The Astray Blue Frame is a Mobile Suit in the manga series Gundam SEED Astray.
Technology and Combat Characteristics
The MBF-P03 Astray Blue Frame is a prototype combat mobile suit developed using stolen data from the Earth Alliance's G Project. Most of the technology from the G Project was successfully copied with the exception of Phase Shift armor. In its place the Astrays' designers made the machines out of a lighter foaming metal compound and were built with minimal armor over the frame. This made the Astray mobile suits lighter and faster than their G Project counterparts.
Originally, the Astray Blue Frame was armed with the standard armament of the other prototype Astray suits. These weapons include two head-mounted "Igelstellung" 75mm multi-barrel CIWS, two back-mounted beam sabers for close combat, a Type 71 beam rifle, and a single physical shield. However its mercenary pilot used his resources to outfit the Astray Blue Frame with a wide variety of weapons to suit multiple combat situations. These additional weapons include a GINN's D-Type anti-fortress weapons, combat knives, and torpedoes.
Armaments
- "Igelstellung" 75mm Multi-Barrel CIWS
- Beam Saber
- Type 71 Beam Rifle
- Shield
- 8-barrel Missile Launcher
- M68 "Pardus" 3-Barrel Missile Launcher
- Combat Knife
- M68 "Cattus" 500mm Recoilless Rifle
- Underwater Rifle
History
The Orb Union's Morgenroete corporation built five Astray prototype mobile suits at Heliopolis, the MBF-P01 Astray Gold Frame, MBF-P02 Astray Red Frame, MBF-P03 Astray Blue Frame, MBF-P04 Astray Green Frame and MBF-P05 Astray, that were used to base the 5 GAT-X series Gundams that they assisted the Earth Alliance's Atlantic Federation in creating. They successfully copied the EA's beam rifle and saber technology, but Morgenroete did not have access to the Phase Shift armor design, and compensated by making the Gundam Astray units lighter and more agile than their EA counterparts. Unlike Gold Frame, Blue Frame was fitted with only Orb hand plugs, and thus could not use Earth Alliance weapons.
On January 25, CE 71, ZAFT's attack on Heliopolis to steal the Alliance Gundams also unknowingly interrupted the Astray project. In order hide their progress, Orb's military decided to destroy the Astray lab. Coordinator Rondo Gina Sahaku, an Orb nobleman, disagreed and attempted to save the 3 completed suits. He uploaded specifications into Blue Frame's computer for use of a variety of optional weapons and equipment, including a high-mobility booster and an enhanced head sensor. Blue Frame was soon located by Junk Guild technician Lowe Guele, who found himself having to use it to protect himself from Coordinator mercenary pilot Gai Murakumo of the Serpent Tail company, who had been hired to eliminate all evidence of the Astray program. Over the course of the conflict, Lowe abandoned the Blue Frame in a ploy to disable Gai's Mobile Armor. When the Serpent Tail were double-crossed by their employer (having seen the suits, Gai himself had become evidence of their existence), Gai commandeered the empty Blue Frame to defeat them, and after Lowe confronted him in Red Frame, Gai decided to leave the Junk Techs alone. Gai kept Blue Frame for his own use, and the two Astray pilots encountered one another several more times, sometimes as allies and sometimes on opposing sides.
Upgrade
Thanks to the uploaded data, Gai was able to equip Blue Frame with a variety of custom weapons and equipment to suit the needs of his jobs. When he was guarding the Eurasian Confederacy's Artemis space fortress, for example, Gai loaded Blue Frame with multiple bazookas and missile launchers taken from ZAFT. On Earth, he equipped it with a "scale system" backpack and leg units for underwater mobility. The latter proved itself in battle on Giga-Float against Gold Frame, in which Gai fought off Rondo Gina to protect the installation. Afterward, Blue Frame was severely damaged in battle against rogue "Combat Coordinator" Eleven Socius and his GAT-01D Long Dagger. Afterward, Gai, Lowe, and Orb engineer Erica Simmons collaborated to upgrade the suit to a form known as Blue Frame Second.
Blue Frame 2nd
Blue Frame Second had an altered head design, and mounted retractable knife blades in the heels and toes, which could be used as kicking weapons or as anchoring spikes. It also had fin thrusters on the shoulders and stored six "Armor Schneider" folding combat knives in its body. Erica Simmons' contribution was Phase Shift armor surrounding the cockpit area, and a two-layer armor for the rest of the suit, in which the inner layer's Phase Shift activated when the outer layer was breached. Lowe contributed the Tactical Arms system, which completed the first configuration, Blue Frame Second L ("L" for "Lowe"). Tactical Arms was a high-mobility backpack equipped with a 90mm Gatling gun. Tactical Arms could detach and be used as either a hand-carried gun, or the wings could fold into a 20-meter-long sword. Like Red Frame's "Gerbera Straight", the Tactical Arms sword was very sharp and covered with anti-beam coating. The second configuration was Blue Frame Second G ("G" for "Gai"), which replaced Tactical Arms with the Full Armor Phase Shift (FAP) system. FAP could, like Tactical Arms, be used as a high-mobility backpack, and could also fold around to cover the entire mobile suit with additional Phase Shift armor.
In addition, both Blue Frame Second configurations could carry an additional weapon: a mobile suit sized version of the Archangel class assault ships' Lohengrin positron blaster guns. This weapon was stored in two pieces on Blue Frame Second's hips, and connected into a single gun for use. It was powered by its own ultracompact nuclear reactor (mounted on the rear waist armor), and was quite possibly the most powerful mobile suit weapon of the Cosmic Era. Unfortunately, Gai did not possess N-Jammer Canceller technology, so the utility of the gun was limited. It did, however, prove useful against the huge experimental mobile TSX-MA717/ZD Pergrande, when Gai closed to point blank range (bringing Blue Frame within influence of the Pergrande's own N-Jammer Canceller) and destroyed it with a single shot. In the Second war, Elijah Kiels ZAKU and the Blue Frame Second are seen using METEORS, which are remodified Verne flight units, using parts of the METEOR 06-08 and the 04-05. The METEOR they use has it's own internal power source. However, the METEORS they use can only use the Beam sword and the beam cannon.
Variants
- MBF-P03 Astray Blue Frame Second L
- MBF-P03 Astray Blue Frame Second G
Gallery of suit variants
External Links
Template:Cosmic Era mobile weapons