Mobile Suit Gundam 00/Awesome

"Setsuna: "No, it can't be...!"
 * Setsuna in episode 3 -- Can anyone else barring other Child Soldiers who hold their moms in high regard dismember an HRL mech all while being blinded by its arm?
 * Sure. it is even easier than normal, since you are sure where the target is (right in your face!)
 * It's a bit of a running gag among some Mecha Fandom circles that the only way for a character to become popular is to kick a Gundam while in a "normal" mecha (most notably Graham and Sergei). This, of course, originated from Char Aznable doing just that in Mobile Suit Gundam.
 * Graham in episode 18. Prior to this point, most fans pretty much assumed that Gundams were invincible, unbreakable war mechas capable of destroying dozens of enemy mechs at once. Graham goes ahead and proves them wrong by challenging the Throne Eins as it attacks a civlian factory all by himself. He proceeds to drastically outmaneuver it and cut off its arm using its own beam saber, making him the first enemy ace to inflict serious damage against a Gundam, and does so while managing to emerge from the fight completely unschated (save for a bit of internal bleeding he suffered caused by the sheer amount of g-force his maneuvers produced).
 * This wasn't the first time a Gundam was endangered. When Graham and Lockon faced, Graham had probably beaten Lockon in CQC, latter being a sniper. Also even earlier, Sergei had a nice, tight grasp of Exia, nearly ripping of its head, with a nearly ancient Mobile Suit. Though, it WAS the first moment a one-on-one match resulted in the Gundam taking actual damage, which makes Acre one of the best pilots in the series.
 * Ali in episode 22 and 23, especially the latter where he did something that would make Mu La Flaga cry: killing off a Gundam main supporting character (in this case Lockon). Gundam SEED Destiny was giving Sunrise a reputation (albeit undeserved) for not killing main supporting characters off unless they come Back From the Dead but Ali did just that to cap off his 5 named character killing spree!
 * Possibly the best part of the killing spree was when Ali met the Trinities. He arrives alone, without the element of surprise, and proceeds to shoot Michael dead before he can blink, disable Johann, and then lets him get back into his Gundam because he wasn't enough of a challenge otherwise. After that, Ali jacks a supposedly un-jackable Gundam and, with less than two minutes of experience with it, utterly bitch-slaps Johann with it, all while explaining that this is nothing personal but that he's really enjoying it anyway. Let's face it: Ali may be a Complete Monster, but he's pretty much made of awesome.
 * Hell, not just that- Ali's quite frankly insane piloting skills enable pretty much whatever he does on the battlefield to be equally insanely awesome. He fought a Gundam to a standstill in a mook suit!
 * In Season 2 he returns, piloting his own Gundam, and proceeds to totally own Setsuna and Tieria AT. THE. SAME. TIME. It takes the arrival of the other two Gundams just to convince him to retreat.
 * Crowning moment of evil: Ali burning down a whole country to...? Lure out the Gundams? Meh, probably just because he can.
 * No, the CMoA comes right after that.

Ali: * turning to face Setsuna* "Oh, but it is!""

"Setsuna: "Exia, objectives found. Determining that the three Gundam Throne units are assisting warfare. Beginning armed intervention. Exia will dispatch the targets!""
 * Lockon in episode 23, when he instructed Haro to take the wrecked Dynames back to base, then took aim with his off eye (as he had lost his dominant eye two episodes before) and hit Throne Zwei, destroying it, while standing on a GN cannon drifting in space. Too bad he did it right before his death.
 * Even before that, the fact that he managed to corner Ali, a melee specialist, in close combat saber battle is a feat in itself. If Daryl hadn't intercepted him with a suicide attack and revealed his blindspot, he might have even killed Ali.
 * Allelujah/Hallelujah in episode 25, where.
 * Setsuna gets his in the same episode, when he
 * From the second season, the moment when Setsuna activates the 00 Gundam and proceeds to kick ass in the name of Celestial Being. Beautiful green poetic spinning kickass in a sword-gun combination of death.
 * Don't forget the background music as the 00 launches. The melancholic yet strangely hopeful violins sent shivers down the spine.
 * I'd say Episode 3 of Season 2 counts as one for Sumeragi's planning, as well as all CB crew involved. It's honestly a far cry from their earliest operations. A rescue operation on a prison facility containing Allelujah, with the location obviously set up as a trap by A-LAWs. I'll say this: It involves diving their mothership into the sea FROM ORBIT, Gundams smashing face first into walls, etc etc. All within 5 Minutes. It must be seen to believed.
 * In retrospect, I think it might also count as a Big Damn Heroes moment too... Maybe.
 * Graham Mr. Bushido shows up in an Ahead, and shows Setsuna what a Japanophile can do.
 * To clarify: The 00 rises majestically from the sea, intimidating the A-Laws officers to no end. Setsuna then does a dive straight out of Gundam Seed, only to be hit by a flying tackle from Bushido Man's Ahead right before he reaches his target. It was hilarious in addition to being AWESOME.
 * Soma proving that Allelujah is going to need more than a Gundam to take her on. The writers might actually get one for actually writing this scene, since most recent mecha series have Mass Produced mechas being worthless against Gundams or their equivalents. The Ahead being good harks back to UC Gundam series like Zeta Gundam; its really refreshing to see that.
 * Lyle Dylandy finally dropping his Obfuscating Stupidity facade and going Guns Akimbo on the kill bots to avenge the deaths of his fallen comrades, all while ignoring Soma Peries. It also took him away from the border of the Scrappy Heap.
 * The episode right after the above, in which Lockon proceeds to go for consecutive headshots against A-laws' forces while flying parallel to a huge body of water below him, all while under fire.
 * Graham... er. Mr. Bushido in episode 8 of season 2, forcing Twin Drive 00 into Trans-Am and putting up a fight until 00's drives overheat and then... letting him escape. There's no honor in killing an enemy who's not at his best after all.
 * Immortal Patrick's return in season two. Just because he's still there and gets shot down right away again the next episode.
 * moment for Lockon: Due to his selfish actions Celestial Being didn't end up as planned but is still there to oppose the Innovators.
 * Saji finally gets one of his own during Episode 11 of Season 2. During an enormous attack on Celestial Being's asteroid base, he heads out alone in the 0 Raiser to aid Setsuna. Considering that he isn't even a proper member of CB, has virtually no combat training, hasn't even been taught how to fly a spaceship, and the only one helping him out is Haro, this marks a turn around into badassness.
 * Episode 12 of Season 2 gets one when we finally get to see the 00 Gundam operating a full power following the end of episode 11 mentioned above. Made especially awesome by taking out not one but two Innovator piloted Gundams proving that Celestial Being most definitely still has the Bigger Stick. Kicking Patrick's GN-XIII in the face was just the icing on the cake.
 * Actually that was Lockon punching Patrick's GN-XIII's head of, which strangely is the second time it happens to a GN-X model, the first time (also with Patrick) by an asteroid.
 * A non-mecha fighting moment a lot saw to be awesome: When Wang Liu Mei walks around calmly asking Ribbons why he is so shocked, in that smug know-it-all tone. Ribbons snapped, slapped her hard enough to put her on the floor and told her to know her place. There was lots of cheering in that scene, considering Wang had been working her way into scrappy status over the course of Season 2.
 * "With the name of, I will   you down!"
 * Can we just chalk episode 13 of season 2 up as a Crowning Moment of Awesome for the entire FUCKING crew of the Ptolemaios, most of the Gundam Meisters?
 * Especially notable is, for attacking an Innovator-piloted mobile suit with her shuttle. If she keeps this up, she may very well propel herself right out of the Scrappy Heap.
 * Though the scene is quite controversial, in this troper's opinion, episode 19 may count as either another crossing of Moral Event Horizon for or another Crowning Moment of Awesome when  Sure, this may remind people of that horrible crossing event, but hey, at least.
 * It may just be this one troper, but Season 2 strategies have reached the point where Sumeragi is racking up Crowning Moments of Awesome like it's nobody's business the, the battle around the   (particularly her  ), and the entire plan for   being ones that stand out.   is usually three steps ahead of everyone else on the A-Laws side, and even then Sumeragi is usually another step ahead of her,.
 * A-LAWS in general (and Kati in particular) gets one for episode 11, where her battleship force tracks Celestial Being to their asteroid base and proceeds to hammer it with missiles, and when Sumeragi launches the Gundams and the Ptolemaios II it turns out that was Just As Planned. Cue waves of Aheads and GN-XIIIs appearing to attack, followed by Bring's Garazzo attacking Tieria and Revive's Gadessa sniping the Ptolemaios II from a crazy distance. Setsuna has to use the 00 Raiser just to get out of there alive, which leads to his Crowning Moment...
 * During that battle, Bring further demonstrates the power of the Garazzo when, after deflecting a full-power blast from the Seravee's BFG, he charges in and grapples with it. Tieria is incredulous at the idea of Bring trying to match strengths with Seravee...until the Garazzo breaks Seravee's hands by bending them backwards. Among this troper's friends, that act thoroughly cemented Bring as the most Badass Innovator.
 * Tieria gets one in the latest episode, when he uses Seravee Gundam to
 * Graham gets one at the end of episode 15 when
 * Don't you mean
 * The 00 Gundam itself gets one in Episode 4 of the second season, where it rises from the ocean, and prompts an elite A-Laws commander to scream the classic phrase: "It's a Gundam!"
 * The whole bloody world gets one in episode 17 of the second season. In a scene reminiscent of Chars Counterattack, Celestial Being, Katharon, the Federation army, the coup d'etat forces, and even the A-LAWS temporarily set aside their differences and the war to cooperate in destroying falling debris from the collapsing orbital elevator that threatens to destroy the cities below it and claim many lives.
 * This Troper agrees. He got supremely awed just watching them go. Each of the three times he watched it too.
 * Video please...I am very excited by the promised awesome.
 * Here's a link to the official Youtube upload. Skip to 12 minutes in (since linking to a specific time doesn't seem to be working for whatever reason).
 * Sergei's half of Andre Smirnov killing Sergei was a Dying Moment of Awesome. He has a Season One suit, the Tieren Taozi, which doesn't have a GN drive or Beam weapons apart from a Beam Saber. Andre has an Ahead. He still lasts far far longer than anyone else in the series in that position.
 * 00-Raiser and its BFG BFS. 'nuff said.
 * Emphasis on the B. That beam saber was several kilometers long.
 * try several hundreds, if not thousands. it managed to cut the orbital ring while standing on. Earth. that has to be a record or something.
 * And we now have it on Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&list=E Ljt PZX 2 Og Sa 8&v=Ggy-fEkEdhQ#t=621s
 * Gotta say that Saji's determination was awesome in Episode 18. "I can't pull the trigger. I can only continue to call out to Louise... even so, I... I...!" Yeah, for the most part he's a complete wimp, but for once, he chose to get in the cockpit of 0-Raiser, he chose to enter the battlefield, and he chose to do his best at what he could do. The best thing one can say to him? Congratulations.
 * The music that kicks up right at that moment makes it all the more awesome.
 * You know you're pretty bloody awesome when you've just, he's socking you repeatedly in the face, and you let him do so before patting him on the back as he has an Heroic BSOD and absolutely breaks down.
 * Lyle and Setsuna's rescue tactic early in the episode. Pretty Bold.
 * Also I have to say that, in the same episode, foiling the Gundamjack attempt on the 0 Raiser is pretty much a CMOA for Haro.
 * You mean GARo.
 * Episode 22.
 * Also in the same episode
 * Setsuna gets another in episode 20 when
 * Also Lyle when
 * Exia going Trans-Am against Ali, which was reenacted in Super Robot Wars Z 2:Hakai-Hen.
 * Aeolia Schenberg gets a posthumous one in the same episode. Alejandro Corner and Ribbons have just taken over Veda, and Corner has killed Aeolia while he is sleeping in stasis. As Corner is laughing and thinking that he's won, a system trap triggers one final message from Aeolia, revealing that he planned for the possibility of betrayal and unlocks the Trans-Am ability and the true power of the GN Drives while entrusting the future of his plan and the human race to Celestial Being. Not bad for someone who has been out of action for two hundred years.
 * Setsuna and Tieria owning the Trinities as a team in a 2 on 3 handicap match. Whats more impressive is that up until this point, they never got along with each other nor did they ever use such formations together. Needless to say, the rest of the crew are surprised at this.
 * At the end of episode 18 of the first season, Setsuna engages the Trinities all by himself (Tieria joins him later in episode 19, as mentioned right above) because he senses that they are acting in ways that incite warfare instead of eradicating it. He begins the fight by shooting at Johann Trinity when he's not even within his visual range. Johann barely manages to dodge the shot. Setsuna proceeds to deliver the following monologue which may very well be one of the greatest Crowning Moments of Awesome in the first season:
 * At the end of episode 18 of the first season, Setsuna engages the Trinities all by himself (Tieria joins him later in episode 19, as mentioned right above) because he senses that they are acting in ways that incite warfare instead of eradicating it. He begins the fight by shooting at Johann Trinity when he's not even within his visual range. Johann barely manages to dodge the shot. Setsuna proceeds to deliver the following monologue which may very well be one of the greatest Crowning Moments of Awesome in the first season:

"Tieria: "You have brought disgrace on the name of the Gundam Meisters. And for that... you deserve ten thousand deaths!""
 * Tieria activating the TRIAL System in that conflict still remains one of this troper's favorite Tieria moments. He gets caught between two Thrones, they prepare to fire on him. He sheds the Virtue's armor, revealing Nadleeh, and both the Thrones fall out of the sky, completely deactivated. Sure, the attempt ultimately failed, but Tieria and Nadleeh actually looked terrifying for a moment there.

"H/Allelujah: "You're all so dependent on Veda. YOU DON'T HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO BEAT US ANYMORE!""
 * Setsuna, Tieria, and Lockon get on in S2 Ep 24. Lyle for  Part of this lay in the fact that Gundam 00 Season 2 had been a bit less than the last season since Ali's first defeat, and this was finally a suitable return to the epicness of the first season.
 * Lyle's moment here is particularly awesome for a simple reason:
 * And that it established he was the fastest draw in the wild west Gundam 00
 * Don't forget about Allelujah. For one single moment during the Trans-Am Burst, Arios is more than a battery, as he pulls out the Gundam Alex-style beam machine guns and proceeds to lay complete waste to the Gaga squads in the name of protecting Marie.
 * Saji gets his moment in Episode 24 of S2 when he finally pulls the f'ing trigger.
 * Setsuna vs. Ribbons, at the end of the series. There is something... symbolic about
 * From the technical drawings, this is also a CMOA for Ribbons; the Exia R2 may look like the original Exia (a Generation 3 suit), but lacks the external piping and other minor features that characterize that generation. In fact, it's more than likely that the R2 is a 4th Generation rebuild of the Exia (putting it in the same series as the S2 suits). All of this makes the battle that much more impressive: Ribbons held off (if only for a little while) a 4th Generation Suit in the original 1st Generation 0-Gundam.
 * This troper thinks Ribbons got one during that battle too. The 00 Raiser charges Ribbons' new Gundam with sword drawn, Setsuna boldly proclaiming that melee is his department. Ribbons responds to this by pulling a beam saber and swatting the 00 Raiser like a fly, sending it smashing into the Innovator mothership. You know you're awesome when you've just bitch-slapped the show's resident God Mecha.
 * Lockon and Allelujah/Hallelujah each get one for
 * Impressively, Lyle's best trick came with a single second of Trans-Am. He feigns destruction, waiting for Revive to close distance with his beam saber and lay down the finishing blow,  All while his Gundam was held together by spit and SHEER WILLPOWER. Good job kid. You've officially become Lockon Stratos.
 * In this troper's opinion, the most awesome part of that is
 * Allelujah/Hallelujah was lightly damaged, but he proceeded to totally OWN Hilling after bashing the crap out of her suit, tearing off her escape pod, and ripping her mecha in half, all while making a bitching epic speech on how weak the Innovators are for being so dependent on Veda, requiring Ribbons himself to actually take him down.

"Setsuna: "There's another one? It's a Flag... With a Pseudo Solar Reactor."
 * The final episode helped me to remember that, really, anything involving Hallelujah is composed entirely of awesome. Especially that evil laugh. Oh, that magnificent, sick, sexy evil laugh.
 * "AHAHAHAAAA! THE SUPER SOLDIER IS BACK!"
 * How about Patrick pulling a La Flaga trick?
 * They have the same English voice actors after all.
 * Patrick
 * Patrick
 * "Gundam Exia. Setuna F. Seiei. Clearing a way for the future!"
 * Followed by Falcon Punching the RX-78 into an asteroid and no more dialogue between the two. Finally, a Gundam final battle that does not involve lots of yelling about morality, and instead just letting your guns do the talking.
 * In fairness to other Gundam shows, Setsuna and Ribbons did yell about morality during the 00 Raiser vs. Reborns Gundam part of the fight.
 * Another one for Graham in the second season, during his fight with Setsuna in the Susanowo. He gets his ass handed to him, but then the Susanowo's helmet gets damaged, and you realize it's just a souped up Flag, and that Graham still remembers his promise from the first season.
 * In the first season Allelujah gives Sumeragi the location of the HRL's super soldier project base. Allelujah then makes the conscious decision to cross the Moral Event Horizon by killing everyone and everything in the base, why is this a CMOA? Because he did it knowing that he was committing a horrible sin and was fully prepared for the Karma Backlash that would follow, all in the name of making sure that contradictions like himself and Marie never occur again.
 * From Season 1 Episode 5 "A Gundam Meister is never alone!"
 * At the end of the show  finally earned their happy ending. God damn did they earn it.
 * Setsuna F. Seiei in Episode 5 of the first season. 'Cause nobody else has ever cut away the frikking clouds with a frikking sword.
 * Only to allow Lockon Stratos (Neil Dylandy) to snipe down the joints between the gravity blocks falling towards Earth.
 * This troper finds it disappointing that nobody else has mentioned the fight between Exia and the GN Flag. It may be short, but it is still a worthy CMOA.

Graham: "I've so wanted to meet you. I've wanted to meet you so much, Gundam!"

Setsuna: "That's a Beam Saber."

Graham: "I will avenge Howard and Daryl with this GN Flag!"

Setsuna: "He's hailing me... So it's you."

Graham: "What's this? You're that boy. It seems that our destinies have been connected all along. Indeed! WE WERE DESTINED TO FIGHT EACH OTHER! I FINALLY UNDERSTAND! IT WAS YOUR DISPLAY OF OVERWHELMING POWER THAT STOLE MY HEART. That feeling I had, could only be called 'LOVE'!"

Setsuna: "Love?"

Graham: "But if you go beyond love, it becomes hatred, just as people turn on each other when they take religious faith too far!"

Setsuna: "If you know so much about it, then why do you still fight?"

Graham: "You're asking a soldier why he fights? Don't be rediculous!"

Setsuna: "YOU BECOME TWISTED!"

Graham: "YOU MADE ME THIS WAY! THIS IS BECAUSE THE GUNDAMS EXIST! That's the real reason I'm taking you out. I don't care about the rest of the world. THIS IS MY OWN WILL!"

Setsuna: "Don't kid yourself. YOU'RE A PART OF THIS WORLD AS WELL!"

Graham: "Then consider this the voice of the world!"

Setsuna: "YOU'RE NOT! YOU'RE JUST FORCING YOUR OWN DISTORTED EGO ON OTHERS! And now I'm coming for you... TO CUT THAT TWISTED PART OUT OF YOU!"

Graham: "Well said, Gundam!" GN Flag and Exia impale each other. "You see Howard, Daryl... I've avenged you."

Setsuna: "Gundam...""

---
 * It's not just that battle that was awesome. It's the very existence of the GN Flag. Graham, lunatic that he is, rammed a Gundam engine into a Mook suit! The idea alone is pure awesome. And then he goes and kicks Setsuna's ass with it, just as the poor kids was celebrating defeating Alejandro Corner. We salute you Mr. Aker.
 * Dynames in GN Arms TYPE-D. The first UN-cruiser it destroyed, mostly. The beams MISSED THE TARGET, YET THE CRUISER BLEW UP ANYWAY!!! His death a few minutes later was a Crowning Moment Of Heartbreaking.
 * Hallelujah for his minor appearance about halfway through season 2, after they used 00 Raiser's Trans-Am to see if it worked properly: "Geez. Can't a guy get some sleep around here?"
 * But then, Hallelujah is made of nothing but Allelujah's inner animal, and as such doesn't give a damn about things like 'sanity', 'morals' and 'inhibitions'. Apparently, he thinks this is some kind of Super Robot anime, since he certainly does qualify as being as epic as many protagonists in Super Robot anime.

""Sorry, but I'm going to borrow your body for a moment, dude.""
 * Let's have a few from The Movie, shall we?
 * Hallelujah, master of Le Parkour.

"Marie: "Never give up, even at the end!"
 * Any time Descartes and the Gadelaza take the field, they essentially become Beam Spam Incarnate.
 * ...which is topped only by Gundam Zabanya in the final battle going Trans-Am and unleashing a literal rain of fire upon the ELS.
 * Doubles as a great Shout-Out to Gundam Seed.
 * H/Allelujah and Marie unleashing the Harute's "Marute" mode, and kicking ELS butt all over the place. The scissor bits are flying so fast they're almost invisible, and the Harute itself is darting back and forth across the huge battlefield, leaving a trail of explosions everywhere it goes.
 * Or, put another way, once the 00 Qan[T] enters the fray, everyone starts racking up Crowning Moments like nobody's business.

Lockon: "What she said! We are CELESTIAL BEING!"

Hallelujah: "Unlocking..."

Marie:"...the future..."

Allelujah: "...and tomorrow!""


 * The ELS's giant planetoid gets hit with the Celestial Being's giant particle beam... so the next time the CB tries that, they block it with an energy shield. They then do the same thing to the.
 * The Sol Braves squadron shows up to rescue Celestial Being in a Big Damn Heroes moment, and annihilates the attacking ELS swarm by flying in complicated looping patterns so that they can shoot down the ELS trailing each other. And Graham himself finishes off the last wave with a Wave Motion Gun sweep.
 * Tieria's entry into the movie. Setsuna, Lockon and Allelujah are hard-pressed trying to stop the ELS-controlled Europa, and the 00 Raiser is being assimilated. Suddenly, the two remotely controlled claws come in, tear away the contaminated arm and destroy it. The Raphael Gundam appears and docks with the claws, Tieria goes Trans-Am, and he proceeds to kill all the attacking ELS and decisively deal with the Europa.