Mecha Profile: Gundam 0079

Enjoy robot anime but with a brutal bit of truth about war, conflict and human nature? Then, what you’re looking for is the sub-genre Real Robot. Gundam is the forefather to all real robot anime, but it’s not just any Gundam. It’s the RX-78-2 Gundam, one of the Earth Federation’s greatest secret weapon against the Principality of Zeon in the Universal Century era or UC for short – which is the very first and most famous Gundam timeline.

I. History:
– Built in secrecy by the Earth Federation inside Colony Side 7 during the One Year War in U.C. 0079 under Operation V – a development program of Earth Federation that created many new advanced weapons, including the Gundam to counter Zeon’s Zaku mobile suits, which were very new and threatening at the time making Earth Federation Forces became vulnerable and took heavy casualties early in the war.

– Gundam’s first deployment was at Colony Side 7, where Zeon deployed two of their Zakus to do a reconnaissance mission to find out about Project V’s weapons, but one of them suddenly started attacking Side 7. The Colony then started evacuating people, but a young man named Amuro Ray, who was escaping with his friend Fraw Bow, saw his father – Tem Ray, who was responsible for Project V, so Amuro tried to follow him and asked the two passing soldiers, but they were killed by Zaku’s missile attack and dropped the Gundam’s pilot manual. Unfortunately, the missile also killed many civilians in the process, angering Amuro, so he grabbed the manual and jumped into Gundam and defeated the two Zakus. Amuro then joined the White Base carrier crew under the command of young Captain Bright Noa and participated in many battles piloting the most powerful weapon Earth Federation has to offer: the Gundam.

– Along the journey, Amuro developed a rivalry with the Zeon ace pilot Char Aznable. They frequently clashed in battles, and Amuro usually came out on top. Even after Char received more powerful machines like the Z’Gok and the Gelgoog, Amuro and the Gundam still managed to fend him off and suffered non-critical damage. It wasn’t until the Battle of A Baoa Qu that the Gundam was damaged in battle beyond repair against Zeong-Char’s ultimate Mobile Suit in Gundam 0079. It was after this battle that the RX-78-2 truly retired. Its pilot – Amuro Ray – also took a break from fighting until he eventually returned in Zeta Gundam with another mobile suit.

– The Gundam’s list of achievements is impressive, taking down formidable opponents like the Black Tri-stars, the Big Zam, the Elmeth and many of Char’s mobile suits. Its decorated service instils fear in the opposition whenever they hear the name “Gundam”. It also became an effective psychological attack from the Federation.

II. Technical Specs & Armaments:

– RX-78-2 Gundam is made of Luna Titanium Alloy – which is lightweight and sturdy enough to withstand weapons at ranges. Gundam also has a learning computer to accommodate the pilot, increasing its ability to be controlled by the pilot. It also has a Core Block system to be able to separate the top and bottom parts from the others as a Core Fighter for pilot safety. The design of Gundam also kept the idea of fighting against Zeon’s mobile suit at the time in mind, so it is a fast close combat mobile suit thanks to its Magnet Coating on its joints – utilizing a variety of weapons as follows:

– Gundam’s head installed a pair of 60-millimetre vulcan guns, which can be used as a self-defence weapon against small threats or at least scratch enemy mobile suits.

– Gundam also utilizes a pair of Beam Sabers located on its backpack part, which also act as its thruster. The Beam Saber is a powerful energy sword that can cut through thick materials and easily cut through enemies such as the Zaku or even larger warships. The Beam Saber would also become the base weapon of many mobile suits later on as well. This includes the Beam Javelin – which Gundam also uses it to throw at distances to hit the targets.

– It also has the Gundam Hammer, which is also made from thick Luna Titanium Alloy in the shape of a large spiked ball that has a chain attached to it so Gundam can swing it around when it cannot use ranged weapons. The Hammer also has thrusters installed on its back so it can rush quickly to hit the target.

– For the main ranged weapon, RX-78 uses the Beam Rifle, a weapon relatively new at the time; with 1.9 of megawatt output, the rifle shoots a long beam particle that can pierce through most Zeon’s armour technology, the Beam Rifle also has an option to install the Super Napalm fire rocket launcher as well. Pairing with a handheld shield – which is also made from the same material as the Gundam can be very effective. Not only Beam Rifle is the ranged weapon of Gundam, but also Hyper Bazooka – a large anti-ship rocket launcher.

– Aside from its normal deployment mode, the Gundam can also dock with the G-Fighter – a support vehicle – to form the G-Armor, which allows for a variety of attack options as well as movement. In this mode, the G-Fighter is separated into 2 parts – the head part covers the Gundam’s head and body while the tail part covers the Gundam’s legs. The RX-78-2’s arms are exposed in this mode so two of the Gundam’s shields are mounted on the arms to protect the side.

III. Gallery: