Status of Certain Mobile Suits

The future is now. This is the place for mecha and science.
Post Reply
Kurotetsu
Posts: 80
Joined: Sun Mar 05, 2006 11:44 pm
Contact:

Status of Certain Mobile Suits

I'm doing a bit of research into U.C., and I had a few questions regarding the status of certain units. I was hoping there was some elaboration that I might've missed and/or don't have access to:

1). Exactly how many Zeta Gundams were canonically or at least semi-canonically constructed?

There's obviously Kamille's unit, and I think Amuro's "White Unicorn" Zeta is at least semi-canonical since it shows up in at least 2 works. Theres also the Orange and Red ones from Evolve, but I'm fairly certain those don't exist anywhere outside that short. I ask mostly to determine the plausibility that more than 1 or 2 of them could be made given the expense.

2). What happened to the other 3 MSA-0011 S Gundam units?

According to its wiki entry 4 units were constructed, but only 1 was actually fielded. Is it ever elaborated on anywhere what became of the other 3? Did they just sit in a holding bay somewhere, were they dismantled, etc?

3). Was there anything between the Gundam Mk. II and the GM-III?

The GM-III was born when a GM-II and a Gundam Mk. II loved each other very much and--okay, back on topic. Did anything come between the Mk.II + GM II and the GM-III development tree-wise? Was there ever anything like a Prototype GM-III (which I guess is what the Mk. II was...)?
"0, Exia and Setsuna: Three Gundams become One." - Sume Gai
User avatar
MythSearcher
Posts: 1845
Joined: Sun Jan 20, 2013 4:36 pm

Re: Status of Certain Mobile Suits

Kurotetsu wrote:I'm doing a bit of research into U.C., and I had a few questions regarding the status of certain units. I was hoping there was some elaboration that I might've missed and/or don't have access to:

1). Exactly how many Zeta Gundams were canonically or at least semi-canonically constructed?

There's obviously Kamille's unit, and I think Amuro's "White Unicorn" Zeta is at least semi-canonical since it shows up in at least 2 works. Theres also the Orange and Red ones from Evolve, but I'm fairly certain those don't exist anywhere outside that short. I ask mostly to determine the plausibility that more than 1 or 2 of them could be made given the expense.

2). What happened to the other 3 MSA-0011 S Gundam units?

According to its wiki entry 4 units were constructed, but only 1 was actually fielded. Is it ever elaborated on anywhere what became of the other 3? Did they just sit in a holding bay somewhere, were they dismantled, etc?

3). Was there anything between the Gundam Mk. II and the GM-III?

The GM-III was born when a GM-II and a Gundam Mk. II loved each other very much and--okay, back on topic. Did anything come between the Mk.II + GM II and the GM-III development tree-wise? Was there ever anything like a Prototype GM-III (which I guess is what the Mk. II was...)?
1) See if you want to include those PROTO and X1~3 units from various sources.
2) The 4 units constructed was from the S Gundam discription from Sentinel and GFF, no further info can be found, as the copy right of that unit is held by Model Graphix, its unlikely that Bandai or Sunrise will develop the unit any further, since they can't make as much money from it while paying loyalties.
3) Nope, you only get the Novuel GM III, the newly produced unit, instead of the convert-old-GM II-to-regular-GM III. The Nemo blood didn't mix in until Jegan.
User avatar
Gelgoog Jager
Posts: 1640
Joined: Mon Jun 05, 2006 9:09 pm

Re: Status of Certain Mobile Suits

3) The Refined Barzam from Sentinel could be considered the missing link between the Gundam Mk II and the GM III: it was the closest attempt at a MPed Gundam Mk II, though ultimately the plan was scrapped and instead the EFF began refitting GM IIs into GM IIIs.

On the other hand, the optional missile launchers (both shoulder and hip mounted), seem like a nod to the RX-81 G-Line series, which at one point was supposed to replace the GM series after the end of the OYW.
User avatar
JEFFPIATT
Posts: 810
Joined: Mon Apr 20, 2009 9:44 pm
Location: Allentown, PA
Contact:

Re: Status of Certain Mobile Suits

the GM III model code does not help much since it's not another rgm-79 subtype it's rgm-86R an refit for the rgm-79R. it implies that there was an RGM-86 planned or tested but the federation deployed only the R type. the R in the GM II code seems to mean refit. my guess is that post titans the EFF chose to retroactively assign the RGM-86 model code to another unit and the GM III kit was justgiven the R sub code since it was gundam mk II parts mounted on old RGM-79 frames.
User avatar
MythSearcher
Posts: 1845
Joined: Sun Jan 20, 2013 4:36 pm

Re: Status of Certain Mobile Suits

JEFFPIATT wrote:the GM III model code does not help much since it's not another rgm-79 subtype it's rgm-86R an refit for the rgm-79R. it implies that there was an RGM-86 planned or tested but the federation deployed only the R type. the R in the GM II code seems to mean refit. my guess is that post titans the EFF chose to retroactively assign the RGM-86 model code to another unit and the GM III kit was justgiven the R sub code since it was gundam mk II parts mounted on old RGM-79 frames.
The problem here is that the Nouvel GM III are newly build units, but still numbered as RGM-86R.
User avatar
JEFFPIATT
Posts: 810
Joined: Mon Apr 20, 2009 9:44 pm
Location: Allentown, PA
Contact:

Re: Status of Certain Mobile Suits

I just have the theory that the ZZ team in charge the sat specs did not know what the proper model code procedure and just repclated the GM II code with an new year after all most of the expy suits for 0079 era units just had an extra numbrr appended to the frount the gundam MK II is coded RX-178 and is an updated rx-78 the GM II new production model code is RMS-179 and the old GM was RGM-79. it seems to be an error that sunrise had decided to not fix because it would mess up older materials.
toysdream
Posts: 3164
Joined: Mon Mar 06, 2006 12:24 pm
Location: San Francisco, CA
Contact:

Re: Status of Certain Mobile Suits

According to Advance of Zeta: The Traitor to Destiny, the spare parts used to make the RGM-79C "Wagtail" - which initially looked like they were derived from the Gundam GP01 Full Vernian - are actually from the early stages of the GM III project.

As I noted in my post on the story's timeline, the Wagtail is completed in June of U.C. 0086, so it seems like the GM III project goes back at least that far. Obviously, at this point it wouldn't include any Gundam Mark II parts, so the original design must have looked very different from the version that shows up in Gundam ZZ. Perhaps that's what the "R" really indicates?

-- Mark
Kurotetsu
Posts: 80
Joined: Sun Mar 05, 2006 11:44 pm
Contact:

Re: Status of Certain Mobile Suits

Thank you to everyone who has replied so far. It is very much appreciated.

Given the total lack of detail regarding the S Gundam's siblings, I guess that means pretty much anything goes on that front. Regarding the Zeta Gundams produced, since there appears to be no solid data on that front (I'm excluding the prototypes for now), is there any information about how long Amuro used his White Unicorn unit? From what I understand, he also flew a Zeta Plus unit at around the same time period (late 0087 I think, the same time frame as Sentinel) he was shown to fly his Zeta. And in that same year he was using a Dijeh on Earth. All in all, I'm guessing he didn't have his Zeta for very long?
"0, Exia and Setsuna: Three Gundams become One." - Sume Gai
User avatar
Mark064
Posts: 1667
Joined: Thu Mar 02, 2006 9:57 pm

Re: Status of Certain Mobile Suits

For the Zeta Gundam itself there has to be a few.

MSZ-006-1 (Kamille)
MSZ-006-3/MSZ-006-3A (White Zeta)
MSZ-006-3B (Gray Zeta)
MSZ-006-2P/3C (Red Zeta)

There should be an MSZ-006-2 out there somewhere. A MSZ-006-2 appears in a mook as an EWAC test type, and another appears on the front cover of the Encyclopedia of Zeta Gundam in red with 02 painted on it. Another Zeta Gundam also appears in MS Graphica piloted by Johnny/Lightning (oh Johnny Ridden like people love to be attached to Zeta Gundam it seems), though this is around the year UC 0100.

As for Amuro's use of the Zeta Plus from what I can find it doesn't look like Amuro used it long at all. The Zeta Plus was rolled out in November of UC 0087, Amuro is said to have used the Zeta Plus twice for testing purposes. And AE used it a lot more for marketing. He would have received his Zeta Gundam sometimes in early December as the events of Green Divers take place on December 6th. So Zeta usage would be from early December to who knows.
Roketto Panchii (ロケットパンチ) My robot anime blog. Mostly review-ish about old robot shows, for now.
saneman
Posts: 104
Joined: Wed Apr 11, 2007 2:25 am

Re: Status of Certain Mobile Suits

Isn't Grey, Red, and White Zeta of dubious canon at best?
You know, doing what is right is easy. The problem is knowing what is right.
~ Lyndon B. Johnson
User avatar
Mark064
Posts: 1667
Joined: Thu Mar 02, 2006 9:57 pm

Re: Status of Certain Mobile Suits

There isn't a canon in Japanese so things are offical or not. The stance for Gundam is simple if it's animated it's official. Since Evolve is animated I guess that makes it official.
Roketto Panchii (ロケットパンチ) My robot anime blog. Mostly review-ish about old robot shows, for now.
User avatar
MythSearcher
Posts: 1845
Joined: Sun Jan 20, 2013 4:36 pm

Re: Status of Certain Mobile Suits

Mark064 wrote:There isn't a canon in Japanese so things are offical or not. The stance for Gundam is simple if it's animated it's official. Since Evolve is animated I guess that makes it official.
The problem is that Evolve 9 is specifically marked as alternate universe, so it is not canon even if its official. It did not happen in our commonly discussed UC time line, but in a similar but different time line, just like Mission to the Rise, where they have colonies transformed spaceships that can accelerate and exceed the speed of light to go into another universe in OYW, with RX-78 fighting a red Zaku and losing, but transformed into a new Gundam, that looks like a biosuit.

Seriously, they don't have the term canon, but they do have a term called 正史, which is close enough to canon(more like canon history) and 野史(which is dubiously claimed history)
Post Reply