AMX-109 Capule

Model number: AMX-109
Code name: Capule
Unit type: prototype amphibious mobile suit
Manufacturer: Neo Zeon
Operator(s): Neo Zeon; Zeon remnants
First deployment: August UC 0088
Accommodation: pilot in panoramic monitor/linear seat cockpit in torso
Dimensions: mobile suit mode: head height 16.5 meters; mobile armor mode: overall height 9.9 meters, overall length 10.8 meters
Weight: empty 38.7 metric tons; max gross 57.5 metric tons; mass ratio 1.35
Armor materials: Gundarium alloy (two-layered)
Powerplant: Minovsky type ultracompact fusion reactor, output rated at 1,840 kW
Propulsion: rocket thrusters: 6,800 kg total; vernier thrusters/apogee motors: 12
Equipment and design features: sensors, range 12,300 meters
Fixed armaments: laser beam eye, mounted on head; sonic blast, mounted on main body; 8 x missile launcher, mounted in main body; 2 x iron nail, mounted on hands
Optional hand armaments: none

As Neo Zeon launched its invasion of Earth during the First Neo Zeon War in UC 0088, they employed several new mobile suit designs built for terrestrial combat. One of these units was the AMX-109 Capule, which was an amphibious mobile suit based loosely on the old Principality of Zeon’s MSM-03 Gogg from the One Year War. Armed with eight missile launchers, a sonic blast weapon in its waist, and a laser beam eye on its small, flat head, this small mobile suit packed an enormous amount of firepower for its size, all cooled by a hydro-cooling system. The Capule’s arms could fold up inside its main body and its legs could fold back, turning the mobile suit into a mobile armor-like form that was faster and more streamlined when moving underwater. In its mobile armor mode, the Capule could also move along the water’s surface in a fashion similar to a hovercraft. However, the Capule seemed to have lost many of the lessons learned by the Principality of Zeon during its amphibious mobile suit development during the One Year War. As a result, the Capule proved to be an inefficient design and was highly unpopular with its pilots. However, the Capule remained in use with Zeon remnants and participated in attacks on the Earth Federation capital Dakar and Australia’s Torrington Base in UC 0096.

Pilot: Taman
First appearance: Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ
Original mechanical designer(s): Yutaka Izubuchi (principal design, Gundam ZZ version), Yoshinori Sayama (cleanup, Gundam ZZ version), Hajime Katoki (Gundam Unicorn version)

Rear view (Version 1)

Rear view (Version 3)