NRX-044 Asshimar

NRX-044 Asshimar is the Earth Federation's atmospheric transformable mobile armour from Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam (1985, U.C. 0087). The Oakland Research Institute built it, and it is the first machine able to sustain flight in an atmosphere without help. Titans units field it during the Gryps Conflict.

What it does in the story

It first appears over the Kennedy spaceport, flown by Buran Blutarch in an attack on the Karaba-held facility, where its mobility lets it outmanoeuvre the AEUG's Gundam Mk-II and Hyaku Shiki. Blutarch keeps using it to chase Karaba's Garuda-class carrier, and a captured unit is later flown by the AEUG's Gabriel Zola.

What makes it different

• It exists because sub-flight systems were a liability. Suits of the period rode Base Jabbers and Dodai Kai, which took hangar space and left the suit helpless if the carrier was shot down. The Asshimar was built as a stand-alone alternative.
• The transformation folds the upper body into a disc. In mobile armour mode the torso becomes a lifting body, with the engines in the legs doing a fighter's work. Magnet coating brings the change down to about half a second, which is what makes drop, transform, fight and climb away possible.
• Its chest opens as it changes. The armour resists shellfire well, but the chest panels unfold during transformation and leave the frame exposed. That window, plus one beam rifle, is why the Gaplant was developed.

How big is it?

• Overall height: 23.1 m, with a head height of 19.3 m, according to Bandai's official spec
• 1/144: roughly 16 cm in mobile suit mode

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Frequently asked questions

Background sources: NRX-044 Asshimar — Gundam Wiki · アッシマー — 日本語版 Wikipedia