RGX-780 Gundam Unit Alpha

The RGX-780 Gundam (aka Unit Alpha) is the titular mobile suit of Mobile Suit Gundam Alpha. Part of the Galactic Federation's Project V, it was built in secret on Earth and then transported to the space colony Shangri-La for field testing. Alongside its brethren, the RGX-780 Gundam "Unit Beta" and RGX-780 Gundam "Unit Gamma", Unit Alpha would turn the tide of war in favor of the Galactic Federation during the First Galactic War. The unit was piloted by Amuro Ray.

Appearance
Generally looks like an even more futuristic of the original RX-78-2 Gundam (Hajime Katoki Version). Colors are originally gunmetal grey (G-3 Gundam colors), but are soon replaced with pure white with red highlights (RX-78-2 Rollout colors minus the grey), which later becomes Amuro's trademark color scheme. Amuro's personal insignia, an angular red "A", is stenciled into the left shoulder.

Technology & Combat Characteristics
The Gundam was incredibly advanced for its time. Designed as a high-mobility close-combat mobile suit, which was a contrary stance to the Federation's original ideal on mobile suits being artillery and fire support units, the Gundam was equipped with heavy duty thrusters that produced more than three times the power than those of a standard Guncannon. As a result, it was incredibly fast and mobile, capable of outpacing a ZMS-006 Zaku with ease. In fact, the Gundam was so fast that at full speed it appeared as little more than a blur; in other words, it was capable of moving faster than either the human eye or optical sensors could track. Beside this, the Gundam was also the first to feature several new technologies, as well as major innovations of already existing technologies, developed by the Federation. While its armor and construction were generally standard practice, it carried a large and varied weapons loadout, all of which gave the Gundam great offensive capability.

The Gundam's primary weapon was a hyper beam rifle, which at the time of the Gundam's debut was the most powerful rifle-type gun in existence; this single weapon gave the Gundam a great edge in firepower against practically every other mobile suit in existence, one that wouldn't be matched until the production of the ZMS-014 Gelgoog. For melee combat, it was equipped with two beam sabers, pure energy melee weapons that were naturally more powerful than the Zaku's beam axe, and two beam gauntlets in its palms, which functioned as back up striking weapons. For heavy artillery and dedicated anti-ship combat, the Gundam could be equipped with a beam bazooka, a weapon reverse engineered from Zeon technology. Additionally, its head was outfitted with a pair of Federation standard beam vulcans, providing it with a last resort weapon as well as a way of attacking light-armored craft without wasting energy from its more powerful armaments. And lastly, it wielded a pair of high energy beam shields in its forearms, which would offer it a defense against enemy attacks that its armored chasis could not.

In terms of technology, the Gundam was the first mobile suit equipped with the revolutionary Psi System, giving it a huge edge against conventionally controlled units, though the system could only be utilized by a Newtype pilot. In addition, its joints were given a special Magnetic Coating, which granted the Gundam the extraordinary reaction time required for its intended controller.

Armaments

 * M242 Beam Vulcan
 * Standard weapons for Federation mobile suits descending from the Guncannon line, beam vulcans were miniature beam machine guns stored on the sides of the Gundam's head. Having the greatest rate of fire of all the Gundam's weapons, they are primarily used to ward off advancing enemies, shoot down missiles or hit other fast moving targets. They are also useful as anti-spacecraft and anti-personnel weapons. The vulcans however have a difficult time piercing heavier armor (though they are capable of doing severe damage to mobile suits when fired at close range) and thus are not often used against larger, more heavily armored foes. Still, the vulcans are useful in preserving energy for the Gundam's more powerful weapons.


 * MI98 Beam Gauntlet
 * Unique close-range weapons mounted within the Gundam's palms. Essentially hand mounted beam cannons, the beam gauntlets release powerful energy discharges, which can either act as a beam shot or be directed across the Gundam's hand manipulators to superheat them, giving them the destructive power and defensive measure of a beam saber. As such, they are either used as striking weapons or as back up melee weapons in case the beam sabers are otherwise unavailable.


 * MSD900 Beam Shield
 * Though beam shields have long since become standard weapons among mobile suits, the Gundam is the first MS to be equipped with two of them at once (each mounted in both forearms). These weapons are self-explanatory as their main function is to generate a plane of energy over the Gundam's arms, similar to the blade of a beam saber. They are powerful enough to deflect most types of attacks, though higher powered weapons, such as warship cannons, are more than capable of overwhelming and breaking through the shields.


 * SS892N Beam Saber
 * The Gundam is the first mobile suit to ever use a full beam-oriented melee weapon. The sabers are stored on the backpack. When activated, the hilts generate a focused blade of beam energy; this is revolutionary compared to standard melee weapons at that point (namely the Zaku's beam axe), which can only generate a beam "edge" over a designated area. The blades can be shortened or lengthened at the pilot's command, allowing them to be utilized as daggers when necessary. Once activated, beam sabers do not rely on the mobile suit's reactor and can be thrown or discarded as decoys. The beam saber is most often used for close range combat or as an emergency weapon once all others have been depleted or lost.


 * M500BR Hyper Beam Rifle
 * A revolutionary weapon for its time, the hyper beam rifle is the primary weapon used by the Gundam. Though beam gunnery weapons have long been utilized by mobile suits, the hyper beam rifle, as its name suggests, contains an enhanced power system not previously seen among such weapons. As such, the HBR possesses far greater firepower than most of weapons of its class, alongside the range to match. And as a bonus feature, the HBR contains a special "Buster Mode", in which the rifle's entire energy supply is focused into a single shot; the result is a huge blast like that of a beam cannon, which measures out at 150 meters in diameter and also possesses an electromagnetic field effect. This mode is especially useful against multiple attackers or larger targets such as warships, but once the shot is fired, the beam rifle must go through a recharge period (provided that it can siphon energy from the Gundam's onboard Apollo Reactor) before it can be useable again.


 * M571K Beam Bazooka
 * Similar to the Zaku's bazooka, the the Gundam's bazooka is a heavy weapon meant for long-range artillery. Technically a large beam cannon, it can fire several blasts to attack targets at long range. While very powerful, the beam bazooka has a slow rate of fire and can deplete its energy supply in only a few shots. Most often used to take out slow, heavily armored targets, as well as large obstructions such as asteroids or debris.

System Features

 * Psi System
 * The Gundam was one of the fastest and most powerful MS ever created thanks to its innovative control system: the Psi System. Rather than a direct, manual system, the Psi System is technology that absorbs the brainwaves of a pilot and transforms them into machine code for controlling the mobile suit, which is accomplished through a number atom-sized receptors built into the of the suit's metal frame. This allows a pilot to control the mobile suit as if it were his/her own body, though with some limitations.
 * Besides this "basic" ability, the Psi System has another power: by absorbing the intense emotions of the pilot, the Psi System is capable of manifesting these emotions into the physical plane as raw physical energy. Referred to as a Psi Field, the energy can be used in a multitude of ways, from greatly enhancing the Gundam's base capabilities to functioning as offensive and defensive weapons to even warping physical space itself. As such, the Psi Field is a phenomenon that greatly deviates from the laws of physics, such that even the Psi System's designers at Augusta Labs are unable to provide an explanation on it.
 * Despite the effectiveness of this design however, it is not without flaws: the Psi System can only be utilized by a Newtype pilot, as Newtypes are the only human beings capable of broadcasting their mental energies past their physical forms. Having said that, it is still possible for "normal" Oldtypes to utilize the Gundam itself as a baseline mobile suit, though the Gundam's great performance still requires superior reaction time and mental strength to handle the physical stresses, thus making it almost impossible for most pilots to utilize anyway.

History
From the onset, the Galactic Federation created four Gundam prototypes, each designated by a letter in the Greek Alphabet: Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta. All four prototypes generally share a similar design and capabilities, but at the same time each have unique features that made them discernable from each other. The first prototype, Unit Alpha, was assigned to the son of Project V's director Thomas Ray, Lieutenant Junior Grade Amuro Ray, who worked with his father in Project V as a test pilot. After completing preliminary testing on Earth, Amuro and Unit Alpha were sent to the Shangri-La mining colony at the Outer Rim to field test the Gundam in mock combat, alongside Units Beta and Gamma.

However, Zeon would catch word of three new Federation mobile suits being tested at Shangri-La, and so deployed a cruiser force led by Commander Char Aznable, aka the "Red Comet", to either capture or destroy them. While the force desolated the Federation garrison there, Amuro managed to fend off the attack and was soon transferred to the fleet carrier Ark Royal. Amuro Ray would continue to serve as Unit Alpha's pilot for the remainder of the war, joining the 105th Mobile Suit Squadron "Shrikes" of the Ark Royal''s 13th Carrier Assault Group, in which Amuro served as Shrike Three. Eventually, the combat data collected from Unit Alpha and its siblings would lead to the Federation to develop a new frontline mobile suit series: the GM.

As with its siblings, Unit Alpha's service record - and that of Amuro Ray - would continually draw the attention of the Zeon Empire - namely Char Aznable - all the way to the end of the war. Following this, both Amuro Ray and Unit Alpha would eventually become legends, with Amuro earning the nickname "White Devil" by the Zeon forces for both his Gundam's unique color scheme and his great power.