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Mark Simmons (scorpio@best.com)
Tue, 9 Jan 2001 14:59:26 -0800
Burke writes,
>Okay, I accept! (see comments below). But just looking
>through my material, I have YET ANOTHER monkey wrench
>to throw into the works... what about the MS-06R-2P
>Zaku II? Wasn't it a testbed for the high-output
>reactor and cooling system to be used in the Acht
>Zaku... because the Acht was to carry beam weapons?
Aaargh, bad enough I spent all those hours digging up info on the R-2P;
now I have to try and remember what the hell its story was. :-)
Far as I recall, the R-2P isn't related to the Acht Zaku either -
rather, it's a byproduct of the Gelgoog's first incarnation. While the
original MS-11 project didn't produce a complete mobile suit, it did
yield some working parts, specifically a new, high-output reactor. The R-
2P is basically an R-1A type Zaku with this new reactor installed, on the
theory that this would give it enough power to drive a beam rifle.
What I'm no longer entirely sure of is whether the R-2P was created
during the initial development of the Gelgoog, i.e. to test out the
original MS-11's components, or whether it was kitbashed together after
the project was relaunched in an attempt to produce a stopgap machine.
But either way, the fact that the R-2P wasn't suitable for production
indicates that there was indeed a fatal flaw in the original MS-11, whose
parts it was borrowing. Thus, Zeonic's rival candidate to the Rick Dom -
the standard R-2 type - reverted to the original reactor.
While all these details are pretty confusing, I'm relatively certain
that the MS-11 whose parts were borrowed by the R-2P was the first-draft
Gelgoog, rather than the later Acht Zaku. Of course, the fact that Zeonic
was almost able to create a beam weapon-capable Zaku may well have
inspired the Acht Zaku's subsequent development.
>Okay, let's try this theory on for size:
Alrighty, with comments as relevant...
>When the Gundam first appeared toting portable beam
>weapons around, Zeon decided to play copy-cat, but 2
>different projects were launched: the first was the
>Gelgoog
And don't forget the Gyan, which apparently was also restarted for the
same reason. The Zeonic-Zimmad rivalry goes waaaay back. :-)
>Now, we also have a second project, which is the Acht
>Zaku... part of the Pezun project and completely
>unrelated to the Gelgoog's development. Although it
>was supposed to carry a machinegun, it was designed
>with the capability to carry a beam rifle later in the
>future...
Makes sense. Supposedly the beam rifle itself was the main holdup in
the Gelgoog's development - the basic machine was completed as early as
October 0079, but it had to wait for more than a month for the actual
weapon to be finished. If the Gelgoog could be designed in anticipation
of beam weaponry, so could the Acht Zaku and the other Pezun mobile suits
(i.e. the Pezun Dowadge, which is supposedly able to use a beam bazooka).
>The reactor/cooling system for the Acht
>Zaku was field-tested in the MS-06R-2P, and did get
>approved for the final design.
As noted above, the reactor used in the R-2P appears to have been
derived from the original Gelgoog project, and isn't necessarily
connected to the Acht Zaku. But at any rate, it seems that creating a
powerful reactor and adequate cooling system wasn't really a major
problem, since the R-2P had already come close and the Gelgoog pretty
much nailed it as early as October.
>Seeing these captured Zeon plans for a
>high-performance, mag-coated, beam-rifle-lobbing MS,
>the Feds decide to build it for themselves...
And why not? On paper, it sounds as good as or better than the Hizack... :-)
>As for the model number itself... MS-11 was originally
>slated to be used for the Gelgoog, but this was
>dropped when the Gelgoog project had to be re-launched
>in order to develop beam rifle technology and
>performance equal to the Gundam. As a result, the
>MS-11 slot opened up again, and got gobbled up along
>with MS-10, MS-12, and MS-13 for the Pezun project...
>even though these MS's never got built by Zeon due to
>the end of the war.
Yep, that's the prevailing theory. It's been claimed that the Pezun
Project deliberately used these discarded model numbers for secrecy's
sake, but their mere availability may have been justification enough.
(After all, they opened up a new model number for the Galbaldy...)
>Ummm... who's the "Stream Base trio"?
They're a team of legendary modelers who first showcased their work in
Hobby Japan's "How to Build Gundam" books, and went on to do all sorts of
cool stuff, including writing all the MSV background material. The lineup
consisted of Katsumi Kawaguchi (who now works for Bandai, supervising the
Master Grade product line and editing third-party reference books like
the MSV Collection File), Masaya Takahashi (writer of Gundam Sentinel and
Kondo's MS Senki comic), and Masahiro Oda (the point man on the MSV
background material).
Impressive resume, eh? As far as I'm concerned, Stream Base are at the
pinnacle of Gundam authorities, followed by Shindosha (the studio that
produced most of the Gundam Entertainment Bibles and Data Collections -
Mika Akitaka worked there when he was designing stuff for Gundam ZZ) and
Studio Hard (the editors of MS ERA and B-CLUB).
>Good God, not ANOTHER one! Damn, now I gotta rewrite
>even MORE HTML files for this Friday's update... ^_^
Heh! Well, I think this set of name changes are final. I've updated all
the spellings on my site (which wasn't exactly trivial), so you should be
able to use that as a guide with a good measure of confidence.
-- Mark
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Mark Simmons / scorpio@best.com / http://www.gundamproject.com/
"If you can kill it, it's not a god, just a good old-fashioned monster."
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