Honestly, it’s been nearly two decades since we first saw that glowing green GN particle trail streak across the screen, and the mechanical designs of Mobile Suit Gundam 00 still look like they’re from the future. Most mecha shows have a "shelf life" where the designs start to feel clunky or dated. Not this one. When you look at Gundam 00 all mobile suits, you’re looking at a masterclass in how to differentiate technology across factions. It isn't just about giant robots hitting each other. It’s about how energy physics—specifically those magical, physics-defying GN Drives—dictated exactly how a machine should move, look, and fight.
The brilliance of Kanetake Ebikawa and Takayuki Yanase shines here. They didn't just draw cool shapes. They thought about the internal frame.
The GN Drive Revolution: Why Exia and Friends Changed Everything
If you’re talking about Gundam 00 all mobile suits, you have to start with the Third Generation Gundams. These were the disruptors. Before Celestial Being showed up, the world was stuck with massive, fuel-hungry bricks that crawled on the ground or used traditional rocket propulsion. Then comes the GN-001 Exia.
It was skinny. Really skinny.
The Exia looked more like a track athlete than a tank. Because the GN Drive provided near-infinite energy and weight-altering properties, the suit didn't need massive thruster arrays or heavy armor plating. It relied on "GN Cables" to transport particles, which is why you see those purple translucent strips all over the limbs. It was built for one thing: getting close enough to ruin your day with a physical blade. While the Dynames focused on long-range sniping with its full-shield cloak, and the Kyrios focused on high-speed transformation, they all shared that core DNA of being "untouchable" by the standards of the three major power blocs.
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Then there’s the Virtue. It’s the outlier. Everyone thinks it’s just a "heavy" suit, but it’s actually a walking battery. It uses its GN particles to create a literal bubble of space-time distortion—the GN Field—making it functionally invulnerable to conventional shells. But the secret was the Nadleeh hidden inside. Removing the armor wasn't just a gimmick; it was a weight-shedding necessity for the Trial System to work. This kind of layered storytelling through mechanical design is why these suits stick in the brain.
The "Grunt" Gap: Union Flags vs. AEU Enacts
What most people get wrong about the series is focusing only on the Gundams. The real world-building happens with the mass-produced units. Take the Union Flag. It’s spindly, looks like it might snap in a stiff breeze, and requires a "Graham Special" maneuver—a mid-air transformation that would literally kill a normal pilot from G-force—to be effective.
Compare that to the AEU Enact. On paper, they’re almost identical. In practice, the Enact was basically the AEU trying to copy the Union’s homework. It’s a bit more polished, a bit more "European sports car" in its aesthetic, but it suffered from the same problem: it was a fossil-fuel relic trying to fight a god.
And then you have the HRL (Human Reform League) and their Tieren. I love the Tieren. It’s a giant, walking slab of steel. It doesn't have a 360-degree cockpit view; the pilot literally looks at monitors. It’s slow. It’s loud. It’s the perfect foil to the sleekness of the Gundams. Seeing a Tieren Taozi—the high-mobility version for Super Soldiers like Soma Peries—try to keep up with a Gundam highlights the terrifying technological disparity of the First Season.
The Second Season Power Creep and the Twin Drive
By the time we hit Season 2, the world caught up. Sorta.
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The introduction of the GN-X changed the game. These weren't "true" Gundams, but they used "T" (Tau) type drives that produced harmful, red-tinted particles. This leveled the playing field. Suddenly, the Gundams weren't invincible. This led to the development of the 00 Gundam.
The 00 Gundam is a weird beast. It’s the first suit to attempt the Twin Drive System, using the resonance between the Exia and 0 Re-Gundam drives. It was unstable. It literally couldn't function at 100% without the 0-Raiser support craft. This is a great narrative beat—the protagonist’s "ultimate" weapon is actually a flawed piece of engineering that needs help to work. It’s not just a power-up; it’s a logistics problem.
Key Second Gen Suit Variations
- Cherudim Gundam: Replaced the Dynames. It swapped the physical shields for Shield Bits. This shifted the combat style from "hiding" to "active area denial."
- Arios Gundam: The Kyrios successor. It became much more of a flight-mode specialist, often docking with the GN Archer to become a heavy interceptor.
- Seravee Gundam: Taking the Virtue's "suit-within-a-suit" concept further by turning the backpack into a whole separate entity, the Seraphim.
The Innovator Factor and the Gadelaza
We can't discuss Gundam 00 all mobile suits without mentioning the absolute absurdity of the late-series Innovator machines. The Reborns Gundam is peak Ebikawa design. It’s a one-man army that flips between a Gundam mode (for close/mid range) and a Cannon mode (for long-range bombardment). It was the first time we saw a suit that truly felt like it could match the 00 Raiser's output.
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But if you want to talk about scale, look at the Gadelaza from the A Wakening of the Trailblazer movie. It’s a Mobile Armor, not a suit, but it’s piloted by a single person. It’s over 300 meters long and carries 154 Large GN Fang bits. It represents the logical, terrifying conclusion of GN technology: why build a humanoid suit when you can just build a massive, flying fortress that one person controls with their mind?
Why the Designs Matter for Collectors and Fans
If you're looking to get into the hobby side—Gunpla—the 00 line is notoriously good. Because the designs are so thin and rely on polycaps or specialized joints for those "GN Cable" areas, the Master Grade (MG) kits are some of the most poseable figures ever made.
However, there's a catch. The "Real Grade" (RG) Exia is a bit of a hand grenade. The tiny parts that make up the GN Drive and the chrome blades are beautiful, but they fall off if you sneeze in their general direction. If you're hunting for the "best" representation of these suits, the newer "Metal Build" figures or the MG Dynames (which has some of the best sniper-pose engineering in history) are the gold standard.
The Technical Legacy of the 00 Era
The series ended, but the tech didn't. When we look back at the 00 Qan[T], the final suit Setsuna pilots, it’s no longer even a weapon. It’s a communication device. The "Sword Bits" can form a gate for quantum teleportation. It’s the ultimate realization of what Celestial Being’s founder, Aeolia Schenberg, actually wanted: a way for humanity to stop fighting and start talking.
Actionable Steps for Exploring the 00 Catalog
If you want to truly appreciate the mechanical depth of this series, don't just watch the anime. The side stories hold the real gems.
- Check out Gundam 00P and 00V: These are "MSV" (Mobile Suit Variations) side stories. You’ll find the Gundam Astraea (the prototype for Exia) and the 00 XN Raiser, which is basically the 00 Gundam with way too many swords.
- Study the Frame Types: Notice how the HRL suits use "plug-and-play" limbs, while the Union Flags use a transformable frame that requires hydraulic fluid—a contrast to the Gundams' electric-actuated E-Carbon frames.
- Compare the GN Particle Colors: Red/Orange particles signify a Tau Drive (pseudo-drive), while Green/Blue-Green signify an Original Drive. This tells you exactly who is using "safe" tech and who is using the "dirty" versions that eventually led to the GN-X's dominance.
The mobile suits of Gundam 00 aren't just cool toys. They are a timeline of a world moving from oil and cables to particles and telepathy. Whether you prefer the blocky, industrial charm of a Tieren or the divine, sleek silhouette of the 00 Qan[T], the variety is unmatched in the franchise. It’s a rare case where the machines tell the story just as much as the pilots do.