Zanscare production numbers

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Melchior
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Joined: Wed Mar 15, 2006 8:19 pm

Zanscare production numbers

I've recently finished Victory, and looking around I notice many fans note Zanscare MS as being forgetable. While I disagree with that notion, I must say it is often hard to distinguish between the mass production suits and those that appear in limited numbers. Indeed, it seems Zanscare seems to a greater number of limited production machines than any other UC faction. I've put together a list of mass production, limited production, and one of a kind machines, and I'm basically looking for some input on machines which I can't decide which section to place them in.

Genuine mass production machines: (fairly self explanatory)
Zoloat
Zolo

Limited production machines:
Most of these machines appeared towards the end of the series, and it almost seems Zanscare just can't decide what MS to mass produce

Zollidia
Contio
Jabaco
Brucknerg
Rig Shokew*
Imperial Rig Shokew
Gedlav

*Although many refer to the Rig Shokew as the next generation mass produced suit for Zanscare, I feel it hardly appears in enough numbers to warrant such a title. In fact, many of the suits in this category appear in much greater numbers.

Very limited production:
I didn't know what else to call this section, but this is for suits that only seem to have 1 to 3 units produced, but where its quite likely there are more offscreen.

Abigor
Shy-Tarn
Domuttlia
Galguyu

One of a kind prototypes (etc)

Shokew
Godzorla
Memedorza
Gengaozo
Zanneck
Gottrlatan
Rig Contio

The only mobile suit I can't classify is the Tomliat, which I can't decide between limited and mass production. No more than 10 units appeared on screen, but I suppose there could be a lot more since it was meant to be a replacement for the Zolo.

So any input is not only welcome, but needed. Any disagreements with my classifications are wanted as well. Thanks![/i]
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Recon 5
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What must be noted here is that almost all (if not all) Gundam wars take place on a MASSIVE scale. However, only a small part of the whole war can be shown in a series like Victory Gundam, which for dramatic reasons must follow the protagonists closely. Therefore, we are not going to see even a hundredth of any faction's full strength in Mobile Suits/ armors on screen at any one time.

Also, we must factor in the fact that Uso is the MAIN character, the ace of aces, and so (again for dramatic reasons) he's only going to face up against the best of the best- which usually means leaving grunts out of camera range simply due to the limits of animation technology at the time.

However, for a true indication, maybe you should look at the background more closely. Webs of beams and clusters of explosions seem to indicate large numbers of mobile suits in combat, although we will never know what 99.9% of those suits were, or even on which side they were on.

What I'm getting at is that we can't judge the Zanscare Empire's production numbers based on the number of suits animated. We have to go by official data.

Even in real life, if we were to judge US military strength from war footage, we might think they only have a few tens of Abrams right now...
HalfDemonInuyasha
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You also can't forget the amount of wartime that remained by the time some MS were made. A few of the one-of-a-kind MS or limited production MS were either not made until near the very end of the war or WERE intended for mass production for weren't for that and/or other reasons (cost turned out to be too high and such).

Like the Contio and Rig Contio actually were intended to be mass production replacements for Zanscare (and we do see a few of them used, but just 1 Rig Contio).

Also, a few of the MS were still pretty much test models for other mass production possibilities like the Gottrlatan, Gengarozo, and possibly the Zanneck (hey a MP MS with its own mega beam cannon/mega launcher? I'd go for that, lol). It's happened quite a few times before as well...like the Dooben Wolf and Geymalk of Neo Zeon were both intended mass production units, but we only see 1 Geymalk actually made and only 4-5 Dooben Wolf on screen.

As mentioned, we only get to see the conflict from wherever the main protagonists travel to unless there are official sidestories made to show other places involved in the same war. Zanscare was pretty much in various places all over the world, so who knows the ACTUAL numbers of their MS compliments of various types.
"I'll show you that a superior mobile suit has its limits when it goes up against a superior pilot!" - Char Aznable, The Red Comet
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