AEUG Mass Production Units of 0088?

[TDR-10M Thunderbolt]

Hello there! Long time lurker, but this is my first post and I'm hoping to get some more informed opinions on a bit of UC 0088 lore. Could I ask those fairly well versed in ZZ/Sentinel era stuff to weigh in on what mass production (or non-Unique) machines the AEUG fields during that time? Like several others on these boards, I'm toying with fan/side-story production (probably won't go anywhere, but it's fun to think about) and trying to figure out which mobile suits are sensible for the faction to have access to.

To be clear, this is 0088 AEUG only; I am not interested in what Karaba and/or the Federation field at that time unless the AEUG also has it. Thus, I'd like to break this up into a general question and some more specific ones.

In General: Which designs are the AEUG's main units during this era? The ones that form the bulk of their forces during the First Neo Zeon War. My understanding is it's the Nemo, any lingering GM IIs/GM Customs/GM Cannon IIs lying around, possibly the Novel GM III, possibly the Nero, with a small handful of various Zeta Plus designs; everything else is apparently either present in so limited quantities as to not even bear mentioning, or is Unique (such as the Gundam Mk. II, ZZ Gundam, and so on). Is that about right, or did I overlook something?

And,

Could 0088 AEUG Members Plausibly Have Access To:

RMS-099 Rick Dias?: What happened to this? A few articles I've read online suggest the AEUG completely abandoned the chassis by this year, leaving no functional units in their forces. Is this actually the case? Edit: If so, does this leave former Rick Dias pilots in the embarrassing position of having to downgrade to the MSA-003 Nemo, or would there be comparable models for them to sidegrade (or even upgrade) to?

RMS-099B Schuzrum Dias aka Sturm Dias?: Obviously this is primarily a Neo Zeon design. Does the AEUG field any of this unit prior to all future production being shifted to Neo Zeon, though? I've found blurbs suggesting the AEUG was the intended customer but things changed. Also have heard the HGUC 1/144 kit of this includes AEUG stickers, though for some reason I can't find those with the one I bought. (And even if it does, this on its own might not be enough evidence for some detail-focused folk?)

MSN-00100 Hyaku Shiki?: Everything I've read suggests at least one more Hyaku Shiki was produced in 0088 to replace the one that was disabled when Quattro fought Haman near the end of the Gryps War. Is it possible more than these two units could be produced? Presumably they would be very expensive and I doubt the AEUG would buy very many of them, but the idea intrigues me.

RGM-86R GM III?: I know they have the Novel GM III, but what about the standard model? Sources seem to disagree on this; some video games explicitly create a "GM III (AEUG)" unit for the player to use, others don't, and some write-ups say only the Federation and Karaba used it.

Any Others I Missed?: Any notable units not mentioned in my questions or list above? It doesn't matter how impressive they are.

Sorry for the multi-part question, but any info you can offer on even some of this would be really appreciated!

[Gelgoog Jager]

As far as ZZ is concerned, the only grunt unit I recall seeing is a GM II at Von Braun. Karaba does get a lot of GM IIIs, though none seem to managed to survive after the Dublin Colony Drop. Other than that, all we see is 5 Salamis Kai by the end of the series.

Assuming that the AEUG does have some other MS units around, I would assume they would probably mainly consist of GM IIs, Nemos and GM IIIs, all of which are still largely in use by the post-Titans EFF forces, which supposedly reintegrated the AEUG back into its ranks. For some reason the Rick Dias is not seen, which added tot he fact that Anaheim gave the Schuzrum Dias to Neo Zeon makes me suspect that the AEUG and EFF discontinued its use.

Regarding the units from Sentinel Gundam, I'm not familair with the story, but AFAIK, weren't the factions involved the EFF fleets which end up breaking into smaller factions, the Pezun rebels and in a very minor role the Axis forces?

Also, I would also consider the GM Customs and GM Cannons among the "unique units", since not only they had low production runs, but by U.C. 0088 they were most likely outdated units that thad to be refurbished to keep up with newer standards.

Finally, regarding the Hyaku Shiki units, IIRC only the MSK-100S Land Comabt model was mass produced...for Karaba. None of the AEUG production versions made it past the prototype stage. In fact this is a recurring background of most non-animated AEUG units. I suggest you check the following links to see lists of other AEUG MS, many intended for mass production, but which supposedly were cancelled for one or another reason:

http://www.mahq.net/mecha/gundam/m-msv/index.htm
http://www.mahq.net/mecha/gundam/z-msv/index.htm

Conclusion: AEUG's forces by U.C. 0088 most likely consisted on GM IIs and Nemos, and potentially GM IIIs provided by the Federation. While it's possible they had other units, at that point it is unlikely any were available in significant numbers.

[TDR-10M Thunderbolt]

Hi there Gelgoog J,

Thanks for your thoughts! That's... about the impression I came to as well. The MSVs were interesting; I read through those a while back and laughed at just how many projects Anaheim proposed to the AEUG only to have them met with "this design was canceled after only a few units were produced" (or one unit, or no units). Small wonder Anaheim eventually got tired of them and started selling to Neo Zeon; at least those guys actually bought something!

The Hyaku Shiki projects you mentioned particularly made me go "So why did you guys waste their time on all that R&D if you weren't going to use it?" It's as if the AEUG was primarily run by corporate fools who had no id-- wait that's actually the case, if I recall. I was more specifically referring to the original model, but I have to suspect 'off-screen' sales of additional units either bordered on zero, or outright were zero; no doubt it's an expensive machine to produce.

I have to admit the idea of 'storyboarding' a squad where the GM III is the high point of the unit roster amuses me. Taking this further and realizing a faction of Nemos and GM IIIs plus the Argama's Gundam Team, who nearly lost to a single Gelgoog at one point, somehow beat Neo Zeon makes it even more incredible. One supposes Glemy's rebellion must have played a huge role in that outcome.

At any rate, I'm rambling. Your conclusions are pretty close to the ones I came to and they make sense, so I'll keep it in mind. Thank you for your help!

[Angelo Sauper]

For some reason the Rick Dias is not seen, which added tot he fact that Anaheim gave the Schuzrum Dias to Neo Zeon makes me suspect that the AEUG and EFF discontinued its use.

It's really strange that the Argama has at least two Rick Dias' in ZZ Gundam, but are never shown in use.

They must have been really under-staffed.

[Gelgoog Jager]

My guess is that they ran out of spare parts and/or prioritized the repairs of the MkII and Zeta Gundam. Anyway, at Von Braun they probably left the Rick Dias and were told they would receive the Hyaku Shiki unit 2 and Mega Rider instead.

Regarding Anaheim, let's remember that they become they main supplier of MS for the Second and Third Neo Zeons, both of which largely lack production capabilities of their own. IIRC, Anaheim is the one that built the Geara Dogas, Geara Zulus and probably also the Musakas and other MS prototypes.

Finally, the Gundam Team along with the Argama and La Vie En Rose had little impact on the destruction of the entirity of the Neo Zeon forces, mainly killing some small units and some aces, though their largest achievement was killing the both factions leaders. However, the bulk of the damage the Zeon forces took was due to the battle between both Neo Zeon factions.

As for the rest of the AEUG and Federation, they basically waited outside of Side 3 with a meager fleet made up of 5 Salamis Kai until both Neo Zeon factions and been defeated, and then went in to claim victory. So you can basically scratch out "the Nemos and GM IIIs that helped to defeat Neo Zeon" idea.

[yazi88]

But Karaba was also fighting on the front lines by sending a good portion of their units to space to fight Neo Zeon, remember that the war went on for a few months before in-fighting broke out in Neo Zeon.

In the Mirage of Zeon sidestory manga, there was also a attempted attack on Axis with some AEUG forces composed of Methuss Kai's and a ZII but that also failed. That manga also showed Hyaku Shiki Land types on Karaba's end.

[mcred23]

Karaba wasn't all that large, though. AFAIK, all they really had was the Audhumla and a few other odds and ends (Namely some Z Plus and other rare units scattered across Earth), so them sending stuff into space wasn't nearly going to make up for the AEUG being almost entirely wiped out and the EFSF being held back by higher ups.

Besides, even though the First Neo Zeon War goes on for quite a while, I don't think it's been suggested that a great deal of fighting went on between Neo Zeon and the remains of the AEUG/EFSF/non-Argama groups, with that attempted attack on Axis being the only thing of note and that is carried out by a fairly small force...

[JEFFPIATT]

it looked like the aeug was phasing out new suit production and moving to RGM comparable models like the nemo. the GM III seems to have been an budget way to adopt the Gundam mk II improvments without fully reconfiguring the production lines it retains the body style of the RX-79 series but places the backpack of the mk II on the unit and has boxes for newer frame parts and an newer head unit. it actually looks like someone took an "Powered GM" test unit and just made it the production unit rather than retooling the lines to build MK 2 style bodies with GM heads.

[CloudFF7]

For some reason the Rick Dias is not seen, which added tot he fact that Anaheim gave the Schuzrum Dias to Neo Zeon makes me suspect that the AEUG and EFF discontinued its use.

It's really strange that the Argama has at least two Rick Dias' in ZZ Gundam, but are never shown in use.

They must have been really under-staffed.

The Mirage of Zeon manga, also shows a "Super Dias" as part of the force that attacks Axis. Showing that a few Rick Dias units remained, and one was modified with the D-Defenser.

[TDR-10M Thunderbolt]

Sorry to revive a thread a few days old at this point, but I wanted to stop by and thank those of you who pointed out other interesting tidbits. I had missed the Rick Dias 'cameo' in ZZ, and I suppose that on its own is enough to rip up the idea the chassis was completely abandoned by 0088. Funny thing, I got that from (and I know, eyerolling imminent) Gundam Wikia... I had assumed they had SOME kind of source for that. Yikes. Apparently not.

As for the Super Dias, that is neat. It's my understanding Mirage of Zeon is not official, much as most video games aren't, but that's still a fun thing to note.

[tHeWasTeDYouTh]

RMS-099B Schuzrum Dias actually belongs to the Republic of Zeon and they got them from Anaheim

in the episode of ZZ that they show up both Republic of Zeon and Neo Zeon forces team up and attack the gundam team(team up because gundam team is inside side 3 space)

[JEFFPIATT]

well at that point in the series the ROZ and NZ were merged due to the EF turning over side 3 basically letting axis take over the republic with no interference from the efsf. the team we see with the dias units seem to only loyal to side three itself regardless of the sitting government and the gundam team made the mistake of invading.

[Enileph]

Well the Zeon-AEUG ace pilot in Titans Test Team is piloting a Rick Dias series for the most part. There are also some listings on upgraded AEUG MS.