[Gallery] Bandai MG 1/100 RGM-79G GM Command Colony Type (Straight Build)

Model Number: RGM-79G GM Command Colony Type

Designation: EFSF Mass Production Colony Defense Use Mobile Suit

Even grunts have their own backstories to tell.

While cosmetically similar to the P-Bandai MG 1/100 GM Command Space Type, the regular release Colony Type sports a duller, more terrestrial colour scheme along with a backpack that places less emphasis on three dimensional mobility. Other than those, both kits are actually one and the same, although the Space Type comes with an additional beam gun.

Stationed on outer rim colonies as a first line of defense against any threat, the GM Command Colony Type worked in reserve alongside the slightly newer RGM-79FP GM Command (Federal Police Model), being deployed only when the Police use model couldn't adequately address the threat. As a peacetime mobile suit, the GM Command Colony Type spent most of its days on standby or going through combat drills on the outskirts of population centers, waiting for the one incident it is meant for.

Equipped with the standard issue 90mm bullpup machine gun, two beam sabers and a shield, the GM Command Colony Type was, theoretically, able to handle all contemporary threats and hostile forces. The usage of 90mm ammunition allowed the GM forces to tap on the ammunition reserves of the regular Colony defense forces, whose weapons were chambered in the same caliber. However, the 90mm rounds faced difficulty penetrating mobile suit armour, requiring repeated hits to a single area in order to break through.

Sortied once the Police GMs were defeated, the GM Command Colony Type rushed into the combat zone from their subterranean bases, their 90mm machine guns primed for attack. While technologically less sophisticated than the newer Police GM, the GM Command Colony Type was nevertheless a machine that was intended for war, therefore featuring thicker armour and more combat-ready qualities. That being said, the pilots driving these machines were mostly fresh out of the academy, with only the squad commanders being veterans of the One Year War.

While the GM Command Colony Type was specifically tuned for FIBUA (Fighting In Built Up Areas), the reality was that mobile suits are still huge machines that had inevitable difficult manoeuvring around the dense clusters of urban buildings and structures. Mobile suit urban warfare was largely a game of cat and mouse, with both belligerents cautiously advancing through the city and taking potshots at enemy combatants from afar. The only real action was up close and personal, sometimes with a gun barrel pointed directly at the cockpit.

It wasn't rare for seemingly normal engagements to devolve into a full-blown close quarters nightmare. The lack of visual communication coupled with the jamming properties of Minovsky particles released prior to combat forced mobile suit pilots from both sides to rely on their own eyes. Inexperienced pilots sometimes fired on their own teammates, had wild firing arcs and were knocked out with a bash to their cockpits. A seasoned Commander was required to rally the troops and give specific instructions in order to overcome whatever adversary was menacing the Colony that day.

While not as high performance as the many Federation prototype mobile suits, the GM Command Colony Type served as a symbol of security and stability in the uneasy peace that followed the conclusion of the One Year War.

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