Newtypes - Special People. The Newtypes used in the UC Timeline, meaning they were used throughout Mobile Suit Gundam, Z Gundam, Gundam ZZ, Char's Counterattack, Gundam F91, and Victory Gundam. Newtypes were also used in one of the Alternate Universe series - After War Gundam X. And i've found one of of the most abundant question today by newbie Gundam fans, Gundam Wing fans making a transition to Gundam, and curious AU fans are "What is a Newtype?", "Newtype?", and "What the hell is a Newtype?". Well, that's what I explain in this section.

First off, Newtypes are the final point in human evolution. You can say it's the evolution of the mind. While living in space, people living in colonies, also known as "spacenoids", were gaining special "powers" and "abilities" from living in space. Though it seemed like a fairy tale at first, the Newtypr was much more than that.

These "evolved" humans gained extrordinary powers. First of which are psychic powers. These Newtype powers enhance all battle and brain senses. Manifested Newtypes can use their enhanced senses and psychic abilities to dramatically increase their reflexes and speed while piloting Mobile Suits. Newtypes can easily read enemy thoughts, movements, attack plan, weakness, and of course and most importantly, their next move. In battle, manifested Newtypes are much more accurate in destroying enemy suits. Newtypes also have a sixth sense for incoming danger, and a seventh sense to sense other Newtypes, and who they are. The Newtypes give off special brain waves, known as psycho-waves. Newtypes are sensitive to these mental waves of energy, and can give off their own psycho-waves.

These increased reflexes and speed make Newtypes powerful foes in battle. Along with superb reflexes, Newtypes also have large amounts and empathy and telepathy. The can sense a certain being half-way across the galaxy. Newtypes can even speak to other Newtypes with their telepathy. This telepathy also helps Newtypes read enemy's suits actions and measure their skills. Mobile Suit pilot psychic warefare dramatically determined the outcome of a battle. In a quick perspective, Newtypes could tell how their opponent was going to move, find their weakness (notably the pilot cockpit of Mobile Suit engine), and then destroy the enemy.

Let's take Newtype Amuro Ray, who fully manifests his Newtype powers after returning to space following the attack on Jaburo. Twelve Zeon Rick Dom Mobile Suits, which are heavy armor Mobile Suits that are fast for their weight, carry bazookas that fire powerful missiles, and are piloted by skilled pilots who have many piloting tricks, are deployed. To a Gundam W fan, you could say that the Rick Doms are just as powerful as a Virgo II, except no planet defensors. You can look at a picture of a Rick Dom oh, about, here. Nine of these suits come straight at Amuro and the Gundam, which is armed with only a shield and a beam rifle. Amuro takes half a second to tell how the pilot is going to move the suit and where the engine is. Amuro destroys 8 of the 9 Mobile Suits with a single blast, and the 9th with two blasts. Amuro then sees a large Zeon cruiser. He takes a second to figure where the engines are, and quickly senses where both are. He places both of his beam sabers in the engines, and then jumps back, watching it explode. And he did this in less than a minute. Just shows Newtype skill beats out super-powerful mecha weaponry.

As I said above, Newtypes can sense danger and other Newtypes. And during battle, Newtypes can suddenly tell when an enemy is coming and detect their movements. When something sudden like this occurs, a Newtype's brain reacts with a psychic wave. We're shown this while Newtypes are doing battle, and a psychic wave crosses the screen, showing how quickly a Newtype thinks.

When Zeon first formed, it was formed by a man named Zeon Zum Deikun. Zeon declared Side 3 the government known as the Republic of Zeon, and expanded his ideas. People slowly became his followers. One of his most popular beliefs was the theory of the Newtype. He knew as people migrated into space, the spacenoids would be affected in space, due to their need to communicate across long distances - somewhat like psychic powers. He called this evolution the "Newtype". He also predicted the Newtype would be extrememely skilled, though he never realized how great they would become - most notably his son, Casval, who would become Newtype ace Char Aznable.

Zeon Zum Deikun was assasinated, his right hand man, Degwin Sodo Zabi, took over as Zeon's leader, and all of Zeon Zum Deikun's followers were silenced. High ranking members of Zeon soon think that the Newtype may be the answer to spacenoid surperiority over the Earthnoid. Many soldiers thought ace pilots, like Char, may be this Newtype. Zeon Major General Kycilia Zabi decided to take things into her own hands.

Kycilia formed the Flanagan Newtype Research Institute. Their test subjects soon gained enhanced reflexes, enhanced abilities, and telepathy. They also learned about the special brain waves Newtypes give off - psycho-waves. They soon went to work on Newtype technology. On the Earth Federation side, they were curious about the Newtype as well. During the One Year War, they wondered if Gundam ace pilot, Amuro Ray, and other members of the White Base crew could be Newtypes. We would soon find out they were, most notably Amuro, Sayla, and Mirai.

At Zeon's Newtype Flanagan Research Institution, they tested people who were rumored to have Newtype powers. Upon learning of the psycho-waves given off by a Newtype, the scientists at the Flanagan Institution went to work on a machine that can manipulate these psycho-waves into computer and Mobile Suits commands. This resulted in the very first psycommu system.

The Psychic Communicator System, or psycommu system. The Newtype pilots could use the psycommu system to generate Mobile Suit commands with their sensitive psycho-waves. Newtypes could generate commands at the speed of thought, and could even control their Mobile Weapon with mere thought. However, the first psycommu systems were large and bulky, and at first could only be used in Mobile Armors and large scaled up Mobile Suits.

The First Newtype Mobile Weapons:

The two first Newtype Mobile Weapons were the Mobile Armor MAN-03 Braw Bro (left) and MAN-08 Elmeth (right). For those who don't know, Mobile Armors are large Mobile Weapons with Mobile Suit weaponry, except they're not humanoid like Mobile Suits. The Braw Bro's 4 gun turrets (the spikes at the end of the "legs" of the Braw Bro) could be released into space with cables. The pilot, Newtype Chalia Bull, could tell how his enemy was going to move and controlled the cables with at the speed of thought and great accuracy to cripple the enemy. Chalia Bull and other Newtypes could use their psychic powers to control many different weapons at the same time, a new technique known as an "all-range attack".

The Elmeth Mobile Armor was piloted by powerful Newtype, Lalah Sune. The Elmeth used a new Newtype weapon, called "bits". Bits were small "drones" shown above. These bits had their own reactors and each held a mega particle cannon. They were controlled by the Elmeth's pilot's Newtype psychic powers. The Elmeth held three of them, and Lalah used her bits to easily destroy four whole Earth Federation cruisers.

The First Newtype Mobile Suits:

The first two Newtype Mobile Suits were the large scale Zeon Mobile Suit, the Zeong (left) and the Federation's RX-78NT-1 G-4 Gundam "Alex" (right). The Zeong Mobile Suit's feet were never completed, so it had to hover, but that never stopped it from being a dangerous foe. The Zeong's arms could seperate and be controlled by cables, a lot like the MAN-03 Braw Bro's gun turrets. The cable-connected arms were controlled by the Newtype pilots psychic powers, and made the arms deadly since each finger held a laser barrel cannon. Also, the torso of the Zeon held two Mega Particle Cannons, and the head of the Zeon held a Mega Particle Gun. An all-range attack was especially dangerous coming from the Zeon, especially in the hands of Newtype ace, Char Aznable. And if the body of the Zeong were destroyed, the head, which is where the cockpit is abnormally located, could seperate, and continue fighting with its Mega Particle Gun, all controlled by the Newtype pilot's mind.

The Earth Federation's Newtype Mobile Suit, the RX-78NT-1 G-4 "Alex", was an upgraded version of the original Gundam prototypes, and did not employ the use of a psycommu system. Instead, it used electromagnetic coating for enhanced maneuvrability for the Newtype pilot. It also had special 360-degree "panoramic monitor" screen around the pilot, all of the Alex's controls were incorporated into panels mounted on the pilot's "linear seat." This configuration gave the pilot an almost unlimited field of vision, thus allowing for easier target acquisition and faster response time. Too bad it was severly damaged by the cyclops team before it ever reached its pilot, Amuro Ray.

There is much more Newtype technology, but, before we continue, let's explain expansion of Newtypes after the One Year War had ended.

After the One Year War ended, Zeon was at a great loss, and returned to the Republic of Zeon. No one was left to fund the Flanagan Institution. However, their research was salvaged by the Earth Federation, and large force - the corrupt Titans, who carried out missions against anti-Federation forces, but carried them out with brutality. The Earth Federation and their Titans formed numerous secret Newtype Research labs - the Murasame Newtype lab in Japan, the Augusta Newtype lab in North America, and a lab at the Kilimanjaro base in East Africa.

At these labs, it was discovered that normal humans - mostly spacenoids due to them actually having at least a small amount of Newtype powers - could be turned in artificial enhanced Newtypes. These "strengthened humans" are enhanced physically and mentally like a Newtype. They are also have super-human endurance and strength. However, there is one drawback - all past memories are erased. And, these artificial humans would sometimes break down. During the Gryps War (Mobile Suit Z Gundam), the Titans, being cruel and thinking that the Earthnoid is surperior to the spacenoid, went along with it, and "abused" these strengthened humans into combat.

Two artificially enhanced humans was Titans pilots Rosamia Badam. Rosamia was the pilot of a large-scale Newtype Mobile Suit, but later defected to the AEUG. There, she showed superb Newtype abilities. However, due to her erased memory, she began to think Zeta Gundam Newtype pilot Kamiru Vidan was her brother. And Rosamia would have constant memories from her erased childhood - the most common memory of a colony being dropped on Earth. During battle, her battle for her lost memories and interference of the colony dropped memory caused her to go mad, and die in battle.

As the Gryps War (Mobile Suit Z Gundam) began, the Federation's Titans' Newtype Research labs created new Newtype weapons and technology. The psycommu system was used in the MRX-009 Psyco Gundam (Psycommu Gundam, left image). If you don't remember, this allows the pilot to control the Mobile Suit at the speed of thought and sometimes control it with only thought. But, after the Psyco Gundam was repaired after being wrecked by Kamiru Vidan and the Gundam Mark-II, it was outfitted with a psyco-control chair. This allowed artificially enhanced Newtype pilot Four Murasame ("Fourth" artificially enhanced Newtype of the "Murasame" labs) to control the Psyco Gundam as if it were a large bit with body parts. Luckily, Kamiru Vidan never had to face this due to Kamiru and Four's love for each other.

But, this technology and the psycommu system was later employed in the MRX-010 Psyco Gundam Mark-II (right image), which proved to be a powerful foe for Kamiru and the Zeta Gundam. The Psyco Gundam Mark-II had 20 mega beam guns on its body, 3 scattering mega beam guns, and 10 mega beam guns (one mounted in each finger), and to make things worse 2 cable controlled psycommu beam sabred (that's a lot of beam weaponry). This allowed the Psyco Gundam Mark-II pilot Rosamia Badam to have powerful all range beam attacks with mere thought whileeasily controlling the Gundam easier thanks to the psyco control. The Psyco Gundam Mark-II also had reflector bits with were controlled by Rosamia's mind thanks to the psycommu and Newtype powers. To worsen things even more than they are, these reflector bits could create a barrier known as the I-Field, which reflected enemy attacks, and could even reflect the Psyco Gundam Mark-II's own attacks so they could go around obstacles and corners. This Newtype technology could be defined as a "monster".

(A lot of big pictures of cool Mobile Suits, no?) The MSZ-006 Zeta Gundam (top left), The PMX-003 0 (top right), and the MSZ-010 ZZ Gundam (bottom center) all employed a special compact psycommu system known as the biosensor created by Anaheim Electronics. The exact nature of the biosensor isn't exactly known. However, this psycommu system not only allowed the Newtype pilot to control the Mobile Suit with mere thought and at the speed of thought, but also read the impulses of the pilot. This allowed Zeta Gundam pilot Kamiru Vidan to interface with Gundam much easier. And when Kamiru would become "mentally focused" through anger, he would amplify the biosensor with his psyco waves and impulses to increase the Zeta Gundam's speed, power, and mobility for a limited amount of time. This helped Kamiru Vidan becomes rated as THE most powerful Newtype.

However, the amazing biosensor seemed to "backfire" at times. Pilot of The 0, Paptimus Scirroco, made good use of his biosensor. However, The 0 failed at one time, possibly because of the biosensor. Was it because Kamiru was more dominant with his biosensor? Was it because Paptimus was "psychically" overpowered by Kamiru? That was never answered. And as Kamiru and the Zeta Gundam defeated Paptimus Scirroco and The O, Paptimus Scirroco amplified the last of his Newtype powers and used them against Kamiru and his biosensor, permenantly frying Kamiru's brain. Judau Ashta, pilot of the Zeta Gundam during the Humanity War (Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ) and later pilot of the ZZ Gundam mastered the biosensor. However, it was removed due to the danger the biosesnsor procudes.

During the Gryps War (Mobile Suit Z Gundam), Zeon leader Newtype ace Haman Khan. Her Newtype Mobile Suit, the AMX-004 Quebley, employed a compact psycommu system, thanks to the great minds of the Axis Zeons. The Quebley employed a new weapon known as Fin Funnels. Fin Funnels were a lot like bits. Instead of carrying a reactor to power the beam cannons on the funnels, they are powered by an E-Cap. These Funnels are psycommu controlled by the Quebley's pilot.

As Newtypes that could fully manifest their powers were still rare, a need for Newtypes for warefare was still needed. Cloned Newtypes such as young Newtype Elpe Puru’s clones were becoming obsolete. And artificially enhanced humans were far too dangerous. So, both the Earth Federation and Axis Zeons, now Neo Zeons, were struggling to create a psycommu system for the common man. With past experience, they were able to create the quasi-psycommu system. The quasi-psycommu system didn’t need psycho-waves from a Newtype, but instead scanned the mind of the pilot. Though the quasi-psycommu system proved useful, it wasn’t as useful as a genuine Newtype.

As Char Aznable gathered the remnants of Haman Kahn’s defeated Neo Zeons, he formed his own Neo Zeon movement. During this, he needed a new Mobile Suit to lead his forces. This soon lead up to the creation of the MSN-04 Sazabi (top right), which in the novelized version of Char’s Counterattrack was upgraded into the MSN-04II Nightengale (bottom right). The Sazabi carried the psycommu system, which was dangerous enough in the hands of Char Aznable. However, Char had Anaheim Electronics create a new Newtype weapon, which became known as the psycho-frame cockpit. The psycho-frame cockpit was a cockpit surrounded by psycommu chips. This made the Mobile Suit feel as if it weighed less and allowed the Newtype pilot to control the Mobile Suit with much more ease. The psycho-frame also helped Newtype pilots focus telepathic powers to read enemy thoughts and movements more easily. This made the Sazabi/Nightengale a dangerous foe.

While Char and his Neo Zeon were quickly building up their forces, the Earth Federation’s new task force created in order to suppress any Zeon movements – Londo Bell – were preparing to encounter this new force. Londo Bell Captain and ace Newtype pilot Amuro Ray needed a new Mobile Suit to take on his old rival. So, he designed the RX-93 Nu Gundam (top left). The Nu Gundam was loosely based on the RX-78-2 Gundam and used the latest Newtype technology, including the psycommu system. It also seemed the psycho-frame technology “leaked” into where the Nu Gundam was being developed, and was included in the Nu Gundam. In the novelized version of Char’s Counterattack, the Nu Gundam was upgraded into the R3-93-Hi-Nu Hi-Nu Gundam (bottom left).

Both the Nu Gundam/Hi-Nu Gundam and the Sazabi incorporated 6 Fin Funnels (The Nightengale had 10). Each Fin Funnel were psycommu controlled, meaning they were controlled by the pilot’s thoughts. If you remember, these Funnels were used in Newtype Haman Khan’s Quebley. However, the Nu Gundam/Hi-Nu Gundam’s Fin Funnels could also create a force field that could protect it from physical and long range beam attacks.

The psyco-frame which helped refine the Newtype powers was said to sometimes give off some “strange phenomenon”. After the Mobile Asteroid Axis has nukes exploding from within, and half of it is heading toward Earth ready to create the new Ice Age, the defeated Char gloats in his ejected psyco-frame cockpit. Amuro in the Nu Gundam/Hi-Nu Gundam places Char’s cockpit into the Axis. Amuro and many other Londo Bell and Federation websites try to push the Axis away from Earth. However, the “phenomenon” of Amuro’s psyco-frame causes a bright psychic light, and pushes away all Mobile Suits with psychic force. As Amuro attempts to push the asteroid away himself, both his psyco-frame cockpit and Char’s explode with a psychic energy phenomenon, and blasts the asteroid deep into space. Amuro is never found. Afterwards, all psyco-frame technology is scrapped.

Thirty years later, martyr Zeon Zum Deikun's dream hasn't come true, and genuine Newtypes are still rare. The next significant development is the bio-computer designed by the Federal Forces' Strategic Naval Research Institute, a complement to the psycommu system that allows the mobile suit's computer to transmit raw data, sensory impressions, and tactical advice directly into the pilot's brain. SNRI's is F91 Gundam F91's (see above image)holder for the bio-computer system.

During this time, the Crossbone Vanguard, the strong and courageous group who are hungry for power over the colonies, were creating their own Newtype technology. They created the neo psycommu system. This allowed a Newtype pilot to control a Mobile Armor with thought alone. This means that Mobile Armors that use the neo psycommu system, like the XMA-01 Rafflesia (see above image) do not have any manual controls. (Look mom, no hands!)

In UC 0153, after one hundred years, Zeon Zum Deikun's dream still hasn't come true. During the end of the war between the League Millitaire and the Zanscare Empire, the Zanscare Empire used what is the all time most powerful Newtype technological weapon - the Angel Halo. The Angel Halo is the first and only psycommu fortress, is 20 kilometers wide, and is made up of a series of repeating rings. The Angel Halo's rings contain 20,000 "psychikers". These "psychikers" are human "batteries". The Angel Halo then uses its ring psycommu system to gather and amplify all 20,000 psychikers' psyco-waves (that's a lot of psychic brain power) and is then redirected by one Newtype controller! The Angel Halo has the infulence to end the enemy's will to fight . . . and sometimes nullify all of the enemy's brain functions all together . . .