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 Centuries in the future, in the year A.C (After Colony) 195. For nearly 200 years the human race has been colonising space. Earth is surrounded by orbiting space colonies, inhabited by millions of people who are being cruelly oppressed by the Earth Alliance, which uses huge humanoid fighting machines called "mobile suits" to control the populace. These new weapons are provided by the Romefeller Foundation, a powerful arms manufacturer, who exercise influence over the alliance through the machinations of a secret society called Oz, who operate under the guise of an elite mobile suit corps, the Specials.
Now, the space colonies are ready to strike back and Operation Meteor is launched. Five young pilots, equipped with advanced mobile suits called Gundams, are sent to Earth to wage guerrilla war against Oz and its Alliance puppets. The war to decide humanity's destiny begins...
These are the five high tech flying suits worn by the rebel space colonists which enable them to take on their enemies. They come in different shapes and sizes each one carrying its own unique arsenal.
The Gundam series is largely limited to Earth, the Moon, and the hundreds of artificial space colonies that orbit Earth. Some side stories go as far afield as Mars and Jupiter, but all the animated features to date have taken place within the "Earth sphere".
These are the oppressed people who live on space colonies orbiting the Earth.
They are being oppressed by the Earth Alliance who in turn are controlled by a shady organisation called Oz.
Q. What are mobile suits?
Mobile suits are one of Gundam's trademarks. These are giant robots, humanoid fighting machines operated by human pilots; they are typically 15 to 25 metres (50 to 80 feet) tall.
Oz was a subsidiary of the Romefeller Foundation who first constructed the military flying suits. Oz infiltrates the Alliance military under the guise of an elite mobile suit corps. It’s aim is to further the plans of the foundation.
The colonists campaign against the Earth foundation is launched on April 7, AC 195 - twenty years to the day after Oz assassins killed colony leader Heero Yuy.
Yes, but you will need to keep on reading.
Age: 15
Ethnic origin: Japanese
Place of origin: L1 colony cluster
Height: 156 cm
Weight: 45 kg
Eye colour: Prussian blue
Hair colour: Dark brown
This mysterious youth was sent from the L1 space colony cluster to fight against Oz. He goes by the alias Heero Yuy, after the martyred leader of the space colonies; his real name, like almost everything else about him, is unknown. Heero has been trained since childhood for his role as pilot of the Wing Gundam, an upbringing that has made him cold and ruthless. But thanks to his years of training, Heero has become a perfect soldier equally skilled in personal combat, explosives, and computer hacking.
This advanced mobile suit was created by a resistance group at the L1 colony cluster for the sole purpose of battling Oz. The Wing Gundam can transform into a winged "bird mode" superior to any conventional fighter plane; in this form, it can survive re-entry and fly in Earth's atmosphere. Its primary weapon is the buster rifle, an immensely powerful beam weapon which can be fired only three times before its energy supply must be recharged. For close-range combat, the Wing Gundam relies on its shoulder-mounted machine cannons and the beam sabres stored in its shield.
Age: 15
Ethnic origin: American
Place of origin: L2 colony cluster
Height: 156 cm
Weight: 43 kg
Eye colour: Cobalt blue
Hair colour: Brown
Duo is a member of the scavenger organisation known as the Sweeper Group, which sent him to Earth to battle Oz. Despite the hardships he's suffered in his young life, Duo is always cheerful and good-natured.
This scythe-toting Gundam was created near the L2 colony cluster by the Sweeper Group salvage organisation. The Deathscythe is equipped with hyper jammers that conceal it from cameras and radar, allowing this Gundam to ambush enemy mobile suits and strike them down with one blow from its mighty beam scythe. Its buster shield also emits an energy blade, and can even be launched at nearby foes.
Age: 15?
Ethnic origin: Unknown
Place of origin: L3 colony cluster?
Height: 160 cm
Weight: 44 kg
Eye colour: Dark green
Hair colour: Brown
The most mysterious of the Gundam pilots, the young man who calls himself Trowa was sent to Earth as the pilot of the Gundam Heavyarms. The cool, quiet Trowa has nerves of steel and superb reflexes, qualities that serve him well in his cover identity as an acrobatic clown in a travelling circus troupe. He also has soldiering experience far beyond his years.
The Gundam Heavyarms was created by resistance fighters at the L3 colony cluster. Designed for long-range attacks, this Gundam is packed with guns and missiles from head to foot. The Heavyarms's primary weapon is the lethal beam worn over its left hand, supplemented by homing missiles in its shoulders, micro missiles on its legs, and guns concealed inside its chest. When it's exhausted its ammunition the Heavyarms must fall back on the small knife mounted on its right forearm.
Age: 15
Ethnic origin: Arabian
Place of origin: L4 colony cluster
Height: 156 cm
Weight: 41 kg
Eye colour: Blue
Hair colour: Platinum gold
Quatre is a young aristocrat, the thirtieth child - and only son - of a wealthy family of space colony developers. The most tender-hearted of the Gundam pilots, Quatre is just as brave and determined, and has defied his family's wishes in order to join the battle against Oz. Quatre is aided by a troop of forty loyal underlings and can draw on the Winner family’s vast resources.
The Gundam Sandrock was created at the L4 colony cluster, using the resources of the wealthy Winner family. This powerful, heavily armoured Gundam is designed for hand-to-hand combat, and is particularly well-suited to desert conditions. Its main weapons are the curved, heat-radiating blades of its heat beams; the Sandrock is strong enough to wield one of these huge blades with a single hand, or strike simultaneously with both. The Sandrock can mount its backpack, shield, and both heat beams on its forearm to perform a deadly pincer attack called the ‘cross crusher.’
Treize is the charming, charismatic leader of Oz - and of the Specials, the elite Earth Alliance taskforce which serves as Oz's disguise. He is a pure aristocrat, who lives by a code of chivalry and conducts himself as a gentleman even while plotting cruel treachery and bloody revolution. Treize's wicked schemes are rooted in a nobleman's conviction that conflict and war serve to strengthen and improve the human spirit. He is admired by Oz's soldiers; feared by his Alliance superiors; and a close, trusted friend to ace pilot Zechs Merquise.
This masked warrior is Oz's top mobile suit pilot. Up until now, Oz has disguised itself as the Earth Federation's elite ‘Specials’ taskforce, and Zechs has accumulated numerous distinctions during his career in the Specials. He earned the highest marks in the history of the Lake Victoria military academy, received the first two-rank promotion in the history of the Specials, and acquired the nickname "Lightning Baron" for his exploits. Zechs's accomplishments have made him a hero among Oz's soldiers, but this master soldier is cunning enough not to overestimate his own abilities or underestimate those of his enemies.
Noin is a good friend of Zechs from his days at the Lake Victoria military academy. After graduation, she joined the academy's staff, and now trains new Specials recruits in the art of space combat. Though Noin is a formidable mobile suit pilot, she doesn't much care for fighting, and she often uses her influence with Oz's leader to try to resolve crisis situations peacefully.
Lady Une is Treize's loyal aide and agent, whom he often assigns to assassinate enemies or command important field operations. While she is passionately devoted to Treize, Lady Une shows no mercy to her master's foes, and is infamous for her overzealous cruelty. One day she's demurely running water for Treize's bath, the next she's bombing diplomats or threatening to attack unarmed space colonies. You'd almost think she had some kind of split personality
The space colonists' plan for revenge against the Alliance and the secret society which controls it. The operation is launched on April 7, AC 195 - twenty years to the day after OZ assassins killed colony leader Heero Yuy. As part of Operation Meteor five advanced Gundam mobile suits are sent to Earth, disguised as shooting stars, to wage guerilla war against the Alliance military.
As a corporate subsidiary of the Romefeller Foundation, OZ developed the first military mobile suits. Around AC 175, OZ was refashioned into a secret society, dedicated to carrying out the Romefeller Foundation's plans. Most of the Specials are in fact OZ members, and through this elite fighting force, OZ has infiltrated the Alliance military and influenced its policies.
An industrial combine controlled by European aristocrats, which develops and produces the Alliance's mobile suits. The Romefeller Foundation is also a major financial backer of the Alliance, and through the secret society OZ - disguised as the elite "Specials" force - it secretly manipulates the Alliance for its own purposes.
An elite branch of the Alliance military, made up of Romefeller Foundation employees. The Specials were established in AC 176 as the Alliance's first mobile suit force. Though other military branches have adopted mobile suits over the last twenty years, the Specials still have the most advanced equipment, training, and tactics.
An organization of scavengers and salvage merchants, with branches both in space and on Earth. The Sweeper Group makes a comfortable living collecting the debris that drifts in Earth orbit and the scrap produced by Earth's recurring wars. Its members include Gundam pilot Duo Maxwell, as well as the seagoing scavenger Howard.
The world government that rules Earth and its space colonies. Established in AC 133, after decades of warfare between Earth's nations, the Alliance was created to unify the human race in peace and prosperity. From the beginning, however, the Alliance used military force to accomplish its noble goals. Now, after decades of crushing rogue nations and bullying the space colonies, it's widely despised as a repressive dictatorship.
She is the pampered daughter of the Earth Alliance's vice minister for foreign affairs. Her father is responsible for the negotiations with the space colonists, an assignment that leaves Mr. Darlian little time for his wife and child. Her family's wealth and status make Relena the star of her private school's social scene, but do little to reduce her boredom and loneliness. When her quiet existence is disrupted by the Gundam pilots, this poor little rich girl discovers her own, previously untapped, reserves of strength and courage.
She is an honest and well-meaning young officer, assigned to the Earth Alliance's intelligence bureau. She captures Heero early in the story, and is intrigued by the mysterious young Gundam pilot. She will reappear later in the story, and encounter Heero and his friends again.
Talented acrobat and knife-thrower, Catherine is the star performer of Trowa's circus troupe. At first, she finds Trowa somewhat creepy, but she eventually warms up to her clown comrade and ultimately comes to think of him as a surrogate little brother.
He is an ageing engineer who operates an ocean-going salvage ship. He invariably wears a jazzy Hawaiian shirt and funky sunglasses. Like Gundam pilot Duo Maxwell, Howard is a member of the Sweeper Group, and his ship serves as a mobile base for Duo and the Gundam Deathscythe.
To fight back against Oz's tyranny, the leaders of the space colony resistance movement recruited five scientists to create advanced mobile suits called Gundams. Each of these scientists designed and built a Gundam, trained its pilot, and sent it to Earth to wage guerrilla war against Oz and the Earth Alliance. For now, we can identify only the cyborg Doctor J, the creator of the Wing Gundam and the guardian of the young man known as Heero Yuy.
Gundam pilot Quatre Raberba Winner is often accompanied by the Maganac Corps, a forty-man private army led by the towering Rasid Kurama. The Maganac Corps sometimes wander off to fight their own guerrilla war against Oz, but they'll always turn up to help their young master when he's in trouble. While all its members use the same Maganac mobile suit, each Maganac is customised to suit its individual pilot.
Far more powerful than a beam rifle, this heavy weapon fires a wide beam of slow-moving particles that can destroy even Gundanium armour.
This particle beam weapon is part of the standard mobile suit arsenal. It fires a narrow beam that can pierce most conventional armour. Beam rifles are powered by replaceable energy packs, which hold enough stored power for roughly twenty shots.
The main weapon of the Wing Gundam, which can fire either a narrow beam akin to that of a beam rifle, or a huge blast like that of a beam cannon. Its energy supply allows only three shots in the latter mode.
A close-combat weapon used by both the Alliance's Leo mobile suit and many of the Gundams. It generates an energy blade that can cleave through a normal mobile suit with a single blow.
A shell-firing cannon used by the Alliance's Leo mobile suit. Its immense recoil makes it difficult to handle, but it's one of the most powerful weapons available for the Leo.
A stealth device used by the Gundam Deathscythe. The hyper jammer emits mysterious particles that scramble enemy cameras, making the Gundam invisible to visual sensors as well as radar.
An advanced mobile suit made entirely from Gundanium alloy, from which it derives its name. A Gundam is not only virtually indestructible, but is also invisible to radar and thus can only be detected at close range. Five Gundams were created by rebel space colonists for use in Operation Meteor, with firepower and performance far surpassing that of the Alliance's mass-produced mobile suits.
A unique compound, which can only be, produced in the zero gravity conditions of space. In addition to its incredible strength, Gundanium alloy is electrically non-conductive and cannot be detected by radar. However, this material is expensive and difficult to manufacture, making it unfeasible for mass production.
A humanoid vehicle operated by a human pilot. Military mobile suits stand about 16 meters tall, and carry hand weapons like machine guns, beam rifles, and beam sabres. Most are designed for a specific environment - land, space, air or water - though the Alliance's standard Leo model is flexible enough to be adapted for both land and space use.
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