Wow, it's really been a year since I did this? >
CASE 3 - GUNDAM HEAVYARMS
NOTE: These ideas operate under the assumption that Heavyarms was designed for the Trowa we know - Triton Bloom, 03, Mr. Unibang, etc. In the AC world, we know that the Gundam was designed for the REAL Trowa, Dekim's spoiled son. However, in our world, Heavyarms was designed for the heroic Trowa long before the greedy one was ever created. Therefore, these instances of symbolism will reflect the reality of Gundam Wing in our world rather than theirs.
Heavyarms as Trowa's mask - One thing that can be said for most of Gundam Wing's cast is that they wear masks - they've all been hurt in the past, and they hide it by putting on different faces, whether it's Duo's goofy sense of humor, Dorothy's war-loving candor, or Wu Fei's brashness. Strangely enough, Trowa is one of the few characters who doesn't get a mask attributed to him by the fans (other than his clown's half-mask), and yet it could be argued that he's got the best one of the entire cast. His entire life has been one form of suffering or another, losing his family, being shuttled between battlefields, never having the chance to be a child... But when we see him in the show, he's a very calm, collected young man; whatever pain he has, he manages to hide it better than anyone else. Heavyarms itself can be seen as an extension of his mask; Trowa has always been a soldier, and inside his Gundam, he is literally armored against the world and its troubles.
Heavyarms as Trowa himself - One point about Trowa Barton that nobody will dispute is his personality. He's very stoic, speaking rarely, and when he does he gets right to the point rather than embelishing things or using lots of fancy language. In this manner, Heavyarms could be considered an extension of Trowa himself. The other Gundams have some rather fanciful elements...I mean, look at them. Beam scythes? Dragon claws? Heat sabers with a distinct ethnic design? Even Wing, which is more straightforward than the others, has some fancy elements. Heavyarms isn't for any of that; like its pilot, it gets right to the point. It doesn't need a fancy customized weapon or stylized touches - it just uses the same weapons that have been on the battlefield for hundreds of years, and uses them very well. No flair, no showiness, just business - just like Trowa.
