[Custom] Bandai RG 1/144 RGX-79-2 GM Test Unit Type 2 (Painted Build)

Model Number: RGX-79-2 ‘GM’ Test Unit Type 2

Designation: EFSF Prototype General Purpose Use Mass Produced Mobile Suit

A high performance test unit that yielded valuable data!

The introduction of the RGM-79 GM can be said to be the turning point of the One Year War, when tides shifted in the Federation’s favour as they began to master the utility of mobile suits backed by their enormous economic reserves. Yes, Zeon could still produce top-of-the-line mobile suits packed with the most advanced of technology, but the Principality didn’t have the financial resources or economic excess to mass produce these mobile suits to affect the outcome of the war.

The RGX-79-2 GM Test Unit Type 2 was one of the many variants of the GM that was explored prior to its mass production. Essentially a unit built from the spare parts of the RX-78-2 Gundam, the GM Test Unit Type 2 bore remarkable similarities to its famous predecessor, from the backpack right down to its ankle hydraulics. This resulted in a very high performance mobile suit that was able to go toe-to-toe, in simulations, against some of Zeon’s most advanced mobile suits like the Rick Dom. However, the superior output came with a prohibitively high cost that no Federation officer wanted to sign off against and Federation engineers also warned that replacement parts for this model would take longer and cost more to produce.

Nevertheless, the sole GM Test Unit Type 2 was deployed to less intense combat theatres on Earth to obtain some practical field data that would be used in the mass production version of the mobile suit. Armed with a refurbished Gundam’s shield (the same out that was cleaved in half by Ramba Ral) and an early version of the classic Beam Spray Gun, the GM Test Unit Type 2 saw some action on the North American front, where Zeon guerrillas were harassing Federation supply lines by shooting down Medea transport ships that held vital supplies for the Federation’s war effort.

The GM Test Unit Type 2 was sortied for the first time when Zeon Zakus were detected advancing on a Medea column that was doing a supply run under the cover of darkness. Dropped into battle from a transport ship, the GM was able to quickly close the gap between the Zakus using bursts of thrust from its powerful backpack, essentially jumping from point to point. Needless to say, the Zeonic forces were confused by this rapidly-moving blip on their radar screens, their panic exacerbated due to lack of real-time information thanks to Minovsky particle jamming. In the time taken by the Zakus to draw a bead on the GM’s location, the latter had already taken out the sole Zaku I covering the rear of the Zeon strike force with a beam saber through the cockpit. With the GM’s head unit obscured by tree canopies, the Zeon forces thought that the Gundam had been sent to deal with them and opened fire in blind panic. Easily sidestepping the 100mm rounds from the Zaku machine guns, the GM manoeuvred into an optimal firing position while putting down suppressive fire with its head Vulcans. In a single blast of the beam spray gun, the GM took out two Zaku IIs that were huddled too close, showcasing the lethality of the diminutive weapon’s powerful shotgun-like spread in close quarters combat for the first time.

The GM Test Unit Type 2 was eventually recalled to base and subsequently mothballed, its vital components stripped to replace the one on the RX-78-2 in preparation for the final battle at A Baoa Qu. By then, the first battalions of RGM-79 GMs were steadily rolling off Jaburo’s assembly lines, ready to wreak havoc on the Principality of Zeon.

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