NZ-333 α Azieru
Technology & Combat Characteristics
The α Azieru is an experimental mobile armor developed by the Neo Zeon Newtype Research Labs, and for its time it was one of the largest and most powerful mobile weapons ever developed. It is the direct descendant of the AMA-002 Neue Ziel fielded during the Delaz conflict and can be said to be the culmination of Zeon's Newtype-use technologies. Because of its large size, the α Azieru cannot be stored in regular vessels and must be towed during transportation. The cockpit is located in the head and features a control interface similar to that of the MSN-04 Sazabi and MSN-03 Jagd Doga. One of its strongest weapons is the mega particle gun which can destroy several mobile suits with one blow, and α Azieru is equipped with two such guns, one in the head and another in the chest. Because it was developed as a Newtype weapon, the α Azieru features 9 funnels which are able to attack over great distances. For close combat, it is equipped with two folding claw arms, a pair of 5-barrel wire-guided psycommu mega arm cannons, and 6 vulcan guns mounted in the head.
- Vulcan Gun
- The NZ-333 α Azieru mounts 4 vulcan guns in on the sides of its head. Vulcan guns are typically small-caliber weapons with a high rate of fire that serve as mid-to-short range defensive weapons that are used to shoot down small, fast, and lightly armored targets such as missiles or remote weapons. Vulcan guns typically do not have the power to heavily damage the armor of a mobile suit, though it is possible to deal light damage. Because of this vulcan guns will also be used to restrict an approaching enemy mobile suit's movements as most pilots will try to avoid taking unnecessary hits.
- Twin Large Vulcan Gun
- The NZ-333 α Azieru has an additional pair of vulcan guns located in the forehead, and they are larger than those on the sides of the head. The large vulcan guns are capable of firing 6000 rounds in a minute.
- Folding Claw Arm
- A pair of arms used for melee combat, when not in use the arms are typically retracted within the α Azieru's shoulder armor.
- Head Mega Particle Gun
- A powerful weapon in the α Azieru's arsenal is a mega particle gun installed in the head where the unit's "mouth" would be. With a power rating of 19.5 MW, the beam unleashed from the mega particle gun can destroy multiple mobile suits in one shot. The one weakness of the gun is that it can only fire in the direction where the head is pointing.
- Chest Mega Particle Gun
- A second mega particle gun that is located in the chest of the α Azieru, its power rating is unknown.
- 5-barrel Wire-Guided Psycommu Mega Arm Cannon
- Mounted at the ends of the α Azieru's shoulder armor were two wire-guided mega arm cannon units, each unit is armed with 5-barrel beam cannons with each cannon having a power rating of 12.6 MW. When launched, the mega arm cannons allow the α Azieru to attack a target from multiple angles simultaneously, making dodging very difficult. Although they were also controlled by the Psycommu system like the large funnels, they however lack the range of the funnels and were used more as mid-to-short range weapons.
- Large Funnel
- The most dangerous weapons of the α Azieru are the 9 funnels stored in recharge racks on the rear skirt armor. They are equipped with built-in generators. Guided by the psycommu system, these remote weapons are capable of conducting all range attacks from great distances without the need for guiding wires and without interference from Minovsky particles. With their all range attack the α Azieru can attack multiple opponents from multiple angles, an attack that will destroy all but the most skilled pilots in the most advanced machines. They are also ideal for attacking nuclear missiles as their great operation range allows the α Azieru to destroy a nuclear missile outside of the explosion radius. The power rating of each funnel's beam gun is 20.4 MW. However, this is compressed into a smaller beam so it has higher penetrative damage, but does less overall damage than the mega particle gun.
Special Equipment & Features
- Psycommu System
- A Psycommu is a device connected directly into the user's thoughts, through which the user can manipulate it by using his/her mind. The name derives from psychic and communicator. In essence, a psycommu system works by passively scanning the brainwaves of Newtypes, amplifying them in order to send the brainwave signal out long distances, and then translating these brainwaves into raw machine codes upon being received by the selected object. Since brainwaves are not affected by the radio interference property of Minovsky particles, at first it was mainly used to mentally control remote weapons, usually mounted with a single beam gun. This enabled the resurrection of BVR engagements, with bits and funnels being the first weapons able to engage targets without visual contact since the development of the Minovsky particle. Later on, the psycommu system was also used to increase response times.
- Detachable Sturm Thruster
- In order to increase the α Azieru's operational fight period, it is equipped with a pair of detachable sturm thrusters that are positioned and sized in such a way that they could be mistaken for legs, however they are completely stationary. The sturm thrusters are basically massive external propellant tanks with rocket engines at the bottom, and can be ejected once the fuel has been used up.
- Escape Shuttle
- The head of the α Azieru, which is where the cockpit is located, can detach from the main body and fly under its own power. This allows it to be used as an escape pod in the event that the body of the α Azieru is too damaged to continue operation or is otherwise in danger of being destroyed.
The powerful mobile armor enters combat on the last day of the Second Neo Zeon War, piloted by artificial strengthened Newtype Quess Paraya. The mentally unstable Quess under guidance of cyber-Newtype Gyunei Guss, fights against the Londo Bell forces and destroys many of them. It also has a battle with ace pilot Amuro Ray and his RX-93 ν Gundam, who is able to destroy most of the Funnels and inflict some damage to the head area. Its last battle comes against the RGZ-91 Re-GZ piloted by Chan Agi. During this fight, the α Azieru is destroyed when Chan accidentally fires her rockets on the cockpit and kills Quess.
The α Azieru also appears in the fifth episode of Gundam Evolve where it again fights against Amuro but this time there is a happy end for her. This short clip also shows that the mobile armor can detach its head, which also contains the cockpit, and use it as some kind of shuttle.
After the Second Neo Zeon War, α Azieru's remains were recovered by Buch Concern. Its psycommu technology was reverse-engineered and combined with data from Den'an-type mobile suits to spawn the mobile armor XMA-02 Ebirhu Doga. Ebirhu Doga is loaded with Bugs, the remote-controlled killing machines in order to execute Carozzo “Iron Mask” Ronah's plan to wipe out all humans on earth. The Ebirhu Doga was also armed with a large mega particle cannon and funnels, based off α Azieru's. However, with the death of Carozzo, the Ebirhu Doga was never used.
- A variation of the α Azieru that has been turned into a Mobile Suit by giving it arms and legs.