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Darth Walrus
Feb 13, 2012

Guy Goodbody posted:

Orga just made an alliance with McGillis. I am super interested to see what Mika does if he lands in the middle of a fight between McGillis and Earth Tekkadan

It's pretty clear that someone important from Tekkadan is going to die (either Aston, Takaki, or both), and at that point, the alliance between Tekkadan and McGillis is totally loving gone. All according to keikaku for the Arianrhod faction, I guess.

While Gaelio clearly hasn't been briefed on all the specifics of Rustal's plan, I wonder how much of the general outline was his idea? Having McGillis be brought down by his closest allies does have a certain dark poetry to it - and judging by the redesign of the Kimaris, he's all about dark poetry.

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Darth Walrus
Feb 13, 2012

gyrobot posted:

McGillis is gonna see through the ruse and goes for a decap strike. Provided Dante got the info that Ratface is using them and Galan is the hammer Tekkadan wouldturn their guns on his forces and the big question is who shoots ratface, Takaki or Aston?

Remember that Takaki deeply respects Galan. If he takes a shot for him (or if Aston does), then that's the alliance over and done with.

Darth Walrus
Feb 13, 2012

Lemon-Lime posted:

They're all going to survive just fine when Mika drops and clears up the misunderstanding, but not before someone working for McGillis murders Galan and probably gets shanked or at least wounded in return, prompting the Tekkadan rank and file to dislike McGillis even more and eventually causing some kind of crisis of confidence in Orga further down the line.

I'm assuming that McGillis himself will ice Galan, but I realise it's not a hard guarantee - he's coming across as an Ali al-Saachez/Yazan Gable/Rakan Dakharan figure, and those are notoriously hard to kill.

Speaking of, I'm pretty hyped for his big fight next episode. He's up against the finest pilot in the solar system flying a top-of-the-line modern machine specially customised for his fighting style, and he's in the PD equivalent of a Zaku I, but the show's treating it like it's actually going to be something other than a seconds-long stomp. That generally means things are about to get interesting.

Darth Walrus
Feb 13, 2012

gyrobot posted:

Even if its revealed that he planted the bomb that wounded Nadi and Makanai? drat there is going to be some conflicted loyalties.

Now looking in retrospect this arc was a trip down memory lane for Aston and Takaki. Remember their first time they had to work for adults they were so abusive that even Ali would say "cool it. These kids would fight better with carrots over sticks." Galan was the kind of general that while harsh at least commended them at face value where as Kudal and Sasai was as abusive as they come. It will take some strong mental resolve to tell themselvss to let go and realize that Tekkadan is their future and they have to realize that deep down Galan is scum.

I can't see many ways for people to discover that information and get it to them in time, anyway. Tekkadan have a lot of lies to unravel, and not much time to do it in.

Darth Walrus
Feb 13, 2012

chiasaur11 posted:

Well, I think it's pretty clear that just starting a war between the SAU and Arbrau is one of the goals. Remind the power blocks they need Gjallarhorn there to keep them from screwing up again, bloody some noses, make McGillis look bad for later plays. Bloodying Tekkadan is a side benefit. It's pretty clear that Rustal and Galan, while running a good game, still have Tekkadan listed as pretty minor pieces.

It's been a constant advantage of Tekkadan's, really. Everybody but McGillis has underestimated them, and the insider intel's actually helping them here. Radice doesn't think much of Tekkadan, and that's leaking into his assessments. They're a bunch of attack dogs, hardly people. Easy to control once you get the leash, and not really a major problem. (Forgetting, or not having heard, that the organization was founded when people shoved third division too hard, and they got shoved back.)

So, yeah. Rustal wants to hurt them, and hurt their bond with house Fareed, but it only matters as much as it costs McGillis rep and resources. The fact he might still have some mercs after isn't ideal, but it's perfectly acceptable.

Figure this is much more an opening move than a masterstroke.

But yeah. McGillis is going to try to keep Tekkadan, I think, even if the relationship gets hosed up. Because McGillis is one of those rare rat-bastards who can see someone acting protagonical and go "Okay, yes. I need that on my side."

I don't think he'll have a choice. Tekkadan is tribal as gently caress, and doesn't take casualties well. Which is the other important goal of this play by the Arianrhod faction - manipulating the shape of the war to drive a wedge between McGillis and his biggest ally. There's a reason they specifically subverted the vulnerable Earth Tekkadan when they set up their little war, along with taking out Makanai, one of his more significant political allies. This isn't just about discrediting McGillis, but isolating him so they can go in more easily for the killing blow.

Darth Walrus
Feb 13, 2012

MonsterEnvy posted:

Galan seems to wants to kill McGillis in battle here. But Rustal seems to have been fine with simply making him look bad. (Though I doubt he will mind if McGillis meets a tragic end.)

His precise motives are unclear, but he mainly seems to be trying to weaken and isolate him enough that he can openly go after him without major repercussions. Killing him is absolutely on the agenda, given how he's been investing in Gaelio as a weapon, and Galan just saw an opportunity and accelerated the plan.

Darth Walrus
Feb 13, 2012
I did like how every single villain (well, except Radice) got a little humanising moment. And it's kind of amazing that McGillis is still carrying around little bags of chocolates even in the middle of a nightmarish guerrilla war.

Seems like Lafter/Akihiro is actually going to end up being a thing, too.

Darth Walrus
Feb 13, 2012

Cao Ni Ma posted:

The nice guys die first in the battlefield!

Oh you seem to be a pretty nice guy yourself (crushes cockpit with jaws of DEATH)

I like that Eugene is taking his ship captain role when not inside the ship. Pompadour guy was so loving confused when he got the order to put her through comms.

I also liked the implication that that wasn't just a one-liner - Akihiro was genuinely appreciative of the advice, even if he didn't intend to follow it. Given Aston's little speech, what Galan said probably cut pretty deep for a former Human Debris.

Darth Walrus
Feb 13, 2012

Psycho Landlord posted:

I halfway expected Mika to go mildly apeshit on McGillis, given that he was the one that killed Aston, even if in self-defense. Their conversation near the end seems to imply he either gets it, didn't see it happen and no one told him, or, more distressingly, he doesn't care.

They were poking over the corpse of the guy who'd set them against each other at the time, and McGillis was briefing him on what (little) they'd found. I think he got it.

He really wasn't happy about having to save McGillis when he found him with a Landman Rodi wrapped around him, though.

Darth Walrus
Feb 13, 2012

Tamba posted:

You're both saying the same thing, space Guts is referring to Akihiro

It was a joke about how Mika is way, way more Gutsy.

Darth Walrus
Feb 13, 2012

Lemon-Lime posted:

:yeah:

I'm glad McGillis continues to not be a villain, also.

That scene with Orga didn't ring giant honking alarm bells for you? Seriously?

We do actually seem to have moved back towards McGillis being our final boss, with the Arianrhod faction's actions being motivated by justifiable fear of him rather than lust for power. We've also gained more in a chain of evidence about what his true motive is. To run down what we know for certain so far:

* McGillis wants Bael, a Gjallarhorn secret.
* Bael is a Gundam. This Gundam, specifically.
* Bael (or Baal) is the first and mightiest demon of the Ars Goetia, which all PD Gundams derive their names from.
* McGillis is very heavily inspired by Char Aznable.
* Char Aznable was secretly Casval Rem Deikun, the son of the philosopher who began the spacenoid independence movement, Zeon Zum Deikun.
* When Zeon died, his supporters, the Zabi family, perverted his memory and ideals into the driving force for a fascist state, the Principality of Zeon. They may or may not have killed him in order to make that happen.
* McGillis is suspected not to be Iznario Fareed's biological son, just an illiterate pauper he picked out of the gutter for unknown reasons.
* The founder of Gjallarhorn was Agnika Kaeru.
* The Seven Stars, the families who rule Gjallarhorn, are descended from the Gundam pilots who founded it. The family names are Fareed, Issue, Elion, Kujan, Bauduin, Baklazan, and Falk. The Kaeru family is not on the list.

That's what we know, and while it isn't confirmed that it all ties together, it creates a compelling pattern. My bet is that Bael was Kaeru's Gundam. For reasons that are this far unclear, he and his family do not have any power in Gjallarhorn, and his comrades and their descendants rule in their stead as a college. Bael is an empty throne, the symbol of a king for an organisation that doesn't want one. Iznario, I suspect, wanted to gain the power of the Kaeru name for his own, and so he tracked down the last, fallen descendants of his family. McGillis was supposed to be a pet Kaeru, a political pawn with no real power who nevertheless gave his adoptive father a great deal of prestige amongst the Earth nobility. However, he decided he wasn't cool with that, and is now striving to attain that empty throne, bringing together Gjallarhorn under a single family name once more as the unrivalled ruler of the solar system. Rustal knows this, and is loving terrified of McGillis - and I bet, given his fondness for meritocracy (as opposed to the corrupt aristocracy that Gjallarhorn has decayed into), that it's for the good, sensible reason of not wanting a supreme dictator with no checks on his power when the collegiate system is safer and more stable.

I think we can now assume that by taking down the last check on McGillis's power, Tekkadan is going to let in an even greater monster than any they've faced before. He's promised to make them the kings of Mars, but what, exactly, might he ask them to do with that power?

Darth Walrus
Feb 13, 2012

Cao Ni Ma posted:

I dont think McGillis is acting out of a lust for power. McGillis is turning out to be a romantic more than anything, he seems to be compelled to bring back Gjallarhorn back to its founding principle and Bael probably being the suit used by the person he idolizes points to that.

Ultimately for all his scheming, McGillis is still thinking like a child. Which is ironic given what Rustal said. Rustal and his mates has so far been painted by the show a whole lot worse than McGillis has had this season so far. Certainly they are the "bad guys" of this arc according to the show. Not necessarily for the rest of the show mind you, but right now its clear that this is what the show wants us to see.

You don't think that totalitarians can be romantic? The story of a rightful king coming to save the world from its decay becomes much more appealing when you think you're that king. Also, if you don't know how to spot a classic Mephistophelean temptation scene when you see one, I don't really know what to tell you. That bit where he literally offered Orga the world was ominous as all hell.

I don't think that the Arianrhod faction has all the answers here. They're high up in the aristocracy of Gjallarhorn, which makes them part of the problem - they're too insulated from the human cost of their machinations. True reform can only come from people with connections at and understanding of all levels of society (hi, Kudelia). That doesn't mean their goals are wrong, though - just their methods. It's also worth noting that so far, they've all come across as warmer and more human than McGillis - despite their deeds this season being less pleasant, they've come across as way more personable. I mean, just look at how the gang are treating Julietta versus how McGillis treated Ein. Rustal puts his reputation on the line for his subordinates and mourns their deaths even when he's not supposed to, Iok has a comedy routine going with Julietta, and Gaelio is basically the world-weary but kind team dad. Even when they're doing bad things, we're encouraged to think they have a good reason for them. By contrast, we've already seen how McGillis uses and discards people through a string of spectacular betrayals after a whole season of playing the nice guy, so we're trained to distrust him even when he appears to be a force for good.

Oh, and jesus christ he wants a bunch of murderous, easily-manipulated child soldiers to run a planet for him.

Darth Walrus fucked around with this message at 18:53 on Nov 20, 2016

Darth Walrus
Feb 13, 2012

paragon1 posted:

A good portion of the people who've tried to manipulate Tekkaddan are dead, so I wouldn't exactly call it easy.

Well, the actual up-front manipulation isn't that hard, and you're always going to find some schlub who thinks they can survive what happens next. Hell, McGillis kind of got away with it once in the last arc of S1.

Darth Walrus
Feb 13, 2012

Hunt11 posted:

You mean the whole thing with Carta? That was more him using them as an easy way to dispose of Carta then anything else.

Also the setup with Ein. He fed them to the single nastiest weapon in Gjallarhorn's arsenal without warning in order to secure a propaganda victory.

Darth Walrus
Feb 13, 2012

Tae posted:

I'm really not sure if it was a metaphor or the helmet really is a piece of Ein that galy is wearing on his head.

I think that the 'admirable person' Julietta was referring to was Ein's mentor. As in, Gaelio himself.

Darth Walrus
Feb 13, 2012

Blhue posted:

or it could be the guy who mika killed in like the second episode. The one who provided Ein's one character trait, wanting revenge against Tekkadan?

Crank? Gaelio's answer would make even less sense then. He pretty clearly was making a wry joke about how he's only mostly the person who helped Ein now.

Darth Walrus
Feb 13, 2012
I don't think the main concern is that McGillis will just randomly betray them (though he sure is fond of discarding allies to further his goals). I think the main concern is what he'll ask of them until they feel forced to betray him. Guy's imposing a tiny, top-down chain of command on the entire freakin' solar system. That never ends well.

Darth Walrus
Feb 13, 2012

Lemon-Lime posted:

McGillis betraying Tekkadan would be the single most boring choice they could make, so I'm going to continue assuming that McGillis genuinely means well for Tekkadan and Mars and will stay a morally ambiguous good guy until the end.

I'd disagree, both because it would give the show a really uncomfortable message (yay benevolent dictators, yay hard men doing hard things), and because enough of the show has been set up to indicate that he isn't the answer the solar system needs that him staying as a hero would feel like a betrayal of what's gone before. Basically, there's three issues here.

* Season Two doesn't exist in a vacuum. We've seen what happens when McGillis invites useful, powerful, ideologically-aligned friends to help him reform the solar system, and it isn't pretty. Seriously, he had two friends in the Seven Stars and a boatload of blackmail material on his dad (the Alaya-Vijnana facility alone...). He didn't need to go with his elaborate plan at the end of Season One if he just wanted to fix Gjallarhorn - he could simply have shared a couple more secrets with Gaelio and had him do it. All he accomplished was eliminating the reform faction and taking all their power and influence for himself. In a choice between helping the world and helping himself, we already know which way he jumps.
* Even if he's being completely on the level about what he wants to do and why, that means he wants to install himself as the supreme, unchallenged autarch of the solar system and have one of his vassal-planets run by a bunch of child soldiers who solve all their problems through violence. Seriously. Tekkadan. Running a planet. Do I even need to stress how much bad poo poo has the potential to go down here?
* We already have someone being set up as a worthy leader to fix what's wrong with the solar system. If McGillis is on the level and everything works out fine, what's left for Kudelia to do?

On Nobliss, I'm not sure he'll end up being an enemy of Tekkadan just yet. He wants the solar system to descend into bloody mayhem so he can make fat stacks of cash. Going by his stated goals alone, Mchillus is setting himself up as a pretty promising chaos candidate, and that may well be enough to win Mr. Gordon over.

Darth Walrus
Feb 13, 2012

Midjack posted:

Would Teiwaz necessarily be unhappy with one of their subsidiaries being given a planet? If Tekkadan were to turn their backs on Teiwaz because FREE MARS YAY KUDELIA then sure, there's a conflict, but otherwise it's great for Teiwaz if they have a base inside the asteroid belt courtesy of Tekkadan.

It means that one of their subsidiaries would have significantly more power than the main organisation does. That's never good news for a crime syndicate's stability, and would have pretty much everyone else in the organisation clamouring for their blood before they get sidelined. That guy in the yellow jacket we've seen at the meetings this season is probably going to make the first move - his fears have just been justified in the most spectacular way possible.

Darth Walrus
Feb 13, 2012

Ka0 posted:

McGillis stands to gain nothing at tihs point from setting up tekkadan. If he's pushing for absolute control of Gjallarhorn he needs all the help he can muster.

McGillis wants control above all else. If he can find a way to take Tekkadan's power for his own, rather than having to work with them as relative equals, he'll do it. Remember, if he just wanted to reform Gjallarhorn, he could have just stuck with Gaelio.

Darth Walrus
Feb 13, 2012

Zebulon posted:

This has been my interpretation. Gaelio only wanted to rebuilt/fix Gjallarhorn from within, while McGillis has made it pretty drat clear his intent is to burn it all down and rebuild it without the baggage of its existing aristocracy. That'd make Gaelio part of the problem and an obstacle, while Carta similarly was so fixated on her position and status that she'd never go for what McGillis thinks is necessary. As I remember he did express some regret over sacrificing his childhood friends for the purposes of that goal, but no real remorse for it. As far as he was concerned one way or another they would have to go along with the rest of the families.

This does, however, continue to raise the question of why he wants to destroy or sideline the Seven Stars. It could be just anger at the corrupt system they've perpetrated, it could be an ancestral grudge for what they did to Agnika Kaeru and his family, or it could be simply because they're obstacles to his total rule of the solar system as its rightful king. In fact, it being a little of all three could be quite plausible.

Darth Walrus
Feb 13, 2012
Colour images of the Vidar's back are finally out, and... poo poo, that really is a third Ahab reactor. Gaelio really wasn't kidding about his new ride being special. :stare:

This also raises the possibility of entirely modern twin-reactor machines down the line, which would be quite something.

Darth Walrus
Feb 13, 2012

Neddy Seagoon posted:

The stripe? The Grazes have two on the front and one on the back as well.

Yes, exactly. That's what a modern Ahab reactor looks like - a big, glowing drum with two (optional, design-dependent) little ones up front. Calamity War reactors look roughly the same, but have rings of vents rather than glowing strips. Most frames have just a single big drum, but the Valkyrie frame has those two little extras at the front, and its modern derivatives, the Graze, Gerail, and Reginlaze, have followed suit.

Darth Walrus fucked around with this message at 12:20 on Nov 23, 2016

Darth Walrus
Feb 13, 2012
Oh dang, the Vidar has both toe and heel-knives.

Gaelio may be less of a Char than McGillis, but he sure does understand the importance of keeping up his kicking game.

Darth Walrus
Feb 13, 2012
And that was a... uhh... nice? bit of McGillis reminding us of why we're not supposed to like or trust him at the end. :stonk:

Darth Walrus
Feb 13, 2012

Zebulon posted:

Yeah. I'm going with the interpretation that he's such a sleazy gently caress he's manipulating a literal child over, you know, being a bit TOO much of A Char. Because I think even IBO really doesn't want to go with the alternative. But that's still a very good reminder that he is in fact the sort of sleazy gently caress who's probably planning to manipulate a literal child into doing something to bring about an internal civil war and/or worse. With a pretty good chance of said child dying in the course of it.

I'm not crazy in remembering that the few other times she's shown up it's been pretty clear that she's just a means of consolidating power and he's never showed any signs of doing anything but humoring her for the sake of that power consolidation and keeping the, uh, marriage intact, right?

That's the long and the short of it, yeah. He's just, uh, a bit too good an actor.

Darth Walrus
Feb 13, 2012

Neddy Seagoon posted:

Naze's gonna throw himself on his own sword, just like he promised he would.

Yeah, and this, I think, is one of the reasons why we're not supposed to believe that argument was a clean win for Amida. The other reason, of course, is that the previous episode delivered a highly effective counterargument to everything she said. The Turbines are, in many ways, an idealised, perfected form of Tekkadan, but on this level, the two are identical - nobody's forced to work for them. Joining simply means you're under their protection, and you only have to work if you want, fight if you want, bang the boss if you want, and so on. If you don't want, you're free to leave, no hard feelings, and you'll get an excellent severance package that'll set you up for life. The catch, of course, is that nearly everyone does want, because their boss is so nice and charismatic that he blinds them to the risks they're taking. If this single, fallible human being reads the map wrong and asks everyone to jump off a cliff, they'll do it - not because they're ordered to, but because they love and trust him more than they trust themselves. The previous episode was ominous as gently caress - not because Takaki quit, but because only he quit when their boss signed their futures away to a monster. Now Naze has tied the Turbines to that monster as well, and put his own head on the block as collateral... which leads us to the other problem - both organisations are supported by a single, fragile pillar. Orga is a Tekkadan's guide home. Naze is the Turbines' actual home. If either of them goes, there's nothing left, and the vulnerable people they're sheltering are exposed to the big, bad universe once again.

Our boy in the yellow coat may be an rear end, but I feel he has a better understanding of the above than any of the Turbines do. Sometimes, you can't just trust your subordinates to look out for themselves - you have to make them.

Darth Walrus
Feb 13, 2012
Remember that Almiria is his fiancée, not his wife. He's only the Bauduin heir so long as they don't call the marriage off. Keeping her sweet is very much in his personal interest. That's also at the heart of how he's manipulating her - he's played into her romantic fantasies enough that she wants to skip the lengthy engagement process and get married right now, so when she asks him about his motives, he deflects by telling her that when he's done, child marriage will be A-OK.

It's the most transparent, thoroughly evil piece of manipulation he's done so far, and it casts serious doubt on how likely he is to follow through on his promise with the other bunch of children in his life. Tekkadan are no more likely to become kings of Mars than Almiria is likely to bang her fiancee. Couple that with Isurugi's ominous words about how the reformation can't be stopped now, and it's pretty obvious our kids have been roped into some Real Bad poo poo.

Darth Walrus
Feb 13, 2012

BizarroAzrael posted:

Neither Vidar nor the Vidar disappointed, that fight was great and it's a really cool suit, possibly my favorite so far in the series, along with the Rebakes and Kimarises.

I think it's interesting that every time Julieta makes an observation about Vidar/Gali's behaviour or personality he says "oh really?" like he doesn't really know himself or something, or that he's playing a part some of the time. Or maybe it's something about his state of mind, perhaps memory loss from being beaten by McGillis.

Well, that's no coincidence - every version of the Gusion and Kimaris, including the Rebakes and the Vidar, were designed by the same person.

Ippei Gyobu really is G-Reco's greatest contribution to the franchise.

As for Gaelio, he's an outcast nobleman who was tricked by his friend into destroying all he loved, and an implied cyborg who was raised to believe cybernetics were blasphemy. He's clearly going through a period of serious readjustment. It's pretty cute how he and Julietta are bringing out the best in each other, though. :3:

Darth Walrus fucked around with this message at 12:36 on Nov 28, 2016

Darth Walrus
Feb 13, 2012
Wow, geez, I stuck my head outside this thread for a bit, and while the greater internet is always lined with dumb/weird opinions, this episode has brought it allllll crawling out. :barf:

Darth Walrus
Feb 13, 2012

Raxivace posted:

You can't drop a post like this and not tell us more.

Let's just say that a lot of dudes don't see what's wrong with McGillis's scene with Almiria and leave it at that.

Darth Walrus
Feb 13, 2012
Like, it's not even just the (overt) paedophiles. People are going 'he's being nice and supportive to the small child he's been saddled with, how is that bad?'.

Some people just don't get subtext, I guess. Or context. Or most other forms of text.

Darth Walrus
Feb 13, 2012

Neddy Seagoon posted:

Out of curiosity, is there anyone who still thinks this season isn't going to end with Tekkadan getting its poo poo kicked in and an obscene amount of deaths?

Me, because I'm pretty sure that'll happen around the halfway/two-thirds mark. poo poo is coming to a head fast, and we're not even ten episodes into the season.

Darth Walrus
Feb 13, 2012

Gridlocked posted:

It's really hard to read that as not being :aatrek: as gently caress.

I blame Japan not considering how creepy that is to a western audience.

lol

No, Japan and most writers of Japanese fiction aren't cool with grown men seducing nine-year-olds either. This was supposed to be seriously uncomfortable- IBO is all about the horror of children being exploited by cynical adults, so to remind us that McGillis is a seriously bad person, they had him cynically exploit a child in the most direct and creepy way possible.

Darth Walrus
Feb 13, 2012

Microcline posted:

To be fair he hasn't had much screentime in S2 yet, and the dumber parts of his character are from after S1 took a nosedive into The Adventures of Princess Kudelia and her Noble Knights.

Given the direction S2 has taken with re-framing things from S1 I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt and suspect that we may start seeing a monster beneath the nice guy facade.



I wouldn't put money on it though. This is a Gundam second season of a show that's known for starting strong and then falling apart.

We're not going to see a monster. What we are going to see is what he's always been - an older Orga, a good, well-intentioned person who took way too much upon themselves and was naive and weak-willed enough to accidentally turn their movement for liberation into a personality cult that cannot exist without them. He tied himself to the worst deal in history, and that one mistake means that he'll die and his girls will be right back to square one all over again, being abused and fought over by a bunch of petty, cruel warlords.

Darth Walrus
Feb 13, 2012

Midjack posted:

Tekkadan goes co-ed if that happens and Orga is still alive.

Almost certainly - the problem is that Naze would only get executed if (when) McGillis starts loving Tekkadan over or turning them into monsters for his goal of interplanetary conquest. If things get that bad, there may not be much Tekkadan left to go co-ed, and they'll be an even less safe home for the Turbine girls than the wreckage Naze left behind.

Darth Walrus
Feb 13, 2012
To nobody's great surprise, the Flauros will be the third suit in the Ryusei-Go line.

Also, we have manual scans for the Vidar - interesting details are that the rapier's blades can be detonated, the control system is unique and does not use the Alaya-Vijnana System, and while that is a third reactor on the back, its true purpose is mysterious - mobile suit frames, even Gundam-types, can barely contain the power from two reactors, so a third one should by all rights be unnecessary.

Maybe it has some sort of Trans-Am mode?

EDIT: Someone who could read Japanese said that the third reactor disrupts the Vidar's unique signature, making it impossible to tell which of the seventy-two Gundams it is. Guess that answers that, then - it's there to disguise the fact that Gaelio and the Kimaris are still up and running. There's still decent odds on it having something to do with that mysterious control system, though.

Darth Walrus fucked around with this message at 00:58 on Dec 3, 2016

Darth Walrus
Feb 13, 2012

Neddy Seagoon posted:

The problem is they're not just plain old power reactors, they work like Gundam 00's in that they need to synchronize to function properly. Getting two to work in tandem is something obscenely complex, and just bolting a random third one onto a 300-year-old Gundam simply should not work.

Well, Gaelio has one of the best R&D departments in the solar system working with him to make it work, so getting all three reactors to power the Vidar at once is theoretically plausible. However, when the manual itself says that would accomplish little other than making the suit fly apart, that's probably a sign that it has some other purpose, whether it be as a simple disguise or something grander.

As for it being the reactor from the Graze Ein, that seems unlikely but not totally implausible. It's much smaller than the standard Graze reactor, and a different colour - dull red rather than bright yellow. That probably means that it's a special custom unit, but it may just mean that they stripped down the Graze Ein's reactor until it was nothing more than an electronic noisemaker - the change in colour might be because of its far weaker output.

Darth Walrus
Feb 13, 2012

Cao Ni Ma posted:

EP35 is throwing a massive wrench at the direction the show was heading and I cant say anyone could have expected it but it still fits with what we know.

In particular, there goes all that speculation about who's going to be piloting that MA Tekkadan dug up - though I'd bet cash money on McGillis taking it and harnessing it for his own ends when the dust settles.

Still, though, that final shot. Holy poo poo. :stare:

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Darth Walrus
Feb 13, 2012

Ethiser posted:

This is a really cool direction to take the show.

It is going to be real good when one of the Tekkadan kills the mobile armor and it becomes the Eight Stars.

Assuming the Seven Stars are still around by the time that McGillis is done unleashing robot hell upon the solar system. Seriously, he expressed satisfaction that it's Tekkadan's fate to 'make the winds of (the Calamity War) blow again', and then was totally baffled when Iok assumed he wanted to destroy that MA. We definitely got us a 'burn it all down' villain here.

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