XMA-01 Rafflesia

The XMA-01 Rafflesia is an extremely powerful mobile armor produced by the Crossbone Vanguard militia in the Gundam movie Mobile Suit Gundam F91. It was piloted by Carozzo "Iron Mask" Ronah

Technological and Combat Characteristics
The Rafflesia proved to be a strong enemy in both ranged and close-quarters combat. With its 22 beam guns it was able to unleash a deadly rain of beam fire on its enemies from a distance, and with hundreds of tentacle heat rods it was even deadlier in close combat. The Rafflesia dispensed with manual controls, and was instead operated by direct mental command using a neo-psycommu, an advanced version of the original psycommu system. The pilot was Ronah himself, who linked his receptor-filled helmet to the mobile armor with a snake's nest of fiber-optic cables.

Instead of using conventional wing or tail binder technology, the Rafflesia incorporates five massive "petal binders." These petal binders are each equipped with a single mega beam cannon, 25 tentacle rods, and four forward facing rocket thrusters. When the petal binder are closed and the Rafflesia is in "cruise mode" the mega beam cannons are forward facing, alongside the Rafflesia's other ranged beam weapons, however the tentacle rods cannot be used. The Rafflesia can only use its close combat tentacle rods when the petal binders are open.

The arrangement and power of the Rafflesia's 22 beam guns allow it to unleash a wide-spread barrage of beams that cover a wide area. These barrage is capable of destroying multiple Earth Federation Forces battleships.

Like most mobile weapons, the XMA-01 Rafflesia is not designed to be operated for long periods of time. For this reason the Carozzo Ronah had the Crossbone Vanguard's flagship designed to store the XMA-01 Rafflesia in a secrete hanger, where it could be refueled and repaired, that only authorized personal were allowed to enter.

One unusually feature of the Rafflesia is how the armor around the top half of the cockpit can be removed, revealing a glass half-sphere that allows the pilot to look out into space.

Armaments

 * Beam Cannon
 * The XMA-01 Rafflesia is equipped with a cluster of 4 beam cannons that emerge from the tip of the "stalk". When the petal binders are closed and the Rafflesia is in cruise mode these beam cannons are forward facing, the profile allowing the Rafflesia to bring its maximum number of ranged weapons to bear on a target area. When the petal binders are open and the Rafflesia is in its close combat mode, these beam cannons face downward relative to the mobile armors orientation.


 * Mega Particle Gun
 * On the XMA-01 Rafflesia's mounts five mega particle guns on the "stalk" of its body, each one situated between two of the petal binders, right above a rocket thruster. When the petal binders are closed and the Rafflesia is in cruise mode these beam cannons are forward facing, the profile allowing the Rafflesia to bring its maximum number of ranged weapons to bear on a target area. When the petal binders are open and the Rafflesia is in its close combat mode, these beam cannons face downward relative to the mobile armors orientation.


 * Petal Mega Beam Cannon
 * The XMA-01 Rafflesia's five petals are each equipped with a single mega beam cannon. When the petal binders are closed and the Rafflesia is in cruise mode these beam cannons are forward facing, the profile allowing the Rafflesia to bring its maximum number of ranged weapons to bear on a target area. When the petal binders are open and the Rafflesia is in its close combat mode, these beam cannons face downward and away from the mobile armor's main body at forty-five degree angle. These powerful weapons can easily pierce a battleship's armor.


 * Scattering Beam Cannon
 * The XMA-01 Rafflesia is equipped with 8 scattering beam cannons that encircle the tip of the mobile armor's "stalk". When the petal binders are closed and the Rafflesia is in cruise mode these beam cannons are forward facing, the profile allowing the Rafflesia to bring its maximum number of ranged weapons to bear on a target area. When the petal binders are open and the Rafflesia is in its close combat mode, these beam cannons face downward relative to the mobile armors orientation.


 * Tentacle Rod
 * The XMA-01 Rafflesia's most unique weapon is its tentacle rods, of which it is equipped with a total of 125, 25 per each petal binders. These tentacle rods are highly flexible weapons, similar to their namesake appendage. The tip of each tentacle rod mounts a single superheated chainsaw tip, a melee combat weapon that combines the superheated blade technology from the mobile suits used by the Principality of Zeon during the One Year War with the concept of a revolving chain blade. While not as effective as a beam saber the superheated chainsaw drains less energy, and makes up for its small shortcoming by weight of numbers and how the tentacles can be used to ensnare mobile suits, rendering them helpless. Because of the number and complexity of the Rafflesia's tentacle rods they can only be controlled through the neo-psycommu system which can be utilized by Cyber-Newtypes.

Special Equipment

 * Neo-psycommu system
 * A new version of the psycommu system that can be operated by a Cyber-Newtype via specially designed wires and receptors.


 * Anti-Beam Barrier System

History
The Rafflesia Project was initiated in UC 0119 under command of Crossbone Vanguard leader Carozzo “Iron Mask” Ronah.

The Rafflesia entered combat in March UC 0123; Ronah's goals were to destroy the Federation Forces and to stop his own daughter, Berah Ronah (a.k.a. Cecily Fairchild), who sought to prevent his plan to wipe out all humans on Earth with his Bug weapons. He first attacked a fleet of Earth Federation ships, which proved no match for the powerful mobile armor. Later, he was attacked by Cecily in her XM-07 Vigna Ghina and her friend, Seabook Arno of the F91 Gundam F91, but Cecily’s suit soon took heavy damage and she herself was thrown into space by Iron Mask. Seabook was able to inflict some damage on the Rafflesia by detonating the vacant Vigna Ghina. With the mobile armor damaged Seabook used the F91's special afterimages ability to dodge the Rafflesia's tentacle rods and confuse Iron Mask to the point he was focused more on catching the F91 than paying attention to where the tentacles were. Seabook took advantage of this by moving the F91 directly in front of the Rafflesia's cockpit, then flying away. By the time Carozzo realized what Seabook had done it was too late as the tentacles crashed into the cockpit, the superheated chainsaw tips cutting through it, and Carozzo, like butter.

Overview
This huge mobile armor is one of the products of Iron Mask's secret Rafflesia Project. The Rafflesia resembles a giant flower, whose main body houses a battery of powerful beam cannons capable of destroying an Earth Federation battleship with one salvo, and whose five petals contain dozens of tentacular rods for grappling enemy mobile suits. The mobile armor is also equipped with an I-field generator whose barrier deflects all enemy beam weapons. Iron Mask controls the Rafflesia via mental commands, which are relayed through optical fibers connected to his distinctive helmet.

Trivia

 * The name of the red, flower-shaped vehicle was derived from Rafflesia, a genus of parasitic flowering plants.