ZGMF-X42S Destiny Gundam

The ZGMF-X42S Destiny Gundam is the titular mobile suit of Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny. The unit is piloted by Shinn Asuka.

Technology & Combat Characteristics
Destiny Gundam is designed as a multi-purpose MS that can handle a variety of combat situations without exchanging equipment during the battle. For close combat, the suit features not only two Beam boomerangs that double as beam sabers, but a large Anti-Ship Sword, which is the preferred weapon-of-choice of Destiny's pilot, Shinn Asuka. In addition, the Palm Beam Cannons are also used in extreme close combat. For long-ranged battle, it is equipped with a Long-Range Beam Cannon and an optional Beam Rifle. For defense, the Destiny mounts a small physical shield as well as two Beam Shield Generators. Lastly, the suit is equipped with a standard set of head mounted CIWS.

Developed as a high-performance and versatile machine, the Destiny's design allows for multiple external and internal weaponry. During the design process, it was deemed that a standard MS frame would hinder the overall performance of the Destiny in terms of maneuverability and the ability to operate its weapons quickly. The designers solved the problem by incorporating an armor dividing system similar but different to that used on the ZGMF-X20A Strike Freedom. This system works in conjunction with a sliding mechanism for the dividing armor panels. The internal frame is composed of smaller and flexible components which utilize armor panels that can separate into smaller portions to allow the leg units to move through its full range of motion. The joints are constructed of the same materials found in Phase Shift armor. When activated, it is possible to adjust the stiffness of the joints during motion. The reaction also produces a metallic glow when the joints are active.

The result is an overall increase in the joints' range of motion and flexibility of the arm and leg units. However, this occurs at the cost of vulnerable areas present in the exposed sections of the armor. This problem was partially alleviated by mapping out the ranges of motion of the frame using Shinn Asuka's combat performance to determine the most efficient way to separate the armor parts. This gave the Destiny sufficient defense without sacrificing maneuverability and speed. Although the unit met its operational requirements and was accepted, however, various problems remain to be solved, including maintenance problems and production issues. In addition, Destiny also features an improved version of the Freedom's wing units which are arranged symmetrically around the main thrusters.

The most unique aspect of Destiny is its Hyper-Deuterion Nuclear Reactor, Wings of Light and the Mirage Colloid Holographic Projection System. The Hyper-Deuterion Nuclear Reactor is Destiny's primary power source, providing the necessary power to support all of its energy consuming abilities. Because the nuclear reactor made the Deuterion Beam system unnecessary, Destiny can't be easily recharged as Impulse can; although the unit almost never has to be. The Wings of Light is produced by ZAFT's version of the Voiture Lumiere propulsion system, it greatly increases Destiny's speed and is frequently used together with the Mirage Colloid Holographic Projection System which can create an illusionary copy of Destiny, confusing the enemy as the real Destiny sets up for a high speed attack.

Armaments

 * MMI-GAU26 17.5mm CIWS
 * Mounted in the head, the pair of CIWS are mainly used for shooting down missiles, projectiles or enemy units at close range.


 * M2000GX High-Energy Long-Range Beam Cannon
 * Stored on the left side of the backpack, the M2000GX high-energy long-range beam cannon is Destiny's most powerful long-range weapon and is capable of destroying most battleships with a single shot. When in use, the cannon unfolds and swivels underneath the Destiny's shoulder while a trigger and guard extend to allow the Destiny to take manual aim.


 * MMI-714 "Arondight" Anti-Ship Sword
 * Stored on the right side of the backpack, the foldable MMI-714 "Arondight" anti-ship sword is the Destiny's main close-combat weapon. It is the successor to the MMI-710 "Excalibur" anti-ship sword, and is Shinn Asuka's preferred weapon in close-quarters combat as well as arguably the strongest melee weapon in the Destiny's arsenal, it sees extensive use against all types of enemies.


 * MMI-X340 "Palma Fiocina" Palm Beam Cannons
 * A unique feature of the Destiny is its two MMI-X340 "Palma Fiocina" palm beam cannons. These extreme close-range weapons release powerful energy discharges that are capable of destroying the "Slayer Whip" heat rods of a ZGMF-X2000 GOUF Ignited and even the armored head of the massive GFAS-X1 Destroy. It should be noted though that various games depict the "Palma Fiocina" as ranged weapons, and during the battle of Orb, a Murasame is destroyed by a blue beam.


 * MX2351 "Solidus Fulgor" Beam Shield Generator
 * Like its brother unit, the ZGMF-X666 Legend, the Destiny is also equipped with two wrist-mounted MX2351 "Solidus Fulgor" beam shield generators. These generators generate powerful beam shields that can block physical and beam attacks, including the combined power of a Destroy's three "Super Scylla" multi-phase beam cannons.


 * MA-BAR73/S High-Energy Beam Rifle
 * An optional beam rifle and is Destiny's main ranged weapon. Power rating is unknown, but it is assumed to be more powerful than the standard rifle.


 * Shield
 * A small, expandable shield that is mounted on the left arm to supplement the beam shield. However, this shield is rarely ever seen being used.


 * RQM60F "Flash-Edge 2" Beam Boomerang
 * The Destiny is equipped with two RQM60F "Flash-Edge 2" beam boomerangs that are stored on the shoulders. They are upgraded forms of the Sword Impulse's RQM60 "Flash-Edge" beam boomerangs. Unlike previous models, the Destiny's beam boomerangs also double as beam sabers, though they are rarely seen used in this form. Shinn uses these versatile weapons in a wide variety of ways, such as using them to distract opponents while he closes in for a close-range attack, or to destroy several enemy units in its trajectory.

Special Equipment & Features

 * Hyper-Deuterion Nuclear Reactor
 * The Destiny is powered by a hyper-deuterion nuclear reactor, giving it a self-replenishing power reserve. Despite this amazing power source, Destiny can still run out of power in a fight, with one of its engagements with the Strike Freedom ending in a retreat due to energy depletion. However this would end up being retconned in the Special Edition where the Destiny returned to the Minverva for repairs and resupply of weapon parts that were lost in battle previously (mainly the Beam Boomerangs and Anti-Ship Sword).


 * Neutron Jammer Canceller
 * Like most nuclear-powered mobile suits, the Destiny is equipped with a Neutron Jammer Canceller to allow its nuclear reactor to work in areas affected by Neutron Jammers.


 * Operating System
 * The ZGMF-X42S Destiny uses the Gunnery United Nuclear-Dueterion Advanced Maneuver operating system, (MOBILE SUIT NEO OPERATION SYSTEM Ver.1.62 Rev.29).


 * Mirage Colloid Holographic Projection System
 * This system is activated when Wings of Light is used. It spreads Colloid particles, leaving a trail of visible after-images that can confuse enemy sensors and visuals, as well as the naked eye.


 * Wings of Light
 * The "Wings of Light" utilizes a variant of the Voiture Lumiere propulsion system and allows the Destiny to achieve very high speeds during movements. It is frequently used together with the Mirage Colloid Holographic Projection System. One of Shinn's signature attacks with the Destiny is to utilize both systems in conjunction with the "Arondight" anti-ship sword. After both systems activate, Shinn rushes into close combat range with unprecedented speed and impales his target with the Arondight. Most instances of Shinn performing this maneuver have been done against larger, less maneuverable opponents such as the Earth Alliance's Zamza-Zahs, Gells-Ghes, and Destroys, which lends some doubt as to how effective this attack would actually be against units of similar mobility such as the Strike Freedom and Infinite Justice.


 * As shown during the final battle of Gundam Seed Destiny and in an FMV cutscene in Dynasty Warriors Gundam 2, the speed and after-images produced allow the Destiny to effectively dodge the multi-directional attacks of the DRAGOON System.

History
The ZGMF-X42S Destiny is ZAFT’s newest and most advanced mobile suit. It was commissioned by ZAFT Chairman Gilbert Durandal, who ordered the new machine to be designed and built with the most advanced technology of the time, also incorporating technologies which were banned by the Junius Treaty. Based on the ZGMF-X56S Impulse Gundam and Shinn Asuka’s combat data, it is designed to be able to handle any combat situation with its varied armament. Most of these armaments were tested on a specialized Silhouette pack mounted on the ZGMF-X56S/θ Destiny Impulse.

The Destiny was personally presented to the pilot Shinn Asuka by ZAFT Chairman Gilbert Durandal, and first entered combat against a ZGMF-2000 GOUF Ignited piloted by defector Athrun Zala. It then went on to participate in Operation Ragnarok, the invasion of Heaven's Base in Iceland, and was instrumental in the ZAFT-EA Defectors victory by first destroying the base's complement of five GFAS-X1 Destroy Gundam units.

It then participates in the attack on the Orb Union, where it was confronted by Cagalli Yula Athha in the ORB-01 Akatsuki. As his beam rifle and long-range beam cannon were shown to be ineffective against Akatsuki's anti-beam reflection system, he used his anti-ship sword and his beam boomerang to attack Cagalli/Akatsuki and manage to sever Akatsuki's shield-wielding right arm before Kira Yamato and Lacus Clyne made planetfall in ZGMF-X20A Strike Freedom Gundam and ZGMF-X19A Infinite Justice Gundam to assist Orb and destroyed Destiny's remaining offensive weapons. The ensuing duel with Strike Freedom proved so ferocious, forcing Shinn into retreat for resupply as Rey Za Burrel relieved him.

Shinn/Destiny returned to battlefield along with Rey/ZGMF-X666S Legend Gundam to battle Strike Freedom Gundam once again. The team was able to force the Strike Freedom into defensive until the timely intervention of Athrun Zala and his ZGMF-X19A Infinite Justice Gundam, who managed to cut off both of Destiny's arms (losing the anti-ship sword for the second time in the process) after activating his own SEED Mode in response to Shinn's attacks when he activates his own SEED Mode, after which all the ZAFT pilots received orders from Minerva to retreat upon assuming command in the aftermath of the original command ship (Saint Helens) being sunk by Archangel.

The Destiny led the assault on the Requiem control station on the moon right after several of PLANT's colonies was destroyed by Lord Djibril commanding the Earth Alliance's lunar base in Arzahel, and was again instrumental in the ZAFT victory over the remaining Earth Alliance Forces there. Defeating numerous opposing mobile weapons including three GFAS-X1 Destroy Gundam units stationed there, Shinn is able to successfully buy enough time for Lunamaria Hawke to infiltrate and destroy the command center with her ZGMF-X56S/γ Blast Impulse.

During the final battle of the Second Bloody Valentine War, Destiny was engaged against ∞ Justice Gundam after the latter disabled Lunamaria Hawke's  ZGMF-X56S/α Force Impulse and received major damage before being disabled by Athrun Zala/∞ Justice Gundam. The fate of Destiny afterwards is unknown.

Variants

 * ZGMF-X42S-REVOLUTION Westenfluss's Customized Destiny

Notes & Trivia

 * Destiny's head crest displays the text "X-42S DUE", which means "Second" in Italian and is a reference to Destiny's series number. The "S" in its code number represents that it is a Second Stage mobile suit, although its abilities are actually that of a Third Stage unit. This is done to hide the fact that it is a nuclear-powered suit and should have an "A" instead.
 * The Destiny's faceplate has a distinctive pair of red, curved marks, directly underneath each eye. Identical markings were previously seen on the faceplate of the OZ-00MS2 Tallgeese II.
 * The opening song, "Wings of Words", may be a reference to Destiny's Wings of Light.
 * Every different version of the SEED Destiny storyline (as many as 3 different manga, as well as the TV series) has a slightly different take on how the Destiny Gundam was disabled; one has Athrun disabling the machine with its own Anti-Ship Sword before destroying the Requiem cannon with Destiny's weapon.
 * The scene where Destiny apparently drained the Hyper-Deuterion reactor's reserves was edited out of the Special Edition compilations of the series, leading some to consider it an oversight on the staff's part that they later corrected (like Mwu's floating helmet was edited out of the SEED compilations).
 * This scene however was referenced in Super Robot Wars K and L by limiting its attack list to mostly EN draining attacks, omitting attacks such as the beam boomerangs. This is in contrast to the Strike Freedom and Justice that while having similar draining powerful attacks, also having a nice amount of low EN cost or ammo based options. This isn't the case in the Z series as the Destiny can use its beam boomerangs as a low cost melee option. Also in Z2, it doesn't get its EN regen upgraded to 20% when fully upgraded like the Strike Freedom and ∞ Justice. Instead, Destiny gained +300 attack power as its full upgrade bonus.
 * The Destiny's backpack is actually inspired by the Strike's striker packs, as the sword and the long range beam cannon has a close resemblance to the Strike's.
 * The Destiny and the GAT-X105+AQM/E-X02 Sword Strike Gundam draw their anti-ship swords in exactly the same fashion.
 * The Destiny and the GAT-X105+AQM/E-X03 Launcher Strike Gundam draw their cannons in exactly the same fashion.
 * It's been rumored Kira's upgrade mech would have been similar to the Destiny but the designers couldn't find a way to mix the three packs' main traits (Anti-ship sword, anti-ship cannon, and the booster pack) until GSD aired. This in turn might have inspired the Perfect Strike seen in the HD remaster of SEED.
 * Some people call the Destiny's palm cannon "Destiny Finger", a reference to Shining Gundam's "Shining Finger".
 * In Gundam Seed Destiny: Alliance vs. Zaft Plus and Gundam vs. Gundam Next, whenever Destiny pulls out its Anti-ship Sword, the Beam Rifle simply disappears, although in the anime there's a storage area for it. The same thing happens with the Impulse Gundam when it pulls out its Beam Saber, which coincidentally are both piloted by Shinn Asuka.
 * In Gundam vs Gundam, Destiny is also unlockable and a PSP exclusive unit
 * The Destiny's role is similar to that of Zeta Gundam in the series of the same name; where Destiny, like Zeta is the protagonist's second mobile suit and their first mobile suits were given to a female character.
 * An orange colored Destiny Gundam appeared in the CD case of J-pop artist T.M.Revolution's new album "X42S - REVOLUTION". Also, the Gundam itself has its own 1/144 HG & 1/100 MG Gunpla release bundled with the Limited Edition of the Album to tie in with 30th anniversary of the Gundam series. The unit is unofficially known as the Destiny Gundam Heine Westenfluss Custom, probably in reference to the singer behind TM Revolution, Takanori Nishikawa, being the Voice Actor for Heine Westenfluss in the series, one of the rare instances of singers getting Voice Acting Roles in an anime series that they sang songs for.
 * Some of the Destiny's abilities and physical traits mirror those of past gundams, such as The "Wings of Light" mirroring LM314V21 Victory 2 Gundam and SYSTEM ∀-99 ∀ Gundam. The Destiny's after-image ability mirroring the F91 Gundam F91. The Destiny's color pallet mirroring the MSZ-006 Zeta Gundam. Not to mention the "Palma Fiocinas" shown to be used in a similar matter to that of Shining Finger, God Finger and Darkness Finger.
 * The Destiny Gundam is playable suit in Gundam Musou 2 and Gundam Musou 3.
 * In SD Gundam G Generation portable,SD Gundam G Generation Wars, and G Generation World, there are two versions of Destiny. The normal version has access to beam saberang, vulcan, beam rifle, long range cannon and palm beam cannon. When pilot's tension gauge reach max level, it will switch to a hyper version which replaces beam saberang and beam rifle attacks with anti-ship sword and beam boomerang attacks respectively, as well as an increased damage of palm beam cannon.
 * In Super Robot Wars K, whenever Destiny destroys its opponent with "Arondight" Anti-Ship Sword, Destiny will let its opponent explode with the sword still stuck in it. But strangely, the sword can still be used thereafter. The quirk has been rectified in Super Robot Wars L, where Destiny retrieves its sword before its opponent explodes.
 * Its high speed/mobility is referenced in a scene in Super Robot Wars L where Kira has difficulty dealing with an agile original enemy until Shinn stops it with an attack. Due to changed events in the game, the two pilots are on far friendlier terms compared to other games with GSD.
 * An official limited Master Grade of Destiny Gundam Heine Westenfluss Custom was released and displayed in a Gunpla Expo on March 2011.
 * Destiny has a unique default BGM compared to the other SEED Destiny units in Super Robot Wars K. The default BGM for Destiny is Zips (by TM Revolution), while the default BGM for the other SEED Destiny units is Kira, Sono Kokoro no Momo ni (by Toshihiko Sahashi).
 * Destiny's strongest attack, Extreme Blast is slightly stronger than Strike Freedom's Super Dragoon Full Burst and ∞ Justice's Griffon 2 in Super Robot Wars L.
 * During Operation Fury, a Murasame is destroyed by a blue beam before Destiny engage the Akatsuki in melee combat. Since no other MS's beam attacks are blue, it is likely that the beam is from Destiny's "Palma Fiocinas". However, no official source has supported this, except in some video games such as Gundam SEED: Generation of C.E. (PS2) and Gundam SEED: Battle Destiny (PSVita), where the "Palma Fiocinas" can be utilized as mid-ranged weapons.
 * Destiny lost its final and most powerful attack, Full weapon Combination, in Super Robot Wars Z2 part 1 Hakai-hen. Therefore, there is no Destiny Finger animation in the game, and the "Arondight" Anti-Ship Sword became Destiny's strongest attack. However, Full Weapon Combination returns in Super Robot Wars Z2 part 2, Saisei-hen.
 * In Super Robot Wars K and L, the Wings of Light was also activated during Destiny's attack with its High Energy Long Range Beam Cannon, despite the Wings of Light was mainly used during melee attacks or evasion that require a high speed as shown in the TV series.
 * Destiny's model number is the answer to life, the universe and everything (42) according to the writer of the "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" Douglas Adams.
 * In Another Century's Episode: R which pick up sometime after the end of SEED DESTINY, Destiny was fully repaired. Shinn use it to join force with Kira and Athrun and investigate the unmanned Alliance mobile suits, before got swept in alternate dimension.
 * In Gundam Memories, the Destiny's M2000GX High-Energy Long-Range Beam Cannon, is placed at the right part of its body, instead at the left, but when used, it is placed at the left side during Quick Attack, but still placed at the right in a Special attack.
 * It should be noted that there are many animation inconsistencies where the Destiny either has the physical shield or not.
 * Destiny Gundam was the first in this series to have a Real Grade (RG) release in conjunction with the broadcast of the Gundam SEED Destiny Remaster Project aired on March 2013. However, unlike the previous HG Version which was released nearly 10 years ago, this version does not include its Wings Of Light Effect Parts, avaialble only as a separate Premium Release.