MSN-04 Sazabi

Model number: MSN-04
Code name: Sazabi
Unit type: prototype Newtype use mobile suit
Manufacturer: Anaheim Electronics
Operator: Neo Zeon
First deployment: UC 0093
Accommodation: pilot in panoramic monitor/linear seat cockpit in head
Dimensions: overall height 25.6 meters; head height 23.0 meters
Weight: empty 30.5 metric tons; max gross 71.2 metric tons
Armor materials: Gundarium alloy
Powerplant: Minovsky type ultracompact fusion reactor, output rated at 3,960 kW
Propulsion: rocket thrusters: 133,000 kg total (2 x 14,000 kg, 2 x 13,300 kg, 8 x 9,800 kg); vernier thrusters/apogee motors: 28
Equipment and design features: sensors, range 22,600 meters; psycommu system; psychoframe cockpit frame; 2 x external propellant tank, ejectable, mounted on backpack
Fixed armaments: diffuse mega particle cannon, power rated at 8.8 MW, mounted in torso; 2 x beam saber, stored in recharge racks in forearms, hand-carried in use
Optional fixed armaments: shield, mounted on either forearm, mounts 3 x small missile
Optional hand armaments: beam shot rifle, power rated at 10.2 MW, powered by rechargeable energy cap; beam tomahawk, stored in recharge rack in shield, hand-carried in use
Remote weapons: 6 x funnel (mounts beam gun, power rated at 10.6 MW), stored in backpack storage pods

When the presumed-dead Char Aznable made a surprise reappearance in the early UC 0090s, many surviving Zeon remnants and Spacenoid civilians who still desired independence from the Earth Federation welcomed him with open arms. Thus, a second Neo Zeon movement was started at the colony of Sweetwater, with Char as its leader. A new revolution against the Federation was now brewing, and as the new Neo Zeon military began building its forces, Char commissions his engineers to design him a custom mobile suit to take advantage of his Newtype abilities and superb piloting skills. This design was the MSN-04 Sazabi, and it was constructed by the Luna-based contractor Anaheim Electronics. Despite its large size and heavy armor, the Sazabi was equipped with enough thrusters and verniers to make it extremely maneuverable compared to mass-produced frontline mobile suits. It was equipped with a relatively high output generator, but most of its power was used to fire its abdomen-mounted diffuse mega particle cannon, whose beam was wide enough and powerful enough to destroy several mobile suits with a single shot. The Sazabi’s armament was rounded out by a pair of beam sabers, a large shield carrying three missiles and a large, hand-carried beam tomahawk, and a beam shot rifle, which operated like a beam rifle version of a shotgun.

The Sazabi was also designed as a Newtype’s weapon. Armed with six remote funnel units, Char could mentally control these weapons at great distances and without the disadvantage of Minovsky particle interference. His funnels were controlled via a fairly standard psycommu system, but the Sazabi was also the first mobile suit to feature a revolutionary new piece of Newtype-use technology. This feature was called the psychoframe, and it involved constructing the cockpit’s frame with a material composed of microscopic psycommu receptors, thus increasing the pilot’s Newtype sensitivity and responsiveness. Strangely enough, Char – for reasons known only to himself – authorized Anaheim to pass along the psychoframe technology to the Earth Federation Forces’ Londo Bell task force, who also contracted with Anaheim to construct a new mobile suit to be used by Char’s old rival, Amuro Ray.

Always having been a soldier who preferred to lead his troops into battle rather than command from the rear lines, Char deployed quite often in his crimson-red Sazabi during the Second Neo Zeon War that started when he began bombarding Earth with asteroids in UC 0093. Soon enough, Char came up against Amuro in his own psychoframe-equipped mobile suit, the RX-93 v Gundam, and their battle of Newtype minds and mecha reached its fateful, inevitable conclusion. Psychoframe development continued after the war, and Anaheim created a successor unit, the MSN-06S Sinanju Stein, which served as a test bed for a full body psychoframe. The two suits was stolen by Neo Zeon’s “Sleeves” faction and one was fielded as the restyled MSN-06S Sinanju. It was piloted by the mysterious Full Frontal, a man often called “the second coming of Char.” In UC 0096, former Neo Zeon engineer Arlette Almage investigated the wrecked Sazabi, which crash landed on Axis after Char’s cockpit pod was ripped out during the battle three years earlier.

Pilot: Char Aznable
First appearance: Mobile Suit Gundam: Char’s Counterattack
Original mechanical designer: Yutaka Izubuchi

Beam saber

Beam shot rifle

Cockpit hatch

Hand launchers

Head

Rear view

Shield