FA-78-1 Full Armor Gundam

FA-78-1 Full Armor Gundam is the RX-78-2 Gundam fitted with a modular set of armour, weapons and extra thrusters, drawn up for the Federation's FSWS Plan late in the One Year War. It comes from Mobile Suit Variation, the 1983 design series rather than an animated production, and is also called the Full Armor Type or Type A.

What it does in the story

There is no animation to point to, and the records disagree about what the machine did. In the accounts that place it in the war, the equipment is prepared for the Gundam once its joints have received magnet coating, with the plan being to give every RX-78 unit a set of optional weapon systems for an all-Newtype team. Post-war material treats the suit as a rumour: a widely circulated photograph of it fighting a Zeong turns out to be a computer simulation.

What makes it different

• It is an armour kit, not a new mobile suit. Chest, shoulders, waist, arms and legs each receive add-on plates over the areas that took damage most often, and the whole set can be fitted or stripped. The Gundam underneath keeps its Core Block System and its Core Fighter.
• The loadout is closer to a warship's. A 360mm rocket cannon with five rounds sits on the backpack, a twin beam rifle with folding barrels is mounted on the right forearm, and four missile bays are split between the added chest armour and the knees.
• The colours are camouflage. The suit is painted dark grey, a shade called FA Gray, with the added weapons and the head in FA Green. The scheme was chosen to reduce how far away the machine can be picked out in visual-range combat.
• Its existence is still an open question. One account has the plan cancelled when the RX-78-2 is lost at A Baoa Qu, another has the design reworked into the FA-78-2 Heavy Gundam over worries about mobility, and a third has a prototype built and tested. No parts or production records have surfaced, and by U.C. 0090 the accepted position was that the FA-78-1 only ever existed as simulation data.

How big is it?

• Head height: 18.0 m, with a gross weight of 93.1 t and a base weight of 62.5 t, according to Bandai's official spec
• 1/144: roughly 12.5 cm
• 1/100: roughly 18 cm

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Frequently asked questions

Background sources: FA-78-1 Full Armor Gundam — Gundam Wiki