Mailbag 16: Hyper Impulse Beam What??

Posted April 20, 2006

What's a hyper impulse cannon? Why does the Earth Federation move its capital so much? The answers are all in today's Mailbag.

Tim Findlater asks:
1. I was wondering about the names of energy weapons in SEED, they seem to be all over the place. I guess what I'm asking is what is meant by things like "high-energy cannon" or " high impulse cannon"? Is it a particle weapon or something else?
 
2. What is the best designed transformable mobile suit in your opinion?
 
3. Do you think the writers of DESTINY got lazy in the second half of the series with the handling of the Gouf/Athrun and Kira/Freedom scenes and having a clip show that late in the series (ep. 41)?
Chris responds:
1. Weapons in SEED have names that seem to be "all over the place" because there are many different types. You've got beam weaponry, railguns, linear guns, phonon masers, gamma rays and positron blasters. A "high impulse cannon" like the ones used by the Buster Gundam and Launcher Strike Gundam are just beam cannons. Many beam rifles in the C.E. universe are labeled "high-energy," but I'm not sure what makes that designation special.

2. There's plenty of choices you could list here. I don't know what qualifies as the "best," but the Zeta Gundam is certainly a good design. It can enter the atmosphere on its own and fly on Earth with its Waverider mode, making it versatile both on the ground and in space. However, its armaments are pretty standard. The Saviour Gundam is also a good design - it's highly maneuverable and equipped with many powerful weapons. Unfortunately, this doesn't really translate in the anime because Athrun never fights seriously with it and it's destroyed relatively quickly.

3. I don't know what they got during the second half of the series, but you could certainly use the term "lazy." Within three episodes of each other, you have Shinn attacking two SEED cast members over the ocean. In both cases, he just coincidentally rams his anti-ship sword next to the cockpit. Both suits explode in the water, leading people to believe the pilots died, yet in both cases they miraculously survive. Sure, that's lazy all right.

Blauer Nebel asks:
This is an issue that's really been bugging me. Where do mobile suits store the propellant for their thrusters and verniers?

Chris responds:
It really depends on the mobile suits. On some designs you can clearly see propellant tanks, but many times you don't. Some designs have propellant tanks that stick out, like the Gelgoog Marine and Dra-C from Gundam 0083. I suspect that many mechanical designers don't figure in propellant tanks when they're designing a mobile suit, or perhaps it's just assumed that they're mounted somewhere on the internal body.


mcred23 asks:
What is the name of the lunar city that serves as the capital of the Federation during the events of Victory Gundam?
Chris responds:
The Earth Federation seems to move its capital around often. During the first century of the UC calendar, it's in Dakar, Senegal (Zeta Gundam and Gundam ZZ). A few years later, it's in Lhasa, Tibet, which gets destroyed by the asteroid 5th Luna (Char's Counterattack). By the time of Victory Gundam, it's moved once again to the lunar city Von Braun, previously seen in Gundam 0083 and Zeta Gundam.

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