Me: Hey, I Should Do Some Short Posts On The SD Gundam Series Designs, Since I Wont Have Much To Say

Me: Hey, I should do some short posts on the SD Gundam series designs, since I won’t have much to say on them.

Also me: I should do a post on the Great Zeong.

The MSN-03-2 Great Zeong was an upgraded version of the MSN-03 Zeong, a sister unit to the MSN-02 Zeong which was used by Char at a Baoa Qu. Though a veritable improvement on the Original Zeong, the Principality of Zeon lacked both the resources or technological know-how to build it. A prime example of the latter would be that the Great Zeong was designed to split into seven independently functioning parts, all controlled by the Newtype pilot, compared to the original’s comparatively simple wired hands and detachable head for use as an escape system. The Great Zeong is armed with a scattering mega particle gun in the chest which can also function as a “standard” Large Mega Particle Gun, a 5-barrel Mega Particle Gun in each of the arms (the arm is essentially built around the gun) which can of course be detached through the psycommu system. The Great Zeong is also armed with a mega particle gun in each leg, and another one in the head. There is yet another small Mega Particle Gun behind the front skirt, typically used when the lower body is detached. Moving on from beam-related weaponry, there are two Anti-ship missiles contained within each shoulder binder and finally each leg mounts a heat claw on its underside. In addition to all this, the Great Zeong mounts an I-Field Barrier Generator (presumably in the chest) and a Minovsky Craft System for atmospheric flight. Just as with the original, the head could also be used as an escape system. Interestingly, each of the separate parts mounts a mono-eye system when separated, including a secondary head mounted inside the upper body, akin to the Apsalus or Zaku II (I wonder if that’s any benefit to the pilot, or it’s just a design thing) . The design would be later developed into the NZ-000 Queen Mansa/Quin Mantha.

Before I get into talking about the design, I want to give a quick run-down on my feelings towards the better-known Zeong’s:

The Original MSN-02 Zeong is absolutely gorgeous. Legless, murderous, kingly, terrifying. It’s a fantastic design and its lack of legs adds charm, especially since it replaces them with thruster bells, granting it great speed and manoeuvrability. The wired hands are uniquely effective, heartening back to Gundam’s super robot roots, but also being supremely effective in combat. The head has a sort of grim expression to it, and the thrusters on each side give it a noble look- appropriate for a suit bearing the name of Zeon itself. I will admit bias here, since GBO2 gives it the sort of move-set where it can continually throw beams at something while managing to dodge with little trouble, but I do still like the Zeong itself. It feels like an appropriate final threat to cap off the series, without going overboard.

The Perfect Zeong is the Zeong with legs. Solid, makes for some cool poses, and I like how they just make it look more imposing.

I said during my Build Metaverse review that I don’t really like Mobile Armours that are just a bunch of fancy weapons and systems crammed on. The Neo Zeong is that. I like both Gundam Unicorn and Gundam Narrative, the series they’re from, and I think that they’re utilised well, but they don’t really grab me design-wise (if you need four I-fields for cover, and it still doesn’t cover the entirety of the Mobile Armour, then your MA is too large). Though I will admit that I’m probably down on them because I really like the Sinanju, which is used as their control unit. The Psycho Shard Generator does make for some cool visuals, but it’s probably the absolute limit of Newtype tech in U.C.

Also, I’m probably not gonna get the opportunity to bring this up again, but it’s stated that the Neo Zeong II is built using spare parts from the original. If you have enough left over to build a completely new unit of something as big as the Neo Zeong, I’m not sure that can be classed as a “spare” anymore.

As a successor to the original Zeong, I genuinely prefer the Great Zeong to the Neo Zeong, simply because it’s still a mobile suit, albeit a beefy one. The Neo Zeong is just a block of armour and Newtype tech, though I’ll admit this is just the design since I enjoy its use in the series. I just like how imposing the Great Zeong is, and it feels like an excellent evolution of the Zeong’s design. The Zeong’s an unfinished prototype, albeit a strong one, the Perfect Zeong is that prototype completed and the Great Zeong is just the Zeong but more, with it’s arsenal of mega particle cannons and additional weaponry. The fact that it can split into seven feels like the designer took the Zeong’s wired arms and just ran with it, which is fun, and the heat claws are a nice addition. I also like the shoulder binders, since they give it a gorgeous silhouette but they’re also used for the anti-ship missiles and Minovsky Craft System. I like the subtle change to head, it gives it a more aggressive feel when compared to the grim expression of the original.

『∀ガンダム』（ターンエーガンダム、Turn A Gundam）1999

I usually think of the Seven Stars system and heraldry as being a immediate post-war thing for three main reasons:

It makes sense as a post war institution - lots of disparate peoples to unite, infrastructure to rebuild and it’s a clear pecking order. It allows a clear delineation of who is responsible for what and stops the multiple families stepping on each other’s toes.

We only ever see crests or markings of the style of the Seven Stars on their own Gundam Frames, we don’t see them on any of the other machines we know fought in the Calamity War - the Marchosias, the Gremory or the Dantalion (the Astaroth Origin, Calamity War Flauros and the Asmoday itself all also lack them, but I feel you could argue mitigating factors for each). This would imply they were added to the gundam’s post-calamity war, in order to sell them as “the machines that ended the calamity war”. The relative obscurity of the Valkyrja frame could also be counted as a point towards this, since we know at least one saw combat (the Oltlinde), but they’re not presented in the same way. It makes sense that the Seven Stars would put their Crests on the surviving Gundam Frames, since they are essentially the beginnings of their authority and they want to reinforce that (à La the divine right of kings).

If the Seven Stars were a pre-existing institution then it rankles me slightly that the top seven members of Gjallarhorn were all part of this pre-war nobility, when their position was decided meritocratically. You’d expect at least one member to be a nobody who reached their position through feat of arms.

Expanding on that third point, I feel it makes more sense thematically for the Seven Stars to have been founded on a meritocratic basis, each member coming from nothing, because it ties in to Tekkadan’s rise to fame. The Current Seven stars are at least the third generation from the original founders of Gjallarhorn, with barely a hint of merit to any of them - Gaelio’s very sheltered and all too easygoing in his duties, Iok’s actively incompetent and a danger to those around him. Carta, while not ineffective, is in a largely ceremonial position and her successes are due more to brute strength than any strategic nous. Mcgillis’ is adopted into the Fareed Family, unrelated to the original founder. Rustal’s the only one that seems to buck the trend. But nonetheless, each family came to be where they are now through the actions of their predecessor in their Gundam Frames

How does Tekkadan, a family of Child Soldiers and Human Debris come to their power? Through the actions of their pilots through their Gundam Frames. The enemies they fight reinforce this - Ein, a monster made using forbidden technology from the Calamity War, and then Hashmal, a bona-fide relic of the Calamity War. They follow the same path to glory as each of the Seven Stars Founders would have, climbing ever higher, until it eclipses them.

Just a little on the Gundam Asmoday/Asmodeus today (it apparently could’ve been called the Ashmodai, which is neat).

Okay, so the ASW-G-32 Gundam Asmoday is found by Wistario the Erda II crew (specifically Sinister) inside an Aridne Cocoon in the Debris zone. It’s specifically noted to be essentially brand new, with no records of it fighting in the calamity war, and a full complement of weapons ready to go. Based on this, and the fact that it seems to have its reactor hooked up to the cocoon, we can gauge one of two things. Either;

The Gundam wasn’t completed until either very late in the Calamity War, or just after, and thus didn’t have an opportunity to fight against the mobile armours.

This Cocoon relay station was apparently important enough to dedicate a Gundam frame just to keep it operational.

Based on the assumption that a bunch of regular ahab reactors would probably have done the job just fine, I think it’s more likely to be a case of it being completed late.

What makes this interesting is that we only know of one other Gundam frame that was completed late in the calamity war:

The ASW-G-71 Gundam Dantalion.

Now, because this is both at the end of the series (71/72) and because it’s stated that the Dantalion had been completed late, I had previously assumed that the Gundam Frames were completed sequentially. So, the ever-elusive ASW-G-70 Gundam Seere would have been completed just prior to the Dantalion, and the 72nd Gundam would have been completed after, possibly even being completed postwar (At a guess, either the Gundam Andromalius or Gundam Pruflas/Bufas - I’d be very interested in know what happened to it, since it’s be the most likely source as to any clue to the end of the calamity war and it’s immediate aftermath). But the Asmodeus implies something quite different. Unless its deployment was delayed for whatever reason, then it’s evidence that the Gundam frames may not have been built sequentially. (I’m not sure which it would be - it doesn’t seem to have any equipment that’d be too difficult to work with, being structured as a fairly direct combatant - gigant javelin as a sort of whip-sword to attack from a distance, smoke grenades and then grand tonfa’s up close, but then there’s plenty of other reasons for it to not have seen combat).

We do, however, know that Bael was the first. Add to that the seeming increase in complexity as the numbers climb (Dantalion appears simple but it has a bunch of add-on equipment not shown above, a lot of the 50’s and 60’s-series Gundams have fancy designs or systems, especially compared to the relative simplicity of the 00’s and 10’s), and we can guess that they were at least designed sequentially, with Asmoday’s presumed delay being an exception.

However, what I also think is interesting is where it was found. Inside an Ariadne Network Cocoon, big enough to be used as a harbour, administrative and let’s face it defensive point, in the network. Administered by the Falk Family (presumably headed by either Kalf Falk or his immediate successor), who already possess a Gundam Frame to their name - the Gundam Gamigin (shown above).

So what was the Asmodeus, for all intents and purposes a “phantom machine”, which exists on paper but was never actually deployed, doing there? Each Seven Stars Family or similar organisation within Gjallarhorn has precisely one Gundam Frame to their name, with no evidence of one family using multiple frames. I find it particularly interesting that it’s the Falk’s of all people that seem to have this frame - they’re one of the two families we know the absolute least about, the other being the Baklazan’s. Even then, most of the information we do know is what can be inferred from their Urdr Hunt point and their Gundam Frame. The only real supposition we can make is that they’re probably the oldest out of the Seven Stars - assuming no family got multiple Gundam Frames during the calamity war (which feels a fair assumption to make, given that we know absolutely nothing about any frames that were destroyed, implying no-ones really around to keep those records), then the ASW-G-04 Gamigin Gundam was likely deployed the earliest out of all the Seven Stars Gundam Frames, shortly after Bael (again, assuming sequential deployment). So it’s possible that the Falks were the longest surviving active participants in the Calamity war, besides Agnika Kaeru himself, of course. But it’s unclear why they would end up with another Gundam frame, and then not use it. A few possibilities:

The Intended Pilot for the Asmoday was killed before it could reach them, and the Falk’s didn’t have another pilot on hand to use it.

There was a Cocoon was involved in transporting the Gundams to their pilots, and it was kept at the cocoon until it’s recipient could be sorted out.

The Falks wanted extra “insurance” of their position once the Calamity War was over, and arranged for a second Gundam frame to be assigned to them somehow.

The Asmoday had nothing to do with the Falks, and it was left at the Cocoon by N as prize for Urdr Hunt participants.

It was salvaged from its transport during the war, and restored by the Falks.

In short, I don’t know why it was there and we’re probably not going to find out anytime soon, but it’s fun to think about. I would also like to point out that the Asmoday was also just…. Left there, which feels like it must have been purposeful in some way, but also means that the Falk’s didn’t recover it in the intervening 300 years.

*the following contains spoilers for Gundam Iron Blooded Orphans Urdr Hunt*

Alright, so I’ve finally finished Gundam Ibo Urdr Hunt, and I’ll be doing a proper post on it momentarily, but I do want to get one thing out right now.

I kind of really love the Hajiroboshi Second Form.

Which is a little odd in isolation, since it’s not actually that different from the original Hajiroboshi.

It’s really just got new shoulders, the new boosters on its backpack (the head might have been reworked slightly, but I think that might just be me) and a new sword. However, two of these features (the Boosters and Sword) bring it closer to its original form.

Just looking at its armaments on their own, I like them. I will admit I have a weakness for suits that are “We have a sword, let’s just use that really really well”. I like both the Destiny and the Throne Zwei for those reasons. But the Hajiroboshi second form has some points in its favour that those two don’t- it’s in Post Disaster 324, a setting where that is a very viable strategy, and it’s got those lovely thrusters on its back that seem to primarily serve to get it into melee range (not to mention the harpoons). I also like the shield -it’s streamlined, but not to the point of not being protective, and while I like how it’s got the claw tips for thrusting, it’s nice how there’s so little emphasis on them (though that might just be from the last protagonist suit I looked at being the Lah). But the Cross Mace hearkens back to the main sword of its original armament and the thrusters also bring it closer to the original silhouette of the Marchosias

So it kinda just feels like the ghost of the Marchosias.

Which is great, because both the Hajiroboshi and Barbatos seem to have something going on in that regard. Mikazuki talks to the Barbatos during the battle against Ein in Edmonton as if there’s some last vestige of its former pilot present, while the Hajiroboshi seems to react on its own when encountering mobile armours. Based on what we know about Gundam Frames from the original series, it’s typically some form of interaction with the Alaya-Vijnana (like when the Gusion Rebake gets shut down when attempting to engage the mobile armour, since Akihiro gets overwhelmed by the feedback). The Barbatos’ connection is obvious - Mikazuki’s in a high stress situation when using the Alaya-Vijinana, and presumably he’s doing something similar to what the original pilot did - using the sword to fight an enemy not too dissimilar to a mobile armour. However, the Hajiroboshi’s is considerably less clear. It seems to either lock up, as the Gusion Rebake did, implying it’s fitted with a limiter; or it seems to “flash back” to a similar fight from the calamity war (at least that’s my read on it versus Harael) and from there act as if it has the “True Alaya-Vijinana” installed (it’s only in speech marks because I don’t really have a better term for it). It’s honestly a little unclear on whether it’s Hajiroboshi, the Mobile Armour or both that has the flash backs, since it’s from Harael’s perspective but Wistario mentions seeing them.

So presumably, the Hajiroboshi’s fitted with some kind of system that mimics Alaya-Vijinana, but I would like to offer another suggestion; What if, on some level, the pilots are still in them?

Now, we know that Alaya-Vijinana is a man-machine interface developed prior to the calamity war, but there’s two specific pieces of information that we’re told about it I want to focus on;

“The Alaya-Vijinana creates a Pseudo-brain lobe in the pilot’s body using nanomachines, allowing the pilot's brain to directly process mobile suit data fed through the physical connection.”

“Furthermore, this continuous link can cause consciousness to be forcibly maintained even in situations where the pilot is supposed to faint or even die instantly.”

So, an extra brain lobe to process the information and the system will keep the pilot alive even in situations where they shouldn’t be. So, is it possible there could be some sort of feedback loop or that the mobile suit could retain some of the pilot’s habits (the Barbatos telling Mikazuki how to use the katana through a sort of frame-wide “muscle memory” of its previous pilot).

It’s also interesting that this seems to happen during moments of great stress for their modern pilots - at those points when the greatest amount of data would be moving from the person to the mobile suit. So, if, say for example, a pilot was regularly facing strong enemies in life-or-death situations, might the system retain that data too? The heightened reaction speed, the chemical reactions leading to emotional output, the movements of the pilot to resolve the situation. The Calamity War was a time when humanity was desperately pushed to the brink by the mobile armours, it’s very unlikely that they would have taken the time to work out all the bugs in the system (heck, if they were taking high pilot losses, it might have been seen as a bonus).

So yeah, the Hajiroboshi might be haunted.

As the Hajiroboshi appears as a ghost of the Marchosias, there might also be another ghost in the machine.

I just thought that it’s a rad connection.

Gundam Requiem for Vengeance then. I don’t really have anything to say on the new trailer other than it reminds me of a trailer I once saw for Final Fantasy 7: Advent Children.

However, given that I did a post on the Gundams in the one year war last time, I figured I’d go over the Full Armour units that I skimmed over this time around.

First up, the PF-78-1 Perfect Gundam. Now I usually try to use fairly neutral pieces of art for these, so they best illustrate the mobile suit in general, but this thing…… well.

It’s a bit of an odd one. First originating in the 1982 Manga Plamo-Kyoshiro, it was built by Shiro Kyoda (the kid in the bottom left of the above picture). Note how I said built. This manga is essentially the earliest permutation of what would eventually become the build series, where the focus is shifted from War to Modelling. Now normally this is where I’d earmark it as a build kit, except that it’s canon to the Universal Century as well. It was apparently a planned upgrade plan for the original Gundam, but was never built, with its data being carried into the Full Armour Gundam, being canonised in MSV. Its armaments are much the same as the original, only adding a built-in 2-barrel beam gun to the arm, four drop mines to the shield and a Shoulder Cannon to the backpack. The shoulder cannon is notable because it’s nature is different in each work - it’s a high pressure water gun in Plamo-Kyoshiro, a 360mm Rocket Gun in MSV, and a high-output beam cannon in Build Fighters.

I admit I was looking forward to talking about the Full Armour Gundam here, but its position in canon is just difficult. Officially, it was never built and existed only as simulation data, because the excess armour and weaponry would have slowed it down too much. Unofficially, it shows up damn everywhere, typically as a foe of either Johnny Ridden or the Perfect Zeong. I’m going to call out two examples here and then move on, primarily because they actually name pilots of the thing. In the videogame Spirits of Zeon: Dual Stars of Carnage, a blue Full Armour Gundam is piloted by Earth Federation Fighter Ace Takashi Kitamoto during the Battle of Solomon. Meanwhile in the manga Mobile Suit Gundam MSV Battle Chronicle Johnny Ridden, a Full Armour Gundam is piloted by Heinz Baer against Johnny Ridden’s Full Bullet Zaku (honestly I mention this because I absolutely love Heinz Baer’s character design, shown below). Armament wise, the Full Armour Gundam retains the Vulcan Guns and Beam sabers of the original Gundam, but carries a twin beam rifle as opposed to the original’s single-barrelled model. In addition, it gains a 360mm Rocket Cannon on its back and four missile bays, built into the knees and clavicles. As a design, I really like the thing, but I’m unsure why. Maybe it’s the simplicity of it being an up-armed and armoured version of the original Gundam, or maybe it’s that there’s some really nice art of it, particularly it’s Debut in Mobile Suit Variation (MSV).

C’mon, Look at this guy. A flying ace who wears a sweater under his pilot suit.

Next up, the FA-78[G] Full Armour Gundam Ground Operations Type, originating in MSV-R. Nice and simple, now. It’s essentially a Full Armour Variant that’s designed for ground combat, using the RX-78-1 Prototype Gundam as a base. It was designed, but never built (whether due to costs, practicality or the lack of the RX-78-1). Design-wise, yeah, it’s nice. Critical areas are up-armoured, and some new weapons added, but it still looks fairly agile, and the Prototype Gundam features make it stand out a little more. It’s armed with Vulcans, Two Beam Sabers on the left arm, a twin beam rifle on the right arm, a 360mm Rocket Cannon on the backpack and a missile launcher. Not much more on this one, it’s just neat.

The FA-78-1B Full Armour Gundam (Type B). Oh, I love this thing. Also originating from MSV-R, it was developed from the G-3 Gundam, rounding out the three full armour units. It was designed primarily for anti-fleet combat, with the assumption that it would be piloted by a Newtype. MSV-R keeps things vague on the details, but given that it seems to have been developed in response to The Battle of a Baoa Qu, the general theme of Full Armour Units and that it was intended to be used with a Newtype Pilot (which the Federation really didn’t have a lot of), it feels a safe bet to say that it was probably never built (honestly, Zeon went big on Newtype research and even they only had about five combat-ready examples). Armament wise, the Full Armour Type B is rocking Vulcan guns, a 360mm Rocket Launcher, a Triple Beam Rifle, upgraded missile launchers in the knees and clavicles, two beam sabers mounted on the left arm and a large missile launcher on the back, which is loaded with two large anti-ship missiles on the front and twenty along the back of the launcher, designed to counter any anti-beam defences employed by its victi- targets. Employed by its targets. Design-wise, gorgeous, I love the patterns on its armour and the simplistic colour palette of blue, grey and golden-yellow for the details is just wonderful. It’s heavyset yes, but it doesn’t feel excessive since it’s designed for anti-fleet work in space. The box-style beam saber adds to this, since it gives the idea of a quick weapon primarily to block attacks, as opposed to its primary armament. I’m not typically a fan of the G-3, but the Full Armour Type B blends its aesthetic so wonderfully.

Next up, the FA-78-2 Heavy Gundam. Another simple one. Three-Four units built postwar, with at least one of them being piloted by one Den Berserk. Apparently one unit was lost during atmospheric entry tests. Essentially a second go-around at the full armour Gundam concept, only a brand new mobile suit as opposed to an add-on. It is armed with: A shoulder mounted Beam Cannon, a singular beam saber, a frame launcher (essentially a composite weapon combining a Gatling gun with a 4-tube missile launcher) and an optional Beam Rifle. Again, just a lovely design, really liking the added bulk on the chest and the visor emphasises its ranged speciality.

The second unit (right) is equipped identically to the regular Heavy Gundam and appears in the Manga MSV-R: the return of Johnny Ridden, where it’s repainted and piloted by Ingrid 0. Due to the series being set in U.C. 90, Unit 2 is somewhat upgraded when compared to the original, being equipped with a bio-sensor for use by newtypes and a set of Dummy Launchers not dissimilar to those found on suits around the time of Char’s Counterattack. These were pretty clearly later additions, however. It was also equipped with a bazooka, patterned off the original Hyper Bazooka used by Gundam units in the One Year War. EDIT: I’d like to note that we don’t know which unit was lost during atmospheric entry tests, so it’s possible that the “lost” unit was Unit 2, so it could be employed “off the books”, as it were.

The RX-78SP Gunner Gundam was designed shortly after the end of the One Year War, during a review of captured Zeon materials. It’s essentially a sniper Gundam, featuring an improved sensor pod and specialised beam rifle in addition to the standard Gundam armament of Vulcans and beam sabers. I say designed because it was never built, development began and a mock-up unit was built from a GM, but it was deemed that the G06 Mudrock Gundam was able to perform the same role. A Full Armour variant appears in the Shin Matsunaga Manga however (MSV-R: Legend of the Universal Century Heroes: Rainbow’s Shin Matsunaga).

KATHY LAM 黑山