The unnamed Gundam Pilot (ガンダムパイロット Gandamu Pairotto?) is a character from the ONA Mobile Suit Gundam: Requiem for Vengeance.[1] He is the pilot of RX-78(G)E Gundam EX.
Background Information[]
Not much is known about the Gundam Pilot's past nor his actual name[2] but as Iria Solari puts it, he was not that much older than her own son.[3] The child-like Gundam Pilot, along with the GM-piloting trio of Shaun, Carl and Murphy, formed the Earth Federation's mobile suit force based at the Olt region in central Romania.[4] As pilot of the state-of-the-art Gundam EX, the Gundam Pilot was tasked to perform series of search-and-destroy missions to suppress Zeon's strongholds across Romania and Eastern Europe as the tide of the war turned to Federation's favor. Aided by the powerful Gundam EX with his superb piloting skill, The Federal Ground Force annihilated regional Zeon bases one by one, including Cluj-Napoca,[5] Romanian Mixed Mobile Brigade Headquarter,[6] Mediaș,[6] and nearby Recycling Centre.[7] The Gundam EX spread fears among Zeon military, who referred the mobile suit as White Demon as it left a trail of death and destruction for those who survived.[6]
Personality & Character[]
Being a mobile suit pilot not by his own freewill[3] and tasked to perform soldier's duties at such a tender young age, the Gundam Pilot had problems of his own. Firstly, he was unable to mingle with Shaun and co. who were much older than him and with different interests and outlook of life, as such, he spent most of his spare time alone playing video game console[1] and could not develop meaningful relationship with people and the outside world.
Secondly, he had to put aside any negative emotion associated with killing and destruction, and perform his duties as if it was normal for a child. The resulting accumulation of traumatic experience had made the young Gundam Pilot vicious on the battlefield and fought the enemy with extreme brutality, as evidenced by the gruesome death of Solari's Redwolf squad mates at the hands of the Gundam EX piloted by this child.[8][1] What the Gundam Pilot had experienced and manifested were very similar to that of Amuro Ray when the latter first fought against Zeon forces with RX-78-2 Gundam on Earth.[9] The difference being Amuro was able to recover eventually with the support of White Base crew, whereas the Gundam Pilot had no one to turn to, and with a superb mobile suit as his disposal, the Gundam Pilot developed signs of superiority complex in which he believed he could end the war by destroying every enemy in sight, as he regarded Zeon as terrorists who started the war and would harm to the Earth again if they were let go.[3] This might be useful for the Gundam Pilot to fight without fears, but would be detrimental for his personality development once the war was over.
Child soldier aside, the Gundam Pilot appeared to miss his family a lot, especially his mother, as evidenced by his shaken emotion when Solari mentioned the word 'mother' in the thick of their mobile suit battle at Odessa.[3]
The Gundam Pilot's tactics are purely reactive; if he's focused on one enemy only to be shot from behind, he would quickly forget his current fight and move onto the next.[5]
Skills & Abilities[]
The Gundam Pilot manifested superb piloting skills in handling top-of-the-line mobile suits such as Gundam EX, as he took care of any ground and aerial mobile weapons with ease. His superb reflex made him able to withstand shocks caused by powerful thrust and speed during Gundam EX's rapid movement in dodging and attacking the enemies. Like Amuro Ray and Anavel Gato, the Gundam Pilot favored sneak attack as he and the Gundam EX were often hiding behind enemy's back and strike without warning, such as against Chubs' Zaku II[8] and Gearhead's GM.[1] In addition, the Gundam Pilot processes traits of Newtype ability in the forms of spatial awareness when he correctly predicts Carl's next move in a chess game, without even watching it.[1]
History[]
On the early morning of November 6, U.C. 0079, one day after Zeon's re-capture of Cluj-Napoca military base by the Stein Battalion, the Gundam Pilot first appeared with his Gundam EX mobile suit as the vanguard of EFF's surprise raid in suppressing Zeon's presence in Romania. With the boy at the helm, the Gundam EX neutralized Red Wolves' Zaku IIs along with the pilots Reid Ghelfi (Chubs) and Kale Zavaleta[8], before he proceed to take down scores of Zaku Tanks, a couple of Dopp fighters, and annihilate the entre Salamanders Squadron along the way[5].
The surviving Red Wolves, Cpt. Iria Solari and 1st Lt. Kneeland LeSean, made their way out of the carnage from Cluj-Napoca with 2nd Lt. Hailey Arhun and her convoy towards the Romanian Mixed Mobile Brigade Headquarter, but they were pursued by Gundam Pilot and his Gundam EX before he was confronted by a couple of MS-07B-3 Gouf Customs which came to Solari and co.'s rescue. Despite being more advanced than Zaku II, the Gouf Customs were no match to the boy's superb piloting skill and his suit's overwhelming firepower and they were swiftly destroyed.[5]
As the Zeon convoy finally arrived the Romanian Mixed Mobile Brigade Headquarter, they were shocked to find the Red Wolves' home base were devastated by Gundam EX's relentless attack.[6] As the Gundam Pilot seemingly stayed one step ahead of the convoy's movement, he was on his way to destroy the Mediaș military base before Solari and co. had a chance to settle down at their next destination, the nearby recycling centre run by Maj. Rolph Ronet[6] When the EFF made their move to raid the recycling centre, the boy was surprised by the stiff resistance put up by Solari and LeSean with their patched-up Zaku IIs assembled with parts stripped from damaged mobile suits. He then managed to inflict substantial damage to the recycling centre before he had to rescue his GM teammate whose mobile suit was chased down and destroyed by LeSean and his Zaku II.[7]
When Solari and co. infiltrated EFGF's military base neat the Olt a few days later, the Gundam Pilot was seen playing his video game console while his elder squad mates Carl, Shaun and Murphy played chess.[1] Carl won the game with hints by the boy who was busily playing his video game but the fun was cut short when one of the infiltrator Ander Heaton blew his cover and was attacked by the stationed EFF soldiers as he attempted to drove the trailered GM away. The EFF MS quartets rushed to the scene but the Gundam Pilot accidentally collided with Solari and Arhun, the other infiltrators suited up as EFGF soldiers. The Gundam Pilot returned the pocket watch dropped by Solari and the moment they touched their hands, both the boy and the Red Wolf captain realized the other was the nemesis since the Cluj-Napoca attack through their Newtype's telepathy before they part ways.[1] As the boy got on the Gundam EX and sniped at Alfee Zydos' stolen GM, Solari and her GM came to her comrade's rescue and the two Newtypes dueled fiercely with their mobile suits and beam sabers. As Solari's GM was finally overpowered by Gundam EX, LeSean came to rescue Solari by charging his Zaku II towards the Gundam EX, which bought time for Solari to escape from the destroyed GM before the Gundam Pilot managed to shoot at Zaku II's cockpit, which killed LeSean and destroyed the Zaku II.[1]
Following Zeon's defeat in Operation Odessa, the Gundam EX was soon dispatched to Odessa spaceport to join EFF's Assault Guntank squadrons to stop the retreating Zeon forces to return to space via HLVs.[3] The boy swiftly destroyed one of the defending Gouf Custom from Midnighters Squadron and killed its pilot Anessa, before he was confronted once again by Solari and her Zaku II. The Red Wolf captain pleaded the boy to stop fighting as the Federation had already won the war, but he insists on attacking her saying Zeon will return to wage war with the Federation again if they were spared.[3] Solari's words eventually swayed the Gundam Pilot as he would shove Solari's Zaku II away from a falling wreckage of an HLV. Distracted by his conversation with Solari, the weakened Gundam EX was stabbed at the back by 1st Lt. Loft's Gouf Custom, resulting in his death.[3]
Gallery[]
Lineart[]
Anime[]
Mobile Suit Gundam: Requiem for Vengeance[]
Notes & Trivia[]
- Although his name was never officially stated, the subtitles for the Japanese audio refers to him as Phoenix (フェニックス Fenikkusu?)[1].
- His pilot suit had the word "TEST" inscribed on the left collar, speculating he might have been a disposable pilot, or to symbolize his status as the test pilot of Gundam EX, an experimental mobile suit.
- Although the actual age of the Gundam Pilot is not known, based on his appearance, height and tone, it is safe to assume that he was entering the preadolescence period (9-12 years old). Should that be the case, then the Gundam Pilot would be younger than Uso Ewin, who was 13 years old when he first piloted the LM312V04 Victory Gundam in UC 0153. This means the Gundam Pilot would be the youngest mobile suit pilot in Universal Century history.
Appearances[]
- OVAs and ONAs
- Mobile Suit Gundam: Requiem for Vengeance
- Episode 5, The River
- Episode 6, Convoy to Oblivion
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 Mobile Suit Gundam: Requiem for Vengeance Episode 5, The River
- ↑ Gundam Pilot's profile on Requiem for Vengeance official twitter account
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 Mobile Suit Gundam: Requiem for Vengeance Episode 6, Convoy to Oblivion
- ↑ (December 2024) CGWORLD Vol.316 (in Japanese). ボーンデジタル, 58. ISBN 4910142131240.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Mobile Suit Gundam: Requiem for Vengeance Episode 2, Broken
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 Mobile Suit Gundam: Requiem for Vengeance Episode 3, Junkyard
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Mobile Suit Gundam: Requiem for Vengeance Episode 4, Night Caller
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Mobile Suit Gundam: Requiem for Vengeance Episode 1, Haunted Forest
- ↑ Mobile Suit Gundam Episode 6, Garma Strikes