GN Drive Tau particle colors?

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Seto Kaiba
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GN Drive Tau particle colors?

Hi all,

I've got a random question that cropped up while some friends and I were rewatching Mobile Suit Gundam 00's first season over the holiday break that I've been unable to find an answer for...

The GNMA-XCVII Alvatore and GNMS-XCVII Alvaaron use GN Drive Tau systems like the ones on Team Trinity's Gundam Thrones and the GN-X mobile suits used by the nascent Earth Sphere Federation forces in the finale of the first season. Has a reason ever been given for why the Alvatore and Alvaaron's GN Drive Tau units emit GN particles that are yellow/gold instead of the standard red?
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JEFFPIATT
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Re: GN Drive Tau particle colors?

it's how the GN-T drives are calibrated the Red particles are drives optimized for Beam weapons and are harmful to humans the later drives fixed this and had orange particles. the particles on the Alvaaron/ Alvatore were gold because of cosmetics Alejandro Corner really liked gold.
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Seto Kaiba
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Re: GN Drive Tau particle colors?

JEFFPIATT wrote: Mon Nov 27, 2017 12:29 pm [...] the particles on the Alvaaron/ Alvatore were gold because of cosmetics Alejandro Corner really liked gold.
... was kinda hoping for something more practical than "Alejandro Corner is a vain prick", but I guess that makes a certain amount of sense. I mean, the guy did have the Alvatore and Alvaaron painted entirely in gold, and UI windows projected onto the cockpit displays done up to look like ornate gold leaf picture frames.
Last edited by Seto Kaiba on Mon Nov 27, 2017 4:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Dark Duel
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Re: GN Drive Tau particle colors?

IIRC, JEFF is correct in that there literally is no technical explanation for the color difference beyond, as you so concisely put it, Alejandro Corner being "a vain prick" - as we know from S2, the negative effects of red GN[T] Drive particles are also present with the Alvatore/Alcaaron's, since they similarly had a negative effect on Lasse, as a result of his exposure and injury in the GN-Arms's destruction.
I do seem to recall that the orange GN-Partcles emitted by later GN[T] Drives lack this effect, but I cannot recall a source...nor can I think of any reason why this would be the case when it was not for Alvatore/Alvaaron's.
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Arsarcana
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Re: GN Drive Tau particle colors?

If it's the case (and I don't recall either way) then it probably has to do with the later GN[T] Drives being the result of several years additional development.
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MythSearcher
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Re: GN Drive Tau particle colors?

Dark Duel wrote: Mon Nov 27, 2017 2:53 pm I do seem to recall that the orange GN-Partcles emitted by later GN[T] Drives lack this effect, but I cannot recall a source...
MG GN-X manual p.2 lower right section last sentence is your source.

The toxicity of the early GN-drive tau is because of the compression rate, later it was improved and no longer toxic.
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SonicSP
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Re: GN Drive Tau particle colors?

Arsarcana wrote: Mon Nov 27, 2017 8:39 pm If it's the case (and I don't recall either way) then it probably has to do with the later GN[T] Drives being the result of several years additional development.
It is the extra development like you said since it stated that their performance has improved in general the Season 2 period.

The Corner faction originally wanted to make and use Original GN Drives for the first generation GN-X. However they were unable to do because they cannot make the TD Blankets. So they just created the GN Drive Tau (which replaces the core TD Blanket with an energy converter instead) as a temporary measure until they could finally produce them. The finalized first GN-X even had specifications geared towards equipping Original GN Drives that was still there and can equip them with very little work done to it.

However, by the time of the GN-XIII it was decided that the performance of the GN Drive Tau had improved and that there was no longer a need for the Original Drives. The external specifications geared towards Original Drive had also been phased out by the third generation GN-X.

In terms of output: a Season 2 Tau Drive was also able to match that of a Season 1 Original Drive, which was an improvement over the Season 1 Tau Drive that was inferior. A Season 2 Original Drive output however still beats a Season 2 Tau Drive. Basically [Season 2 Original > Season 1 Original = Season 2 Tau > Season 1 Tau].

Though when discussing the Tau beam poison thing, it's always important to note that Original Drive particles can also be poisonous in some circumstances. This is as seen in the Chall Plutone incident, where she suffered damage to her telomeres (which is the same as what the Tau beam poisoning does to you, damage to the telomeres is what prevents cell regeneration) This effect of the Original Drives was only removed by Ian after the incident when he got the medical data from Moreno and was able to do the required adjustments. It's possible that the Tau non-poison beam improvements were done in a similar fashion/method.

Also kinda shows how not dissimilar they are in the end at a fundamental level, despite some differences in the specific reactor models and settings. I think 00V Senki 4 even implies if not outright states that they can be used for Innovation, since the real cause of Innovation is the Trans Am System, which GN Drive Taus can do by the end of Season 2.
Seto Kaiba wrote: Mon Nov 27, 2017 12:37 pm... was kinda hoping for something more practical than "Alejandro Corner is a vain prick", but I guess that makes a certain amount of sense. I mean, the guy did have the Alvatore and Alvaaron painted entirely in gold, and UI windows projected onto the cockpit displays done up to look like ornate gold leaf picture frames.
There was also that gun he used and his spacesuit, another example of his gold fetish.

For what it's worth, the gold plating on Alvatore is noted to have anti beam properties. I can't remember the source though but I believe it's one of the 00N chapters. Seems to be fairly effective in Episode 25 too from the looks of it.

That adds it to the various anti beam coating already in the series including the OverFlags' black coating and Cherudim handguns' light blue coating (which seems to act more like a GN Field-layered solid blade in general, but is described in the manuals as using anti beam coating)
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Re: GN Drive Tau particle colors?

SonicSP wrote: Wed Nov 29, 2017 1:13 pm That adds it to the various anti beam coating already in the series including the OverFlags' black coating and Cherudim handguns' light blue coating (which seems to act more like a GN Field-layered solid blade in general, but is described in the manuals as using anti beam coating)
Minor correction here, the Cherudim handguns' anti beam coating is implied to be on the white part below the gun barrel, not the light blue parts, and is for parrying beam sabers. So unlike what some fans believed, the hatchet-like form of the handguns is for defensive purpose only.
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SonicSP
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Re: GN Drive Tau particle colors?

E08 wrote: Thu Nov 30, 2017 7:55 amMinor correction here, the Cherudim handguns' anti beam coating is implied to be on the white part below the gun barrel, not the light blue parts, and is for parrying beam sabers. So unlike what some fans believed, the hatchet-like form of the handguns is for defensive purpose only.
My bad, I actually meant the white part below the barrel like you said, but for some reason my mind misremembered the whole gun as white color with the lower anti beam coating part as blue - as opposed to the reality which is that the gun is mostly blue with a lower anti beam white part.

Anyways, the reason why I noted that it seems to act like a GN Field blade is not because the blades are offensive but because it was able to parry and hold against Arche's GN Field blade in Season 2 Episode 24 with no apparent issues. While the coated edge was designed to be primarily defensive, they were also able to block some amazing slashes from the giant sword of the three Tau Drive Arche with a post/semi post Trans Am Cherudim.

Lyle also had zero hesitation in blocking the attack that way in the battle more than once - as if it was part of the design specs. Some of Arche's swings, such the one not long before Trans Am Burst was activated, was a huge power attack that knocked Cherudim down while it was blocking with the guns. That means the edge must have the capability to absorb a lot of direct force from a fairly capable GN Field blade attack.

If we assume from the name that the anti beam coating only blocks beam sabers, it would likely have more issues parrying that, but this isn't the case. In addition, considering how common GNMS are with 1000+ units and the lance carrying GN-XIII being the majority of units, it would makes sense that the engineers would also design it to block solid melee GN attacks as the replacement to Cherudim's beam sabers.

Usually non-GN solid blades don't immediately break on contact with a GN Field sword as shown in Setsuna-Ali fight in Season 1 Episode 6, however they are still fairly vulnerable when the GN blade gets serious, which did happen in the same fight. So the anti beam coating only working with beam sabers doesn't seem to fit (and to be fair, it's not stated anywhere that it can only block beam sabers)

This makes me think that there has to be some sort of GN Field mechanism also in play in the GN Pistol II there to help the edge withstand the solid swords more reliably in addition to the anti beam coating. While they sometimes lose due to a difference degree of power, GN Field blades are generally able to block both other GN Field blades and beam sabers so it seems to be the technology that makes the most sense given the depiction.

Either that or the anti beam coating just also happens to also be good against GN Field blades in addition to the beam sabers, which can also make sense but this would make me disappointed in the name and mechanics profile writing. If it wasn't written in the manuals, I would certainly just assume Cherudim's pistols' edges used the same technology as the other solid GN blades from the way it's depicted in the anime, just with with gun-kata as the counteroffensive as opposed to melee smashes.
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