Dowas Custom - Tumblr Posts

Note: This is Part 2 of a post on the Pale Rider Seies. Part 1 discusses the original Pale Rider and it’s design.

Before beginning though I would like to mention that, while the actual number of Gundam’s running around the One Year War is largely set in stone, the Pale Riders are pretty much always deniable assets, with much of the information destroyed or lost. As such, new models are introduced on a semi regular basis, with the White and Black Riders being the most recent to my knowledge.

So, how about those other Rider units, then?

The White Rider was the first (in-universe) machine manufactured under the Pale Rider Plan. It is not equipped with a HADES system, but is instead equipped with the earlier ZEUS system (oh… I see what you did there). Which instead of hijacking the pilot like HADES, instead acts as a sort of really good fire control system. This is also the reason for the crown and more Gundam-like face. The system has not yet been miniaturised, and thus extrudes from the head quite considerably. It is armed with the Prototype Shekinah, which houses a Gatling gun and High-output Beam Cannon. The Shekinah was found to work fine, but the High-Output beam cannon severely limited the suit’s ability to use other beam weapons (and was quite frankly overkill), so the output was ratcheted down in future iterations. Because of this, the White Rider is armed with a heat sabre, styled after a rapier, as opposed to any beam sabers. I’m genuinely not that sure what the “cloak” on its left arm is for. It could be extra armour, but I seem to recall reading it was cooling apparatus/balancing for the Beam Cannon at some point, so I’m not sure. I’ve chatted about it’s design in a post I did on Code Fairy little while back, but in a nutshell, I like. The Beam Cannon being styled like a bow and the crown on its head both evoke the Biblical White Rider Pestilence, who rides a white horse, dons a crown and carries a bow, which is pretty neat. It was given to the Federation’s Black Dog Team after testing, and deployed against Zeon’s Noisy Fairy.

Next up, the Red Rider (which has some lovely art of it, by the way). The Second unit produced (by process of elimination) and the one that basically nailed down what the design was going to be. It was built to collect data to fine-tune the final product and was supplied to the Aggressor Squadron. It is fitted with an ARES system (getting a theme here), which… is essentially a baby HADES system, just with a much higher chance of killing the pilot. Because of this, the cockpit is fitted with a heart resuscitation program called “rymm-va”. I have no idea how this passed health and safety, not to mention that if the pilot dies in the suit, Zeon forces could easily capture it and steal valuable federation secrets. Nice job guys. Anyway, the Red Rider is armed with the standard suite of Federation machine guns, a beam saber and two new weapons. One, a 100mm machine gun equipped with beam bayonets, and two, a shield that can unfold and become a Zweihänder (as seen in the upper right image). Which is honestly pretty dang cool. It is designed after - you guessed it - the Biblical Red Rider War, who rides a red horse and carries a sword.

Unit 3 of the Rider Plan is the Black Rider. It was built to test a variety of specialised equipment, now that the basic design was down. From the fact that most of it never shows up again, we can assume things didn’t go well (or the data wasn’t properly backed up). It is equipped with a Rail Cannon (identical to the type used by the GM Ground type from M-MSV), heat daggers, a grenades launcher, stun anchor (a sort of electric harpoon similar to weaponry found on the Gouf) and fitted with a unit known as a Steelyard. I’ve talked at length about it’s design and my opinions on the existence of the Steelyard in an earlier post about Code Fairy, but in a nutshell: actual cloaking just isn’t a thing in UC, so this unit having it is very odd. I do love the Black Rider’s design though. It nails that whole “Tacticool” style I see getting thrown about so much lately without falling into the easy trap of going overboard with it. The Steelyard unit itself is styled after a pair of scales - such as the ones used by the Biblical Black Rider Pestilence (to measure the rising cost of grain). It is also equipped with the THEMIS system, which is a weaker version of HADES that removes most of the drawbacks (to my knowledge). Like it’s sibling unit the White Rider, it was eventually handed off to the Black Dog Team after testing, where it was then deployed against Zeon’s Noisy Fairy, and destroyed while attempting to kill Renato Germi, commander of the Black Dog Team.

The last Pale Rider unit deployed during the One Year War was the Pale Rider Cavalry. It was essentially supposed to be the Pale Rider, tweaked and simplified for mass-production after the war as a next-gen mobile suit. It was eventually stolen by the (by this point rogue) Slave Wraith team, but was later damaged and abandoned. It was armed with the Shekinah, a composite weapon made up of a Beam Cannon, Gatling Gun and Missile launcher in order to save costs (essentially a composite of the G04 and G05’ primary weapons, built to look like the Heavy Gundam’s frame Launcher). Other than it existing and having a pretty sweet design, I don’t honestly know a whole lot about it.

But speaking of that pretty sweet design, let’s go over that, shall we? I honestly really like the more Gundam-style design here, with the extra detailing just being wonderful. The Shekinah is a really good integrated weapon, because whatever weapon you want to switch to is going to be aiming at the same target at the one you switched from, so it’s very quick. I do love the Heavy Gundam’s frame launcher anyway, so the Pale Rider Cavalry having one is also nice. The colours evoke the Blue Destiny Unit 3, which is a very advanced and very good mobile suit. It all works so very well together, I think.

The Pale Rider Dullahan was built and deployed in 0080. It is the wreckage of the above pale rider cavalry restored to a functioning state after it was damaged. Unfortunately, since a large amount of the records regarding the Pale Rider had been lost, it was reconstructed without the HADES system. It was armed with a Hyper Beam Rifle/Hyper Bazooka, Heat Lance (taken/spare from the G-line Project) and Guardian Shield (taken from the GM Guard Type). It would be deployed against remnants of Zeon’s Marchosias team, where it would be destroyed in combat against the Pale Rider (VG). It was named the Dullhan after the headless horseman, since it wasn’t equipped with the HADES system. I honestly don’t have a whole lot to say on this one.

What I have considerably more to say on is the Pale Rider DII. It’s a reproduction of the Pale Rider Cavalry, with the Pale Rider Dullahan filling in the parts they don’t have information for (so, again, no HADES System). It was deployed against Zeon Remnant forces (that would eventually become part of the AEUG) in UC 0084. The full story can be found in Anaheim Laboratory Log, but in essence, the Pale Rider DII deploys with some GM’s to take on Two Galbaldy Alpha High Mobility Customs along with a new mobile suit, the Dowas Custom (painted red). The Pale Rider DII gets wrecked (though not destroyed).

The Dowas Custom, while initially appearing to be little more than a supercharged Dom, is actually rather special. It is the first (in-universe) second-generation mobile suit, acting as a carrier for some of the early Axis Zeon’s best technologies, which will in turn be used to develop the Rick Dias, the AEUG’s first mobile suit. So the fact that the Pale Rider, arguably the Zenith of First-Generation Mobile suit tech, loses to it is wonderful. Why? Because it shows that the Pale Rider’s time is over, that a new generation of mobile suits is coming, far superior over what came before. It emphasises just what a big deal the second-gen suits are compared to their forebears, how different things are going to be compared to the One Year War. It’s the first victory of the early AEUG over the titans. I love how the DII is used here as a microcosm of the events surrounding it. (Also it makes me think of a beefed-up GM Quel, which is quite nice).

Last one now. The AMX-18 [HADES] Todesritter. An unapologetic fourth-gen mobile suit, it was built by Neo Zeon using parts from the original Pale Rider, and retains its pilot, Chloe Croce, in addition to the HADES system in its head. It’s armed with Vulcans, Machine cannons, beam sabers, beam guns and so much more. It’s main gun is a hyper Knuckle Buster taken from a Ga-Zowmn, it uses a shield from a Bawoo with built-in mega particle guns, it has the tri-blades used by the Dreissen, and of course Incoms taken from the Döven Wolf. In addition to all this, it has two sub-arms in its shoulders that are used in close-quarters to wield additional beam sabers, such as hyper beam sabers of a similar design to those wielded by the ZZ Gundam. It is a lot. It was deployed by Char’s Neo Zeon in UC 90, against some Glemy Faction remnants, and is piloted by former Marchosias team personnel. Honestly, I quite like it. It doesn’t feel overarmed, since fourth-gen mobile suits typically have a lot of armaments. If anything, I tend to look at it as Neo-Zeon’s answer to the ZZ Gundam. It looks like this big, operatic villain, the incom units looking like a cape and the pointy feet adding a lot to this impression. The built-up arms and obvious emphasis on its weaponry makes it feel like it’s about to turn to me sadly and say “well if that’s how you really think of me, *draws sword* then you and I are enemies”. It’s a very solid aesthetic, is what I’m trying to say. It’s a distinctly odd blend of old Earth Federation aesthetics and Neo Zeon ones, but it all works. I especially like the legs, though that might just be because they remind me of the Döven Wolf. (Also, as an aside, I really like a lot of mobile suits with High Heels, simply because they’re always animated to run so delightfully. The Todesritter having a very busy back adds to this significantly, it looks like it’s lugging around a small dress train, or indeed, a cape).

Mobile Suit Generations in the Universal Century

Alright, another lineage post, kinda (I will finish that 00 one eventually).

Now in my post about how the Zaku series changed over time, I mentioned briefly that I don’t really see the Universal Century Gundam series as being much of a lineage, primarily because it’s an absolute mess. However, I do want to do a post talking about the Gundam “line” in some more detail at some point. So I thought I’d make this post beforehand as a sort of preliminary excercise. Because it’s rather difficult to talk about Gundams in universal century without talking about Mobile Suit Generations themselves.

So, What are Mobile Suit Generations?

In brief; as mobile suit technology in Universal Century developed, there were a number of concepts that would revolutionise the entire field, and lead to mobile suit design being completely different as time went on. New technologies, new theories, new design ethos, that sort of thing. And because Gundam units were so often cutting-edge, these new ideas would typically be applied to them. A new generation represents a massive leap forward for the technology, meaning that development occurred very quickly. I’ve thrown around the terms before, typically when talking about fourth-generation mobile suits, but I figured I’d do a post outlining the different mobile suit generations, what their characteristics are, give some examples and talk about any noteworthy oddities.

Disclaimer: as it ever is with UC, there’s a lot that doesn’t divide cleanly here. Some mobile suits are easier to categorise than others, and there can be a lot of overlap between the generations, so I’ll be looking more at broad trends than categorising everything. I’m also gonna skip over a lot of detail here in the name of this post actually being of reasonable length.

First Generation Mobile Suits

Named retroactively and also the easiest to categorise. First-Generation mobile suits encompasses every mobile suit built prior to the Gryps War - Zaku’s, GM’s, RX-78’s, Pale Riders, the Gundam Development Project - all First-Gen mobile suits. First-Gen’s a broad category because it’s every suit on both sides of the OYW, and because mobile suits were still a very new technology there was an absolute range on design ethos and styles. First-Generation mobile suits really only share a timeframe of manufacture, there isn’t really much else to tie them together.

Second Generation Mobile Suits

The only (technically) Mobile Suit Generation to straight-up replace its predecessor and also one of only two generations to incorporate actual definitions (at least as far as I can tell). While the later generations tended to focus on one aspect of mobile suits, Second-Generation mobile suits were an all-around improvement over the second generation. They were characterised by three main features:

The movable frame - rather than just providing structure as was the case previous, the movable frame incorporates all the critical components required to actually move the unit, with the weapons armour and propellant tanks being externalised. This allows for easier maintenance, greater mobility and improved energy efficiency.

360-degree panoramic cockpit and linear seat - technically two improvements, but a “better cockpit” in a nutshell. The 360-degree panoramic cockpit allowed for a much greater field of view for the pilot, especially when compared to the old, cramped cockpits of the OYW, while the linear seat helped reduce the effect of g-forces on the pilot (and also made it easier to eject in the case of being shot down).

Gundarium y alloy - one of several refined versions of the original Gundarium used in the RX-78 series, Gundarium y was lightweight and durable, making it the armour of choice for second-generation mobile suits, allowing them to shrug off blows that would be lethal to earlier models, while remaining manoeuvrable enough that they could dodge such blows.

The most famous Second-Generation mobile suits would be the Gundam Mk-II and the Rick Dias, despite the fact that they each lacked one feature from the above list (the Mk-II had the older titanium alloy ceramic composite armour, whereas the Rick Dias lacked a movable frame). As previously mentioned, Second-generation mobile suits became the benchmark going forwards, and this wasn’t changed until the advent of miniaturised mobile suits in the U.C. 110’s. The Jegan, which would be the mainline mobile suit for the federation for over sixty years, was a Second-Generation mobile suit, typically likened to a mass-produced Gundam Mk-II.

Which brings us to our first oddity I want to talk about - the Dowas Custom. The original Dowas was the final production unit of the Zeon’s Dom line during the One Year War. The precise shakedown of their use and deployment is unclear - the Dowas is derived from the Rick Dom II, which was part of the latewar United Maintenance Plan, but there are reports of Dowas Desert types conducting operations in the wake of the Battle of Odessa - they could be early prototypes, or the Desert units came first and were later refined into the regular Dowas, or the Pezun Dowadge doesn’t count because it wasn’t a production unit…….

Anyway, at least one Dowas unit was brought to Axis by Zeon remnants fleeing A Baoa Qu, where it would be refined and upgraded with Axis’ latest technologies, and then supplied to the nascaent AEUG. That unit was the MS-09SS Dowas Custom, seen in Anaheim Laboratory Log. I won’t spoil the precise details of the hand-off, but you can probably guess from the colour scheme that it involves a certain individual who’s never heard of this Char Aznable fella, dear me no.

But the reason I’m talking about the Dowas Custom here is that it would be reverse-engineered in order to create the Rick Dias, one of the first Second-Generation Mobile suits. But where does that leave the Dowas Custom? Is it First-Gen, or Second-Gen? Well, it’s got Gundarium Alloy Armour (presumably y, since it’s the best one), however we know it doesn’t have a movable frame - neither the original Dom, nor its successor the Rick Dias incorporate one, so it’s very unlikely it has one. So then we come to the cockpit, and I’ve genuinely no idea what kind it employs. So I tend to consider it as an in-between, generation wise.

Third-Generation Mobile Suits

Transformable mobile suits, in a nutshell. Transformable mobile suits were considered an huge advantage during the gryps war, as they allowed for faster deployment, increased scouting range and, in many cases, were able to be transferred from Earth to space more easily than standard mobile suits. The latter half of the Gryps War and early stages of the First Neo Zeon War (Zeta Gundam to ZZ Gundam), are typically considered the golden age of Transformable mobile suits, with such luminaries such as the Zeta Gundam, Bawoo, Messala and Gabthley. Due to the aforementioned advantages, Third-Gen suits continued to develop after this period, giving rise to the Rezel and Delta Plus seen during Unicorn.

Interestingly, what is technically the first Third-Generation mobile suit, the Delta Gundam, was laid down during the early stages of the Gryps War but never built, simply because Anaheim couldn’t figure out how to make the frame work until Kamille Bidan managed to fix the problems with the Zeta, at which point Anaheim was so busy with other projects (like the Zeta Project) that they didn’t have time to review the Delta Gundam until after the war.

However, it is nice to have at least one generation with the relatively simple description of “if it transforms, it’s probably a third-generation suit”

Right?

If it wasn’t for this fucking thing.

Cards on the table, I really like the Gundam Mk-V. It’s nice. But, maddeningly, it’s also one of the only suits that we have an actual, in-universe definition for which mobile suit generation it falls into - “A third-generation mobile suit with the firepower of a fourth”. So it’s a third-generation mobile suit that doesn’t transform. What. Also, It’s the only thing that’s like this - The Gaza-C is a third-gen, because it can transform - The Jegan is a second-gen, because it doesn’t fit into third or fourth-gen categories. Why is a non-transforming suit a third-gen? Very annoying. Based on this, I’m led to conclude that what qualifies a suit as a member of the Third-Generation *has* to be something to do with frame structure, not necessarily transformation, given that the Mark-V doesn’t transform (Or it’s an error on the part of whoever wrote the description).

Fourth Generation Mobile Suits

Speaking of, I should really define fourth generation mobile suits, shouldn’t I? In one word: firepower. Fourth-Generation mobile suits were a product of greatly improved generator output, plus several noteworthy developments in Newtype tech. Any Newtype-specialist mobile suit after the gryps war is most likely part of the Fourth-Generation. The best-known fourth-generation mobile suits would be the ZZ Gundam, S Gundam and Döven Wolf. Axis was a major leader in Fourth-Gen tech, with such units as the Hamma-Hamma and, of course, the Qubeley. Several of these mobile suits were also combiners, such as the aforementioned Gundam’s, though this was later dropped as it led to compatibility and maintenance issues. Fourth-Generation mobile suits were also comparatively rare compared to those of earlier generations - likely due to the rarity of the newtypes that were typically their favoured pilots. The Döven Wolf has the distinction of being one of the few mass-produced Fourth-Generation mobile suits, likely because Axis had the resources to devote to it. Fourth-Generation mobile suits are also unique in that we (arguably) see an upper limit to the technology - the Gundam Unicorn, which is pretty goddamn scary.

Fifth-Generation Mobile Suits

A very easy one here, a) there’s only two mobile suits classed as fifth-generation at present - the Xi Gundam and the Penelope; and b) it’s got a nice, simple definition - fifth-generation mobile suits are equipped with a Minovsky craft system, allowing for unrestricted flight within the atmosphere.

The Minovsky Craft system is essentially how Gundam deals with all those horribly un-aerodynamic flying mobile armours - they incorporate minovsky craft systems, allowing for flight within the atmosphere (like the Psycho Gundam and the Adzam). The Xi Gundam and Penelope however, are actually light and aerodynamic, meaning that they can function more as mobile interceptors as opposed to flying city blocks. Honestly, I don’t have much more to say on this one.

Miniaturised Mobile Suits

Not really a generation per se, but I figured I’d cover my bases here. Miniaturised mobile suits were pioneered by SNRI, the Earth Federation’s in-house weapon development team, in around the UC 90’s to UC 100’s (such as the Loto and Heavygun). It eventually became standard practice after SNRI development data was stolen in UC 116, allowing other manufacturers to develop miniaturised mobile suits.

The main distinctions between miniaturised mobile suits and their forebears is, well, they were smaller. The Gundam F90 stood at only 14.8 meters tall compared to the original RX-78’s 18 meter height. This was due to a miniaturisation of the thermonuclear reactor used in mobile suits, and the development on new armour materials that allowed the armour and mobile frame to be made lighter without compromising its structural strength. Miniaturised mobile suits also used less resources than traditional ones to construct, allowing militaries to get more bang-for-their-buck, as it were (though given the prevalence of large mobile armours in late UC, being able to spend those resources elsewhere may also have something to do with it).