From: marty@srl.mew.mei.co.jp (Marty Chumbes)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.anime
Subject: Re: GUNDAM psionics, etc (Was Re: GUNDAM: CHAR'S ... )
Date: 27 Jan 93 01:56:17 GMT
Organization: Matsushita Electric Works Ltd., Osaka, Japan

In article <1993Jan22.195535.9956@vicstoy.UUCP>, jstepp@vicstoy.UUCP (John Stepp) writes:
|> In article <93020.172339U19807@uicvm.uic.edu> <U19807@uicvm.uic.edu> writes:
|> >Agreed,but I suspect that the use of psi may be more of a sticking point than
|> >some people might think. New Types are all over the place in GUNDAM,ZETA,ZZ
|> >and CCA,but they're hardly mentioned (if at _all_) in WAR IN THE POCKET or
|> >STARDUST MEMORY. Is this due to the fact that Sunrise doesn't want to overly
|> 
|> If I remember correctly, the New Type population explosion didn't occur
|> until "Z Gundam" (and continued in ZZ), which was around U.C. 0086 or
|> 0087.  At that time, the Neo-Jions and the Augusta Institute started
|> "manufacturing" New Types.  Previously, New Types had been a natural,
|> and fairly uncommon, occurance.
|> 
|> Whatever the actual reason behind the lack of New Types in "War in the
|> Pocket" and "Stardust Memory", it makes sense that New Types would be
|> rare in U.C. 0080 and 0083, respectively.
|> 
|> 
|> -- 
|> John Stepp - jstepp@vicstoy.oau.org : jstepp@vicstoy.uucp
|>            - ...!{peora,ge-dab,tous,tarpit}!bilver!vicstoy!jstepp
|>              vicstoy, Orlando, Florida
|>              (407) 299-3661  1200/2400/9600 v.32  24 hours  8N1

That's pretty interesting....

The question of when newtypes started to emerge is quite impossible to answer because
basically, they are supposed to be the next evolutionary step of mankind and evolution is a very very gradual process, so that's its possible that they could have existed even before U.C. 0079.

I think the most important thing to keep in mind is that most of the newtypes that
appear in the Gundam History line do not know that they are newtypes until they are 
provoked either conciously or unconciously to use their newtypes ability.  That's how
we can distinguish newyptes from oldtypes in this universe.  This is pretty
evident in Seabook Arno and Berah Ronah (F-91), Quess and Hathaway Noah (Char's CounterAttack) and Judau Ashita (ZZ Gundam).  In addition, it's possible that Camille Vidan, Amuro Rei, Char Aznable and all the other newtypes we see, before they got involved in the wars, didn't know that they themselves were newtypes.

However, the military (EUG and Jions) are the first outside of newtypes to witness newtypes and their potential in the war.  That's why later on, after the One Year War (U.C. 0079-0080), the military on both sides started to invest heavily into upgrading the mobile-suit technology: psycho-mu systems and weapons and invest heavily into producing artifical newtypes.  Even at the end of the One Year War, the Jions started to produce
systems that utilized newtypes' abilities for war-engaging purposes so that by around U.C. 0083 and onwards, the presence of newtype becomes much more signifcant in the later conflicts.  I can't say that their population increased because no one would really know how many newtypes there are during that time.  You only see them at war, when they are provoked to use their abilites.  

Keep in mind that the Gundam universe we witness is extremely narrow.  We only see the war aspect of the universe, we never really see the universe outside of the war and battles that occur between the EUG and Jions.  I could imagine that life on earth as well as on the colonies would be as normal as ours.  The general public in this universe knows very little about newtypes because their presence in the public life is extremely non-existent.  That's probably why you don't see any NewTypes in "War in the P








ocket".  In that OAV series, we see the perspective of war in the eyes of the people in the colony that's not involved in the war
but are only an observant.  In "Stardust Memory", we don't witness any presence of newtypes with the exception of Haman Kahn who makes a cameo appearence, but their significance in the conflict is extremely evident near the end.  The GP03-S was, I believe, a prototype mobile suit specifically designed for a newtype.  It doesn't really give sound proof that EUG were
making any considerable effort to invest heavily in upgrading mobile-suit technology to
facilitate newtypes, but it gives an indication that even after the One Year War, the 
influence of newtypes was important to the military on both sides.

So in all, I think that throughout the Gundam Universe from U.C. 0079, newtypes gradually
become significant on both sides of the conflict and can only be seen when provoked to
use their abilites.

Just my 2 yen worth.

Any comments or criticisms are welcome, but no flames please.

Marty
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