer Rustal, who singlehandedly turns the last part of the series into a Bittersweet Ending bordering on Downer Ending, ultimately reformed and restructured Gjallarhorn both out of necessity from all other ruling parties being killed and out of sheer efficiency's sake due to the ruthless chaos and suppression just making everything worse.
• Just the whole deal with the Alaya-Vijnana system. Installed by riveting to the spine in Meatgrinder Surgery conditions without anesthetic. Mother dick.
  • It's enough to make one of the character's in-universe nearly throw up at the very concept, and people who come from Earth don't even consider anyone with cybernetics human due to Gjallahorn's propaganda after the Calamity War.
  • And it's noted that Mika went through the procedure three times.
  • Episode 6 shows that not even the youngest members of the group have escaped having it installed.
  • Episode 7 shows that even a member of Teiwaz, Jupiter's Mafia, finds this horrific enough that he was willing to hear them out upon learning they were forced into the operation. Just as well, when Maruba begins ranting about how they should kill Tekkadan, he demonstrates just how little empathy he has for the kids when he heavily implies he ditched the children that failed the procedure due to its 40% chance of failure. Earlier in Episode 3, Orga spelled it out to Kudelia that those who failed probably could never walk again for the rest of their lives. And in episode 27 we see exactly what happens when it fails, and it is horrific. The implant is rejected by the body, becoming inflamed and the veins around it turn red and can be seen through the skin. The kid lost his ability to walk and was dumped outside of the slums after being told he was useless garbage, driving him to suicide.
  • Maruba in general with the Alaya-Vijnana system, considering he bought a large number of Human Debris kids just to forcibly implant it in just about all of them so they'd be efficient workers, and then still be willing to completely throw their lives away for his own benefit. The whole no anesthetic part alongside the fact that the adults regularly beat the kids over the smallest things was likely him trying to enforce fear or cheaping out altogether on bothering with using medical supplies for such things. It should be no surprise that the space pirate Brewers are even worse to the kids they did the same things to.
  • It's also shown that a successful implanting is only the beginning - coupled with the "space rat" mentality and general lack of self-preservation means that one of these kids could easily overload their brain if hooked up to an overly powerful or badly-tuned system, just for following orders. By the end of ep. 25, this happens for real.
  • Aside from the concepts of Alaya-Vijnana system, actually using it in battle can bring grievous harm to the pilot if you're not piloting any grunt suit or Mobile Workers; it was mentioned that the host body/pilot has to sustain the flow of large amount of "information" from the "mechanical body", which Gundam-Frame units and battleships will provide: Eugene nearly faints from "guiding" two battleships at once, and anyone not Mikazuki, Akihiro or Shino can't even bear those from the Gundams for a second. But then things go up to eleven: The pilot can voluntarily increase the amount of information-intake for greater controllability of the Mobile Suit, in exchange of "exchanging" parts of your body to do so. Just see what Mikazuki suffered after his "deal" with Barbartos in Episode 25, and now watch Episode 38......
• The CGS child soldiers in general. Apparently one of those innocent little younglings thought having an Alaya-Vijnana system is cool. It's clear that they know nothing about the world at large.
  • The sniper shots shortly before the battle began in the first episode, and Danji biting it near the end. Was somewhat expecting it due to the nature of the show, but at the same time, an extremely jarring couple of moments.
  • The whole exposition scene about Mars' orphan problem in general. Especially the implication that while boys can hire themselves out as muscle, at least a few girls make a living as underage prostitutes. It's implied in Episode 10 the latter would have happened to Atra if she hadn't run away. At ten, she was too young to do the 'real' brothel work, but if she'd stuck around...
  • Worse, the suits on Earth are probably too busy squabbling among themselves to hear anything about all this...
  • From episode 13; just what kind of upbringing have they had to where they don't know what a funeral is?
• Mika is strong enough to lift a grown man by his throat and strangle him to near death with an emotionless glare in his eyes in the fourth episode, without even understanding what was going on. Sakura says he always gets like that when angry.
  • And that wasn't the last time. In episode seven, after a drawn-out and frustrating duel, Mika has that same, unhinged shrunken-irises glare◊ when he finally catches up to his opponent. If Orga hadn't called off the battle right then and there, there would have been blood.
  • He gets that same look again when he finds out that Gjallarhorn were responsible◊ for what happened to Atra.
  • In episode sixteen, Mika effortlessly shoulder-carries Kudelia from the carnage of the anti-Gjallarhorn protest. It's quite possible that being raised in Mars' gravity has altered his strength.
• From the backstory of the setting: in Episode 4, we get a look at a map of the globe as it is divided into four economic blocs, as it has been since the Calamity War. On this map, we can see that most of Australia's New South Wales province, including Sydney, is a perfectly circular watery crater. It's not directly stated what happened, but odds are we haven't seen the last of that sort of destructive power.
  • As referenced in the WMG page, it's only a Freeze-Frame Bonus to begin with but we can guess what the hell did that to Sydney (It's not the first time, after all) - the real worry is where the rest of the colonies went, considering so few are referenced and what a huge bloc they were...
  • Season 2 Episode 10 revealed the possible answer: rampaging Mobile Armors with beam weapons, and to give an idea of how frighten they are, killing them is how the order of the Seven Stars are determined. And it seems there are others out there.
• Rustal Ellion himself, really. He's got so many resources on top of his sheer wicked intelligence and he can and will use anything and everything at his disposal to advance in his goals. Not only does he defeat Tekkadan but he tarnishes them as villains thanks to his successful smear campaign, forcing them go on the run and live new identities. And to cap it off it's possible he knows who they really are and only lets them live because it's convenient for him. Yep, Tekkadan can only live at his mercy before he decides to have them purged if he deems fit and no one would bat an eye. He's far less of a Gundam character and more like Big Brother.
• How about Barbatos? The Gundams here are named after Demon Lords and Archdevils in Ars Goetia.... And yes, you can pull a Deal with the Devil. Such as asking for more power in return of surrendering your body parts to it. You don't need to press buttons for it, just words and intent is enough. Are they sentient, by any chance?

Season 1

• In episode 10, we learned that Atra originally worked in a brothel (thankfully just as a chore-girl), where she was beaten and bullied by the older women and Denied Food as Punishment. Eventually she ran away, but couldn't find anywhere else to go and her living situation was worse until the manager of the store took her in.
• Episode 12 does not hold back in showing exactly how Human Debris can die. Poor Brewers pilots...
• Episode 13 showcases us the ending of the battle between the Barbatos and Gusion, where Mika shoves in his mecha-sized katana at the Gusion's cockpit, killing the enemy Kudal Cadel—who was responsible for Masahiro's death. Before the Gusion shuts down, however, we are treated to a lovely, relatively detailed shot of him bisected lengthwise◊ (albeit with less blood than expected).
• Episode 15:
  • Gjallarhorn soldiers severely beat Atra. That's already disturbing enough, especially since Atra looks younger than she is, but then Atra tells Biscuit that she could handle the torture because it wasn't much worse than the beatings she received as a small child. The girl has one hell of a disturbing past.
  • Kudelia's situation at the end of this episode. Her lifelong retinue turned out to be a spy, and Tekkadan still prioritizing their own survival over liberating Mars, meaning she is completely stranded without anyone knowing the wiser...
• Episode 16 has Kudelia witnessing the deaths of the protesting workers. She witnessed not just the hopeful protestor, but also Fumitan that Died in Your Arms Tonight. Kudelia's breakdown was so bad that Mikazuki had to drag her away from the massacre scenery.
  • The massacre of Dort 3's union workers, who, despite carrying arms, were simply wanting to negotiate, strikes a very disturbing chord to anyone familiar with the fact that throughout history, attempts at peaceful protests have been met with the full brunt of state-sanctioned violence. Just looking at the quite-lengthy catalog of cases in The Other Wiki is enough to give one nightmares.
• Episode 17 continues to show just how well things are going for the workers: Gjallarhorn is REALLY cracking down on them, and Dort 3 is having the worst. When the workers on other colonies realize their boss died for nothing, and negotiations were useless, they raid factories and ports to gather up Mobile Suits and weapons to strap onto shuttles so they can support the other groups. Once they head outside, they meet the main Gjallarhorn fleet, and decide that they should fight. Unfortunately for them, Gjallarhorn already expected the theft of the equipment, and instead sabotaged all of the weapons and Mobile Suits: engines stop dead even though they're fueled, missile launchers fail to fire, and the entire group becomes sitting ducks. What follows is nothing but Grazes firing and smashing helpless enemies while they're unable to fire back. Gaelio is disgusted by how brutal and cowardly this is.
  • Add to the suck of the situation that the WHOLE THING was basically orchestrated by Gjarlhorn so they could have an excuse to put down the dissidents using force. THESE PEOPLE WOULD PROVOKE OTHERS INTO VIOLENCE JUST SO THEY COULD HAVE AN EXCUSE TO KILL THEM LATER.
  • Note how they did not crush the protesters right away. Gjallarhorn deliberately let the uprising draw out and placed only some censoring on media, all just to set an example for other colonies. Had Kudelia not intervened, they might have succeeded.
• Episode 19 has Eins' cockpit being impaled. At best he lost his legs.
• In Episode 21, Biscuit's death was pretty gruesome: half of his body crushed under his mobile worker, deaf from trauma, and slowly and painfully dying.
• Mika and Orga's confrontation in episode 22 may carry some disturbing implications, which the framing seemed to reinforce. Mika goads a grieving Orga into continuing the mission, causing Orga to proclaim in front of Tekkadan that they have to fight to kill, partly out of revenge for Biscuit's death, partly because they both have concluded that they're facing a "kill-or-be-killed" situation. Merribit points out the recklessness of the decision, but is ultimately ignored. The most unnerving part? Mika overriding Orga's weakly uttered objections and asking Orga when he can kill and destroy. It makes his dependence on Orga- which had been occasionally highlighted previously- seem downright toxic. Time will reveal Mika's actual thoughts on the matter, but for the moment... wow.
• Episode 23:
  • Mikazuki's fight against Carta. Between messily stomping one of Carta's remaining subordinates, the young kids' decision to stay and watch the spectacle over Merribit's objections, and Carta being reduced to begging for her life when Mikazuki decides to finish her off, it's the creepiest fight in the series so far. Equal parts creepy and sad is the slow, drawn out manner of Carta's death - bloodied, delirious from pain, talking to someone who isn't actually there. And her eyes don't even close in the end. They just darken as she goes completely silent.
  • Rather disturbing is Mika's takedown of her first Mook: slamming him with Barbatos' mace while the man was still outside his suit, leaving nothing more than a red stain on the snow about 100 yards that-a-way.
  • The second Mook doesn't fare much better, either. After getting Barbatos's massive mace launched into his mobile suit's upper body, he gets to watch helplessly as Barbatos's foot comes down with the Gundam's full weight right onto the cockpit. When Mikazuki lifts it off, the chest of the mobile suit is caved in and blood is trickling out in several directions. Again, we can't see the body, but it's probably a case of You Do Not Want To Know. It doesn't help that Lafter, of everyone else, said that it was gross.
  • We finally get to see McGillis's darker side:
    • Ein's cybernetic upgrades have finally been revealed: he's been converted into a part of hideous mobile suit called the Graze Ein. Ein seems perfectly happy with this, but Gaelio is appropriately horrified. What's worse? Gaelio knows he ordered it himself.
    • McGillis sends Carta on a mission where he fully intends her to die and is implied to be plotting Gaelio's death as well. To make things even creepier, McGillis admits to himself that his friendship with Gaelio and his confession of love for Carta were both real.
  • Gaelio's gradual breakdown over the course of the episode. By the end, he is forced to comfort a dying Carta as the light fades from her eyes, all as she calls out for McGillis. His grief combined with increasingly close shots of Carta makes the scene disturbing to watch in a way other deaths of the series were not.
• Episode 24: Ein himself finally have his wish granted and delivered his Roaring Rampage of Revenge against Tekkadan, unlike Mikazuki, he tends to deliver One-Hit Kill, but still:
  • Azee was nearly offed by a vertical slam with the Graze Axe.
  • Lafter was drilled by Ein's Leg Drill, we can even get to see red liquid- either blood or the Hyakuri's hydraulic fluid- being spilled.
  • Shino was hit by Ein's throwing axe, and then impaled by a Pile Bunker. We get a glimpse into Shino's cockpit after: he's in a rather gruesome state, but is somehow still (barely) alive.
  • Ein coming very close to killing Kudelia (plus Atra and Orga when they tried to shield her) all at one go with his mobile suit's axe? If not for Mikazuki and Gundam Barbatos rushing in to block the death blow at the very last possible moment, all three characters might just end up as blood spatters on the road.
• McGillis in Episode 25. A man should not look that calm while he is killing his life-long only friend. Telling Gaelio that his sister Almiria is in safe hands is just making it worse.
  • The episode hinted that with growing distrust in Gjallarhorn, each economic blocs are now back at building their own military again. McMurdo and Nobliss took it as a sign of job opportunities. This can only means one thing...
  • Mikazuki's blood-red eye is both terrifying and nicely symbolic, since both he and the Graze Ein have one red eye.

Season 2

• Season 2's ending sequence has a Freeze-Frame Bonus right at the end while Mikazuki's holding his hand in the air. It turns into that of a Mobile Suit, particularly Barbatos', which is already bad enough considering he can only use his right arm while it's active. The implications aren't exactly settling.
• The beginning of season 2 (Episode 26) reveals that due to Tekkadan's spectacular performance, all the paramilitaries recruit or outright forced even more children to become soldiers. And in some cases, make them into more Human Debris. Imagine what happened to Akihiro's brother, but on a larger scale...
  • The roadside bomb is quite alarming. True to McMurdo's word, the world has gone back to fighting again.
• In Episode 27, we finally get to see the result of a failed Alaya-Vijnana surgery in the form of Hush's old friend Bruith. In addition to being paralyzed from the waist down, his back is a hideous mess of bruised and veiny flesh, with the AV implant itself protruding like a raw and bloody polyp.
• Episode 29 ends with Tekkadan rounding up Terra Liberionis members (the group which hired Dawn Horizon to assassinate Kudelia)—and then unilaterally executing their leader. While the guy is a Dirty Coward who's more trouble than his worth, it's still quite unsettling to see him gunned down so casually and so callously (like a scene out of The Godfather films). Kudelia herself thinks (being aware of the operation) that it's pretty much bordering on Moral Event Horizon at this point (if it hasn't already).
• Episode 32 shows us two horrific cases of pilots being squeezed inside their damaged mobile suits to their deaths—Aston and Galan Mossa. Aston's body and head is visibly mangled (not to mention Impaled with Extreme Prejudice), while Galan (Asshole Victim he may be) had the dubious privilege of being forced to blow himself up just as the cockpit is closing in around his body and head.
  • This episode also really drives home just how numb the Tekkadan boys are to the idea of killing. When debating how to handle the traitorous Radice, Mikazuki interrupts and casually points out that the simplest and obvious solution is to kill him. Takaki volunteers to be the one to pull the trigger since he was the one most personally effected by Radice's betrayal.
• Episode 35 reveals more about the Calamity War. Turns out the war wasn't between nations or even people, but against Mobile Armors. Granted, Mobile Armors have always been Death Incarnate mechs throughout the Gundam franchise (with a a few exceptions here and there of course), but Iron Blooded Orphans, as with everything else, kicks it up a notch with what can only be described as the unholy spawn of Metal Gear RAY and the T-800. Basically, Mobile Armors this time around are AI controlled weapons that caused great destruction three hundred plus years ago, such that a beleaguered mankind invented mobile suits just to combat them (they still managed to kill a quarter of the human population). And at the end of the episode, one of these Mobile Armors are awakened. To make it more frightening, the armor shoots out a beam (as in the form of a Wave-Motion Gun, not Frickin' Laser Beams) as the episode ends. What really sells the last part is the noise the beam makes, not one of those pleasant pew-pew noises a Gundam fan would be used to, but a loud droning noise not all that dissimilar to a large Tesla Coil.
  • For reference, unlike every other Gundam setting, the Post-Disaster setting does not have beam weapons. No faction, no Mobile Suit design, no matter how advanced, uses beam weapons or anything like them. Not only does this thing have a beam weapon, it's an incredibly powerful, long-range, and sustained beam.
  • The first time the Mars Mobile Armor activates, it tears a kilometers long rift on the ground with its beam cannon.
  • Before Episode 35, audiences often were curious about why Mobile Suits and Gundams were so absurdly strong and powerful compared to conventional weapons. After that, audiences started wondering if they were strong enough.
• Episode 36:
  • Everything about these Mobile Armors are horrifying. They are programmed to kill all life to the point that McGillis states its more a primal instinct. They have drones called Plumas that are not only numerous but will heal the Mobile Armor and the Mobile Armor itself can create more. These weapons killed a fourth of the world's population in the Calamity War - which, short of the obvious casualties the Moonlight Butterfly or the 7th Space War would have caused, is arguably the highest kill count ever inflicted in the Gundam franchise.
  • We get to see the it's Beam Cannon in effect when Ride tries to shield the people behind him. While he's lucky his mobile suit's armor protected him from the blast, we see the blast also go around him and exterminate the people behind him. This is when the Fridge Horror sets in: the Hashmal's beam weapon isn't necessarily meant to destroy mobile suits, since nanolaminate armor reflects it. Instead it's meant to cause as many civilian casualties and as much collateral damage as possible.
• Episode 38:
  • As awesome as Mikazuki's fight with Hashmal is, Mika himself goes into a terrifying berserker rage. The main character slightly raising his voice to tell his opponent "that was close, you jerk!" would not normally come anywhere near qualifying for this trope, but by this point, viewers are used to both Mika's icy calm and the horrifying brutality he can unleash without losing his cool. Seeing his Tranquil Fury become even a tiny bit less tranquil is a sign that things are about to go really, really badly. The amount of blood coming out of him from his eye and mouth doesn't help things. Nether does how torn up Barbatos looks after the battle and showing a steel support coming so close to impaling Mika.
  • Barbatos steals the entire right half of Mika's body as payment for defeating Hashmal. And Mikazuki is glad because it means he won't have to figure out what to do when he doesn't have to fight anymore. Mika's willingness to sacrifice himself for Orga's sake has never been so disturbing.
  • Seeing Barbatos fight at full power inspired McGillis to take more drastic measures in reforming Gjallarhorn. The look on his face when he tells Isurugi this is terrifying. McGillis previously murdered his two best friends and turned Ein into a monster for the "greater good" and he's determined that he hasn't gone far enough.
• Episode 40: During Naze and Amida's last stand against Iok and the Arianrhod fleet, there's a shot of the damage the Hammerhead is taking, including the lounge area burning up along with the nursery. And on top of that you have Iok specifically targeting weaponless escape craft containing Turbines non-combatants, some of whom may have been children.
  • A quick reminder of how Gjallarhorn holds itself immune to its own rules: Iok made his entire case by framing the Turbines for possession of the illegal Deinsleif railgun; the only long-range weapon capable of piercing nanolaminate armor. His fleet then proceeds to deploy said illegal railguns en masse to slaughter the Turbines fleet.
  • A small scene during the bombardment where one of the Teiwaz members (and possibly more that weren't shown) tries to make it to the escape shuttles after the craft the pierced, only to have the blast-doors slam shut right in front of her eyes trapping her in the now leaking spacecraft.
• Episode 41: Lafter's assassination. She wasn't killed in battle or in a mecha - she was window-shopping in a toy store. The fact she was killed just minding her own business makes this horrifying as this could easily happen in real life.
• Episode 42: How cold Tekkadan is becoming. In their fight against Jasley, when he started using human debris. Zack asked if Chad and Dante were okay with fighting them being former debris themselves. They are both confused why they wouldn't be. Zack is reasonably horrified by their lack of reaction. Then again, Hush brings up a good counterpoint: they can't exactly afford to be worried about something like that now. If they do, THEY get killed. It's not a comforting truth to make them feel better about it, but they really don't have the luxury of being soft in their current situation.
• Episode 43:
  • The reveal that Gaelio is using the leftovers of Ein's brain and Alaya-Vijnana system as a system to pilot his gundam. A mechanic states that due to this system, Gaelio has access to a Gundam's full power without any cost.
  • We are also treated to another revelation that McGillis was physically and sexually abused when he was a child, and in turn, what made him now as an adult. Just imagine the implication that he is also betrothed to Gaelio's little sister.
    • That being said, given how disgusted he was about what happened to him and how he treats Almaria with respect and dignity and seems to reject her crushing advances, it seems clear McGillis has no interest in anything like that with her.
  • Notice all the boys are blonde hair. Notice that back in Season 1, there is a blonde-hair boy next to Fareed (aka now)[1]. Do the math.
• Episode 45: Rustal shows just how low he'll sink if it means keeping the status quo: he has one of his men infiltrate the revolutionary fleet, fire a Dainsleif at the Arianrhod fleet - with specific orders to actually land a solid hit on something so it looks genuine - then commit suicide, just to give his own fleet the justification to return fire with at least 30 Dainsleifs of his own.
• Episode 47, the fallout of Rustal's labeling of Tekkadan as criminals:
  • When Iok was trying to shoot down the Turbines' lifeboats to prove his ruthlessness to Rustal, we get a prime example of the very ruthlessness that Iok was trying to live up to. In his desperation, Orga, thanks to McMurdo, contacts Rustal and begs him to at least take him so as to spare the rest of Tekkadan, most of whom are children. Rustal flat-out refuses and vows to crush every single one of them to make them an example and so as not to look weak for simply going after McGillis and just taking Orga. Rustal's tone almost seems like he's even rubbing it in Orga's face.
  • Earlier in the season, we see Cookie and Cracker in their school dealing with Tekkadan's reputation as heroes despite this coming at the cost of Biscuit's death on Earth and that the other kids see such as cool, even as it causes them grief. Now that the tables have turned, the other students are now content to talk crap about them and their indirect ties to Tekkadan behind their backs. Cookie overhears it and tries to confront them, but is stopped by Cracker, who recognizes that any reaction from them would do them no favors, though she herself is likewise hurt by people turning on them for something they themselves had nothing to do with. Doubles as Tear Jerker.
• Episode 50
  • Usually the results of the Gusion's scissor-shield are left to the imagination. We get to see Iok get crushed frame-by-frame, culminating in a sudden gout of blood right as the screen goes black. It's as satisfying as it is horrifying to watch.
  • Mika's final rampage manages to be both blood boilingly awesome and spine chilling at the same time. For the first time the viewer sees Mika deliver a smile during combat as he proceeds to tear the enemy mobile suits apart like a wild beast. All peaked when he is shown to tear out the cockpit of one of them and crush it in his hands with blood visibly dripping out and the machines head dangling of to the side. All backed by the Lupus living up to it's name by producing a haunting howling noise. Is it any wonder that the onlooking Gjallarhorn soldiers were collectively shitting their pants over this display?