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Burke Rukes (mechadomain2000@yahoo.com)
Tue, 9 Jan 2001 04:42:43 -0800 (PST)
> Hobbitmastr asks,
>
> >2. Why was the Acht Zaku project cancelled?
> According to the
> Mechadomain, the
> >Acht Zaku was equipped with a beam rifle, so why
> was the Gelgoog produced
> >rather than the Acht Zaku? Was it as simple a
> matter as performance?
Mark replies,
> As I noted in my reply to Burke, the real question
> is whether the MS-11
> Acht Zaku is the same thing as the MS-11 design that
> was scrapped early
> in the Gelgoog's development process. Given the Acht
> Zaku's advanced
> features - magnet coating, beam weapon support, et
> cetera - I strongly
> suspect not. But it's hard to find confirmation one
> way or the other,
> just as nobody can confirm whether the MSV-era
> YMS-08A is actually
> related to the MS-08TX Ifrit.
Okay... it's been almost a full day since this posted,
and I haven't received Mark's reply to my own
questions yet... either the GML server's acting funny,
or Yahoo's not giving me all of my mail... oh well.
Thank goodness for the GML Archive! :)
> Burke writes,
>
> >And considering that the MS-11 development project
> >was scrapped and replaced with the MS-14 Gelgoog
> >project, this leads to an obvious question: did the
> >Gelgoogs feature magnetic coating as well?
>
> I've never seen any indication that they did, and
> it's certainly not reflected in their turn time
> specs. Mind you, not everything that can be magnet-
> coated _is_ magnet-coated - GMs don't have it
> either. But it's most likely that Gelgoogs use the
> same fluid pulse system as other Zeon mobile suits,
> and thus couldn't be magnet-coated anyway.
That would make sense... I've never heard of the field
motor/fluid pulse system design difference until now,
but now that you've explained it, all the pieces are
falling into place now.
> So the real question is: Is the MS-11 Acht Zaku the
> same mobile suit as the first incarnation of the
> Gelgoog project? Since the Acht Zaku has superior
> joints and beam weapon capability - the latter being
> the same feature that the original MS-11 project was
> restarted in order to obtain - I strongly doubt it.
> Most likely the Acht Zaku just inherited the
> Gelgoog's old model number, just as the Pezun
> Dowadge inherited the Gyan's original number, and
> the Xamel picked up the Zeong's old number after the
> MSN prfeix was introduced.
Actually, Ricky gave me a minor correct on his
translation of the Acht Zaku notes last night, but
that minor fix threw the whole thing into an entirely
new context (Japanese can be tricky that way ^_^)...
it seems to indicate that the Zeons DESIGNED the Acht
Zaku, but of course the project was canned in favor of
the more ambitious Gelgoog. At the war's end, the Feds
seized the designs/project materials for the Acht Zaku
and actually did the PRODUCTION... at this point, I
can see the Feds slipping in mag coating and beam
weapon compatibility into the design. EVERYTHING
starts to make sense now. :)
> In fact, several sources claim that the Pezun
> project deliberately used the model numbers of
> cancelled mobile suits for camouflage. (Presumably
> this top-secret project wouldn't have stayed secret
> for long when people noticed that a range of high
> model numbers were "reserved for future use.")
Okay, so was the Pezun project going to use model
numbers OTHER than the ones we all know? (MS-11 for
Acht Zaku, MS-12 for Gigan, MS-13 for Gasshia, MS-10
for Pezun Dowadge, MS-17 for Galbaldy-A) If you're
gonna keep a design project top-secret, why bother
using ANY model numbers at all? Just design the MS,
and when it's done, give it whatever model number's
available at the time. No one has to know about it at
all until it's ready to roll out. Reserving model
numbers "for future use" would seem to be at least a
_little_ suspicious to me... ;)
> >This also raises another question... who developed
> >the magnetic coating technology first? The Feds or
> >the Zeons? Did one party steal the idea from the
> >other? Or was is just a coincidental mutual
> >development?
>
> It appears to have been created by Federation
> scientist Mosk Han, who takes credit for the
> theories behind it. But once introduced, it would be
> easy to replicate. The real difficulty would be for
> the Zeons to switch to field motors so that they
> could actually use it. One Japanese fan site
> theorizes that Zimmad, creator of the Gyan and Dom,
> did just this, and that the Acht Zaku, Gyan, and
> Galbaldy all used this Federation-inspired
> technology.
I guess Zimmad was taking careful note of how the
Project V prototypes were performing, and decided to
duplicate some of that technology for their own use...
kinda like "fighting fire with fire", eh?
> While this would make the Gyan less
> attractive to the Zeon military, helping tip the
> scales in favor of the more orthodox Gelgoog,
> it would help explain why the Federation selected
> the Acht Zaku and Galbaldy for postwar mass
> production. Just fan speculation, but an interesting
> theory nonetheless.
But one that makes a lot of sense. The more I read
here, the more I'm buying into this theory.
> Actually, Japanese writers seem to be fond of
> "Action Zaku," which is the rendition they went with
> in the MSV Collection File...
I see that a lot, and I shiver every time I read it.
"Action Zaku" sounds too much like a toy... does it
come with kung-fu action-grip, too? :P I think I'll
just stick to "Acht" for now.
=====
-Burke Rukes
mechadomain2000@yahoo.com
The Mecha Domain - http://mechadomain.gundam.com
"You can't fight City Hall, but you can goddamn sure blow it up!" - George Carlin
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