Okay guys, let’s talk about mobile suits and their model numbers.

Most mobile suits/mobile armors in the Universal Century actually do have a meaning to their various number/letter combos. They aren’t totally random or whatever. Let’s start with Zeon suits from the One Year War. These are the easiest.

  • MS- (MS-06 Zaku II, MS-07 Gouf, etc etc) Mobile Suit
  • MSM- (MSM-03 Gogg, MSM-07 Z'Gok, etc etc) Mobile Suit Marine (Amphibious suits)
  • MSN- (MSN-02 Zeong) Mobile Suit Newtype
  • YMS- (YMS-15 Gyan, etc) Prototype Mobile Suit
  • MA- (MA-08 Big Zam, etc) Mobile Armor
  • MAM- (MAM-07 Grabro) Mobile Armor Marine
  • MAN- (MAN-08 Elmeth, MAN-03 Braw Bro) Mobile Armor Newtype
  • MAX- (MAX-03 Adzam) My guess for this one would be “Mobile Armor Experimental”

There’s also EMS- for the Agg, but I haven’t the foggiest idea on that one. My guess would be Excavation Mobile Suit, since it’s made for boring tunnels.

The Earth Federation is the universal constant in the Universal Century, so there’s a lot here. Since model numbers after UC 100 are a clusterfuck, I’m just going to cover Mobile Suit Gundam through Unicorn. As we all know, “RX-7*” was derived from the Mazda RX-7, but what exactly does that mean?

  • RX- (RX-78 Gundam, RX-93 Nu Gundam) Renpou (Federation) Experimental or Experimental Mobile Suit
  • RGM- (RGM-79 GM) This one is tricky. It’s usually interpreted as Renpou General Model, or Refined Gundam.
  • RGC- (RGC-80 GM Cannon) Likely Refined Guncannon, or just Mass-produced Guncannon.
  • RMV- (RMV-1 Guntank II) Likely Refined Guntank, or just Renpou Mobile Vehicle.
  • RAG- (RAG-79 Aqua GM) Federation Aquatic Model
  • RAS- (RAS-96 Anksha) Likely Federation Aerial Model
  • RGZ- (RGZ-91 ReGZ, RGZ-95 ReZel) Mass Produced Zeta Gundam
  • RB- (RB-79 Ball) Mobile Pod
  • FA- (FA-78-1 Full Armor Gundam) Full Armor Type

Again, nothing too confusing, but once we get past the One Year War, stuff gets a bit more interesting…

Each Newtype Lab from Zeta has its own model number code.

  • MRX- (MRX-009 Psyco Gundam) Murasame Labs
  • NRX- (NRX-055 Bound Doc, NRX-044 Asshimar) This one is unknown, and it’s difficult to speculate because the nature of both units to use it is very different.
  • ORX- (ORX-005 Gaplant, ORX-013 Gundam Mark V) Augusta Newtype Labs.

And of course, we can’t forget Scirocco, whose mobile suits are always designated with PMX.

Anaheim Electronics has a great deal of model numbers, too… some of which break the fourth wall.

  • MSA- (MSA-003 Nemo, MSA-005 Methuss) Mobile Suit Anaheim
  • MSF- (MSF-007 Gundam Mark III) Kazumi Fujita Original Design (named after the real-life mechanical designer)
  • MSN- (MSN-00100 Hyaku Shiki, MSN-001A1 Delta Plus) Mamoru Nagano Original design (named after the real-life mechanical designer; unrelated to Zeon MSN- prefix). Could also refer to “Delta Gundam Line”.
  • MSK- (MSK-008 Dijeh) Mobile Suit Karaba
  • MSZ- (MSZ-006 Zeta Gundam, MSZ-010 ZZ Gundam) Mobile Suit Zeta/Project Zeta

One of the most common prefixes seen after the One Year War is RMS-, appearing on units used by the Federation, Titans, AEUG, and Axis/Neo Zeon forces. This is, by and large, the general registry for mobile suits following the war. These numbers are all distinguished by the first two numbers after the prefix, which indicate WHERE the unit was manufactured.

  • 10* (RMS-106 Hizack) Granada
  • 11* (RMS-117 Galbaldy Beta) Luna Two
  • 12* (???) Konpei Island (Solomon)
  • 13* (RX-139 Hambrabi) The Gate of Zedan (A Baoa Qu)
  • 14* (RMS-141 Xeku Eins, RMS-142 Xeku Zwei) Pezun
  • 15* (RMS-154 Barzam) New Guinea
  • 16* (RX-160 Byarlant) Kilimanjaro
  • 17* (RX-178 Gundam Mark II) Gryps
  • 18* and 19* (RMS-192M Zaku Mariner, RMS-188MD Zaku Diver) Jaburo

The exception to this is the RMS-099 Rick Dias, whose actual model number is MSA-099. The prefix was changed to deceive the Federation’s intelligence.

The Axis Zeons have their own line, as well, mostly borrowing from the Zeons of the One Year War. The Sazabi, with its number MSN-04, simply continued the line of Newtype suits from that era. 

  • AMX- (AMX-004 Qubeley, AMX-002 Neue Ziel) Axis Mobile Weapon
  • AMS- (AMS-119 Geara Doga, AMS-129 Geara Zulu) Axis Mobile Suit
  • AMA- (AMA-01X Jamru Fin, AMA-X7 Shamblo) Axis Mobile Armor
  • NZ- (NZ-000 Quin Mantha, NZ-666 Kshatriya) Most likely “Neo Zeon)
  • YAMS- (YAMS-132 Rozen Zulu) Prototype Axis Mobile Suit

I think that’s all there really is to mobile suits of the first Universal Century. A lot of this information came from the now-defunct website Gundam Project, which went out of service over ten years ago. I’ll probably do one on the second Universal Century and Alternate Universes later, but enjoy this one for now.

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