Question on GN Drives in 00

[DocMcCoy]

So I was rewatching Gundam 00 and i noticed somethings and had questions.

In the recap episode (16) in season 1 one of the observers mentioned that there were 5 GN drives they know (around 19min 30sec into episode) of while discussing the appearance of the Thrones. Where would this 5th drive have been? The side story mangas have more than one unit and I dont recall hearing of any backup drives on the Ptolemaios. Or simply was this an error in the english dubbing?

Second question is during Setsuna's final fight with Alejandro Corner and his GNMS-XCVII Alvaaron, I noticed the color of the Alvaaron's GN drive is also gold/yellow. Is there any sort of explanation for this?

[hellbore]

Yes, actually there are.

1) The fifth Drive was used by 0 Gundam, seen by Setsuna at the very beginning of the series. As of the TV series it is being used by another branch of Celestial Being, known as Fereshte as told in the side-story 00F. This plays a fairly significant role in the second half.

2) GN Particles can be tuned for different effectiveness and this affects the visible colour of the particles. E.g. the green colour from the Gundams is tuned for maximum compression, while the red particles from the GN-Xs are tuned for beam potency, and as a side-affect are poisonous. The gold colour for the Alvaaron is the same tuning, beam potency, but ties into his gold fetish. Noexplaination is given to why gold is the same as red.

[DocMcCoy]

Well awesome, solid answer for my questions thank you
Ive seen all of 00 but spaced on 0 Gundams GN Drive, and have only just gotten the first volume of 00F.

[AnimeMun]

Yes, actually there are.

1) The fifth Drive was used by 0 Gundam, seen by Setsuna at the very beginning of the series. As of the TV series it is being used by another branch of Celestial Being, known as Fereshte as told in the side-story 00F. This plays a fairly significant role in the second half.

2) GN Particles can be tuned for different effectiveness and this affects the visible colour of the particles. E.g. the green colour from the Gundams is tuned for maximum compression, while the red particles from the GN-Xs are tuned for beam potency, and as a side-affect are poisonous. The gold colour for the Alvaaron is the same tuning, beam potency, but ties into his gold fetish. Noexplaination is given to why gold is the same as red.

The explaination for the poisonous effects is more the fact of the level of research that actually went into it, that they are missing VITAL components (TD Blanket). In season two they've worked a stop gap to clear out GN poisoning and even drugs to treat those afflicted with it.

[SonicSP]

The explaination for the poisonous effects is more the fact of the level of research that actually went into it, that they are missing VITAL components (TD Blanket). In season two they've worked a stop gap to clear out GN poisoning and even drugs to treat those afflicted with it.

According to 300 Years Later sourcebook,the GN Particles produced by both original Drives and pseudo Drives are fundamentally the same,without much difference.The reason on why there is an appearance as well as an effects difference is because the Tau Drive's particle wavelength was purposely tuned towards a beam potency focus,the sideffects of it being the poisonous effect in their beams.

The reason they had to do this is because Pseudo Drives lacking the same average particle output as real GN Drives,because of their energy concerns [Since they do not produce any net energy like the Originals] so they are unable to use the green wavelength economically[which is more compression based,taking advantage of the higher average output of the original Drives],the red wavelength is to help improve the economics of scale when it comes to particle usage in beams,an important feature in GNMS weapons.

The Federation have found a way to solve this issue in S2,so the particles in those Drives use a different wavelength than the previous Tau Drives.These Drives also have improved particles output,Tau Drives in S2 can now match an original Drives's average particles output in S1.[However,the Original Drives's performance in S2 have advanced beyond that,so the psuedo's output is still relatively inferior according to the 2nd mechanics sourcebook].

But if I'm not mistaken,C.A. mentioned that the 300 Years sourcebook reason Alejandro's particles use gold is simple purely color modification because he loves the color gold so much,it doesn't bring in any new effects to the standard Tau configuration back then and is as poisonous as normal S1 standard Tau Drives,as we have seen with Lasse being poisoned from it.

The role of the TD Blanket is purely for providing the unlimited operational time to original Drive as its core componant.

[AnimeMun]

The explaination for the poisonous effects is more the fact of the level of research that actually went into it, that they are missing VITAL components (TD Blanket). In season two they've worked a stop gap to clear out GN poisoning and even drugs to treat those afflicted with it.

According to 300 Years Later sourcebook,the GN Particles produced by both original Drives and pseudo Drives are fundamentally the same,without much difference.The reason on why there is an appearance as well as an effects difference is because the Tau Drive's particle wavelength was purposely tuned towards a beam potency focus,the sideffects of it being the poisonous effect in their beams.

The reason they had to do this is because Pseudo Drives lacking the same average particle output as real GN Drives,because of their energy concerns [Since they do not produce any net energy like the Originals] so they are unable to use the green wavelength economically[which is more compression based,taking advantage of the higher average output of the original Drives],the red wavelength is to help improve the economics of scale when it comes to particle usage in beams,an important feature in GNMS weapons.

The Federation have found a way to solve this issue in S2,so the particles in those Drives use a different wavelength than the previous Tau Drives.These Drives also have improved particles output,Tau Drives in S2 can now match an original Drives's average particles output in S1.[However,the Original Drives's performance in S2 have advanced beyond that,so the psuedo's output is still relatively inferior according to the 2nd mechanics sourcebook].

But if I'm not mistaken,C.A. mentioned that the 300 Years sourcebook reason Alejandro's particles use gold is simple purely color modification because he loves the color gold so much,it doesn't bring in any new effects to the standard Tau configuration back then and is as poisonous as normal S1 standard Tau Drives,as we have seen with Lasse being poisoned from it.

The role of the TD Blanket is purely for providing the unlimited operational time to original Drive as its core componant.

I had always heard that the TD Blanket worked as something of a filter that worked out impurities in GN particles. Said impurities being then refined into more GN particles and that the energy produced by that is what helps make the use time unlimited. Is there any documentation on how the original drives have their infinite use capacity?

[VentZX]

I had always heard that the TD Blanket worked as something of a filter that worked out impurities in GN particles.

That was fan theory. You see, the true GN Drives produce energy via a Topological Defect, that would take place in the TD Blanket. It's not a question then of "purifying" because if you think about it, how can a particle be impure? It's even stated in later information that the GN[T] drives in 00S2, which have a noticeably different color than the blood red Tau drives in S1, no longer have the harmful effect. They didn't suddenly figure out how to make TD Blankets on a large scale between seasons, so it's all about the output of the drives.

[SonicSP]

I had always heard that the TD Blanket worked as something of a filter that worked out impurities in GN particles. Said impurities being then refined into more GN particles and that the energy produced by that is what helps make the use time unlimited. Is there any documentation on how the original drives have their infinite use capacity?

That filter theory was an old theory that goes back even to the days of S1. It was a decent theory considering the lack of clarification back then but it no longer has any merits based on sources releases since then.

As for how the originals use their infinite use, the originals power source in truth is stated to be Byronic matter, which is available almost anywhere and around them. They use a certain type of topological defect, and using the Byronic matter as a source they generate energy from this [The energy type is unspecified as far as I know], and the GN Particles are a byproduct of this energy generation process. This is all possible because of the TD Blanket, which allows this unlimited energy use possible. [Some say that the topological defect itself is stored in the TD Blanket, which may explain why its so hard to make.]

As for Tau Drives, we don't know how exactly they work as much as we do the originals. All we know that it uses electricity supply[its own] as a powersource and this energy is somehow converted into GN Particles. Its time limit is due to it using an extinguishable power source which is its own electricity supply, rather than an almost unlimited one like Byronic matter with the originals.

Its possible that Tau Drive uses some sort of artificial man made topological defect that is easy to generate but dissipates when the electricity runs out, since we know that Tau Drives require specific "starter machine" at base, just in order to be activated. But we don’t know for sure whether they actually use some sort of inferior topological defect or not.A similar topological defect may be needed, especially if the GN Particles generation function requires it, inferior or not. [Since the original furnace itself the particles are a direct byproduct of the energy generation process from the topological defect]

The only know exception to the "Starter Machine" requirement is the Gundam Throne's GN Drive Taus,as stated in the 00V Throne Veranus profile. But this is only because they have onboard miniaturized starter machines as the profile states. The GN-X and the Throne Veranus itself is stated to have need the base starter machine.