Hyped up as the big wild card in the galactic conflict due to its control of the Phezzan corridor

He was a dishonest schemer compared to Reinhard and Yang who were "honorable", so in that sense he basically served the role of a minor villain and had to go. Even though the story is primarily about and ideological conflict, it's still also about heroism and the triumph of good over evil, with Yang and Reinhard bringing justice to the galaxy by removing their corrupt leadership.

I was expecting more from Trunich but he died a more anti climatic death than Yang Wen Li.
He was propped up as one of Free Planets biggest villain

After season 2 he's always got this shit-eating grin that he's got this mega-keikaku up his sleeve... and then he does basically nothing and dies of space aids, making his city blowup in the process (as Reinhard is easily evacuated)

Like... nigger what?

Truniht was never anything more than a slimy politician.

I understand that Yang's whole thing is that he values democratic ideals above all else and doesn't want to step out of line as a military leader but I honestly can't help but feel that he was very amoral in his inaction against the corrupt leaders of the FPA. I think there's a point where if one has the power to easily stop injustices, but allows them to continue anyways, they become at least a little bit guilty for allowing those injustices to continue.
He wouldn't have had to become a military dictator like Schonkopf wanted him to be, but he maybe could've tried to run for office with his massive popularity to have the joint position of an admiral and elected official and use that power to purge the corrupt officials.

I'm more of a republican than a monarchist but in the case of LoGH I'd have to say that Reinhard was the better pick since he actually did shit to root out corruption instead of being a lazy alcoholic.

I will not tolerate any slander of my boy Yang

I was also surprised that the only thing keeping Phezzan from being conquered was diplomatic clout.
You would think that with their wealth they would have all the major defensive structures we saw throughout the show, like the ring defense system and maybe some mid sized fortresses throughout the Phezzan corridor.

The way Phezzan controlled the FPA is very reminiscent to the way the Jews control America/Europe.
If you replace religious Jew with Terran, Israel with Earth, and Atheist Jew with Phezzani, then the parallels are suspiciously accurate.

Anon, the Phezzani didn't have a military. Their "power" came from skillfully manipulating the Empire and the FPA to keep them locked in a forever war. As long as the Empire and Alliance were focused on one another as their primary adversary, Phezzan would always be an afterthought, which allowed them to move more easily in the background to maintain the balance of power in both the Empire and Alliance.

Nobody ever managed to do what Reinhard did because the Phezzani always managed to deflect interest away from themselves before a powerful leader could focus on them. Phezzan would arrange for some kind of distraction, internal or external, like a rebellion or a major defection from one side to the other, or something else along those lines. But Reinhard's purges of the government and military removed most of the corrupt officials the Phezzani relied on to carry out such acts of subterfuge, and his control over the empire was practically absolute. The Phezzani couldn't infiltrate Reinhard's inner circle, they couldn't foment rebellion because he'd killed, exiled, or deposed anyone in a position to do it, and the FPA was already in turmoil as a result of Reinhard's own destabilization schemes so there was no way to mount a credible threat from Iserlohn that Reinhard would have to divert his interest toward.

They were done. Rubinksy realized this early on which is why he shifted tactics. He couldn't possibly stop Reinhard from occupying Phezzan so he simply disappeared and laid the groundwork for an uprising later.

Phezzan was technically supposed to be part of the Empire but with a lot of autonomy so they probably never expected the Empire to actually invade them because they could always just play the "I'm on your side!" card. Reinhard just had very little tolerance for bullshit so that trick didn't work on him.
Plus it would've probably attracted the attention of either the FPA or the Empire if they had actually armed up because then either the FPA would think they're going to fight alongside the Empire, or the Empire would've felt like it was losing control of its dominion.

Phezzan building military strength would cause them to be recognized as a threat by both the FPA and Empire, both factions would go from seeing Phezzan as a weak, irrelevant economic zone to being a territorial rival. As a consequence Phezzani merchants would no longer be able to freely travel throughout space, and both factions would be on guard against Phezzani spies and interests. Because they had no military presence they weren't seen as an enemy.

The lesson is that Gordian knots are made to be cut.

Yang's problem is he is too farsighted. He was a scholar of history and so he adopted a very long-term perspective. He would do the moral thing and simply refuse to carry out atrocities if he was ordered, he might even become a rebel if he was forced to, in order to prevent himself being used as a weapon of tyranny. But he'd never deliberately put himself in a position where his actions undermined the existence of democratic institutions. Because in his mind, the long-term damage of such a thing would be far worse for the people of the FPA than whatever immediate suffering they were enduring. It's a fairly cold way to look at things, but Yang always had the capability of making cold, calculated decisions. He just felt sad about it later.

I guess that makes sense, so basically they were walking on eggshells from the very beginning.

Exactly. Phezzan was just one planet, and they were only wealthy because they were able to trade peacefully with both factions. In a straight up war against either FPA or Empire they'd be so massively outgunned it wouldn't matter if they had an impregnable fortress on either end of the Phezzan corridor, FPA and Empire could simply blockade their respective ends of the corridor and ensure no Phezzan ship escapes, and the Phezzani economy would implode from the lack of trade. Regime change would occur due to ensuing political instability and the new leader would very likely agree to disarm the corridor.

I kind of agree with Yang here, if he were to become a benevolent dictator he would still just be a pale imitation of Reinhard, and the FPA would just be a pale imitation of the Galactic Empire. The sole driving factor for FPA's existence would no longer be, in which case they might as well be part of the Galactic Empire at that point.

Yes, Phezzan wanted to ensure its independence and autonomy and they couldn't do that by fighting. Most likely scenario would be that they'd be forced to ally with the Empire or the FPA if they pissed off one faction, and the result would simply be Phezzan's annexation into one or the other.

Yang didn't really have a problem with Reinhard as a person, or his policies. He openly admitted that Reinhard's Empire was a better place to live for people than the FPA was. At least at the present moment. But again, he's farsighted. He easily foresaw a future where Reinhard's successor was not as competent or magnanimous (which is virtually guaranteed because nobody could be) resulting in the absolute power wielded by the kaiser becoming a tool of abuse on a literally galactic scale. To Yang the present state of affairs doesn't justify setting into motion the utter downfall of liberty and justice for all of humanity. It wasn't simple patriotism that motivated him to keep the FPA distinct from the Empire, but to keep democracy alive.

Yang was too idealistic but in the process every action he did achieves the opposite of his ideals
Him dying due to sleeping pills was so fitting for him
If there's any supporter for corruption in FPA, he was definitely the biggest one. Every rebellion that happened were justified and he rejected to support all of them, until it was him the head in Iserlohn fortress leading the last rebellion against just governance

Yang didn't really stand for justice, he stood against tyrannical rule. The FPA wasn't a tyranny, it was just hopelessly corrupt and inept. While this also caused widespread suffering, it was still preferable to Yang to a despotic rule simply because the people were still, theoretically, empowered to change the state and elect better leaders if they wanted, without having to resort to massive wars to do so. Reinhard's coup d'etat went very smoothly but it still cost the empire millions of lives. Not just soldiers, either. And this was a relatively swift power transition in a despotic state. Imagine a power struggle where there was no clearly superior claimant who can swiftly defeat his rivals and end the bloodshed. Imagine if Reinhard had like half his IQ points, and had only sycophantic dipshits around him, and how long and utterly terrible the war would've been to secure power. Instead of 1 nuked planet and a few million soldiers dead the death toll would've been in the tens of billions.

he stood against tyrannical rule. The FPA wasn't a tyranny

t.YWL
Julian was right, the empire under Reinhard's rule wasn't tyrannical and more democratic than the so called free planets. If they were to hold elections he still would have won.

Yeah, but that's just under Reinhard's rule. When he dies power will pass to somebody else, and they will inherit all of Reinhard's worldly power while almost certainly not possessing all of his virtues. That's the central problem. The underlying system of power in the FPA was a good one, it was just filled with incompetent and corrupt people. In the short term, yeah, Yang admitted the FPA was a terrible place to live objectively, and compared to Reinhard's reign in the empire it looked even worse. But that's short-term thinking. Yang wasn't a short-term thinker. However bad it was in the FPA -at the present moment- was less important than how many generations would eventually suffer under the tyrannical rulers that would follow Reinhard.

Is there a more disappointing faction in fiction?

He´s Doran Martell from GOT.

Planing without ever committing. It´s a great trope that´s underused.
Playing 4D chess sounds great to autists until they realize that the world is just not that complex.

However bad it was in the FPA -at the present moment- was less important than how many generations would eventually suffer under the tyrannical rulers that would follow Reinhard.

Imagine being apologetic of the alliance
You can overthrow a tyrannical ruler
You cannot throw a tyrannical bureaucracy

what release should I watch

He got exactly the death he deserved.

Central anime for accurate translation

The FPA's bureaucracy isn't tyrannical. Fundamentally its power is derived from popular elections. Power transitions in the FPA are decided by political movements, rather than armed uprisings. As a result the FPA grew from a single planetary government into a huge political entity with billions of people living in it. How did their population grow so much, enough that they could rival the Empire in a straight up war, in just a few centuries? It turns out its' very easy to become prosperous and populous when transitions of power don't require deadly civil wars, and your people don't have to be violently oppressed to maintain order.

Trunicht represnted a particularly banal variety of evil. He was nothing more than a self-serving sociopath. The evil he perpetrated was largely a result of him not caring about anyone or anything other than himself. He never had any goal other than maximizing his own safety and luxury. For such a petty person a petty death is fitting.

My one gripe is that the strong, attractive, genius with maxed out stats diplomatically, combat abilities, rulership and court intrigue died of poor health which isn't reflective of how strong his gene was able to fertilize the soon-to-be kaiserin on his first try.

The star that burns the brightest burns the fastest.

The kaisern should have save scummed 6 months being the earliest to grow his dynasty, load state whenever his body becomes frail.

I wonder if she was the inspiration for Asuka

Tbf, one of the biggest causes of population growth in the FPA can be assumed to be a constant stream of refugees from the Empire, a phenomenon which is noted in the show.
Also one major factor in the rapid parity which the FPA was able to achieve was that the Empire’s population had been steadily decreasing basically ever since it was founded. (300 Billion at its establishment, 25 Billion by the time Reinhard took over). Frankly this is the most damning indictment of the Goldenbaum dynasty one can find.
However shitty the FPA might be in its current state, they at least didn’t have the distinction of presiding over the single largest population collapse ever experienced by the human race.