X-EX01 Gundam Calibarn

X-EX01 Gundam Calibarn is a prototype from Mobile Suit Gundam the Witch from Mercury (2022–2023, Ad Stella). The Vanadis Institute developed it at Ochs Earth alongside the XGF-02 Gundam Lfrith, before GUND Format hardware had settled into a form that protected the pilot. Suletta Mercury takes it into the final episodes.

What it does in the story

For most of the story the Calibarn is sealed. It lost the development competition, every record of it was erased, and the Space Assembly League seized it during the Vanadis Incident, where it was called a monster. Suletta brings it out to face her sister Ericht and Prospera Mercury as Quiet Zero comes online. With the Aerial Rebuild crippled, she borrows its GUND Bits and raises a data storm large enough to shut the Interplanetary Laser Transmission System down.

What makes it different

• Pilot protection was traded away. The Lfrith could be flown within a certain Permet score with limited harm to the pilot. The Calibarn chased raw GUND-ARM performance instead and adopted measures that did not guarantee the pilot's survival, which is why it lost and why it was sealed.
• Its shield is a swarm. The Escutcheon is a platform of 11 Bit Staves, the same remote units that had been fitted to the Aerial. It works as a shield, as a GUND-BIT weapon system, and as a set of turrets, since each stave carries a beam cannon.
• The rifle is also a thruster. The Variable Rod Rifle, the main firearm, carries four Quadra Thrusters in its rear end. They push the suit as well as the weapon, so the rifle doubles as extra propulsion.
• The Bits plug back into the frame. Docking the Bit Staves to hardpoints around the body is the Bit on Form, which tops up their power and propellant and improves the suit's own mobility and defence. The alternative, High Manoeuvrability Mode, opens the legs outward for space movement.

How big is it?

• Head height: 18.2 m according to Bandai's official spec
• 1/144: roughly 12.6 cm
• 1/100: roughly 18.2 cm

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Frequently asked questions

Background sources: X-EX01 Gundam Calibarn — Gundam Wiki · ガンダムシリーズの登場機動兵器一覧（水星の魔女）— 日本語版 Wikipedia