#I have no opinions on the Astraea II

[gremoria411]

This post is a (very late) follow up to this ask by @wordsandrobots , regarding design lineages in Gundam (specifically Gundam 00). This post discusses the Gundam’s Virtue, Seravee and Raphael (plus their complimentary and variant units)

And then we get to Virtue. I love the virtue line, because it is the other anti-traitor celestial being suit. But instead of having a sword that can pull double-duty as an anti-GN weapon, it just is full of systems so busted that they only ever work once, because then there just wouldn’t be a plot. I’m also gonna quickly preface this by saying that the Virtue is the one where I know the least about its side units. The Virtue itself initially seems to be the heavy weapons Gundam - it is noticeably bulky, with heavy armour and it mounts several large GN Cannons in addition to its handheld GN Bazooka. It is armed with beam sabers, but I think it uses them approximately twice in the entire series. A heavy Gundam that leverages its weight of fire to its advantage, the Hammer to the Dynames and Exia’s Sclapel (and I suppose the Kyrios’ throwing knife). Then Tieria Panics and reveals the existence of Nadleeh, the unit hidden behind Virtue’s layers of armour. Nadleeh is primarily a vector for the Trial System, which essentially allows it to remotely override any other machine connected to the Celestial Being supercomputer Veda - I.E. an enemy Gundam (it’s also incredibly bish). This is also one of the reasons why Tieria is such an ass for the early parts of the series - he doesn’t trust any of these “inferior humans” and it’s his job to keep watch for such a of betrayal, particularly from the pilot of the other anti-traitor Gundam Exia, Setsuna. The Nadleeh also had a set of optional equipment designed to extend the range of the trial system, the Nadleeh Akwos, which has a sword with a Gundam face. Moving on, the Virtue Physical was an optional set of equipment for the Virtue designed primarily for ballistic use, since beam weaponry was at that time unique to celestial being. Due to its focus on physical attacks, it was able to devote more of its particle output towards defensive purposes, and was for this reason preferred by CB engineers. Honestly, it’s an perfectly good alternate equipment set for virtue that wasn’t seen in the anime for whatever reason, but it’s focus is still on long-range, since this allows it quickly be re-equipped if necessary to counter traitors. The Virtue’s immediate predecessor was the second-generation Gundam Plutone. I honestly don’t know a great deal about it (I’ve yet to read 00P), but my general view of it is that it is to the Virtue what the Astraea is to the other three Gundam’s - it tested critical systems and was a general “proof-of-concept”. It possessed an early version of the GN Field, GN Composite Armour, a GN Condenser and a core fighter for recovery of the meister and GN Drive. It kinda feels like a proto-heavy weapons Gundam? The Virtue’s immediate successor is the Seravee, which is honestly one of those suits I could probably write an entire mini-essay on. The Virtue was the subject of three near-capture/destruction events during celestial being’s early operations, as such Seravee appears to be designed to utterly crush any subsequent attempts. it’s visually similar to the Virtue and fights in a similar way, leveraging heavy weapons to its advantage. However, it incorporates six beam sabers and four hidden arms with which to use them, making it no slouch at melee combat. It’s later further upgraded with even more cannons and particle condensers, so it’s even more effective in combat. I really like how it’s essentially being “buffed” by the particle condensers, allowing it to shine in its role. The Seravee also incorporates the Seraphim Gundam, an unmanned attack unit remotely controlled by Tieria, which form the Seravee’s backpack, second face and several of its guns. The Seraphim is essentially a lighter Nadleeh that’s designed to work in concert with its “host” unit, rather than be the end result. It’s armed with integrated GN Cannons from the Seravee, two GN beam sabers and retains the Nadleeh’s Trial System, allowing it to continue functioning as an anti-traitor machine.

This also allows the trial system to be far more easily deployed, since it’s actively carried with the Seraphim, allowing the Seravee to restrain or distract the enemy unit while the Seraphim deploys. The GNHW/B pack adds an additional pair of GN Cannons on the hips and four GN Field Generators, to further fortify the Seravee (it also gives the Seraphim a little uzi). The unused GNHW/3G pack however, goes full-hog on the Seraphim and Trial System, adding two whole Seraphim Units (SEM’s) in order to bring the total number of Gundam’s in this Gundam up to four (Seravee, Seraphim and the two SEM’s). Beyond pure firepower, the 3G expands the range of the Trial system to several hundred kilometres, allowing it to affect pretty much everything within a reasonable distance. I find the 3G quite interesting, since it was planned to be used against the Innovators during the final battle of the series, but since the use of the trial system hinged on the swift recapture of Veda (celestial being’s supercomputer), it was judged that the GNHW/B pack was the safer option, since there was a lower chance of Seraphim or it’s SEM’s being shot down prior to Veda’s recapture. (That and Tieria was like “hm, maybe trusting my allies is the better tactical choice here”). It’s just nice honestly, because it illustrates tactical foresight from celestial being, character growth for Tieria, and is just generally a fun design because of the emphasis on Seraphim/the Trial System (again, tying into my love of specialists here).

After the events of Gundam 00’s season 2 Finale, Tieria salvages what’s left of Seravee and the Innovade’s GNZ series (which are derived from second-generation gundam series) in order to construct the Gundam Raphael. Due to the Seravee’s original GN Drive being lost, the Raphael was instead equipped with 3 GN Drive Tau’s, which allowed it to continue utilising the heavy firepower Tieria was so fond of. Unlike its predecessors, not only is the Seravee II a little more obvious in the Raphael (it’s that giant mass of guns on top), it was also designed to fight alongside the Raphael, as opposed to purely being a trump card. Due to its top-heavy design and space-use focus, the Raphael was ill-suited for ground combat, leading to the development of the Raphael Dominion. The Raphael Dominion, in addition to equipping the Raphael for Ground combat, returns the lines all-important chunk, with additional armour and three GN Bazookas at its disposal. The additional armour can separate and form the Sera unit, essentially a headless Seravee unit that can attack independently of the Raphael Dominion (and presumably freak the enemy out while it’s at it). The Raphael’s a neat reversal of the Virtue line’s philosophy, and it’s a nice blend of Celestial Being and Innovator Gundam Design.

I like the Virtue line because its development parallels Tieria’s in a way different to the other Gundam pilots, and the details in the side units (like the 3G) really help emphasise this. The fact that is emphasis is always on heavy firepower is also fun - it’s a dedicated back line support unit, both because Tieria views application of firepower as the best way to get the job done, but he doesn’t trust anyone else to watch his back and his position in the back line allows him to keep an eye on his teammates. Also, the Virtue’s firepower focus makes it diametrically opposed to the Exia’s philosophy - both have a way to directly counter the other, and yet both are built specifically to counter traitors in celestial being, so they’re interesting duelling designs from that perspective.

In conclusion, I like 00’s approach because each Gundam has a solid niche, and in many cases they’re reflection of their pilots. Most of the side designs either explain more about the pilot or explain more about Celestial Being as an organisation, so we get to approach that niche from many different angles:

I must apologise for how long it took me to get this post done - Information about the Raphael Dominion simply refused to adhere to me. I will probably follow up with my opinions on other design lineages in Gundam series at some point (predominantly Wing, IBO and WFM).