MOBILE SUIT CLASSICS

The Gundam saga has spawned literally hundreds of mobile suits, a never-ending parade of metal giants ready to square off on the high-tech battlefield. But for our money, none of them have quite the same kind of charm as the classic designs of the original Gundam series. How better to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the original series than with a series of in-depth profiles of our favorite primordial mobile suits?

Mobile Suit Classics 1 MS-05B ZAKU I Illustration by Mark Simmons The first combat-worthy mobile suit was the Zeonic Company's MS-05 Zaku, an improved version of the prototype MS-04. 27 trial units of the MS-05A were produced in February of UC 0074, and, after months of testing, mass-production of the revised MS-05B began in July of UC 0075. Though approximately 800 were produced, by the time the One Year War began, this early model had been deemed obsolete and largely relegated to non-combat work.

Mobile Suit Classics 2 MS-05B ZAKU I Illustration by Mark Simmons Though the Zaku I had been rendered obsolete by the start of the One Year War, many of the Zeon Dukedom's veteran pilots had trained on this early model. The Dukedom's first training battalion was formed in November of UC 0075 and equipped with this mobile suit. Among the training battalion's alumni were the famous Black Trinary of Gaia, Ortega and Mash, who at this point had yet to adopt their final team colors and instead painted their Zakus in a shade of sea blue. Another noted Zaku I pilot was Ranba Ral, whose striking personal colors are shown here. Some of these veterans may have used this earlier model in the first few days of the war, before being upgraded to the newer Zaku II series.

Mobile Suit Classics 3 MS-06A ZAKU II Illustration by Mark Simmons The first prototype of the Zaku II was completed by the Zeonic Company in August of UC 0077. Though this A type introduced external power cables and other improvements over the MS-05 Zaku, it lacked the shoulder shield and "spike armor" of the subsequent versions. The prototype was deemed unsatisfactory by project supervisor Kishiria Zabi, and another round of development began. The color scheme shown here is derived from the March 1996 issue of the modeling magazine Hobby Japan.

Mobile Suit Gundam, Z Gundam, Gundam ZZ, Char's Counterattack, Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket, Gundam F91, Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory, Gundam 0083: Last Blitz of Zeon, Gundam: The 08th MS Team, and Gundam W: Endless Waltz are copyright Sotsu Agency and Sunrise. V Gundam, G Gundam, Gundam W, and Gundam X are copyright Sotsu Agency, Sunrise and TV Asahi.