#Neo Zeong II

[hath-e]

Shadow the Hedgehogs edgy OC or how no one could rival Jona as much as Zoltan Akkanen

So we've established now that the main theme of Gundam Narrative is being a reject, and who's better at being a reject than the guy who was rejected from becoming Char Azanable .

Something I forgot to mention in the post with Jona was that since he's setup to live in the shadow of Banagher Links the less obvious connection was that he also lives in the Shadow of Amuro Ray, as that was diffidently Banaghers role as the rival to the "second coming of Char", it's less obvious but it's there.

Now Zoltan doesn't struggle with such a connection being secondary as yeah of course the guy who's title is "The Failed Red Comet" is supposed to live in the shadow of Char, and not only that the movie directly calls him a failure when compared to Frontal, The Neo Zeong II calls Zoltan a failure, everyone around him calls him that, he literally heard that his superior sees him as a burden and wanted to kill him. How could you expect someone going through this to not consider the whole world his enemy?

While Jona is a reject in life who has no one and is only doing military work because he can't do anything else and still needs to survive, Zoltan has no one and is doing military work because he was made to replace the Char Azanble, a job that literally no one could do, not even Char's biological clone who has his only saved memories, he was set up for failure from the very start.

And in the same vein that I talked about the Narrative Gundam, let me talk about the Sinanju Stein, the only known prototype to the Unicorn, oh and one of the two stolen Sinanju Steins that the Sleeves stole and didn't bother modifying. That's right as if the movie wasn't on the nose enough about Zoltan, his suit was left as it was stolen from the Vist foundation, while frontal got a whole remodel to look more like the Sazabi, oh and not to mention that the Sinanju line was made to test the durability of the Psycho frame material, SOMETHING THAT CHAR CAME UP WITH.

Honestly I could bring up the Neo Zeong II but even saying it's name is enough.

Zoltan couldn't be anymore of a reject if he tried to be and his look doesn't help it, he's made to look like the edgiest guy ever made, because yeah of course he'd be rejected by anyone older than 12 yo.

And yet despite it all, he still gets accepted into the Psycho-realm (name pending, better than afterlife I think) and in death moves on from his hatred, Zoltan was not made to live in the world that hated him but he did his best even if his best meant trying to destroy the earth and failing like Char did.

There's no character in Gundam or any other franchise that fits the definition of a reject as much as the poor Zoltan Akkanen.

Tomorrow, the post about Rita and Michele because life is still too busy for that post to have came out today, and the post about the the bedroom monologue scene from Gundam Hathaway. The day after the post about Mineva, Banagher and all the meta stuff in Gundam Narrative and that will finish this little series of posts about Gundam Narrative.

[gremoria411]

Me: Hey, I should do some short posts on the SD Gundam series designs, since I won’t have much to say on them.

Also me: I should do a post on the Great Zeong.

The MSN-03-2 Great Zeong was an upgraded version of the MSN-03 Zeong, a sister unit to the MSN-02 Zeong which was used by Char at a Baoa Qu. Though a veritable improvement on the Original Zeong, the Principality of Zeon lacked both the resources or technological know-how to build it. A prime example of the latter would be that the Great Zeong was designed to split into seven independently functioning parts, all controlled by the Newtype pilot, compared to the original’s comparatively simple wired hands and detachable head for use as an escape system. The Great Zeong is armed with a scattering mega particle gun in the chest which can also function as a “standard” Large Mega Particle Gun, a 5-barrel Mega Particle Gun in each of the arms (the arm is essentially built around the gun) which can of course be detached through the psycommu system. The Great Zeong is also armed with a mega particle gun in each leg, and another one in the head. There is yet another small Mega Particle Gun behind the front skirt, typically used when the lower body is detached. Moving on from beam-related weaponry, there are two Anti-ship missiles contained within each shoulder binder and finally each leg mounts a heat claw on its underside. In addition to all this, the Great Zeong mounts an I-Field Barrier Generator (presumably in the chest) and a Minovsky Craft System for atmospheric flight. Just as with the original, the head could also be used as an escape system. Interestingly, each of the separate parts mounts a mono-eye system when separated, including a secondary head mounted inside the upper body, akin to the Apsalus or Zaku II (I wonder if that’s any benefit to the pilot, or it’s just a design thing) . The design would be later developed into the NZ-000 Queen Mansa/Quin Mantha.

Before I get into talking about the design, I want to give a quick run-down on my feelings towards the better-known Zeong’s:

The Original MSN-02 Zeong is absolutely gorgeous. Legless, murderous, kingly, terrifying. It’s a fantastic design and its lack of legs adds charm, especially since it replaces them with thruster bells, granting it great speed and manoeuvrability. The wired hands are uniquely effective, heartening back to Gundam’s super robot roots, but also being supremely effective in combat. The head has a sort of grim expression to it, and the thrusters on each side give it a noble look- appropriate for a suit bearing the name of Zeon itself. I will admit bias here, since GBO2 gives it the sort of move-set where it can continually throw beams at something while managing to dodge with little trouble, but I do still like the Zeong itself. It feels like an appropriate final threat to cap off the series, without going overboard.

The Perfect Zeong is the Zeong with legs. Solid, makes for some cool poses, and I like how they just make it look more imposing.

I said during my Build Metaverse review that I don’t really like Mobile Armours that are just a bunch of fancy weapons and systems crammed on. The Neo Zeong is that. I like both Gundam Unicorn and Gundam Narrative, the series they’re from, and I think that they’re utilised well, but they don’t really grab me design-wise (if you need four I-fields for cover, and it still doesn’t cover the entirety of the Mobile Armour, then your MA is too large). Though I will admit that I’m probably down on them because I really like the Sinanju, which is used as their control unit. The Psycho Shard Generator does make for some cool visuals, but it’s probably the absolute limit of Newtype tech in U.C.

Also, I’m probably not gonna get the opportunity to bring this up again, but it’s stated that the Neo Zeong II is built using spare parts from the original. If you have enough left over to build a completely new unit of something as big as the Neo Zeong, I’m not sure that can be classed as a “spare” anymore.

As a successor to the original Zeong, I genuinely prefer the Great Zeong to the Neo Zeong, simply because it’s still a mobile suit, albeit a beefy one. The Neo Zeong is just a block of armour and Newtype tech, though I’ll admit this is just the design since I enjoy its use in the series. I just like how imposing the Great Zeong is, and it feels like an excellent evolution of the Zeong’s design. The Zeong’s an unfinished prototype, albeit a strong one, the Perfect Zeong is that prototype completed and the Great Zeong is just the Zeong but more, with it’s arsenal of mega particle cannons and additional weaponry. The fact that it can split into seven feels like the designer took the Zeong’s wired arms and just ran with it, which is fun, and the heat claws are a nice addition. I also like the shoulder binders, since they give it a gorgeous silhouette but they’re also used for the anti-ship missiles and Minovsky Craft System. I like the subtle change to head, it gives it a more aggressive feel when compared to the grim expression of the original.

[zazagundam]

wanted to do a fun size comparison of Nightingale and an average mobile suit for my partners, and decided to throw in a pic of my current Char Collection!

I just need a Z'gok, Gelgoog, and Hyaku-Shiki to complete this bastards reign of fun and whimsy upon the Earth Federation and their colonies :)

[therosecrest]

[gundamfight]

[empress-runner]

i'll never own one, it's ridiculously expensive and its impossible to find, but I still love that the HG Neo Zeong II exists, a 500 dollar kit at HG scale which is 3 feet tall. it's the most ridiculous product I've ever seen in my life.

[pulseofthestars]

The people have spoken, information will be below the cut.

With the Kamille Frontal AU the premise is that following the events of Char’s Counterattack the Neo Zeon remnants that would form the basis for Sleeves would, instead of using a random Cyber-Newtype to turn into Full Frontal, looked to using Kamille Bidan. Their reasoning was that one, Kamille had a connection with Char from their time in the A.E.U.G and thus could be more likely to hold a fragment of his soul (I swear this part of Frontal’s origin was always bordering on jumping the space shark but I digress), two Kamille’s skills for mobile suit piloting had likely been known from his time piloting the Gundam Mk. II and Zeta Gundam during the Gryps Conflict and would serve as a framework for ensuring that the planned “Second Coming of the Red Comet” would be as fearsome a pilot as Char Aznable and Amuro Ray. And lastly Kamille’s powerful potential as a Newtype was a tempting element to Sleeves as, while Char himself was not a particularly powerful Newtype with these abilities mainly serving as support for his piloting skill, they felt that having a potent Newtype would make their attempt to create his second coming far more successful. Thus they would scout out Kamille and his activities until the time came and they captured him. From here they would experiment on him, gradually wearing down his will until they could mold him into what would become Full Frontal.

Kamille himself still exists deep within Frontal’s mind but is so deeply bound that he has very little influence. Indeed Frontal has at times even used Kamille as a means to play mind games with those who knew the boy.

In events where Char and/or Amuro survived the events of CCA Kamille if restored to his own body still harbors a level of resentment toward them, especially Char, blaming him and his obsessions for the torture he suffered and being trapped in his own mind while Frontal was in control.

As a proper Newtype in this AU Frontal can potentially impact the minds of others around him in a manner not too dissimilar to Scirocco’s final attack on Kamille’s on mind before perishing in the final battle of the Zeta Gundam series and at times will use this as a means of torture and interrogation for information.

As one might expect in this AU Frontal’s hair is actually not naturally blond and instead Sleeves researchers developed a means to essentially dye his hair that shade in a way that doesn’t need constant reapplication. In scenarios where Kamille regains control of his body he works to remove the blond color but his hair never truly returns to its natural blue, being more of a pale blue.

Along with the Sinanju and Neo Zeong an idea I had is that Frontal in this AU had another mobile suit designed in secret, the Zeta Thanatos, a variant of the original Zeta Gundam though with a color scheme akin to the Sinanju and similar to said mobile suit trades a diverse weapon pool for ridiculous speed and agility, along with a variant of the Zeta’s Biocomputer to tap into his Newtype abilities further.

[fostersffff]

The Big Gundam Watch, Part 6: Mobile Suit Gundam: Twilight Axis - Red Trace

I’ve still got a lot ahead of me in this project, but I feel extremely confident saying that Twilight Axis is going to be the single most confounding thing I’ll watch as part of this series. As in, I cannot figure out why they would have even bothered making this. A significantly shorter write-up than usual below the break, on account of the fact that there’s very little to talk about besides what literally happens:

Conceptually, the story is fine: it’s about a mechanic named Arlette and a test pilot named Danton who used to work for Zeon, and they’re recruited by a third party to investigate the ruins of Axis for something. While there, they encounter a new Gundam- the “Tristan”- that is also hunting for something. After their first skirmish ends in retreat for both sides, Arlette and Danton make their way to the surface of Axis and find the Sazabi, which the two of them apparently helped design and test. While rooting around in it, Arlette finds a piece of psychoframe in the shape of a cross, and then dispatches in what the wiki says is the Ahava Azieru, which is either a prototype or successor to the Alpha Azieru, in order to serve as a decoy so her team can escape. She immediately encounters the Gundam, which is now inside of a giant Neo Zeong-style armor- the Kurwenal- and the pilot (who is unnamed) easily defeats Arlette. Then Danton dispatches in a busted-up mobile suit to try to rescue her, and he’s about to get obliterated before she resonates with the psychoframe she picked up and reveals to the Gundam pilot that she had a tragic backstory as a failed Cyber-Newtype who was rescued from being disposed of by Char. The Gundam pilot fucks off because despite appearing to be a sociopath he relates to her backstory, and Arlette and Danton retire back to their civilian life.

What makes it so bad is the fact that this all happens in the span of 26 minutes, and that’s the extended “compilation” movie, Twilight Axis - Red Trace: this was originally a set of six 3 minute episodes! Worse, despite having such a strict runtime, the director decided that telling a story chronologically is for chumps, so not only is it moving at HYPERSPEED to fit the runtime, it’s jumping around in time while doing so. Trying to criticize details like “it’s very unclear when this takes place besides after Char’s Counterattack” and “it’s literally never stated why they’re investigating Axis in the first place” and “they don’t define what factions are these characters working for” feels silly when the answer for all of them is “there was no time”. And it’s not even like they just used the story as an excuse to deliver some short but high-quality action scenes, because nothing in this holds a candle to Unicorn. Even the new mechs they introduce aren’t especially worth noting: admittedly, I like the idea of a Gundam Zeong, but at first I thought the Ahava Azieru was just the Nightingale and the Tristan was a repainted Gundam Mk-II or Nu Gundam. So again: what was the point of this?

In Conclusion:

If I ever get the opportunity to check out the light novel or manga version of Twilight Axis, I’d absolutely go for it, because like I said earlier, the concept is fine. But the execution here is just so genuinely confusing that I’m going to spend more time wondering about why this production even happened than anything in the story itself. This is an easy pass, but if you, like me, have a morbid curiosity, it’ll only take you a little under half and hour to experience how bizarre it is for yourself.

Next up: Mobile Suit Gundam Narrative! A direct sequel to what I said I considered to be the perfect ending to the story of the Universal Century doesn’t quite inspire confidence, but I’ve given it the biggest buff I possibly could by watching it after this.

[newtypestring]

Mobile Suits appearing in Mobile Suit Gundam NT (Narrative)

RX-9 Narrative Gundam

RX-9/A Narrative Gundam A Packs

RX-9/B Narrative Gundam B Packs

RX-0 Unicorn Gundam 03 Phenex

MSN-06S-2 Sinanju Stein

NZ-999 II Neo Zeong

AMS-129 Geara Zulu (Erika Custom)

RGM-96Xs Jesta (Shezzar Type)

RGM-89D ESC Jegan Type D Escort Type

FD-03 Gustav Karl

MSK-008 Dijeh

[allthingsgundam]

The Neo Zeong II, Gundam Unicorn Phenex and Gundam Narrative

Art by: Tyuuboutyauyo

https://twitter.com/tyuuboutyauyo/status/1132224908602138626

[masterofwolfe]

P-Bandai: HGUC 1/144 II Neo Zeong [Narrative Ver.]

[hath-e]

Jona Basta and the Gundam Narrative and how the existence of these 2 showcase Gundam NT's main point, or I talk about Gundam NT part 1

Gundam Narrative (the movie) on a both narrative (get it) and meta level approaches the Gundam franchise with a single point, having to live in someone else's shadow sucks.

(Obviously huge Gundam Narrative spoilers ahead)

I will go into every single main character in the movie and the mentioned Meta elements, but first I'll start with the protagonist:

Jona Basta, a war orphan turned a experiment by the Titans, not even good enough to be turned into a Cyber-Newtype, he's a unremarkable soldier for the Federation, more than likely choosing this path as his upbringing left him with no other options and one of the 3 Miracle Children he's the one without anything, while Michele is now working for Luio & Co. and Rita is in the Phenex, Jona is an ensign who's only here because Michele won't trust anyone else with the operation. He however is also set up to live in the shadow of Banagher Links, a young man with no achievements to his name is the next in line to deal with the Psycho frame, and yet he fails, and has to be saved by Banagher. Jona is also still stuck up on Rita which is his main driving point, to the extent that at the end when she leaves for good Jona loses all will to keep moving forward, and if it wasn't for Banagher he would have probably taken off his helmet there in the cold abyss of space, it's very clear that he's depressed with Rita being the only thing in his life being even worth looking forward to, and now that she was gone together with Michele the only thing that could convince him to not end it all just yet was the living embodiment of hope Banagher Links who tells him that even though he's alone now, someday that will change.

Now onto the RX-9 NT Gundam, or Gundam Narrative, the original prototype testbed for Amuro Ray's RX-93 v Gundam, a unit that's not even deserving of it's own armor, a unfinished suit never meant for combat that was brought around only because of it's usage of the Psycho Frame and because Michele managed to install the NT-D system on it. Just like Jona this suit was never much, completely unremarkable forced to exist in the shadow of the Gundam made for the White Devil himself, the hero who stopped Axis from freezing the Earth. The narrative isn't even good enough to have it's own primary weapon with the rifle it wields being a repurposed Beam Rifle taken from a Jegan. The suit itself also doesn't look like much, it's unfinished missing armor and not even featuring a panoramic cockpit pod, instead using a core fighter, it was outdated back when the RX-93 was being made and it most certainly outdated in UC 0097. It doesn't even survive the movie as it's shot to pieces by Zoltans Neo Zeong II and if it wasn't for Rita Jona would have died along with it.

These 2 serve as the perfect setup, they are on a meta level, rejects forced to pick up the slack for the mess made by other rejects, most notably Zoltan Akkanen, or the guy who I'll talk about tomorrow, along with the Taxi scene in Gundam Hathaway, the day after, Michele and Rita and something more about Hathaway.

(Image source undercut)

https://fanart.tv/movie/553610/mobile-suit-gundam-narrative/?section=wallpaper

[gremoria411]

My it sure is nice how, because I clearly tag things, tumblr has no problem with finding my old posts, isn’t it?

Sure is great when you want to return to an old topic, you can easily reference an older post, isn’t it?

Anyway, I was thinking about some of my favourite mobile suits recently, and more specifically how they fight.

The Sinanju and Sinanju Stein (strictly speaking that’s unit 2 above, but the Sinanju Stein Unit 1 only shows up physically once anyways, so I tend to conflate the two) from Universal Century, and the Gundams Bael and Zepar from Post Disaster. The Bael and Sinanju’s are thematically and functionally similar, if not so much visually, since they’re piloted by the series resident Char Clones, Full Frontal and Mcgillis Fareed respectively, and thus have a similar fighting style - high mobility and very flashy, typically dodging with minimal effort and taking out scores of foes near-effortlessly. The Sinanju Stein (Unit 2) certainly could fight like that, but its pilot Zoltan Akkanekan is…… not in a great place mentally, and as such he tends to be more brutish, always pushing the attack and closing ranks with his enemy very quickly (we only see him fight once in the Sinanju Stein before it docks with the Neo Zeong II, so it’s possible that his aggression is more due to the enemy being a Gundam, as opposed to any real strategy). The Gundam Zepar we have even less information on, but since we know both that it doesn’t have any ranged weaponry, and that most of the emphasis seems to be on the shield, we can guess it would want to get close fairly quickly, and would be well-prepared for a reprisal.

And this reminded me of something I mentioned previously when discussing non-Gundam Mecha series - I like when we know the “thesis” of the mecha. I like when we know why they were built and what the in-universe theory was in their construction (Or at the very least, we can guess, as with The Big O). It makes the world feel realer to me, and don’t get me wrong, I love giant robots, but it feels wonderfully cohesive when there’s an in-universe justification. I don’t typically forget the out-of-universe justification “to sell toys” but it feels less “Johnson, quarterly earnings aren’t looking good, make a property we can merchandise things out of” and more “Hey, this guy’s got an idea for a cool show about robots, maybe there’ll be a market for cool toys there?”.

Weird tangent on the relationship between entertainment and merchandising aside, I like Universal Century because it’s got a strong “thesis” - mobile suits were designed primarily as an anti-ship weapon that would engage at visual range, due to the effects of Minovsky particles rendering most long-range weapons difficult to aim. They’re fast, and carry handheld weaponry both for ease of use, maintenance and operability and they’re an extension of “armoured space suits”. There’s even the military angle of “a secret weapon to to win us the war against a foe that could beat us conventionally”, and I’d assumed that, with a few exceptions like Wing and G Gundam, most of Gundam followed that same thesis.

However, I realised that’s perhaps not quite true with Iron-Blooded Orphans (or at least it’d be interesting to consider why it might not be true). The above graph is an illustration of the breakdown of forces used in the calamity war, and how they were deployed depending on the field. Quote: The unit formation deployed against the mobile armors depended on where the battlefield was. On Earth and Mars, the Gundam Frames served as the main fighting units, and they destroyed the mobile armors one by one with assistance from other mobile suits and supporting units. In space, the Dáinsleifs were used as the main weapon, and were assisted by mobile suits, including Gundam Frames, and other supporting units. On the Moon, mobile suit teams like the one deployed on Earth and Mars were also used in addition to the aforementioned use of the Dáinsleif.

So I got to wondering if Post Disaster (or I guess Current Disaster) mobile suits had a different development ethos, since they were deployed largely terrestrially.

Mobile suits were only used during the Middle and Late stages of the war, which implies they were developed during it. The above Rodi and Hexa Frames were developed first, with the Gundam And Valkyrja Frames following in the later stages of the War. It’s also stated that, quote: The beginning of the Calamity War was the result of AI-equipped, self-sustaining weapon systems going out of control. Before the outbreak of the Calamity War, automated machinery was a symbol of wealth and abundance, and humans were actively promoting the automation of wars. With the risk of losing valuable soldiers reduced as the weapons were AI operated, and the introduction of the semi-permanent Ahab Reactor as a power source, mobile armors became the ideal weapon that can fight efficiently and persistently. So, it’s possible that after the Mobile Armours were unleashed, there was a rush to adapt previously autonomous weaponry into something human-controlled, with the Rodi and Hexa Frames representing these early steps. Furthermore, it’s stated that Mobile Armours acquired Nanolaminate Armour, so beam weaponry would presumably have been used in the early stages of the war.

So, could Mobile Suits in IBO be autonomous weaponry adapted for human use, as opposed to the Universal Century’s “Armoured Space Suits” line of thinking? We know that Alaya-Vijinana works best with forms closer to the human form - hence the Gundam Frames being constructed as close to the human form as possible. Another angle might be that of upsized Knights, here to slay the mechanical monsters that threaten humanity.

So it’s an interesting angle compared between the series - in one, mobile suits were built for wars in space, fought between nations. In the other, mobile suits were built to be used terrestrially, in response the threat of extinction by mechanical foes humanity unwittingly unleashed upon itself.

(Also, it’s interesting to look at how common mobile armours and automated weaponry were in the pre-post disaster setting, since I just imagine Treize Kushrenada from Gundam Wing being distinctly unhappy)

[jinwee]

Gundam Converge Narrative Gundam with Neo Zeong II https://www.instagram.com/p/B4oW_kgJQLZytUxwgBCAkma5kfCC-6jQV5J7d80/?igshid=1v2rznbx53tie

[brasssuede7]

Hi-Resolution Model 1/100 Gundam Astray Noir Release Decision

P-Bandai: HGUC 1/144 II Neo Zeong [Narrative Ver.] Release Date: February 2019 Price: 28,080 Yen

The massive Mobile Armor Neo Zeong gets its Narrative version! With additional trim details and design on its shoulders, and a different color scheme from its last launch from the Unicorn Gundam.

The kit also comes with a water slide decals to detail the kit!

[ACCESSORIES]

Beam Rifle x 2

Bazooka x 2

Large Beam Ax

Beam Saber  x 2 

Shield

Source: https://www.gundamkitscollection.com/2019/02/hi-resolution-model-1100-gundam-astray.html

[black-duo-maxwell-0085]

Phenex Rising:

I have a ton of thoughts after seeing the film, MS Gundam Narrative, earlier this week.  My own stardust sparkled reflections, and then reactions to some of the more tepid commentary I’ve seen on Twitter.

I think I personally quite enjoyed the film, and thought that the remarks and motifs on Death, Rebirth/Reincarnation, and the nature of the soul were quite fascinating, if not 100% flawless in their execution.  Ironically, it’s the film’s narrative that feels the most problematic to me, being that it represents a rather uneven pacing, and a curiously unorthodox act structure.  One that, to me, rely perhaps a bit too heavily on flashbacks, and mismanages the rising tension.

For example (spoilers, I guess?): the moment the Neo-Zeong II began resonating with the RX-9 was bizarre and bizarrely incredible, insomuch as it represented a weirdly intriguing linkage between two suits that have hitherto been categorically antithetical to one another.

But like, that was at the end of act two?  And I’m like, dafuq?  Such a dramatic inversion of what these suits represent…and then, y’all don’t do nothing with it?

And I don’t know about the way Rita’s character was handled either.  I’ve seen a review that describes her as so ‘beyond human’ as to not even have eyes in the first couple flashbacks; and I’m inclined to agree.  I can’t exactly articulate how or why I felt the work with her to be vexing that would be a good faith criticism of the film, but I’ll say that it rubbed me the wrong way.

Ditto for the cameo reappearance of Banagher and them.  As much as I liked the dynamic of Michele, Jona, and Rita (because ultimately I did), the inclusion of the Unicorn’s pilot and the Garanciers’ new crew felt less like a coda for their story and more like fan service.  

Good to know that my guy ain’t get sucked into the ether of Newtype-dom, though.  I got love for Banagher.

Writing it all down like this makes it seem like maybe I didn’t like the film, but hand-ta-God, I did.  I had a helluva time watching the fight sequences (in spite of what folk were saying about their animation quality; them jonts was live as hell to me), and there’s just something innately magical about watching a movie like this in the theatre.  I’ve been a fan of Gundam since I was fifteen (more than half a lifetime ago), and the opportunity to experience this was nothing short of incredible (and lets me forgive a lot, I suppose!).