Re: [gundam] HGUC Zaku I

[shin matsunaga]

okay, after going through a lot of my older books, I found the orginal settings for the Zaku I (circa 1981) to have been only equipped w/shoulder charge ability. retconned a bit after(im guessing since it should at least be able to use some kinda weapon <as per most fans must have been thinking), the Zaku II weapons were added(at least a prototype of them) to at least make them somewhat useful. the original storyline has the Zaku I already beening seen by pilots, kinda like how we look at pentium II. useful now only for VERY meanial work ONLY. in most cases, by  0079, the Zaku Is remaining were mostly used as worker-MS to move heavy items/etc(similar to how the RB-79 are used(tho the EF used the ball as one of their main units til the end of the war). PS. Zaku I weapons:Mazella top/Machinegun(05 version not 120mm)/HeatHawk/Bazooka <look to have been added as of MSV/pre-MSV<MSG movie version?> years. Spike shield/Gas gun/Leg Missiles(added as of 08th tho originally from 0083 series). Panzer faust(0080 series via Kampher). note EMS-10 was the rival unit in development vs MS-05 line. it lost the contract due unstablity of EMS engine(see MS Igloo series). Also of note:original Zaku I model kit only had a Heat Hawk as included weapon... tho the 1/100 "Real type" had the 105mm machinegun(Zaku I machinegun) included. though retconned by the time the MSV book(1984) came along, the data for the MS05("A" initial production lot was 27 units) was used mainly for pilots to train for MS combat, soon after the results came in that the unit was unfit for real battle. w/the data from pilots, the B type was rolled out in short numbers(tho the MS-06 also rolled out shortly and numbers were limited). most of the MS05 type were relagated to the Engineering groups or to the Supply companies(note Zeon were limited in supplies this "waste not want not:"). note: throughout the war, the Supply companies/divisions found the MS05 very useful for the jobs they were doing , as they performed as needed. shin. Joseph Riggs wrote: IMO, a guy on a supply ship isn't going to be running around with an R&D Proto- Not just a regular supply ship but one so old that drew unkind remarks from Char. The ship seemed unfit for military use in Char's eye, could the MS be too old and poorly equipped for battlefield use too? Even the opening monologue (showing large Zeon formation and colony drop) didn't show Zaku I. It's quite possible that Gadem's ill-advised charge was the first ever combat deployment of a Zaku I. You can call it limited production run or R&D prototype, it's just semantics. Like many of the X- and YF- series fighters, many of them were built for test flights and never equipped with combat-grade radar and armaments to be battlefield-ready. R&D Proto-type would be like the X-series fighters, which are built to research ideas and concepts. You're not going to see something like that taking up space on a supply ship. When the scientists are done with it, it's going to get scrapped or placed in a museum. Limited Production Run would suggest a limited number of units produced to cover the gap until the 'real' mobile suits can be developed and produced in sufficient numbers. It's a question of quantity and purpose of the unit. The ground type Federation mobile suits featured in 08MST would probably qualify as very limited production, although I would personally understand the term to typically mean more than that for an attrition unit like mobile suits. Maybe 100-200 Zaku Is produced? imo, it makes sense to stick a unit like that on a rear-echelon ship. In any event, I suspect that we're thinking along similar lines. And if it was a limited production run, it would make sense to produce weapons Like I said a few posts ago, it's reasonable to give it predecessors of early Zaku II weapons (machine gun, bazooka, heat hawk) and it seems agreeable not to give it leg missile pods and Magella cannon (Zaku II weapons later in the TV series). But it seems odd to give it Panzer faust (late 0079 on Rick Dom II) and punch shield (0083 on Gelgoog Marine). Actually how come an MS-05 has almost everything that a EMS-10 has? Personally, I'd be tempted to even strip away the bazooka. :P But my understanding of the general argument was that since Gadem didn't have any weapons at all (not even a machine gun), then it was likely that the Zaku I didn't even have a machine gun or heat hawk. If that's not the case, then I don't really have any disagreement. junior