Trans-Am System

The Trans-Am System is an inherent feature of both the GN Drive and GN Drive Tau that temporarily increases their GN Particle output beyond normal parameters for greatly enhanced combat performance in Mobile Suit Gundam 00.

System Description & Characteristics
The system was originally drafted by Aeolia Schenberg to grant Celestial Being's Gundam Meisters full utilization of their GN Drives and was a secret feature hidden inside the black boxes of the five original GN Drives. Because of this, the first and second generation Gundams never had the chance to utilize Trans-Am as the pilots didn't even know such a powerful function existed; however it was later possible for Fereshte since they were still in possession of a GN Drive when Trans-Am was enabled. The system was rigged to unlock by a system trap that automatically executed itself once Aeolia was killed.

Under normal operation, the GN Drives generated particles at a preset rate while the drives themselves store excess GN Particles inside the GN Condensers. With Trans-Am, the GN Drives operate at their full power by releasing all of their stored particles and increasing the GN Drive operation rate to its maximum output. These released GN Particles saturate the frame of the mobile suit, which renders a glowing pink-reddish hue on the entire mobile suit. These particles that cover the whole mobile suit improve the mobile suit's defense and at the same time increase the amount of thrust produced. Overall, the abilities of the mobile suit is increased three times its normal specifications. However, this boost in performance is only temporary as once all the released energy and particles dissipate, the GN Drives must replace the spent energy and the unit will perform at a reduced capacity until the energy is replaced.

Celestial Being engineers later learned to develop their 3.5 and 4th Generation Gundams and support units to take advantage of Trans-Am's abilities. The improved system has the exact same properties as the previous system; however, the new system is capable of temporary utilization without exhausting its entire GN particle supply. The newer Gundams were designed with special functions that require greater GN particles than the GN Drive would normally generate. To compensate for the particles needed for the high consuming function(s), Trans-Am can be used for a few seconds, long enough to power and execute the function without fully draining the Gundam of its power. This technology is also expanded throughout all their support units that utilize GN particles to function. Doing so not only gives them an advantage in the battlefield, but effectively utilize their particles without waste; it's unclear if the Earth Sphere Federation and/or Innovators have reversed-engineered such an ability with their own Trans-Am.

The system was later reverse-engineered and adapted by the Earth Sphere Federation and the Innovators. The Earth Sphere Federation's version of Trans-Am is different than that of Celestial Being's, primarily in their particle output abilities. Overall, the GN Drive Tau Trans-Am can partially rival the abilities of a true GN Drive, but post Trans-Am usage of a non-Celestial Being mobile suit is a liability as the GN T Drive destroys itself during Trans-Am, meaning that a replacement of the GN Tau Drives is needed after Trans-Am. It should be noted that the Earth Sphere Federation and the Innovators developed Trans-Am differently. While their abilities are nearly the same, the Innovators developed their Trans-Am from stolen Celestial Being data, while technical engineer Billy Katagiri figured it out through notes left behind by Ralph Eifman. Eventually, the Innovators shared their data with Billy Katagiri to help develop/refine their mobile units; regardless, the overall capabilities of their Trans-Am performed lesser than their true counterparts.

According to Ian Vashti, Innovation is caused by the GN Particles' special state in Trans-Am (Trans-Am Raiser and Trans-Am Burst System specifically). He theorized that it may be possible that this special state of GN Particles can even be felt regardless of range, and that more possible genuine Innovators has awakened as a result of Trans-Am Burst that Setsuna used during the battle with the Innovators. In addition, he is also worried that the Earth Sphere Federation will notice its relation to Innovation now that it possesses the Trans-Am System technology.

System Variants

 * Trans-Am Burst System
 * Quantum System
 * Trans-Am Raiser

Activation
Trans-Am system first appeared after Alejandro Corner killed Aeolia Schenberg and activated a system trap . Aeolia's death activated the black boxes of the 5 original GN Drives to allow full utilization of their abilities. Trans-Am activated within GN-001 Gundam Exia while it was battling Ali Al-Saachez and his GNW-002 Gundam Throne Zwei. The Exia's new abilities allowed it to clearly outclass the Zwei, forcing Al-Saachez to flee.

Ralph Eifman's Legacy
In the four-year interim between the first season and the second, and during the events of 2312 AD, Billy Katagiri recovered and researched what Eifman was working on before his death concerning the GN Drives and their ability to produce topological defects, which gave them a near-limitless energy supply. After much toiling, while he was not able to make future Tau drives hold practically infinite energy, he was able to successfully replicate one feature: the Trans-Am system, first applied to Graham Aker's Masurao unit, allowing him and it to fight on even footing with the 00. However, it had some serious drawbacks- due to the finite energy of Tau drives, usage was limited to only one three minute burst, and, as a result, the Drives were pushed to breaking point, requiring replacement soon after they were used.

Innovators Development
After the Masurao was equipped with Trans-Am, the Innovators started researching the technology to use it on their own mobile suits. This research, aided by Billy, primarily culminated in the GNZ-004 Gaga, a series of lightly armed suicide machines given Trans-Am for high-speed ramming purposes. This technology was also applied to Revive Revival's GNZ-003 Gadessa and Hiling Care's GNZ-005 Garazzo. Both machines could also use Trans-Am more than once, indicating that either their Drives were somehow larger in terms of particle storage capacity, or a way to use the system had been found that lessened the amount of particles exhausted.