By Loran
Welcome to part one of two of a special on what I think is one of the most important parts of any mobile suit: the weapons. Some suits are known for their distinctive weapons, but if you play through any Gundam video game, specifically games like Zeonic Front or Operation Troy, you’ll find that some mecha don’t always stick to their assigned weapons. Mixing and matching weapons offers for some fun customization opportunities, or for a chance to recreate that one cool-looking Zaku that appeared in the background of that one scene of episode 7 of Gundam 0083! This article is only going to cover weapons used by both sides during the One Year War at HGUC 1/144 scale. The list isn’t quite complete because there are a few kits I don’t have yet, and I’m not going to cover “unique” weapons such as the Guncannon’s beam rifle or the Gyan’s shield. This is going to focus on weapons seen on multiple suits, usually thanks to video games or animation errors.
Federation Weapons and Armor:
Gundam’s Beam Rifle-The Gundam’s classic weapon, possibly one of the most iconic weapons in all of Gundam. Usually only seen in the Gundam’s hand, this weapon was also seen used by a GM in its first appearance, although that was likely due to an animation error.
Available with: Any incarnation of the RX-78 Gundam.
“Ground Type” beam rifle: A less-powerful but still effective version of the Gundam’s beam rifle, this one gained its fame in The 08th MS Team, and was used by many of the Federation suits in that series, mainly the Gundam and GM ground types, but is also compatible with many other Federation models
Available with: Gundam Ground Type, Gundam Blue Destiny Units 2 and 3.
Beam Spray Gun: The GM’s trademark gun. A smaller, less powerful but more energy efficient version of the Gundam’s beam rifle. Commonly used by suits with much smaller generators.
Available with: Any incarnation of the classic RGM-79 GM.
Machine Gun, type 1: This gun was introduced in the Gundam 0080 OVA and appeared in many video games since then. It’s probably the single most common weapon used by the Federation, and actually made a cameo appearance in an episode of Gundam Wing, being used by a Taurus.
Available with: RGM-79G GM Command, RX-78GP01 Gundam GP01, RX-77D Guncannon Mass Production Type, RGM-79 Powered GM.
Machine Gun, Type 2: Another very common gun used by the Federation, this one has a clip system where extra magazines are attached to the hips of the suit it was designed for. It appeared first in 08th MS Team and got very prominent roles in video games since then.
Available with: Gundam Ground Type, GM Blue Destiny Unit 1, GM Striker.
Hyper Bazooka: Another one of the Gundam’s classic weapons, the Hyper Bazooka sees a lot of use on the classic GM as well. It’s a hard-hitting weapon that’s actually pretty easy to fit in the hands of a lot of other models. It’s big, bad and intimidating.
Available with: Any incarnation of the RX-78 Gundam.
Federation “Cross” Shield: The classic shield of the Gundam and GM, and was even used by a few Zeon suits during the war (specifically, Matt Austin’s Zaku I and Arth’s Zaku II). There is also a cross-less variant seen on some later incarnations of the design.
Available with: Any incarnations of the RX-78 Gundam and RGM-79 GM (with cross), RGM-79 Powered GM, Gundam Blue Destiny Unit 3, GM Cold District (without cross).
Standard Federation Shield: This one made its debut in Gundam 0080 and was featured on many of the GM variants in that OVA and Gundam 0083, later being carried over to the Hazels in Advance of Zeta. It’s a personal favorite of mine, having a very “urban commando” look to it.
Available with: RGM-79G GM Command, RGM-79GS GM Command Space Type (with molded-on Federation insignia), RGM-79Q GM Quel, all incarnations of the Gundam Hazel, Gundam Blue Destiny Unit 2
Federation “MS Team” shield: These debuted in 08th MS Team featured on (what else!) the Mobile Suit squadrons in that series. These are usually denoted by a team marker such as the number telling what unit the suit belongs to, or sometimes a unit number.
Available with: Gundam Ground Type, GM Blue Destiny Unit 1, GM Striker (modified version)
Beam Saber: It’s, well, the beam saber. There’s not much more to say about it. It’s probably the only close combat weapon Federation suits have, being more than a match for just about every melee weapon the Zeon suits have.
Available with: Just about everything that isn’t a Guncannon or Guntank.
Gundam Hammer: You want to go medieval on some Zeon tail? Then you want this nasty bugger. It only appeared a few times in animation-it was actually cut from the movie adaptation of the original series-but it’s ridiculous and awesome, and actually found its way into the hands of a Gundam Ground Type in 08th MS Team.
Available with: 30th Anniversary Gundam.
That concludes the special on Federation weapons. I didn’t cover a few because they haven’t been seen in the HGUC line yet. Most of these weapons are compatible between suits, thanks to very similar hand styles. The only one that would be any problem would be the Mass Production Type Guncannon, thanks to its enormous mits. Next up, I’m going to be covering the Zeon weapons. Oh boy…
