MS-14 Gelgoog - History

History

The Principality canceled the original MS-11 design, citing the need for beam weapons in the unit. The model number would be reassigned to the Pezun Project's Act Zaku. With the antiquated Zaku and the space modified MS-09 Dom becoming easy targets for the Gundam, Zeon would end up with two competing units intended for mass production. The YMS-15 Gyan was a close combat oriented suit, designed to be assisted by two Rick Dom units. The YMS-14 Gelgoog carried its own beam rifle and twin beam saber. The latter design won out, and the first unit, the YMS-14S, would be tested by ace pilot Char Aznable inside of Side 5's Texas Colony. Char himself would engage the Gundam twice, with both times ending in a draw (though Char's Gelgoog was heavily damaged both times). Based on both flight tests and another test conducted by Johnny Ridden and his Chimera Corps on a High Mobility Type during the Battle of Solomon, the Gelgoog was quickly put into mass production. Ace pilot Anavel Gato, who gained fame as the "Nightmare of Solomon", used a standard A type Gelgoog with an experimental beam rifle rather than use the S-type Gelgoog.

Although the Gelgoog was a powerful mobile suit — being as powerful if not more powerful than the Federation's Gundam, the problem for Zeon laid in numbers. At the time the Gelgoog was put into production, the Federation fleet had already reached A Baoa Qu, Zeon's final forward stronghold. The Gelgoog's high production cost also hindered its rapid deployment, and only 165 Gelgoogs would be produced despite full industrial swing. To make matters worse, most of the veteran Zeon pilots at the time, such as Ramba Ral and the Black Tri-Stars, were KIA during the battles on Earth, and Zeon had to draft many green pilots into Gelgoogs. Rookies found it difficult to adjust to the Gelgoog's controls, and even some veteran pilots opted to revert to older mobile suits. In the end, Zeon's hastily-assembled Gelgoog forces were unable to stop the onslaught of the weaker but more versatile GMs, which were piloted by seasoned Federation pilots and assisted by data from the RX-78-2 Gundam's learning computer system. It can be said that if the Gelgoog had been in production only a week before the Battle of Solomon, that the war could have turned more in the Principality's favor.