Apsalus II

The Apsalus II (アプサラスII, Apusarasu Tsū) was the second prototype in Ginias Sahalin’s mobile armour development project, representing significant refinement over the Apsalus I. With improved Minovsky craft system stability, enhanced armament, and better overall performance, the Apsalus II moved closer to Ginias’s vision of an unstoppable weapon that could turn the One Year War in Zeon’s favour.

Development

The Apsalus II incorporated lessons from Apsalus I testing:

Improved Minovsky Craft:

More stable flight characteristics
Better power efficiency
Enhanced manoeuvrability for massive mobile armour
Reduced system failures that plagued Apsalus I

Enhanced Weapons:

Refined mega particle cannon with improved targeting
Additional defensive armaments
Better fire control systems

Structural Improvements:

Reinforced frame addressing Apsalus I weaknesses
Improved armor layout
Better heat dissipation for sustained operation

Continued Development Challenges

Despite improvements, the Apsalus II still faced fundamental challenges:

Enormous resource consumption (materials, energy, manufacturing time)
Complexity requiring specialized maintenance
Size making it difficult to deploy strategically
Vulnerability to coordinated mobile suit attacks
Questionable strategic value given Zeon’s declining position

Ginias’s obsessive focus on perfecting the Apsalus led him to pursue Apsalus III rather than accepting II as sufficient or reconsidering the project’s strategic value entirely.

Operational Testing

Field Trials

The Apsalus II underwent field testing in Southeast Asia during late UC 0079. Aina Sahalin, Ginias’s sister and a capable pilot, conducted much of the testing. Her growing concerns about the project’s costs – both material and her brother’s psychological deterioration – were overridden by Ginias’s fanaticism.

Testing demonstrated:

The Apsalus II could achieve stable atmospheric flight
Its mega particle cannon could destroy fortified targets
The mobile armour was effective against conventional forces
However, skilled mobile suit pilots in advanced units could threaten it

Encounters with 08th MS Team

The Apsalus II encountered the 08th MS Team led by Shiro Amada during operations. These battles revealed:

The massive firepower advantage over standard mobile suits
Vulnerability to close-range coordinated attacks
Dependency on pilot skill (Aina’s abilities were crucial)
The personal tragedy of Shiro fighting the mobile armour piloted by Aina

Shiro’s relationship with Aina – developed during chance encounters away from battle – created impossible situation where they fought each other whilst falling in love.

Transition to Apsalus III

Data from Apsalus II operations informed Ginias’s development of Apsalus III, the final form that would incorporate all lessons learned. However, by this point the war was ending, and the Apsalus project had consumed resources without delivering strategic impact.

Design and Capabilities

Structure

The Apsalus II maintained the massive mobile armour configuration of its predecessor:

Large central body housing reactor and weapons
Stabilizing wings/pylons for Minovsky craft operation
Heavily armored core protecting vital systems
Cockpit positioned for optimal battlefield awareness

Minovsky Craft System

The refined Minovsky craft system allowed:

Sustained atmospheric flight at various altitudes
Hovering capability for stable weapons platform
Reduced dependency on rocket propellant
Strategic mobility across combat zones

This represented one of the earliest successful implementations of Minovsky craft technology, though the system’s massive scale made it impractical for standard mobile suits at the time.

Combat Effectiveness

In battle, the Apsalus II demonstrated:

Strengths:

Overwhelming firepower against conventional targets
Flight capability providing tactical advantage
Intimidation factor from sheer size
Effective against standard Federation mobile suits

Weaknesses:

Vulnerable to skilled pilots in advanced suits (like Shiro’s EZ-8)
Large size made it easy target
Complex systems meant potential failure points
Required exceptional pilot to maximize potential

Significance

Technological Achievement

The Apsalus II proved Minovsky craft atmospheric flight was viable, paving the way for later Universal Century mobile suits incorporating the technology. Its refinement of the experimental Apsalus I system demonstrated iterative development methodology.

Strategic Irrelevance

Despite technical achievement, the Apsalus II exemplified how technological superiority doesn’t guarantee strategic success:

Developed too late to affect war’s outcome
Consumed resources better spent on conventional forces
Individual super-weapon couldn’t compensate for systemic strategic disadvantages
Ginias’s obsession with perfection delayed deployment until strategically irrelevant

Personal Tragedy

For Aina Sahalin, testing the Apsalus II meant piloting weapon against the man she loved (Shiro Amada) whilst watching her brother descend into madness. The mobile armour became symbol of how war destroyed families and relationships.

Behind the Scenes

The Apsalus II was created for Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team as middle chapter in the Apsalus trilogy’s progression from flawed prototype to refined weapon. The design served narrative function of showing iterative development whilst exploring themes of obsession and the “wonder weapon” fallacy.

Mechanical designer Katoki Hajime designed the Apsalus series to appear both impressive and somewhat monstrous – massive machines representing both technological achievement and wasteful obsession that consumed their creators.

The Apsalus II’s position in the trilogy allowed exploration of how projects could improve technically whilst becoming strategically pointless – better technology didn’t matter when the war was being lost.

Appearances

Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team

External links

Apsalus on the Gundam Wiki