The Official Gundam Iron-Blooded Orphans Mecha Thread Mk II

[SonicSP]

A thought just occurred to me.

Isn't placing the command bridge on an exposed outer position.......kind of a really really bad idea? It might be better to just have very wide angled cameras feeding visual data to represent while the bridge is in a more armored position rather than having it away from everything else. Sure it can be argued that the sensors being destroyed when the ship is under attack but I would think having an exposed command center is worse and you will have plenty of sensor redundancy already. It's not like they see much anyways since space is full 3D with no proper "up" or "down" and those viewpoints are pretty narrow.

Ahab Wave interference shouldn't be an issue since the ship electronics are all built to resist it anyways and the Nano Chaff Smoke is pretty easily countered and would block normal visuals anyways.

Iok and Jasley both almost got/got screwed by that in the last few episodes by their exposed bridges. Granted with latter's case Barbatos' Ultra Large Mace was designed for anti-ship combat but still, it doesn't seem like a good design idea.

[Arsarcana]

Yeah, having an exposed bridge on a spaceship that's intended for combat doesn't really make a lot of sense as it provides an obvious target that contains all the sensitive C&C systems and the command crew and it doesn't provide any real benefit. Well, other than providing nice windows which the characters can look out of introspectively at the appropriate moment. Or see their approaching doom (usually for villains) but that's all rule of drama, not what would make sense in a warship design.

Taking a modern equivalent to a MS carrier, the Nimitz-class carriers have an obvious bridge located in the superstructure but it's mostly for navigation (where improving visibility actually makes sense) and the really sensitive stuff is 'below deck'.

[domino]

Iok chose not to revert the bridge to "combat mode" as a show of strength (and his own arrogance) so it's likely that all modern military ships are capable of a combat mode bridge

Why do they even have exposed bridges in the first place? Perhaps it's a throwback to the captain and crew wanting to get a "visual" of the situation. That obviously makes no sense but exposed bridges are a Gundam staple now.

[Gone Astray]

The Halfbeak class does have a combat mode that drops the bridge into the hull for protection, so they've clearly considered the issue. I figured The Golden Jasley's armor mods preventing that mode were a display of arrogance along the lines of Iok's refusal to enter it during the battle with the Turbines. As for why they'd have an exposed bridge in the first place, I couldn't exactly say, except from a meta perspective where we should be considering these space fighters as analogues to submarines (where exposing the bridge would be equivalent to breaking the surface of the water).

I also feel like this has been a topic in UC discussions, since just about every last one of their ships features a similar design, or ones that have even more prominent bridges--I'm looking at you, Pegasus class.

[Calubin_175]

I like how IBO verse makes the frame type distinction very clear, and also their value status in the current world. Coupled with having few variants of each type, it also showed how long it takes for MS to develop and how long of a service life they have.

Hexa and Rodi frames - Mid Calamity War
Old Teiwaz blueprints - Unused in Calamity War?
New Teiwaz (Shiden, Hejika)
Valkyria frame-Gerail-Graze-Reginlaze
Gundam Frames - ancient

The idea of all factions having Gundam frames is justified in-universe and their visual looks are distinct too, with the more medieval looking ones for Gjharrhorn owners.

At the same time, they wanted to show that there are boss/ace tier MS from other frame types, and that was the purpose of the Graze Ein and Reginlaze Julia. These are not just ace customs like the 00 tuned overhauls(Graham's Flag, Taozi etc), these are enlarged, off standard, monsterous frames to test certain technologies that cold not be achieved with the standard frame.

So we should see Mika vs Julietta, and Gali vs McGliss.

[yazi88]

The actual original Valkyria frames are just as old as the Gundams as they were rolled out around the same time, but produced on a lesser scale. We actually don't know how long the Calamity War actually lasted so we don't have any clear evidence on when the Hexa and Rodi frames were rolled out.

Graze Ein and Reginlaze Julia are experimental prototypes according to their info but the Julia is a prototype ace machine, while the Schalbe Graze and possibly the Graze Ritter (Commander type) are ace machines given their performance and limited production run from their mass production counterparts.

[SonicSP]

Hexa and Rodi frames - Mid Calamity War
Old Teiwaz blueprints - Unused in Calamity War?
New Teiwaz (Shiden, Hejika)
Valkyria frame-Gerail-Graze-Reginlaze
Gundam Frames - ancient

- Gundam Frames should be Late Calamity War under the definitions used in the upper part of the list. "Ancient" seems incorrect since it implies that they are far older than the rest of the list when they are in fact the latest of all Calamity War era Frames matched only by Valkyrias.

Rodi and Hexa Frames for example are older than them if we are defining age as their initial rollout periods.

- Old Teiwaz blueprints as you said, were mentioned in the HG Hyakuren or Hyakuri to be unused in the war.

- Shiden uses the Io Frame while Hyakuren, Hyakuri and Hekija uses Teiwaz Frame. But the time period of all of them being around the same is correct. Io Frame was fully designed and manufactured by Teiwaz while the Teiwaz Frame - ironically - was not since they were based on the old Calamity War blueprints.

- I'm a bit confused about the Valkyria part of the list. If you're trying to say that Valkyria evolved into Geireil, Graze and Reginlaze Frames then that is correct. But if you're trying to say that they are examples of Valkyria Frame units then that's incorrect as all three of them had their own distinct Frames that evolved from the previous one with each generation.

We actually don't know how long the Calamity War actually lasted so we don't have any clear evidence on when the Hexa and Rodi frames were rolled out.

We don't know the timeframe of the war in terms of years but we have confirmed that that Rodi and Hexa Frames were deployed on what is defined as the "Mid" Calamity War period in the manuals (the list is just repeating what they are saying). We also have a "Late" Calamity War period that was used to refer to the Gundams.

I can't recall seeing the term "Early" Calamity War being used yet though. We don't know how long these periods lasted but we know they were divided into these phases.

[domino]

Interesting to see that Vidar can be so readily converted back to its original form as Kimaris. It does look like THIS Kimaris will have some different equipment from its previous forms though

It appears that Bael having a soul may indeed be true hence why others were rejected. This adds yet another Evangelion-like element to piloting the IBO Gundams.

[yazi88]

Interesting to see that Vidar can be so readily converted back to its original form as Kimaris. It does look like THIS Kimaris will have some different equipment from its previous forms though

Its not a surprise given how often we've seen the other Gundams in this show being converted and upgraded/modified. It's inner frame is the same as all the other Gundams, its just the armor and parts covering the frames that mostly need to be changed. I'd like to think of it as another upgrade for the Kimaris. Its not a surprise it was the Kimaris the whole time because the kit for the Vidar Gundam said it was a damaged Gundam that took a long time to upgrade and attach another reactor to hid its data. Because making the Gundams are a lost technology now as is a lot of other tech that has yet to be replicated from the Calamity War. I have to admit I was a bit skeptical a few times if the Vidar was the Kimaris or another damaged Gundam Frame.

So far we've have yet to see beam weapons, mobile armor weaponry, Valkyria Swords, dual Ahab Reactors be made in the current time period, because the ones we have seen so far are left over from the war. I'm assuming Reginlaze Julia's sword tips are the same way, modified from material left over rather than new ones being made from the Valkyria swords.

So either this new form of the Kimaris/Vidar is the upcoming new Gundam kit that was teased at before or maybe Rustal has one lying around himself. There should be another dozen or so Gundams we have yet to see that are still operational.

[nacho-wan]

I never had doubts that the Vidar had Ein's remains or that it was made from the Kimaris but I didn't hoped that we'll see it as the Kimaris again. In space with the Vijala system, it is going to be a monster grade machine.
W
As for Rustal, I don't see him taking to the field. He surely is the ship commander master strategist type. When the protoype gunpla Helmwige appeared, I thought it to be Rustal's machine. It would have granted a better intro for Helmwige.

Speaking of Helmwige Reincar, you think we might see it again or McGillis' sidekick would favor the space use Swalbe?

[yazi88]

Given the preview for the next ep, Isurugi is piloting the Helmwige Reincar again, I was also hoping he'd pilot the Schalbe again. I'm guessing that one liaison sent by McGillis that was with Tekkadan might pilot the Schalbe.

[Kuruni]

Kimaris Vidar

Look pretty cool, but on the other hand, it make me think they should hire Kuramochi for the next series.

[AmuroNT1]

Let's see...the lance looks like it has some kind of shotlancer/kinetic penetrator installation on the sides, the shoulder shields have machine gun muzzles, it's got a Barbatos-style longsword, and of course, the knee packs a man's romance.

Interesting machine all around. I'm pretty fond of the Kimaris and its upgrades since it kind of feels like "What if the Gyan was turned into a Gundam?"

[E08]

It appears that Bael having a soul may indeed be true hence why others were rejected. This adds yet another Evangelion-like element to piloting the IBO Gundams.

With what Mcgillis said to Mika about how people in Gjallarhorn had forgotten that MS need the AV system to work, i can't help but wonder if the 'soul' thing is merely a myth created by those who failed in their attempt to activate Bael.

Edit: Found some official info for Kimaris Vidar

Lance's name = Drill Lance
Knee = Drill Knee

[AmuroNT1]

I'm with you about Agnika's "soul" being in Bael. I get the feeling that they were really just treating the Gundam like it was Excalibur, a weapon that seemingly nobody could use so "obviously" there was some kind of selection process involved. Except that McGillis realized the requirement was simply an A-V implant, something that nobody in Gjallarhorn would ever have.

Also, regarding the "New Gundam Frame B" (https://i.redd.it/x5gl4zzzvzgy.jpg), some people seem to think it's the Elion or Kujan family's Gundam, but it almost looks like it has Vidar's hip armor with the spare rapier blades, so I'm wondering if maybe they cobble together the leftover parts from the Vidar into a new Gundam for Julietta to use.

[yazi88]

It could be a older Gundam Frame that Gjharrhorn has but the parts from the Vidar cobbled onto it, cause compatibility with the Gundams is a constant thing in this series so it works out.

[SonicSP]

Also, regarding the "New Gundam Frame B" (https://i.redd.it/x5gl4zzzvzgy.jpg), some people seem to think it's the Elion or Kujan family's Gundam, but it almost looks like it has Vidar's hip armor with the spare rapier blades, so I'm wondering if maybe they cobble together the leftover parts from the Vidar into a new Gundam for Julietta to use.

I heard that Kanakate Ebikawa (Graze designer, also made the 00-Setsuna and AGE leads) pointed out in Twitter to watch the "vault" scene in Episode 43 carefully, whereby "two" of the vaults are empty (one being Baudoin's, for Kimaris). So my guess would be that it is one of the other families, possibly even incorporating some leftover Vidar parts that are no longer in use.........since those are now just lying around.

[Dark Duel]

Doesn't even require that careful viewing. Of the ones that are seen, only two hangars are open. You can tell each one is only just deep enough to hold a single mobile suit, and the two that are open - the Bauduin and Baklazan hangars - are clearly empty in a couple of shots during the first part of the vault scene.
Meanwhile, the Issue, Fareed, Elion, Kujan, and Falk hangars are all shown at least once over the course of the scene in the vault, and all of their doors are clearly and consistently depicted as being closed as far as I could tell.

At the same time though, it's inconsistent because in a later shot during the fight between Vidar and Barbatos, the Baklazan hangar is clearly shown to be closed, whereas it was open during the earlier conversation between Gaelio and McGillis.

See Screenshots here

[domino]

Perhaps McGillis closed the doors for the vaults when the Mika and Vidar started to battle

It's interesting that the Baklazan hangar is open. Has it been revealed in the IBO manga?

Also, was a family responsible for Bael or was it left in the center of the vault due to its leadership role?

[Dark Duel]

The Vault shows seven separate compartments - one for each of the Seven Stars Families. So I would be inclined to think the latter, in this case.