A retcon and a question

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Dark Duel
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A retcon and a question

Okay, just thought I might as well get started here, and there are two things I wanted to cover.
Now, I have for quite a long time now been working on a general outline for an altered Gundam Seed Destiny, the purpose of which was to address the numerous flaws the series had in my opinion, including but not limited to Shinn's character misdevelopment from angry young protagonist to Durandal's lapdog and the hijacking of the show by Lacus and her clique.

Now, I decided to start this topic now because as preparation to write the first chapter, I began rewatching Gundam Seed Destiny, and I'm having second thoughts about what to have Shinn pilot.
Now, as of right now my outline has him piloting the YFX-999S ZAKU Splendor, which essentially fills the role of the Impulse as well as serving as an experimental prototype for the ZAKU series.
However, as I was watching Destiny I kind of found myself wanting to keep the Impulse, because it's such an awesome mobile suit, and because design-wise it's a more logical progression from the Impulse to the machine he upgrades to than from the ZAKU. Plus, if I put Shinn in a ZAKU, that would make Athrun's Saviour the only Gundam onboard the Minerva for much of the story.
On the other hand, putting Shinn in the ZAKU means that in Angel Down the Freedom gets taken down by a glorified grunt. So I'm sort of torn between the two...I want y'all's opinion? Impulse or ZAKU?

The other thing is something I wrote last week. It was originally part of a later chapter in the same story, but I decided it works better as a one-shot on its own, and it revisits one of the events of the final battle of Seed and gives a second chance to a character whom I felt got worse than she deserved: Please R&R
Last edited by Dark Duel on Mon Nov 07, 2011 2:42 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Rob DS Zeta
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Re: A retcon and a question

Keep the Zeek. If it bugs you to have it kill Freedom, then you could always have Shinn upgrade to the Impulse specifically for that fight.

Ultimately, it's your fic. Do whatever you think is best.
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Arbiter GUNDAM
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Re: A retcon and a question

I say go with the ZAKU. It'd be nice to have a protagonist fly something other than a Gundam for a change. Gundams don't synch up with the rest of ZAFT's design philosophy, I've always thought.
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Gyra Solune
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Re: A retcon and a question

I say the Zaku as well. Most of the time Gundam protagonists succeed mostly due to special abilities and/or their mech just being that awesome. It would be more interesting to see how he fares in a customized mook unit.

Unless the Splendor is on equal terms with the Impulse. In which case I'd go with the Zaku anyway, ZAFT's name is in the thing for crying out loud.
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Blightstrider
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Re: A retcon and a question

I am really iffy on the idea of Freedom being downed by a ZAKU, but other than that, the ZAKU Splendor does sound like a interesting change. Would give more credit to Saviour too, like you said.
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Gyra Solune
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Re: A retcon and a question

Blightstrider wrote:I am really iffy on the idea of Freedom being downed by a ZAKU, but other than that, the ZAKU Splendor does sound like a interesting change. Would give more credit to Saviour too, like you said.
Who said Shinn had to down the Freedom?
Antares
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Re: A retcon and a question

Zaku is good, but I also think you need to down the Freedom with a Gundam. I can see how tempting it would be to stick it to Kira that way, but I didn't consider that the most glaring problem (him surviving would be a better place to retcon).

About Athrun and Savior, you can reduce his role by making the EA pilots more formiddable so his tied down with them more often (it figures they too would focus on the Gundam), leaving Shinn in the Zaku a bit freer to assume a more central role. This keeps Athrun in the story but sets his Gundam bit to the side.
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domino
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Re: A retcon and a question

Gyra Solune wrote:
Blightstrider wrote:I am really iffy on the idea of Freedom being downed by a ZAKU, but other than that, the ZAKU Splendor does sound like a interesting change. Would give more credit to Saviour too, like you said.
Who said Shinn had to down the Freedom?
My thoughts exactly. If you're rewriting Destiny then please rewrite it and not simply add in stuff we fans would like to see like tougher EA pilots, Kira getting skewered by Shinn or some such thing.

I like the idea of the ZAKU Splendor and maybe Shinn gets the Impulse after the Break-the-World incident since the testing period of the Splendor would be over. From what I see, the Splendor can't use the Impulse's weapon packs so it'd be a good upgrade. Fanwise, I hope you don't introduce Strike Freedom, Infinite Justice, or Legend since they're just rehashes of previous Gundams and a Destiny rewrite should focus more on stronger characterisation and better use of the plot
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Gyra Solune
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Re: A retcon and a question

Yeah, don't simply amend Destiny. There's tons of GSD fics on here alone, if you're going to write one, then have yours stand out. I don't know how you would, as I've never seen the show or read any of the fics, but you should understand.
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Evex
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Re: A retcon and a question

Well Instead of introducing the Legend you could instead introduce the ZGMF-X3000Q Providence ZAKU for Rey, since it serves the same function as the Legend Gundam, but in Zaku form. As for the Zaku Splendor vs Impulse debate, with the Zaku splendor your stuck with the wizard packs the Zaku Phantom would use. Those seem to mainly be the the Blaze and Slash wizard packs. I'm not sure how much flexibility that gives you. Unless you have rey use the Blaze pack, while shin uses the slash pack and keep Lunamaria in the Zaku Warrior with the Gunner wizard.
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Dark Duel
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Re: A retcon and a question

After much deliberation, I did end up going with the Impulse Gundam after all.
I've also actually made some changes to the ZAKU's Wizard Packs, but that's something else.

As for the other points mentioned, I don't want to say too much here just yet (mainly because I'm still only at the beginning), but I can tell you that the second half or so of the story will have some significant differences from the way the series itself played out.
// ART THREAD // NOT ACCEPTING REQUESTS

"You can learn all the math in the 'verse, but take a boat in the air you don't love, she'll shake you off just as sure as the turn of the worlds. Love keeps her in the air when she ought to fall down. Tells you she's hurting before she keens. Makes her a home."
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