Model
number: RX-178 Code name: Gundam Mark II Unit type: prototype general purpose mobile suit Manufacturer: Earth Federation Forces (Titans) Operator(s): AEUG (Anti-Earth Union Group); Titans First deployment: December UC 0086 Accommodation: pilot only, in panoramic monitor/linear seat
cockpit in torso Dimensions: overall height 19.6 meters; head height 18.5
meters Weight: empty 33.4 metric tons; max gross 54.1 metric tons;
mass ratio 1.44 Armor materials: titanium alloy/ceramic composite Powerplant: Minovsky type ultracompact fusion reactor,
output rated at 1930 kW Propulsion: rocket thrusters: 4 x 20300 kg; vernier thrusters/apogee
motors: 10 Performance: maximum thruster acceleration 1.50 G Equipment and design features: sensors, range 11300 meters Fixed armaments: 2 x
XB-G-1048L
(Titans) /
A*E-Br*G-Sc-L
(AEUG) beam saber, power rated at 0.45 MW,
stored in recharge racks on backpack, hand-carried in use Optional fixed armaments: VCU-505EX-Gry/Ver.009
(Titans) /
VCU-505EX-V*B/Ver.012
(AEUG) 60mm 2-barrel vulcan pod,
1400 rounds total, mounted on head;
RX*M-Sh-VT/S-00018
(Titans) / RX*M-Sh-VT/S-001
(AEUG) shield, mounted on either
forearm Optional hand armaments: BOWA*XBR-M-86-C2
(Titans) /
A*E-Br*XBR-87-C
(AEUG) beam rifle, power rated at 2.6
MW, powered by replaceable e-pac, 2 spare e-pacs stored in shield;
H-Baz-85-Gry/Ver.045
(Titans) /
H-Baz-87-A*E/Ver.004
(AEUG) 360mm hyper bazooka, clip-fed, 7 rounds per clip plus 1 round
in chamber, can be stored on rear skirt armor storage rack; AE/ZIM.C-BAZ-531 clay
bazooka, clip-fed, 7 rounds per clip plus 1 round in chamber,
can be stored on rear skirt armor storage rack
Technical
and Historical Notes
Shortly
before the outbreak of the Gryps Conflict, the Earth Federation Forces'
Titans branch was hard at work developing its own mobile weapons
in secret as part of its goal of subjugating the Earth Sphere.
One of their earliest and more revolutionary designs was the
RX-178 Gundam Mark II, based loosely on the well-known RX-78-2
Gundam from the One Year War. Although designed as a general
purpose mobile suit, the Gundam Mark II was intended to be a
highly capable unit under gravity and atmosphere - specifically,
when fighting inside space colonies. Three prototype units were
constructed at the Titans' base at the Gryps colonies, with
plans to mass-produce the Mark II already in the works.
The main technical advancement introduced with the Mark II was
the "movable frame" construction concept. Up until that point,
almost all mobile suits were built on the "monocoque" construction
concept - with the external armor serving as a "shell" that
supported all of the thrusters, joints, hydraulics, fuel tanks,
et cetera, that were stored inside. The movable frame concept
turned this design philosophy around; the Gundam Mark II was
built around a skeleton-like frame, with all thrusters, fuel
tanks, weapons and so forth mounted on the frame, and minimal
amounts of armor applied to those critical areas that needed
protection. With the advent of portable beam weaponry, a mobile
suit was typically destroyed with one or two well-placed shots
regardless of its armor; therefore, it was decided that otherwise
useless armor would be sacrificed for lighter weight - and thus
greater speed and maneuverability. When word of the Mark II's
development reached the underground Anti-Earth Union Group movement,
its leaders decided to move openly to capture one of the prototype
mobile suits. Not only would this serve to give the AEUG access
to the movable frame technology, but it would allow them to
openly prove to the entire Earth Sphere that the Titans - now
developing new war technologies - had other plans for the otherwise
independent-minded space colonists.
On March 2, UC 0087,
AEUG Captain Quattro Bajeena (the incognito Zeon ace pilot Char
Aznable of the One Year War) led a team of Rick
Dias mobile suits into the Gryps II space colony to gather
reconnaissance data and - if possible - capture one of the "black
Gundams." Luck would be with Captain Quattro, as a young boy
named Kamille Bidan would find himself in dire straights with
the Titans... and being a mobile suit construction hobbyist,
soon at the controls of one of the Gundams. With a newfound
ally in the boy, Quattro would manage to capture all three Mark
II prototypes. However, the Titans were not so willing to give
up their prototypes, and the first days of the Gryps Conflict would
focus on who would own the three mobile suits. In the end, the
AEUG would come out the winner of the prizes: Unit 02 was heavily
damaged in combat; Units 01 and 02 were disassembled and shipped
off to the AEUG-supporting Anaheim Electronics Company's lunar
factory for study; and Unit 03 would be repainted in a more
traditional midnight-blue-on-white color scheme and remain in
the hands of new AEUG recruit Kamille Bidan.
However, the AEUG soon found its newly-acquired Gundam Mark
II to be outclassed by newer and more powerful variable-form
mobile suits/mobile armor being developed and fielded by the
Titans. One serious design flaw in the Mark II was its older-style
titanium alloy/ceramic composite armor; this factor, combined
with its rather unremarkable armament of 2 beam sabers, an optional
head-mounted vulcan gun pod, and beam rifle, made the Mark II
little more than a remake of the original RX-78-2
Gundam. As Anaheim Electronics continued its "Z Project"
of next-generation mobile suit development for the AEUG, new
items were needed to help boost the Mark II's performance. The
first of these was the Flying Armor,
a sub-flight system based on the new "waverider" technology
being developed for the MSZ-006 Zeta Gundam.
The Flying Armor unit - built exclusively for the Mark II -
allowed the Mark II to safely enter the Earth's atmosphere,
and then act as a sub-flight unit, giving the Mark II unprecedented
mobility in atmospheric combat. Later on, as Kamille moved on
to pilot the new MSZ-006 Zeta Gundam
and the Mark II was passed off to former Titans member-turned-AEUG
pilot Emma Sheen, a second support system for the Mark II was
developed: the FXA-05D G-Defensor,
a space fighter-like vehicle that could combine with the Mark
II into the Super Gundam, putting
the Mark II on a more equal footing with the Titans' high-performance
variable mobile suits/mobile armor. At the end of the Gryps Conflict in early UC 0088, the Mark II was heavily damaged. After
being repaired on the Anaheim Electronics ship La
Vie en Rose, the Mark II was put back into service until
it was critically damaged almost a year later in Axis during
the final battle of the First Neo Zeon War.
