BUILD: Exia Repair II and 0 Gundam

This is both my last Gunpla post on Cohost and my first Gunpla post on Dreamwidth. We're kicking things off with a bang by posting the two suits from 00's final battle!

I've loved the last battle between Setsuna and Ribbons because the actual focus of the fight is supposed to be the symbolism. Exia and the 0 Gundam are not the two strongest mechs in the show, but they are the first two suits that Setsuna and Ribbons respectively are shown piloting. In the first episode, Setsuna as a little boy viewed the 0 Gundam as an angel or a deity, and in the final episode, he was the one who destroyed it.

Shit gets even cooler when you realize two things:

1. The 0 Gundam is supposed to represent the RX-78-2 from the original Mobile Suit Gundam (1979).
2. Ribbons shares a VA with Gundam's first protagonist, Amuro.

When you observe both the patterns in the show and some of the more meta callbacks to the first Gundam series, it becomes pretty clear that this fight isn't necessarily just about Setsuna defeating Ribbons. He is facing and defeating a formative experience from his past so that he (and by extension, the rest of humanity) can continue to move forward. I really love this show.