RX-78-2 Gundam

The RX-78-2 Gundam is the titular Mobile Suit from the series Mobile Suit Gundam, design by Kunio Okawara. Part of the RX-78 Gundam series and built in secret on Side 7, the Gundam would come to be the secret weapon which helped turn the tide of war in favor of the Earth Federation during the One Year War.

Combat Characteristics
The Gundam was incredibly advanced for its time. Built from lightweight Luna Titanium, its frame was both lighter than that of Zeon's mass-produced Mobile Suits and much sturdier, able to shrug off a Zaku's machine gun fire with little to no damage. Its offensive power was above and beyond that of the Zeon Zakus. The Gundam would engage in most battles with its Beam Rifle making it the first Mobile Suit to have firepower equivalent to a battleship beam cannon. In addition, it made use of two beam sabers, a blade of extremely hot plasma which could cut through any metal with ease. Those beam sabers could be extended into a spear-like beam javelin, which could be used to stab into an enemy from a longer distance than the blade of the saber would allow.

The Gundam also used more conventional weaponry: it could be launched with a Hyper Bazooka, the Federation's answer to the bazookas used by Zeon's Zakus; in addition, its head was outfitted with a pair of small vulcan cannons, providing it with a last resort weapon as well as a way of attacking light-armored aircraft and vehicles without wasting ammo or energy from its more powerful armaments. It also made use of a very unconventional close-range weapon known as the Gundam Hammer -- a large weapon similar to a morning star which could be swung at enemies to deal crushing damage. The Gundam Hammer was eventually upgraded for use in space and outfitted with a number of verniers on the ball, and renamed to be the Hyper Hammer. Lastly, it wielded a large shield which would offer it a defense against enemy attacks that not even its Luna Titanium body could withstand without damage. Gundam pilot Amuro Ray would make use of the shield as a decoy in many battles, taking advantage of its size to fool the enemy into thinking he was charging at them, then attacking the enemy through the shield.

The Gundam was equipped with a sophisticated Learning Computer which would collect pilot and enemy data during skirmishes and allow the Gundam to operate more effectively. The data from the computer was used by the Federation to improve the controls of the Gundam's mass-produced form, the RGM-79 GM. In addition, it was upgraded by Federation technician Mosque Han shortly before the Battle of Solomon: to improve its reaction times, the joints of the Gundam were given a Magnetic Coating, based on the experimental procedure performed on the RX-78-3 Gundam G-3.

The Gundam makes use of the Core Block System implemented in the other V Project units. The torso of the Gundam is mostly hollow so that an FF-X7 Core Fighter may dock with it. This allows the pilot to jettison the legs and torso of the Gundam should the Gundam be too heavily damaged and gives the pilot a chance to escape from battle.

Later, during Operation Odessa, the Gundam is given a support unit know as the G-Fighter.

60mm Vulcan cannons
Stored in the head, these are primarily used to ward off advancing enemies, shoot down missiles, etc.

Beam Sabers
The Gundam is the first ever mobile suit to use a beam-oriented weapon in melee combat. The sabers are stored on the backback, and can be optionally combined to form the Gundam Javelin, a large pole with a three pronged beam at the end.

Learning Computer System
A critical component of the Gundam's success in combat, the Learning Computer System was similar to a modern day black box. It recorded the data from each of the Gundam's battles for further use. However, the system could also actively learn and improve the capabilities of the Gundam, explaining why Amuro had such difficulty fighting two Zaku IIs on his first try but managed to hold off ace pilot Char Aznable at Luna II.

Re-entry Coolant System
The re-entry system is used for only emergencies when the Gundam is falling to Earth and has no chance of reaching its carrier. The coolant system acts as a large heat-resistant film which lowers the Gundam's temperature when descending to Earth.

Core Block System
The initial idea of the Core Fighter was as a form of escape if the Gundam were to be destroyed, allowing the irreplaceable data collected by the learning computer and the pilot to escape from a replaceable machine. Another idea was that the Core Fighter could be launched into the field as a support fighter, and the A and B blocks could be delivered by another vehicle (the Federation developed a support unit, the Gunperry, for this role) if needed for a mid-air conversion into a mobile suit.

History
The RX-78-2 was the second of three Gundam prototype units constructed on Side 7 in UC 0079, as part of the Earth Federation's V Project. Built to complement the long-range unit Guntank and mid-range support unit Guncannon, the Gundam was designed to be a highly mobile, close range machine with advanced weaponry beyond that used by Zeon's machines.

A raid by Zeon forces on Side 7 in September of UC 0079 resulted in heavy damage to the other two RX-78 units built on the colony. However, thanks to the unexpected interference of V Project head Tem Ray's son Amuro inside the RX-78-2, the Zeon intruders were repelled. Though they had caused significant damage to the colony, the Gundam and its brother machines were spared. The three machines acted as the defense force for the Pegasus-class battleship White Base and protected the ship in its push to Earth and travels over North America and Asia.

The RX-78-2 would see use in the defense of the Federation's headquarters in Jaburo and the pivotal raids on Zeon's asteroid bases Solomon and A Baoa Qu. In that final battle of the One Year War, the Gundam engaged an unfinished Zeon prototype, the MSN-02 Zeong in battle. The two machines were destroyed in battle within the corridors of the Zeon stronghold. The Gundam's pilot escaped in the Core Fighter after the Zeong's escape-pod head severely damaged Gundam (the Gundam also destoyed the Zeong's head at the same time) ; the Zeong's pilot Char Aznable, however, was presumed missing in action...

Variants

 * RX-78/C.A. Casval Rem Daikun-use Gundam: This machine only appears in one of the what-if scenarios seen in Mobile Suit Gundam: Giren no Yabou as a gift of goodwill from the Earth Federation to Casval Rem Daikun (Char Aznable). It is tuned up to Char's specifications and painted in his custom colors of rose pink and wine red.
 * PF-78-1 Perfect Gundam

Trivia

 * The Gundam was portrayed as having another weapon, the Super Napalm. Seen only in the second episode of the original series, it was a projectile fired from the beam rifle that caused whatever it hit to be engulfed in flames. The weapon did not appear in any other episode and is in many cases simply not mentioned in sourcebooks; however, it has since appeared as a weapon in the Playstation game SD Gundam G-Generation F (used by the RX-78-1 Prototype Gundam) and the Game Boy Advance game Super Robot Wars A.
 * The 0 Gundam in Mobile Suit Gundam 00 largely resembles the RX-78-2 Gundam, and in the final battle of the 0 Gundam, it's repainted that it is almost identical to the RX-78-2. Another considerable in-joke is that the 0-Gundam's pilot and antagonist, Ribbons Almark, shares the same voice actor with Amuro Ray. Ironically, Amuro's English voice actor, Brad Swaile, is the same English voice actor for Gundam 00's main protagonist, and Ribbons main rival, Setsuna F. Seiei.