As the ultimate challenge for the aspiring mechanical designer, we're challenging you to apply your design talents to perhaps the single most wacky piece of hardware from the entire Gundam saga - the MA-04X Zakrello, as featured in the original 1979 Mobile Suit Gundam television series. With its gaping, fang-lined maw, its treacherously squinty eyes, its pathetic little sickle arms, and its PacMan-from-hell silhouette, this is the mobile armor that even the mecha-design professionals despair of ever redeeming. If you think you're up to the task, read on!

Help us promote this new contest on the Internet! Please put our banner and a link to the contest site at www.gundam.com/contest

Here is pictures of the current Zakurello MA-04X, use it for reference:

Kondo's Crossover NoteBook I
Mediawork's Gundam Models Perfect Catalog 1.0 Book
Hobby Japan's Gundam Mechanics Vol I Book
Hobby Japan's Gundam Mechanics Vol II Book
Newtype 100% Collection Z Gundam Mechanical Edition Vol.1 Book
Bandai 1/144 High-Grade Gundam ZZ Model Kit
Bandai 1/100 Master Grade MR-06R-1 Zaku II
BB Gundam GP01Fb Model Kit

Prabal Nandy - Gundam Mailing List Ninja
Dafydd Dyar - "Hey, I look at these colony blueprints I designed!"
Mark Simmons - Renowned Gaijin Gundam Expert (GGE)
Ben Koshy - Owner of a slightly used RX-78-2

Entry Deadline: The contest has been extended and will run until midnight, March 15, 1999. All submissions must be postmarked or time-stamped prior to this time, so get scribbling today!

Submissions: Though you may enter as many times as you like, a single entrant may receive no more than one award. Entries may be in color or black and white, and may be submitted in any reasonably common electronic format. If you don't have access to a scanner, or - perish the thought - access to the Internet, you may submit your entries by mail.

Send electronic submissions to: Contest@gundam.com

Send postal submissions to:
Great Gundam Mecha Makeover
P.O. Box 47075
555 West 12th Ave
Vancouver, BC V5Z 4L6
Canada

Guidelines: There are no particular guidelines you must follow. In some sense, we expect your entry to retain some of the Zakrello's unique characteristics - otherwise, it wouldn't qualify as a makeover. But other than that, we have no preference for entries goofy or serious, classic or experimental, technologically realistic or surreally fantastic. If your take on this misbegotten mobile armor impresses us, amuses us, or confounds us, you could be among the deserving winners.

Legalese: We're not lawyers, and we don't plan on hiring any, but here's the deal. All entries remain the property of the artist; by submitting your work, you grant us permission to display it on the Gundam.Com Web site. Decisions of the judges are arbitrary and final. And, of course, Mobile Suit Gundam and all its lovable characters and props are copyright Sotsu Agency and Sunrise. Buy Gundam merchandise!

Since it was edited out of the Mobile Suit Gundam movie compilation, many fans may be unfamiliar with the history and exploits of the Zakrello. For the morbidly curious, here's a little background on the subject of our exercise.

The Zakrello was an early product of the Duchy of Zeon's mobile armor development effort. During the cataclysmic One Year War, Zeon's engineers decided to create a new line of mobile weapons; where the mobile suit was multipurpose and highly manueverable, the mobile armor would emphasize speed and raw firepower. Thus, the Zakrello was equipped with a powerful generator and a set of high-performance rocket engines. Its ample power output made it possible to equip the mobile armor with a fearsome scattering mega particle gun.

However, the Zakrello's overall performance fell far short of the Zeon military's specifications. Its speed was modest, and its manueverability poor; judged an abject failure, the project was canceled and the lone prototype was used as a weapons testbed. As a canceled project, the Zakrello technically doesn't have a model number, but it's commonly listed as the MA-04X, reflecting the fact that it pre-dated the more successful MA-05 Bigro.

This misbegotten prototype makes its appearance in the original Mobile Suit Gundam television series when the White Base launches back into space, as the vanguard of Operation Star One. Char pursues our heroes in his own ship, carrying with him a couple of prototype mobile armors. Though it was never Char's intention to deploy the pitiful Zakrello against the White Base and its mobile suits, a vengeful underling hijacks it and launches a savage attack. On the Guntank. In space. Gee, that really takes some doing. When the Gundam shows up to rescue the battered Guntank, all it takes is a jab between the eyes with a beam saber, and the charmingly hideous Zakrello passes out of the story... and into legend.

So what does this tragic prototype have going for it? One powerful generator, which runs the scattering mega particle gun within its toothsome maw. A set of ineffectual attitude control verniers and a handful of underpowered rocket engines. Two racks of quadruple missile launchers. Two sickle-shaped heat blades. And, lest we forget, a whimsical tattoo on its left shoulder. Look upon the Zakrello, ye mighty, and despair!

BY MARK NGUYEN

EARLY 0080

Aiguille Delaz sat back in his command chair as he went over his fleet's status reports. According to the latest reports, only a scant few stragglers had escaped from the A Bao A Qu battle zone to join his ragtag fleet. He only had his flagship, a handful of Musai-class cruisers, and an assortment of MS, mostly Zakus and Doms. Even these numbers were optimistic; there was no telling how many machines would have to be cannibalized to keep the rest running.

Delaz frowned. This was NOT good.

The yeoman entered the bridge and promptly announced the arrival of Anavel Gato. Delaz had yet to really know the man, but he knew the "Nightmare of Solomon" would prove to be a great asset in the years to come. Gato seemed concerned as he flashed a hasty salute.

"Admiral. We need more mobile suits, and armors."

To the point. Delaz liked that.

"Really, Lieutenant. And just where do you expect these machines to come from? The war is lost, and with it all of our production facilities on A Bao A Qu. We will have to cannibalize what's left of our fleet to make up for this. What would you have us do?"

Gato paused for a moment, considering, going over the inventory in his head.

"Sir, we rescued one mobile suit scientist from A Bao A Qu. He designed a prototype MA that we also managed to salvage."

"Which MA is that?"

"The Zakrello, sir."

Delaz turned pale. The hideous mostrosity called Zakrello was the one thing he wished his forces HADN'T managed to take with them. Despite being in near-perfect condiditon, it was first on the list to be dismantled. That garbage scow of putrid, acid-induced MA technology had no right to exist in Delaz's fleet.

"God, we rescued HIM?!" Delaz blurted. "What happened to all those other MS and MA designers?"

"Escaped to Axis, sir." Gato said confidently. "With any luck, we won't see any more of their crappy MS designs until at least the second half of 0087."

"Thank god for small miracles," Delaz sighed. "Is this one scientist still useful?"

"Yes sir. He's already started on modifying leftover Zakus to a hybrid space-fighter type machine. He also contends that at the time he designed the Zakrello, he was high on crack cocaine and a variety of other drugs and booze. He's recovered now, and says that he can also modify the Zakrello to actually be worth something."

"Really. Well, if he can at least change the way that awful MA looks, I'll be happy. Put all our resources into the project, Gato. This new Zakrello will be the icon of strength for the Delaz fleet, and we will use it to strike fear into the hearts of our enemies, and send them the message that the glory of Zeon will never die!"

Gato snapped another salute. "Sieg Zeon."

"And if, against all odds, the new Zakrello turns out to be another piece of crap, we'll just drop a colony on something. That's always a good thing."

"Agreed, sir." Gato turned on his boot and began to leave the bridge. Delaz called after him:

"Oh, and Lieutenant. If he does a bad job, execute the scientist. High or not, he barely deserves to live as it is."

"Yes sir." With that, Gato was gone. Delaz relaxed in his chair, and studied the reports with new drive. Zeon would live on, no matter the cost.

TO BE CONTINUED...