Mobile Suit
V Gundam: Characters
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Story Synopsis
Characters
Mechanics
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Previous: Gundam F91
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USSO EBBING As the series begins, Usso is living illegally at Point Kasarelia. His father worked for a company named PCST which was responsible for transporting emigrants into space, giving the family special dispensation to remain on Earth. But Usso's parents have since left for space, leaving their son to look after himself.
Usso's home at Kasarelia is directly on top of an abandoned military computer center, and he has spent many hours playing around with its mobile suit simulator. This, coupled with his slowly emerging newtype abilities and the extensive combat training his parents gave him as a child, makes him a useful addition to the League Militaire's skeleton crew of pilots. Despite his youth, Usso is brave and resilient, and it's only rarely that the stress and violence of his role overwhelm him.
SHAKTI KARIN Like Usso, this sad little girl has been left at Kasarelia by her parents. Gifted with vague spiritual powers, Shakti is deeply empathic and appears to be capable of limited precognition. She is also rather glum and introspective, voicing not a peep of complaint even though her comrades leave her to tote infant Karlmann Doukatous around on her back throughout the entire series.
Shakti inherits her psychic powers from her long-lost mother, Queen Maria of the Zanscare Empire, who left Shakti on Earth before beginning her career as a living saint. According to Zanscare's matriarchal tradition, Shakti is the Queen's heir apparent. Once her identity is discovered, Shakti spends the rest of the series being repeatedly captured, rescued, and shuttled back and forth between the League Militaire and the Zanscare Empire.
MARVETTE FINGERHUT Tall, serious and athletic, the dynamic Marvette Fingerhut is the first League Militaire member Usso encounters, and it's her lingering injury that creates an opening for the boy to become the resistance movement's star pilot. Though Marvette isn't as glamorous as the babe-a-licious Shrike Team, she's a brave and loyal comrade who quickly becomes something of a mentor to Usso and his friends. Later in the series, she becomes captain of the miniature carrier ship White Ark.
Back in UC 0151, Marvette and her friend Oliver Inoue were both Federal Forces cadets. When the Zanscare Empire was established, they decided to join the League Militaire, and were subsequently separated. Now that they're finally reunited, Oliver is preoccupied with his role as leader of the Shrike Team, leaving Marvette to pine on the sidelines.
ODERO HENRIK A war orphan from Largane, the rough and ready Odero plays the role of the sardonic best friend to the hero. As such, he occasionally feels the need to take Usso down a few pegs when the kid starts obsessing over his missing parents.
Perhaps out of a sense of rivalry, Odero eventually becomes a League Militaire mobile suit pilot. In the meantime he strives to win the affections of Erisha Clansky, one of the Hiland children.
WARREN TRACE Like his buddy Odero, Warren is an war orphan from Largane. In contrast to Odero's street-punk demeanor, the well-groomed Warren is a veritable junior dandy. He's also supposed to be a computer whiz, but in practice he's pretty useless. Speaking of useless, his attempts to woo Hiland's Martina Clansky manage to make Odero look slick.
SUZIE RELANE A war orphan traumatized by the occupation of Largane, Suzie soon recovers under the care of Odero and Warren. She remains deeply attached to her friends, coaxing Shakti into helping her stow away aboard the Reinforce so that she can follow them into space.
KARLMANN DOUKATOUS The orphaned son of a Woowig resident, baby Karlmann is rescued by Katejina and soon becomes a permanent fixture on Shakti's back. Strangely, no-one ever volunteers to relieve Shakti of her burden; perhaps she's too shy to ask.
THOMAS AND KAREL MASARIK Organization League Militaire Age 17 (Thomas) 14 (Karel)Brothers Thomas and Karel are among the children of the solar power satellite Hiland's civilian staff. Though Karel is more or less along for the ride, Thomas eventually becomes Odero's partner as a League Militaire mobile suit pilot.
ERISHA AND MARTINA CLANSKY Organization League Militaire Age 15 (Erisha) 12 (Martina)Sisters Erisha and Martina are also children of the Hiland staff, and subsequently become League Militaire hangers-on. Later in the series, they spend most of their time helping Marvette run the carrier White Ark. The two sisters are ineptly courted by Odero and Warren, respectively.
SOPHIA AND BLASTER IERINES Organization League Militaire Age 8 (Sophia) 6 (Blaster)The youngest of the Hiland children, Sophia and Blaster are evidently considered too tender to face the horrors of war on a daily basis, and don't end up joining the League Militaire crew.
FLANDERS This shaggy dog is one of the League Militaire's many mascots. He belongs to Shakti and may have been the family dog for some time, as he appears to be able to recognize members of Shakti's immediate family.
HARO A handy pet robot, modeled on the famous original owned by Amuro Ray. Over the years, there have been many different incarnations of this lovable green beachball, including a line of toys produced after the One Year War. This particular version, left to Usso by his parents, is distinguished by its unprecedented intelligence and holographic projection system.
Among Haro's many abilities are creating realistic illusions of mobile suits (complete with machine-gun sound effects), recording and playing back images, blowing bubbles, conducting reconnaissance missions, and engaging in hand-to-hand combat. Time after time, this hyperactive robot beachball manages to save Usso's bacon.
OLIVER INOUE Stern and severe, Oliver is just about the only male League Militaire member who is neither a teenager nor a senior citizen, making him the resident hunk by default. He is introduced as the commanding officer of the all-female Shrike Team, and has an especially close relationship with Shrike leader Junco Jenco - much to the chagrin of his old flame Marvette.
JUNCO JENCO Junco is the glamorous leader of the Shrike Team, and Marvette's rival for the attentions of Oliver Inoue. Like her teammates, she's a bombshell in a tight pilot suit, flirty one moment and deadly serious the next.
SHRIKE TEAM The Shrikes are an elite team of League Militaire pilots, commanded by Oliver Inoue. Its members are all gorgeous women, each of whom meets a swift and ignoble demise. The starting lineup consists of team leader Junco Jenco, Connie Francis, Helen Jackson, Kate Bush, Mahalia Merril and Peggie Lee. Later in the series the Shrike Team gains two replacement members, Francesca "Frannie" O'Hara and Miliera Katan. Former Federal Forces pilot Yuka Milus is also considered an honorary Shrike.
JINN GEHENNAM This squat, cowardly, disagreeable fellow is ostensibly the leader of the League Militaire. It's eventually revealed that he is not the genuine Jinn Gehennam, but rather a decoy - in Japanese terminology, a kagemusha. At any rate, Jinn Gehennam is just an alias anyway, derived from the words "djinn" and "gehenna," so the true identity of the resistance movement's leader is doubly protected.
HANGELG EBBING Hangelg is Usso's missing father, a former employee of the PSCT transportation agency. He left Earth four years ago, and his present whereabouts, activities and affiliation are unknown.
MULLER MIGUEL Usso's mother is a League Militaire engineer, and one of the principal designers of the V2 Gundam. Having left Earth six months before the beginning of the series, she is reunited with her son at the League Militaire's factory in Horasm. Mueller is a tough, resourceful woman, with a knack for gunplay and demolitions work; you can see where Usso got his fighting spirit.
OI NYUNG The leader of the gray-haired team of engineers at the League Militaire's underground factory in Kolin. Captured by Chronocle, his subsequent execution by guillotine is broadcast on television.
ROBERT GOMEZ Originally the commanding officer at the Federal Forces' Becheyne base, this gruff, unshaven fellow becomes the captain of first the Reinforce and then the newly-constructed battleship Reinforce Junior.
YUKA MILUS Yuka is one of the few surviving members of the Federal Forces' Bagley squadron, which launched an unsuccesful attack on the Kairas Giri attack satellite. She goes on to join the League Militaire and eventually becomes an honorary member of the Shrike team. Nonetheless, she retains her Federal Forces uniform, perhaps as a point of pride.
MUBARAK STERN It's not until the last stages of the League Militaire's struggle against the Zanscare Empire that the Earth Federation at last becomes directly involved. At this point we meet Mubarak Stern, commander of the Federation fleet that joins with the League Militaire for the attack on Angel Halo, and captain of the battleship Jeanne D'Arc. It must be said that he's a dead ringer for the original series' General Revil.
CHRONOCLE ASHER Chronocle is the ambitious younger brother of Queen Maria. In search of combat experience, he arranges to be assigned to the Largane base under Fara Griffon, and subsequently suffers the humiliation of being booted out of his own mobile suit by a para-sailing teenager. Still, Chronocle is an excellent pilot, and aside from his continuing inability to defeat Usso he proves to be a very dangerous adversary for the League Militaire.
However, Chronocle's stellar combat record far exceeds his moral distinction. Though he gives the impression of virtue and honor, Chronocle is basically just a scheming rat who cares more about his own plans than he does about his sister or niece. He wears a face mask, ostensibly because he hates the air of Earth, but then again he wears it in space combat too. Maybe he's a big fan of Kishiria Zabi.
KATEJINA LOOS The daughter of Woowig merchant Tengracee Loos and Usso's e-mail pen pal, Katejina is initially skeptical of the League Militaire and adamantly opposed to Usso's involvement in their fight. She blames the resistance fighters for the destruction of her home town of Woowig, razed by Zanscare forces in their search for the League Militaire's secret factory.
When she is captured by Chronocle, Katejina decides to join the Zanscare, with the initial intention of spying on their activities. However, through some combination of her infatuation with Chronocle, a thorough brainwashing, and her own sick personality, she quickly turns into a first-rate fanatic and becomes Usso's personal nemesis.
MARIA PIA AMMONIA Maria is the figurehead queen of the Zanscare Empire. She possesses inexplicable powers of healing and telepathy - perhaps spiritual, perhaps psychic in nature - and allows these abilities to be exploited by the tyrannical leaders of Zanscare's ruling Gachi Party. Though she disapproves of the guillotine, repression and militarism, she feels powerless to change these things, and is easily swayed by her ministers' assurances that the wars waged in her name are for the noblest of reasons.
Whether it's wheeled battleships or psychic battle fortresses, Queen Maria is all too willing to believe that Zanscare's newest weapon is designed to rob the enemy of their will to fight and secure a bloodless victory for her followers. When he finally meets the queen face to face, Usso expresses his moral outrage at her weakness, and maybe it's because of this that Maria ultimately turns to him in her hour of need.
FONSEH KAGACHI As prime minister of the Zanscare Empire and leader of the Gachi Party, the wizened Kagachi is the true ruler of the Empire. Formerly a member of the Jupiter Energy Fleet, he may be related in some way to the Jupiter Empire leader Crux Dogachi who appears in Crossbone Gundam. At any rate, he's able to use his Jupiter connections to secure valuable technology and resources, and it's speculated that the Jupiter Energy Fleet may even have helped construct the psychic doomsday device Angel Halo.
TASHIRO VARGO Tashiro is the smug, dapper commander-in-chief of the Yellowjackets. Highly placed in the Zanscare Empire's power structure, he is assigned to oversee the construction of the space station Kairas Giri. After he falls from favor and is nearly executed, he begins scheming in earnest to crawl back to the top, becoming an archetypal Gundam traitor villain.
FARA GRIFFON Fara is the Yellowjackets officer in charge of the Largane base. After a history of screwups and failures, not to mention overzealous application of capital punishment, she is sentenced to exile in space - which in Zanscare terms means a trip out the airlock with a couple days' worth of air. Though she is rescued from this fate by order of her superior officer Tashiro Vargo, the experience drives Fara pretty much round the bend. During her second career as Tashiro's pet killing machine, Fara is definitely a few clowns short of a circus.
It's said that Fara once forced people to wear bells as they went to the guillotine. After her personal brush with death she really gets into the bell motif and decks herself out with dozens of them, claiming that their vibrations help her target enemy mobile suits over long distances. According to the V Gundam novels, Fara has been made into an artificial newtype at this point - but then again, she could just be crazy.
ALBEO PIPPINIDEN This dapper young Yellowjacket officer is brighter than, and every bit as ambitious as, his former classmate Chronocle. Now leader of a Yellowjacket mobile suit squadron nicknamed the "Pippiniden Circus," Pippiniden is dispatched to Largane to make up for Fara Griffon's incompetence. Later in the series, he is placed in command of the battleship Rasteo and given control of part of the Motorad fleet.
LUPE CHINO Lupe is a tough, aggressive female pilot who works under Albeo Pippiniden. An apparent newtype, she is a dangerous and unstable opponent whose obsession with the mythology of newtypes ends up turning into a fixation on Usso. Meanwhile, Lupe finds the time to train Katejina in mobile suit combat, and we'd have to say she does all too good a job.
DOCKER IQ A vintage-motorcycle nut (they call him the "Bike-riding Spirit"), Docker is a prolific inventor of wheeled weapons. As well as designing the battle bikes used by his Gattarl squadron, he also conceived of the wheeled warships used by the Motorad fleet, which he can't wait to put to the test. As a Gachi Party member, he has an influence beyond what you'd expect from his military rank.
GOTTWALD HEIN The pilot of the transforming mobile suit Abigor, Gottwald is one of the more reknowned Zanscare pilots and a proud, honorable warrior. He first encounters Usso on friendly terms, when the boy find him stranded in space and low on oxygen, but when they meet again it's as enemies. Even so, Gottwald is a good enough sport to turn the captive Usso loose and give him a fighting chance - a chivalrous gesture that costs him his life.
RENDA DE PALOMA The faithful sidekick of bike nut Docker Iq, Renda is always by his side in battle and ever willing to test out his latest wacky inventions on the battlefield. Her dreams of domestic bliss with her wheel-obsessed partner may perhaps be realized in their Harley-riding afterlife.
MUDDHAMA ZUGAN As Fonseh Kagachi's right-hand man and the commander of the Zanscare Empire's space fleet, this scowling, jowly general is the Zanscare Empire's number two leader. Unlike the scheming Tashiro Vargo, Zugan appears to harbor no ambition to replace Kagachi, instead concentrating his efforts on eliminating upstart underlings... like Tashiro.
Mobile Suit Gundam, Z Gundam, Gundam ZZ, Char's Counterattack, Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket, Gundam F91, Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory, Gundam 0083: Last Blitz of Zeon, Gundam: The 08th MS Team, and Gundam W: Endless Waltz are copyright Sotsu Agency and Sunrise. V Gundam, G Gundam, Gundam W, and Gundam X are copyright Sotsu Agency, Sunrise and TV Asahi. Turn A Gundam is copyright Sotsu Agency, Sunrise and Fuji TV.
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