MS-14A Gelgoog

The MS-14A Gelgoog (ゲルググ,Gerugugu) was the last mass production mobile suit produced by the Principality of Zeon during the One Year War.

Technology & Combat Characteristics
The high-performance A-Type Gelgoog was equipped with a twin-bladed beam saber (referred to as both a beam naginata due to the shape of the blades, though it was actually very different in function from the traditional Japanese weapon, as well as a "beam halberd") and a high-output beam rifle, a first for a Zeon mobile suit. The Gelgoog was a superior mobile suit in every aspect to the MS-06F Zaku II and even the new MS-09R Rick Dom.

Armaments

 * Twin Beam Sword
 * The twin beam sword, also known as a beam naginata, is the MS-14A Gelgoog's weapon in close-range melee combat. The beam sword operates by generating a beam of plasma contained and shaped by an I-field. Because of the heat of the plasma the beam sword can cut through any alloy. The Gelgoog's twin beam sword is unique in that it has a longer than average handle, about the length of two beam saber hilts, and has an emitter at both ends, allowing a single weapon to create two beam blades. This allows the pilot the advantage of incorporating different techniques into their fighting style than they would normally be capable of. When not in use it is stored in a back mounted recharge rack.


 * Beam Rifle
 * The MS-14A Gelgoog is the first mass produced Principality of Zeon mobile suit to be equipped with a beam rifle. The technology of the rifle allows the weapon to fire compressed mega particles in the form of a beam which has the power to penetrate all but the specially treated materials. The beam loses power as it travels so if a target is too far away, although the beam may still it, it may have lost the power needed to penetrate the armor. This is primarily an issue with large heavily armored targets.


 * Shield
 * The Gelgoog carries a unique arm mounted shield styled after the shields used by the African Zulu tribe. When not in use the large shield can be mounted on the back to free up the arms.

History
By the middle of the One Year War, the Principality of Zeon was well aware that the Earth Federation was researching and developing mobile suit projects to counter the Zeon's army of mobile suits. Despite the Zeon's advanced mobile suit technology, the appearance of the RX-78-2 Gundam with its beam rifle technology followed by the mass production RGM-79 GMs equipped with the Beam Spray gun quickly negated the Zeon's advantage.

The Principality of Zeon decided that its mobile suits needed to incorporate the vastly superior beam weapons into its mobile suit designs. So, when the plans for the new mobile suit (MS-11 Gelgoog) showed up, they redesigned the plans to be able to use beam weapons. The plans for the original "MS-11 Gelgoog" only allowed it to use ballistic weapons like the machine gun, and its power output was unable to handle a Beam-based weapon. After redesigning the plans, the mobile suit was capable of using beam-based weapons. Removing the designation "MS-11" and shifting it to the Pezun Project's MS-11 Action Zaku, they redesignated the new mobile suit "MS-14", but retained the name.

While the Gelgoog was the most powerful production-type MS of the One Year War by a considerable margin, matching or slightly exceeding the Earth Federation's RX-78-2 Gundam unit, it was never produced in the numbers required to counter the sheer numbers of RGM-79 GMs that walked off the production lines before the end of the war. It is possible that if the Gelgoog had been pushed into production even two weeks sooner, it may have been able to secure victory for Zeon. However, Zeon's practice of dividing the Principality's limited design and production resources among numerous mobile suit and mobile armour projects made this impossible.

The last major problem with the Gelgoog was that it had mainly rookie pilots inside the cockpits, as most of Zeon's more experienced pilots had been killed in earlier battles. These novice pilots had seen little or no combat before the Battle of A Baoa Qu, and could not use their Gelgoogs effectively enough to counter the Federation's less powerful GM models, piloted by skilled veterans of the Battle of Solomon.

After the war, some units were taken by the Federation to serve as high-performance aggressor trainer units, while others escaped into deep space with various Zeon remnants; the majority had either died at A Baoa Qu or were marched off to the scrapper's torch. Some examples of old MS-14 Gelgoog units survived postwar in museums.