The JDG-00X Devil Gundam (Dark Gundam in the English Dub) was a Mobile Fighter in the anime television series, Mobile Fighter G Gundam.
Technology & Combat Characteristics[]
The Devil Gundam - originally called the Ultimate Gundam - was a unique mesh of technological and organic science, created by Dr. Kasshu to be used as a vessel for the three theoretical abilities: self-recovery, self-replication, and self-evolution. In essence, it was a Gundam that could independently maintain and improve itself; Dr. Kasshu hoped that its abilities could later be transferred to humans, physically improving and evolving the human body to be free of illness and disease. Those powers could also theoretically restore the Earth, which had been ravaged by the Gundam Fights. However, due to a malfunction, the Ultimate Gundam's programming became twisted and sinister: it decided the only way to restore the Earth was to destroy humanity.
Unlike most other Gundams in the Future Century, the Devil Gundam was a gigantic machine with a variable frame that allowed it to adapt to situations; it even developed sentience through this ability. Despite its power, the Devil Gundam required a lifeform to operate as its core, with the user connected via organic wires instead of the Mobile Trace System. It operated at its strongest with a female as its core life unit, as they were able to create new lives. No matter its form, the Devil Gundam usually retained a "main" head resembling a giant black Gundam head, out of which protruded a smaller Mobile Fighter torso with bulky red-and-orange armor.
While it was equipped with the standard head vulcans and a highly destructive beam cannon in its platform head, the Devil Gundam relied more on its special abilities and physical prowess in battle. Using self-recovery, the Devil Gundam could instantly repair any damage it sustained, either restoring lost parts or replacing them with organic wiring which it could shape into other forms. With self-multiplication, the Devil Gundam could produce its own units: the Death Army, a legion of mobile suits that fought and operated in its stead and relayed information by melding with its frame to gain experience and knowledge. It later created Gundam Heads which could travel underground and were equipped with beam cannons. Lastly, with self-evolution, the Devil Gundam could change into more powerful forms, starting from its base Ultimate Gundam form, to a Mobile Fighter form, and finally to a colony-sized form, the Colony Devil Gundam. It could pass on those abilities to other humans through DG Cells from exposure; if done to Gundam Fighters, this could change their Gundams as well.
Armaments[]
- Vulcan Gun
- Like most Gundams of its time, the Devil Gundam featured four vulcan guns mounted in its head, which were primarily used for close range defense or for thwarting movement.
- Devil Finger
- The Devil Gundam's final form could sprout a pair of massive clawed hands from its shoulders.
- Beam Cannon
- A high-powered beam weapon that could be seemingly generated from anywhere on the Devil Gundam's body. The anime depicted them as barrages of beams fired from the fingertips of its back-mounted arms. In the video games, it was shown that the beams were also fired from the protrusions on the shoulders, its chest, and the base of its head.
Special Equipment & Features[]
- DG Cells
- Artificial cells produced by the Devil Gundam and spread through direct contact. Physically, they appear as a silver hexagonal coating that replicates and spreads over the skin and any other articles of clothing, just stopping at the head. Those who gain DG Cells are mentally and physically corrupted into evil pawns of the Devil Gundam and subsequently gain abilities based on it, although a couple individuals, such as Schwarz Bruder, managed to resist possession despite being run solely by DG Cells. Its name probably originated from the first letters of the Devil Gundam's name.
- Self-Evolution
- Grants the Devil Gundam the ability to evolve and improve itself by changing into new, more powerful forms, with even greater forms being accessible when it has a female as its core unit. Its highest form reached is a winged, planetary body called Devil Colony. This also allowed Gundams exposed by DG Cells to transform into radically different and more powerful machines, such as Kowloon's transformation into Master and Neros into Heaven's Sword.
- Self-Replication
- Allows the Devil Gundam to generate offshoots of itself to act as its ears and eyes while it rests in its lair. At first, it produced mobile suits, the Death Army, which spawned off variants to cover a wide variety of combat roles. Later, the Devil Gundam spawned Gundam Heads, snake-like machines that could travel underground and were equipped with powerful beam cannons located in their mouths.
- Self-Regeneration
- Allows the Devil Gundam to instantly repair any damage, no matter how severe: this is greatly diminished without a core life unit. This power can also be used to reanimate dead corpses, as shown with the Death Army soldiers and Gentle Chapman.
History[]
The Ultimate Gundam was created in the space colony of Neo Japan by Dr. Raizo Kasshu and his eldest son, Kyoji Kasshu, with the noble purpose of restoring the Earth through the use of nanomachines. The Ultimate Gundam's nano-technology was incredible; capable of self-evolution, self-regeneration, and self-replication which would heal the Earth after it was ravaged by so many years of war and misuse. However, shortly before the 13th Gundam Fights were scheduled to begin in the year Future Century 60, the Ultimate Gundam was stolen, and Mikino Kasshu, Raizo's wife, and Kyoji's mother, was murdered. The alleged culprit was none other than Kyoji Kasshu, who fled to Earth with the Ultimate Gundam with the Neo-Japanese Military in hot pursuit. The Ultimate Gundam was severely damaged by the atmospheric re-entry, and it crash landed on Earth.
Evolution[]
After the crash, the Ultimate Gundam's systems malfunctioned, causing its programming to become corrupted as it began to repair the damage it had sustained. It eventually evolved into the monstrous Devil Gundam, following a new version of its primary directive to heal the Earth: as the Devil Gundam saw it, the problem with the Earth was humanity, and eliminating mankind became its number one priority. Kyoji became integrated with the Devil Gundam as its core life unit. Major Ulube Ishikawa was soon sent to re-capture the Devil Gundam at the crash site, but the Devil Gundam easily overpowered the mobile suit forces that were sent after it, leaving Ulube as the only survivor.
For his part in creating the Devil Gundam, Dr. Kasshu was sentenced to be cryogenically frozen. Domon Kasshu, the younger son of Dr. Kasshu who was away training to be a master martial artist when the theft of the Ultimate Gundam occurred, was forced to become the official Gundam Fighter for the nation of Neo Japan. Domon was told that he must both win the Gundam Fight Tournament and recover the Devil Gundam. If Domon was able to do both, his father's sentence would be overturned and he would be unfrozen, but if he failed, his father would stay frozen forever. Infuriated at his brother for murdering his mother, stealing the Ultimate Gundam, and leaving his father to an icy prison, Domon set out to Earth at the start of the 13th Gundam Fight with a picture of his brother Kyoji in hand, and asked everyone he met if they had seen him.
13th Gundam Fight[]
As the Gundam Fight went on, Domon eventually made his way to the Shinjuku area of Tokyo, where he was attacked by strange yellow, cyclopic mobile suits. Domon was saved by his old mentor, Master Asia, who destroyed several of the mobile suits before he lead him to safety. The mobile suits were the Death Army, pawns who were created by the Devil Gundam to guard it while it hibernated beneath Shinjuku and continued to recuperate and evolve. The Devil Gundam's corrupted nanomachines, known as DG Cells, were actively creating weapons, raising the dead as zombies to become the pilots for its Death Army Mobile Suits, controlling living human beings and animals, and assimilating new technology so that the Devil Gundam could grow.
Upon exploring the subways beneath Shinjuku, Domon discovered the Devil Gundam and something else that shocked him: several of the other nations' Gundam Fighters were under its control: Chibodee Crocket, Sai Saici, Argo Gulskii, and George de Sand were all under the influence of the DG Cells, and to make matters worse, Master Asia was allied with the Devil Gundam not because he was under its control, but because he believed that he could use the Devil Gundam to remove mankind from the Earth so that nature could restore itself. The other Gundam Fighters were saved by the sacrifice of the old Shuffle Alliance. The Devil Gundam then finished evolving into its Second Stage, and it erupted from beneath the ground. Domon fought the Devil Gundam in his own GF13-017NJ Shining Gundam and tried to damage it with his ultimate "Shining Finger Sword" attack, but due to his hesitation of wanting to kill Kyoji, Domon missed and the energy was absorbed into the Devil Gundam. That allowed the Devil Gundam to make a complete recovery, and it made its escape along with Master Asia.
Guyana Highlands[]
At the urging of Neo Germany's Gundam Fighter, Schwarz Bruder, Domon went to South America to train in the Guyana Highlands, the very location where Master Asia had trained him to be a martial artist. However, the Devil Gundam and Master Asia followed Domon and attacked with massive hordes of Death Army variations and Gundam Heads, and devastated the Guyana Highlands. Domon's Shining Gundam was able to defeat the Devil Gundam and its hordes, but in the process was severely damaged by Master Asia. During his fight with the Devil Gundam and Master Asia, Dr. Mikamura and Major Ulube sent Domon the new GF13-017NJII God Gundam after Rain Mikamura confirmed that Domon had stayed behind and used it to defeat Master Asia and fled the Guyana Highlands to get to Neo-Hong Kong in time for the finals.
Although it appeared destroyed after its battle with the Shining Gundam, the curse of the Devil Gundam would not be ended that easily. Under the consultations of Master Asia and Wong Yunfat, the leader of Neo-Hong Kong, the Devil Gundam's remains were transferred to Hong Kong, the location of the Gundam Fight Finals. Wong believed that he could use the Devil Gundam to make his rule of the Earth permanent; however, the Devil Gundam was badly damaged, and worst of all, Kyoji was on the brink of death and almost worthless as the Devil Gundam's core life unit. Wong set out to find a way to try and replace Kyoji, and his scientists discovered that a male was not as suited to be the core life unit as a female, the givers of life. Wong schemed to make Allenby Beardsley, the fighter for Neo Sweden, the Devil Gundam's new core life unit. Master Asia, on the other hand, believed that Domon should be the new Core Unit, as he was the strongest fighter among the finalists.
13th Gundam Fight Finals[]
As the final Battle Royale, the last fight of the Gundam Fight Tournament, began, the Devil Gundam was set loose on Lantau Island. It was here that Domon learned the truth: the Neo-Japanese Military, lead by Ulube, were the ones who had attempted to steal the Ultimate Gundam, murdered Domon and Kyoji's mother, and froze Dr. Kasshu to keep that a secret, while Kyoji took the Ultimate Gundam to prevent the Military from stealing it. Schwarz Bruder was actually a clone of Kyoji who was created through the use of DG Cells on the corpse of the real Schwarz Bruder. Kyoji tried to use Schwarz to lead Domon to the Devil Gundam so that he would kill him and destroy the Devil Gundam. Armed with the knowledge that he had been lied to, Domon was forced to grant his brother's pleas for a mercy killing and used the Sekiha Tenkyoken against his brother and his clone, which rendered the Devil Gundam useless.
Domon was crowned the winner of the Gundam Fights, and brought victory home to Neo-Japan, but Ulube recovered what little remained of the Devil Gundam and transported it to his home colony of Neo-Japan intending to reconstruct it for military purposes. Ulube followed Wong's research and chose a woman to be the new core life unit: Domon's partner, Rain. Reactivating more powerful than ever, the Devil Gundam grew at an alarming rate, absorbing the entire colony of Neo-Japan to become the Colony Devil Gundam. This form was vastly unlike all previous evolutions, as most of its body structure was composed of gigantic Gundam heads, with a drastically different primary head design. Ulube, driven mad with power, declared that he would be the Earth's permanent ruler, and the other nations responded by declaring war on Neo-Japan. To gain access to the interior, Dr. Mikamura atoned for his crimes by releasing Dr. Kasshu before he died. As the armies of the world fought the Colony Devil Gundam, the Shuffle Alliance infiltrated the interior of the colony to try and stop the Devil Gundam at its source. Ulube, now little more than an avatar to allow the Devil Gundam to talk to its human foes, attempted to stop them by transforming the power generator into the monstrous Grand Master Gundam, a gigantic fusion of the Devil Gundam's Four Kings. Ulube and his new Gundam were defeated by the Shuffle Alliance's team attack (Bakunetsu Shuffle Doumei Ken/Erupting Shuffle Alliance Attack), and Ulube turned to dust. While his allies stood behind to hold off the regenerating Grand Master Gundam, Domon ventured deeper into the colony.
Final Evolution[]
When Domon arrived at the core, he briefly glimpsed Rain embedded in a wall. However, she was quickly enveloped by the wall as it manifested a smaller (although still significantly larger than the God Gundam) combat form to protect its core unit. This "Core Devil Gundam" was said to be a manifestation of Rain's desire to keep Domon away due to her feelings of grief, as she felt the crimes of her father's were hers as well. It overwhelmed its foe with its vastly superior power and regenerative abilities; to make matters worse, any damage Domon inflicted to the unit caused Rain to suffer equal amounts of pain due to her link with the Devil Gundam.
In his moment of weakness (and with encouragement from the Shuffle Alliance and Allenby), Domon finally admitted his love for Rain. After she heard his cries, Rain broke from the Devil Gundam. Despite losing its core life unit, the Devil Gundam remained functional - although it appeared to enter a feral state - and attempted to attack Domon and Rain. In response, the duo combined their power and love into a new attack, the "Sekiha Love Love Tenkyoken", which pierced through the core Devil Gundam before it obliterated it completely. With its core unit completely destroyed, the Colony Devil Gundam lost all power, imploded, and ended the conflict once and for all. The skeletal remains of the mechanical titan remained in Neo-Japan as the survivors of the battle regrouped and debated their futures.
Further Evolutions[]
In Gundam Video Games[]
Hajime Katoki designed another form of the Devil Gundam as the last boss in the Mobile Fighter G Gundam Super Famicom fighting game. This form closely resembles the Final Evolution form in the anime, but it has extra vents on its elbows and a redesigned lower body with large spikes on the knees and no vestiges of a Gundam face.
Variants[]
In Video Games[]
- In Shin Super Robot Taisen, Hajime Katoki designed yet another form of the Devil Gundam as a secret last boss. This form strongly resembles the Core Devil Gundam, but with a distorted torso - the left shoulder includes a large, malformed Gundam Head, and much of the right shoulder and arm has been replaced with green wires.
- In games that tell different stories from G Gundam canon, the Devil Gundam often takes over various locations to create an alternate variant of the Colony Devil Gundam.
- Devil Axis in Super Robot Wars 64.
- Devil Mobile Fortress in Super Robot Wars A
- Devil Mass Driver in Super Robot Wars MX
- Devil Urtraria in Super Robot Wars NEO.
- Devil Halo in SD Gundam G Generation Overworld
During the events of the True Ending Route of Super Robot Wars T, The Devil Gundam, upon being defeated, reverted back to its original programming, and was once more the Ultimate Gundam
- A black custom variant of the Devil Gundam appears as the final boss of Gundam Breaker 4. Unique to this design features twin pincer claws at its base and a long serrated tail. In the final mission, the main antagonist merges his Gunpla with the fallen Gundam, becoming slightly more humanoid and with the Gunpla's torso serving as its new head.
Gallery[]
Gunpla[]
Action Figures[]
Gashapon[]
Notes and Trivia[]
- In the English dub, the Devil Gundam's name was changed to Dark Gundam, due to Sunrise's fears of people being offended by the name "Devil", following an incident where employees of the massive chain store Walmart went through every box of a shipment of Gundam Wing toys and removed and returned all instances of the XXXG-01D2 Gundam Deathscythe Hell.
- The Devil Gundam's chest/cockpit design is the same one used for the GF13-017NJ Shining Gundam in all its incarnations.
- According to concept art for the DG Cells, its appearance was inspired by the meteorite from The Monolith Monsters.
References[]
External links[]