Magnet Coating Details

[toysdream]

Okay, this may be the most ridiculously specialized topic post in Mecha Talk history, but it's kind of interesting!

Looking at the kit manual for the new Master Grade Gundam Ver. 3.0 (via the invaluable dalong.net, I noticed they spend a lot of time talking about the magnet coating process. In particular, the manual claims that the magnet-coated version of the Gundam has different joints at its elbows, knees, and ankles - these have rounded caps covering the ends of the joint cylinders, rather than the open holes with diagonal whatsits that we've been seeing ever since Gundam 0080.

Indeed, this seems to be Sunrise's official policy now. You'll note that the life-size Gundam statue that's been moved around Japan over the last few years was refurbished with rounded joint caps when it was installed at Gundam Front Tokyo, so that it represents the magnet-coated version.

How does this work with existing mecha designs? Well, Izubuchi and Katoki sort of went hog-wild putting those cool open-ended joint cylinders on everything, especially all the state-of-the-art Gundams that you'd expect to have magnet coating. But if you look at Okawara's designs for the MSV, M-MSV, and MSV-R series, it's actually kind of interesting to notice which ones have rounded caps on their joints...

EDIT: Now that I think of it, it's possible that the idea of rounded joint caps indicating magnet coating may have been established by Gundam The Origin.

-- Mark

[toysdream]

Okay, just to flesh that out a bit more, here's what I notice about Okawara's designs from the MSV, MS-X, M-MSV, and MSV-R series...

MSV, MS-X, MSV-R: The G-3 Gundam doesn't have the rounded joint caps (after all, it's just a recolor of the original Gundam). They're included in the knee joints of the Full Armor Gundam - probably just for the sake of protection - and in all the joints of the Heavy Gundam and Gunner Gundam. Interestingly, the knee and ankle joints of the GM Sniper Custom have rounded caps, although its elbows don't.

M-MSV: The Aqua GM and Gundam Marine Type have rounded joint caps, although that could just be to make them look more waterproof. The GM Ground Type has them, while the Desert GM doesn't. And the RX-78-4, 5, and 7 all have rounded joint caps - which seems appropriate since they're all officially magnet-coated for space use - while the ground-combat RX-78-6 type doesn't.

The use of rounded joint caps in the MSV and MS-X series seems largely a function of armor protection rather than magnet coating, although it's interesting to consider whether the GM Sniper Custom might have magnet-coated legs. But in the M-MSV Gundams it seems rather deliberate, and it's ironic that Katoki changed all of these to standard joints when he redesigned them for the video games!

-- Mark

[MythSearcher]

But in the M-MSV Gundams it seems rather deliberate, and it's ironic that Katoki changed all of these to standard joints when he redesigned them for the video games!

-- Mark

I think it has to do with how Katoki and Okawara based their design theories on.
Okawara designs look more like suits that human wear, and to be honest, they don't look like their joints work in mecha at all, you'll have a lot of bent armour plates as you see in the anime.
Katoki references more of the industrial machines, and he designs things to make them look like they can work, and standardise things.
Also, Katoki worked for Bandai to produce models and figures, so it is his duty to make sure things work and they can have a standardise model to follow.

[toysdream]

Sure, but the design of the joint cylinder caps is purely a matter of aesthetics. As the new MG kit demonstrates, it's a trivial parts swap.

-- Mark

[T.V.]

If we're going by animation designs only, then it's interesting to note the joint cylinder caps on the GM II and the GM III (ZZ and Zeta versions). Even if their designs predate The Origin's idea of making a distinction between the regular en magnetic coated joints, they fit the idea.
Is there any official (profile) information supporting the notion that their joints have undergone the magnetic coating upgrade? Especially in the case of the GM II, it being a modest upgrade of the original GM, it'd make sense if it was mentioned specifically rather than on the newer suits.

[toysdream]

The joints on the GM II seem similar to those of the original GM and Gundam - there's an indentation there, however slight, rather than a flat cap or outward bulge as seen in the Heavy Gundam and all those M-MSV designs.

The GM III, though, definitely has flat joint caps. It would kind of make sense if these machines had been magnet-coated over the years, although it's never been mentioned in any of the text writeups, and the Katoki-styled version seen in Gundam Unicorn changes all the joints back to the GM II style. (The Unicorn version of the GM III actually puts those antique joint decorations back on the elbow joints as well - the original design for the GM III had simpler movable frame-type elbow joints, like those of the GM Quel and Gundam Mark II.)

-- Mark

[MythSearcher]

Sure, but the design of the joint cylinder caps is purely a matter of aesthetics. As the new MG kit demonstrates, it's a trivial parts swap.

-- Mark

Ah, yes, but in older kits, I think the caps are for hiding the actual joint used in the model, which earlier models usually do.

[Agito]

I think this is worth noting. The GFF Metal Composite toy of RX78-02 Gundam (Origin ver.) has parts to upgrade the Gundam. Aside from the addition of thruster nozzles, metallic joint covers are also added to elbows, knees and ankles to display the magnetic coating upgrades.

[Seraphic]

I'm pretty sure that those snipers you mentioned only had magnetic joints for their legs because, as snipers, they won't be flailing their arms around as much. That's how I make sense of it, anyway. =3