Question about Strike Freedom?

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Geoxile
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Question about Strike Freedom?

Did Terminal add the Voiture Lumiere and the Super DRAGOON (and communications system) ? Or were those part of the original design. It seems more likely that they were part of the original design considering the purpose of the Super DRAGOONs and the Strike Freedom. Super DRAGOON's comm system allowed regular humans (coordinators) to use it while the Strike Freedom was intended for mass production (or limited production) according to mahq.
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Zerosystem
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Re: Question about Strike Freedom?

They both seem to be part of the original design. I haven't heard of any modifications that Terminal made when they stole and serviced the Strike Freedom, the only changes being that it was optimized for use by Kira.

Both the improved DRAGOONs and Voiture lumiere were systems already implemented on previous ZAFT machines, so I don't see why the SF wouldn't have them and Terminal needed to add them.
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Geoxile
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Re: Question about Strike Freedom?

Source on that info?
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Zerosystem
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Re: Question about Strike Freedom?

Geoxile wrote:Source on that info?
The "optimized for Kira's use" I've seen thrown around on /m/ a lot. It's something that doesn't appear to be made up. Kira likes to customize the OS of the machines he's piloted, so it's not unlikely that since the SF was going to make its combat sortie debut under attack that they would customize the SF for his use in advance. In this context, I don't think customizing meant making major weapons or systems changes, or that the SF is like a "Strike Freedom Kira Custom", but that they're just going to tweak the cockpit systems for him.

The Strike Freedom was developed at more or less the same time as the Destiny Gundam (apparently the MG Strike Freedom kit's booklet mentions that before the stealing of the SF, the SF's maiden test flight was a bit after the Armory One incident where the Gaia, Abyss and Chaos were stolen). It wouldn't be too far of a stretch to think that two high performance machines developed at the same time with similar technologies would both have the same/similar voiture lumiere system.

Lastly, the Strike Freedom's DRAGOONs have a special system similar to the one in the Chaos that allowed any pilot to use them, not just ones with heightened spatial awareness. While the Chaos' weapon pods aren't officially called DRAGOONs, they operate in much the same way. The SF's DRAGOONs' model number is also similar to the Chaos' weapon pods' model numbers (Chaos' EQFU-5X weapon pods vs. SF's EQFU-3X DRAGOONs).
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DoubleZero
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Re: Question about Strike Freedom?

Should we consider the VL as an applicable system feature for Strike Freedom? Even though it never really did anything? :?
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Duraham
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Re: Question about Strike Freedom?

the VL was responsible for the frame glowing golden. it makes the SF move faster
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Kuruni
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Re: Question about Strike Freedom?

Nope. Golden joint is call Luminescent Joint Effect, it doesn't make SF any faster but allow it to withstand parts clashing from Kira's super fast reaction...or whatever they say in latest gunpla, Bandai keep change it :mrgreen: .
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DeltasTaii
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Re: Question about Strike Freedom?

Yeah...this is not going to be an easy one to make sense of. Strike Freedom is supposedly a mass production design of Freedom with normal coordinator use DRAGOONs...with a special frame based on data from a stolen machine piloted by a super ace who can probably use normal DRAGOONs.

I think the more plausible descriptions (in fact I can't even recall a contradiction of this to start with) all suggest that Kira's Strike Freedom was built by the Clyne Faction at their asteroid facility. ja.wikipedia's description sounds pretty on point to me to summarize it all. Shortly after the basic design work for the nuclear Gundams ZAFT decided to design a next generation nuclear production MS based on Freedom using new high mobility thrusters and improved DRAGOON system. This actually occurred simultaneous to Freedom's development so they're considered nearly twin machines. Because this design wasn't completed by the end of the war and used a nuclear engine, it was shelved because of the treaty. At some point Terminal obtained the design data and it was deleted from the Integrated Design Bureau's servers. Basically at this point from an out of universe standpoint they've established a proper Freedom Gundam lineage and accounted for ZAFT not knowing the unit.

Some time later, the Clyne Faction resurrects the design, and use the data from the original Freedom Gundam and new technology from the second stage units to improve it for single unit guerilla warfare use with Kira as the intended pilot. It ultimately evolves to have such extreme specs that it's effectively a Kira Yamato exclusive use mobile suit and Lacus names it Strike Freedom.

So did the ZAFT version have Voiture Lumiere? The technology probably didn't exist in a mature form at the time, so likely not really. It's always been implied they got that technology from DSSD. Super DRAGOON? Considering the model number on Strike Freedom predates Chaos, it seems it most likely did.


The fun aside from this is that in universe, resemblance between Strike Freedom and Impulse could actually go either way for which unit is based on which.
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Dark Duel
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Re: Question about Strike Freedom?

That was the explanation in the 1/100 kit. the MG Manual retcons this by having ZAFT build the Strike Freedom some time between the first and second wars (maiden flight is shortly after Armory One), and the Clyne Faction steal the machine later on and fine-tune it for Kira's operation.
I personally find this explanation to be more plausible, given that every Gundam ever fielded by the Clyne Faction was stolen other than SF(and by extension IJ, which appeared out of nowhere):
1. Freedom - stolen by Kira
2. Justice - stolen by Athrun when he defected
3. Gaia - confirmed by the GSD official website to be the same unit previously piloted by Stella; stolen in transit to the PLANTs after its recovery

(Excluding SF and IJ, whose origin remain uncertain, the only machines actually confirmed to have been built by Terminal(In Destiny Astray, IIRC) are the DOM Troopers - from stolen blueprints)
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PowerdGNFlag
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Re: Question about Strike Freedom?

Dark Duel wrote:(and by extension IJ, which appeared out of nowhere)
Do similar stories/details exist for IJ's creation?
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Dark Duel
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Re: Question about Strike Freedom?

I actually have no idea. Maybe the MG IJ manual says something about it, but I've never seen any translations.
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Geoxile
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Re: Question about Strike Freedom?

So the MG guide says it was basically prebuilt? But what degree of customization does "fine tuning" entail?
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DeltasTaii
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Re: Question about Strike Freedom?

That explanation raises a ton of problems with Strike Freedom's...state of existence though. Its design just does not make a hell of a lot of sense as a ZAFT "loyalist" machine concurrent with the battery powered Second Stage machines. The Clyne Faction fields 3 units of the DOM Trooper, which is a Gundam level machine, plus two additional METEOR units and effectively rebuilding Freedom. They have the established cooperation of a significant portion of ZAFT. I see no real reason for it to be outside their manufacturing ability, and considering the timing of the Eternal's departure from the factory, it fits quite well.

The explanation I have for Infinite Justice is that it was developed specifically for Athrun's use as the brother unit to Strike Freedom, with Kira's direct involvement. Source on that is supposed to be the Master Grade manual, so take that as you will about retcons.
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Re: Question about Strike Freedom?

Not to mention when you consider it wasn't too long after the Destiny and Legend were completed too that the Infinite Justice pops in after the Strike Freedom at ORB and if you consider it, based on previous speculations and whatnot, as the last one to be started of that "series" (Hyper Deuterion nuclear reactors and all that), it also makes sense.
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Thundermuffin
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Re: Question about Strike Freedom?

I like the "Terminal built Strike Freedom expressly for Kira" explanation over the "ZAFT was gonna build mass-produced Freedoms" explanation, simply because it reduces the obscene amount of Gundamjacks in that universe.
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Re: Question about Strike Freedom?

That seemed to be the CE universe rule for plot development. Seed begun with 4 OMNI Gundams stolen by zaft with kira getting stuck in the 5th. the 2nd half two ZAFT gundams end up stolen. Destiny had OMNI steal 3 Zaft gundams with two being retained due to being stored with more security. it would make zaft look even dumber to consider losing two gundams to terminal and also lose in transport the one gundam they recovered.
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Re: Question about Strike Freedom?

Thundermuffin wrote:I like the "Terminal built Strike Freedom expressly for Kira" explanation over the "ZAFT was gonna build mass-produced Freedoms" explanation, simply because it reduces the obscene amount of Gundamjacks in that universe.
JEFFPIATT wrote:That seemed to be the CE universe rule for plot development. Seed begun with 4 OMNI Gundams stolen by zaft with kira getting stuck in the 5th. the 2nd half two ZAFT gundams end up stolen. Destiny had OMNI steal 3 Zaft gundams with two being retained due to being stored with more security. it would make zaft look even dumber to consider losing two gundams to terminal and also lose in transport the one gundam they recovered.
And Universal Century was any better? Gundam-jacking is prolific there too. Not to mention 0083 having the most utterly ridiculous and worst written Gundam-jack in the entire Gundam animated franchise. There's a saying, about glasshouses and how you should be cautious about throwing stones in them.

That said, I too prefer the view Strike Freedom and Infinite Justice were built by Terminal from stolen ZAFT plans. It certainly is more palatable, although SEED Destiny will always remain a heap of you-know-what, no matter how you try and dress it up.
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AmuroNT1
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Re: Question about Strike Freedom?

I kind of gave up on trying to keep up with Strike Freedom's retconned backstory ages ago, but IIRC, the implication with the whole "stolen MP model" was that the DRAGOONs were part of the customizations done to make it fit Kira's combat style.

Also, as an aside, you've really got to feel sorry for Athrun. S-Freedom gets all these backstories that say it's got an incredible high-speed flight system, and the joints are gold alternately because it's literally overflowing with power or because it's a special coating to keep Kira's super-amazing reflexes from burning them out. Athrun? He gets nothing. Worse than that, the implication seems to be that I-Justice's silver joints were only done to make them a matched set - in other words, it's like he's merely an accessory.
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Dark Duel
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Re: Question about Strike Freedom?

Not much different from Athrun's own portrayal in the series from Episode 36 onwards, where he goes from being a fairly important character in his own right to Kira's basically-ineffectual sidekick.

Regardless, my main issue with the Strike Freedom isn't so much its backstory, but the poor design of its wings, since the DRAGOONs are(God only knows how) mounted directly on top of its VL thrusters, severely hindering its mobility in atmospheric conditions, when the DRAGOONs cannot be used.
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DeltasTaii
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Re: Question about Strike Freedom?

I'd like to think that in normal atmospheric deployment they'd take the damn things off, but its only combat sortie on Earth is immediately following re-entry and no-one on the Archangel knows how to maintain the damn thing yet anyways when he flies Lacus around in it.

Otherwise there's really not much of anywhere else to jam everything. Waist design is still pretty screwy though.

The joints are gold because of phase shift to hold them together with the high forces they take to accelerate as fast as Kira's reactions (the implication of this seems to be that Freedom was slowing him down more than he was burning it out), they're glowing gold because they're basically TPS and increase output to match load, to a level beyond the designers' expectations ultimately.
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