F91 Gundam F91

F91 Gundam F91 is the Strategic Naval Research Institute's prototype from Mobile Suit Gundam F91 (1991, U.C. 0123). It is the product of the Formula Project, a programme built to shrink mobile suits and break Anaheim Electronics' grip on the market. Seabook Arno pilots it, and the Space Ark's captain coined the name Gundam F91 because the face reminded her of the RX-78-2.

What it does in the story

The F91 is recovered from a Frontier Side colony after the Crossbone Vanguard attacks and refurbished aboard the training ship Space Ark. Seabook's first run in it accounts for three Crossbone Vanguard machines over Frontier I, and the suit later fights the automated Bugs and Iron Mask's Rafflesia inside a colony.

What makes it different

• It is much smaller than the suits before it. Head height is 15.2 m against roughly 18 m for One Year War era machines, and the reactor shrank with the frame, moving into an enlarged backpack ringed by high-output thrusters. Low mass with high output gives it mobility older suits cannot answer.
• The VSBRs choose between punch and penetration. The two Variable Speed Beam Rifles mount on the backpack and draw power straight from the reactor. A slow beam carries high destructive power, a fast one carries high penetration, enough to pass through a beam shield. Stowed, they also serve as AMBAC mass.
• It sheds armour to make decoys. The Multiple Construction Armor puts cooling and wiring into the armour layers themselves, which saves space inside a small frame. When the suit runs hot it peels off outer layers, and the metallic particles left behind form afterimages with mass that fool pilots and radar.
• Only a Newtype unlocks the full mode. A limiter keeps the F91 inside what an ordinary pilot can handle. The Bio-Computer reads the pilot through a Bio-Sensor in the seat; when it detects a Newtype it releases the limiter, opens the face guard and deploys the shoulder heat radiation fins.

How big is it?

• Head height: 15.2 m according to Bandai's official spec
• Weight: 7.2 t empty and 19.9 t fully loaded
• 1/144: roughly 10.6 cm
• 1/100: roughly 15.2 cm

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Frequently asked questions

Background sources: F91 Gundam F91 — Gundam Wiki · 機動戦士ガンダムF91（日本語版 Wikipedia）