Best Gundam Pilot In History

Y

Yelena K

New member
I love this topic because it BEGS to be discussed. Every Gundam fan has their favorite. I wondered what everyone's take was. Let me start off.

I personally think that Heero Yuy was THE BEST Gundam pilot. I give Amuro Ray credit because he was pretty badass himself, but he was a Newtype. Kira Yamito is another common candidate, but he was a coordinator. Newtypes, granted, are considered natural evolution so I think that it really can't be held AGAINST Amuro, but still it is an advantage. Coordinators on the other hand are artificial, so I think Kira is out of the running. Another two good candidates are Kamille Bidan, and Setsuna F. Seiei.

Let's talk comparative skills now, I'll build the case for Heero and then against the others. Heero has no natural advantage over other human, save training. We know that from a very young age he was tranined for his mission, we also know that this is why the Lightning Count, a lifer, could keep up with him. However, Heero was only 14. So he still has time to grow and hone his already impressive skills, the fact that in 14 years he can hold his ground against a man who has been piloting mobile suits since their inception is staggering.

Heero was also able to harness the ZERO system. This takes mental focus and willpower. He was able to repair his Wing Gundam in one night using parts from the Deathscythe, again, not an easy feat. Then the following day, he flys off into a battle with NO sleep. His prowess was not only in the piloting of a Gundam. He fought in a Leo against the Virgo Moblie Dolls and for quite a while held his own. Then, this time in a Space Leo, fought against the Altron and again held his own. Both suits were standard suits he stole.

Amuro Ray was without a doubt one of the best Gundam pilots ever, however, he was evolved. He also was the son of the designer of the Gundam. I fimly believe, although the anime never states this, that he had some knoweldge of the inner machinations of the Gundam prior to using it. That's why he was able to do what he did right out of the gate, again this is speculation. His early career was standard. He was an ace, but yet still the unevolved Char was able to best him time and again. Plus he was a hot head. He would break protocol time and again. Heero was a machine. Goal. Accomplish. Goal. Accomplish. No room for error, no room for mistakes.

Kamille was a girl, and I'll leave it at that. If you pick this guy....I'll be speechless...

Kira Yamito was the "Perfect Coordinator." He was as perfect as mankind could have made him. Although not his fault, this is an unfair advantage. Even with this bonus, and with his "seedbursts" I think that Kira in the Strike Freedom, fails again Heero Yuy in the Wing ZERO. While Kira was focused on not killing, Heero was focused on the bigger picture, stopping the whole war by any means necessary. Kill or be killed.

Setsuna F. Seiei is the only other contender in my mind to Heero. Natural birth but he evolved. But even before innovating, he showed skills. In the Exia he performed some pretty nice feats of amazment. I still think tho' since he was traumatized from his youth with the whole idea of war, that Heero who was able to have his demons but get the job done anyways was a better pilot.

There you have it, I've built my case and spelled it out for you. Let's have it out. Keep it respectful please and remeraber that we're just debating for the lulz.
 
Well, Kira has the whole untouchable thing going on and the "genetically engineered to be invincible" thing going on too, they don't call him Kira "Jesus" Yamato for nothing. I think if he got into a 1 on 1 fight with any other Gundam Pilot he would win every time and his Gundam will probably still be in mint condition, its in his engineered super genes. Also, Strike Freedom is like the most broken Gundam ever made (i hated it, the Freedom was so much cooler), that thing was shooting down a hundred guys with the push of as button and never took any damage (if i remeraber right).

(though personally i prefer Heero).
 
Hm... interesting topic. But if I had to list my contenders I'd just put a top 4, since these are the ones that endeared themselves to me the most:

1. Domon Kasshu - He's a hot-blooded manly man with emotions and struggle or what have you that powered G Gundam into something more than its ridiculous premise.

2. Amuro Ray - The definitive archetype that most Gundam pilots followed, from whiny inexperienced teenager, to full-fledged pilot, to consummate veteran. His evolution throughout those U.C. series was natural and he grew on you, becoming the ideal man to have against all odRAB.

3. Heero Yuy - A markedly interesting protagonist, a young man bred to be a soldier, deprived of his humanity, who struggles with his duty to his objective and living his own life free from what he was taught to do. Plus he's so cool. (especially in the Japanese version when he's voiced by Hikaru Midorikawa instead of Mark "Hi, I'm Trowa Mk. II" Hildreth).

4. Setsuna F. Seiei - Another dynamic protagonist, so grounded to reality yet committed to higher ideals, Setsuna is a dedicated, nuanced protagonist who operates with a nice mix of subtlety and bluntness. He tries to work with what he has done with the past and make for a greater future, all the while trying to keep to his own self even when the world goes astray.
 
Gah, this is a hard one. I remeraber a rumor that Tomino once said Judau was the most powerful Newtype, but I'm not sure if that holRAB any ground.

Domon has being the most skilled and mighty martial artist in his universe under his belt, not to mention the will power to make use of the God Gundam's fullest powers. With the power of love, he and Rein utterly obliterated the Devil Gundam. If but with just half the power of that pair were to be faced in battle, I'd suggest one stay on their toes or get out of the kitchen.

Amuro, my man with the 'fro. Amuro fought in four wars as a key player and was instrumental in pushing back Axis. With Newtype senses as sharp as his, it's hard not to put your money on him.

Char, of course, is Amuro's one true rival and equal. Certainly not the best, Char is still one guy you don't want to hear is in your vicinity destroyin' yer ships at three times the normal speed.

Haman Karn was owning Kamille and Char pretty hard in Zeta Gundam, but at the end of the day she isn't up there with CCA Amuro or Char (or Domon!)

Kira 'God' Yamato, Mr. Plot Shield himself. What's there to say? Strike Freedom didn't have a scratch on it in the final battle of Seed Destiny, I think.

Setsuna! Now here's a good one. The newest protagonist in the Gundam family, Setsuna took up the 00 and helped wage a four man war on the world. Pretty dang impressive.

And Kamille Bidan? Two worRAB: piercing Waverider.



Oh hell the cluck naw.
 
I'd say Shiro Amada definitely has to rank up there somewhere. He was able to use a Ball quite effectively, proving that even an inferior machine can be deadly in the hanRAB of a good pilot. While some of his later actions were a bit reckless, they turned out well overall.
 
Alrighty, let's do a review on the main pilots and their respective mechs.

Amuro Ray/Nu Gundam: Probably the best UC pilot you'll find, even among Newtypes. What Kamille and Judou lack is battle experience, and after Amuro has his own Psycho-Sensor, Kamille's advantage goes away. Considering his talents (Not the RX-78-2, in the end) sparked the entire reason why Gundams are feared and built, you can't really argue his influence.

Kamille: Yeah, he gets a little upgrade after he acquires is Bio-Sensor powers, but he still couldn't beat Haman, who lost to Judau...yeah.

Judau: His high-newtype abilities and powerful ZZ Gundam fill in the gaps for the lacking corabat skills Judau has. He's good, but not top-tier.

Usso: He's 13. Next.

Shiro: He's decent, but nowhere near ACE material, even among normal humans.

Kou: If there was anyone that can TOTAL FAIL with a suit like Dendorium, its this guy.

Cristina: Test pilot. Next.

Domon: In his own universe, yeah he's pretty good. Can't really apply to other, more war-like universes.

Garrod: Really good for a normal human, but most people are either fake newtypes or old geezers in X. A sub-pilot with Tifa can help matters. He's more of a personal Solar Cannon than a fighting option.

Heero: Eh, Zero System gives him an edge but the Wing Zero has way too obvious issues with ammo and energy to last long against an ace. The Talgeese by comparison is much better with better sub-weapons and a similar power shoulder-cannon.

Kira/Strike Freedom: He's the ultimate coordinator with yet another unlimited energy suit (Where does Lacus get these?!) which gives Kira an edge against...well, 99% of everything conventional.

Shinn/Destiny Gundam: Shinn's a decent pilot before the writers made him a complete moron, but dear god Destiny Gundam is a terrible mobile suit. It's clearly not designed to fight against other mobile suits, but things like the Destroy Gundam. The Sword is too bulky and easily exploitable (as shown by Kira), the launcher cannon is a standard weapon by now, and those Wings of Light do jack crap.

Setsuna/00 Raiser: I'd honestly say he's a decent pilot. He never outright destroys anyone, and struggles against a similar Twin-Drive suit with fake engines. His suit is decently strong with a similar unlimited energy suit...but the Strike Freedom still outclasses it on endurance.

Loran/Turn A Gundam: Loran could be the worst pilot in history, corabining Kou's suckiness with Shinn's writer retardation, and he would still win all battles thanks to the Turn A.

Summary: Whoever has Turn A wins. Skills don't matter.
 
I think Heero Yuy, it could be in part that i'm biased because I absolutely adore Gundam Wing. But he was willing to get the job done, even if it meant sacrificing himself.
 
Shiro was a very average Gundam pilot. He would get killed very quickly if he was out in space. In fact, I would say NONE of the OAV GUndam heroes were particularly good compared to the best of the best.

I'm not familiar with stuff like SEED and 00, but Amuro is probably the best I've seen, of the Gundams I've seen.
 
To make it more interesting, I'll list the best pilots of each show:

0079: Amuro Ray, no question about it.

0080: They all suck.

0083: Gato, by far. The GP-02 was actually a horrible unit when it's not using its Bazooka cannon, and he beats Kou (which isn't hard) with a beam-heavy weapon against an I-Field Mobile with missiles and bazookas.

Zeta Gundam: Haman Karn was the best pilot, no doubt. She took on Kamille at his peak, Char, and Mr. Pimp from Jupiter at the same time without a scratch. Okay, maybe Char dinged the paint before he got the rest of his lirabs cut off.

Double Zeta: Eh...unfortunately, I have to say Judau even though Haman lost only because of his *scary* newtype spirit (the fack?) and decided to suicide rather than be defeated by him.

Char's Counterattack: Amuro. Again.

Victory: I'd say Katina considering she fought evenly against a powerful newtype that had the best suit in the show.

F91: Seabook of course. Double WTF cat's cradle?

Gundam Wing: It has to be Zechs. The fact that he fights alone more times than any other pilot with a suit made 15 years ago and wins, proves he's the best. Oh yeah, and "I can handle the Zero System" bullcrap.

G-Gundam: Well, it has to be Domon since he killed everyone that was decent >_>

X: I'd give a slight edge to Jamil due to corabat experience and being a former newtype. He'd probably do better if Paula docked into him instead of Garrod (Kinky.)

SEED/SEED Destiny: Kira. Plot+Freedom of any variety.

Gundam 00: Now this hard since there's a clear case of one side having more advanced suits than the other and it never truly matches up. I'm going to give it to Ribbons, as it took 2 Gundams and their ship to cripple Ribbons to a point, before it ended in a stalemate, then stand-off.

Turn-A: Harry and his UNIVERSE! Second place comes to Gym.
 
That may or may not be the case, depending on what circumstances you factor in, but I tend to think it's interesting to look at those pilots that don't have the benefit of having the latest and greatest technology on their side, to the point of obscuring actual ability.

Amuro is great, by all means, but there's also little fun in just picking the obvious choices.
 
Besides, I think it would be missing the point of MS Team to try to make Shiro some great human pilot. It was supposed to be a show about an average guy and some "relatively" average Zeon girl and how they coped together. Aw.
 
That really depenRAB on what you think I'm trying to say, but let's go over a few things then.

I'm going to be honest and state that I didn't really care too much about the romance angle, I just accept it at value face, but that's besides the point. I'm not trying to suggest that he's the best pilot in his own series or, much less, the One Year War as a whole.

For one thing, I was using Shiro's experience as a Ball pilot as a reference. How many of the pilots on the list ever have to try out something other than the titular Gundam or a unique prototype? That's the kind of technological edge (or lack thereof) I'm thinking about. When Shiro pilots the Ball he's showing that he can make do with standard issue fare. He then gets the RX-79[G], a mass production suit that is available to an entire squad, but it's far from something tailor-made for him alone. The Ez-8 can arguably be considered unique, but it's pretty much just an improvised field upgrade and not some sort of war winner in and of itself.

By that point in the war, the leap from the original RX-78-2 to either of those two suits isn't exactly meant to be groundbreaking.

Compare that to all the custom-made, one-of-a-kind special machines employed by most (not all) of the other individuals in question.

The fact that Shiro's essentially little more than a grunt and not a glamorous ace doesn't mean he has no skills worth recognizing.
 
Back
Top