RX-78-3 G-3 Gundam

Template:Infobox/Mobile Weapon Ver.2The RX-78-3 Gundam "G-3" is a variation of the RX-78-2 Gundam. It first appeared as part of Mobile Suit Variations model kit series, designed by Kunio Okawara and later reappeared in the game Gundam Battle Universe and Gundam the Ride: A Baoa Qu.

Technology & Combat Characteristics

During the attack on Side 7, in September UC 0079, two of the three RX-78 Gundam prototype mobile suits were destroyed. The destroyed parts made their way to the Pegasus-Class assault cruiser White Base, and then to the Earth Federation Forces' General HQ in Jaburo. Once there, the parts were cobbled together and the RX-78-3 Gundam (nicknamed G-3 for being the third incarnation of the Gundam) was born. The G-3 Gundam became a testbed for the magnetic coating that was later applied to Amuro Ray's RX-78-2 Gundam and his intended unit the RX-78NT-1 Gundam "Alex". Visually, the G-3 is very similar looking to the Gundam, except for its gray and light blue paint scheme.

Armaments

• 60mm Vulcan Gun

Mounted in the head, the pair of Vulcan guns were 60mm Gatling Guns and have a high rate of fire. Primarily used to ward off advancing enemies, shoot down missiles or other lightly armored targets, they also made good use as an anti-aircraft and anti-personnel weapons. The Vulcan guns however had a hard time piercing heavy armor (though they had shown the ability to do severe damage to Mobile Suit's if fired at point-blank range) and thus were not often used against larger, more heavily armored foes.

• Beam Rifle

A revolutionary weapon for its time, the Beam Rifle is the primary weapon used by the Gundam. Making use of the Federations E-cap (or "energy capacitor") technology, the rifle uses charged concentrations of mega-particles as ammunition. This gives the beam rifle firepower equivalent to that of a battleship's main cannon. As the mega particles destroy matter on a molecular scale, the beam rifle can penetrate even the thickest armor and destroy its target in a single shot. A weakness of the beam rifle is that it could only be fired 16 times before depleting its energy and becoming useless.

• Beam Saber

The Gundam was the first mobile suit to ever use a beam weapon made for melee combat, and two beam sabers are stored on the backpack. The beam sabers use Minovsky particles held in place by an I-Field to form an effective cutting surface that can slice through nearly any material. The particles for the beam sabers are stored in the E-cap within the hilt of the saber, which is recharged from the Gundam's reactor when the saber is returned to its backpack storage rack. Once activated, beam sabers do not rely on the mobile suit's reactor and can be thrown or discarded as decoys. One can be used as a reserve weapon, or both can be used simultaneously in a twin sword fashion. The beam saber can also transform into the Beam Javelin.

• Beam Javelin

The beam javelin is an alternate form of the beam saber, with an extended handle and a three pronged beam at the end. The long reach of the weapon gives the RX-78-3 an advantage in close quarters combat.

• Gundam Hammer/Hyper Hammer

The Gundam Hammer is essentially a large spiked ball attached to a chain, and provides the Gundam with a ranged melee weapon. The Gundam could either throw or swing the Hammer around itself in order to impact and damage its target through the sheer mass of the hammer. Later, it was upgraded into the Hyper Hammer and had several rockets mounted into the ball in order to allow it to maneuver more effectively in space as well as the ability to change its direction before impact, and to increase the damage it could cause.

• 380mm Hyper Bazooka

Technically a large rocket launcher, it could fire several 380mm missiles to attack targets at long range. No mass-production MS's armor is able to stop this weapon. While very powerful, it has a slow rate of fire and a fairly little amount of ammunition. Most oftenly used to take out slow, heavily armored targets.

• Shield

Hand-carried, forearm-mounted or stored on the Gundam's backpack, the shield is a simple defense used to block most incoming physical and beam attacks. Also used to great effect in close quarters battle with enemy mobile suits. Has a view port than can be sealed off with an internal blast plate. The shield is also used to deflect heat away from the mobile suit when undergoing atmospheric re-entry.

Special Equipment & Features

• Core Block System

The prototype mobile suits produced by the Earth Federation Forces' Operation V, are equipped with a central block which houses the mobile suit's cockpit, control systems and main power source. This core block can eject in case of emergency and unfold into a small Core Fighter.

• Hardpoints

An attachment point for weapons, shields, spare ammunition, or optional mission-specific equipment. Hardpoints can also be used to store carried weapons when a mobile suit needs its manipulators free for other purposes.

• Learning Computer

A critical component of the Gundam's success in combat, the Learning Computer System was similar to a modern day black box. It recorded the data from each of the Gundam's battles for further use. However, the system could also actively learn and improve the capabilities of the Gundam. This was conceived of as a means to get around the difficulty of training pilots. The computer could apply various programs for walking, fighting, and working to the case at hand, independently reaching decisions and making improvements. Once adequate data had been accumulated, the programs could be transplanted, allowing even a machine operated by a novice to perform like a veteran pilot.

• Heatproof Field

A system installed in the RX-78-3 Gundam, which pumps out air to counter the friction heat of atmospheric entry. The mobile suit's internal cooling systems must also be engaged to deal with the heat that penetrates the air field.

• Magnetic Coating

A special membrane treatment applied to mobile suit joints to improve their response speed. The mobile suits developed by the Earth Federation Forces use special actuators called field motors, whose efficiency is increased by the magnet coating process. The treatment also reduces friction resistance in the mobile suit's joints. First tested on the RX-78-3 Gundam, this process is then applied to the RX-78-2 used by Amuro Ray, reducing the time required for changes of direction by roughly 27%.

History

In the novel version of Mobile Suit Gundam, the G-3 became Amuro Ray's mobile suit in the later half of the war after his Gundam was destroyed in battle with Zeon Newtype Lalah Sune. It had the magnetic coating added to the joints to increase response time for its pilot. Other than the gray color scheme, it is identical to RX-78-2. The G-3 Gundam was later destroyed in battle by Leroy Gilliam, a member of Char's Rick-Dom Squad, which proved fatal for its pilot.

In the manga series Char's Deleted Affair: Portrait Of Young Comet, the G-3 is stationed aboard the White Base II and piloted in combat against Zeon remnants by Giorgio Miguel, a Zeon double agent.

In the manga Mobile Suit Gundam Side Story: Hidden Shadow G, the G-3 falls into the hand of a ninja clan and modified into the Hidden Shadow of G.

Gallery

G-3 Gundam (Kunio Okawara version): front view

G-3 Gundam re-illustration for 1/100 Master Grade model release: front view

G-3 Gundam: re-illustrated by Kyoshi Takigawa as featured in "Master Archive Mobile Suit RX-78 Gundam" (GA Graphic; 2011)

SD G-3 Gundam as featured in SD Gundam G Generation Wars

G-3 Gundam as featured in Gundam War card game

G-3 Gundam "Magnetic Coating" promotion campaign as seen on Mobile Suit Gundam: Battle Operation

G-3 Gundam and its pilot Giorgio Miguel as seen on Char's Deleted Affair: Portrait Of Young Comet

G-3 Gundam destroyed by Vayeate (from Gundam Build Fighters Try TV series)

As seen on the game Gundam Diorama Front 3rd.

Gunpla

1/144 HGUC "G-3 Gundam & Zeong" double pack (Gundam World 2002 in C3 exclusive; 2002): box art

1/144 HGUC "G-3 Gundam & Char's Rick Dom" double pack (Limited release; 2008): box art

1/100 MG "RX-78-3 Gundam G-3" (1996): box art

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1/100 MG "RX-78-3 Gundam G-3 (Ver. 2.0)" (2009): box art

1/60 PG "RX-78-3 Gundam G-3 [Extra Finish]" (The Gundam Base Tokyo exclusive; 2018): box art

1/100 "RX-78-3 G-3 Gundam" model conversion based on 1/100 MG "RX-78-2 Gundam (Ver. Ka)" (2002): modeled by Naoki Kimura (Hobby Japan)

Action Figures

Mobile Suit in Action (MSiA / MIA) "RX-78-3 G-3 Gundam" action figure (Asian release; 2001): package front view

MSiA / MIA "Gunperry & RX-78-3 G-3 Gundam" double pack (North American release; 2001): package front view

MSiA / MIA "Gunperry & RX-78-3 G-3 Gundam" double pack (North American release; 2001): package rear view

MSiA / MIA "RX-78-3 G-3 Gundam (Second Version)" (Limited edition Fujikyu Highland "Gundam the Ride: A Baoa Qu" exclusive; 2003): package front view

Extended Mobile Suit in Action (ExMSiA / EMIA) "RX-78-3 G3 Gundam" (2008): package front view

Robot Damashii "RX-78-3 G-3 Gundam [Metallic Coat Specification]" (Tamashii Festival 2011/Tamashii Web exclusive; 2011): package front view

Robot Damashii RX-78-3 G-3 Gundam Ver. A.N.I.M.E. (Tamashii Web exclusive; 2016): package front view

1/200 High Complete Model Progressive (HCM Pro) "RX-78-3 Gundam "G-3" & RX-78/C.A. Casval's Gundam" double pack (Limited edition release; 2004): package front view

Kado Senshi "RX-78-3 G-3 Gundam" (Limited edition 20th Century Toy Expo - Osaka exclusive; 2002): box art

Gundam Fix Figuration (GFF) #0007 "G-3 G-Armor (RX-78-3 G-3 Gundam + G-Fighter) figure set (2002): package front view

GFF #0007 "G-3 G-Armor (RX-78-3 G-3 Gundam + G-Fighter) figure set (2002): package front view

Gundam Fix Figuration Metal Composite (GFFMC) "G-3 Limited [RX-78-3 G-3 Gundam "Ver. Ka" + G-Fighter (G-3 version)]" figure set (Limited release; 2007): package front view.

GFFMC "G-3 Limited [RX-78-3 G-3 Gundam "Ver. Ka" + G-Fighter (G-3 version)]" figure set (Limited release; 2007): package rear view.

GFF #0007 "G-3 G-Armor (RX-78-3 G-3 Gundam + G-Fighter) figure set (2002): product samples - G-3 Gundam & G-3 G-Fighter

GFF #0007 "G3 G-Armor" (2002): product sample - G-3 G-Armor

GFFMC "G-3 Limited [RX-78-3 G-3 Gundam "Ver. Ka" + G-Fighter (G-3 version)]" figure set (Limited release; 2007): product sample - G-3 Gundam "Ver. Ka"

Notes and Trivia

• The RX-78-3 Gundam is the closest to Yoshiyuki Tomino's conception of the Gundam. As he wanted to stress that it was a true military machine, a weapon of war a "real robot", he originally wanted it's entire color scheme to be dull and grayish, however the sponsor had concerns that this would limit it's appeal to children and marketability as a toy, hence the final version in series follows the color scheme of the RX-78-2 rather than the RX-78-3.
• In most of SD Gundam G Generation games, the Gundam Hammer is omitted from the G3's move list and has a double Hyper Bazooka attack as opposed to a single one. The Hammer's omission may be a reference to Tomino's original concept and the fact the movies also omitted this weapon.
• In the first Super Robot Wars Alpha game, it was a hidden unit that was superior to the RX-78-2 in various ways, particularly higher mobility and limit (limit on how much of the Pilot+Suit's mobility will be counted) and more post movement weapons. Properly upgraded, Amuro could use it for a longer time before hitting its limit. This allowed most players to give the Re-GZ to another pilot and wait until the Nu Gundam becomes available.
• In SD Gundam Capsule Fighter Online, the G-3 Gundam is considered an A-Rank unit, given its increased stats compared to the B-Rank Gundam and even the A-Rank Gundam (Magnetic Coating). It is also one of the first units you can obtain via missions by completing a certain mission on Normal.
• In Mobile Suit Gundam Gihren's Greed "The Menace of Axis", if the player wins the One-Year War as the principality of Zeon, they will steal several Federation units, and acquire the plans for the Gundam G-3, as opposed to the RX-78-Z1 Zeon Gundam featured in earlier installments.

Reference

G-3 Gundam (bottom): information from 1/144 HGUC "G-3 Gundam & Char's Rick Dom modeling manual

External links

• "G-3" Gundam on MAHQ

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