Images Of MS-X Units Fighting On Earth

[Gelgoog Jager]

The MS-X series which were supposedly developed at the Pezun asteroid base were originally believed to not have been deployed during the OYW, and only participated in the defense of Pezun which Mark speculates could have taken place as late as U.C. 0081.

Over the years some mangas have taken the liberty of adding some units to the OYW, such as in The End Of A Flash (the story involving the RX-78-4 and RX-78-5) which showed Sanguine Mallet piloting a customized MS-11 Action Zaku, or in the Plot To Assassinate Gihren which showed Filius stream piloting a MS-17 Galbaldy Alpha.

Recently I ran into a site that included a couple of images showing some MS-X units on Earth:

Two white Gigans using their gatling guns for AA defense

One Gasshia which seems to be coming out of the water while firing missiles, followed by a Z'gok

http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/y_sirais/28203958.html

In the case of the Gigan, given how MSV-R added a few years ago the MS-06JK and MS-06K units with gatling guns as AA units, it does seem reasonable that it could have been designed with AA combat in mind. On its favor, even if the wheeled version was developed for ground use and deployed on Earth, it could still have seen further development at Pezun in order to convert them into space use units in order to participate in the final battles of the war.

The Gasshia is more interesting case: we know it's based on the Z'gok, but it was a unclear what it's specific role was, other than it was designed with localized warfare in mind. The assumption was that it was intended for use on asteroids or low gravity areas, since it was developed in space, but had two "anti-ground sensors" whose name suggested that it was meant to be deployed on the surface of something, most likely an asteroid or colony.

One thing that caught my attention is the legs of the Gasshia, which reminded me of how the Zaku Cannon seems to by a hybrid unit made using parts of several MS: One one hand there's the thrusters on the inner faces of the Gasshia's legs, which resembles those on both sides of the legs of the YMS-09, YMS-09D and MS-06K, which I suspect could be used for hovering on the ground, in this case supplemented by the thrusters right below the unit's torso. The same is probably true for the thrusters on the rear of the legs. Hovering wouldn't be an unseen feature on machine with the frame of an amphibious MS: the MSM-10 Zock relies on hovering for moving on the ground. On the other hand, the thrusters on the external faces of the legs could be for jet powered jumps, similar to those of the MS-06G or Gouf series.

Another odd detail about the Gasshia is its rather low output generator, of only 1,076 kW, standing right above those of a standard Gouf (1,034 kW) or Efreet (1,072 kW), right below those of a Zudah (1,150 kW) or Rick Dom (1,199 kW), and far below of related units such as the Z'gok (2,480 kW) or Zogok (1,688 kW), the later which doesn't use beam weapons either. On a related note, the MS-13 also has some rather big chest vents for a unit with a rather low generator output.

So, let me propose something radical: could the Gasshia have been completed BEFORE the Z'gok?

We are told that development of the Z'gok began on March and that the first shipment was ready on August, just before the first attack on Jaburo taking place on September. The basic design of the Dom was ready since June and the first YMS-09 unit was rolled out in July. That does leave a small window between June and August where the hovering system of the Dom is available before the deployment of the Z'gok.

One more detail in favor are some depictions of the Z'gok S, which replace the standard 3-claw hands with 4-claw hands, as in the case of the 1/100 MG model kit or modern designs such as the one in the Gundam Battle Operation PS3 videogame. Another possible reason to deploy it early could be to test the fan cooling system for the Z'gok, for which the one on the Gasshia could be an earlier larger version that had to be further reduced in size for the Z'gok.