Destiny_Gundam wrote:Maybe Saji will have a cameo in Code Geass R2. Deliverin' pizzas to C.C's door step.
Or, perhaps, mixing Kool-Aid. You know, for the Sajinistas at Ashford.
There are always Sajinistas.
Now, what R2 could use is a guest cameo from Prince Ali...
Think about it! He could suddenly appear in the middle of some skirmish in the desert, spout some insane gibberish in horribly-romanized Arabic, run as fast as a Volkswagen Beetle straight into a new 7th Gen Knightmate Frame and then violently explode, killing 3 members of the Knights of 12; Ironically, the 3 who scored lowest in the character popularity poles.
Well it seems like we finally have our masked villian a la iron mask in Graham who once again proves that a broken normal suit, the vacuum of space, massive injuries and your suit exploding are nothing in the face of plot needs.
"Long ago there were some who were considered mobile suit specialists, who were refered to as Newtypes. They were pretty much the most miserable lot of individuals you could imagine." Birgit, F91.
Dr.G wrote:Well it seems like we finally have our masked villian a la iron mask in Graham who once again proves that a broken normal suit, the vacuum of space, massive injuries and your suit exploding are nothing in the face of plot needs.
Graham wasn't shown to have his normal suit ruptured. There is a chance that a regular explosion may not do that. La Flaga was represented by just a cracked mask floating in space at the end of Seed. A Positron Cannon would obliterate any matter in its path. Graham was just subject to an explosion.
Dr.G wrote:Well it seems like we finally have our masked villian a la iron mask in Graham who once again proves that a broken normal suit, the vacuum of space, massive injuries and your suit exploding are nothing in the face of plot needs.
Graham was already Low-Budget Char, though. So WTF?
So in the end, Graham ended up with the mask. A lot of folks are crying foul about it, but seriously was it that much of a surprise?
I wouldn't go so much as to call him a penny-ante "Char", though. Sure, he is one, but from what we know so far, he only shares a few similarities to the Red Comet compared to our buddy, the Lightning Count -
Graham
- High Performance, Customized Mobile Suits.
- Blond Hair and other physical similarities.
- Gundam Pilot Antagonist/Rival.
- Amazing Skill in far less powerful suits than the Gundam.
- Extremely quick on the uptake and very decisive.
- Donning the Mask.
Zechs
- High Performance, Customized Mobile Suits.
- Blond Hair and other physical similarities.
- Gundam Pilot Antagonist/Rival.
- Amazing Skill in far less powerful suits than the Gundam.
- Extremely quick on the uptake and very decisive.
- Donning the Mask.
- Hails from royality.
- Has long lost sister who also become thrown into the plot.
- Rocks the color Red.
- Revenge agenda against the very organization he's aligned himself with.
I'm sure there's a million things I've forgotten, but you can already see who's the better dime store clone. There's still the mysterious incident "mutiny" incident in Graham's past that was vaguely touched upon by Joshua, not to mention what new elements we'll discover about him in part two. Yes he has less in common with Char (like Harry in "Turn A Gundam" for instance), but to me that is a great thing, allowing him to be a lot more different and less predictable from his archetype then Zechs, who was practically a carbon copy. With Merquise, he even exhibited the three phases of Aznable in the span one series and a few OVAs.
To me, the harder you bite someone's style, the more unoriginal and cheaper that makes you. I happen to like Zechs, but dammit, I only wish they took another route with him in the second half of Wing and created his own legend instead of keeping him in the shadow of His Holy Dopeness. Graham has been enough of a trend setter in 00 so far that there are better odds that the writers will go another route with him, with only a few homages to ol' Eddie Mass thrown in and not much else. Then again, I'm no psychic and I could be eating plenty of crow a year from now.
Then again, I already run that risk with all the greatness I expect from Saji. needless to say, I was elated to see him in the epilogue, kicking it off in grand style with a narrative of his letter to Louise. He's gained a bit more ambition over time and although we have no idea how this will play in future eps, the creative team behind 00 still intends on involving him somehow. With school/college behind him (allegedly) and on the way to his career, the odds of him becoming directly involved in the conflict have risen considerably. It's still uncertain that he'll become a pilot, but I'm damn sure that he and Setsuna will be reunited again and that might thrust him into some serious $h!t depending on how events unravel.
At the end of the day. I can only hope that he lives to see the closing credits and that he and Louise have a happy ending & the sweetest of reunions. An epic one that's on the level of Rain & Domon, but that's asking for far more than what should be expected, realistically.
Despite their lack of involvement in the 11th hour, Saji & Graham have been an absolute treat to watch in the Gundam series that has become the best representation of the franchise this millennium.
It's even better than the Zeta Movie Trilogy. That's right. I said it. ^_^
I think what people are really upset about, me foremost among them, is that 00 had been doing so good in avoiding the Gundam cliches and now we have yet another blond guy in a mask. At least they made him awesome WAY before he put the mask on and that it's also more of a Darth Vader thing than, "ooh look I wear a mask, that makes me mysterious!"
MBF-06/ZGMF-X12A Arbiter wrote:I think what people are really upset about, me foremost among them, is that 00 had been doing so good in avoiding the Gundam cliches and now we have yet another blond guy in a mask. At least they made him awesome WAY before he put the mask on and that it's also more of a Darth Vader thing than, "ooh look I wear a mask, that makes me mysterious!"
In the least the mask is way different than the usual mask
MBF-06/ZGMF-X12A Arbiter wrote:I think what people are really upset about, me foremost among them, is that 00 had been doing so good in avoiding the Gundam cliches and now we have yet another blond guy in a mask. At least they made him awesome WAY before he put the mask on and that it's also more of a Darth Vader thing than, "ooh look I wear a mask, that makes me mysterious!"
I think Darth Vaders mask was there to keep him alive not make him look cool... I would not feel cool wearing that garbage can on my head and breathing with a iron lung built into my body. I'm not 100% on that cus I don't really like star wars to the point that I want to remember anything about it. Another Point to keep in mind is that masked bad guys are a recurring theme in gundam just like the colors white,blue,yellow and red on all main gundams. Also looking at grahams mask, the small shadowy glimpse we got. It looks like a$$. Now he almost looks like the tin man with out the funnel thing on his head. I'm not gonna hate on the fact that he wears a mask now cus hes got a solid reason but damn if he walks around looking like the iron man or the tin man hes not gonna be on my top five anymore.
Also now that its not a spoiler to say this...
R.I.P Lockon Stratos
And Saji Live the dream.
MBF-06/ZGMF-X12A Arbiter wrote:I think what people are really upset about, me foremost among them, is that 00 had been doing so good in avoiding the Gundam cliches and now we have yet another blond guy in a mask. At least they made him awesome WAY before he put the mask on and that it's also more of a Darth Vader thing than, "ooh look I wear a mask, that makes me mysterious!"
Which is what would make it not be a Gundam cliche. Up to now, every masked man has worn a mask to hide their identity (Char/Zechs/Mu/etc) or out of pride/shame (Karozo, which is still basically the same motives as the other). We've never really had a Gundam character wear a mask to cover up actual scars or deformities, unless you count Ulube's faceplate as a mask. I presume the only reason Graham would have such a mask is to cover up scars from his fight with Setsuna, so that would make him stand out from all the Char types.
Chris wrote:I presume the only reason Graham would have such a mask is to cover up scars from his fight with Setsuna, so that would make him stand out from all the Char types.
I should have covered that too. If what happened to Allelujah is any indicator of what exploding control panels of mobile suit cockpits can do to your face, when combined with an up-close view of a blazing beam saber, Graham is lucky to be alive, let alone not have his entire face reduced to hamburger. And since the cellular damage to his epidermis is un-regeneratible (Jesus, is that even a real word?) by medical science, his only option at this point would be to cover it up or really terrible plastic surgery.
I think Graham picked the better option, but I'm with you, Areus, just wish a cooler mask was designed for him. They should have given a mirror faceplate a la Cobra Commander or something less "Man in the Iron Mask" looking.
Graham's Mask reminds me of a certain Dr. Doom actually.
I feel the comparison with Anakin/Darth Vader doesn't seem far fetched at the moment.
His increasing obsession with (mr.) Gundam has brought out the darker side of him so far.
I'm sure his obsession will be ignited again when Setsuna and the Gundams make a reappearance. After all, he's been cheated out of avenging HOWAAARD MAAASOOON for good...
I have to agree with SBR on 00.
It's just that Gundamn! entertaining!
Saji (and Louise) still being in the mix is something I'm looking forward to.
I can't imagine the director passing up the chance (either of) them getting to know Setsuna and Nena's (gruesome) history. That would be a real plotmover IMHO.
I noticed at the end in 25 how they didn't show Graham's hands when he was walking during that shot. So I doubt it's just his face that has scars. Maybe I'm overlooking this too much.
If he did indeed lose his hands in the explosion you can bet he'll have some sort of replacement, as some here have suggested for Louise. I mean, from what I gather, the Union doesn't exactly grow aces on trees so every man counts.
Yay for functional signatures!
THE OFFICIAL SAJI FANCLUB. PLEASE POST YOUR SAJI SPECULATIONS HERE
Question all! Why are we talking about Graham? This is the Saji thread after all.
Or did you all realise he's such a dull character and your loyalties have wavered? If so, there's a nice batch of Kool-aid over there I suggest we all try.
"In the end, the world doesn't really need a Superman... Just a brave one."
Ah ... because Saji IS Graham, from the future! It's clear that at some point he finds a time machine and goes back to take revenge, disguising himself as a blond Union pilot in the process. Remember when Graham and Setsuna encountered each other in the desert? Easy to be suspicious when you run into your old neighbor in a warzone when he has no logical reason to be there. Seriously though, let's get back to Saji talk. I do believe they're going to have him be in a mobile suit at some point in the series now. He did have a close relationship with Louise, who is rich, and who is seen with either Tieria or some kind of clone/robot sibling of Tieria so the connection can be made. I just wonder if he'll be with the new Earth Federation or somehow join CB after getting over his hatred of the Gundams.
Destiny_Gundam wrote:Question all! Why are we talking about Graham? This is the Saji thread after all.
Or did you all realise he's such a dull character and your loyalties have wavered? If so, there's a nice batch of Kool-aid over there I suggest we all try.
To be honest, I was extremely disappointed that all Saji ended up doing was working on a colony. I was secretly hoping that in four years he would have joined the millitary, discovered that he had an inate talent for piloting Union Flags (Union Flag, F-YEAH!) and become a totally badass Union commander. Then he would proceed to engage in epic duels with the Gundam Exia a la Graham Aker, and redeem himself for doing nothing of relevence to the changing of the world the entire first season.
But alas... it is not to be...
Thundermuffin wrote:SETSUNA: There is no Tomino in this world.
Destiny_Gundam wrote:Question all! Why are we talking about Graham? This is the Saji thread after all.
Or did you all realise he's such a dull character and your loyalties have wavered? If so, there's a nice batch of Kool-aid over there I suggest we all try.
To be honest, I was extremely disappointed that all Saji ended up doing was working on a colony. I was secretly hoping that in four years he would have joined the millitary, discovered that he had an inate talent for piloting Union Flags (Union Flag, F-YEAH!) and become a totally badass Union commander. Then he would proceed to engage in epic duels with the Gundam Exia a la Graham Aker, and redeem himself for doing nothing of relevence to the changing of the world the entire first season.
But alas... it is not to be...
I thought it was actually okay the way Saji ended up in ep. 25. Once again, the director is breaking the Gundam norm. In previous shows, a character like Saji would've joined the fight in about episode 10. It was refreshing to see that trend broken with Saji.
I know this will cause Soul Bro to kill himself, but I actually think Louise will play a larger role in world events in the next season, instead of "his man Saji". It'll being interesting to see how Louise's role in the world will affect Saji, he'll probably join up with her.
Oh well, at least we have a six month break from him.
The Equation of the Robot Apocalypse:
The Admiral + Flashlight = Dead Robo
B.A., M.A., PhD,
The Yoshiyuki Tomino School of Film.
"You draw'em, we kill'em!"
About Saji I can see him staying a civvie throughout the series. He followed his dream and summoned some grit to do it. It would be nice and kinda different for the series especially if they made him a tech of some sort (maybe investigating CB by technology rather than by looking for the founder)....
Talking with my good friend after Ep 25 about the only way to get him involved with the previous Meisters (and about the only way to screw him up anymore [you get a lot tougher after facing tragidies. I know that from experience]) would be for Louise to get jaded/warped/hateful in the next 4 years (fitting now with her losing everything she seems to be the type that Celestial Being recruits. [To prevent that from happening to anyone else maybe???]....) fly a gundam type mobile suit and have her crash on the station and have Saji be the person to rescue her from the suit.
Poor Saji that is what I see happen to the guy.... It would make him come to terms with the gundam hatred and deal with how much he loves her while tearing him apart on the inside and reopening the old wounds. Then again for the big time fans of Saji in a MS they did kill off a good pilot and his suit wasnt destroyed.
I know if I found out the person I loved worked for the people who I think hurt/killed the people I loved I'd be nuts....
That is my 2 cents.
Best taunt to use against a necromancer:
"Don't run. Death should be a LEARNING EXPERIENCE for you!"
