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COORDINATORS Coordinators are genetically enhanced human beings, which can have a number of enhanced traits including faster learning, and stronger and faster bodies that are virtually immune to diseases. They closely resemble the Augments from Star Trek as they are physically and mentally superior to normal humans. Another similarity to the Augments that Coordinators share is the fact that they are feared and hated by Naturals, as the Augments were to humans. The Coordinators have also some genetic similarities with the Nietzschean s from Andromeda ,with a few exceptions. It should be noted that in Star Trek, dislike for Augments was due to the fact that they were extremely aggressive and dangerous (see Khan Noonien Singh ). In Gundam SEED, Coordinators were disliked because they were envied, as well as dislike of Genetic Engineering. The First Coordinator In Cosmic Era 15, the highly respected man named George Glenn announced the shocking news that he was the first Coordinator, being born following a genetic manipulation procedure, resulting in a human "engineered" to be better. He disclosed the entire process to create a Coordinator to the public. The genetic modifications that create a Coordinator had to be performed in the earliest stages of embryonic development. The Coordinator Embryo was then reinserted back into its mother for gestation. These genetic enhancements are then passed on to the Coordinator's children without the need for more enhancements. When Natural parents have their children turned into Coordinators, the children are described as first-generation Coordinators, whose own children will then be second-generation Coordinators, and so forth. Those who were born naturally - that is, without this procedure - became known as "Naturals". Coordinators and Naturals For many years, after George Glenn's revelation, Coordinators remained illegal. When the ban was repealed, in the CE 30's, the ''Coordinator boom'' started and lasted until the CE 50's. Following the rapid and widespread diffusion of Coordinators, major social unrest followed, throwing the world into chaos. Many Naturals started to oppose the Coordinators out of jealousy for their abilities, stating that they were created unnaturally. Anti-Coordinator pressure groups, such as Blue Cosmos , began labeling Coordinators as ''unhuman'' and declaring they had to be wiped out "for a blue and pure world". As the major political blocs began building the space colonies, known as PLANTs, these gradually became a new home for Coordinators. The Naturals intended to make the Earth their exclusive domain, although it was not uncommon to find Coordinators and Naturals living peacefully together in nations such as the Orb Union. By the mid-50's, the situation had deteriorated to the point that Blue Cosmos people were in positions of power across the Atlantic Federation , and Coordinators had largely retreated to either neutral nations like the Orb Union or into space in PLANT, where they were more than welcome. A derogative term among Naturals for Coordinators is "Patchworker", a reference to their "patchwork" DNA. Issues As of CE 71, Coordinators are becoming increasingly Sterile because they don't have the genetic input which Naturals possess. Additionally, the Sterile situation only happens on the 3rd-generation Coordinators. Though ZAFT scientists are busy working on a solution, there is no known cure as of the present date. Another potential flaw to Coordinators is that there is a discrepancy between how a Coordinator fetus is intended to develop and how the child really turns out. In many cases unwanted genetic traits would appear in the baby, arguably due to the inability of the mother's womb to pose as an adequate environment to support the genetic modifications. In the early 50's, a renowned scientist, Professor Ulen Hibiki, proposed the usage of an Artificial Womb to circumvent the natural womb's shortcomings. Many "prototypes" failed, including Canard Pars , the only known to have survived, before the last and successful ''Ultimate Coordinator'', Hibiki's son Kira Yamato , was born in May 18, CE 55. Kira has grown up completely unaware of his origins until later in the Bloody Valentine War . True purpose According to the "GG Unit", an artificial intelligence said to be derived from the memory engrams of George Glenn's brain, Coordinators have strayed from their intended purpose: to "coordinate" the next step of humanity's evolution, as the name indicates. George Glenn never intended for Coordinators to view themselves as a superior race, but in Glenn's eyes, anyone who works for the betterment of mankind is a true Coordinator, regardless of whether his genes have been enhanced or not. Unfortunately, this enlightened view is not shared by many on either side of the Earth/PLANT conflict. While some fans have suggested that the next stage of human evolution that Glenn refers to are Newtypes , he neither uses that term nor gives any details of how this next stage differs from current humans. EXTENDED HUMAN (BIOLOGICAL CPU) The Extended human was a secret Atlantic Federation development project, aimed to produce pilots for its Mobile Suit s that would fight with the same efficiency as Coordinators. In its earlier stages, the project was codenamed '''Biological CPU program'''.
First Stage Extended humans possessed strong enough combat abilities to press even very strong Coordinators such as Kira Yamato or Athrun Zala . However, Second Stage Extended humans proved to be somewhat weaker than their predecessors. Evidence of this is the fact that they could not hold their own vs characters in SEED mode while the original extended pilots did. However, the Second Stage Extenders appear to have been intended to be more "useful" as the three Phantom Pain Extendeds in Destiny showed that they were not only fair pilots, but also capable of blending into a crowd and acting (at least somewhat) like normal teenagers, capable of taking orders from superiors better, capable of infantry combat on an excellent level, and more easy to control than the First Stage Extendeds. Extended humans could be considered analogous to the Universal Century concept of Artificial or '''Cyber-Newtypes''', who were normal pilots enhanced to have Newtype abilities. SEED FACTOR SEED factor ('''S'''uperior '''E'''volutionary '''E'''lement '''D'''estined-factor) is a controversial and as yet unproven theory about the continuation of human evolution. Both Coordinators and Naturals can possess "the SEED", and those who do are thought by some to be the next stage of human development. This bears some similarity to the Newtype theory of the Universal Century , but the abilities of those with SEED factor appear to be unrelated to Newtype potential. While acceptance of SEED theory is limited, Orb engineer Erica Simmons and prominent religious leader and peace activist Reverend Malchio are known adherents of the theory. SEED mode represents the ability for an individual with the SEED factor to enter into a state of enhanced awareness and peak physical ability. While in this state, the person (usually a Mobile Suit pilot, but not necessarily) demonstrates heightened reflexes and extremely quick information processing. This ability is usually triggered by extreme situations or from recalling significant traumas, often arising out of a need to protect someone else in a critical situation. It is demonstrated visually by cutting to the image of a jewel-like seed, its color matching the color of the experiencer's eyes, dropping from the above and exploding in a shower of light just above the eyes. The physical characteristics are the shrinking of the Pupil and growth of the Iris . When in SEED mode, a person exceeds his or her normal physical and mental limits. EAF pilot Mu La Flaga once compared this to the Berserker s of Norse legend, but this seems to be inaccurate. In SEED mode, a person actually has an increased, not decreased, level of control. There are in fact two ways that SEED mode can be activated. When a character suddenly resolves to protect their allies or to strike down their enemies, SEED mode is shown as a falling seed which bounces once and explodes. However, if a character has entered battle with a particular resolve, they may trigger SEED mode at will, and it is instead represented as a spinning seed which explodes in a vertical nova. Kira Yamato and Cagalli Yula Athha originally entered SEED mode via the first method, which is also the method that is always used by Shinn Asuka . Athrun Zala has always used the second method to enter SEED mode, and Kira also attained this ability after he made his decision about what he really needed to fight for and against after being beaten by Athrun. Also, in the Second Battle of Jachin Due, Lacus Clyne may have entered SEED mode after a long philosophical soliloquy about the nature of warfare and death. During the Battle of Messiah, Lacus sensed Kira and was in SEED mode yet again. SEED mode can only be entered by a character who will commit themselves fully to a battle for some strong reason. For this reason, Athrun Zala and Cagalli Yula Athha have both been unable to demonstrate their SEED abilities in earlier parts of Gundam SEED Destiny , due to Athrun's doubts about whether ZAFT is really justified to fight this war, and Cagalli's reservations about whether her interventionism is the best way to protect Orb from the war. Kira Yamato , however, has been able to activate his SEED mode at will all throughout Destiny, because he is motivated to protect his friends and indeed the entire world from aggressive powers. Some fans who are new in the SEED universe think that only Coordinators have SEED abilities, which often leads them to wonder if Cagalli Yula Athha is actually a Coordinator. The explanation for this common mistake is that the writers have a preference for Coordinators. This is also the reason why almost every important pilot in the series is either a Coordinator, a Newtype, or an Extended. Hence, Cagalli is apparently the only Natural pilot with SEED abilities. Cagalli's genetic type is never fully explored and while Lord Uzumi clearly states that she is a Natural and it would appear in the flashbacks that her biological mother is pregnant with her (indicating she was to be born without genetic enhancements while Kira develops in an artificial womb), it is possible since she is Kira's twin that she may have undergone some genetic enhancement though this is unlikely. NEWTYPES While the actual term is never used in Cosmic Era canon, certain characters display the traits of Newtype s, a concept borrowed from the Universal Century timeline of Gundam. In SEED, Newtypes have extremely high degrees of spatial awareness, almost a sixth sense. They are also capable of sensing other Newtypes, and when this happens, a white bolt typically flashes across the screen with an accompanying sound effect, a phenomena regarded as a "Newtype Flash". Newtypes are able to see a brief glimpse into the future, allowing them an advantage in combat, by being able to predict their opponent's move. However, this was not always precise. CE Newtypes also appear to have the ability to transmit and receive psychic messages, as Prayer Reverie and Morgan Chevalier display in Gundam SEED X Astray , but it is still unknown if this ability is unique to these two individuals, or can be used by all Newtypes. It is possible that Rau Le Creuset 's Newtype abilities may have advanced to the point of enabling him to plant "hypnotic suggestion" into the minds of "troubled" characters, giving him control over their actions, such as Patrick Zala and Fllay Allster (she heard her father's voice when he spoke to her), although it could have just been his natural powers of persuasion and the other characters' willingness to obey him with no special powers at work. In Gundam SEED, Mu La Flaga and Rau Le Creuset were implied to be Newtypes from the very beginning, and after the series ended, director Mitsuo Fukuda explicitly identified them as having been Newtypes. Flaga used his abilities to pilot a Moebius Zero mobile armor, which has four remotely controlled wired gunbarrels he can use to set up a multivector attack. Creuset later became the pilot of the ZGMF-X13A Providence , a mobile suit equipped with the DRAGOON System , which used many beam gunbarrels to attack from many directions simultaneously. Creuset and Flaga were able to sense each other any time they were within a certain proximity of one another. After Flaga's "death", Kira Yamato also seemed to develop slight Newtype abilities, and was able to sense Creuset's presence and eventually defeat him. In Gundam SEED X Astray, Reverie displays the ability to sense incoming attacks, as shown in his first battle against Canard Pars , and also used the DRAGOON-controlled "Pristis" beam cannon/scissor anchors mounted on his YMF-X000A Dreadnought , as well as the later-installed DRAGOON pods. He was also able to sense that Chevalier was under attack and telepathically communicate with the latter, even though Reverie could not actually see Chevalier engaged in combat. With his having the most number of Newtype abilities within CE, some fans believe Reverie is the strongest CE Newtype yet. Chevalier was able to use a GAT-01A1 105 Dagger equipped with the AQM/E-X04 Gunbarrel Striker, which featured improved versions of the gunbarrels found in the Moebius Zero. Chevalier was indicated to be the only Alliance pilot capable of operating the Gunbarrel Striker. He also was able to receive a telepathic message from Reverie which probably saved his life against Pars. In Gundam SEED Destiny, Rey Za Burrel had a newtype reaction to Neo Lorrnoke , the two of them forming a short-lived rivalry. Rey has been shown throughout the series to have a strange connection to Creuset, and was revealed in the end to be another clone of Al Da Flaga , making him Creuset's "younger brother" in a sense. Lorrnoke was later revealed to be Flaga, who miraculously survived the destruction of the GAT-X105 Strike at the end of Gundam SEED. Rey becomes pilot of the ZGMF-X666S Legend , a mobile suit which greatly resembles the Providence, meanwhile Lorrnoke often piloted the mobile armor TS-MA4F Exass , which bore similarities to the Moebius Zero and later piloted the ORB-01 Akatsuki , which can be equipped with DRAGOON. In Gundam SEED Destiny Astray, Courtney Hieronimus, a civilian test pilot employed by ZAFT, is revealed to have been the original test pilot of the YMF-X000A Dreadnought , and is said to have been Rau Le Creuset's equal in controlling the DRAGOON system. Though it is implied that only a Newtype can operate the original DRAGOON system, in his on-panel appearances Courtney never displays any overtly Newtype-like abilities. Kira Yamato, as has previously been mentioned, was able to sense Creuset's presence after Flaga was "killed". In Gundam SEED Destiny, during a battle between ZAFT and a combined EAF-Orb fleet, he has a Newtype reaction to Neo Lorrnoke, who was commanding the Earth Alliance forces from on board the carrier John Paul Jones. Later, when the Earth Alliance was attacking Berlin, Kira was again able to sense Lorrnoke, who was piloting a GAT-04 Windam at the time. It is implied that Kira subconsciously knew that Lorrnoke was Flaga, and he disabled his mobile suit so the ''Archangel'' could capture him (while Kira usually disables enemy mobile suits rather than destroying them, this is the only instance where he asks the ''Archangel'' crew to retrieve a downed pilot). Later, after "Lorrnoke" denies being Flaga, Kira remains convinced that the two men are one and the same. Soon after that, Kira exhibits a Newtype Flash after launching in the ZGMF-X20A Strike Freedom for the first time and activating the suit's DRAGOON weapons. These all suggest the sensory abilities of a newtype. Kira and Rey were also able to sense each other during the final battle between the ZGMF-X20A Strike Freedom and the ZGMF-X666S Legend . During their battle, Rey also mentions that he was created as a "prototype" of sorts to Kira, and that both of them have no place in the world Dullindal is trying to create with the Destiny Plan . This suggests that Al Da Flaga 's Newtype DNA was used in Dr. Hibiki's Ultimate Coordinator project. Although this was never explicitly stated outright, it would explain the connection between Kira, Rey, Rau, and Mu. The list of possible Newtypes in Gundam SEED/SEED Destiny/SEED Astray are as follows: Al Da Flaga , Sr. Rau Le Creuset (aka Al Da Flaga, Jr., cloned son of Al Da Flaga, Sr.) Mu La Flaga (aka Neo Lorrnoke) Rey Za Burrel (Al Da Flaga clone) Morgan Chevalier Prayer Reverie (possible Al Da Flaga clone) Kira Yamato Courtney Hieronimus Charles Kane (Moebius Zero pilot) Winters (Moebius Zero pilot) Lindgren (Moebius Zero pilot) |
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