Mechatalk Gundam: Ξ / Xi Gundam

A Gundam from Hathaway's flash, a gundam sidestory novel.

Just like i said before i will try to discuss this particular Gundam which happens to be one of my favorite as well. Xi gundam is lead mecha used by the main character in Hathaway's flash who is Hathaway himself who lead a terrorist group called Mafty to fight against Earth Federation. The Hathaway's flash took 15 years after CCA where Unicorn Gundam story is already concluded as well and Hathaway decided to rebel against Earth Federation since he sees them as corrupt organization. I will also discuss about Penelope as well since it is technically twin brother of Xi Gundam.

Xi Gundam is one of the latest Gundam created by Anaheim Electronics which is bought by Mafty group for their operation to hijack the EF conference in Adelaide. Xi Gundam possess powerful armaments and meant for Newtype since it is equipped with various Newtype Technology such as Funnel and Psycommu system. One technological breakthrough used for Xi Gundam is the Minovsky Craft which enable the gundam to fly in midair without assistance of support platform like Flying Armor or need of tranforming into Waverider mode. The Minovsky Craft were originally used for the Battleship to stay midair but by UC 105 the technology is miniaturised for MS use. Since the minovsky craft is not perfected yet which cause Xi Gundam to be bulky towering around 26m. But later in F91 era the technology is perfected enough to enable small sized MS to mount one.

Penelope is the counterpart of Xi Gundam and technically its older brother since it was produced first and both of these Gundam used the same base units which is Odysseus Gundam. Penelope is bulkier compared to Xi Gundam since it carries more armaments compared to Xi which only have Two Mega Particle cannon as its strongest arsenal. Due to its bulky stature this MS perform poorly on the ground. I also recall that Penelope is capable of transformation as well.

The first time i was introduced with this gundam was when i played SD Gundam G Generation which i learned alot for sure but later i played Gundam Battle Universe which feature both of these units as well as a high end MS for extra missions. The trademark weapon of both of these Gundams are the Funnel Missile which is some sort of early version of melee based automated weapon like GN Fang or Legend gundam's DRAGOON. I still don't know whether these weapons are exploding on impact or pierce through the target.

Xi Gundam's pilot is Mafy Navue Erin who is no other than son of Bright Noa, Hathaway Noa. Apparently his perception toward Earth Federation changed when he participated the war of Londo Bell against Neo Zeon since Quess Paraya was killed who happens to be the girl that Hathaway develop a crush for and i recall he blames himself alot for her death. In Hathaway's Flash novel, Hathaway seems to be live in rather comfortable position and probably not a whiny teenager anymore. He should have a strong reason why he sees Earth Federation as corrupt and become a leader of terrorist group.

Rein Eim is the rival of Hathaway in the novel, he piloted Penelope and lead squad of Gustav Karl to prevent the terrorist act carried by Mafty. He lost to Hathaway in battle but in the end he managed to capture Hathaway who got a death sentence from the court. Apparently the one who carries the execution of Hathaway is Bright himself which cause him to quit Earth Federation and opened a restaurant afterward.

While it is not one of the more interesting story in UC era, i think Hathaway's flash marked the end of the first half of UC era which were continued to Late UC era where F91 and V Gundam belong to. While Hathaway failed to carry out his operation, i think managed to succeed one of his goal to weaken Earth Federation. By the way the director of Unicorn Gundam had stated that he tried to make the Unicorn OVa as faithful as possible to fit the Hathaway's flash setting. Personally i wished Bandai could release MG Xi Gundam though i think it would be hard considering it would be expensive to release one since Xi Gundam is bigger than Sazabi or The O and price could be easily around 10000 yen and the series is not popular enough for Bandai to make that kind of consideration. I still wonder if the girl on the pic above is Quess Paraya's ghost considering she had some kind of role in Hathaway's flash.