[Ette] Sword Impulse Gundam

 

Gundam SEED Destiny - Cosmic Era (CE)

----------------------------------------------------

Let's talk about the original pilot of Impulse Gundam, Shinn Asuka. As I've mentioned before, SEED Destiny was supposedly a remake of Zeta Gundam, and Shinn is a reflection of the protagonist of that series, Kamille Bidan. Our first introduction to Kamille is that he is such an annoying, angry teen that hates his own name because people like to tease his girly name Kamille. Dear Kamille, just move to France please, its a unisex name over there. Or better yet, just change your name to other 'manly' ones. Kamille, however, went through character development throughout the series and become more likable as the story progressed. This may take 30+ episodes of Zeta for you to cope with Kamille's angst. And they make you pity him more by the end due to his tragic circumstances after the final battle with Scirocco.

Shinn Asuka, on the other hand, seems to be a capable Gundam pilot and a good soldier when we first saw him. And like Kamille, he is arrogant, stubborn, and a hot-blooded teenager, due to his past tragedies and his hatred of war. Shinn, however, doesn't develop well as Kamille does. In fact, he turned into an antagonist role and his behavior makes you hate him even more towards the end of the show. He is so engulfed in his revenge agenda that he turns into an unlikable character. We got many crazy-angry-whiny teenagers pilot in SEED, and Shinn tops them all. This is a character that was supposed to be the main protagonist of Destiny.

SEED Destiny is really a wasted potential, so does Shinn Asuka. Imagine being in the good guy camp at the beginning of the story, only to become the villain by the end of the series. I think the whole Minerva crew also thought the same thing, why are we the bad guy now? I didn't blame Shinn for his actions though, all the blame falls to Lord Kira. Kira was the one responsible for Shinn's family death, Stella's demise, and the second war that triggers Shinn's unstable mind. In order for the second coming of Lord Kira as the show's hero and savior, someone must take the fall. And apparently, it happens to be Shinn Asuka.

The papercraft is a highly detailed Sword Impulse Gundam by Ette, with 39 pages of the non-colored template.