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PaperclipPerfector  9hr ago (text post)   483 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for January 16, 2026

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I think I'll ask this question again (1 2): What are your favorite mobile suits from the Gundam universe?

My previous answers were Zeta Gundam, Delta Gundam, and Kshatriya. After spending a few hundred more hours in Gundam Battle Operation 2, I've finally noticed a unifying factor: these designs all have thrusters on the sides of their legs! There are two kinds—round, mounted on the sides of the knees, and pointing backward (Kshatriya, ZZ Gundam, Silver Bullet, etc.); and angular, mounted on the sides of the calves, and pointing downward (Zeta Gundam, Delta Gundam, Gundam Mk-II, Pale Rider Cavalry, etc.). Without such thrusters, IMO an MS's legs look boring. (Note that thrusters on the backs of the calves, such as on Zeta Gundam, Delta Gundam, and Pale Rider Cavalry, do not look quite as cool as thrusters on the sides of the calves.)

After some pondering, I have decided to remove Zeta Gundam from my list of favorites. Its calf-side thrusters extend too far downward (preventing it from taking even a moderately wide stance while keeping the soles of its feet on the ground), its backpack is ugly, and its transformation sequence is overcomplicated. (And I can't just delete the second and third complaints by switching to the Wave Shooter version, which has a simpler transformation sequence, because the latter's wings are too big in MS mode.) The audacity of its unfolding back thruster cannot save it from this fate. That leaves just Delta Gundam and Kshatriya on the winners' podium. I acknowledge that Gundam Mk-II is basically the handsomest, Chaddest, "Platonic ideal" MS in a more representative way, but IMO Delta Gundam and Kshatriya are just cooler.

I may replace Zeta Gundam with Full Armor Gundam (the original version, not the Gundam Thunderbolt version that I derided in link "2" above; boring Gundam Unit 2 plus exciting shin thrusters, back cannon, and double beam rifle, plus personal nostalgia from maining it in my first one or two hundred hours of GBO2) or Gundam Mk-III (a nice synthesis of back binders, back cannons, and face), but it's still up in the air.

(I'll also mention some close relatives of these two candidates.

  • Full Armor Gundam Type B is interesting—very similar to the base version, but with the double beam rifle upgraded to a triple model, and with an added missile rack that can launch either many small missiles or one big missile. But I feel it's a bit overloaded.

  • Heavy Gundam likewise is a very interesting design—Full Armor Gundam, but with a combination Gatling gun and missile launcher replacing the double beam rifle and the chest missile launchers, and with a beam cannon replacing the shell cannon. But Heavy Gundam's armor is missing several features of Full Armor Gundam's—specifically, the shield (vestigial as it is) and the shin-side thrusters. And IMO the Gatling gun is a bit too large for suspension of disbelief. Ingrid Zero's custom Heavy Gundam adds an ugly shield and a back-mounted missile launcher.

  • Full Armor Gundam Mk-III just looks goofy. Weapons mounted on the shoulders (rather than on the back and peeking over the shoulder blades) and on the knees never look good.

)

How do all these favorite and former-favorite MSes fare in GBO2 gameplay?

  • Delta Gundam is fairly good. It has two instant-stun attacks from its beam rifle and its shield beam cannon.
  • Kshatriya is a gigantic target for enemies to aim at, which somewhat dilutes its offensive merits. It does have two instant stuns, plus a special bell-pepper defense mode that negates enemies' stun attempts. But that's a bit weak for the high tiers at which Kshatriya is playable. (I should note that here I'm speaking largely on the basis of YouTube videos, since I avoid high-tier gameplay as frantic and unenjoyable.)
  • Full Armor Gundam is middling. Its back cannon is an instant stun, its double beam rifle is a semi-reliable stun (if both shots hit), and its chest-mounted missile launchers are a semi-reliable stun (if enough of the missiles hit).
    • Full Armor Gundam Type B is slightly more powerful than its sibling. Its chest missiles scatter rather than flying straight, so they are ineffective at stunning—but its big missile launcher inflicts heavy stun.
    • Heavy Gundam, on the other hand, is terrible. Its beam cannon is a sniper-style weapon that stuns only if you stand still for several seconds to charge it up—worthless in the heat of battle. The Gatling gun and the gun-mounted missile launcher aren't any good at stunning, either.
    • Ingrid Zero's custom Heavy Gundam is a major upgrade. Its beam cannon can actually charge while moving (and offers semi-reliable stunning with a two-shot burst even when not charged), and it also has an instant-stun beam rifle. (Somewhat weirdly, though, its fully-modeled back-mounted missile launcher does not function.)
  • Gundam Mk-III is sub-par. Its beam rifle is an instant stun, but its double back cannon is very emphatically not.
    • Full Armor Gundam Mk-III is significantly better, with three guaranteed (though slow to recharge/reload) stuns (from a knee-mounted double cannon, a shoulder-mounted double cannon, and a rifle-mounted grenade launcher) in addition to one from its rifle.
  • Zeta Gundam has an absolute plethora of variants that look almost identical to each other.
    • The base version and the Zaku-head version have only one instant stun—but they also have two melee weapons (beam saber and rifle-mounted beam bayonet), if you're into that (which I am not).
    • The Full Armor Ground Type Wave Shooter adds a semi-reliable stun (arm-mounted grenade launcher) to the base version.
    • The Hyper Mega Launcher–equipped version adds a second instant stun to the base version, but loses the second melee weapon.
    • The 3A "White Zeta" is the pinnacle of the series. It adds the Hyper Mega Launcher instant stun to the base version, but this time without losing the beam bayonet.
    • (I won't get into the 3B "Gray Zeta" and P2 "Red Zeta", since they look completely different despite technically falling under the same model number.)

You should be playing GBO2! It's technically a gacha game, but the gameplay is totally skill-based. Paying to roll for gacha-only mobile suits or gacha-only upgrade parts, or to upgrade your MSes directly, will yield only marginal gains.

Continuing on the topic of Gundam, one cool tidbit that has stuck with me from the Dynasty Warriors Gundam games that I played twenty years ago is the classification of weapons into, not just the standard "melee" and "long-range" categories, but also a third category of "all-range"—funnels. Obviously, the defining example of short-range funnel use must be the exquisite final shot of Haman's Qubeley against Quattro's Hyaku Shiki in Zeta Gundam. (Do you like to think of those two mobile suits as "Cybele" and "Type 100"? I do.)

Best grunts: Geara Doga, GM Sniper II, SUMO

Best villains: The O, Sinanju(/Sazabi), Turn X

Best gundams: eh anything by Izubuchi I guess.

Generally Izubuchi is the best designer for anything 'classic gundam'. Clean, well-proportioned, just the right amount of perfectly-executed detail. Syd Mead's designs are as far away from 'gundam' as you can get, but he's clearly on another level artistically (which is funny, since his drawings of classic gundam designs look terrible).

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