Let's be honest: even for a Gundam series more infamous than the other certain Gundam series, it's not hard to feel sorry for our heroes...
- Stea in episode 8, who feels she is such a burden to her Force that she willingly accepts the power of a Break-Decal. For added sympathy points, she's dressed like Stella Louissier from Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny, her name sounds like Stella, and she pilots her first Gundam, the Gaia.
- Episode 9: Do-ji's situation is even worse. Unable to improve his combat performances in his force's battles, he resort to purchase a Break Decal behind his team's back, knowing full well that his brother would be mad if he finds out. After he was rescued from the effects, his teammates reassured him that he wasn't in front of them.
- When Geara Ghirarga was under the effects of Break Decal, audience can clearly see the mobile suit itself shedding tears after being turned into an abomination as if it was suffering. Sarah's ability to sense Gunpla as if they were alive may be cemented by this.
- A minor one, but Ayame looked rather sorrowful when her boss ordered her not to interfere. Then when the Break Decal start to wreck the area, she looks absolutely devastated
- Episode 10 puts down the stakes for if anyone gets shot down in a sealed area - they're unable to return, effectively being Killed Off for Real.
- There's also Ayame, who shows her true colors at the end with the next episode set to reveal why she's working with a dirtbag like Tsukasa.
- Episode 11 gives us Ayame's backstory - she was a Sixth Ranger to Force Le Chat Noir, a SD Gundam-themed Force. As her team got better, their force grew and the original six made a Gunpla made up of all of their pieces as a sign of friendship. But their leader unwittingly hired Tsukasa, who used a string of defeats to manipulate the team into abandoning their theming in favor of five minutes of power in the form the Victory 2 Assault-Buster Gundam. The losses, which also included giving up that Gunpla in favor of the Victory 2, lead to the self-destruction of the Force and, in Ayame's desperate attempt to get the Gunpla back, joined up with Tsukasa.
- This could especially hit hard for anyone who was part of a sports team full of actually nice people only for one guy to start using steroids and making the rest use it as well.
- Episode 12 has Ayame breaking down into tears as Momoka, Yukio and Koichi save her from the rampaging Tsukasa. To partially quote an infamous meme, "It was at that point she knew: she messed up"; she had friends all along and she kept tossing them away.
- Episode 13 you get to see how far Tsukasa has fallen - he's a Blood Knight who cannot let go of Gunpla Duel and resents GBN because anyone can pick up and be a champion without threatening their suits. He tries to force Riku into understanding it and it seems he comes out on top, only for Riku to deal the killing blow and effectively wrecks his world view. When Koichi confronts his old friend, it's obvious he's hurting because he's now nothing more than a relic.
- Riku goes at great lengths to regain Le Chat Noir's Gunpla from Tsukasa by playing Gunpla Duel. Even his Gunpla was willing to sacrifice itself by receiving the damages for real and Riku cried after he won, knowing that their effort was worth it.
- Episode 20 is full of this as the happy-go-lucky moments of trying to give Nanami her own specialized room is ruined by Game Master's attempts to figure out what's causing the bugs. At the end of the episode, Sarah's ran away and is considered Enemy Number 1 by the administration.
- This bears explaining: You've no doubt noticed the show has never shown what Sarah looks like outside of GBN. That's because she doesn't exist outside of it. She's a digital lifeform that spontaneously awoke in the system due to excess data accumulated when Gunpla are first scanned into the system. Unfortunately, GBN is not built to birth and maintain data life forms, so Sarah's presence is causing bugs not unlike the use of Break Decals. Her very existence is a threat to the world that gave birth to her, and she has nowhere to go.
- Episode 21's ending has Kyoya revealing he has Sarah in his possession and is reforming the Coalition of Volunteers... to eradicate the EL-Diver threat, upsetting Riku greatly that his hero has opted to side with the Admins in wanting to kill Sarah, not realizing the truth.
- Episode 25 makes it very evident that Riku and the Build Divers are fighting a losing battle against Kyoya and the entirety of the Coalition of Volunteers to save Sarah from being deleted by the admins, which only gone From Bad to Worse when Kyoya and his Avalon Force group utterly curb-stomped Riku and his allies. Sarah even tearfully has to cry for her friends to stop, showing that she did all of this to spare her friends, Riku especially, of the pain she unwillingly caused for everyone.
