Deep Dive is a weekly column by Gundam expert Tom Aznable that points out the more unexpected aspects of the Gundam multiverse that make it into Gundam Build Divers. Nothing passes Tom’s eagle eye, but this column focuses specifically on rare sightings and deep cuts. Read on to see what you may have missed.
Episode 24: Decisive Battle
RMS-019 Crouda, After War Gundam X (anime)
Yet more evidence of the Coalition of Volunteers fondness for Gundam X: the Space Revolutionary Army’s Crouda. While most of the SRA MS we’ve seen so far have been holdovers from Gundam X’s own apocalyptic equivalent to the OYW, the Crouda is the SRA’s next-gen grunt suit from 15 years later.
GAT-02L2+AQM/E-A4E1 Jet Dark Dagger L, Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny (anime)
DT-6800F Daughtress Flyer, After War Gundam X (anime)
Here we have two obscure flight-pack mobile suits! The Dark Dagger L (Phantom Pain’s own version of the Dagger L) actually never occurs in this specific configuration as the Jet Dark Dagger L in Gundam SEED Destiny, so this is another first for Build Divers. The Daughtress Flyer is, perhaps self-explanatory: a flight-capable variation of the Daughtress mobile suit used by the United Nations Earth and its post-apocalyptic successor organization.
GAT/A-01E2 Buster Dagger, SEED-MSV (design series)
The Buster Dagger is a mass production version of the Buster Gundam from SEED-MSV. Its most prominent appearance is probably in the videogame Gundam SEED: Never Ending Tomorrow’s mission mode, where you can play through the story of its pilot, Rena Imelia the “Sakura Burst.”
ZM-S06G Zollidia, Mobile Suit Victory Gundam (anime)
- Color scheme: RGM-122 Javelin, Mobile Suit Victory Gundam
It looks like Hyakki has a new, unnamed recruit in the upper left: Oboro arrives in his custom Rig Shokew Magatsu alongside a Zollidia painted in the colors of the Earth Federation’s Javelin. The Zollidia was a distinctly more Zaku-esque successor to Zanscare’s mainstay Zoloat.
RMS-099B Schuzrum Dias, Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ (anime)
The Schuzrum Dias is an assault variation of the AEUG’s Rick Dias used by Neo-Zeon. The MS has one prominent appearance in Gundam ZZ, where a squadron of Schuzrum Dias piloted by veteran Principality of Zeon pilots sortie to attack the Nahel Argama in support of a trio of Jamru Fin mobile armors. Most of the Schuzrum Dias are wiped out in the attack.
