MSZ-006 Zeta Gundam
From the The Gundam Wiki, the ultimate guide to Gundam
 | |
 | |
| Unit Type | |
| Prototype Transformable Attack Use Mobile Weapon | |
| Profile | |
| Model Number |
MSZ-006 |
|---|---|
| Developed from | |
| Launched |
0087 U.C. |
| Manufacturer | |
| Operator | |
| Known Pilots |
Kamille Bidan, Reccoa Londe, Apolly Bay, Judau Ashta, Roux Louka, Fa Yuiry, Astonaige Medoz, Iino Abbav, Beecha Oleg, Elle Vianno, Mondo Agake |
| General Characteristics | |
| Overall Height |
19.85 meters (MS mode) |
| Overall Length |
24.32 meters (Waverider mode) |
| Wingspan |
18.61 meters (Waverider mode) |
| Head Height |
18.7 meters (MS mode) |
| Max Weight |
62.3 metric tons |
| Mass Ratio |
1.70 |
| Standard Weight |
28.7 metric tons |
| Power-plant |
Minovsky Ultracompact Fusion Reactor |
| Power Ouput |
2020 kW |
| Propulsion |
|
| Sensor Range |
14000 meters |
| Max Acceleration |
1.81 G |
| Accommodation |
Pilot only, Cockpit in Chest |
| Armor |
Gundarium alloy |
| Armaments | |
| |
| Special Equipments and Features | |
| |
| Optional Equipments | |
| |
The Zeta Gundam is the titular Mobile Suit of the series Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam.
Contents |
Combat Abilities
In terms of weaponry, the Zeta is very well armed with an arsenal favoring beam weapons. It includes standard Gundam type armament including head mounted Vulcan guns, dual beam sabers, and a high powered beam rifle. It also sported arm mounted grenade launchers which could be given additional ammunition from detachable storage packs, and could also house a grappling tool for various purposes. The Zeta's most prolific weapon however is without a doubt the Hyper Mega Launcher, a massive rifle used to great extent in the latter parts of the Gryps conflict and during the first Neo-Zeon war. This weapon fires very high powered beam shots capable of destroying even battleships with a well placed shot. Both the launcher and beam rifle could also double as a cunning melee weapon as the Launcher had a built in Beam Saber bayonette style called the long beam saber. The beam rifle and Hyper Mega Launcher could be used while in Waverider configuration as well, and the hip mounted Beam Sabers doubled as beam guns.
History
The MSZ-006 Ζ Gundam (Zeta Gundam, codename: "ζ Gundam") is the sixth mobile suit built by Anaheim Electronics as the culmination of the Project Ζ according to Gundam Sentinel list of Anaheim Gundams. The design served as the first TMS in real life, and the concept served as the basics of various mobile suit designs later in other Gundam series, including a simplified transformation of XXXG-01W Wing Gundam according to the model instruction manual of Wing Gundam.
Originally built as three prototypes, MSZ-006-X1, MSZ-006-X2 and MSZ-006-X3. While these machines can transform, there is too much metal fatigue on the frame. This problem was corrected by Kamille Bidan, a Newtype teenager, incorporating innovations of that time such as the "movable frame" concept extracted by the AEUG from the Titans' RX-178 Gundam Mk-II project (headed by Franklin Bidan), and the Gundarium gamma alloy used in the RMS-099 Rick Dias. This mobile suit is also one of the first variable-form Gundams televised, capable of transforming into a fighter form called the Waverider. The Ζ's design was revolutionary in many ways (both in and out of the anime), and in the UC timeline looked very different than previous models of the Gundam type of Mobile Suit. The transformation ability and the suit's great speed is the Ζ's signature quality, as its transformation is fluid and integrated into it's combat style often giving it grace unrivaled by most mecha. In the story of Gundam Sentinel, when the MSA-0011 S Gundam approaches the Base of Pezun, a commander replied there shouldn't be Mobile Suits like Zeta Gundam everywhere that have the high acceleration of a Mobile Armour but of the size of a Mobile Suit. While ironically, two MSZ-006 Zeta Plus, a.k.a mass production Zeta Gundam units, are approaching behind S Gundam as a demonstration of how technological advances quickly shifts the form of war. [1]
Kamille Bidan became the designated pilot of the Ζ Gundam in the year UC 0087. Replacing Gundam Mk-II as his personal Mobile Suit, Kamille obtained the Ζ Gundam after returning to space from the Hong Kong incident involving Four Murasame. Screaming into battle, this sleek convertible Mobile Suit took all of the Titan's forces by surprise with its incredible performance and attack potential. Kamille led many successful missions against the Titans and the AEUG turned the tide of the war. Kamille in the Ζ was responsible for battling and ultimately killing Titan's leader Paptimus Scirocco, besting his massively powerful mobile suit, The-O. Unfortunately, this victory cost Kamille greatly, wherein he suffered a mind-crippling final attack from a dying Scirocco. The AEUG pilot Fa Yuiry later recovered the Ζ Gundam along with its pilot. After undergoing repairs, the Newtype Judau Ashta became the principal pilot of this mobile suit while the mobile suit MSZ-010 ZZ (Double Zeta) Gundam was still under construction by Anaheim Electronics. When Judau received the ZZ, Federation pilot Roux Louka took control of the Ζ and used it to great success during the war against Neo-Zeon. The Ζ Gundam continued being in operation until its destruction at the end of the First Neo-Zeon War, crippled by Puru-2's monstrous Quinn Mantha, although the Ζ got in one final crippling shot before being abandoned. The unit was recovered but never used again and is said to have been stored away along with all the other MS belonging to the Gundam team on the Argama and the Nathel secretly by Karaba, an anti federation resistance group.
An interesting feature of the Ζ Gundam is the incorporation of the plot device, a mysterious Bio-sensor - a reduced-feature replica of the Psychic Communicator (PSYCOMMU) system devised by Murasame Newtype Laboratories to interface Newtype pilots to mobile suits. The bio-sensor allowed a Newtype pilot to temporarily increase the combat power of the mobile suit by using psycho-kinetic energy inherently strong in Newtypes - its usage became more frequent during the last days of the first Gryps War between the AEUG and the Titans, even turning the Waverider into a deadly weapon (Kamille's attack using the Waverider to ram into Scirroco has been named the Waverider Crash in video games depicting the Zeta, such as the Super Robot Wars series). The Ζ Gundam was an incredibly high performance machine that accomplished much, helping turn the tide of the Titans conflict and fighting against Neo-Zeon afterwards. The Ζ however, was intricately tuned and built to Kamille's exact specifications and style, so once Kamille was out of the war while the Ζ could be piloted competently by other pilots, it could arguably no longer perform to its full potential without Kamille at the controls although it was still a highly formidable machine.
Other units
Another Ζ Gundam, designated MSZ-006-3, was piloted by Karaba ace Amuro Ray in the later stages of the Gryps War. Some deny this as merely propaganda similar to the story of the MSZ-006A1 since the Zeta Plus A1 in question was stated as Amuro Type but the Master Grade model confirmed it was only tuned to fit Amuro's piloting skills, while it was only used for training new pilots for the A1 type Zeta Plus. It is in fact confirmed by the 2001 short CGI film later Green Diver's, where Amuro used the 006-3 to great success during the later stages of both wars. This essentially makes the 006-3 a canon machine. Little is known about Amuro's own Zeta Gundam, it did however look nearly identical to the prototype Z and was colored an unusual white color scheme with purple stripes.
Two additional Zeta Gundam units are set to appear in episode 9 of the CG series Gundam Evolve, alongside Amuro Ray's unit - this brings the total number of Zeta units to four.
- "White Zeta" (Zeta Gundam 3A Type) - Amuro Ray's Zeta unit, and piloted by him (codename "White Unicorn"). By all appearances it is a standard unmodified Zeta unit with only minor adjustments, aside from its purple striping on white colour scheme.
- "Grey Zeta" (Zeta Gundam 3B Type) - Piloted by former Zeon ace Shin Matsunaga (codename "Grey Wolf"), who calls it "Buster". For the most part, the unit itself has the appearance of a standard Zeta, save for two differences: The tail binder, instead of lying down the back in Mobile Suit mode, instead splits into two horizontal airfoils behind the head; and the thrusters on the lower leg have three small exhausts in place of the standard two. Its shield is considerably wider, covering a greater portion of the unit's underside in Waverider mode, and has two rapid-fire beam guns built in. The shield no longer serves as the unit's nose - instead, an oversize heavy beam gun is mounted in its place, which detaches and is hand-carried in Mobile Suit mode. The unit is equipped with the same beam-deflection coating as the Hyaku Shiki, which gives it its yellow colour - much to the chagrin of its pilot, who wanted it to be a grey colour.
- "Red Zeta" (Zeta Gundam 3C Type) - Piloted by Yurii Ajissah (Codename "Red Snake"). The unit's original pilot was named Johny Ridden, but he was replaced by Yuuri since it required a newtype to operate. The most radically different of the three, Red Zeta's armour sports a heavily 'spiked' look. This is especially noticeable in the tail binder, which is spiked and points upwards in mobile suit mode. Its rifle also bears spikes. Red Zeta's most radical feature is its cockpit. Equipped with psycho neutreuliser, the cockpit can change from a standard panoramic cockpit & linear seat by retracting the seat and manual controls. This leaves the pilot free-standing (or floating, in zero-g environments), with their head in a hollow, transparent, hemispherical device, and a number of cables attach from the seat into the back of the pilot's flight suit. In this mode, the movements of the unit follow the pilot's own movements. (similar to the Mobile Trace system from G Gundam). The psycho neutreuliser is actually an advanced model of the biosensor, allowing the pilot to fully control MS. This system allows the pilot to psychically interfere with other Newtype weaponry as Yuuri manage to take control of QRX-006 Geminus's arm and finally defeat the monstrous mobile ship (only the RX-0 Unicorn Gundam is known to perform a similar feat). However, the system is highly unstable and can be overloaded by powerful psycho waves.
All three units can be equipped with a (colour-matched) single-stage booster system, allowing them to make orbit otherwise unassisted.
While some of the Gundam Evolve shorts simply showcase events not seen in the series they are based on and could therefore be canon, others show alternate versions of events, conflicting with the series. Therefore, it is not known if these additional Zeta Gundam units are canon machines.
Dynasty Warriors Gundam
The Zeta Gundam appears in the video games Dynasty Warriors Gundam and Dynasty Warriors Gundam 2, serving as a playable mobile suit. In Official mode of Dynasty Warriors Gundam, the player only uses it in Kamille Bidan's story which is comprised of four missions. In the first two which are the battle in the Atmosphere and the battle at Jaburo, Kamille pilots the Gundam MK-II for those missions, and then for the final two missions at the Gryps 2 colony laser he pilots the Zeta Gundam. For his Original mode story he pilots the Zeta Gundam the entire time. The Zeta's level 1 SP Attack has it fire its hyper mega launcher multiple times. The level 2 SP Attack has it fire shots from the hyper mega launcher and then perform the Beam Confuse. Its level 3 SP Attack has it fire shots from the hyper mega launcher, perform Beam Confuse, and then transform into wave rider mode and being surrounded by energy while smashing through enemies. The level 4 SP Attack has the Zeta do the level 1 and 2 SP Attack, but after the Beam Confuse it will be surrounded by the glowing energy and and the beam saber's color will be the same while extending to be a very large beam saber. The Zeta will perform five slashes before turning into wave rider mode with the hyper mega launcher beneath it. It will fire the mega launcher consecutively while smashing through enemies, doing more damage.
Variants
- MSZ-006-X Prototype Ζ Gundam
- MSZ-006 Zeta Plus
- MSZ-007 Mass Production Type Ζ Gundam
- MSZ-008 ZII
- MSZ-010 Double Zeta Gundam
References
- ↑ Gundam Sentinel Special Edition, Gundam Wars III, Masaya Takahashi interview
- Gundam Sentinel Special Edition, Model Graphix, ISBN4-499-20530-1
