#Zaku Desert Type

[bagea]

source

[oywcalendar]

March 13, UC 0079

Zeon forces in North America capture the EFF's California Base –a series of more than 20 military installations along America's west coast– which becomes the stronghold for the Earth Attack Force.

With the base left largely intact during the assault, its production facilities are converted to develop numerous Zeon weapons, including the MS-06D Zaku Desert Type, MS-06K Zaku Cannon, Jukon- and Mad Angler-class submarines, and more.

[gremoria411]

Alright, so I completely dropped the ball on G-Quuuuuux. I kinda wanted to go in fully blind, and this ended up translating into fully forgetting that the show was coming out.

Anyway, there’s one thing I want to discuss before I watch the show, and that’s the new Zaku. Specifically, the MS-06-SPP Police Zaku.

First of all, I love the new ball structure around the legs and waist. It reminds me of the Atlas Gundam from Gundam Thunderbolt, which was stated to be derived from Zeon mobile suits (which is pretty cool). I also like how it shifts the main thrusters of the suit from the back to the waist (I believe the Police Zaku has an additional booster for the back as well). I do like how bootlike the new feet are, it has that sort of “tacticool” approach of being clearly derived from real-world military stuff but adapted to something the size of a mobile suit? The small shield and baton bring to mind real-world policing equipment and the head, chest and machine gun are all just lovely iterations on the original Zaku II’s.

I like how clearly it is that it’s a police unit, the blue colouration and sirens really help but it feels very….. basic, in a way. Like it could appear in an in-universe book discussing policing hardware. Or like it would be suitable dolled-up for an awareness campaign.

I’m very interested in seeing where it goes in-story, since the fact that it’s a police Zaku makes me think that G-Quuuuuux is gonna have some interesting things to say about the relationship with the police to the military-industrial complex. I’m also mildly fascinated by the fact that this is the “opening grunt” as it were. What I mean by that is typically that the first grunt suit to get a model is typically the “primary” or iconic mass-production suit of the series, a là the Union Flag or the ZAFT GINN. So it’s interesting that’s is a police unit as opposed to a military one.

Like, I’d be super interested in a “peacetime” Gundam series (for a given definition of “peace” anyway).

Finally, I’m interested in seeing what a “proper” Zaku looks like in this style. What are they going to do about the shoulder shield? Are they gonna incorporate the bracer from the Origin C-5 type? Would we see variants like the Desert Zaku? Would it have different weaponry like the origin Zaku’s? Would it have the large shield like the G40 Zaku’s? Many such questions.

[oshlet]

MS-06D, Desert-Type Zaku, single antenna variant. Same basic frame as a zaku, with a slightly bulkier torso and backpack, featuring better cooling systems to serve the machine more effectively in the desert. The legs have additional thrusters to offset the loss of the backpack jets.

Armament reflects the later war environment: a 90mm armour piercing machine gun, and arm mounted missile launcher to take on enemy mobile suits. The heat sword is nonstandard, taken from the inventory of a lost MS-07B Gouf unit.

[aservantnamedketchup]

Gundam OC version 2

she's stationed at some random, mostly forgotten base in the desert (maybe near the mines, having her interact with M'Quve sounds hilarious) staffed mostly by younger "delinquent" soldiers/engineers who were dumped on her after their low but unfortunately passable performance in the academy

her boys will try to set her up with any pretty boy superior officer that comes though (with no success), only to find out her type is apparently giant idiots (affectionate)

thought about having her wear cowboy boots for The Theme (desert Zaku, John Wayne, Texas Colony)

[nem0c]

Who is the sexiest Gundam girl, not only in your opinion, but also in fact?

her name is MS-06D Zaku Desert Type

[g-29astarothtrinity]

Sunrise Sortie

Getting back into building again after a year long break. Finished up my Zaku Desert Type Hildr Team colors build.

Just have to finish up finalizing pilot names for my Zeon MS Team, 02nd Team "Hildr" of the Valkyrie Battalion. Once that's done, I just have to post the showcase! If you like custom builds with backstory, you'll enjoy my ongoing Project Night Specter which this is a part of.

[gundamfight]

[gundamatt]

[gundamexplored]

Mobile Suit Variation - Zaku Desert Type

[screaming-skvll]

Posting some of my Gunpla, starting with a project that took more than a decade to complete: the Wolfgar Team.

No doubt like many of you, my first exposure to Gundam was Toonami's landmark airing of Gundam Wing in 2000–2001, and I did build a few non-grade 1/100 kits around that time (if you can call tearing parts off runners, slapping them together, and drenching them with ink wash 'building'). However, it wasn't till my sojourn in Taibei in 2007–2008 that I got into Universal Century Gundam—the good stuff—and started more seriously building Gundam models. With the abundance of hobby shops in Ximending just a short light-rail trip from my residence in the Shida night market, building mobile suits became my hobby for most of 2008.

During that time, as I immersed myself in the extensive depths of the Universal Century canon, I became particularly fond of the short bit of original story told in the extra levels at the end of the SNES game Mobile Suit Gundam: Cross Dimension 0079. Having already become a devotee of the Zaku II, and particularly impressed with the excellent Master Grade Zaku II ver. 2.0 kit released just a year earlier, I set out to build my interpretation of the Wolfgar Team, the squad of desperate Zeon antagonists from the Cross Dimension story.

PART I: TAIBEI, 2008

I began with an MS-06J, the ground-type Zaku, for Wolfgar's youngest member, Saki Graham. The cut-down shoulder spikes, battle damage, and desert weathering all represented initial experiments in the kinds of customization I would apply to the whole team.

Taking my cues from the gameplay in Cross Dimension, I equipped Saki's Zaku with a bazooka. On the other hand, I put my own spin on her armament, adding captured beam sabers from my spare parts.

Next was Martin Hagar's unit, an MS-06F space-type. As Wolfgar's seasoned second-in-command, I figured Hagar might pilot the older F-type, even after his reassignment to terrestrial deployment. Also, this variation of the Zaku II ver. 2.0 kit was brand new, and included the bulkier 'giant bazooka' that I wanted to give to Saki.

I took the shoulder armor from the next kit to give Hagar's unit two spiked shoulders. (The extra shoulder shield from this one would come in handy down the line.) Hagar wields a flamethrower in the game, so I did my best to build something vaguely reminiscent from scratch. Finding the result lackluster, I added the leg-mounted missile pods from the J-type kit.

Third up came Lester Carrot's machine, another J-type. In the game, Lester attacks only with the Zaku machine gun, making his unit the plainest. To give him more character, I decided Lester was left-handed, and customized his suit accordingly.

By the time I finished these three Zakus, midsummer had passed, and the end of my year in Taiwan was approaching. I had time enough to build a few more robots, but found myself in a bind concerning the Wolfgar Team. A Master Grade version of the Zaku cannon type had been announced, but wouldn't be released till just after my departure in August. That model would be perfect for the fourth Wolfgar Zaku, but I couldn't obtain one before I left.

When I returned from Taiwan, the Wolfgar Team remained incomplete. I knew it would be some time before I'd be able to resume the work, let alone finish it—but I had no way of knowing how long.

[oywcalendar]

March 12, UC 0079

The EFGF's 503rd Battalion captures an F-type Zaku 2 in the Nevada desert – the third Zaku captured by the Federation thus far, and the most intact. Dubbed "the Bardysh Zaku" for its original role in the 3rd Terrestrial Mobile Division's Bardysh Team, it is sent to Jaburo for analysis under total secrecy.

[gremoria411]

And now we come to my feelings on Zeon’s mobile suit designs in Mobile suit Gundam Code:Fairy. After my feelings on the Federation’s MS were…… broadly positive, my opinions on Zeon are a tad more divisive.

First up, the Zaku II Sniper type. Honestly, I get it, you want a sniper unit, but you don’t want to deal with the Zaku I sniper type being unwieldy, so you make a new Zaku variant and give it a fancy rifle. Honestly, it’s just fine. No real strong feelings here.

The Zaku high mobility ground type Alma Stirner custom annoys me perhaps more than it should, because the more I look at it the more I think that a Gouf with a rifle would have been a better choice. My main quibble is that the standard version was one of the best mass-production ms of the entire war, being agile and exceptionally suited to combat on earth, in addition to retaining the regular Zaku’s wide range of armaments. So a fancy custom version of one of the best units available as the unit you start with….. it feels a little much. If you’d started with a regular Zaku then upgraded, then sure, that’d be fine. But knowing how good that suit likely is really makes it ring hollow when the plot tries to say that Alma’s outgrown it.

Right, right, enough complaining. What do I think of the design? I do like the basic High Mobility Ground Type, and Alma’s is essentially an up-armed version of it, being equipped with a heat sword, shotgun, missiles and Vulcans in addition to the normal armaments. I do very much like the Vulcan placement, and the missiles pleasingly evoke the Zaku Desert Type, but besides that it’s really just an ace custom unit with some different shoulders. It does do a good job in-game of being the close-combat specialist to the other two’s ranged firepower, but again, I think a Gouf with a rifle would have been similarly adequate.

I’ll probably cover the Zaku Half-Cannon if I ever do anything about the Zaku Cannon, but I honestly don’t have a whole lot of opinions on it, so I’m just gonna skip.

The Dom Gnomides. HATE. I usually find it difficult to express how much I dislike this design. The base unit being a Dom Tropical Test type? Fine, no problems there. But shackling a giant box to its back? The whole in-universe point of mobile suits is that they’re supposed to be agile units that fight at close range, where visual contact is key and the have to be able to dodge enemy fire. The Dom Gnomides can dodge fire about as well as a slug can dodge salt pellets. In-game, it’s difficult to identify incoming fire because the suits so massive it gets in the way. They took a Dom, a suit known for its high speed and mobility, and turned it into something that would struggle to outrun the Zock. But surely, that massive cannon must make up for it, right? Oh, you mean that massive cannon they obtained by

Grave Robbing?

The Dom Gnomides Pilot, Mira Brinkman, obtains the main cannon from the wreck of the Hidolfr, the mobile tank from Gundam Igloo.

In-game, they justify it with “well, at least we can give commander Sonnen (the pilot) a proper burial” but Mira’s primary concern is obviously the cannon. It’s just quite creepy, because at this point, they’re all sunshine and cheers about the whole thing “oh boy, let’s get a cannon for our suit and bury our fallen comrades along the way”, so knowing that in order to build this, they had to hose the remains of Commander Sonnen out of the Hidolfr just feels…… off? At odds with the tone? I know in war you should strive to recover equipment wherever you can, It’s just a massive tonal whiplash if you’ve actually watched igloo. The Dom Gnomides is armed with other weaponry, but honestly, they’re just fine.

The Efreet Jäger is the only one of the main three mobile suits to get a HG model, most likely because they’d already made a bunch of Efreet Variants. Honestly, it’s one of those rare models I would buy purposefully to mod. Paint some camouflage on there, maybe hook a ghille cloak or something over its shoulder, swap the odd weapon or two and I think it’d look really really good. The Efreet Line is another design series I’m very fond of, simply because the basic Efreet and Gouf are both designed to do the same thing, but approach it from different angles. Both are designed to be CQC suits par excellence, so are armed with heat swords, but whereas the Gouf fights more like a Gladiator, with its sword and shield it’s primary weapons, and then the Heat Rod and Vulcans to trip up the enemy; the Efreet fights more as a raider. Armed with two heat swords, trading defence for offence, and smoke discharges to temporarily blind the enemy to its movements- a fatal mistake in a sword fight. It’s typically also armed with a shotgun, for when something’s just out of range of the swords (though in GBO2, you can swap it out for a bazooka or Machine Gun). The Efreet Jäger is a sniper, unheard of in such a melee-focused line. This is essentially my only real criticism of it, another suit that is absolutely amazing at one thing being pigeonholed into yet another generalist. There are good sniping suits available, like the Zaku I Sniper, so an upgraded unit would fit very well. But instead they took a close-quarters unit and handed it a sniper rifle. I will fully admit that maybe something different for the line would be a good idea, but when it’s entire identity is built around one speciality, shifting to a different one just feels wrong.

The basic suit design is quite nice, the chests been modelled nicely and the asymmetry really plays up that this is a suit built for sniping and guerrilla tactics - asymmetrical warfare if you will. The rifle is gorgeous, and I like how it’s got grenades as part of it’s loadout. If I were to say the Efreet jäger is my least favourite Efreet, that’s more about the strength of the Efreet line as a whole than the weakness of the jäger on its own. I will say that, in game, the Efreet jäger is the best thing since sliced bread, purely on the strength of its sniper rifle having two settings. All my quibbles melt away after using it in-game, since you can just pop out of cover, nail an enemy with either single-shot, or explosive bust ammunition, then move on, with chaff and spotter abilities if you feel like playing support, and a heat kunai and shotgun if you need to fight up close.

Finally, we come to the Titania. It shares its name with the fairly obscure PMX-004 Titania designed by Paptimus Scirocco and is based on the absolutely fantastic Kämpfer (another of my all-time favourites). I do very much love the design, a little overarmed maybe (it’s got Vulcans, so I don’t really think it *needs* the arm gatling, and I consistently forget about the Beam Machinegun when using the Titania in game. GBO2’s decision to make it an optional weapon was, I think, a wise one), but the actual design of the mobile suit itself is wonderful. It’s slightly more heavily armoured than the original Kämpfer (so we’re told, anyway) and this is reflected in its remodelling, squaring off the Kämpfer’s smooth lines with blocky armour. The shoulders are just splendid, giving it a good silhouette along with the fuel tanks (which give the impression of wings). The choice to keep the original Kämpfer’s backpack was also a good one, since it effectively breaks up what could have been a rather boring back, and the extension of this design philosophy to the leg vents is also lovely to see. The legs appear to be slightly dainty, but none the less armoured for it, a design I appreciate. The head is gorgeous, it looks like it belongs one one of the Zabi’s royal Guard and evokes the design sensibilities of the Sleeves. Does it suit a Guerilla unit? No. Do I care particularly? Also no. All in all, it’s just a wonderful design variant on the Kämpfer.

However. The rationale behind its creation in-universe bothers me in the same manner that the Dom Gnomides does.

So, upon receiving the Kämpfer frame, unarmoured (and really missing a trick to tie it into the prototype Kämpfer, but whatever), the chief mechanic looked at it and decided “this design promotes recklessness, and is built for speed and power at the expense of armour”. Yes….? It’s an assault suit, designed to get in, cause as much damage as possible, then get out. Heck, the “E” in the Kämpfer’s model number is stated to stand for “Einhauen” - one strike in German. It’s not built for protracted combat, because it was never designed to be. So looking at the Kämpfer, a very specialised unit, and deciding that that specialisation is, itself, wrong is just kinda dumb. Like, they could have been sent the wrong materials, it could have only been intended to be used for one mission and Noisy Fairy managed to keep it running beyond that, it could have been an indication of how desperate Zeon was getting. Heck, the Kämpfer itself is stated to be one of multiple units built of the prototype Kämpfer each tuned for specialist uses, maybe they could simply use a different unit in the line? All of these options would have been better than “well it promotes recklessness and that’s BAAAAAD”

My other criticism is that it’s stated that they added extra thrusters to the design to offset all the extra weight of the armour and weapons (since the Titania doesn’t cast off its weapons like the original). Really now. You’re telling me you added “extra thrusters” to a unit that was already roughly 60% thruster by volume? I know it’s petty(ier) but it still bothers me.

However, none of this detracts from the fact that the Titania is a pretty sweet design, even if I do think I could’ve been integrated better (glances meaningfully in the direction of the Prototype Kämpfer).

[sappho114]

Hi Hello, info dump to me about the zakus and their weapons please. The gundam wiki is shit when it comes to that kind of info

I absolutely the Zaku line weapons. Specifically the machine guns and heat hawks. The Federation mobile suits and their lightsabers are... cool, I guess, but I like Jedi and the Feddies have a shit aesthetic the Principality of Zeon VERY MUCH being genocidal maniacs and evil. Unfortunately, the Zaku is a sexy piece of machinery.

The first one, the ZXM-1, was basically a glue gun combined with a tommy gun in appearance and there aren't a LOT of models that use it (like model kits and figurines) because it was a prototype 100mm gun if I recall correctly.

One cool thing about all the Zaku machine guns is that they pretty much all (except one or two) have a really cool Lewis Gun/Degtyaryov type design. The last prototype before the One Year War had the drum magazine on the side and it looked goofy, but for the iconic 'zaku machine gun' we all know and love - the M-120A1 - It located the drum to the top. I personally like the ZMP-50D model that has the drum mag offset to the top-right and has a rounded foregrip with a pattern for easier gripping. Both have an adjustable foregrip that pops out so it can be held like a sten gun, but the ZMP-50D was for the MS-06JC Zaku II which was basically a ground infantry model made for desert and jungle environments. The ZMP-50D and that Zaku are my 2nd favorites.

My favorite Zaku, the MS-06FZ Zaku II Kai that was introduced in my favorite OVA Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket, had the most varied weaponry IMO. Obviously it had the shoulder shield, some grenades, and the signature heat hawk but it used the MMP-80 90MM machine gun which kinda looks like if an MP5 and an MP40 had a baby and was upscaled for mechs. Box magazine, bulky and not as skinny or sci-fi as the ZMP-50D or other disc drum magazine guns. It also had a folding stock and was more or less used like an actual gun some more than most machine guns.

War In the Pocket in general felt different in that way. They used EVERYTHING: the H&L-SB25K Bazooka, a panzerfaust-style single-shot rocket launcher called the Sturm Faust, and the Gouf model's iconic heat sword. On top of that, they also had a unique helmet model called the Fritz, which basically looked like a Stahlhelm but also probably was designed to look vaguely like a samurai helmet as well - however slightly.

It also, to me, is the squattest Zaku and looks the most intimidating as far as the front-line Zaku are concerned - and it was the final iteration that Zeon produced during the One Year War, it was basically the most advanced unit that kinda got pushed to special forces and small-scale use because it only entered use one month before the war ended. But it's the Zaku with the fattest, most sloped chest armor and I love it so much.

tl;dr: i love the mech

[artificial-unintelligence76]

Sudden urge to buy a $60 desert type zaku II

The thoughts are winning

[darthgarthprime]

HG Zaku, Desert Type.