One of the most interesting bits of Universal Century history is the arms race within Zeon, between the Zeonic Corporation and Zimmad Company. Both companies competed to design and develop mobile suits, and while Zeonic ended up having more “wins”, some of Zimmad’s designs were among the best in the war. If you dig deep to look at who made what, a narrative takes shape, one in which Zimmad arguably made more impressive technical achievements, but struggled to make them cheap enough (or safe enough) to be viable for mass military use. While the end of the One Year War brought both companies to dissolution, one gets the sense that Zeonic would have knocked out its competitor sooner or later.
Now let’s get to the real topic of this post - did you know that there was a similar arms race within the Federation? It’s true!
Or rather, it is maybe true. Or not. And if it is true, it isn’t quite the same situation.
Okay, okay, so the details are still a bit fuzzy to me, but just let me tell the story.