This is just going to give you a little basic information about each of the pilots and as I find it a bit of info on our bishounen bad boys of Gundam Wing. I'll also add pics as I get them to give you a little extra eye candy as well. ~g~ I may have to talk to Walter about more room, ack!

 

1. Name: Heero Yuy (though actually we know this isn't his real name but a code name he elected to use. We never get his real name.)
2. Age: 15
3. Ethnic Origin: Japanese
4. Place of Origin: The L1 Space Colony Cluster
5. Height: 156cm / 5'1"
6. Weight: 45kg / 99lb
7. Eye Color: Dark Blue
8. Hair Color: Dark Brown
9. Scientist Who Trained Him:Doctor J
10. His Gundams: Gundam Wing(01), Mercurius(until it was destroyed by Quatre with Winged Zero), Winged Zero, Epion(til he traded with Zechs to get Winged Zero back)
11. Women He's Paired With: Relena (Darlain) Peacecraft.

Heero's most distinguishing features? The fact that in Gundam Wing his only clothing seemed to be the black spandex shorts and a green tank top unless he was in one of the schools. He rarely smiled or laughed and seemed to be constantly trying to commit suicide or at least die for the war. Oh and you never actually see him climb out of his Gundam if anything he seems to fall out.

He has a protective streak for those he cares about, especially Duo, Quatre and Relena. Zechs Merquise, talking to his best friend and possible love interest Lucrezia Noin, says that he thought once he and Heero met on an equal footing that he would come out the winner. But still Heero came out on top. Noin tells him, "It's because he's fighting to protect something. That is what makes him strong."

He has an incredible streak of honor and justice. When OZ tricked him into killing the peace minded members of the Earth Sphere Alliance. Heero went to each member of the Leader's Family (Field Marshal Noventa) and offered them his regret, his gun and his life because it was all he could give them at that time.

In the last episode of the series, Heero and Zechs are still trying to complete their personal battle that they've been engaging in since episode one. They both have to break off in order to work together along with the other Gundams to destroy a chunk of a huge space vessel to keep it from falling to earth and destroying it. Finally all that is left is Heero with his mobile suit's thermal rifle to try and finish it off. He's falling backwards on fire through the earth's atmosphere firing. They all think he won't make it (well actually now that I think about it either Duo or Trowa says something about their sure he'll do it) when suddenly the falling chunk is atomized and Heero appears coming towards them. Quatre looks at the others in their suits around him and says something to the effect, "It's Heero! Heero is the heart of outer space." I may be wrong but I think he meant that Heero and the colonies their hearts were strong, they did what they had to to protect those they loved and kept on fighting through everything no matter how tired they were or hurt they felt.

1. Name: Duo Maxwell(we learn later that he took the name Maxwell from the Church orphanage where he lived until it was attacked by the Aliance. Duo blames himself for the deaths of Father Maxwell, Sister Helen and the other children.)
2. Age: 15
3. Ethnic Origin: American
4. Place of Origin: The L2 Space Colony Cluster
5. Height: 156cm / 5'1"
6. Weight: 43kg / 94lb
7. Eye Color: Violet
8. Hair Color: Dark auburn/cinnamon
9. Scientist Who Trained Him:Professor G
10. His Gundams: Deathscythe/Shinigami (O2), Rebuilt and Space readied version of Deathscythe(while infiltrating the enemy Trowa was forced to destroy Deathscythe or be discovered. It was the first show of emotion from him over one of the Gundams. He cried and was surprised to see his tears floating in the zero gravity of the cockpit of his mobile suit. I think he knew Duo would be watching and how much it would hurt him.)
11. Women He's Paired With: Hilde Schbeiker(honestly I thought they acted more like brother and sister though myself. In fact they reminded me of fraternal twins or kids who were born so close to each other that they had been each other's playmate forever.)

Duo's most distinguishing features? An almost three and half foot long braid. The fact that he wears basically a priest's outfit all the time, collar and all. And that he has a pinchant for getting himself captured so that Heero has to come and rescue him. And even when he is blue or in dispair he puts on a happy face for those around him. Something that really struck me when I was watching these and still does, is something Duo tells Quatre when the colony's start becoming involved in the fighting going on around them. "They should leave the fighting to me. I'm the only one that should have to suffer as much as I did."

Duo is constantly trying to pull his friend Heero out of himself. Pushing and cajoling trying to get the other pilot to lighten up and find some joy in life. I think he succeeds at least a little, because he does draw Heero out to join a basketball game at one of the schools that they are both at. He convinces Heero to work with him on a mission instead of his usual loner route. And at one point when Duo has been captured, Heero comes with the full intent of killing Duo so that OZ can't learn anything from him and he can't do it. He rescues him instead.

Duo is so deep. He hides so much behind his mask of a free spirit. But when the mask drops and he suddenly lets someone see inside there is a lot of hurt and doubt that he barely holds at bay. Most often it's Quatre that he opens up to.

1. Name: Trowa Barton(though again this isn't his real name.)
2. Age: 15? (though I really think he may be a year or two older honestly.)
3. Ethnic Origin: Unknown
4. Place of Origin:Possibly the L3 Space Colony Cluster
5. Height: 160cm / 5'3"
6. Weight: 44kg / 97lb
7. Eye Color: Dark Green
8. Hair Color: Chestnut Brown
9. Scientist Who Trained Him:That's a long story! But his scientist is Doktor S
10. His Gundams: Gundam Heavy Arms (03), Vayate until Quatre destroyed it., Heavy Arms rebuilt and Space readied.
11. Women He's Paired With: Catherine Bloom though she even set the tone for their relationship at one point when Trowa had lost his memory by letting him believe they were brother and older sister.

Trowa's distinquishing characteristics? Those enormous bangs of his, fans often refer to him as the tri-banged pilot. He rarely talks but when he does he says a philosophical mouthful every time. Almost never smiles but you can catch it if your really watching. Like Heero he seems to be looking for his death, but won't go the suicide route. He did give his life or very very nearly in order to bring Quatre back from the edge of insanity. The other boy's father was murdered by the very colonists they were trying to protect. Then he got tangled up in a really screwed system called the Zero System with the Gundam he built himself to get revenge, called Winged Zero.

During the GW movie Endless Waltz we learn a bit more about Trowa. His actual name was "Noname" and he was a mechanic as well as a member of a militia group. He was obviously already quite an accomplished mobile suit operator. Trowa wasn't the original pilot for the Gundam Heavy Arms mobile suit, he was actually one of the mechanics working on it. We find out that he had developed a connection with Heavy Arms while working on him, though we don't see it that much in the series. He was witness to the murder of the original Trowa Barton, by one of Doktor S's assistants. Trowa volunteers to take his place, his name and his mission.

There is a lot of speculation about things that might have happened to Trowa as he was growing up in the military unit that might have made him the way he is. I think he's just very reserved myself and probably forced to see too much death from a very early age. It would explain why he can fight and kill as easily as he does but also constantly looking toward the day when he can finally stop fighting for good. During the series he is talking to Heero about how he got involved (though none of this came out), and seemed to indicate to me at least that his family (I guess the military unit) wasn't all that happy with his decision to do what he did.

The thing that sticks with me is that all the way through there is something between Quatre and Trowa. It's seeing Quatre again that starts Trowa's mind on the road to mending (he lost his memory as a result of the battle between he and Quatre). When he finally has his turn at the "Zero system" he is seeing the people he wants and needs to protect, it's Cathy and Quatre that he sees. And while Quatre is fighting outside in space to protect the colony that Trowa and his circus friends are on, Trowa says to Cathy, "He's calling me. He's crying, I can tell from here." And he was right, because Quatre was fighting with a Gundam that though still stronger than the ones around him, still wasn't Space ready yet, the blonde was winning but getting the heck beat out of him. Also I think he was feeling the pain in Quatre that the blonde was feeling because Cathy wouldn't let them see each other. And when Trowa flew out to join him in a shuttle, Quatre knew it was him even before anything was said or he saw him. Also Trowa is the only Pilot that the creator of the series won't confirm or deny when it comes to his sexual orientation. Okay I'm gushing but their my favorite love birds!

1. Name: Quatre Raberba Winner
2. Age: 15
3. Ethnic Origin: Arabic
4. Place of Origin: The L4 Space Colony Cluster
5. Height: 156cm / 5'1"
6. Weight: 41kg / 90lb
7. Eye Color: Blue/normally an aqua tone
8. Hair Color: pale blonde
9. Scientist Who Trained Him: Instructor H
10. His Gundams: Sandrock (04), Winged Zero at first when he returned to outerspace (he built it himself from blueprints left by Instructor H), Sandrock again outfitted for space.
11. Women He's Paired With: Dorothy Catalonia (not!)

Quatre's distinguishing characteristics? His hair, eye and skin tone for someone who's heritage is from the middle east Arab states. His dad makes me think they are perhaps strongly Turkish or Lebanese and yes I actually have the experience to know the difference. ~grin~ Quatre is almost too gentle and kind hearted to be a Gundam Pilot, he doesn't have the ruthlessness or the killer instinct. He often tries to persuade the enemy to just give up, then apologizes to them when they won't and he's forced to kill them. Except for Wufei who tends to be a loner, the other pilots tend to open up to Quatre, they probably see him as a shoulder to cry on because of his compassionate nature.

He plays a variety of musical instruments. Has twenty-nine older sisters. I figure his dad must have still followed the multiple wife path of the Arabic culture. The man also must have started young, but there does seem to be a gap between Quatre's sisters and Quatre. He is the only son of an extremely wealthy(almost royalty status) family. They have a massive benevolent Space Colony regime. Quatre disappointed his father and felt himself to be pratically disowned when he 'elected' to become a Gundam Pilot because his family are Pacifists. His reasoning was a need to protect his family in what he saw as the rising aggression from OZ and the Alliance. Though interestingly enough Quatre didn't recognize his sister Irina when he first awoke in a space hospital just after returning from earth. From what we've learned the sisters were all spread out amongst the family's colonies and satelites. Probably for protection. So I guess he must have known about them but never seen them. Another reason to believe there's quite a gap between he and his sisters age wise.

He is the defacto leader of the Gundam Pilots in the later episodes of the series. Though they all tend to look to Heero for their strength, they look to Quatre for planning and battle instructions. Though his first encounter with the overpowering and almost flawed Zero system nearly drives him insane, Quatre overcomes the system on his second attempt and actually rises above it to no longer need the system for strategy and battle guidance. Honestly I think it was the grief over his father's murder that made him so susceptible to the system the first time around. If he hadn't been off balance already he might have overcome the system immediately. Though he might not be as ruthless as the others his intellengence and leadership abilities make him an excellent pilot. Oh and he has his own highly trained military mobile suit unit call the Macquanauts that voted to back him up(does this kid inspire love and loyalty or what?). They tend to revere him and act like stand-in Dad's at the same time. ~LOL~

I have a feeling that Quatre may actually have some psychic abilities. He tends to 'feel' others physical and emotional pain as if it was his own. When it is really bad Quatre will actually clutch at his chest or left arm like he's having a heart attack. I have noticed though that all the pilots especially Heero, Trowa and Quatre tend to be physically affected by the use of their Gundams in a fight. Not that they can't handle them but that they push themselves far above their own physical capabilities in a fight. We don't see it as often with Duo or Wufei, or they just seem to hide it better.

Maybe the most distinguishing characteristic about Quatre... He's the only Gundam Pilot who isn't actually looking to die. All the others in one way or another are trying to be killed or put out of their misery, they just refuse to lay down and let it happen. Duo and Wufei are less obvious about it, but the feeling is still there.

1. Name: Wufei Chang (you'll also see it as Chang Wufei, but his last name is Chang)
2. Age: 15
3. Ethnic Origin: Chinese
4. Place of Origin: The L5 Space Colony Cluster
5. Height: 156cm / 5'1"
6. Weight: 46kg / 101lb
7. Eye Color: Black
8. Hair Color: Black
9. Scientist Who Trained Him: Master O
10. His Gundams: Nataku (05), Nataku again outfitted for space.
11. Women He's Paired With: Sally Po

Wufei's distinguishing characteristics? I don't know that it's a distinguishing characteristic but he has a white suit that he often wears that most of the fans seem to just love. They call it his panda suit. I do admit he looks cute in it.

Wufei has a extremely strong sense of honor and Justice. One of my favorite scenes with him is just after he's destroyed the Victoria base and encountered Lucrezia Noin. He is annoyed that the person who followed and attacked him wasn't 'strong' enough to finish him off when they had the chance, once they saw he was only a kid. In the scene he is surrounded by a pack of wolves or wild dogs all snarling for his blood. He just looks at them then yells, "Get out of my sight you weaklings!" The pack slinks away whining. Wufei's final comment before the episode ends, "I hate fighting a weak enemy. It leaves me feeling so empty inside."

Wufei is a loner and it's not until almost the end of the series, after his own encounter with the 'Zero System' that he joins the other pilots to fight for the colonies. Of all the Gundams I like Wufei the least, but that doesn't mean I dislike him. It just means that if I could actually sit down and talk to them he would be the last one on my list. But I do feel the most sorry for him. Though Quatre loses his Father to murder, Wufei watches what is left of his clan, his entire family die. They killed themselves by destroying their colony so they couldn't be used to prevent Wufei from carrying out his mission. So in all the fighting he does to protect the colony he couldn't protect the ones the most important to him.

There is another scene with Wufei that I love but I don't want to tell you about it yet. For those of you who know the story it's one of the final episodes and deals with Treize. You'll probably know the one I'm thinking of.

Of all the Gundam Pilots Wufei is the one who seems to be fighting less for peace than to simply eliminate people he considers evil. Funny that though Heero is the perfect soldiar and the one that seemed to scoff the most at the thought of pacifism used to end war. It is Wufei who cannot come to terms with the world once peace is established. In fact the Chinese pilot feels betrayed by the people in power. In Endless Waltz when all the other pilots technically get rid of their Gundams, Wufei is the only one to keep his. He sells his services as a Gundam Pilot to a rebel army.