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| “ | Once the Big Zam is mass-produced, we'll put an end to the Federation in no time! | ” |
—Dozle Zabi's comments on Big Zam's overwhelming power against EFF Space Fleets.[1] | ||
The MA-08 Big Zam (MA-08 ビグ・ザム Bigu Zamu?) was a mobile armor introduced in anime Mobile Suit Gundam. Developed by the Principality of Zeon, it was commandeered by Dozle Zabi during the Battle of Solomon.
Technology & Combat Characteristics
A mobile armor designed for maximum offensive power, the Big Zam was considered the largest and most powerful tactical weapon during the One Year War.[2] It was designed to attack fortresses, especially the EFF's Headquarter in Jaburo.[3] It was armed with a wide array of weapons, including a large mega particle cannon in the front of its torso, capable of sinking a Magellan-class battleship with a single shot.[1] Across its torso was an array of anti-air mega particle cannons, which were used to prevent mobile suits from approaching. The claws on its legs could be fired as missiles. For protection, it was equipped with a barrier that nullified beam weapons.[4]
The Big Zam was the first mobile weapon in history to be equipped with an I-field generator, an anti-beam barrier that utilized Minovsky physics. This allowed Big Zam to neutralize optical weapons such as mega-particle cannons, giving it immense defensive power.[5] In order to power all of its beam weapons at the same time, the Big Zam was equipped with four large fusion reactors, each with a power output of 35,000 kilowatt.[3] Due to issues with cooling, it was only able to operate at full combat capability for less than 20 minutes.[6] Its cockpit block, located in the upper torso, housed three pilot seats: a pilot, a radar operator, and a gunner; though it could be operated by a single pilot with the assistance of computers.[4]
Armaments
- Large Mega Particle Gun
- The primary weapon of the Big Zam was a large mega particle gun that sit prominently in the center of the mobile armor's body. Rated at 13.9MW,[7] the large mega particle gun drew a vast amount of energy from the four fusion reactors, allowing it to fire a mega particle beam that could destroy multiple battleships and mobile weapons in a single shot.[1] It was the most powerful weapon used by any mobile weapon or battleship, second only to the superweapons employed by both sides.
- Mega Particle Gun
- The main secondary weapons of the Big Zam were twenty-six mega particle guns that encircled the middle of the Big Zam's torso.[8] Rated at 2.1MW,[7] The positioning of these mega particle guns provided the Big Zam with 360-degree defense against smaller, more maneuverable mobile weapons such as mobile suits and fighter spacecrafts, which could avoid the large mega particle gun's beam. However, their positioning was also a weakness because if a mobile suit could get directly above, below, or simply close enough to the armor, it would be out of the mega particle guns' targeting range.
- Air-to-Air Missile
- To protect the Big Zam's undercarriage, a blind spot not covered by the mega particle guns, the Big Zam was equipped with three air-to-air missiles disguised as claws on each legs. These massive missiles were almost the size of a mobile suit and were not explosive in nature. Instead, they were designed to crush enemy machines through sheer size and mass.
Special Equipment
- I-Field Generator
- When Minovsky particles were released into the air or into open space, the positive and negative particles spontaneously align themselves into a three-dimensional cubic lattice. Due to the repulsive and electrostatic forces between the Minovsky particles, this lattice functions as a kind of a force field, which is referred to as an I-field. This field had difficulty permeating conductive materials like metal, water, and plasma, and it exerted a repulsive force against mega particles. An I-field was used to to deflect enemy mega particle beams. Due to its high power requirements, the I-field generator originally could only be installed in large mobile weapons.[9] When the generator was activated, the I-field formed an invisible barrier around the mobile weapon, protecting it from incoming beam attacks. However, this barrier had no effect against projectiles like missiles and projectiles, and beam weapons could still be used at point blank range within the barrier's boundary.
History
Developed at Zeon's asteroid fortress A Baoa Qu,[10] the MA-08 Big Zam was originally intended to be used for the attack on Jaburo. It was expected that after mass production, a company of Big Zams would be dropped onto Jaburo and instantly capture the Earth Federation headquarters. However, Big Zam's overwhelming firepower came at a prohibitive production cost of as much as two Musai-class cruisers which made mass-production virtually impossible for the financially-strained Zeon Armed Forces.[3][11] In the end, only one unit was rolled out.[12] This unit was later assigned to Solomon by Gihren Zabi as the EFF prepared to attack the space fortress.[13]
The Big Zam was first deployed as Solomon's last line of defense during the Battle of Solomon on December 24, U.C. 0079. Dozle Zabi and two co-pilots attacked the Federation space force that was attempting to land on the base, wiping out numerous RGM-79 GM and RB-79 Ball units before taking flight to attack the Federation fleet.[1] According to a report by the Federation Ministry of Defense's War History Research Institute, it was surprising that in the Battle of Solomon, the Federation Fleet suffered unbelievable losses including four battleships, eight cruisers and many mobile suits at the hands of just one Big Zam.[5] The Federation Fleet in question was the main fleet commanded by V.Adm./Lt.Gen. Tianem.[1] The attacks went smoothly before it was confronted by the Federation's most powerful mobile suit, the RX-78-2 Gundam piloted by emerging Newtype Amuro Ray. Making his attack run docked with the G-Fighter piloted by Sleggar Law, Amuro was able to attack the Big Zam from within the I-Field's defensive perimeter, dealing heavy damage to the undercarriage. He then finished the mobile armor off with the Gundam's beam saber, destroying the unit and effectively ending Zeon resistance at Solomon.[1]
Variants
- MA-04L Big Zam L Type
- MA-08-2 Big Zam Kai
- MA-08ex Big Zam Kai "Humpty Dumpty"
- MA-08R Big Zam
- MA-08S Big Zam Zabi Family Custom
- MA-09 Mass Production Type Big Zam
- OMAX-01 Grand Zam
- Dogzam
- RMA-081 Big Zam
Gallery
Lineart
Anime
Mobile Suit Gundam
.png "Big Zam Cockpit 01 (MSG Ep36).png (4.48 MB)")
.png "Big Zam Large Mega Particle Gun Firing 01 (MSG Ep36).png (4.1 MB)")
.png "Big Zam I-Field Barrier 01 (MSG Ep36).png (4.97 MB)")
Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn
Manga
Mobile Suit Gundam MSV-R Legend of the Universal Century Heroes: The Fabulous Shin Matsunaga
Others
Illustrations & Artwork
Games
Gunpla
Action Figures
Gashapon
Notes and Trivia
- Big Zam appears in Gundam: The Battle Master, its sequel and later US adaptation in Gundam Battle Assault as an unlockable VS mode unit as well as the first boss in the game. Its appearance is significantly altered and features additional missile launchers on its underside. Its large mega particle cannon features two panels that open up when it prepares to fire. While its toe claws are still intact, they go unused as air-to-air missiles.
- Big Zam appears as both a boss unit and unlockable VS unit in Mobile Suit Gundam: Federation vs Zeon and Mobile Suit Gundam: Gundam vs. Zeta Gundam, with its Federation colors (mostly blue) being a reference to its 2P color in Battle Assault.
- Curiously, the Big Zam cannot sortie in any stage taking place in zero gravity space despite that it spent most of its time doing so in the anime. Even after the release of Encounters in Space which rectified this problem, the error still exists in Gundam vs. Zeta Gundam, which was released two years after. However, a large number of these units can be seen in outer space in Haman's best ending in UC mode.
- There appears to be some inconsistency as to the depiction of its rear thrusters. In official illustrations as well as some games, the thrusters are located in small slots on the top half but in other games, it's given a series of larger and much visible thrusters, some of them being located in its middle section.
References
![Big Zam's structural diagram (from ENTERTAINMENT BIBLE .1: Gundam MS Encyclopedia Part 1 [One Year War Edition]; Bandai; 1989)](/wiki/File:Mobile_Weapon_3.jpg "Mobile Weapon 3.jpg (553 KB)")
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Mobile Suit Gundam Episode 36, Big Zam's Last Stand
- ↑ (2006-07-26) 〈復刻版〉機動戦士ガンダムモビルスーツバリエーション (2) ジオン軍MS・MA編 (in Japanese). 講談社編 [Kodansha], p. 50. ISBN 9784063721768.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 (March 2000) 宇宙翔ける戦士達 GUNDAM CENTURY RENEWAL VERSION (in Japanese). 樹想社, 54. ISBN 9784877770280.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 (February 1989) ENTERTAINMENT BIBLE .1 機動戦士ガンダム MS大図鑑【PART.1 一年戦争編】 (in Japanese). バンダイ, 86. ISBN 4891890061.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 (November 1999) 機動戦士ガンダム MSV コレクションファイル [宇宙編] (in Japanese). 講談社, 52. ISBN 9784063465501.
- ↑ (March 2000) 宇宙翔ける戦士達 GUNDAM CENTURY RENEWAL VERSION (in Japanese). 樹想社, 55. ISBN 9784877770280.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 (February 1989) ENTERTAINMENT BIBLE .1 機動戦士ガンダム MS大図鑑【PART.1 一年戦争編】 (in Japanese). バンダイ, 87. ISBN 4891890061.
- ↑ (September 1998) 機動戦士ガンダム大事典 [一年戦争編] 復刻版 (in Japanese). ラポート株式会社, 109. ISBN 9784897993928.
- ↑ (February 1989) ENTERTAINMENT BIBLE .1 機動戦士ガンダム MS大図鑑【PART.1 一年戦争編】 (in Japanese). バンダイ, 93. ISBN 4891890061.
- ↑ (August 1998) ラポートデラックス 機動戦士ガンダム 宇宙世紀vol.1 [歴史編] (in Japanese). ラポート株式会社, 101. ISBN 9784897992938.
- ↑ (June 2023) 双葉社MOOK グレートメカニック・スペシャル モビルスーツ全集17 宇宙世紀のモビルアーマーBOOK (in Japanese). 双葉社, 31. ISBN 9784575465457.
- ↑ (April 1984) 講談社ポケット百科シリーズ33 機動戦士ガンダム モビルスーツバリエーション2 ジオン軍MS・MA編 (in Japanese). 講談社, 142. ISBN 406107783X.
- ↑ Mobile Suit Gundam Episode 35, The Glory of Solomon
| Solomon Express Mechanics | |
|---|---|
| edit | |
| Earth Federation | |
| Mobile Weapon | |
| Mobile Suit FA-010E Full Armor ZZ Gundam Final Test Unit | Gundam Phase 3 | Gundam Sky | RX-78-2 Gundam C-Armor | RX-78-2 Solomon Express G-2 | RX-78-3 Solomon Express G-3 "White Devil" | Z Plus 2 | |
| Mobile Armour Dendrobium Prototype "Night Fighter" | |
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| |
| Aircraft / Spacecraft G-Armor Solomon Express | G-Bull | G-Bull Easy | G-Sky Easy | |
| Principality of Zeon | |
| Mobile Weapon | |
| Mobile Suit Jupiter Ghost | MS-05 Zaku First Refined Type 185th Airborne Paratrooper Use | MS-05BIS Zaku British Invasion "Green Devil" | MS-18E Kämpfer | Zaku Zombie | |
| Mobile Armour AMX-002 Neue Ziel | MA-08 Big Zam | MAN-03 Braw Bro | MAN-08 Elmeth | |
| Anaheim Electronics | |
| Mobile Weapon | |
| Mobile Armour MRX-010 Psycho Gundam Mk-II | |