AMA-X7 Shamblo
Prototype amphibious mobile armor developed by Zeon Remnants.
The AMA-X7 Shamblo was a prototype amphibious mobile armor developed by Zeon Remnants with technical support from Neo Zeon. It was designed as a large amphibious mobile armor capable of operating both underwater and on land.
The “AMA” prefix indicated it was an amphibious mobile armor, “X” denoted its experimental status, and “7” was its development number. The name “Shamblo” was derived from the fictional kingdom of Shambhala.
History
The AMA-X7 Shamblo was developed for six years by Earth-based Zeon remnants using a design from the First Neo Zeon War. Through the assistance of Full Frontal’s “The Sleeves” Neo Zeon, the Shamblo employed the latest development in psycommu technology: the psychoframe.
The Shamblo was piloted by Loni Garvey, a young woman who blamed the Earth Federation Forces for the deaths of her family. Loni used the Shamblo during Zeon remnant attacks on the Earth Federation’s capital city Dakar in Africa in May UC 0096, and later at the Torrington Base in Australia.
During its rampage, the Shamblo brought death and destruction for over two hours with the estimated death toll being around 40,000 people. RX-0 Unicorn Gundam pilot Banagher Links attempted to talk Loni out of a hate-fueled rampage in Torrington that saw many civilian casualties, but he was unable to bring himself to kill her. In the end, MSN-001A1 Delta Plus pilot Riddhe Marcenas used the Unicorn Gundam’s beam magnum to deliver the finishing attack.
Design
The AMA-X7 Shamblo was an amphibious mobile armor developed by Zeon Remnants with the technical support of the supporters of Neo Zeon. The machine made combined use of three different propulsion systems (jet propulsion, electromagnetic induction or MHD and Minovsky thermonuclear jet hover craft) to ensure low noise and high mobility, both in water and on land.
The Shamblo combined a Minovsky craft system and hovering system, allowing it to operate both underwater and on land. Powered by Minovsky type generator(s) on its leg(s), and using the combination of submersible and hover systems, it could achieve low noise conditions and high mobility while in its underwater cruising mode. On land, it could use its Minovsky type generator and hover jet propulsion together to demonstrate surprising agility for an object of this size.
Due to its stealth capabilities, the Federation Navy called it the “Sea Ghost” or “Phantom of the Sea”. The Shamblo also had a psychoframe built into its cockpit to facilitate the use of Newtype-controlled weaponry.
The mobile armor had two distinct forms: an underwater cruising form with an overall length of 77.8 metres, and a land combat form with an overall height of 31.8 metres. Its sensors had a range of 12,800 metres on land and 240 kilometres underwater using sonar.
Armaments
The Shamblo’s standard weapons were a large-caliber mega particle cannon for primary attacks, diffuse mega particle cannons for area suppression, and iron nails for close combat. Its most distinctive feature was its defensive reflector bit system.
Large-caliber mega particle cannon
The Shamblo carries a powerful large-caliber mega particle cannon in its flexible head unit, giving the weapon a wide field of fire. A set of retractable covers protect the mega particle cannon when not in use. This weapon provided the Shamblo with overwhelming offensive strength, capable of destroying multiple targets with single shots.
Diffuse mega particle cannons
One scattering mega particle gun is mounted on each shoulder. These weapons could render both solid ammunition and beam attacks ineffective through their wide-area beam dispersal. The diffuse nature of these weapons made them particularly effective against groups of smaller targets.
Large iron nails
The Shamblo had a pair of grasping claws on retractable arms. Each claw is nearly the size of a mobile suit and can crush, rend or smash such an unfortunate machine. These mechanical weapons provided devastating close-combat capabilities against mobile suits that managed to close the distance.
Reflector bits
Stored in the Shamblo’s dorsal section, these bits launch like missiles but jettison the booster modules after a few hundred metres. They are held aloft by rotor blades that unfold once the aerodynamic shell has fallen away. Once in flight, the units hover around the Shamblo and serve to reflect beams from the scattering mega particle guns.
This allowed the Shamblo to engage targets for which there was no direct line of sight, and enable the engaging of multiple targets or overwhelming a single target. They also served to augment the machine’s defences by moving to intercept incoming beam weapon attacks and deflecting them in a safe direction or even back at the attacker. The Shamblo could use the defensive properties created by its 12 reflector bits and scattering mega particle guns to form an impenetrable defence, similar to the type seen on the MRX-010 Psycho Gundam Mk-II.
Known pilots
Behind the scenes
Katoki Hajime was the original mechanical designer. The Shamblo was designed to be one of the most imposing and threatening mobile armors in the Universal Century timeline, representing the culmination of Zeon remnant engineering efforts.
Appearances
- Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn
- Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn (novel)
External links
- AMA-X7 Shamblo on MAHQ
- AMA-X7 Shamblo on the Gundam Wiki