"Let's see what this new Gundam can do."
Episode One
- Several minutes into the first episode, an awesome dogfight happens with between Kshatriya and a trio of Londo Bell Jegans pursuing the Grancieres. Marida launches and easily dispatches the two Jegan-Ds with her funnels, and then the Stark Jegan pilot gets his turn to shine, dodging Marida's funnels, and firing at her with his bazooka and missiles; when Marida evades all his shots he dumps the bazooka and missile launchers and charges in with beam saber drawn, and comes within literally inches of killing Marida. All set to Crowning Music of Awesome.
- Another CMoA for a faceless grunt, the pilot of the Stark Jegan, a souped-up grunt, who actually manages to last more than two seconds against the aforementioned Kshatriya, and was actually managing to hold his own in close combat until she got the drop on him by firing her thrusters in his face. This also counts as a CMoA for her, as she manages to survive with equal professionalism and badassery too.
- What makes it special is that the grunt fights smart. Instead of shooting down the funnels like his compatriots, he instead forces the Kshatriya to fight in close range using his bazooka and missiles respectively. He then closes the distance by blitzing past the funnels, locks blades with her until the sun is behind him (to reduce as much glare as possible), before aiming for the opening. With his graceful movements and the extra speed gained by jettisoning the armor, he put up an impressive fight against a Cyber-Newtype!
- Marida also deserves credit because she was toying with him the entire time, dodging the missiles, and locking blades. She could have used the Kshatriya's Chest Blaster to end it quickly, but instead she pretends to be vulnerable, baited the grunt with a false opening, before stunning him with the thruster for the follow-up slice. The fact that she knew exactly what he would do, along with the fact that her suit is bulkier, says a lot about her skills.
- When it gets right down to it, Kshatriya and Jegan are just really souped-up Zaku and GM respectively. Universal Century has come a long way.
- Or the second Jegan pilot who made a 90 degree turn to simultaneously dodge the laser and aim his rifle arm at the funnels and Marida. Points for trying, though.
- Another CMoA for a faceless grunt, the pilot of the Stark Jegan, a souped-up grunt, who actually manages to last more than two seconds against the aforementioned Kshatriya, and was actually managing to hold his own in close combat until she got the drop on him by firing her thrusters in his face. This also counts as a CMoA for her, as she manages to survive with equal professionalism and badassery too.
- An Awesome Moment goes to Commander Daguza Mackle in the same episode, who gets out of his MS to take on the monstrously-heavily-armed Kshatriya with a bazooka, and actually survives (Technically, he attacked her with a giant flash-bang, though, which detracts from it somewhat.)
- When Loto pilot Daguza Mackle gets out of the cockpit of his mecha and fires a handheld bazooka at the Kshatriya, temporarily blinding its pilot.
- In the book said sequence is even more awesome where said handheld bazooka fires a net that traps two of the Kshatriya's funnels.
- He might've been showing some sort of precognitive skills by jumping away from his mobile suit after that shot since the funnels' blind shots destroyed his Loto.
- Also, the first battles involving the Kshatriya and Unicorn.
- "Go... get the hell... OUT OF MY WAY!!!" 'nuff said.
- Clarification: Banagher (who has just acquired the Unicorn from his father) shows up, giving Marida a look of sheer terror. It then dives at the Khsatriya, which up to this point had done quite well for itself, and is easily three times Unicorn's mass. It tackles the Khsatriya, grabs the right hand which had just drawn a beam saber, and CRUSHES THE HAND. It hits full thrusters, forcing Marida to eat airbag, and slams it out of the colony. Once a moment's opening comes up, Marida sends EVERY SINGLE BIT SHE HAS (24 total) to kill this Gundam before it can do anything else. Unicorn responds by going into Newtype-Destroyer mode, creating an I-field that blocks every blast coming towards it, and transforms into a true Gundam's features, complete with red beard and V-fin. It draws a beam saber, and shit gets underway. Episode end. Good luck waiting for autumn.
- One episode in, and series main character Banagher Links already has three. The first comes when he rescues Audrey Burne from falling to her death, ala Hikaru-and-Minmei, in a hijacked worker pod, which runs out of fuel in midair, thousands of feet up...and he still manages to crash-land it in the front yard of his own school, and get out unscathed.
- Banagher gets a few while protecting Audrey. He reprograms Haro, fooling a couple of Neo Zeon mooks into thinking it's a bomb, throws it into the air and then kicks their asses while they're distracted, catching Haro when he's finished with them. He then takes on Marida and manages to kick her to the ground, drag her by her coat and throw her off a maintenance lift. Kamille, eat your heart out.
- Arguably, Banagher's first Moment of Awesome, which says a lot about his character, is when he first rescues Audrey while she's in freefall in the Lapalce colony by piloting a worker unit meant for space flight as opposed to atmospheric. After grabbing Audrey midair, his worker unit begins to run out of fuel, sending his unit plummeting to the surface. Does Banagher panic or freak out? No; he simply calmly tells Audrey, "I'll think of something." Damn, that takes a lot of confident guts.
- The second comes when, facing three professional soldiers, he incapacitates two of them in the span of a couple of seconds(breaking the nose of one of them by headbutting him in the face), then a few moments later deals with the third of them by drop-kicking her, dodging her own kick, and actually grabbing her by the hem of her coat and physically throwing her off the platform on which they were standing.
- Also, resident old guy Cardeas Vist, gets a CMoA when, while being held at gunpoint by three guys, at least one of which was a professional Special Forces operative, and unarmed himself...He proceeds to break the neck of the Special Ops guy with his bare hands, then use him as a meat shield while he grabs the dead man's gun and shoots his buddy in the face with it. Given that he served in the EFSF in his youth according to the novelization, it's still pretty impressive.
- He gets a rather understated one earlier in the episode. Not only is he onboard the Unicorn in its test run (the same one Banagher unwittingly sees), but visibly doesn't flinch at all despite all the rigorous G-force intensive manoeuvres being done.
- The first few minutes of the episode alone do a good job in setting the tone of what's to come: Scenery Porn of Earth orbit and the Laplace station abound as viewers are treated to the start of a new utopian age in human history, as the Earth Federation's president makes his momentous announcement. Cue Laplace exploding mid-speech as the people inside get violently torn up by the vacuum. The date was UC 0001. Welcome back to the Universal Century.
Episode 2
- The combat debut of Full Frontal. The awesomeness begins when a panicked technician states that one of the approaching enemy mobile suits is moving three times faster than the others. The man proceeds to effectively solo the Nahael Argama and its entire mobile suit complement in the Sinanju's first appearance.
- The entirety of Banagher taking on Full Frontal is nothing but this, and the episode tells you as much by making this fight the climatic center point. The Awesome Music roars as Banagher takes off. The Unicorn unveils the raw power of the Beam Magnum that leaves the audience and Banagher stunned as a single shot pierces and destroys the massive rock debris Full was hiding behind. The sheer heroism and raw determination as Banagher, a novice pilot, tries to keep up with a highly experienced veteran, while his Dragon snipes at every opportunity. In spite of the insurmountable odds, Banagher fights with everything he's got.
- Mineva's handling of her own hostage situation is worthy of mention too. She made Daguza, a veteran special forces operative, lose confidence in his plan when he had a gun pointed to her head, then asked him to show the Federation's worth and shoot her. Despite being on the bridge of a starship under attack and an apparently ruthless soldier threatening to murder her in cold blood, she displays the calmness and composure that you'd expect to see at a formal banquet. That girl isn't just a Badass Pacifist, she's completely fearless.
- Marida's rematch with Banagher. Banagher, not listening to fellow pilot Riddhe, chases after Full Frontal, and is suddenly attacked from another direction. From out of nowhere comes the Kshatriya (which, might we add, has not been repaired since its last fight with the Unicorn), which proceeds to defeat the Unicorn Gundam with a single blow. How? Marida gets in close, immobilizes the Unicorn's arms with the Kshatriya's left arm and one of its three remaining wing binders, pulls back her suit's damaged right arm (the one with the crushed hand) and punches the Unicorn's cockpit at full force. The impact causes Banagher to vomit into his suit and pass out. Flawless victory.
Episode 3
- The entire Battle of Palau. We have the following:
- Nahael Argama firing its Hyper Mega Particle Cannon at Palau (The Sleeves base) and launching its mobile suits mere minutes before that.
- A somewhat more minor one, but a Loto taking out a bunch of Sleeves at the beginning of the Palau battle with its armed-held missile launchers. It doesn't seem like much, but you have to remember that the Loto is a ground-based unit, and it's fighting against opponents that can fly.
- Delta Plus and Unicorn Gundam doing a brief Back-to-Back Badasses moment while fighting against the Sleeves Mobile Suits.
- Banagher ending the Unicorn's Curb-Stomp Battle against the Kshatriya by overriding the NT-D system through sheer force of will, letting him capture Marida rather than killing her.
- During the Curb-Stomp Battle itself, the NT-D gets its own moment when it hijacks the Kshatriya's funnels.
- Marida saving Alberto's life despite the fact that he was carting her off to be a Vist Foundation guinea pig at the time, setting a new gold standard for anti-villainy in the process.
- Daguza ambushing and trapping the hitherto near-unstoppable Sinanju whilst on foot, before pounding the living crap out of it with a shoulder-fired rocket launcher. Admittedly, it ended up getting him killed, but that in no way diminishes the magnitude of his accomplishment.
- The fact that Daguza was able to get a salute in to Banagher before getting beam sabered was a Dying Moment of Awesome.
- And the entire fight scene between the Unicorn Gundam and the Sleeves later. We have the Unicorn Gundam beam sabering a Geara through the side of its cockpit, before dodging Angelo's Geara Zulu's cannon blast, and then cutting the weapon, as well as his arms and legs off Angelo's Mobile Suit , and damn nearly got close to killing him until Full Frontal came along. Then Banagher engages Full Frontal in atmosphere , clashing with their beam sabers and ripping one of Sinanju's legs off! The Awesome Music during this scene WAS PURE EPIC.
- Not to mention, Banagher would have killed Full Frontal if one of his subordinates hadn't intervened.
Episode 4
- Banagher politely explaining to Zimmerman why killing civilians is wrong whilst the rest of the Garencieres bridge crew cheerfully watches.
- At the Gundam Unicorn Episode 4 viewing at AFA 2011 (located in Singapore), this was met with lots of laughter and some applause from the viewing audience.
- The unknown Byarlant Kai pilot has Crowning Scenes
of Awesome. He simply wiped the floor with the enemy Zeon Mobile Suits, from his first appearance and any scene focusing on him thereafter.- Mention must also go for the brave Geara pilot at 00:34 for sacrificing himself to save another pilot.
- There is an additional subtle one in the way it appears. It appears from the very hangar a Geara had just fired several rockets in and was about to move on when the Byarlant destroys it. Implying the pilot had just started his mobile suit up when the rocket came in.
- Unicorn Gundam (Destroy Mode), riding on Delta Plus, taking on THE SHAMBLO, and wins!
- When the Delta Plus takes the Unicorn's beam magnum to destroy the Shamblo when Banagher refuses to, the gun is so powerful that it breaks the Delta Plus' shoulder.
- The sheer APPEARANCE OF THE BANSHEE, dropping in from the air and transforming from Unicorn Mode to Destroy Mode.
- At the Gundam Unicorn Episode 4 viewing at AFA 2011 (located in Singapore), this scene was met with INSTANTANEOUS APPLAUSE FROM THE ENTIRE HALL OF VIEWING AUDIENCE!!
- The Zeon pilots should get some love two, schooling most of the Federation forces despite several of them using Mobile Suits dating back to the One Year War.
- A Desert Zaku, a Dom Tropen and a Dwadge dominate more advanced Federation forces with a version of the Jet Stream Attack... on the ground, while hovering. One GM is even left standing with an axe in its face before it's taken out by a heat baton.
Episode 5
- The Opening Scene of Episode 5, THE BANSHEE's Curb-Stomp Battle against Unicorn Gundam. Enough said.
- Banagher casually hijacking a Federation suit's Base Jabber platform in midair. And then taking on The Federation's Mobile Suits on the platform and mid-air later.
- And following up on the midair battle, Audrey decides to take her leave of her Alliance "hosts" by jumping out of the airship she was being kept on. As she falls, she finally asks Banagher for his aid. Calmly. While falling from what amounts to the lower atmosphere, knowing full well that she might've signed her own death warrant. That's bravery, right there.
- And that's just the beginning. Having finally been called upon by the woman he's been following all this time, Banagher bows out of his fight with the Banshee to go save Audrey in a moment of pure awesome that defies logic, death, and violence all at once. As shown here.
- And that's just the beginning. Having finally been called upon by the woman he's been following all this time, Banagher bows out of his fight with the Banshee to go save Audrey in a moment of pure awesome that defies logic, death, and violence all at once. As shown here.
- Zinnerman trying to rescue Marida and Mineva with a near-suicidal one-man assault on the Vist Foundation's Garuda transport plane. Not only does he succeed, but he gets out in one piece as well.
- Banagher manifesting a miniaturised (and, more importantly, controlled) version of Char and Amuro's Axis Shock to haul the Garencieres into orbit, complete with green psycoframe.
- Angelo Beam Spamming the General Revil's Mobile Suits with the Rozen Zulu's incoms.
- Not to mention that Angelo eliminated all of those Mobile Suits without killing any of the pilots.
- And then TAKING A BOW... as though thanking the enemy for a fight.
- He was actually bowing in respect to the Sinanju, signaling the OK and handing over the spotlight so that his superior officer could come in and finish the job. In Angelo's mind, it was probably no more than him fulfilling a simple errand for Full Frontal, which still doesn't change the fact that Angelo stole the episode with that one scene only.
- Still, that did not stop it from attaining Memetic Mutation, leading to the "My performance is fucken splendid" and "splendid performance" note memes.
- Followed by Full Frontal in the Sinanju firing a rocket from his BFG at the General Revil.
Episode 6
- An expanded fight scene of Full Frontal versus the General Revil. He made the Earth Federation's supposed top regiment look like complete chumps.
- Especially one scene when he used an enemy Jegan to shield himself from incoming missiles from the General Revil.
- The General Revils team deserves props too, considering how well-coordinated their response to him is. The CO neutralizes the Sinanju's long range beam fire with a beam-diffusing curtain, allowing for the launch of more mobile suits, followed by long range fire of their own as soon as the curtain disperses, along with Jegans moving out for flanking maneuvers. When long range attacks prove ineffective, more beam-diffusing rounds are launched and the remaining Jegans move in for melee attacks, followed by a Macross Missile Massacre before the curtain disperses. Had they been fighting anyone other than Full Frontal, they probably would have won.
- Anything related to the Banshee. From launching into space, to equipping its new Armed Armour DE, to completely decimating the Narhel Argama's mobile suit team.
- Not that they don't make a badass effort of trying to stop him. The notoriously badass Jegan pilot even manages to grab the Banshee's horn and nearly decapitates it.
- Special Mention goes to how the Banshee goes on to simultaneously rip into the two Rezels and one Jegan after that.
- The heavily damaged Kshatriya Besserung. It lost all of its funnels, only had a binder and a half left, as well as missing parts of its chest and its right leg. Even the head looks like it got ripped open. However, Marida completely dominated Angelo in his shiny Rozen Zulu.
- The Unicorn receiving its Full Armour upgrade.
- What's more impressive is that the Full Armour upgrade was a jury-rigged job by one of Banagher's friends that still manages to work!
- Otto verbally destroying Angelo in the middle of an emergency, even while the latter was pointing a pistol at him.
- And Mineva basically telling Full Frontal to shut up, saying that he's nothing like the original Char she knew.
- The ECOAS unit pretty much singlehandedly retaking the Nahel Argama from Full Frontal's troops. The Oh, Crap! expression on Angelo's face when he realizes it is extra icing.
- Banagher's encounter with Riddhe with his Banshee Norn. With saying their names each other while clashing their beam sabers.
Episode 7
- The opening Title Card showing Gryps 2 pointed at Earth gives a sense of dramatic tension.
- The first seven minutes of Episode 7 get right down to business with a glorious battle between grunt units on both sides, including an absolutely ballsy Bawoo pilot who comes damn near to killing the Nahel Argama by his lonesome.
- There's also the sequence where the Schuzrum-Galluss manages to get onto the Nahel Argama and kicks ass with its buster shields until Conroy Haagensen (in his custom ECOAS Jegan) stops it and it's Zssa buddy cold with a pistol and grenades.
- Riddhe's moment of shame when informed that his rival is so much more powerful that he's actually holding both of their suits back.
- Bright coming down on the Cheyenne mountain base to try to stall the colony laser from firing, declaring that he's going to turn against the Federation if they proceed. Bonus points for him already having done it before and is thus not bluffing. When Ronan tries to call it a bluff anyway and subtly threatens his family, Bright turns it right back at him by lampshading Ronan's own rocky relationship with Riddhe.Bright: Chairman Ronan. If you insist on carrying out this act, I will be an enemy of the Federation from this moment onwards.Ronan: Spare me your bluffs. You have a family too; are you sure you want to drag your children into this?(Ronan visibly flinches)
- Special mention goes to the Tri-Stars team who effortlessly disable all the mobile suits that were guarding the base. Take note that the Cheyenne suits were hidden under camouflage, and the Tri-Stars still got the jump on them.
- When you see the fully awakened Unicorn Gundam has shield funnels that block beam fire and fire gatling guns.
- The Neo Zeong. Basically an upgraded, massively upscalled version of the Zeong, complete with legless skirt, the thing is probably the most powerful mobile weapon in all of the Universal Century. If it's titanic size wasn't enough, its arsenal consists of finger mounted wire-guided funnels that can hijack enemy mobile suits and turn them on each other. When these are destroyed, it swaps them out for five upscaled versions of the Sinanju's beam rifle. If that wasn't enough, it's packing Six Wave Motion Guns on its shoulders. And its waist has a massive Wave-Motion Gun that we only get to see fire once, but when it does, it completely bisects a Silver Bullet.
- If all of that wasn't enough for you, the Mobile Armour can deploy a Psychofield weapon that not only obliterates every one of the Unicorn and Banshe's weapons, but induces psychic visions of the end of time itself.
- When the Neo Zeong disables all of Unicorn's weapons, what does Banagher do? He charges in to literally fistfight the giant mobile armor.
- When Full Frontal has Banagher trapped in a Newtype vision, who steps in to convince him to let him go, none other than the ghosts of Lalah Sune and Char Aznable himself.
- Banagher was already reaching out and doing his best to convince Full Frontal that his philosophy was wrong, Lalah just followed up on Banagher's cue.
- The Newtype vision itself prior to these counts. Seeing the Axis Shock from Char's Counterattack and One Year War scenes from the original Mobile Suit Gundam beautifully reanimated is a sight to behold. Especially so with Gundam: The Origin having been announced about a month before Episode 7 was released.
- Banagher and Riddhe combining Newtype fields to block the colony laser.
- As they block it Riddhe's newtype powers fully awaken, causing the Banshee to enter the Awakened state and become strong enough to hold the laser back where seconds before it was about to tear through the Banshee and hit the Magallancia.
- Alberto get's a minor one in the end when he finally stands up to his aunt Martha.
- Captain Bright Noa taking Martha Vist Carbine down a peg, giving her the polite equivalent of "shut the hell up, you're under arrest."
- At full power, Banagher simply waves his hand and disables an entire fleet of Federation mobile suits without firing a shot.
- It wasn't until Narrative, however, that the full awesomeness of what Banagher did there was revealed: he reversed time inside the mobile suits' engines, de-aging the internal components back into the raw materials they were once manufactured out of. Seems like Amuro's prediction back in the day about Newtypes one day being able to control time itself was spot on.
- Riddhe chasing after Banagher is an awesome moment for the fact that in such a short time he's gone from being unable to even activate the incomplete NT-D to having the Banshee respond to his call by entering its Awakened form.
- Even Syam Vist manages one, when he manages to drive off Full Frontal with hidden turrets that are controlled by his mind.
