MSN-04 Sazabi

The MSN-04 Sazabi (aka Sazabi, MSN-04) is a mobile suit that appears in Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack. It is piloted by Char Aznable.

Technology & Combat Characteristics
After Char Aznable returned as the leader of his own Neo Zeon faction in UC 0093, he ordered his engineers to create him a new mobile suit which would fit his pilot skills and Newtype powers. The result was the MSN-04 Sazabi, which was later built by the Luna-based contractor Anaheim Electronics.

With an overall height of 25.6 meters, the Sazabi is much bigger than most standard mobile suits, but thanks to the great number of thrusters it is much faster and maneuverable than other suits. Its main weapon is an abdomen-mounted mega particle gun which is able to destroy several mobile suits with only one shot. Other weapons which the Sazabi can use are a shield with three missiles, a beam shotrifle, and a beam tomahawk.

Because Char is a Newtype, the Sazabi was also equipped with six funnels which the pilot could control through his psychowaves via a Psycommu system. The Sazabi was also the first MS to be equipped with the revolutionary new psycho-frame cockpit. This system featured microscopic psycommu receiver circuits installed throughout a mobile suit's internal frame and cockpit walls. These tiny circuits amplify and transmit a Newtype pilot's psychowaves, enabling the mobile suit to respond instantaneously to mental commands.

Armaments

 * Custom Beam Saber
 * The MSN-04 Sazabi is equipped with a pair of beam sabers, one stored in a recharge rack in each forearm. Because of their position, the beam sabers can be quickly deployed in combat. The beam sabers serve as the primary close-range combat weapon of the Sazabi, using a beam of plasma contained by an I-field that can cut through any metal alloy.


 * Funnel
 * One of the MSN-04 Sazabi's more powerful features is its Newtype-use remote funnel weapons. The Sazabi could store up to six funnels in its backpack-mounted storage pods, each with a power rating of 10.6 MW, making them more powerful than the beam shortrifle. Because Char Aznable preferred to rely on his own skill as a mobile suit pilot as opposed to focusing his Newtype abilities (which were only moderately strong), he placed an emphasis that the Sazabi's design should not focus on the use of Newtype weapons. Thus the funnels designed for use in the Sazabi are unusual in that they cannot be recharged in the storage pods. Instead once the charge of the funnels ran out they were discarded and left to float in space.
 * Char has shown that these funnels can attack at great distances and are ideal for dealing with nuclear missiles.


 * Mega Particle Gun
 * The MSN-04 Sazabi mounts a single mega particle gun, mounted in the abdomen right at the mobile suits waist. The mega particle gun has a power rating of 8.8 MW, making it the weakest ranged beam weapon in the Sazabi's armament. However, the beam emitted is an unusually wide beam that can destroy multiple mobile suits in a single shot. Typically, the mega particle gun is used as a mid-range weapon to destroy enemy mobile suits before they get into melee range.


 * Beam Shotrifle
 * The beam shotrifle is an optional-ranged, hand-carried beam weapon that was designed to be used by the MSN-04 Sazabi. The beam shotrifle is noticeably larger than most other beam rifles, is powered by replaceable energy caps, and has a power rating of 10.2 MW. Unlike a beam rifle and more like a shotgun, the beam of the shotrifle is not as tightly focused. With a wider beam, this spreads the damage dealt by the shotrifle over a greater area.


 * Beam Tomahawk
 * The MSN-04 Sazabi can be equipped with an optional beam tomahawk, stored in a recharge rack in the mobile suits shield. The beam tomahawk is the Sazabi's most powerful melee weapon and mounts two beam emitters. Taking advantage of the flexibility of the I-field and its ability to shape plasma, the beam tomahawk can either emit a pair of beam axe blades, or combine its output to form a single large beam saber.


 * Shield
 * As with most mobile suits, the MSN-04 Sazabi can mount a shield on its left forearm. The Sazabi's shield is a custom piece of equipment unique to the Sazabi. The shield serves partially as an offensive weapon as it mounts three small missiles that can heavily damage a mobile suit, but not a battleship. The shield also holds the recharge rack for the Sazabi's beam tomahawk.

Special Equipment & Features

 * External Propellant Tank
 * In order to increase the MSN-04 Sazabi's operational fight period, it can be equipped with a pair of external propellant tanks that can be ejected once the fuel has been used up.


 * Psycho-frame Cockpit
 * The Psychoframe is a technology that builds the brainwave-to-machine code translator known as Psycommu into the atom-level of the metal frame of a Mobile Suit. This allows a Newtype pilot to control the mobile suit as if it were his/her own body.


 * Psycommu System
 * A Psycommu is a device connected directly into the user's thoughts, through which the user can manipulate it by using his/her mind. The name derives from psychic and communicator. In essence, a psycommu system works by passively scanning the brainwaves of newtypes, amplifying them in order to send the brainwave signal out long distances, and then translating these brainwaves into raw machine codes upon being recieved by the selected object. Since brainwaves are not affected by the radio interference property of Minovsky particles, at first it was mainly used to mentally control remote weapons, usually mounted with a single beam gun. This enabled the resurrection of BVR engagements, with bits and funnels being the first weapons able to engage targets without visual contact since the development of the minovsky particle. Later on, the psycommu system would also be used to increase response times.

History
After Char Aznable, the legendary Zeon ace, reappears in the early UC 0090s and establishes the second Neo Zeon movement, Char commissioned Anaheim Electronics to produce a custom-designed mobile suit specifically for his Newtype abilities and superb piloting skills. Painted in his trademark red color scheme and insignia. The Sazabi was used by Char to personally lead the Neo Zeon forces in battle against the Earth Federation's Londo Bell Task Force and especially against his old archrival Amuro Ray and his RX-93 Nu Gundam, which was also equipped with a psycoframe system. However it would be more accurate to say he led defensive actions against Londo Bell. As Char's Neo Zeon did not have the manpower or the resources to fight extensive battles to claim territory, they instead relied on the strategy of accelerating asteroids and dropping them on the Earth to create a nuclear winter. Londo Bell would launch its forces and attempt to destroy the asteroids, but they were aggressively guarded by the AMS-119 Geara Doga mobile suits of Neo Zeon, led by the MSN-03 Jagd Doga and Char's MSN-04 Sazabi.

In one of the earlier asteroid drops Char would use his MSN-04 Sazabi to battle Amuro Ray in his RGZ-91 Re-GZ, however the Re-GZ was not able to keep up with the more powerful Sazabi and was nearly destroyed. Afterwards, Char left instructions with Anaheim Electronics to use the psycho-frame system in the new mobile suit they were building for Amuro. As Neo Zeon was trying to drop the asteroid Axis the two would duel again in equal machines. The battle would carry them across, and through Axis in a battle reminiscent of their final duel in the One Year War. Although Char was an excellent pilot he was ultimately defeated by Amuro who destroyed the Sazabi and captured Char’s escape pod.

Damage that the Sazabi took in the final battle included the left arm being cut off, destruction of the main camera, damage to the circuitry of the head and neck, chest and waist armor damages, and also the beam shotrifle, beam sabers, shield, and funnel racks were lost.

Variants

 * AMS-04L Sazabi (Light Armored Land Type)
 * MSN-04 Chanel
 * MSN-04B (AMS-04B) Sazabi
 * MSN-04II Nightingale
 * MSN-04X Sazabi Test Prototype
 * MSN-06S Sinanju Stein
 * MSN-06S Sinanju