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Taking combat photography to new heights! |
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A while back I found something truly interesting; a thing that I honestly think that all UC Gundam fans must see. This amazing find was a website that contained the pictures of Mobile Suit Gundam MS Era.
Don't worry, it may be an Italian site, but the captions are in English. I must warn you, though, that some parts either feature out-dated translations or incorrect translations (e.g. one caption claims that Gihren is the brother of Degwin).
Mobile Suit Gundam MS Era was created by Yutaka Izubuchi, the Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: A War in the Pocket mechanical designer. It does contain quite a bit of useful information and dates, although some parts aren't really taken as part of the "accepted" timeline anymore.
Does it mesh perfectly with all other UC Gundam sources?
No. It has its fair share (okay, more than its fair share) of inconsistencies. Then again, you can say the same about most Gundam source publications.
One of the things you may notice right off the bat are the MS-06 Zaku IIs presented. They all seem to be MS-06FZ Zaku II FZs, don't they? This obviously impossible as the MS-06 Zaku II FZ was produced during the back-end of the war. There is, however, an easy explanation. Originally, Yutaka Izubuchi intended for the Zakus he designed for Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: A War in the Pocket to just be updated mechanical designs of the MS-06 Zaku II, not an entirely new MS-06 Zaku II in-of-itself. Obviously that didn't happen. As such, all of the Zakus you'll see in MS Era will seem to be the Zaku II FZ, because Izubuchi never intended them to become an entirely new Zaku II variant. The same can be said of the RGM-79 GMs we see in this picture, which have entered UC Gundam history as the RGM-79G (RGM-79GS) GM Command despite Izubuchi's intentions; as well as the RGM-79SP GM Sniper II, which Izubuchi intended to be the RGM-79SC GM Sniper Custom.
There are, however, some good things that we get from Mobile Suit Gundam: MS Era. These include roll-out dates for the RGM-79 GM, the MS-R09 Rick Dom, and the MS-14 Gelgoog. It also gives us the birth year Zeon Zum Deikun and the year Side 2 was completed. And those aren't even all of them.
The illustrations are absolutely awesome. You may even spot some of your favorite characters from UC Gundam.
Enjoy!
(Note: Basically anything more in-depth than the official Bandai timeline on Gundam Official is a mixing and mashing of various sources. As such, we must take what we get and try to develop as clear a picture as possible for UC Gundam as we can, which isn't always easy, as no publications are perfect. They often contradict each other, to say nothing about them often contradicting themselves.)
Mobile Suit Gundam MS ERA 0099
Now, onto some notes about the pictures...
Image 28- Looks like Steiner Hardy, doesn't it? Probably is.
Image 30- As the caption states, this battle took place in February UC 0079, at a bridge in Heidelberg, Germany. However, the first drop operation takes place on March 1, UC 0079, in which the 1st Mobile Division was deployed to Central Asia via drop from orbit. They'd only reached the Caspian Sea by March 3. That doesn't really jive, does it? If this were an advance force, however, it would be more plausible. After all, Zeon's Earth invasion operation officially began on February 2, and we do have Principality of Zeon units on Earth during Operation British, as evidenced by the Mobile Suit Gundam: Zeonic Front novels. (Schmitzer, would-be commander of the Midnight Fenrir, was part of an advanced force charged with clearing the way for the colony. It was during this fight that Schmitzer was injured and his piloting career ended.) However, this too might be contradicted by the fact that MS Era gives us a total of 23,000 EF and 7,000 Zeon casualties before the bridge falls. That would be some serious advance force, then.
We might be able to reconcile this image with the note that this battle took two weeks. If the initial force attacking the bridge began doing so toward the end of February, then they might have received reinforcements from their main forces entering into Western Europe behind them. Considering that I don't have any more information on this image in front of me, I'm just speculating. Take this as you will. ^_^
Image 33- This image is dated in February, but the Earth Attack Force didn't capture New Yark until March 15, UC 0079. Oops.
Image 50- The Cyclops Team! Steiner, Mischa, Andy, and Garcia are all there... along with one other soldier.
Image 54- Considering that this image is dated to be in August, we might as well place the "Rhine fording operation" some time in late-July to August.
Image 56- Lt. General Nguen Vao Hai arrives sometime in August, obviously, as that's when the picture is dated.
Image 58- Garma Zabi, you sly dog! This image is making an allusion to the ball that Garma Zabi attends before he dies. As such, it's dated wrong. This actually occurs on October 3 or 4, UC 0079.
Image 59- Gihren's speech at his brother's funeral takes place on October 6, UC 0079, despite the dating on the image.
Image 60- It's Christina Mackenzie! The pictures is dated to be in September, which would make sense.
Image 64- The dating on this image is probably not accurate, unless Char went to see Lalah on his R&R time before discovering Operation V. Otherwise, this image would probably be in December of UC 0079.
Image 65- An RGM-79. Considering that Itzubuchi never really intended for his RGM-79 GMs to be entirely new models, I don't know what to think about this image. We know it as the RGM-79SP GM Sniper II. Considering that the picture is dated in October, this is all a bit sketchy. After all, the GM Sniper II isn't introduced until December. This, of course, is just me nit-picking. In actuality, Itzubuchi intended his sniper-model RGM-79 GM to be an updated design of the RGM-79SC GM Sniper Custom found in Mobile Suit Gundam MSV.
Image 73- Quite frankly, given the specified date, this couldn't really be right. Although Mobile Suits did take part in specific Zeon military actions before the One Year War, none of these is specified to have involved terrestrial combat. The One Year War began on January 3, UC 0079, so it's kind of hard to reconcile this one...
Image 75- This one is obviously of Belfast, Ireland. If you look closely in the backround, you can see the White Base. This means that picture would probably be dated somewhere around November 18-21, UC 0079.
Image 77- This image of the liberation of Liverpool is dated as November 15 (or is it 19?), UC 0079. General Revil must have had much to smile about that month.
Image 82- By far one of my favorites. Its dated as late November, UC 0079, so it fits just right. I love it.
Image 83- Dated in December, so this beauty pageant would have had to have gone on sometime late on December 31, UC 0079.
Image 85- California Base on December 4, UC 0079. The Earth Federation captured this base only eleven days later, so I imagine that the base was probably sending as many soldiers into space as possible at that time.
Image 89- That's obviously the MS-18E Kampher, and it's dated just right; the day after Chris and the "Alex" shot it down. Also, if I'm not mistaken, that's the captain of the Grey Phantom posing in front of it.
Image 90- If you look closely, in the upper left of the "photograph," you can see a Pegaus-class ship. I'd bet good money that it's the White Base.
Image 91- Another well-dated picture, taken right after the death of Bernie.
Image 94- Captain Von Hellsing surrendering to the Earth Federation Space Force at 10:55 AM.
Image 97- Commander Killing must have killed himself in the war's final hours: the picture is dated December 31, UC 0079.
Images 98 and 99- January 1, UC 0080. The war ends, the soldiers pick up women, and the people dance in the streets. biggrin
Image 101- Well, this tells us that Federation troops basically carried off Gihren Zabi's former staff on January 6, UC 0080.
 NowhereManXP · Wed Nov 30, 2005 @ 02:19am · 0 Comments |
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