Mecha Profile: MA-08 Big Zam

In the Universal Century of U.C. 0079 during One Year War, many cutting edge weapons made their debut, particularly the walking humanoid mech – the mobile suits. With them all over the place from both sides of the war, the gigantic mobile armors are also deployed – such as the heaviest of them all – the Big Zam.

I. History:
– The MA-08 Big Zam is one of the Zeon’s ferocious mobile armors that saw combat during the bloody One Year War in the Universal Century of U.C. 0079. Designed and made for the heaviest firepower possible for a walking mech for its time where Zeon has the technological advantage over its enemy – the Earth Federation which were also shocked by their mobile suit technologies that forever shaped the future of the battlefield. The Big Zam is originally designed for mass production to invade Earth Federation’s famous Jaburo base in South America hoping to instantly capture it, however due to the complications during the war both in economic and resources, only a single Big Zam unit was ever actually produced.

– Piloted by three pilots in which among one of them was the Zeon’s top aristocratic Zabi family member – Dozle Zabi, with his other two assistants as a gunner and radar operator, the Big Zam was deployed in space during the 24th of December U.C. 0079 as the last line of defense during the Battle of Solomon fortress assigned by Gihren Zabi – the Zeon’s then leader himself. Destroying several Earth Federation’s Ball units and their brand new RGM-79 mass-produced mobile suits, the Big Zam faced the legendary RX-78-2 Gundam piloted by the young protagonist Amuro Ray who just awakened his Newtype power. With the Gundam’s fast attack combined with a G-Fighter unit, its beam saber slashed through Big Zam’s undercarriage, ultimately destroying it along with Dozle Zabi which eventually marked the end of the battle as well.

II. Technical Specs & Armaments:
– The MA-08 Big Zam is one of the largest and strongest tactical weapons to ever fielded in a battle during the One Year War. It can be piloted by three people – a commander, a gunner and a radar operator or it can also be piloted by a single pilot with a computing assistant as well. It is installed with 4 large Minovsky Ultracompact fusion reactors with 35,000 Kilowatt to accommodate all of its weapons. The cockpit is located on the upper torso.

– Although without any arm or melee weapon, its whole body is basically made of ranged weapons, with 4 large fusion reactors the Big Zam can power all of them at the same time. Starting with its large Mega Particle Gun which is its primary weapon, the Big Zam can single handedly bring down multiple Magellan-class battleships in a single shot. This also became one of the most powerful weapons deployed by a mobile weapon or a battleship unit of its time.

– The lines on its torso include 28 Anti-Aircraft Mega Particle guns that can be used to defend itself against pretty much anything that tries to come close to it in a 360 degree such as mobile suits or other types of smaller targets. However, the guns did not protect it from above or at a point blank range because of its limited angle. The torso also has a pair of 105 millimeter vulcan guns that fire shell rounds to cover its blind spots as well.

– The undercarriage of the Big Zam possesses 3 anti-air missiles which also act as its claws on the foot which are also almost the size of a mobile suit. They do not contain any explosive but rather use its pure mass and force to crush the targets instead.

III. Gallery: