See, McGillis' plan backfiring is one of the few core moments I actually did enjoy. If he had just become another Zechs I would have been mad. Bael being just ok as a mobile suit unit makes perfect sense, as it's just plain outdated by the time the show starts. McG's delusions of grandeur are hinted at early on and when he becomes obstinate about it, you know Tekkadan are f***ed. They put their chips on a guy running on anime logic, who wanted to enforce peace by fear. It's a short term vision that would crumble the minute McGillis was out of power.
Rustal showed that even though he's a dick, his reforms were building the foundation for something much longer lasting. He also ended up accomplishing Tekkadan's goal of rights for mars. It's just that Tekkadan themselves had reached a point through bad decision making that you had to wipe them out. They still had a number of survivors by the endgame and got some level of revenge, it just wasn't through a spectable battle.
The show portayed McGillis as a hero just because he was on Tekkadan's side, but as a whole the guy betrayed more allies than Char and for a misguided cause. Him losing was necessary.
Yea I had no problem with McG losing and Tekkadan losing as a result. It was evident that they stood no chance once Rustal was shown to have an actual fleet and military backing. The IBO universe established that no one Gundam or Mobile Armor could defeat an army. I just wished that the downfall wasn't for a dumb reason, like trusting a delusional guy when it was pretty obvious he was delusional. I rolled my eyes when he explained his plan and thought "here we go another OP ancient Gundam, I bet he's going to get a lot of people killed and ultimately lose because Rustal has the support of the world", but it turned out that none of this happened.
He just loses and Tekkadan died like a bunch of dogs. Tekkadan dying was fitting, considering they were unwanted space waste, but the execution of this grand plan didn't sit well with me. I wouldn't want the end to go any other way, just wished Bael was a true calamity machine and actually wrecked a lot of Rustal's forces before getting destroyed by the snipers or maybe a bunch of excavated Mobile Armors.
I can't believe Okada Mari had us believe any sensible person would go along with McG's plan no matter how desperate they were. It's like a giant brain fart.