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Template:Infobox/Mobile Weapon Ver.2 The MS-06S Zaku II Commander Type is a Mobile Suit introduced in the Mobile Suit Gundam television series. This variant looks very similar to the standard MS-06F Zaku II, so much so, that the Earth Federation can generally only tell the difference from color schemes most pilots apply to their units and the increased performance of this version.

Technology & Combat Characteristics

The S-Type Zaku II features a squad-leader "antenna" that is mounted on the head on the Zaku II for enhanced communication capabilities, which is used to designate squad-leaders or higher ranking pilots from other squad-members or lower ranking pilots. It also featured a more powerful powerplant, which in turn, gave the S-Type Zaku II greater thrust and acceleration. However, since no changes were made to the fuel tanks, the S-Type's operating time is shortened as a result.[1] This allowed them to move at speeds 3x faster than a normal Zaku II (This figure was later retconned to +30%). This made it incredibly dangerous in the hands of the ace pilots it was handed out to, such as the "Red Comet" Char Aznable, who sank 5 Magellan-Class Battleships in the Battle of Loum.

It was noted in an extra feature that came with the 08th MS team DVDs that the 3 times faster figure came about from Char's clever use of Terrain and debris to boost off of, saving fuel and increasing his speed compared to normal.

Armaments

  • Shoulder Shield
The shield is a simple defense used to block most incoming ballistic and explosive projectiles. Also used to great effect in close quarters battle with enemy mobile suits. The Zaku II mounts a shield on its right shoulder.
  • ZMP-50D/120mm Machine Gun
The 120mm machine gun is a standard weapon for Zaku type mobile suits. It is a shell firing gun that does not require energy to be used, however its effectiveness against heavy armor is very limited. It holds 100 rounds per drum with spare drums that can be stored on waist armor racks.
  • M-120AC Machine Gun
A model of machine gun with a heat bayonet equipped on the barrel section. A limited number of these weapons were produced, and were carried by Zaku II Commander Type units for operational testing.
  • Heat Bayonet
  • H&L-SB25K/280mmA-P Zaku Bazooka
The 280mm Zaku Bazooka was another standard weapon that could be equipped to a Zaku type mobile suit. The bazooka fired explosive rounds that were quite effective against the armor of Earth Federation mobile suits and battleships. Can be stored on the rear waist armor when not in use.
  • Heat Hawk Type5
An axe-shaped close combat weapon, it uses a super-heated blade to cut through the armor of enemy MS or vehicles. The thermal energy is generated by the power output of the Zaku II's thermonuclear reactor and relayed through the MS' hands.
  • ZIM/M·T-K175C 175mm Recoilless Rifle
The main gun of the HT-01B Magella Attack main battle tank, it is remodeled as an MS artillery weapon. It is mainly used for long distance attacks in ground combat, and can be loaded with HEAT or APFSDS rounds.
  • MarkVIII Sturm Faust
The Sturm Faust is a type rocket propelled grenade, good for a single shot, that Zeon mobile suits were often equipped with During the One Year War. Used mainly for anti-ship attacks during the early days of the war the Sturm Faust likely made a good anti-mobile suit weapon during the latter days as a Zaku could be equipped with both a Sturm Faust and a machine gun giving it greater versatility.
  • MIP-B6 Cracker Grenade
Identical to those used by infantry, the cracker grenade is an explosive weapons designed to be thrown or launched by the MS and detonate after a set amount of time. The "cracker" breaks into several smaller munitions over a wide area. The Zaku II can optionally equip up to four cracker grenades, that are stored on the left and right waist armor racks, with two on each side.
  • Twin 280mm Zaku Bazooka
A weapon where two 280mm Bazookas have been combined into a single weapon, allowing for higher offensive power. The twin bazookas fired explosive rounds that were quite effective against the armor of Earth Federation mobile suits and battleships.

History

The MS-06S Zaku II Commander Type was introduced during the One Year War at about the same time as the MS-06F Zaku II as a slightly improved version of the F-type Zaku II. For most the One Year War these S-types were the most powerful mobile suits fielded and were piloted by only the best. However the S-Type Zaku's superiority would end in July of 0079 U.C. when the Federation's RX-78 Gundam mobile suit would be rolled out. Approximately 100 units would be produced.[2]

Char Aznable would use his custom Zaku II to sortie against the Gundam piloted by Amuro Ray. Despite Amuro Ray's evident talent he was still a novice whose piloting skills simply did not match up to Char's during their early battles. The only reason Amuro Ray survived was because the Gundam greatly outperformed the Zaku II in terms of both offense and defense.

Seeing that the Federation could create a mobile suit so powerful it could survive in engagements against Char Aznable likely prompted Zeon to focus more on the development of newer mobile suits, mobile suits that could fight evenly against the new machines the Federation had developed. Though most of these new mobile suits would have superior performance specs than any model of Zaku, the mobile suit that could be called the truest successor to the MS-06S Zaku II Commander Type would be the MS-14S Gelgoog Commander Type, which was also built by the Zeonic Company, the same manufacturers of the Zaku.

Variants

Appearances in other media

Char's Zaku II is a playable unit in many video games, most recently in Dynasty Warriors Gundam 3. It has made appearances in almost all Gundam-related video games, including Journey to Jaburo, Federation vs. Zeon, Gundam vs Gundam, and others.

Picture Gallery

Notes & Trivia

  • In Dynasty Warriors Gundam 3, The unit has a special ability called Triple Speed which enhances the speed of the Zaku, interestingly, it is only activated if Char Aznable is chosen as the pilot, a possible reference to his abilities to push the Mobile Suit to its maximum capabilities.
  • In Dynasty Warriors Gundam 2 and 3, Lunamaria Hawke defaults to this Zaku due to the fact that neither her Gunner ZAKU nor the Impulse Gundam were brought into the game. With Dynasty Warriors Gundam Reborn, she has both and thus will most likely not default to this suit any longer.

References

  1. Futabasha, Common Knowledge of Gundam: Mobile Suits of the One Year War, p. 47
  2. Gundam Officials Encyclopedia, p. 320

External links


Mobile Suit Gundam Mechanics
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Earth Federation Forces
Mobile Weapon
Mobile Suit
RGM-79 GM | RX-75-4 Guntank | RX-77-2 Guncannon | RX-78-2 Gundam | RX-78-2 Gundam + B-Parts
Mobile Pod
RB-79 Ball

Land Vehicle
Anti-Zaku Tank | Missile Buggy | Missile Car | Type 61 Tank | Vulcan Armored Car
Land Battleship
Big Tray-class
Ship
Himalaya-class
Aircraft / Spacecraft
Depp Rog | Dish | Don Escargot | Dragonfly | Fanfan | FF-4 Toriares | FF-X7 Core Fighter | FF-X7-Bst Core Booster | Flyarrow | Fly Manta | G-Armor | G-Bull | G-Bull Easy | G-Fighter | G-Sky | G-Sky Easy | Public-class | Space Launch
Transporter / Supply Ship
Columbus-class | Gunperry | Medea
Cruiser / Mother Ship
Magellan-class | Pegasus-class | Salamis-class | SCV-70 White Base | Trafalgar-class
Super Weapon
Solar System
Principality of Zeon
Mobile Weapon
Mobile Suit
MS-05B Zaku I | MS-06 Zaku II | MS-06F Zaku II | MS-06J Zaku II Ground Type | MS-06S Zaku II Commander Type | MS-07B Gouf | MS-09B Dom | MS-09R Rick Dom | MS-14A Gelgoog | MS-14S Gelgoog Commander Type | MSM-03 Gogg | MSM-04 Acguy | MSM-07 Z'Gok | MSM-07S Z'Gok Commander Type | MSM-10 Zock | MSN-02 Zeong | YMS-15 Gyan
Mobile Armor
MA-04X Zakrello | MA-05 Bigro | MA-08 Big Zam | MAM-07 Grublo | MAN-03 Braw Bro | MAN-08 Elmeth | MAX-03 Adzam

Land Vehicle
Cui | Magella Attack | Samson
Land Battleship
Dobday-class | Gallop-class
Ship / Submarine
Jukon-class | Mad Angler-class | Prober-class | Sealance
Aircraft / Spacecraft
Dodai YS | Dopp | Gattle | Jicco-class | Commu | Luggun | PVN.4/3 Wappa | Sodon | Zeon Space Launch
Transporter / Supply Ship
Fat Uncle | Komusai | Papua-class | Pazock-class
Cruiser / Mother Ship
Chivvay-class | Dolos-class | Gaw | Gwazine-class | Musai-class | Zanzibar-class
Super Weapon
Solar Ray
Civilians
Mobile Weapon
Mobile Suit
MS-06J Zaku II Ground Type

Aircraft / Spacecraft
Space Boat "Hulke" | Towing Ship | TV Space Boat


MSV-R Mechanics
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Earth Federation
Mobile Weapon
Full Armor Gundam's variations
FA-78-1B Full Armor Gundam (Type B) | FA-78[G] Full Armor Gundam Ground Type
Heavy Gundam's variation
FA-78-2 Heavy Gundam (Unit 2)
GM Cannon's variations
RGC-80-1 GM Cannon Test Type | RGC-80S GM Cannon Space Assault Type
GM Sniper Custom's variations
RGM-79HC GM Guard Custom | RGM-79KC GM Interceptor Custom | RGM-79SC GM Sniper Custom (Shimoda Squad Type)
GM's variations
RGM-79LV GM Night Seeker II | RGM-79U GM Sloep | RGM-79V GM Night Seeker
Guntank's variation
RMV-3M Local Control Type Guntank
Guncannon's variation
RX-77-3D Guncannon Heavy Arms Type D
Gundam's variation
RX-78-2 Gundam Real Type | RX-78SP Gunner Gundam
Ball's variations
RB-79F Ball Type F | RB-79M Ball Type M

Submarine
Lockwood-class
Aircraft / Spacecraft
FF-S5 Raven Sword | FF-X5 Prototype Core Fighter | FF-X7BstPLAN004 Core Booster Plan004 | G-Fighter Assault Landing Type | G-Fighter Bomber Type | G-Fighter Space Type
Transporter / Supply Ship
CB-X5(SGT) Assault Type Gunperry
Cruiser / Mother Ship
SCV-102 Nelson
Principality of Zeon
Mobile Weapon
Agg's variation
EMS-05F Azock
Zaku I's variation
MS-05Q Zaku I (Norris Custom)
Zaku II's variations
MS-06A Zaku II First Mass Production Type | MS-06FS Zaku II | MS-06R-1A Zaku II High Mobility Type | MS-06S Zaku II Commander Type
Zaku II Ground Type's variations
MS-06D Zaku Desert Type | MS-06G Zaku II High Mobility Ground Type | MS-06GR Zaku II High Mobility Ground Type Kai | MS-06JK Zaku Half Cannon | MS-06K Zaku Cannon (Gatling Gun Equipment Type) | MS-06V-8 Zaku Tank (Wild Boar)
Gouf's variations
MS-07G-1 Gouf Vijayanta | MS-07G-2 Gouf Tactical Assault Type | MS-07W Gouf Combined Test Type
Dom's variations
MS-09 Dom Cold Climate Type | MS-09M Dom Mermaid | MS-09R Rick Dom Dozle Zabi Custom | YMS-09J Dom High Speed Experimental Type
Gelgoog's variations
MS-14B Gelgoog Uma Lightning Custom | MS-14BR Gelgoog High Mobility R type | MS-14C-1A Gelgoog Cannon | MS-14GD Gelgoog G
Z'Gok's variation
MSM-07N Ram Z’Gok
Gyan's variation
YMS-15E Gyan Eos
Bigro's variation
MA-05R Big Ruf
Grublo's variation
MAM-07-X3 Grublo Underwater Bit-Mounted Prototype
Zakrello's variation
MAN-00X-2 Brawrello
Other
MSM-06 Jurick

Aircraft / Spacecraft
Dodai GA | G87 Luna Tank | Gobble
Cruiser / Mother Ship
CCM-91 Chimaira | Gagaul-class


Char's Deleted Affair Mechanics
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Principality of Zeon/Axis Zeon/Zeon Remnants
Mobile Weapon
Mobile Suit
MS-06F Zaku II | MS-06F-2 Zaku II F2 Type | MS-06R-1A Zaku II High Mobility Type | MS-06S Zaku II Commander Type | MS-09R Rick Dom | MS-09R-2 Rick Dom II | MS-09R4 Psycommu Rick Dom | MS-09RN-2 Tusche Schwarz | MS-14A Gelgoog | MS-14JG Gelgoog Jäger | MS-14S Gelgoog Commander Type | MS-14U Gelgoog (Outer Space Type) | MS-18E Kämpfer | MSN-02 Perfect Zeong | YMS-15 Gyan
Mobile Armour
AMA-00GR Zero GR | MAN-08 Elmeth

Aircraft / Spacecraft
Scout Shuttle
Transporter / Supply Ship
Komusai | Yukimizuki
Cruiser / Mother Ship
Gwazine-class | Musai-class | Musai-class Final Production Type | Musai-class Late Production Type | Zanzibar-class
Earth Federation Forces/Titans
Mobile Weapon
Mobile Suit
RGC-83 GM Cannon II | RGM-79 GM | RGM-79C GM Type C | RGM-79GS GM Command Space Type | RGM-79N GM Custom | RGM-79Q GM Quel | RGM-79SP GM Sniper II | RX-78-2 Gundam | RX-78-3 G-3 Gundam

Cruiser / Mother Ship
Magellan-class | Pegasus-class | Salamis-class
AEUG
Mobile Weapon
Mobile Suit
RMS-099 Rick Dias

Mother Ship
Argama-class
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