Funnels and Bits in Late UC

[Raikoh]

So I was driving around today and a thought occurred to me: why did remote type weaponry stop being used? During the Gryps Conflict and the Neo Zeon wars, funnels and bits were all the rage. Everything was getting Psycommu, even grunt suits to some extent. But in later UC, pretty much anything after U.C. 100, I can only think of a handful of times remote weapons of any kind were used. The first is the Divinidad's Feather Funnels, and the second is the Gengaozoa's back engine unit; of which were used in similar manners to earlier remote weaponry. The only traditional remote weapons are the funnel missiles on the Xi and Penelope. Upon some further research, I dug up that Callisto's Light and Shadow had Feather Funnels on their Dictus units, though I don't recall if they ever used them. Either way, it's clear that remote weaponry had become reserved for really important units, even though earlier wars had been able to mass produce Psycommu units. If you think about them, though, funnels should be some of the best weaponry out there, so why were they trivialized?

I think the obvious answer is, "Well, because there are fewer Newtypes," but that doesn't exactly hold water. It's true that there aren't as many Newtypes in Late UC, but they're still incredibly common. Nearly every series has at least a few major characters who have Newtype abilities of some kind, including many powerful ones. The Zanscare Empire had so many Newtypes that they could make a brain frying cannon powered by them. Not only that, but if my sources are accurate, the Gundam Delta Kai was equipped with the NITRO system, allowing even Oldtypes limited Newtype abilities.

The second possible explanation would maybe be, "Because of the NT-D System." which I would consider less credible than the first. Only two Mobile Suits were known to possess the NT-D System, and I assume both would be incredibly expensive. It's hardly a reason to stop using the technology altogether. Not to mention that in a largescale war it wouldn't be able to keep up with bits if they mass produced them like they had with the Qubeley Mk. II. Not to mention that I think if one really wanted to, they might be able to find a workaround to counter the NT-D.

So why do you think remote weapons fell out of style in later UC stories?

[Massignifico]

At least funnels are used in Gaia Gear, and they seem pretty common.

[Wingnut]

Wouldn't be surprised if cost ended up being a major issue. You can probably field a cruiser and her complement of mobile suits (if not more) for the same amount as one newtype fueled super MS. I think even Char said that Gyunei was rather expensive after he had to drag him back off 5th Luna and could not afford to just let himself get killed by Amuro at that point.

[Kuruni]

There is also Rig Contio's shot claw. Counting Crossbone, we also has Elefante's bit. Counting G Generation series, then there are Ebirhu Doga's traddional funnel, Rig Ring's shot claws, and Zanspine's tinkle bit. Still not much...

I think fact that MS being faster and more nimble (make it harder for funnel to catch up and surround target, see Felini vs Aila match), as well as reliable defense that is beam shield, are factors here.

[Massignifico]

But remember that Contio's and Rig Contio's Shot Claws aren't newtype weapons

[Zeonista]

The idea of the "Newtype man" was always a Zeon ideal, and with the decline of Zeonist factions, it would not be unexpected for psychommu weaponry to fall out of favor for a generation or two, then slowly come back into favor. After all, the only reason the Federation conducted Newtype research is because Zeon had done it, and made such a big fuss over it. Of course, the much-ballyhooed Newtypes frequently decided not to use their heavily equipped death machines on each other, or did so with great reluctance, so that might have made future warlords more cautious as well.

I do think the great generational leap in MS design & construction from 0093 to 123 might have had something to do with it as well. The Minovsky particle screen was now a commonplace part of warfare, and military officers on both sides were familiar with its strengths and weaknesses. Giant space battles were a thing of the past; high-speed battles between "task force" fleets and the newer MS meant that fleet-stopping MA packed with psychommu weapons really weren't a priority. The new MS were more powerful, more maneuverable, and quicker to react. So a Newtype pilot in one of the newer MS still had the edge just because his MS was just that much faster with ESP active. There wasn't an immediate need to give a Newtype uber weaponry to make them effective.

[AmuroNT1]

Crossbone also had the feather funnels wielded by the Divinidad, Cornix, and Digitus.

I do agree with the root of what Zeonista is saying, how it was Zeon who made such a big fuss over Newtypes being the next stage of human evolution and the Federation basically just playing catch-up. It's pretty clear that the Feds didn't trust Newtypes as far as they could throw them; IIRC, in either Hi-Streamer or Beltorchika's Children (can't remember which), Amuro says he wanted to pull the Zeta Gundam out of the mothballs but the Federation wouldn't allow it because they didn't trust a highly skilled pilot and Newtype like him with a biosensor.

As for the Crossbone era, we do see a vague resurgence of that attitude with the Jovians, who think they're a "better breed" of humans due to growing up in a harsher environment, not to mention their having a dedicated Newtype Corps supervised by Prof. Karas. Even moreso we have Sherindon "Shelly" Ronah, who believes that Newtypes are separate and superior to normal humans, as seen when she tries to convince Tobia to let the Jovian War happen because it doesn't concern them. Of course, Tobia adamantly rejects this notion, demonstrated in the scene where he cuts his arm to show Shelly that he bleeds the same blood as an Oldtype, and insists throughout his appearances in the Crossbone manga that he's just a normal human.

[HalfDemonInuyasha]

Was it ever confirmed whether or not the people used in Angel Halo were actually Newtypes or not? So far, I have yet to see, read, or hear anything saying they were all real Newtypes as opposed to "psychickers" or just a huge number of humans meant to take the place of a much smaller number of actual Newtypes.

So if you take all those people out, there really weren't that many (powerful) Newtypes in the latter UC era, and the Zanscare Conflict was still a pretty isolated incident overall compared to something like the One Year War.

And as mentioned, the MS themselves just became much better that there was less and less need for psycommu weaponry, and with something like the bio-computer being developed in the UC 110s and early 120s, there was probably even less need for Newtype pilots in general (for the Federation anyway, aside from the noted fear of them) since the bio-computer pretty much allowed an Oldtype to fight like a Newtype, but without any big downsides like the previous EXAM System and not very restrictive like a quasi-psycommu system (which also still required a pretty skilled pilot to handle at least whereas the bio-computer can be used by anyone really).

[Zeonista]

For the non-mecha aspect of Newtypes, the main idea was always that being a proper "Newtype" was a state of mind, not necessarily a state of esper power. The development of psychommu-equipped mobile weapons and cyber-newtype pilots for them was the inevitable distortion caused by the search for tangible useful results of an expanded sense of consciousness. The research into the factors that made such an expanded (and presumably enlightened) state of consciousness was not done. In 0123 the Universal Century was no more successful in explaining the how & why of the Newtype condition than it was in 0079. (Lots of pseudo-science and Coast to Coast style speculation, little in the way of hard data. ) It was understood that being a Newtype was a good thing, but it wasn't going to be a determining factor of victory as thought in the previous century. So the Crossbone Vanguard worked mainly on building up their strength of conventional high-performance MS & carrier ships. SNRI made the biocomputer, which could allow any latent Newtype potential to become useful, and active potential could become enhanced to the level of the Newtype heroes of a previous generation.

[Kuruni]

Now...that make me wonder if it's reflection of real life? I remember that back in 1980s, science actually took psychic rather seriously. By 1990s, it's much consider to be hoax and pseudo-science.

[MythSearcher]

Was it ever confirmed whether or not the people used in Angel Halo were actually Newtypes or not? So far, I have yet to see, read, or hear anything saying they were all real Newtypes as opposed to "psychickers" or just a huge number of humans meant to take the place of a much smaller number of actual Newtypes.

They are psychickers, not NTs, according to ver. 1.5, the 20k psychickers are used to magnify the NT within.
And psychickers are supposed to be even more powerful the NTs, at least in terms of mind reading, prediction, etc. military functions.

Some, however, believe they are mixed, some are psychickers and some are NT. I am one of those.