Last Revision: July 16, 2003
What are mobile suits?
Mobile suits are the humanoid fighting vehicles - in other
words, giant robots - which are the standard weapon of war in
the Gundam saga. Mobile suits typically range in size from 15
to 25 meters (50 to 80 feet), and are usually operated by a
single human pilot. Their versatility and high maneuverability
make them superior to any conventional tank or space
fighter.
The technologies used in these mobile suits, and the history
of their development, are different in each of the Gundam
worlds. In most cases, they are said to be military versions of
worker machines which were previously used for space
construction. These worker machines are in turn descended from
the space suits and maneuvering gear used by modern-day
astronauts, and it's from these that the "suit" nickname is
derived. In the Gundam series, the space suits worn by human
characters are often referred to as "normal suits" (or "astro
suits," in Gundam Wing) to distinguish them from their robotic
descendants.
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What are mobile armors?
Mobile armors are non-humanoid vehicles based on mobile suit
technology. In the Universal Century series, these machines are
larger and more powerful than mobile suits, and their greater
size allows them to carry exotic weapons and gadgetry. Later
on, transformable mobile suits are introduced, which can change
into a "mobile armor form" capable of high-speed flight.
The mobile armor term is also used to describe non-humanoid
vehicles, and transformed mobile suits, in other Gundam worlds.
However, the mobile armors featured in such recent series as
Gundam X and Gundam Seed are often no more powerful than an
average mobile suit - in fact, in the latter case, the mobile
armors used by the Earth forces are just glorified space
fighters which are no match for the enemy's mobile suits.
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What are mobile dolls?
The mobile dolls seen in Gundam Wing are computer-controlled
mobile suits which do not require a human pilot. Though they
rely on human commanders to tell them which enemy units to
attack, mobile dolls are otherwise fully capable of
maneuvering, fighting, and executing missions without human
guidance. The first production model, the OZ-12SMS Taurus, can
also be operated by a human pilot, but the later OZ-02MD Virgo
doesn't even have a cockpit.
Though the term itself is used only in Gundam Wing's After
Colony world, machines similar to mobile dolls appear in other
series as well. The RX-78 Gundam of the original series was
equipped with a sophisticated computer which learned from its
pilot's actions, and ultimately proved capable of fighting on
its own. And in G-Saviour and Turn A Gundam, we see unmanned
mobile suits which function much like Gundam Wing's mobile
dolls.
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What are mobile fighters?
Mobile fighters are high-performance mobile suits controlled
via the Mobile Trace System, which mimics the movements of the
human operator. These machines were developed for use in the
Gundam Fight competitions which take place in G Gundam's Future
Century era. In addition to the Gundam mobile fighters which
participate in the tournament, the mysterious Shuffle Alliance
also uses its own team of unique mobile fighters.
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How are mobile suits operated?
Despite their complex humanoid forms, mobile suits are
controlled almost entirely by computer software, so they're no
more complicated to operate than conventional vehicles like
automobiles or aircraft. Although the movements of the mobile
suit's limbs can be manually controlled when necessary, for the
most part the human pilot's tasks are limited to steering and
shooting.
Like modern-day aircraft, mobile suits are operated using
joysticks and foot pedals. The cockpit is equipped with monitor
screens which display the surrounding environment as if the
pilot were sitting in the mobile suit's head. In more advanced
mobile suits, the pilot is surrounded by a 360-degree panoramic
monitor rather than simple flat-panel displays, but otherwise
the basic operation is more or less the same.
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What do mobile suits use for power?
Although the technical details aren't specified in every one of
the Gundam worlds, the mobile suits of the Universal Century
are powered by thermonuclear fusion reactors, and we can assume
that this is true for most of the other series as well. The
thermal energy produced by these reactors can be converted to
electrical power, or used to heat rocket propellant and thus
produce thrust.
The fusion reactors used in the Universal Century world are
fueled by helium-3 and deuterium (a heavy form of hydrogen),
whose reaction produces no toxic byproducts or harmful neutron
radiation. However, the helium-3 required for this "clean"
fusion reaction can only be obtained from the gaseous
atmosphere of the solar system's outer planets.
One exception to the above is the Cosmic Era world of Gundam
Seed, which has yet to develop fusion technology, and in which
the widespread use of Neutron Jammer devices renders nuclear
fission impossible. As a result, the mobile suits of the Cosmic
Era are powered by rechargeable batteries, and can only operate
for a limited time before their energy supply is exhausted.
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What kinds of weapons do mobile suits use?
Mobile suit weapons include conventional shell-firing cannons
and missile launchers, science-fiction standbys such as lasers
and electromagnetic railguns, and scaled-up versions of human
weapons like machine guns, swords, and axes. However, the most
effective of all are beam weapons, which emit high-energy
particles of immense destructive power. In the Universal
Century, these weapons use exotic "mega particles," while most
other Gundam worlds employ charged particles of an unspecified
type.
Beam weapons come in two major varieties - long-range
weapons such as beam rifles and beam cannons, and melee weapons
like the traditional beam saber. In the later Universal Century
series, beam saber technology is also adapted to create
defensive devices like the beam shield and propulsion systems
like the beam rotor.
Despite their immense power, there are some defenses against
beam weapons. They can be blocked by other beam weapons of
similar power (this is the concept behind the beam shield), and
their effectiveness can be reduced by ablative anti-beam
coating. It's also possible to deflect beam attacks using
powerful force fields, though the power requirements of such
barriers make them impractical for most mobile suits.
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Do Gundams use a special kind of armor?
That depends on the world in question. In the original Mobile
Suit Gundam, the prototype RX-78 Gundam was armored with a
special alloy known as Luna Titanium, which was subsequently
renamed Gundarium in honor of this famous machine. However,
this Gundarium alloy was then used by a wide variety of mobile
suits, while some later Gundam models employed different armor
materials. As a result, in the Universal Century world, there's
no real connection between the Gundam mobile suits and
Gundarium alloy.
The situation is different in G Gundam's Future Century and
Gundam Wing's After Colony era. Here, the Gundam mobile suits
derive their name from the super-tough alloys used in their
construction - Gundarium in the former case, and Gundanium in
the latter. Even in Gundam Wing, though, there are some mobile
suits which are made from Gundanium alloy but don't bear the
Gundam name.
In Gundam Seed, rather than being made from ultra-strong
alloy, the Gundam mobile suits are instead equipped with a
technology called Phase Shift Armor. This feature allows the
Gundams to harmlessly absorb the impact of conventional
missiles and projectile weapons, rendering them invulnerable to
anything except beam weapons... at least until their energy
batteries run out.
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