Like I said before, this was going to be a quiet month for builds, but I wanted to try and squeeze in at least one. And despite having a lot of good stuff on the backlog to choose from, instead I opted to build something I recently got as a birthday gift. Something I’ve recently become quite enamored with:
This is the Gaza C, a Neo Zeon grunt suit that appears in both Zeta Gundam and its sequel ZZ Gundam.
About the Mobile Suit
I finally got around to watching ZZ Gundam last year, and since then I’ve had the Gaza C on my mind. It just … tickles me pink. Its lore, its history, its form, its function, etc are so well thought out and tied up with one another. This mobile suit - this junky, cannon fodder grunt suit that most Gundam fans probably can’t remember - tells quite a story.
Let’s drill down further and take a look at some fun facts about the background and history of the Gaza C …
It is Based on a Construction MS
When Zeon remnants retreated to Axis, they ran into a bit of a problem, which is that Axis wasn’t ever intended to house people. That meant they needed to do a whole lot of construction, and the Gaza A was born for that exact purpose:
Later, when Axis Zeon was situated and ready to strengthen their military, they used the readily-available Gaza A as the baseline for a next-generation mass production model. This led to the Gaza B, which served as a testbed for mobile suit transformation technology, but was not intended for actual combat.
After their tests with the Gaza B were complete, Axis incorporated the transformation tech into a new military-grade unit, which became the Gaza C. Though apparently it’s not entirely new; according to the Gundam Wiki, a lot of Gaza C’s are actually just upcycled Gaza A and B’s, which implies that they lacked the money and resources to build a whole fleet of them from scratch.
I like this origin story because it tells us a lot about Axis Zeon’s less than stellar situation. It reminds me a lot of real world examples of armies converting civilian equipment for military use, and how this is often done out of a sense of desperation and necessity.
Yes, It Can Transform
Like so many MS from the Zeta Gundam era, the Gaza C can transform into a mobile armor mode:
It can also turn into a ground-based gun emplacement:
It’s basically the same thing with its feet repositioned, but it’s still a clever gimmick that other transforming mobile suits don’t have. And it speaks to Axis’ willingness/need to make mobile suits that are as versatile and adaptable as possible.
On one hand, this transformation feature makes a certain amount of sense. If every other faction you’re fighting against has transforming mobile suits, you probably want to have some too.
On the other hand, it seems like a bad idea to take a complicated, expensive feature and stuff it into a mass production mobile suit that was intended to be cheap and easy to make. There’s no way you’re going to pull that off without a resulting drop in quality.
And wouldn’t you know it, that’s exactly what happens!
They’re Pieces of Junk
The Gaza C is said to be flimsy, and unreliable. In fact, according to the Gundam Wiki, the average unit would survive for no more than three sorties. In some cases that might be because they’re destroyed, but in other cases it’s because using transformation gimmick more than a few times could cause it to literally fall apart. So while it technically can transform, it cannot do so reliably.
There are many mass produced grunt suits throughout the Gundam franchise that are cheap, simple, yet extremely reliable. This is not one of them.
The Purpose of the Gaza C
So why is it that the Gaza C is the way it is. Why make it transform? And why build so many if they’re so unreliable?
Let’s think it through - we know that the Haman Karn-led Axis Zeon almost conquered the Earthsphere. And we know that Haman didn’t get that far through sheer brute force, but by playing mind games and/or tricking her foes. And the Gaza C falls right into that playbook.
Let’s consider the scene in which the Gaza C first shows up in Zeta Gundam. In Episode 32, Axis forces appear out of nowhere during a battle between the AEUG and the Titans:
A mob of roughly 100 Gaza C’s immediately surround the other two factions and open fire from a distance.
One hundred beam rifles line firing in unison is going to be too overwhelming for anyone, so both the AEUG and the Titans retreat. And then the Gaza C’s just hang out where they are, surrounding the AEUG for an indeterminate amount of time.
Imagine being in this scenario. Out of nowhere a new faction shows up with 100+ mobile suits, all of which have beam weapons, all of which look weird and alien (more on that later), and all of which can transform (whereas the AEUG only has two transformable suits in total!) I have a feeling you would be pretty scared and intimidated too!
Now you might be thinking to yourself, ”But the transformation barely works, and they’d probably get their asses kicked in close combat because they’re so flimsy. Why don’t the AEUG or the Titans just gather their strength and take the fight to Axis?”
But you have to remember - at this point in time, neither the AEUG nor the Titans know about the flaws of the Gaza C. That’s because Haman has purposefully introduced them in a way that plays to their strengths (firing from a distance in a group) while hiding their weaknesses. For all the other factions know, Axis has the equivalent of 100 Asshimars or Gabthleys - and they have no idea if there are any more!!
It’s all a huge mindgame, and it’s only possible if there’s a lot of Gaza C’s. If that means that each individual unit has to be a clunker, so be it.
A Different Role in ZZ Gundam
I think it’s fair to say that by the events of ZZ Gundam, the Gaza C has, in fact, been found out as a “fraud” so to speak. They show up a lot, but they’re no longer seen as much of a threat. Rather, they are constantly dunked on by the Gundam Team.
It becomes one of the most cannon-foddery of all cannon-fodder units (though still not nearly as bad as the Leo, which has the dishonor of being able to explode without actually being touched). This makes perfect sense considering all of its flaws, but more importantly, it makes sense within the context of this new show.
I’m not the first person to point out that ZZ Gundam is, at times, a lot more light-hearted and silly than its predecessor, and so it makes perfect sense for the show to have an enemy unit that’s a comically ineffective punching bag. The Gaza C is perfect for that role.
True Cannon Fodder
You might ask yourself “If Axis knew the Gaza C was crap, why did they send so many of them at the Gundam Team? Surely they must have known that they would get wrecked?”I think the answer to that question is simple - the Axis forces sent against the Gundam Team weren’t necessarily there to defeat them, but to simply distract them while Haman worked behind the scenes to make deals for the Earthsphere’s surrender.
And when you consider just how little she seems to care about human life, it makes sense that she’d throw wave after wave of hapless Gaza C pilots to their deaths just to keep the Gundams out of her hair.
Okay, so that’s the history of the Gaza C. As you can probably tell, I love how much thought went into a seemingly unremarkable grunt suit. It plays multiple roles so effectively, making it (in my opinion) one of the best grunt units in the Universal Century.
About the Visual Design
I love the look of this thing. It’s at once both familiar and foreign and, well, weird.
It’s Main Gun is Mounted to its Armpit
And its targeting computer is embedded nearby, in its chest of all places.
Also, the gun has no grip and no trigger.
This … kind of makes sense? I know there are a lot of good reasons why most mobile suits look humanoid, but there’s no particular reason why their weapons need to look and act like real world firearms.
That is to say, if the pilot is pulling a trigger in the cockpit, then there’s no reason why the mobile suit needs to do the same. Nor is there any good reason why the main weapon couldn’t (or shouldn’t) be attached to the body.
Just because a mobile suit looks humanoid doesn’t mean it has to act exactly like us. There are things a mecha can do that we can’t, and I appreciate that the Gaza C’s design embraces that idea.
On the other hand, it still looks quite uncanny to see a mobile suit with a gun mounted in such an odd place, and where it holds that weapon by simply resting its hand on the underside, firing away without any sort of visual indicator.
The Gaza C is one of the few mobile suits I can think of that addresses the idea that combat mecha wouldn’t necessarily do things exactly the way humans do, and that that might be a little unsettling.
Speaking of which …
It Looks Alien
I’ve seen this opinion multiple times, that the Gaza C looks kind of alien in nature. I don’t disagree. It is still largely humanoid in appearance, but the shape of some of its body parts are off. I’m thinking in particular of its fragile, almost skeletal looking torso, its oddly curved arms, and its birdlike feet.
And then there’s the fact that its tiny torso is essentially embedded in a giant rocket, or the fact that it doesn’t really have a head so much as it has an eye embedded in its body. And then there’s that beam rifle again.
Also, it’s colored pink and purple, which isn’t what you’d typically expect from a military unit.
All in all, the Gaza C really gives off the vibe of being some sort of weird alien tech. It is a far cry from the aesthetic of Earth Federation/AEUG designs (which look like boxy armored soldiers), Titans designs (which largely look like movie monsters), or even other Neo Zeon designs (which tend to look like armored knights). It’s far more creepy and unsettling.
But it Also Kind of Looks like the Rick Dias
The Gaza C has a single green monoeye lens. It’s got teardrop-shaped shoulder armor that are highly reminiscent of the a certain mobile suit’s Booster Binders. It has guns that can fire upward.
Oh, and it’s cockpit is in the head:
Yes, the Gaza C looks an awful lot like the Rick Dias. Perhaps this was a (subconcious) reason why I found the Gaza C so instantly appealing.
There’s an Alternate Color Scheme
In the Zeta Gundam film adaptation, Haman Karn flies a Gaza C in her own custom color scheme:
And yes, they also made this model kit in this scheme if you prefer it.
About the Model Kit
The kit is HGUC #63, and it hails from 2006. I’ve got a number of kits from that year, including the Powered GM, the Zaku I Sniper Type, the classic Zaku I, and the GM Striker (which is still on my backlog). Every single one of them punches above their weight class. They all have some combination of excellent gimmicks and/or solid color separation, especially considering their age.
If the Gaza C is anything like these other models, then this is going to be a fantastic build.