MSN-04 Sazabi

General and Technical Data
Model number: MSN-04
Code name: Sazabi
Unit type: prototype Newtype use mobile suit
Manufacturer: Anaheim Electronics Company
Operator: Neo Zeon
First deployment: UC 0093
Accommodation: pilot in panoramic monitor/linear seat cockpit in head
Dimensions: overall height 25.6 meters; head height 23.0 meters
Weight: empty 30.5 metric tons; max gross 71.2 metric tons
Construction: gundarium alloy on movable frame
Powerplant: Minovsky type ultracompact fusion reactor, output rated at 3960 kW
Propulsion: rocket thrusters: 2 x 14000 kg, 2 x 13300 kg, 8 x 9800 kg; vernier thrusters/apogee motors: 28
Performance: maximum thruster acceleration 1.87 G
Equipment and design features: sensors, range 22600 meters; psycommu system; psycoframe cockpit frame; 2 x external propellant tank, ejectable, mounted on backpack
Fixed armaments: mega particle gun, power rated at 8.8 MW, mounted in torso; 2 x beam saber, stored in recharge racks in forearms, hand-carried in use
Optional fixed armaments: shield, mounted on either forearm, mounts 3 x small missile
Optional hand armaments: beam shotrifle, power rated at 10.2 MW, powered by rechargeable energy cap; beam tomahawk, stored in recharge rack in shield, hand-carried in use
Remote weapons: 6 x funnel (mounts beam gun, power rated at 10.6 MW), stored in backpack storage pods

Technical and Historical Notes
When the presumed-dead Char Aznable made a surprise reappearance in the early UC 0090s, many surviving Zeon remnants and spacenoid civilians still desiring independence from the Earth Federation welcomed him with open arms. Thus, a second Neo Zeon movement was started at the colony of Sweetwater, with Char as its leader. A new revolution against the Federation was now brewing, and as the new Neo Zeon military began building its forces, Char commissioned his engineers to design him a custom mobile suit to take advantage of his Newtype abilities and superb piloting skills.

This design was the MSN-04 Sazabi, and it was constructed by the Luna-based contractor Anaheim Electronics. Despite its large size and heavy armor, the Sazabi was equipped with enough thrusters and verniers to make it extremely maneuverable compared to mass-produced frontline mobile suits. It was equipped with a relatively high-output generator, but most of its power was used to fire its abdomen-mounted mega particle gun, whose beam was wide enough and powerful enough to destroy several mobile suits with a single shot. The Sazabi's armament was rounded out by a pair of beam sabers, a large shield carrying three missiles and a large, hand-carried beam tomahawk, and a beam shotrifle, which operated like a beam rifle version of a shotgun.

However, the Sazabi was also designed as a Newtype's weapon. Armed with six remote funnel units, Char could mentally control these weapons at great distances and without the disadvantage of Minovsky particle interference. His funnels were controlled via a fairly standard psycommu (short for "PSYchic COMMUnicator") system, but the Sazabi was also the first mobile suit to feature a revolutionary new piece of Newtype-use technology. This feature was called the "psycoframe", and it involved constructing the cockpit's frame with a material composed of microscopic psycommu receptors, thus increasing the pilot's Newtype sensitivity and responsiveness. Strangely enough, Char - for reasons known only to himself - would authorize Anaheim to pass along the psycoframe technology to the Earth Federation Forces' Londo Bell taskforce, who had also contracted Anaheim to construct a new Gundam mobile suit to be used by Char's old rival, Amuro Ray.

Always having been a soldier who preferred to lead his troops into battle rather than command from the rear lines, Char would deploy quite often in his crimson-red Sazabi during the Second Neo Zeon War that he started when he began bombarding Earth with asteroids in UC 0093. Soon enough, Char would come up against Amuro Ray in his own psycoframe-equipped mobile suit, the RX-93 n Gundam, and their battle of Newtype minds and mecha would reach its fateful, inevitable conclusion.
Miscellaneous Information

Pilot: Char Aznable
Appearances: Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack; Gundam: The Battle Master/Gundam Battle Assault; SD Gundam: G Generation Neo; Gundam Battle Assault2; Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack - Hi-Streamer (novel)
Original mechanical designer: Yutaka Izubuchi