Characters / Mobile Suit Gundam

The character sheet for the Gundam series that started it all, Mobile Suit Gundam.

This page is for tropes relating to the 1979 series only. For the alternate-retelling novelization by Yoshiyuki Tomino, see here. For the manga and OVA alternate-retelling Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin, see here.

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Earth Federation

Amuro Ray

Voiced by: Tōru Furuya (JP), Brad Swaile (EN, TV series), Michael Lindsay (EN, Movies)

"I can pilot the Gundam better than anyone!"

Main mecha: RX-78-2 Gundam

The son of the Gundam's designer, Tem Ray, Amuro is a 15-year-old engineering prodigy who spends more time with machines than humans. Climbing into the Gundam's cockpit in an attempt to fight a war that's suddenly hit too close to home, he finds himself serving as the White Base's main line of defense — and struggling mightily with life as a soldier. Introverted, sensitive, headstrong, and initially caring only about his own survival, Amuro eventually comes to realise that many other people matter too.

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• Ace Pilot: The first Gundam protagonist to reach ace status in the titular machine, and the prototype for all those that follow. By the end of the war he's as feared in Zeon as Char is in the Federation military.
• Achilles in His Tent: Amuro does a lot of this from shock and PTSD in the first few episodes, culminating in the infamous Get A Hold Of Yourself Man confrontation with Bright where he refuses to fight or even get dressed. Fraw finally snaps him out of it with a You Are Better Than You Think You Are.
• Act of True Love: The entire franchise kicks off this way... although it's a Double Subversion. Amuro starts piloting the Gundam explicitly because he doesn't want Fraw Bow to get hurt again... then he becomes ongoingly cold and distant to her due to the stress of it all, she spends the rest of the war worrying he'll be killed or that he doesn't care about her, their relationship undergoes a lot of strain, and it's only after the Final Battle with his Psychic Powers that Amuro does reaffirm that Fraw is very special and important to him.
• Always Someone Better: To Hayato Kobayashi, especially once the war gets going.
• Angry Eyebrows: Pretty subtle, but they have more of a frowning curve than anyone else's; the effect gives him a bit of a permanently-pissed look on his face 95% of the time. Integral to his character design, and so unusual that no one else in the entire franchise has ever had them.
• Awesomeness by Analysis: Amuro subverts this at one point: he writes a mess of algorithms for fighting Zakus, including wild-assed guesses as to their capabilities, but his theories don't mesh with the facts on the ground.
• Blood Knight: In the middle of his adapting to the trauma of war, Amuro starts thirsting for combat and wiping out Zeon forces. It's to the point that several characters realize he had become particularly destructive as if trying to prove something, either to himself or others. Part of his growth is working out of this, and he also does draw the line and hesitate if his targets are fully exposed and not able to be dehumanized by being within a cockpit. Though he drops that even that when it comes to Char, and always charges in to fight him.
• Broken Bird: A male example, considering what he witnesses in this series and how these things keep affecting him during the rest of his life.
• Brooding Boy, Gentle Girl: Him and Fraw Bow.
• But Not Too Foreign: He has curly reddish hair, a non-Japanese name like "Amuro Ray", and spent his early years in Prince Rupert, BC, Canada, if you go by the movie. It's his birth in Japan that was obviously meant to keep him "Japanese enough", in addition to having a traditionally-constructed three-syllable, "-ro" ended name ^*Although Tomino believed at the time that "there was no such name in the world as 'Amuro'", and that he was making it up entirely.
• Character Development: From a bitter, horrified teen going through severe trauma over being thrown into combat head-on with a penchant for violent retribution, to someone who figures out how to fight effectively as a soldier while staying compassionate. He also goes from a intense loner to realizing many people care about him, and vice-versa.
• Character Tics: Biting his nails, counting his kills, trying to loosen his collar, clinging to his gun, and tending not to be fully dressed whenever he's working on something mechanical. A bunch, and they all stay consistent in subsequent Gundam installments.
• Child Soldiers: The very first of the franchise. Amuro unofficially started off his military career at the age of 15 by commandeering the Gundam to defend Side 7 during a surprise attack.
• Combat Pragmatist: He has no qualms shooting distracted opponents, sacrificing various armaments, and ambushing opponents. He even takes this to the logical conclusion, using the Gundam as a decoy in order to rush to the enemy cockpit and take out Char.
• Combining Mecha/Mecha Expansion Pack/Transforming Mecha: His Gundam has numerous forms that it can create by combining with the G-Fighter and other parts.
• Coming of Age Story: Mobile Suit Gundam is this for Amuro, who takes a rocky and far-from-straightforward path from being angry, defiant, selfish and traumatized to being someone who finds understanding, love, and hope in himself and in others. It's even been described as a bildungsroman.
• The Confidant: Fraw is the only one who gets in his room or comes after him when he deserts. Amuro thinks the latter is another blow to his pride since Bright seemingly sent Fraw 'instead of coming himself'.
  "I figured you at least would understand, Fraw Bow."
• Cool Plane: The G-Armor and G-Sky. Even the Core Fighter, considering how much time Amuro spends in it.
• Devoted to You: Fraw Bow sees him this way, to the point that Amuro envisions (or even hallucinates) her bringing him food late in the show, when it's Job John instead.
• The Dreaded: The Gundam starts out from the beginning as a terror among Zeon forces for having such incredibly high specs, durability, and armament that it can mop the floor with anything Zeon has available at that point, even with a total newbie at the controls. Once Amuro gets good at piloting it, they give the Gundam a name - The White Devil. See Red Baron.
• Dub Name Change: The 1980 Italian dub changes his name to "Peter Rei". This was reverted in the 2004 redub.
• Duel to the Death: Once with M'Quve and once with Char. He survives both, as can be expected. Interestingly, so does Char - their duel gets interrupted before they can seriously injure each other once the duel moves beyond mobile suits. M'Quve is the only true loser.
• Epic Flail: The Gundam Hammer is a rocket propelled flail intended for use against heavily armored targets.
• Establishing Character Moment: His first scene is when Fraw finds him in his room fiddling with a computer in his home electronics lab — only in his underwear, having skipped several meals, and not particularly troubled that the sirens he'd been hearing were evacuation alerts. And Fraw still has to nag him out of his room! Amuro having to learn how to deal with others is a major theme in the series.
• Everyone Has Standards: For as rabid a combatant and survivalist in the heat of battle that he can be, Amuro only shoots at people on-foot if they're Char or already gunning for him and his friends. As a few Zeon soldiers and Ramba Ral can attest, Amuro has a heart of gold if he can humanize his enemy, and in certain cases even works to save them if they can't fight back. A lot of this is thanks to his civilian perspective he shares with Fraw and other civvies, as he lacks the harsh bias and anger for Zeon that the Federation parts of the cast understandably hold.
• Expecting Someone Taller: Matilda's fiance was expecting someone older when he heard of Amuro.
• Falling into the Cockpit: The original Gundam example. He gets into the Gundam's cockpit to fight the two Zakus wrecking his home colony.
• Fiery Redhead: He's got very dark red hair, but oh yes. Without some sort of weapon he usually runs rather than fights, but he still gets very loud, very fast.
• Fire-Forged Friends: With the rest of the crew, most notably Kai and Bright, having braved through and fended off the Zeon forces' attacks on them together.
• First Love: Matilda Ajan, very much in a Courtly Love way. He still has her picture years later.
• Forgets to Eat: Tends to get a bit too wrapped up in his job for his own well-being, thanks to the pressure placed upon him by his vital importance to the war effort and the White Base's survival.
• Friend to All Children: Amuro fixes broken toys for and gives extra food to the children on the ship. He even ends up trying to protect the kids on Doan's island, who threw rocks at him.
  Amuro: Little kids shouldn't see people killing each other.
• Get A Hold Of Yourself Man: To a hysterical Fraw Bow in the first episode. Ignoring his later (in)famous receiving(s) of this trope, Amuro actually issues the first one in the franchise.
• Good Old Fisticuffs: With his Hot-Blooded side Amuro throws down easily, and more than once. He even shadowboxes while waiting to go into action.
• Heroic RRoD: Once Amuro's Newtype abilities fully awaken, Gundam's control systems begin to break down under the strain of trying to keep up with him.
• Heroic Safe Mode: Amuro spends a good chunk of the first half of the show post-battle in this, brooding and exhausted wherever he can be alone, and clashing with Bright on the side. It takes the end of the Ramba Ral episodes before It Gets Easier.
• I Just Want to Be Special: A major reason for the desertion arc was Amuro trying to prove that only he can properly pilot the Gundam after overhearing Bright considering putting someone else on it. It's then subverted by the end when Amuro repeatedly insists that even if he's a Newtype, he's still human and a person, just like anybody else.
• I Let Gwen Stacy Die: Lt. Matilda and Lalah. He eventually gets over the former, and although the original series ends with him seemingly coming to terms with the death of the latter, he never really does get over it.
• Impossibly Graceful Giant: The Gundam moves more like a human being than a mecha. It can run, jump, do a roll, you name it.
• The Insomniac: For much the same reason as the Forgets to Eat entry above.
• Instant Expert: Justified by the Gundam's tactical computer, which learns alongside him as he fights, and by his awakening as a Newtype.
• It Gets Easier: Amuro goes through some fairly serious and absolutely justified PTSD over the first half of the show or so, given that he's the lynchpin of major combat with absolutely no preparation, and There Are No Therapists when you're in a lone ship caught in enemy territory. After his desertion and the events with Ramba Ral, while still remaining a sensitive and fairly kind person, he finally seems to adjust to being part of the ship and his role. It gets to the point where he actually gets over Lalah's death fairly quickly at the time.
• It's All My Fault: In contrast to Char, he's highly upset with himself over accidentally killing Lalah when she deliberately got in the way protecting Char. He still blames Char for putting Lalah on the battlefield, but Amuro accepts responsibility for his own actions (at least by comparison).
• It's Personal: With Char. They become mortal enemies after the tragic death of Lalah in combat protecting Char from him.
• Jack of All Stats: The Gundam itself. Some Zeon suits are faster. Some are stronger, or more heavily armored, or better armed. None are as suited for all around combat.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Amuro is, in no particular order, paranoid, antisocial, blunt, and prone to angsting about how hard his life is. He's also an unfailingly loyal friend to anybody who manages to get through that facade, and puts his life on the line again and again in order to take down Zeon and its successors.
• Leave Me Alone!: Does this a lot in the first half. It's pretty much all because of intense stress and nerves, but sometimes it's active post-combat fatigue and he needs quiet, and sometimes he's just pushing people away.
• Lightning Bruiser: The Gundam; incredibly dangerous because it's fast, heavily armored, and packs a warship-level beam rifle on a mobile suit.
• Likes Older Women: Maybe inevitable when you're 15; played straight and literally in that all of the women Amuro takes an interest in are older than him (his major crush, Matilda, is several years older). Played with in that his confidante and the only one he confesses anything to is actually a few months younger.
• Love at First Sight: Deconstructed with Lalah. Each was the first strong Newtype the other had met, and they felt an instant connection. Later they seem to be considered something like soulmates. At very first sight, actually, he scares her. It gets messy.
• Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: Amuro's shield is destroyed numerous times over, usually saving his life in the process.
• Lying to Protect Your Feelings: When Amuro's father hands him a new Gundam component that he created from old Zaku parts, Amuro immediately saw what a piece of junk it was at first glance, noting how his father must be going crazy from a lack of oxygen. He later smashes it on the sidewalk in frustration. When he sees Tem after the battle outside of Side 6, Tem is confident that his part gave Gundam the edge in battle, and Amuro goes along with it.
• Made of Iron: Not necessarily in direct injury and pain, but there's multiple times where the strain of piloting really wears on him - and he still gets back up, even if he fainted from raw G-forces, in a short period of time afterwards. Even then, he also manages to take getting a sword in the arm fairly well, all things considered.
• Military Maverick: The initial one of the franchise, maybe even of the entire Real Robot genre. Completely justified because he's an untrained, shanghaied high-schooler who naturally wants to rely on his Teen Genius abilities to get him out of things. Character Development makes him more cooperative and a better soldier, but the anti-authoritarian, highly individualistic attitude he brought in with him never goes away. Amuro likes his comrades; not the military. This stays consistent.
• Mindlink Mates: With Lalah.
• Nice Guy: Amuro's reflexively polite and courteous to most people when he's not having a bad day. He really can't stand to see people hurting other people, and he gets quite angry when it's thrown in his face; it's his naïve and idealistic viewpoint that's the source of so much of his rage and moodiness over the course of the show. A Zeon soldier wounded in battle by him even says Amuro's kindness will get him killed — Amuro's giving him water at the time.
• Oblivious to Love: Downplayed, played with, and finally subverted, but however you view Amuro's relationship with Fraw, for most of the series, despite interludes of having her brought to his attention, he seemingly either ignores or is oblivious to her very strong feelings for him — though she's not very direct, either. By the last episode he finally manages to use his Psychic Powers to call her "boku no suki na Fraw" (roughly "my sweet Fraw"), suggesting he figured something out.
• One-Man Army:
  • By the end of the series, he's pretty much a match for a small enemy fleet on his own. And he's rarely on his own.
  • If you want hard numbers, he's shown, over the course of the series, earning over 130 kills on-screen. This includes several battleships and mobile armors. And it's highly likely he's earned even more in off-screen battles.
• Only Friend: At the start of the show and for quite a while, Fraw Bow. Makes sense, considering she's the one he originally jumps in the Gundam for.
• Pants-Positive Safety: When Ramba Ral finds the gun he's been toting in his jeans waistband. Sure, it makes him look like a badass and even earns Ral's admiration, but his finger's on the trigger and combined with a bad way of carrying, that's how you get hurt.
• Parental Neglect: Amuro's Missing Mom let his dad take him to space about a decade prior to the start of the show rather than come with them, and he hasn't seen her much since. His Disappeared Dad has been completely caught up in his work for months, if not years, leaving Amuro to fend for himself and only Fraw Bow to make sure he manages. Actually gets wrenchingly upgraded and inverted over the course of the show, when Amuro meets, then ends up having to leave both his parents behind in order to keep fighting and protect White Base.
• Phrase Catcher: "You should get some rest, Amuro." Also "This isn't like you, Amuro.", from Fraw.
• Properly Paranoid: Examples include "The Federation military is just using us as bait," "They're gonna take the Gundam away from me!" and (in the original series plan) "Bright's girlfriend is a Zeon spy!" What makes him fall under this trope is, he's always right.
• Psychic Powers: One of the first and strongest Newtypes.
• Quirky Curls: Downplayed and '70s Hair, complete with sideburns, but his curly hair's not only unusual in the show but in anime in general. Part of his iconic look.
• Red Baron: His RX-78 Gundam is nicknamed within the series as the "White Devil" by Zeon forces, a title that is is frequently extended to Amuro as well. Supplemental materials give him the nickname White Shooting Star/White Meteor as a counterpoint to Char's Red Comet, and later in the Universal Century he gets a unicorn motif earning himself the nickname "White Unicorn."
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The angry and emotional red to Char's calculating and sociopathic blue. Irony considering their uniforms and the general color scheme to their mobile suits (the Gundam has a lot of blue around the torso, while Char's suits are almost unanimously associated with all-red paint schemes).
• The Rival: To Char.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Really not happy at the time. Feels like he's just been made useless. And he's taking his Gundam, too. It leads to him trying a bit of Walking the Earth. Involving Crossing the Desert. And it's a Thirsty Desert, too...
• Sexy Coat Flashing: Subverted when Fraw tries a low-key version by hanging outside of his room in a uniform coat and her nightshirt, but Amuro's too distracted by Matilda and plain oblivious to ask what she wants, why she's dressed like that, or see what's under the coat. Maybe it wasn't the most provoking choice for someone who frequently hangs out underdressed.
• Shell-Shocked Veteran: More so with every episode.
• Ship Tease: With Sayla. And Fraw. And also with Lalah.
• Socially Awkward Hero: Played with. His Establishing Character Moment shows he really doesn't care too much about social norms and would rather focus on computers than socialize; side materials describe him as "naive" and "a late bloomer", and though he comfortably spends one episode wandering around in his underpants, he first is puzzled by the sight of a hanging bra in another one, then freaks out at having touched it. On the other hand, he's repeatedly and remarkably fluent, even eloquent, at expressing himself to complete strangers.
• Stock Shout-Outs: "You hit me! Not even my own father hit me!" Trope Namer and Trope Maker for this getting used in Japanese media.
• Sword Fight: Gets lured into one of these by Char in the finale, with Char hoping his greater physical strength and experience with real swords might finally allow him to beat Amuro. It ends with significant but non-fatal wounds to Char's forehead and Amuro's right arm.
• Tank Goodness: The G-Bull is a tank made from the Gundam's Core Fighter and the G-Fighter, making it resemble a tank, cannon and all.
• Technicolor Eyes: Though Amuro's are in black-and-white. Standard anime-black irises, with the same white highlights and pupils as Sayla's and Fraw's. This has led to them being Sudden Eye Color of choice in everything from fanart to officially animated works. In the official, original UC timeline, young Amuro is still black irises; white pupils, despite Art Evolution. Though he does get one scene in MSG with Blank White Eyes.
• Teen Genius: Portrayed as a Gadgeteer Genius, having a knack for electronics and being able to build complicated small robots, like Haro. Lampshaded by Mirai as an early justification for Amuro even being able to pilot the military's most-classified weapon.
• Teens Are Monsters: Fighting the war, being impressed and imprisoned, the entire military chain of command on his own side, the captain of his own ship, adults in general... Whaddya got? Lampshaded by Ryu, who points out that Bright sees him as “a wild tiger”. Aside from being the terror of an entire enemy force, zig-zagged, as outside military situations, Amuro’s usually quite quiet, thoughtful, and polite.
• Thousand-Yard Stare: After Icelina's death, he's been pushed into such mental exhaustion and trauma he doesn't even know how to handle yet, that he emptily stares forwards while eating a sandwich and even just sits on his bed with Blank White Eyes. The problem re-appears over the course of the series.
• Took a Level in Badass: Amuro's hardly a bad pilot, but even with his manual knowledge, his inexperience keeps him from taking down Char and makes other elite pilots a challenge, on top of his reckless ammo expenditures; the learning computer system on the Gundam ends up doing a lot of the work for him as a result. Eventually his experience greatly grows on top of his budding Newtype abilities, and the computer can't keep up with him. By the end of the series Char had to take his own levels to even the two out, and ultimately Amuro non-fatally beats Char in single combat.
• Unknown Rival:
  • It takes Hayato until approximately a week before the end of the show to admit he's been trying to do anything better than Amuro. And he doesn't admit it to Amuro.
  • Played straight during his first encounters with Char, who's more focused on taking down the Gundam than the person piloting it. Due to much greater levels of stress and Newtype awareness, Amuro finally realizes who Char is during a face-to-face encounter before Char introduces himself. It takes significantly longer for Char to recognize Amuro.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Amuro's very first kill in the series ends up spacing his father out of Side 7 from the resulting explosion, and he's completely oblivious. This comes back to bite him when he finds Tem again - with brain damage from the oxygen deprivation, mentally killing the man he knew as his father despite his miraculous survival.
• Warrior Therapist: Starts evolving into one here.
• We Can Rule Together: Char tries this at the end by claiming they should work together and it's "what Lalah would have wanted". Amuro is loudly, furiously, and disgustedly uninterested.
• What Beautiful Eyes!: Whatever she sees there, Lalah seems to think that his are gorgeous.
• When You Coming Home, Dad?: Double Subverted. Tem Ray keeps Amuro's picture with him when he travels... then Amuro literally chases his father twice trying to get his attention. Tem barely notices. Amuro finally realizes that he isn't.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Fraw tells him early on that if he won't even accept that he's the one who's been protecting White Base the entire time, he isn't a man.
  Amuro: It's painful, but I am a man.

Sayla Mass

Voiced by: You Inoue (JP), Alaina Burnett (EN, TV series), Olivia Bardeau (EN, Movies)

"Big brother? Casval?"

Main mecha: G-Fighter (anime continuity), FF-X7-Bst Core Booster (movie continuity)

A 17-year-old medical student from Side 7, Sayla is initially in charge of White Base's communications before graduating to pilot status. She is frequently partnered with Amuro during the latter stages of the war, and the two of them share a good working relationship. She also has some sort of connection to Zeon ace Char Aznable, which is explored over the course of the show. Cool, controlled, and nearly unflappable, Sayla frequently acts as the voice of reason among the ship's crew.

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• Ace Pilot: By the end of the series she's an ace several times over, downing numerous mobile suits, battleships, and mobile armours in what's essentially a fighter plane.
• Action Girl: The original in the series, from pulling a pistol to aim at Char to piloting the G-Fighter (or Core Booster) later on.
• Bitch Slap: Overlapping with Get A Hold Of Yourself Man, as well as Double Standard: Abuse, Female on Male. Kai, across the face hard and memorably at their first meeting because she's disgusted by his cowardice and self-serving attitude.
• Birds of a Feather: She and Bright get along well thanks to being among the most mature but also most aloof of the crew.
• Broken Bird: Almost all of the girls in this series have shades of this, and she's no exception. In her case, it's not just because of her environment, but for her Dark and Troubled Past as the daughter of Zeon Zum Deikun and sister to Char Aznable, aka Casval.
• Commander Contrarian: To Mirai during the former's brief tenure as acting captain. Unusually for this trope, she's more or less portrayed as being in the right.
• Communications Officer: Started as this on the bridge before going into combat.
• Cool Plane: The G-Fighter, which can combine with Amuro's Gundam to form the G-Armor (another cool plane) and the G-Bull (a cool tank). The compilation movies has her pilot a bigger, faster plane, the Core Booster.
• Defrosting Ice Queen: To everybody who's not her Aloof Big Brother. More or less her character arc over the show.
• Epic Fail: Her first outing in the Gundam, in which she accomplishes nothing but getting its foot sliced off. She improves. Dramatically.
• Fallen Princess: Sayla is fine with no longer having any status, position, or influence as Deikun's daughter Artesia, aside from a tiny handful of supporters, and doesn't seek to regain anything, having long embraced a normal civilian life. She would, however, dearly like her Princess in Rags brother back.
• Fire-Forged Friends: With Amuro and Kai, the three having saved each others' backs in numerous battles against Zeon's forces.
• Icy Blue Eyes: To go with her Ice Queen persona, when she's wrathful.
• I Just Want to Be Normal: She's not interested in taking up either the power or the violence that comes with her family background, so despite being privileged, brilliant, and beautiful, she just wants to be an ordinary person.
• Let's Get Dangerous!: Holds Char up at gunpoint two episodes in, for starters. Her Ojou phrasing doing it makes this all more so.
• The Medic: Was this more than once, since she was a medical student at Side 7.
• Morality Pet: Inverted and averted; her brother is the only one the normally strict and proper Sayla is willing to lie and push the rules for. In her case, much to her despair, she has virtually no effect on him at all.
• Ojou: Sayla hasn't had it easy for years, but she can't hide how refined she is. Ramba Ral even addresses her as "Princess". The fact that she's the daughter of the Zeon Principality founder Zeon Zum Deikun doesn't help matters either.
• Overshadowed by Awesome: While she does progress to become an excellent fighter pilot with some recognition and achievements to her name, her feats are more often than not overshadowed by Amuro and Char being on the frontlines and going wild in their achievements and daredevil, derring-do exploits.
• The Quiet One: With her troubled background and many secrets such as her relations to Char, her family lineage and her actual name of Artesia Som Deikun, Sayla more or less keeps to herself unless she has something important to talk about... although as a Defrosting Ice Queen she eventually becomes much more open with the rest of the WB crew.
• Plucky Girl: Sayla may be quiet and reserved, but she doesn't let things get to her for too long.
• Psychic Powers: Has some limited Newtype abilities such as sensing Amuro as A Boa Qu gets wrecked.
• Shared Family Quirks: Sometimes wears sunglasses like Char. Also Shed the Family Name.
• Shipper on Deck: For Amuro/Fraw in a late series episode. More like "shipper in your combined mecha"; Sayla takes advantage of a test run to corner Amuro as they're sitting in space and ask him point-blank how he feels about Fraw, admonish him for his cold attitude, and tell him that friends are important in war. Amuro is totally baffled and can only stutter "I don't hate [Fraw]" before Zeon's latest giant MA shows up.
• Sibling Yin-Yang: With her brother, Char. They don't hate each other, but jeez, have they developed different life philosophies.
• Space Fighter: The G-Fighter and G-Armor can operate in both the atmosphere and outer space.
• Strong Family Resemblance: To her brother with the blonde hair and blue eyes traits.
• Took a Level in Badass: From getting the Gundam's foot sliced off and ending up a Damsel in Distress to Ace Pilot manning the G-Fighter and G-Armor. You Go, Girl!

Bright Noa

Voiced by: Hirotaka Suzuoki (JP), Chris Kalhoon (EN, TV series), Wheat St. James (EN, Movies)

"You can't be a real man without taking a few lumps!"

A 19-year old officer candidate, Bright is forced to take command of the White Base when everyone higher-ranking ends up dead. The strain of doing so, coupled with his naturally aloof personality, leaves Bright in a state of constant stress and irritation, even as he slowly matures into a fine commanding officer. He has a very rocky relationship with Amuro and the rest of the White Base's pilots.

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• Accent Adaptation: He is from Earth and "of British descent", per All There in the Manual, but he only gets an accent in the movie trilogy dub.
• Aloof Big Brother: To the White Base crew and especially Amuro, pre Character Development.
• Artistic Age - Younger Than They Look: He's supposed to be nineteen. He looks (and acts) like someone in his mid twenties.
• Badass Normal: Has no Newtype powers until he develops a limited sensitivity shortly before A Baoa Qu. Still the best captain in all of the UC verse.
• Cannot Spit It Out: To Mirai. Somewhat justified because trying to keep everyone alive is an enormous preoccupation, but it costs him when he doesn't seem to return her interest, and she then goes for Sleggar instead.
• Can't Act Perverted Toward a Love Interest: Subverted; Bright seems like this to Mirai 99% of the time... then there's a blink-and-you-miss it moment where he cops a feel when they're driving at Jaburo.
• The Captain: Although he doesn't actually hold that rank at first. Reflecting this, everybody in the crew continues to call him "Mr. Bright", rather than "Captain".
• Control Freak: He has aspects of this early on, but they slowly fade away. It's pretty understandable, given the circumstances.
• Dogged Nice Guy: Ends up as this to Mirai. With the death of his rival, it works.
• Empowered Badass Normal: A very, very downplayed case, developing a limited level of Newtype sensitivity shortly before A Baoa Qu..
• A Father to His Men: It takes a while, but he eventually becomes this to the White Base crew.
• Fire-Forged Friends: With the entire crew, especially Amuro.
• Get A Hold Of Yourself Man: Former Trope Namer for the infamous Bright Slap.
• The Good Captain: He's a hardass at first, but once he figures out what his position involves, he really tries.
• Green-Eyed Monster: Whenever Mirai shows any interest in anybody else. To his credit, he largely keeps it to himself.
• Heroic BSoD: In the series, he utterly breaks down when his best friend Ryu dies.
• I Am Very British: "Ah-muro! I ordah you to launch Gun-damn!" In the wonderfully hilarious English movie dub.
• Improbable Age: A ship captain who isn't even twenty yet. Justified as he's the only ranking officer they have left.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Makes a very noble and touching speech to Mirai near the end telling her to go to Sleggar because she's too worried and distracted, otherwise — but that he'll always be there for her.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: The level of stress that he's under does very bad things to Bright's social skills. He means well, but he's snappish, slappish, short-tempered, and originally thinks the only way to consolidate his position is by violence, volume, and not giving too much of a damn about anyone's feelings. The "Heart of Gold" part comes in because he does genuinely care about his crew, and tries to help them survive in adverse circumstances.
• Love Triangle: For a significant few episodes, Bright—> Mirai—> Sleggar.
• Meaningful Name: As in "Noah's ark".
• Secret-Keeper: Very late in the war, Bright accidentally manages to overhear the truth about Char and Sayla. When they discuss it, Bright only says that he knows how loyally Sayla's been fighting with them and that it must have been very hard for her. He doesn't bring it up with anyone else.
• Ship Tease: With Mirai.
• Skintone Sclerae: Exactly What It Says on the Tin.
• Supporting Leader: Amuro is The Hero of the series, but in practice Bright is the one handling the rest regarding the Base.
• Team Dad: To the White Base crew, after Character Development.
• Took a Level in Badass: As he grows into his role as captain.
• Took a Level in Kindness: As the series progresses he mellows, loses the worst of his Control Freak tendencies, and builds a working relationship with Amuro, Kai, Sayla, and the rest of the pilots.
• Was Too Hard on Him: Nope. ("Hate me if you want, I don't care.") Bright is very firmly about the needs of the many and sees whatever he does as necessary. It falls to Ryu or Mirai to bring this up from time-to-time.
• Who Names Their Kid "Dude"?: Seriously, Bright? (Makes a little more sense when you realize akarui mirai is Japanese for "bright future".)
• You Are in Command Now: After Captain Paolo dies. It ain't easy on him.

Fraw Bow

Voiced by: Rumiko Ukai (JP), Kristie Marsden (EN, TV series), Melissa Fahn (EN, Movies)

"Amuro! You forgot to eat breakfast again..."

Amuro's longtime best friend from Side 7, 15-year-old Fraw Bow does her best to keep him grounded in reality. Taking several noncombatant roles aboard White Base, she ends in charge of the ship's communications. Steadfast, kind, and loyal, Fraw genuinely loves Amuro and serves as his confidante and emotional support, hoping the war won't take him beyond her reach.

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• '20s Bob Haircut: All the women on White Base (and in the Federation generally) have short hair, but it’s really noticeable on Named After Somebody Famous Fraw.
• Berserk Button: Do not threaten Amuro or his safety or well-being around her.
• Break the Cutie: Watching Fraw cry in the very first episode of Gundam is heartwrenching. Amuro ends up piloting some giant mobile suit because of it. She literally picks herself back up again and goes on.
• Bridge Bunnies: Takes Sayla's position after the former switches to fighter pilot.
• Brooding Boy, Gentle Girl: To Amuro, constantly, and with Hayato, once. Most explicitly demonstrated in "Fly, Gundam".
• Can't Catch Up: She's not a pilot, but this is still in effect. She mentions how the war is taking Amuro farther and farther away from her, then later says he seems to have gotten much too strong and scary for her...
• Clingy Jealous Girl: Subverted, rather amusingly — she does literally grab Amuro's arm trying to make him stay with her at one point, but otherwise she's polite to everyone, remains caring and unthreatened, and goes about her business. It can't be stressed enough how mature she is.
• Closer to Earth: The level-headed, sensible, stabilizing one to broody, isolating, hot-tempered Amuro. Fraw perfectly embodies this to her best friend, though ironically, she's the one who's never been to Earth.
• Communications Officer: Takes over this role for the ship after Sayla goes into combat. Amuro groans at one early point and tells her not to sound like Sayla; Fraw apologizes.
• The Confidant: Comes with being Amuro's Only Friend, though ironically this only really gets highlighted when they're not talking as much and someone mentions it. Again, explicitly demonstrated in "Fly, Gundam".
• Custom Uniform: A modified version of the standard female draftee tunic as a minidress, with a bright yellow neckerchief. Meant to demonstrate she isn't a regular soldier and gets Lampshaded when she meets Ramba Ral. She keeps it even after formally enlisting.
• Devoted to You: She loves Amuro, regardless of what he seemingly does or does not do to deserve it. Although he does seem to finally acknowledge it and reciprocate at the end. See Implied Love Interest.
• Disappeared Dad: She lives with her mother and grandfather on Side 7. Unlike Amuro's Missing Mom, there's not only no explanation about her father, he's never mentioned once.
• Dub Name Change: In the 1980 Italian dub, she's called "Mirka".
• The Fashionista: Word of God later elaborates that Fraw wants to be a fashion designer.
• Fiery Redhead: Her hair is a subdued auburn and she's usually good-natured and well-behaved, but she does have bursts of temper. Downplayed.
• Full-Name Basis: On a regular basis. There's no explanation for why^note  One very vague theory is it increases her similarity to Snow White, who has her own German background and small people hanging out with her, and in the Disney version, a prominent bow.
• Girl Next Door: Wholesome and caring and unaffected. Her Nice Girl is also a noticeably different slant than Sayla's or Mirai's Ojou variant.
• Implied Love Interest: With Amuro to the point it carries over to the sequel.
• Literally Loving Thy Neighbor: She's in love with Amuro, who lived quite near her on Side 7. His feelings are far less clear.
• Magic Skirt: And how. Averted in the first episode and in at least one other blink-and-you-miss-it moment.
• Meaningful Name: "Frau" is German for both a grown woman (as opposed to an immature girl) and for "wife".
• Ms. Fanservice: In a more subtle and downplayed fashion than you'd think, but she is the "pretty girl in the miniskirt" of the crew. The Trope Codifier for the rest of the franchise.
• Named After Somebody Famous: The Jazz Age flapper movie star Clara Bow (also Ms. Fanservice); specifically her role as Girl Next Door Mary Preston in Wings.
• Nice Girl: She's as sweet and compassionate as she is strikingly mature.
• No Sympathy: Played with. Early on she's rather prone to giving Amuro lectures on how he needs to do more, when she herself is not in combat. They're usually justified, as Amuro really does need to be doing whatever. Also the only one with any sympathy for Amuro, frequently, and his biggest defender.
• Only Friend: Starts as this to Amuro, leaving them as best friends by default, which is why he jumps in the Gundam for her sake. A big part of their Character Development is him having to learn to rely on and care about other people, while she has to deal with not being needed all the time, while still trying to matter to him.
• Parental Substitute: To Katz, Letz, & Kikka. The kids use names and Japanese suffixes for the whole crew, but Fraw is just "Oneechan" ("big sis"). They're very, very close to her. Also effectively Amuro's, with making that sure he eats/sleeps/stays clean and sane.
• Patient Childhood Love Interest: A potential Trope Codifier for this, since she predates harem anime. She and Amuro have been Best Friends for years; she feeds him, advises him, and her feelings for him appear to be a very sincere and mature kind of love at 15, rather than any sort of pining or crush. It probably explains why she's generally quite patient.
• Plucky Girl: Very few things keep this girl down.
• Robot Buddy: Haro is a girl's non-human best friend.
• Sexy Coat Flashing: A subversion. At one point, seemingly spurred on by Lt. Matilda's visit, Fraw hangs out in the hallway outside Amuro's room with a long Federation uniform coat wrapped around her^note  It's more impressive when we don't see a single person on White Base wearing one of these at any point, but Amuro is so distracted by Matilda and oblivious to anything Fraw might want, while she's unhappy that he's obviously lying to her about where he was, that she just walks away with Haro without getting into the reason she's there or her clothes–– and it's possible to see the hem of what's pictured All in the Manual as a green nightshirt underneath.
• There Are No Therapists: Double Subverted with Amuro. Fraw's the only one to note or care when Amuro's exhausted or gently-yet-firmly try to reach him when he's isolating or running away, but she's ultimately too close, too young and not trained; this is something she can't fix.
• Tongue-Out Insult: She does this to Amuro when she notices him admiring the beautiful older Lt. Matilda.
• Why Do You Keep Changing Jobs?: On White Base, and the answer is 'a need to stay busy'. She monitors the refugees, then supplies, then she joins the medical staff, then she ends as the bridge comm, all while keeping an eye on three rambunctious kids and Amuro. Amuro even lampshades this in a late episode by saying it's terrible how much she has to do.
• Will They or Won't They?: The entire show is more-or-less this for her and Amuro, intensity of a raging war varying. The answer is he finally refers to her very affectionately in the Grand Finale with his Psychic Powers, but we don't know. Maybe Ever After.
• Women Are Wiser: In line with both Mirai and Sayla generally being shown as smarter, more mature, and more self-controlled than the male WB crew, Closer to Earth Fraw is frequently shown as this to angry, impulsive Amuro.
• Yamato Nadeshiko: Fraw is meant to be a thoroughly Western girl, but given that it's a classic anime, she's really got the "serving yet guiding the hero" and "life off the battlefield" thing down. Bonus for having the uniform with the most pink.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are: When Amuro's refusing to fight, Fraw ends up reiterating this, and it works.
  Fraw: I hate it when people won't take credit for what they've done! If you can't admit that you're the one who's been protecting White Base up till now, you're not a man!
  Amuro: ...It's painful, but I am a man.
• Youthful Freckles: Has these like a few of the cast, though they seem to forget to draw hers half the time.

Kai Shiden

Voiced by: Toshio Furukawa (JP), Richard Ian Cox (EN, TV series), Eddie Frierson (EN, Movies)

"Dead people don't get pensions."

Main mecha: RX-77-2 Guncannon

A 17-year-old civilian from Side 7, Kai is an abrasive young man with a mean streak, and little respect for authority. Recruited into serving as the pilot of the Guncannon mobile suit, Kai constantly gripes and complains about the increasingly dangerous situations that the White Base is thrust into. Despite this, he proves himself to be a capable soldier, and eventually (after a rocky start) becomes good friends with Amuro.

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• Ace Pilot: Reaches this status fairly early on, though you'd never know it from his attitude.
• Badass Normal: Despite a complete lack of Newtype powers (beyond the baseline sensitivity that the whole crew develops by A Baoa Qu), he's the most reliable pilot on the White Base's roster.
• Belligerent Sexual Tension: Kai's first encounter with Defrosting Ice Queen Sayla involved a Bitch Slap, she rolled her eyes at him for most of the show... it's also worth noting that Sayla fully fits the description of the ideal girlfriend Kai's describing at one point... and eventually he offhandedly and casually says he loves her. It’s not shown if she reciprocated, but as the show goes on she at least softened up with him, and Kai's the one who catches her after she escapes A Baoa Qu, when she's naturally quite happy to see him.
• Broken Bird: Another male example, and especially after Miharu's death.
• Brutal Honesty: Kai does not sugarcoat his words.
• Character Development: Tragic as Miharu's death was, it definitely caused Kai to become a better person, and a better fighter.
• Combat Pragmatist: Kai shoots enemies from behind, blasts them repeatedly to make sure they are dead, gangs up on lone foes with Hayato, and on one occasion, pushed an unsuspecting opponent off a cliff. He's an ambusher, through and through. A particularly notable example happens to an unfortunate Rick Dom, who learns the hard way what two point-blank 300mm cannons can do to a Mobile Suit.
• Commander Contrarian: Kai is fully aware of how screwed they are, and doesn't mind sharing it, especially when it's time to plan.
• Cowardly Lion: Emphasis on the 'lion' bit. His cowardice mostly consists of incessant grumbling and a 10-Minute Retirement and half-accidentally endangering White Base with his big mouth; however, he comes running back trying to make up for it - otherwise, he's typically amongst the first into the fray, and serves as a very reliable (if abrasive) soldier throughout the One Year War.
• The Cynic: About twelve layers deep, over a slightly more fragile and nicer core. But mostly this.
• Dangerous Deserter: Ends up endangering the people he meets in Belfast and the people he's left behind, though it's not with any real intent or malice.
• Deadpan Snarker: Constantly, much to his crewmates' annoyance.
• The Eeyore: Apparently incapable of looking on the bright side about anything.
• Face of a Thug: Kai is not an attractive young man. Luckily for him, he has other talents.
• Fire-Forged Friends: With Amuro, Sayla, and Hayato.
• Foil: To Char, of all people. Kai's a punk and a nobody; Char's an ace officer with every advantage society has to offer, but they're both highly amoral nihilists with red mobile suits, sneaky tactics and no particular loyalty to the sides they're on, casual betrayals included. Kai, however, meets a desperate girl and has his eyes opened a bit to the realities of war for everyone, as well as gradually gaining powerful ties of friendship and family to the people he serves with — very different to Char's lonely agendas of bloodlust and vengeance. Importantly, Kai is also capable of genuine remorse. You Are What You Hate, but it's fairly significant that in most other continuities (the novel, the sequel, even the newest manga retelling of the sequel), Kai is the one who refuses to cooperate with Char.
• Glass Cannon: Guncannon is a powerful artillery suit and nearly as agile as Gundam, but it can't take a hit nearly as well.
• Hypocrite: In a painful Psychological Projection, Kai goes on repeatedly at one point about Amuro likely selling White Base out to Zeon. Guess what's the first thing he does after jumping ship.
• Insistent Appellation: Overlapping with Bilingual Bonus, after receiving a Bitch Slap on first meeting Sayla and being disgustedly told not to speak to her as though they were close or on equal terms, he then complies and calls her "Sayla-san" ("Ms. Sayla")...forever^note  At least until the Zeta movies in 0088 or so, even though they are either the same age or she is slightly younger, Sayla eventually hates him much less, and Kai does feel closer to her. He may not be respectful, but once he is, it sticks.
• Jerkass —> Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He begins as a cowardly, snarky jerk and kinda The Friend Nobody Likes. Later he's still a snarky jerk, but his heart of gold shines through.
• The Lancer: To Amuro, with his cynicism nicely complementing the former's idealism.
• More Dakka: When all else fails, firing the Guncannon's Shoulder Cannons on full auto usually gets Kai out of jams.
• Named After Somebody Famous: Something famous, anyway. One of the most famous fighter planes of World War II, the Kawanishi N1K2-J, also known as the "Shiden (紫電 "Violet Lightning")-Kai (modified)". Possibly why his hair is sometimes drawn as purple.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: If Kai had shown a little more loyalty to his crewmates and the EFF and simply turned Miharu over to Bright once he knew she was a Zeon spy infiltrating White Base, she almost certainly would have lived. Not taking anything seriously got her killed. To his credit, a now-broken Kai instantly and finally realizes My God, What Have I Done? and undergoes some Character Development.
• Overshadowed by Awesome: Being on a team with Amuro will do that to you.
• Phrase Catcher: "Kai, enough."
• The Resenter: Like Hayato, he's this to Amuro. He gets over it a lot faster.
• Right Behind Me: Lt. Matilda, just when he's talking about her as his ideal girlfriend.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: In Northern Ireland. It only lasts overnight, but has some major consequences...
• Shell-Shocked Veteran: Not to the same degree as Amuro, but Miharu's death does some very bad things to him.
• Ship Tease: With Defrosting Ice Queen Sayla. Gets to the point where he has no problem saying he loves her.
• Shoulder Cannon: The Guncannon mounts two of them.
• Sour Supporter: For a guy as cranky and pessimistic as he is, he's a remarkably helpful member of the crew.
• Star-Crossed Lovers: (With Miharu. Snifffff....)
• Took a Level in Badass: Becomes a notably better pilot after Miharu's death, even downing a fair few enemy suits of his own and reaching Ace Pilot status. Not to mention his colorful career as a sleuth and journalist after the war.
• Took a Level in Kindness: He starts off as an antagonistic Jerk, but slowly softens into a Jerk with a Heart of Gold. Even before meeting Miharu it's clear Kai was warming up to his crewmates. It's telling that in the later parts of the series Kai's barbs come off as friendly teasing rather than attempts to get under everyone's skin.
• Welcome Back, Traitor: We're so deep into the war at this point that Kai doesn't even get any time in the brig, let alone any interrogation for harboring a spy on-board or passing information to her.
• Well, Excuse Me, Princess!: Alternates between being genuinely intimidated by Sayla and this.
• With Friends Like These...: Kai is an asshole for a good chunk of the story, but he's consistently nice to Amuro, who is saving everyone's life... at least to his face. As soon as Amuro runs off, he then repeatedly says Amuro will sell them out to Zeon, and also "helpfully" mentions deserters are supposed to be shot.

Hayato Kobayashi

Voiced by: Kiyonobu Suzuki (JP), Nobuyuki Hiyama (JP, Movies), Matt Smith (EN, TV series), Richard Cansino (EN, Movies)

"It's just like my judo sensei taught me..."

Main mecha: RX-75-4 Guntank, RX-77-2 Guncannon (movie continuity)

One of Amuro and Fraw Bow's neighbours from Side 7, 15-year-old Hayato serves in a number of positions on the White Base, acting as the pilot of the Guntank, and as a spare gunner when the situation demands. Possessing an unfortunate tendency towards insecurity, he deeply resents Amuro for doing things better than him.

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• AB Negative: When he's injured at the battle of Solomon he's hospitalized and the medics explicitly request AB blood for him. The indecisive, "two-faced", "split personality" of AB Personality Blood Types may come into play here.
• Action Survivor: Not a hugely skilled pilot (though being stuck with the awkward, primitive Guntank doesn't help), but being a front-line soldier throughout the One Year War and coming back alive every time is an achievement in itself.
• The Big Guy: Inverted - he knows his martial arts, but is the shortest of the group.
• Can't Catch Up: To Amuro (or Sayla and Kai for that matter). This is part of his own reasoning for thinking that he is The Load.
• Conspiracy Theorist: At the beginning he's suspicious that the reason construction on Side 7 is progressing so slowly is because the resources are being diverted to some kind of secret military project. Obviously, it turns out he's correct. He's very suspicious of the government in general and only goes along with being a mobile suit pilot because he knows that Zeon is even worse.
• The Generic Guy: Starts to see himself as this when compared to Amuro.
• Heroic Self-Deprecation - I Just Want to Be Special
• Jerkass: At times he's a bigger jerk than Kai, and his dislike of Amuro can make him truly annoying.
• The Load: His injury at the Battle of Solomon causes him to think that he's unable to contribute anything meaningful to the White Base crew. Fraw Bow tries to reassure him that his failures aren't his own, but he's convinced that he's holding everyone back.
• Love Triangle: Hayato —> Fraw —> Amuro.
• Mid-Season Upgrade: In the movies, his Guntank is replaced with an additional Guncannon after the crew leaves Jaburo.
• Pint Sized Power House: His judo training allows him to throw the much larger Ryu, but using your opponent's size and mass against them is what Judo specializes.
• Punny Name: The "ko" part of Kobayashi means 'little' or 'small'.
• The Resenter: Resents Amuro's importance to the crew, relationship with Fraw, ace status, etc.
• Stepford Smiler: Zigzagged; Hayato both bitterly complains about Amuro (but isn't too unusual in doing so) and supports him with a smile and seems happy to be his friend at other times. It's only The Reveal in the last arc that shows the intensity of his resentment and his own lack of self-confidence.
• Tanks for Nothing: The Guntank looks formidable, but is darn near useless, and is usually the first machine to be disabled.
• With Friends Like These...: He's Amuro's neighbor. Except for a stress-induced fistfight, they work together pleasantly enough and with no controversy despite Hayato being The Resenter, but...
• Unknown Rival: He suddenly bursts out late in-series that he's been trying to "beat Amuro" the whole time.

Mirai Yashima

Voiced by: Fuyumi Shiraishi (JP), Cathy Weseluck (EN, TV series), Leslie Buhr (EN, Movies)

"Maybe you should go a little easier on him, Bright."

Another civilian, 18-year-old Mirai is the daughter of a powerful Federation politician. Quiet and understanding, she mediates most of the crew's disputes and serves as the White Base's helmswoman, and as Bright Noa's unofficial second-in-command.

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• Arranged Marriage: With Cameron Bloom. She's less than interested.
• Brainy Brunette: Downplayed; Mirai's not the smartest because of her hair color (blonde Sayla is just as intelligent), but she IS very smart, with a good instinctive grasp of enemy tactics. It's part of why she's the Number Two from the get-go.
• Bridge Bunnies: Technically, as she's the one who handles the helm of the White Base.
• Break the Cutie: She cracks especially badly when Ryu dies and Bright suffers an Heroic BSoD, and the whole deal with Cameron isn't kind on her either, leaving her absolutely shattered when Sleggar goes out a hero.
• Closest Thing We Got: Becomes helmswoman of the White Base because she had a civilian large craft piloting license, making her the only halfway qualified pilot Bright could find after Char's attack on Side 7 killed most of the original crew.
• Do a Barrel Roll: With the White Base, to shake off the Gouf attached to it.
• Dub Name Change: Apparently because "mirai" is a conjugated verb in Italian, the 1980 dub changed her name to Flammet.
• Dude Magnet: Has three men interested in her at one point late in the show.
• Heroic BSoD: Suffers a brief but ugly one when she has to take over the White Base while Bright is otherwise incapacitated.
• Improbable Age: She's eighteen and the Number Two on a military vessel. Justified by the lack of officers and Bright's implicit trust in her.
• Improbable Piloting Skills: She's the first of Gundam's many assault carrier pilots, and as such, is the first to demonstrate these, perfectly flying a brand new military vessel, despite her very limited pre-war flight time. And that's not taking into account some of the crazy maneuveres she pulls off with it.
• Love at First Punch: She becomes more interested in Sleggar after he slaps her.
• Mukokuseki: Averted. Like Hayato, Mirai is fully Japanese and looks quite Asian.
• Named After Somebody Famous: The family who founded and ran Bandai at the time was called Yamashina. Given how the immediate in-universe reaction to Mirai giving her name is "Oh, that Yashima family", it seems quite likely this doubles as a Shout-Out wink to the show's sponsor.
• Nice Girl: Mirai manages to be both composed and caring most of the time. Everyone on the ship appreciates this, and her genuinely lovely demeanor makes her an Ensemble Dark Horse in- and out-of-show.
• Number Two: Is unofficially this to Bright, due in part to her age, and in part to the fact that she's the pilot. Becomes official during Bright's Sick Episodes, when she is appointed to take command.
• Ojou:
  • Her Disappeared Dad is a recently deceased industrial magnate with many links to the military, and her family has many connections within the colonies. She doesn't like it when people bring it up, though.
  • Her family has a business in heavy industry; per All There in the Manual, they manufactured weapons like the Ground Combat Gundam's machine gun.
• Only Sane Man: Often plays this role, mediating between hotshot pilots like Amuro and Control Freak Bright.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Especially in the original. Shiraishi plays Mirai with a very soft and pleasant voice, someone moderate who always seems to be keeping a level head. The levels to which she then freaks out and despairs while she's in command are hard to watch. On a lesser scale, Sleggar later slaps her very forcefully for, essentially, her bitchy attitude to Cameron. Cant Get Away With Nothing.
• The Peter Principle: Mirai got herself into the unfortunate and terrifying position of being a lousy temporary captain because she'd been an excellent helm and Number Two up to that point. She grows the beard somewhat, but is happy to go back to her old job.
• Psychic Powers: A fairly weak Newtype.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Not hard by contrast to Bright. Usually works, but not when she has to be The Captain.
• Skintone Sclerae: Like Bright's.
• Ship Tease: With Bright, despite him not being able to make his feelings clear until it's seemingly too late. A bunch with Sleggar towards the end, complete with a kiss and a ring.
• Team Mom: Lt. Sleggar states her as like a mom to the White Base crew.
• True Beauty Is on the Inside: 18 year-old Mirai is not meant to be a great beauty. She's also an extremely nice, warm, thoughtful, and engaging person, and the big reason why she's in the middle of a Love Dodecahedron is because all her suitors see past appearances for the person that she is— even Cameron, who grows to genuinely love her beyond their Arranged Marriage, making her a shining example of this.
• You Are in Command Now: When Bright is bedridden, she's next in line. Doesn't like it much at all.

Ryu Jose

Voiced by: Shōzō Iizuka (JP), Ward Perry (EN, TV series), Bob Papenbrook (EN, movies)

"Die, you Zeon scum!"

Main mecha: RX-75-4 Guntank

Bright's best friend, 18-year-old Ryu is one of the few ranking soldiers to survive Char's attack on the White Base. He serves as the leader of the ship's pilots, mentoring Amuro, Hayato, Kai, and Sayla, while trying to keep the pressure on Bright to a minimum.

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• Ambiguously Brown: With Ryu's name it's hard to tell where he's supposed to be from or what ethnicity he might be. His looks though, would seem to mark him as black or Latino. All There in the Manual says he's ethnically descended from Black Argentinos.
• Big Brother Mentor: Ryu often acted as mentor for the young crew members such as Amuro, Hayato and others.
• Big Fun: Cheerful, easy-going, and noticeably portly.
• The Big Guy: The largest member of the crew.
• Big Guy Fatality Syndrome: He's both the biggest member of the crew and the one keeping them emotionally stable. He had to go, sadly.
• Expy: Of Getter Robo's Musashi Tomoe. The Guntank's design was even inspired by Getter-3. Unfortunately for him, Ryu also appears to have inherited his inspiration's limited mortality too.
• The Heart: Very much so, since he's more mentally/emotionally grounded than the others (Bright included) and so he does his best to help them.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Rams Crowley Hamon's Magella Attack Tank that was attacking Amuro from behind, killing them both but saving both the Gundam and White Base in the process.
• Number Two: Seems to share this role with Mirai by leading the combat forces on the White Base.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Acts as one aboard the White Base, often helping to soothe relations between Bright and the pilots.
• The Reliable One: In the face of White Base Personnel butting heads with each other, disobeying orders, or general disfunction, Ryu's usually the one that can be counted on to do his job and help everyone sort things out. It's even lampshaded in episode 20 when Kai, Hayato, Howard, and Maxamillion take off and Bright and Sayla order him to find them.
  Ryu: Why is everybody on White Base running around, doing whatever they feel like?!
• Sacrificial Lion: He went out in a Heroic Sacrifice just under halfway through the series. His death ended up making everyone on the White Base stronger.
  • Perhaps as an intentional mirror of the audience, Amuro initially refused to believe that Ryu was really dead after Sayla tried to break the news to him.
• Stout Strength: The largest member of the crew, and a very capable pilot.
• Tanks for Nothing: Often pilots the Guntank in lieu of Hayato. He's about as successful with it too, though that's hardly his fault.

Lieutenant Tem Ray

Voiced by: Motomu Kiyokawa (JP), Trevor Devall (EN, TV series), Steve Kramer (EN, Movies)

"Get the Gundam on the lift before the evacuees!"

Amuro's father, Tem Ray is the engineer who created the Gundam and a highly-placed Federation technical officer who places his work before all else.

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• Bury Your Disabled: After suffering brain damage that leaves him perpetually delirious, Tem ends up dying in an accident.
• Death by Falling Over: Implied in the series, confirmed in the movies. During the battle of Solomon, he fell off a flight of stairs and soon died of his injuries.
• Disappeared Dad: To Amuro. Sadly, for most of the show, it's Amuro's fault.
• Expy: Of Kentaro Goh, the father of the main character Kenichi Goh from Voltes V and creator of the titular robot. Although unlike Kentaro, Tem never gets to reunite with his son.^note Tomino used to work on Voltes V as one of its producers in 1977 before he created Mobile Suit Gundam in 1979.
• Foil: To his own son. Tem's work with the project that created the Gundam and the Federation's mobile suits is just as important (if not more so) than Amuro piloting it. Both are hardcore engineers who get extremely wrapped-up in their work and while sympathetic to others are not the best at expressing it. Amuro finding a surrogate family on White Base and choosing to strengthen his association with people is contrasted with Tem essentially cutting all ties by the end.
• Good Parents: One of Amuro's most famous quotes is that his father never hit him even once.
• Laughing Mad: He is shown laughing like a lunatic to make it clear that his brain damage is very real and very much serious.
• Mad Scientist: Even more after he gets brain damage.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: A rather tragic justified example. Brain damage from oxygen deprivation can really screw up your personality.
• When You Coming Home, Dad?: Despite a lot of Parental Neglect and accidental abandonment, Amuro really loves his dad. To the point of bringing Tem a gift basket with a ribbon when there's nothing else he can do.

General Revil

Voiced by: Masaru Ikeda (JP), Michael Dobson (EN, TV series), Tony Pope (English, Movies)

Commander-in-Chief of the Earth Federation Forces, and a superb strategist and tactician, Revil kept the Federation together when it looked like a Zeon victory was guaranteed. He takes a personal interest in the progress of the White Base crew, and is the mastermind of the Federation victories at Odessa and Solomon.

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• Big Good: As CINC of the EFF. He's in his 60's and knows all the tricks of Zeon and the Federation. If not for him Earth would have capitulated to Zeon's demands long ago.
• The Brigadier: An unusually high-ranking example.
• The Chains of Commanding: He's aware of the burdens and risks that come with his rank.
• Commissar Cap: Wears one when in military uniform.
• Cool Old Guy: One of the few Federation higher-ups who isn't corrupt, cowardly, etc.
• Empowered Badass Normal: It's implied that Revil is also a Newtype, making him the oldest known character to be one. Though he doesn't particularly make explicit use of his latent abilities.
• A Father to His Men: Plays the grandfatherly commander whenever he can, though if he has to, he will sacrifice his men's lives for the greater good.
• Foil: To Degwin Zabi. They're both older, experienced leaders who absolutely believe in their side, yet nevertheless care for their people and seek an end to the war. Where they differ is when it comes to backbone, which Degwin lacks and Revil has enough of to spare.
• Four-Star Badass: Though more verbal than physical, Revil earns major badass points almost every time he opens his mouth. He also believes in leading from the front, and often puts himself at risk to observe battles.
• Good Counterpart: A case could be made that he's this to Degwin Zabi. Indeed, had Degwin been more like Revil in both morality and spine, most of the series' tragedies could have been avoided.
• Last-Name Basis: He's probably not a technical case of Only One Name, but he's just called Revil or "General Revil" in-series, in materials and for many a decade beyond. Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin gave him a full name.
• Manipulative Bastard: Mildly, but he is using an underage, untrained and shanghaied crew as a weapons testbed. (All of whom are repeatedly reminded they'd have been in jail or executed if not for Revil's say-so.). However, even Properly Paranoid Amuro just attributes it to "the Federation" and doesn’t bear any grudge against him.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: In the "Zeon is exhausted" speech, he not only acknowledges the Spacenoids' grievances but also admits that the Earth Federation authorities, his own leaders were very much at fault for helping make the One Year War nigh inevitable. Still, he refuses to buy Zeon's shtick and let the Federation or mankind in general get trampled by what he correctly sees as a deluded ideology.
• Rousing Speech: "Zeon is exhausted!". Can be read here Doubles as a Beam Me Up, Scotty! moment, since "Zeon is exhausted!" is nowhere in the text. The closest Revil got was "There are no soldiers in Zeon!"
• The Strategist: CINC of the Earth's defense forces.
• Worthy Opponent: In ancillary material (and a lot of video games), Dozle Zabi considers him this.

Lieutenant (JG) Matilda Ajan

Voiced by: Keiko Toda (JP), Sylvia Zaradic (EN, TV series), Mary Elizabeth McGlynn (English, Movies)

"I think perhaps you might be psychic..."

A supply officer with the Federation who frequently brings the White Base ammunition, food, and instructions from General Revil. She is much loved by the crew, and is the object of crushes from Amuro, Kai, and several other young men. Not a Mobile Suit pilot, but she still joins the action whenever possible.

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• Dude Magnet: She is the object of crushes from Amuro and several other young men.
• Fiery Redhead: Has bright red hair and SEES quite a lot of fire in combat, but she's a very cool and steely sort, appropriate for her job as a high-ranking military aide. Subverted.
• Head-Turning Beauty: She's extremely pretty and Kai complains when a mob of guys want their picture taken with her, because his camera only makes twelve copies.
• Heroic Sacrifice: In order to protect the White Base, Matilda rams her Medea into one of the Black Tri-Stars' Doms in an attempt to topple it. But Dom pilot Ortega hits back, smashing the Medea's cockpit so the transporter crashes into the ground, exploding and killing her instantly.
• Mauve Shirt: She's a recurring Federation Officer, not part of the main cast, but easy to identify and often dropping in to aid the heroes.
• Meaningful Name: "Matilda" is Australian slang for camping supplies wrapped in a tent or bed roll, appropriately enough for a supply corps officer.
• Retirony: She died right before she and Woody were about to get married. Lampshaded by Woody himself later.
• Small Role, Big Impact: Her comment towards Amuro possibly being psychic serves as subtle foreshadowing that wouldn't be realized until the later half of the series. While Amuro's introduction to Lalah was the official awakening of his Newtype abilities (as indicated by the yellow flash), he started showing precognitive combat intuition against both the Black Tri-Stars and Conscon's Dom squadron. Beyond that, her very presence helped Amuro begin to mature enough to start taking the war more seriously, and her death is enough for him to fully commit.
• Team Mom: As the one who provides White Base with supplies and emotional support. Matilda's extremely competent and the show emphasizes her sense of duty and professionalism.
• Vasquez Always Dies: She seemed to be grittier than even Sayla, but then she bit it.

Lieutenant Woody Malden

Voiced by: Hideyuki Tanaka (JP), Kirby Morrow (EN)

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• Crusading Widower: He doesn't blame Amuro and White Base for Matilda's death, and in fact he tells Amuro not to apologize to him, but is logically VERY unhappy at Zeon...
• Sacrificial Lamb: He dies in the very episode he appears, trying to help Amuro in his battle.
  • Senseless Sacrifice: He tried to attack Char with a missile hovercraft, which even in good conditions are almost useless against Mobile Suits unless in large numbers.
• What Could Have Been: As he perishes, Amuro has a brief flash of Matilda and Woody's wedding, with himself and the rest of the White Base crew celebrating with them.

Lieutenant (JG) Sleggar Law

Voiced by: Tesshō Genda (JP, TV series), Makio Inoue (JP, Movies), Bill Mondy (EN)

"Yeah, it's sad, but that's war."

Main mecha: G-Fighter (anime continuity), FF-X7-Bst Core Booster (movie continuity), RGM-79 GM (Origin)

A Federation ace who is assigned to the White Base crew following the Battle of Odessa. Cocky, brash, and none too keen on obeying every order, Sleggar's arrival causes a fair amount of upheaval amongst the cast, most notably Bright, who takes an instant dislike to him.

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• Ace Pilot: Was an ace before he was assigned to the ship.
• Big Brother Mentor: Tries to play this role to Amuro, Kai, Sayla, et al, though his late arrival means none of them are quite sure what to make of him.
• Chivalrous Pervert: Asks if Mirai wants to come join the pilots' group shower, but he's very hesitant and cautious when she confesses she has real feelings for him. And then gives her his mother's ring and kisses her, anyway.
• Comic-Book Fantasy Casting: A rather amusing aversion. The story goes that Tomino was a fan of Rocky and wanted Sleggar to look "like that American movie star Sylvester Stallone". The problem was that character designer Yoshikazu Yasuhiko has no idea what Stallone looked like and because of the show's infamously tight production schedule he was unable to procure a decent reference photo before the deadline. Eventually he just threw up his hands and drew the most generic American movie star-type character he could think of and the rest is history.
• Custom Uniform: His blue pilot suit, complete with a gold 'S' on the helmet.
• Danger Deadpan: Sleggar maintains a laid-back, even tone in almost all of his appearances, be they chatting with the crew, or flying dangerous maneuvers.
• Eagle Land: Mixed. He's brash, cocky, arrogant, and a shameless flirt, but an excellent pilot and a decent guy once you get past his unrefined exterior. He shows no animosity for any of the crew, and takes to heart any advice given from their expertise with the White Base.
• Foil: Serves as one to Bright (and Cameron, for that matter), with his completely contrasting personality in regards to 'guys who are interested in Mirai'.
• Handsome Lech: Teases Sayla and Mirai once or twice, earning the former's ire.
• Heroic Sacrifice: In order to give Amuro a shot at taking down Dozle Zabi and the Big Zam.
• Hidden Depths: At first he seems like just a Jerk Jock, but his gentle refusal of Mirai shows he's got more heart than he lets on.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: For a guy as rough as he is, the scene where he deflects Mirai's confession and gives her a goodbye kiss and a ring is surprisingly bittersweet. Even more so after he bites it in battle.
• Lantern Jaw of Justice: Probably has something to do with being entirely based on the image that runs through a Japanese person's head when he hears the words "American movie star".
• Missing Mom: We don't know if Mrs. Law is alive, but he carries around a ring that belongs to her. He gives it to Mirai before he dies.
• Outranking Your Job: As a Lieutenant JG, he's serving under Mirai, who's an Ensign and the ship's first officer. The job he's actually performing (pilot) is perfectly suited to his rank, but he's technically the senior officer aboard White Base and ranks equally with Noa Bright. There is an apocalyptic war going on, though; these things happen. Bright even points out that while he may be younger than Sleggar, he is the designated commanding officer for the WB.
• Phenotype Stereotype: Yasuhiko wanted him to look American and he certainly succeeded.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Gives one during an argument between Mirai and Cameron, when he slaps Mirai for her lack of appreciation to the risks Cameron is taking offering to aid the ship, and chews out Cameron for his meek personality as the reason for his seeming "cowardice".
• Ship Tease: Not only does Mirai show serious signs of falling for him, he gives her the (literal) ship's only kiss. And a ring!
• Sixth Ranger: His arrival really screws with the White Base's dynamic, and particularly irritates Control Freak Bright.
• Smarter Than You Look: Not a genius by any stretch of the imagination, but certainly more intelligent than he appears to be.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: The orphans outright note that he reminds them of the late Ryu, and he does try to fulfill something of a similar role to middling success.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: Dies after only five episodes.

Rear Admiral Wakkein

Voiced by: Kazuyuki Sogabe (JP, series), Shojiro Kihara (JP, movies), Ted Cole (EN, series), John Snyder (EN, Movies)

A high ranking Federation Admiral, Wakkein commanded Luna II, a Federation asteroid near Side 7 where White Base first fled. Ordering most of the desperate crew arrested, he and Bright butt heads over protocol and the command structure before Char and his men show up to cripple his ship. Much later in the series Wakkein helped lead the attack on Solomon Base.

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• Adaptational Nice Guy: His meeting with Bright and the White Base in the compilation movies is much more civil. He never challenges Bright's command and shows a lot more sympathy for the ship's situation. He even regrets that he has to send the White Base, full of civilians, on to Jaburo; lamenting that his hands were tied in the situation and they couldn't keep refugees at a base so far in the front lines.
• Face of a Thug: He looks incredibly sinister, even more so than General Elran, a traitor. In spite of that Wakkein's firmly a good-guy even if he can be hard to work with. His design is tweaked for the compilation movies, making him look more sympathetic.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: His first appearance shows him to be an arrogant obstructive commander, who ultimately is humbled when White Base bails his soldiers out. He never exactly becomes nice, but upon meeting Bright in Solomon he is genuinely happy for Bright's growth as an officer.
• Mauve Shirt: Wakkein puts in a number of appearances as a Federation Soldier not affiliated with White Base, much like Lieutenant Matilda.
• Uncertain Doom: Wakkein dies in the series when his ship engages with Char's. In the movies Wakkein is last scene barking orders in his ship during the battle of Solomon. The ship takes damage but is never confirmed to be destroyed and Wakkein's fate is left in the air.

Katz Hawin, Letz Cofan, and Kikka Kitamoto

Voiced by: Fuyumi Shiraishi, Rumiko Ukai, and You Inoue, (respectively) (JP), Cathy Weseluck (all three) (EN, series)

"3,2,1...!!!"

The youngest members of the White Base crew, 8-year-old Katz, 6-year-old Letz, and 4-year-old Kikka are three orphaned children from the attack on Side 7. Essentially adopted by the rest of the crew and closely looked after by Fraw Bow, they stay with the ship for the war's duration.

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• Action Survivor: Repeatedly, given they're three young children smack dab in the middle of a war. Special mention goes to them being blown down a hallway by a Zeon missile striking the White Base just under halfway through the series, and while looking seriously banged up by it, insist to concerned adults they're fine.
• Blush Sticker: Kikka, permanently.
• Bratty Half-Pint: Times three. Complete with "loud", "obnoxious", and "trouble-making". However, the kids also do go out of their way to be useful whenever possible, especially during the above incident in Jaburo. They help around the White Base by delivering food and supplies, or handling janitorial duties.
• A Day in the Spotlight: The Tagalong Kids prove seriously resourceful on their own at Jaburo.
• Expy: Their character designs affectionately reference the other Blonde, Brunette, Redhead roles their voice actresses are playing. Katz is brown-haired with similar bangs and Skintone Sclerae like Mirai, Letz is redheaded (and overlooked) like Fraw, and Kikka's blonde and blue-eyed like Sayla.
• Family of Choice: Three orphaned kids who start viewing each other as siblings. Also Fraw as their older sister, and they're also the genesis, nucleus, and symbolic for the whole crew eventually viewing each other as a family.
• Heartwarming Orphans: Occasionally. Just about everybody on WB has lost their family, but the kids are meant to be the hope for the future, and get a handful of very brave and sweet moments.
• Only One Name: Their last names are All There in the Manual.
• Only Sane Man: Katz is the most level-headed of the three.
• Psychic Powers: They're all demonstrably Newtypes by the end of the show. And help guide Amuro out of A Baoa Qu.
• Spanner in the Works: In the episode "A Wish Of War Orphans" (orig. "A Small Line Of Defense"), the kids discover that Zeon has both infiltrated Jaburo and is planning to destroy the new GM factory with bombs. After being captured, they escape, detach the bombs, and flee, saving Jaburo and the EFF countless resources which were then promptly used to successfully defend Jaburo against invasion.
• Terrible Trio: When they're frequently misbehaving and wreaking havoc. (Kikka's usually in the lead.)

Haro

Voiced by: You Inoue (JP)

"Haro, Amuro! Haro, Amuro! Thank you, Amuro!!"

Fraw Bow's pet robot is Amuro's creation and further proof of his immense engineering talent. A green, basketball-sized ball, usually seen rolling or floating around White Base behind her or with the three kids, Haro offers words of advice and encouragement in-between keeping up the level of cute at all times.

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• Ascended Extra: He's now the mascot for all of Sunrise.
• Crossdressing Voice: He's a robot, but Haro refers to himself as "boku" and it's hard not to get male vibes from him.
• Cute Machines: Incredibly so. MOEagare, indeed.
• Everything Sensor: Haro picks up Bright calling for Amuro from decks away at one point and scans Amuro's brain waves later.
• Robot Buddy: For Amuro and Fraw, mostly.
• Team Pet: He's just as much a crew member as anyone else.
• The '70s: Pretty much the only explanation for him being avocado green.

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Principality of Zeon

Char Aznable

See the Mobile Suit Gundam section on his character page.

Sovereign Degwin Sodo Zabi

Voiced by: Ichirō Nagai (JP), Chris Schneider (EN, TV series), Simon Prescott (EN, Movies)

"Gihren, are you familiar with... Adolf Hitler?"

An associate of Zeon Zum Deikun, Degwin Zabi became Sovereign of Zeon after the latter's death and turned the colonies into his family's personal dictatorship. Now old and tired, Degwin leaves the day to day running of the war effort to his oldest son, Gihren.

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• Adipose Rex: An overweight tyrant.
• Ambiguously Evil: Downplayed, but it's ambiguous as to exactly how evil he is, given that we never learn if he was responsible for Deikun's death or not.
• Aristocrats Are Evil: Head of Zeon's most important aristocratic family, big bad at least in name.
• Bald of Evil: Degwin's hair is long gone.
• Cool Shades: Say what you want about the man, but those are some awesome shades.
• Despair Event Horizon: While his position as the Zabi patriarch was already undermined by Gihren's thirst for power, Garma's death sent him over the edge. When we get to see him after that, he's a tired and weary old man who believes he's getting too old for all of this and is planning an armistice. Little did he know what Gihren was planning to do...
• Despotism Justifies the Means: In the backstory. By the time the show begins, he's developed some standards.
• Disc-One Final Boss: Murdered by his own son when he attempts to negotiate a peace with the Federation, ensuring that the war drags on.
• Doting Parent: Cares greatly for Garma, and is a big part of why he got put in charge of the Earth Attack Force.
• Establishing Character Moment: He's first introduced with a soldier delivering him news of Garma's death. Though he is shocked and stunned by the death, he does not cry and only his dropped walking cane signifies his grief. Rather than introducing him as the Greater-Scope Villain that would suit the grand leader of Zeon, he's an old man weary with sickness and grief but still with his dignity.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: While his relationship with Gihren has since soured, Degwin does love his other children: Kycilia and Dozle. His debut had him mourning Garma's death.
• Even Evil Has Standards:
  • Even Degwin thinks Gihren's a Nazi. Hence the page quote.
  • In the Compilation Movies he's the only Zabi against the deployment of the Solar Ray. Even Dozle was for the idea. The only reason Degwin okays its construction is because he knows Gihren has already gone ahead with it and he can do nothing to stop it.
• Evil Chancellor: To Zeon Zum Deikun, before obtaining his current position.
• Evil Old Folks: Into his sixties. Still the dictator—at least in name—of Zeon.
• Evil Overlord: As Sovereign of Zeon.
• Evil Parents Want Good Kids: Despite being a fascist dictator, Degwin would rather his children be kind, compassionate people and seems to regret how his older offspring (especially Gihren) turned out. It's why he favors Garma and dotes on him so much.
• The Family That Slays Together: Got all of his children high-ranking positions in the Zeon military, largely because he doesn't trust anyone else. As Gihren demonstrates, this may not have been the best move.
• Fat Bastard: Though he's hardly the most evil character around, Degwin is both quite overweight, and the autocratic ruler of a one-party state.
• Foil: To General Revil. See Revil's entry for how.
• Four Eyes, Zero Soul: Played With/ Big glasses, absolute dictator. However, he does care for his family, well besides Gihren.
• Large and in Charge: Subverted. He's large only in the sense of being overweight, and is only nominally in charge.
• Lightworlder: He spent most of his youth on the Moon and as a result he suffers from osteoporosis and other health problems.
• No Historical Figures Were Harmed:
  • If Zeon is Imperial Japan and Gihren is Tojo, then Degwin is Hirohito, a man who has a grand name and prestige, but no actual power.
  • In the context of Nazi Germany, Degwin can get likened to Paul von Hindenburg, the Weimar Republic's final president. An aged leader of a once democratic state who allows his younger, fascist successor to gain power even though he knows the consequences it will bring. Degwin's role as a Puppet King to Gihren is reminiscent of Hindenburg's final years with Hitler, where he sanctioned all of Hitler's controversial orders, including suppressing elected state governments and imprisoning those deemed "subversive" in Germany.
• Non-Action Big Bad: Degwin has very little to do with the war effort and in fact his position is much more that of a figurehead, with Gihren having taken the position of ruler and de facto Big Bad.
• Outliving One's Offspring: The news of Garma's death more or less broke his spirit.
• The Patriarch: Initially looks like an evil version of this, but it's quickly subverted as one realises that his kids, and not him, are really running the show.
• Punch-Clock Villain: By the time we see him, he's less a villain and more just a figurehead for a political movement that's spiraled way out of control.
• Puppet King: After Gihren was done with him, he held little to no power within Zeon.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: For a fascist dictator he's a remarkably down to Earth guy. The problem is that he's not really the one in charge.
• Spanner in the Works: His attempt to surrender to the Federation forced Gihren to fire the Colony Laser before it was complete, resulting in Zeon's war-winning superweapon getting trashed after only taking out half of the enemy fleet. Needless to say, the other half swiftly proved themselves to be very troublesome indeed.
• Strong Empire, Shriveled Emperor: Zeon is very scary and has managed to kill more than half of humanity by the beginning of the series. Degwin has seen better days.
• The Usurper: The few people in Zeon who would dare have this opinion don't voice it out loud, but whether you believe Degwin as former chief of staff is the rightful successor to Zeon Zum Deikun or not (or had anything to do with his death or not), he indisputably changed the Side 3 government from a republic to a monarchical dictatorship controlled by his own family.
• Villainous Legacy: He's supplanted by his son eventually, but Degwin taking the reins from Deikun was when the Zeon movement really went off its rocker.
• Visionary Villain: Once upon a time Degwin wanted to change the world for the better.
• Was It Really Worth It?: With the death of Garma, he's starting to suspect that it might not have been.
• Younger Than They Look: Degwin's 62, not the ancient man he appears to be. That said, he has a lot of health problems.

Gihren Zabi

Voiced by: Banjo Ginga (JP), Hiro Kanagawa (EN, TV series), Doug Stone (EN, Movies)

"I'll show you how a man who follows in Hitler's footsteps can fight!"

"For mankind to progress, a cleansing of the population has been long overdue."

Degwin Zabi's eldest son, Gihren is a domineering, ambitious social climber, who runs Zeon's war effort from his position as Commander-in-Chief. Ruthless, controlling, and totally void of empathy, Gihren is nevertheless a skilled organiser and gifted public speaker, whose charismatic personality may be all that is keeping Zeon together. Having isolated his father from the public, he is the real ruler of Zeon in all but name.

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• Ambition Is Evil: The single most ambitious and evil character in the show actually.
• Antagonistic Offspring: In private he does little to hide his contempt for Degwin or his view of him being an outdated relic. Culminating in him blowing Degwin away at the first opportunity.
• Aristocrats Are Evil: He's basically a Space Nazi Nobleman.
• Bait-and-Switch Boss: He's set up as the ultimate villain for the Federation to defeat at A Baoa Qu. Their final opponent ends up being Kycilia after she kills him.
• Big Bad: He's the de facto Big Bad for most of the series, and (briefly) takes the position in name after Degwin's death. He's the one who instigated the One Year War with the attack on Side 2, and the one directing Zeon's war effort for the majority of the conflict.
• Boom, Headshot!: Kycillia pulls the trigger on his head for killing Degwin.
• Breakout Character: Gihren is easily the second most popular character associated with Zeon behind Char Aznable. He's the template for later dictators in the Gundam franchise (with even Char himself coming to emulate a few of his traits) and he got his own video game series named after himself. Examples are Ribbons Almark, Fonse, Patrick Zala and Rustal Elion.
• Cain and Abel: Him and his sister Kycilia. More like Cain & Cain really.
• The Caligula: The Zabis are a Big, Screwed-Up Family, and evil does seem to be in the genetics, but Gihren's the only one who's totally certifiable.
• The Chessmaster: He is not a warrior, but he is good at manipulating events and people. It was Gihren's political maneuvering that in part helped the Zabi family to solidify their power in Zeon.
• Clasp Your Hands If You Deceive: Does it throughout the Battle of A Baoa Qu.
• The Corrupter: Gihren's most insidious skill seems to be his ability to entice otherwise nice people, like Anavel Gato and his brothers Dozle and Garma, to do horrible things for him while making them believe they're the righteous ones.
• Cult of Personality: The Zabi family cult might extend to the whole clan, but it's Gihren who benefits most from it. His portrait is everywhere, his speeches galvanise the masses, and many of his dedicated followers would rather die than disappoint him.
• Deadly Gas: Deploys it in the opening days of the war against the Federation-aligned Sides. The fact that space colonies are closed ecosystems made this terrifyingly easy.
• Decapitated Army: Gihren's Cult of Personality was the main thing holding the Principality of Zeon together. Kycilia killing him at A Baoa Qu led to many of his loyalist forces, including the Delaz Fleet, leaving the battle, which is part of what contributed to Zeon losing.
• Despotism Justifies the Means: Gihren is a totally Machiavellian personality, concerned only with establishing his own power, through any means necessary.
• Diabolical Mastermind: Gihren has an iron grip on both Zeon's military and political spheres, and makes use of a network of loyalists and spies to crush any dissent against him.
• Dragon-in-Chief: He is technically subordinate to Degwin, the actual Sovereign, but by the time of the One Year War, Gihren has reduced his father to a powerless figurehead and made himself the real dictator of Zeon. Tellingly, even when Gihren kills Degwin, the Zeon command chain remains intact.
• Dramatically Missing the Point: He takes his father comparing him to Adolf Hitler as a compliment and even leaves their meeting prematurely boasting "I'll show you how a man who follows in Hitler's footsteps can fight!". However his father was trying to warn him of heading down that path, even remarking "But in the end, Hitler was defeated."
• Dropped a Bridge on Him: The man most responsible for the One Year War and one of the most influential figures of the Universal Century dies by being unceremoniously shot through the head before he even knows what hit him.
• Evil Chancellor: He holds positions as his father's top advisor, head of the Zeon parliament and supreme commander of the Zeon armed forces, all of which allow Gihren to undermine his father's power and cement himself as de facto ruler of Zeon.
• Eviler than Thou: He's given a number of scenes that contrast him with the other villains (most notably Kycilia, who is little better than he is) that establish him as the most morally black character in the series.
• Evil Wears Black: Gihren's got the uniquely black uniform and the darkest soul in the entire show.
• The Evil Prince: He's already cut his father out of the picture and taken most of Zeon's political and military power for himself as of the start of the series. He further isolates Degwin following Garma's death, and finally kills the old man, usurping Big Bad status for himself.
• The Evils of Free Will: Gives a little speech to his father about how Democracy Is Bad and that people should have their own will replaced with that of the Zabi family (read as: Gihren).
• Final Solution: Gihren's end goal once Zeon has conquered Earth is to cull its population to less than a billion to prevent any possibility of a revolt.
• The Generalissimo: Given that he borrows not only from Adolf Hitler but from Hideki Tojo this isn't really surprising. Gihren rules Zeon as a military dictatorship and the Principality has little in way of a purely civilian government.
• Glorious Leader: The franchise's first and most iconic example. He's got the cult of personality (complete with his portrait being everywhere), the promise of a brave new world, the claim that he's saving Zeon from its degenerate enemies, and the widespread popularity among the people, all of which cover the fact that he's a cold-blooded social dominator who doesn't give a damn about anything but consolidating his own power.
• Greater-Scope Villain: In any other series set during the One Year War, Gihren is this by default as the Commander-In-Chief of the Zeon forces.
  • In The 08th MS Team, Gihren Zabi was the one who personally approved of Ginias Sahalin's Apsalus Project for Zeon and gave him the resources to complete it.
  • War in the Pocket's Big Bad Colonel Killing was a fanatical Gihren loyalist and partly a Gihren Expy, wanting to deploy nuclear weapons on Side 6 despite their prohibition under the Antarctic Treaty.
  • In The Plot To Assassinate Gihren, Gihren Zabi was the one behind the fake assassination plot against himself, in order to draw out all his opponents in the Zeon government, which he left to his secretary Cecilia Irene to carry out.
  • He's a posthumous one for Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory, as Delaz and Gato were ardent supporters of Gihren and did Operation: Stardust to avenge him and trigger a rebirth of his ideology. Their actions would also later be used by Jamitov Hymen and Gene Coliny as justification to start the Titans...
  • Furthermore, the One Year War as a whole and preventing it from happening again were part of the reasons that Jamitov Hymem and Bask Om used to form the Titans, and Bask himself apparently got his hatred of Spacenoids from spending time in a Zeon POW camp in the war, so Gihren could also be seen as a posthumous one for Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam.
  • Haman Karn and her Axis/Neo-Zeon, appearing in the second half of Zeta Gundam and as the Big Bad of Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ, were Zabi loyalist forces that fled to Axis and invaded Earth, at least purportedly in Haman's case, to reestablish the Zabi family dictatorship Gihren had once presided over. On the other side of the Big Bad Ensemble, Glemy Toto is his biological son (side material reveals he was a test-tube baby born of Gihren and an unknown Newtype woman) who seeks to usurp Haman and reestablish the Zabis with himself at the helm.
  • The manga Mobile Suit Gundam F90 and its sequel video game Mobile Suit Gundam F91: Formula Report 122, set in U.C. 0120 and 0122 respectively, deal with a group of Zeon remnants that fled to Mars and waited decades before making their move. Over 40 years after the One Year War and Gihren is still posthumously influencing things.
  • He is not this in Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack, as Char's Neo Zeon in that movie was more a movement of dissatisfied Spacenoids rather than a true Principality of Zeon remnant. The most he gets is when the Zabi Family are referenced by Char as some of the people who perverted the Zeon name.
• Greed: Gihren's end goal is simply the acquisition of more power for himself. One of the video games in the franchise is even popularly translated as Gihren's Greed. That should say it all.
• The Heavy: For much of the series. He and Char seem to split the role, with Char shaping the individual episodes, and Gihren the overall plot.
• Hypercompetent Sidekick: He was this to Deikun and Degwin originally, before Deikun died and Degwin withdrew from politics, allowing Gihren to bump himself up to Dragon-in-Chief.
• Improbably High I.Q.: Boasts an IQ of 240. Of course this may simply be Zeon propaganda.
• Insane Admiral: He actually is an Admiral, not to mention Zeon's CINC, and an utter psychopath. He's not really what you'd call incompetent, but is otherwise barely human, which causes him to make a number of tactical errors later on.
• Insult Backfire: His father compares him to Adolf Hitler. Gihren takes it as a compliment, though it should be noted that it doesn't appear that Gihren even knew who Hitler was outside of "some great conqueror from the Dark Ages".
• It's All About Me: Gihren wants what Gihren wants. Everyone else can go hang.
• Jerkass: He's arrogant, overconfident, manipulative, has no regard for anyone else's wants (or lives), and condescends to everyone around him.
• Klingon Promotion: Kills Degwin to further his agenda once he steps out of line by trying to reach an armistice and assumes full leadership of Zeon.
• Lack of Empathy: Char may be empathy-deficient, but Gihren has absolutely none for anybody. If you're in his way, or no longer useful, you die. This actually causes him problems when it comes to predicting his sister Kycilia's actions: he assumes that she's every bit as ruthless as himself.
• Large and in Charge: He's nowhere near the size of his brother Dozle (than again, who is?) but at six foot three, Gihren still towers over most of the characters in the show—as a note of comparison, he's One Head Taller than Char and Garma.
• The Leader: Of Zeon. He's a Type IV personality with a Type I style of leadership.
• Lean and Mean: Tall and slim and the most vile character in the show.
• Let No Crisis Go to Waste: Garma's death saddens the rest of his family, but to Gihren it was an opportunity to boost morale and martyr his younger brother. Ultimately this is where he makes his legendary "Sieg Zeon!" speech.
• Lust: For power. Basically his defining characteristic when you get right down to it.
• Manipulative Bastard: Played With. Gihren manipulates Zeon's public with ease, constantly drumming up support for the war. On the other hand, when it comes to individuals Gihren sometimes miscalculates or fails to recognize what they're feeling. Truth in Television, as while many psychopaths are great emotional manipulators, they are often incapable of detecting when others are feeling distress or sorrow.
• Master Race: Views the people of Zeon this way and preaches Spacenoid supremacy as part of his rhetoric. This despite being one of the characters least interested in Newtypes.
• Meaningful Name: May be derived from the German word for "brain"(gehirn), making it an appropriate name for a man that Gundam Official describes as "an intellectual monster."
• A Nazi by Any Other Name: While all of Zeon is Putting on the Reich, Gihren's the one who gets explicitly compared to Adolf Hitler by his father. Given that he's a hardcore, militaristic Social Darwinist with genocidal intentions, a load of charisma, and no concept of morality, it's none too surprising.
• Nazi Nobleman: He's The Evil Prince and an enthusiastic Social Darwinist who sees Adolf Hitler as someone to look up to.
• Near-Villain Victory: Actually came close to getting the Earth Federation to surrender at the beginning of the war. The only reason they didn't is because of General Revil escaping from Zeon custody and giving his "Zeon is exhausted" speech, leading the Earth Federation to back out of surrendering and for them to settle for the Antarctic Treaty instead.
• Nepotism: He most likely got his job as Zeon's supreme commander because his father is the ruling Sovereign. He's kept it by being an efficient, imaginative, charismatic, and utterly ruthless psycho. It's worth noting though that Gihren was already involved with the Zeon Party as their campaign manager even before they rose to power.
• New Era Speech: Both the "Hail Zeon" speech early in the show, and the speech at A Baoa Qu that he gives after firing the colony laser.
• No Historical Figures Were Harmed: Two notable examples.
  • Gihren's what happens when The Evil Prince meets Adolf Hitler By Any Other Name. In addition to their ideological similarities, he shares Hitler's overconfidence, reliance on superweapons, underestimation of his enemies, oratorical abilities, and willingness to betray those closest to him in order to remain in power. Various side materials and side stories continue to add parallels between the two, with The Plot to Assassinate Gihren manga being a direct reference to the Real Life Operation Valkyrie and the television film The Plot to Kill Hitler.
  • If you consider Zeon a stand-in for Japan, then he is the Hideki Tojo to his father's Hirohito ^note in which case Degwin's glasses can also be viewed as a Shout-Out to the Emperor. A ruthless politician and military leader who operates through a figurehead, perpetrates war crimes on foreign territories he claims to be liberating and fuels those under him with his charismatic speeches.
• No Social Skills: A variant. Gihren's great at manipulating the masses, but absolutely fails at personal interaction, as evidenced by his conversations with Degwin and Kycilia, largely because he can't bring himself to care about others.
• Non-Action Big Bad: Gihren's a schemer and an orator, not a frontline combatant. He directs Zeon's strategy and orders their atrocities without ever lifting a finger to fight himself. All of this makes sense, as in real life the highest-ranking officers don't fight, but plan, work in administration and are responsible for building up the military. Gihren does all of this.
• Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: Professes to be doing everything he's doing to bring about peace, when his real ambition is to make himself emperor of the Earth Sphere and stamp down anyone who tries to resist him.
• Overlord Jr.: Of the worst possible type, embracing his father's worst traits and ignoring his good ones, then adding a little bit of The Starscream for good measure.
• Patricide: Murders his father to keep the war going.
• Playing the Victim Card: He excels at this. If you only listen to his speeches, you'd get the impression that poor Zeon is constantly being oppressed and put upon by the Federation, and that everyone on Earth is an evil oppressor who Zeon is completely justified in killing.
• Population Control: Plans to forcibly reduce the number of Earthnoids once Zeon takes over and keep it that way to prevent any possibility of a revolt from Earth.
• Pride: Supremely self-confident, thoroughly convinced of his superiority, and suffering from a genuinely Greek sense of hubris.
• Properly Paranoid: On the subject of Char Aznable, whom he does not trust in the least.
• Putting on the Reich: All of Zeon does this, but it's most noticeable on Gihren, who is the originator of Zeon's "Sieg Zeon" chant.
• Rebel Leader: Technically qualifies as one given how he's the leader of an uprising against the Earth Federation. It's just that the uprising he leads is full of militaristic fanatics and he himself is a tyrant who's only coasting on it to seize power for himself.
• The Revolution Will Not Be Civilized: For all of Gihren's claims of wanting freedom for Spacenoids, he's perfectly fine with using nerve gas on them and appropriating their homes to build his superweapons or drop on the Earth Federation. That's not even getting into the billions of civilians on Earth Gihren had killed in his purported quest for Spacenoid independence.
• Rousing Speech: At Garma's funeral and again at the beginning of the battle for A Baoa Qu. He's incredibly good at it, to the point where his voice actor, the legendary Banjo Ginga, is frequently requested to replicate it at Gundam conventions and well, see for yourself.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: He may lack his brother and sister's fighting ability, and he's an unpleasant guy on top of it, but no one can claim Gihren isn't pulling his weight. Between serving as commander-in-chief, organising the war effort, pinballing at least a half-dozen other battlefronts and plans as seen in spinoffs of the series that solidifies the Zabi family's absolute power, and keeping up troop morale, he makes a definitive contribution.
• Sanity Has Advantages: His insanity and lack of empathy is what eventually leads to his sister killing him.
• Self-Made Orphan: Blasts his own father into oblivion with the Solar Ray when he tries to negotiate a peaceful end to the One Year War. Although Kycilia sees to it that he doesn't live much longer himself.
• Sibling Yin-Yang: He and Kycilia are the cold, calculating Blue Onis to Garma and Dozle's Reds.
• Smug Snake: He makes it very explicit to Kycilia that he killed their father, and doesn't expect any reprisals from her. He's wrong.
• Social Darwinist: Convinced that the weak need to move aside to make power for the strong. Hence his treatment of Degwin.
• The Sociopath: The original Gundam example. Azrael, Djibril, Ribbons, and all the other psychos in the franchise owe him a tremendous debt. Gihren is emotionally cold, displays a shallow affect, does not understand basic human interaction (though he can manipulate the masses easily enough), is totally amoral and without a conscience, and is seemingly without shame or fear. Apparently raising your kids on an ideology of Social Darwinism can be hazardous to their mental health.
• The Starscream: He doesn't bother hiding his contempt for his father and his policies, and more or less treats Degwin as a relic, accumulating increasing amounts of power for himself. Degwin knows what's happening, but at this point, is powerless to stop it.
• The Strategist: To Zeon as a whole, he stays at the top of the command chain and comes up with an overarching plan. Individual battles seem to be of less interest to him and he will assign more tactical matters to his siblings for them to complete.
• Straw Hypocrite: Gihren, like the rest of Zeon's leadership, talks a good game about how humanity has polluted the Earth and must be moved into space. He also gasses millions of people and tries to Colony Drop the planet in the backstory, before invading the planet with military force. He also gives the lie to his claims of liberating the colonies, when he has several of them gassed, and forcibly relocates the population of another one to create his Solar Ray. Gihren honestly doesn't care about Zeon's political stance—he just wants to be the most powerful man in the world.
• Take Over the World: Wants Zeon to rule the world and himself to rule Zeon.
• There Is No Kill Like Overkill: Uses the Solar Ray to assassinate one person. Subtlety is not really his thing, at least not in terms of Weapons of Mass Destruction. He was also the one behind the Colony Drop, the gas attacks on the other Sides, the implementation of the Big Zam Project and the Apsalus Project, and seeks to deploy nukes on several occasions.
• The Unfought: Neither the White Base crew nor Char ever get to fight him, since he's shot by his own sister at the start of the Final Battle.
• Ungrateful Bastard: In The Plot to Assassinate Gihren it's revealed that Gihren used a failed assassination attempt on himself as an excuse to crack down on the anti-Zabi political factions in Zeon, imprisoning or executing all of them—including the family of David Schiller, the detective who uncovered the plot and saved his life. Since Gihren himself arranged for the assassination attempt, this isn't that surprising.
• Villain with Good Publicity: Within Zeon. The general public sees Gihren as a great leader, and has no idea about the army of skeletons in his closet. The rest of the world, conversely, has a more accurate appraisal of his morals.
• Villainous Legacy: Gihren's ethos persists long after his demise. The effects of his war crimes shaped the politics of the Universal Century going forward and several Zeon remnants, including the Delaz Fleet and Axis-Neo Zeon, would be inspired to carry out atrocities in his and the Zabi Family's name. Even Char Aznable, who was opposed to the Zabi family's rule, ends up emulating more than a few of his traits in Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack.
• Villainous Lineage: Of all the Zabi siblings, Gihren seems to have inherited their father's worst traits and amplified them. He also passed them down, in some way or another, to Glemmy Toto.
• Villainous Underdog: As Gihren himself notes, Zeon's strength is only about a thirtieth of the Federation's. He compensates for this by employing blitz tactics like colony drops to do as much destruction to the Earth Federation as he can all at once.
• Visionary Villain: Gihren has a vision for the future of humanity. It involves the culling of the weak, the destruction of democracy, and the Zabi family dictatorship lording it over the Earth Sphere for all of eternity.
• Warrior Prince: Gihren's no fighter, but given how vital a role he plays in the Zeon war effort it would be difficult not to class him as this.
• Weapons of Mass Destruction: Gassed vast portions of his fellow Spacenoids, arranged a Colony Drop on Earth, doesn't see the problem with utilising nuclear weapons anywhere and everywhere, backs the Big Zam and Apsalus projects, builds the Solar Ray...he's got a definite thing for these.
• Wounded Gazelle Gambit:The Plot To Assassinate Gihren reveals that he twice arranged for assassination attempts on himself as a way of gaining public support for clearing out his opposition.
• You Cannot Kill An Idea: The death of Gihren was not the death of Zeon, nor his particularly radical strain of Contolism, as Delaz and Glemy showed. His influence would continue to dominate the politics of the Earth Sphere at least until the time of the Crossbone Vanguard.

Dozle Zabi

Voiced by: Daisuke Gōri (JP), Tesshō Genda (JP, compilation movies and, starting with Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 3, every game where his dialogue is newly recorded), French Tickner (EN, TV series), Peter Spellos (EN, Movies)

"Once we mass-produce the Big Zam, the Feddies will be dead before they know what hit them!"

Main mecha: MS-06F Zaku II Dozle Zabi Custom, MA-08 Big Zam

Degwin's third son (the second, Sasro, was killed before the series starts in a car bombing, which is also where Dozle got those scars), Dozle Zabi is everything his older brother Gihren is not. An aggressive fleet admiral, Dozle commands Solomon Base and leads his troops from the front. A dedicated family man, he cares a great deal for his father, his brother Garma, and his wife and daughter.

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• Ace Pilot: One of Zeon's most dangerous pilots as evidenced by his sortie in the Big Zam.
• Adaptational Jerkass: In Tomino's novelization of Zeta Gundam (a separate continuity even from the original series' novelization), it's stated Dozle cheated on his wife with Haman's older sister.
• Anti-Villain: Most definitely on the wrong side of the Earth-Zeon Conflict, but he shows a great deal of nobility in his concern for his men all the same, and cares deeply for his family.
• Big Little Brother: He is the tallest member of his family and towers over his father and siblings; younger and older.
• The Brute: Of the Zabi family. He has by far the biggest stature of them, standing at nearly 7 feet tall, and is a tough combatant both in and out of the Big Zam. The Big Zam also stands at one of the bulkiest mobile armors in the series.
• The Creon: He's so dedicated to his position within the Zabi dynasty that he hopes that his youngest sibling, Garma, will eventually grow to outrank him. After the latter's death, he laments that he would never get to serve under him.
• Custom Uniform: His uniform looks mostly the same as a regular Zeon's officers, albeit with spikes on both shoulders.
• David Versus Goliath: He is Goliath in the Big Zam to Amuro's David in the Gundam. Downplayed in that the fight isn't a clean win for Amuro - Sleggar Law has to kamikaze the Big Zam to give an Amuro an opening to finish the job.
• Defiant to the End: When the Big Zam is rapidly getting turned into scrap he gets out and start firing a rifle at the Gundam, scaring the hell out of the "White Devil of the Federation" in the process.
• Deflector Shields: The Big Zam projects an I-Field, making it impervious to beam weapons.
• Dying Moment of Awesome: "Big Zam's Last Stand" is one giant one for him, where he takes on a Federation fleet by himself to save his men and family. It takes Sleggar Law's Heroic Sacrifice and a bit of luck on Amuro's part to take down Big Zam, and even then, Dozle still goes out in a blaze of glory by leaving the cockpit and firing on the Gundam with an assault rifle.
  Dozle: I won't be beaten! One mobile suit cannot defeat the glory of Zeon! As long as I live, you won't beat Zeon!!!
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: He clearly loves his wife, daughter, father, and brothers. Given his anti-villain status, it's not that surprising. If that's not enough, in "Big Zam's Last Stand" he tells his wife and baby daughter to get out of the battle, reassuring them that "[he] won't die" and will come back for them after facing off the Federation forces.
• Face Death with Dignity: Marches into his Last Stand with a considerable amount of composure and goes down swinging.
• A Father to His Men: He does a Last Stand in order to get everyone in Solomon out safely.
• Four-Star Badass: Dear Lord, yes. Dozle's a Vice Admiral and gives Amuro one of his hardest fights.
• Genius Bruiser: Around 7 feet tall. A fearsome battlefield commander. An excellent pilot.
• Gentle Giant: His interactions with his family are particularly d'aww-inducing, and he genuinely cares about his men.
• Giant Equals Invincible: The nigh-indestructible Big Zam which puts the "humongous" back in Humongous Mecha.
• Good Scars, Evil Scars: Has a huge scar on his chin, which apparently comes from the explosion that killed his other older brother, Sasro.
• Green Rooming: He's the first of the Zabi family to be introduced with Char calling him to request extra supplies very early in the series. It's quite a while before Dozle shows up again and even longer before he steps up as a main threat (the heroes having engaged Garma, Kycilia, M'Quve, and Ramba Ral before him).
• Heroic Sacrifice: He pilots Big Zam (a massive mobile armor which needs at least four people to operate properly) alone against the Federation to buy enough time for his soldiers and young family to escape Solomon, knowing that he won't survive the encounter. Unlike most villainous examples, he's doing it for entirely noble reasons.
• Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: He towers over his wife.
• The Juggernaut: The Big Zam is a mobile armor with near-impenetrable defenses and sheer firepower, easily demolishing any Federation troops in its way. It only falls thanks to a Federation ace pilot's sacrifice to damage it from below within its I-field perimeter and Amuro swinging a beam saber to the Big Zam's body.
• Knight Templar: Dozle may be a friendly guy and a family man, but he's still a Zeon fanatic who would do (almost) anything if his older brother ordered him to.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: Dozle recognizes that the Battle of Solomon is lost and orders his men to retreat before heading out in the Big Zam to buy them time.
• Lantern Jaw of Justice: A rare villainous example. He has a huge chin, and is a genuinely admirable man who sincerely cares about his underlings and is a loving husband and caring father.
• Last Villain Stand: Defeated at Solomon, Dozle sorties in the Big Zam to give his men time to escape. An example of a Last Villain Stand that is also a regular Last Stand.
• Nepotism: How he got his job. He's kept it by being a total badass and a superb commander to boot.
• Noble Demon: He's for the most part only a villain because he's on the side of Zeon, and while he is a Zabi and a fervent believer in their cause, due to military duties and familial bonds being far more important to the man than Gihren's ideology, he's one of the least unpleasant.
• No-Sell: The Big Zam's Deflector Shields stop all beam weaponry from the federation and its armor is so strong that the munitions cannons from the Ball Mobile Suits do nothing to it.
• One-Man Army: Wrecks much of the Federation fleet in the Big Zam.
• Only Sane Man: Is this to a certain extent. He very much believes that as a family the Zabis should stick together and not quarrel so much. Yet, it's undeniable that the Zabi family failing to stick together as Dozle wanted contributed to said family's destruction (with Dozle's daughter Mineva being the sole survivor) and Zeon's defeat.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: He's the biggest voice of reason in the Zeon military, and lacks the Machiavellian tendencies of his sister and older brother. Things start going south for Zeon once he dies.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: He's an Admiral in the Zeon Navy, and one of their best fleet commanders. He's definitely doing something.
• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: The gruff, strong manly man to Garma's sensitive guy.
• Sibling Yin-Yang: He and Garma are the Red Onis to Kycilia and Gihren's Blues. He and Garma even choose to face their deaths the same way.
• Spikes of Villainy: He has a row of spikes on either of his shoulder pads.
• Super Prototype: The Big Zam, which despite Dozle's boasts is never mass-produced.
• Taking You with Me: When the battle of Solomon is lost to the Zeon, he takes the Big Zam for one final offensive against the Federation troops.
  Dozle: If I'm going to Kingdom Come, I'm taking a bunch of you with me!
• Ugly Guy, Hot Wife:
  • With his wife, Zena. Also a case of Huge Husband Tiny Wife.
  • The Zeta novelization also states that he had a mistress named Marlene Karn (Maharaja Karn's daughter and Haman Karn's older sister) who was supposedly quite the looker as well.
• Villainous Legacy: He dies leaving behind a wife and a daughter, the latter of whom goes on to be the figurehead for the next major Zeon movement. It's not exactly a bad thing though, as his daughter Mineva grows into a savvy political player and becomes a Voice of Reason within Zeon.
• Walking Tank: The Big Zam is a weapons platform on legs, with a shape that isn't even remotely humanoid.
• Warrior Prince: Is nobility and leads his fleet from the front.
• Weapons of Mass Destruction: Oh look, Big Zam! An example of a piloted WMD. Dozle's able to use it to solo the Federation fleet at Solomon.
• Younger Than They Look: He is 28 but his not so glamorous looks make him look like he's in his late forties or fifties.
• You Shall Not Pass!: Done to the whole Federation fleet at Solomon by using his Big Zam to wipe out as many hapless Federation troops as he could.

Kycilia Zabi

Voiced by: Mami Koyama (JP), Michelle Porter (EN, TV series), Dyanne DiRosario (EN, Movies)

"We will lead the Principality of Zeon to a decisive victory and guarantee ourselves complete control of the masses after the war is over."

Main mecha: MAX-03 Adzam

Degwin Zabi's only daughter, Kycilia is a bright but cold young woman who serves as one of Zeon's best admirals. Capable of inspiring great loyalty in her subordinates, Kycilia is nevertheless without scruples when it comes to the conduct of the war. She is in charge of Newtype research, and has an intense rivalry with her eldest brother, Gihren.

Kycillia is a capable pilot and excellent commander.

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• Adaptational Attractiveness: A lot of merchandise and side media smoothens out her face and adjusts her figure to make her more attractive.
• Aristocrats Are Evil: Is an aristocrat and no saint, being perfectly willing to employ dirty tactics and sacrifice her own men if she deems it necessary.
• Badass Bookworm: She understands that the psychic powers Newtypes posses are worth exploiting for combat use, as opposed to just using them for propaganda-fueled speeches like Gihren does.
• Badass Cape: As part of her custom uniform.
• The Baroness: She's got the icy demeanour, the militaristic attitude, the hardcore fascism, and dominating personality all associated with the trope.
• Big Bad: Briefly graduates to this status when she kills Gihren halfway through the penultimate episode.
• Big Bad Wannabe: It's not entirely her fault since it happens at the tail end of the war when Zeon is already on the verge of collapsing, but her efforts as the Big Bad are spectacularly unsuccessful. Because Gihren's supporters desert en masse following his death at her hands during the battle of A Baoa Qu, Zeon loses the battle and the war. Worse, when she tries to pull a Villain: Exit, Stage Left, Char kills her and her evacuation crew.
• Boom, Headshot!: How Char kills her off, via beam rifle.
• Cain and Abel: With her older brother, Gihren. Ironically they have a lot in common, but the fact that they both want absolute power is one of the major reasons why they don't get along. It might be fairer to say that they're both Cain, with Kycilia being the slightly more sympathetic of the two.
• The Chessmaster: Plans her moves out very carefully. Given that she's going up against Gihren she doesn't have much choice.
• Cool Helmet: Wears one that's almost identical to Char's actually.
• Cool Mask:
  • Often wears a mask over the lower parts of her face when she enters battle. No explanation is ever given.
  • In the novelization, she wears it as a good luck charm in battle. In-universe, rumor has it that the only time she didn't wear it in a fight, someone next to her got a headshot and she got his brains in her mouth.
• Custom Uniform: Her purple uniform, mask, and cape are nearly as distinctive as Char's.
• Daddy's Little Villain: She's far from childish or spoiled, but Kycilia still fits the trope, sharing her father's philosophy and remaining loyal to him even after his death.
• Dark Action Girl: Kycilia isn't afraid to take the field when she has to, as her first appearance (fighting alongside M'Quve in the Adzam) attests to.
• Death by Pragmatism: She's right about Char being an invaluable war asset for Zeon, and despite knowing that he's a member of the Deikun family, puts him to the best use she can. Problem is, that "best use" leaves him a clear shot at taking her down.
• Despotism Justifies the Means: She and her brother share this outlook on life. Like Gihren, Kycilia is willing to do just about anything to ensure that the Zabi family gains control of the Earth Sphere.
• Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: Kycilia's love of her father is one of her few redeeming traits.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: She's not an especially warm person, but she definitely cares about her father, and looked rather sad when Garma's death was announced.
• Even Evil Has Standards: She was planning to move against Gihren for a long time, and it's implied that his psychopathy is a motivating factor. That's not to say that she isn't pretty damn awful herself.
• Evil Genius: Of the Zabi family and Zeon as a whole. She's one of their better strategists and admirals, and is in charge of Newtype research, and the new mobile suits and mobile armours that come with it.
• Evil Makes You Ugly: Tomino invoked this by designing her appearance with traits he found unappealing, namely a wire-like, almost skeletal figure and ghastly sharp cheekbones.
• Evil Redhead: Her hair has a ginger tint to it, and she's easily the second most evil Zabi behind Gihren. How red her hair is varies depending on the media, with some depicting her hair color as brunette tinted slightly red instead.
• Evilutionary Biologist: Kycilia may not have a biology degree, but she's the one who funded the Newtype research that led to the creation of Cyber-Newtypes. She also seems to share Zeon Zum Deikun's belief that Newtypes would eventually supplant the rest of humanity, although whether she's just using this as part of her political agenda is unclear.
• Four-Star Badass: Has the rank of Rear Admiral and is highly competent.
• God Save Us from the Queen!: Not exactly, but she briefly becomes acting leader of Zeon, following the deaths of her brothers and father. It doesn't last for long.
• Greater-Scope Villain: In Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket the Zeonic forces involved belong to her fleet, though it's worth noting that Big Bad Colonel Killing is actually a Gihren loyalist.
• Improbable Age: An admiral at twenty-four? Justified by her familial connections, aristocratic rank, and demonstrable competency.
• In Spite of a Nail: Immediately after Char headshots her, her ship gets destroyed while attempting to leave its hangar, showing that she wouldn't have survived even if Char hadn't betrayed her. It also highlights how pointless Char's quest for revenge really was.
• Iron Lady: Kycilia is a cold, hardened woman who takes a ruthless approach to almost anything.
• Karma Houdini Warranty: At the end of the series she's just about to flee A Baoa Qu and negotiate peace with the Earth Federation, only to get a rocket through the head courtesy of Char Aznable.
• Karmic Death: She drafted Char hoping to use him against her older brother. Gets who ends up doing her in?
• Klingon Promotion: Kills Gihren and takes his position.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: Kycilia, unlike Gihren, realises that the battle for A Baoa Qu is lost, and attempts to flee, planning on rallying the forces in the homelands, rather than dying at the base.
• Lady and Knight: The Dark Lady to M'Quve's Black Knight. Spin-off media gives her a second Knight in the form of Johnny Ridden.
• Lady of War: Gundam's first example of a woman not just actively involved in a war, but running much of it, and doing it all with a rather quietly icy grace. She has at least one fervent loyalist in M'Quve and the show hints that she, like her brothers, has her own devoted faction.
• Lean and Mean: Notably skinnier than other women in Mobile Suit Gundam, due to Tomino finding it unattractive.
• A Lighter Shade of Black: Than her oldest brother. She's still a fascist dictator but a more palatable one, possessing some empathy for her family, and a willingness to work with other people rather than lord it over them. It makes it possible, if just barely, to root for her as she and Gihren maneuver for position.
  • This aspect of her gets played up in some spin-off media. The first Super Robot Wars Alpha game includes a scenario where, after Gihren's defeat, Kycilia will make an offer for a cease-fire between Zeon and the Federation.
• Manipulative Bastard: Runs in the family. Like Gihren, she has a knack for manipulating the public, although not to his degree.
• Nepotism: How she got her position. How she's kept it is another story.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: While she did everyone a favor alone by shooting Gihren through the head, said act also sped up the downfall of Zeon by disrupting the chain of command.
• Oh, Crap!: Her reaction when she sees Char pointing a bazooka directly at her face.
• Pet the Dog: In the meeting where she reveals to Char she knows his true identity, she reminisces on having spent time playing with him while he was 4 and she was 8.
• Politically-Active Princess: In addition to being an admiral, Kycilia is a major political figure within the Principality, with her own factions in the bureaucracy and the upper brass. Much of the political conflict within Zeon consists of the competition between her party and Gihren's loyalists.
• Pragmatic Villainy: Kycilia knows when to cut her losses, treats her men well in order to ensure their loyalty, and positions herself as a more reasonable, less extreme, alternative to her brother Gihren. This doesn't make her good at all; just rational.
• Promotion to Parent: Because Nalisse Zabi died in childbirth, Garma looks up to her as a mother figure.
• Purple Is Powerful: Wears a purple colored custom uniform and is one of the most powerful figures within Zeon.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: She's a Rear-Admiral in the Zeon fleet and takes an interest in research and development, eventually masterminding much of the defense of A Baoa Qu.
• Secret-Keeper: For Char. She lives to regret it, just barely.
• Sibling Murder: Shoots her brother Gihren dead during the battle of A Baoa Qu.
• Sibling Yin-Yang: She and Gihren may hate each other, but they've got a lot in common personality wise. The family basically splits in two, with Kycilia and Gihren being icy and calculating, and Garma and Dozle being hot-blooded and passionate.
• The Starscream: As M'Quve's activities in Europe showed, she was preparing to move against Gihren for quite a while before he fried their father and staged a coup. She may well have been involved in The Plot To Assassinate Gihren, and doesn't make her dislike of her brother, or her belief that she could do a better job of running the war effort a secret. And then she kills him.
• Villainous Cheekbones: You could cut glass on them.
• Villainous Princess: Very evil (though noticeably less so than her older brother, Gihren) and not averse to climbing to power the old-fashioned way.
• We ARE Struggling Together: She views Gihren as almost as much of an opponent to her as the Federation they're fighting.
• We Have Reserves: Kycilia has no problem with leaving her men to die if it serves her purposes, going so far as to order the destruction of a lost base with her own troops still inside.
• You Killed My Father: She wastes Gihren for killing their dad with the Solar Ray.
• Younger Than They Look: She's just 24 despite looking older than that.

Garma Zabi

Voiced by: Katsuji Mori (JP), Brian Dobson (EN, TV series), Kirk Baily (EN, Movies)

"Don't laugh, the men are watching."

Main mecha: MS-06FS Zaku II, DFA-03 Dopp

Degwin's youngest son, Garma serves as leader of the Earth Invasion Force under his sister Kycilia. Desperate to win his family's respect, he is perhaps the most human member of the family, and is deeply in love with his girlfriend, Icelina. He and Char Aznable go way back, having been friends since their days at the military academy.

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• Alas, Poor Villain: He's the first of his family to die, even though he's easily the nicest of them, and comes when he's betrayed by one of his closest friends, who takes time to mock him before leaving him to his fate. It also comes after he affirmed his love to his fiancee Icelina and vowed to quit Zeon altogether if his father didn't approve of them.
• Anti-Villain: The only thing qualifying him as a villain is his alignment with Zeon. Outside of that he's affable, loves his family and while he is a fervent Zeonist, unlike the rest of his family he goes out of his way to avoid committing war crimes.
• The Baby of the Bunch: The youngest of the Zabi siblings, and the one most doted on by them and their father.
• Beauty Equals Goodness: Among the Zabis; he is noticeably the most conventionally attractive as well as sympathetic of his siblings.
• Character Tics: Has a habit of playing with his hair when concentrating.
• Death by Childbirth: This is what happened to his mother, according to most sources, and part of the reason he's his father's favorite.
• Defecting for Love: He tells Icelina that if his father doesn't approve of their marriage after winning him White Base and the Gundam, then he'll leave the Principality of Zeon to be with her. He's killed before we can find out how sincere he is.
• Defiant to the End: "All Glory to the nation of Zeon!!!" he screams while trying to kamikaze his ruined airship into White Base.
• Dying Moment of Awesome: Dies trying to kamikaze his heavily damaged ship into White Base. Maybe it's Dozle's influence.
• Et Tu, Brute?: Poor guy actually thought Char was his friend. He ends up dying after Char tricks him into an enemy ambush, even calling Garma up as his ship's being blasted to hell just to rub salt in the wound.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: He adores his father and older siblings, and also appears genuinely committed to his fiancee Icelina.
• For Want Of A Nail: Garma's fate can be averted in the video game Gihren's Greed, and if certain conditions are met he will break away from Gihren's command and form his own Zeon faction that denounces and even admits wrongdoings from war crimes committed by Zeon under Gihren. Further played with in Gundam Vs. Zeta Gundam, where Garma can also be saved from his doomed assault on the White Base, but unlike in Gihren's Greed Char will just find another way to kill him later.
• Hero-Worshipper: Looks up to his older siblings greatly, particularly Kycilia, and is eager to follow in their footsteps by proving himself on the battlefield.
• Improbable Age: Is running the Earth Invasion Force at the age of twenty. Justified by nepotism.
• Nepotism: Got his position this way. Although he's determined to show that actually deserves it and is eager for the opportunity to fight so he can prove himself and work his way up legitimately.
• Propaganda Hero: Gihren makes him out to be a war hero and uses his popularity among the Zeon people to rally support for Zeon's war effort.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: Leads the Earth Invasion Force.
• Sibling Yin-Yang: Go ahead and contrast his poncy looks and antivillainous attitude with his sister and eldest brother. He and Dozle, on the other hand, have a fair bit in common.
• Star-Crossed Lovers: With his girlfriend Iselina, who is the daughter of a prominent family within the Earth Federation.
• Stepford Smiler: Shows signs of being a Type A. He acts friendly most of the time, but underneath that he's clearly insecure about the way he got his position and craves validation from his older siblings.
• Taking You with Me: Once it becomes clear escape is impossible, he tries to go out honorably in a failed kamikaze attack against White Base.
• Token Good Teammate: He's the one member of the adult Zabis who is unambiguously a good person. Unfortunately, this also makes him a naive person, which is remorselessly exploited by Char.
• Universally Beloved Leader: He's hugely popular with the Zeon populace and Gihren is able to use his death to successfully rally the people at a point where support for the war is starting to wane.
• Villain with Good Publicity: He is well beloved and popular among the Zeon citizens. His publicity was so good that Gihren was able to convince the rest of their grieving family to use Garma's funeral as a rally for propaganda to bolster their country's morale.
• Warrior Prince: Really wants to be. He yearns for a chance to prove himself in battle so he can show that he didn't just get his position due to nepotism.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: Knowing that he had his military position solely because of his dad, he desperately craved the approval of his father and older siblings, especially Kycilia.
• Youngest Child Wins: He's the youngest of the Zabi siblings and their father's favorite. In the Gihren's Greed games, if his uprising against Gihren, his older brother Dozle will take his side and serve under him.

Ramba Ral

Voiced by: Masashi Hirose (JP), John Payne (EN, TV series), Michael McConnohie (EN, Movies)

"This is no Zaku, boy! No Zaku!"

Main mecha: MS-07B Gouf

An affable Zeon ace, Ramba Ral came to Earth following Garma Zabi's defeat at the hands of the White Base crew. Meeting Amuro Ray while both were off-duty, Ramba Ral struck up a friendship with the boy. He would later lead a number of attacks on the White Base crew.

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• Ace Pilot: Comes pretty damn close to defeating Amuro more than once during their duels. Note that while his Gouf is an improvement over the Zaku II, it still isn’t on the same level as the Gundam. Ral is just that good.
• Alliterative Name: Ramba Ral. Many people usually address him with Full-Name Basis. He doesn't mind but he sometimes just wants to be called Ral.
• Anti-Villain: He's the archetypal Gundam Noble Demon and the forerunner for similar characters such as Andrew Waltfeld, Ennil El, and Norris Packard.
• Arc Villain: For episodes 12 through 20, concerning his pursuit of the White Base crew.
• Avenging the Villain: Comes to Earth to avenge Garma.
• Boisterous Bruiser: Enjoys battles and is capable of giving Amuro a hard time fighting him. He also can be jovial and loud about it.
• Brains and Brawn: The Brawn to his girlfriend's Brains.
• Breakout Character: Not to Char's extent, but Ramba Ral's popularity has led to more of an impact on the franchise than most other characters. Gundam Build Fighters and Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team both feature prominent Expies of him and he was given a large role in The Origin's prequel movies.
• The Brigadier: He's on the antagonist side of the conflict, but is a morally upstanding person otherwise.
• Colonel Kilgore: Though not a particularly unpleasant or unsympathetic one - he just really likes combat.
• Color Motif: As you can tell by the picture, blue. Ramba Ral has a huge blue motif about him in contrast to Char's reds; Ral's Gouf and uniform both show the color proudly. It helps to highlight the contrasts between Char and Ramba Ral, and goes well with Ral's business-like but relaxed demeanor.
• Determinator: When M'Quve "loses" the Doms he was supposed to supply Ramba Ral with, the ace just puts on a commando suit and leads his men in a boarding action to capture White Base.
• Disney Villain Death: Knowing he's lost, he tells the White Base crew to watch his fate, before taking an unpinned grenade, and jumping out, landing right in Gundam's hand to be blown up.
• A Father to His Men: Ramba Ral is a capable and caring commander. He's always looking out for his soldiers and trying to prevent them from taking unnecessary risks; part of his motivation to succeed is for them to rise in the ranks along side him. Tellingly his soldiers have quite a lot of dedication to him culminating in the remnant of his forces willingly following Hamon in a doomed counterattack so they could have a chance to avenge him.
• Finger Firearms: The original Gouf model comes with its trademark five-barreled machine gun in its left manipulator in place of fingers (though some models can come with both manipulators). Later models have the option of mounting it as an Arm Cannon instead.
• Full-Name Basis: Though sometimes just called "Ral".
• Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: The Gouf was one of the few (semi)standard issued Zeon Mobile Suits to come with a shield; the Dom's and Aquatic units went shield-less while the Zaku's right shoulder armor would act as a shield. Even then, many Goufs still chose to forgo the shield and it wasn't until the Gelgoog that they became standard issue. Ramba Ral made fairly good use of his shield and managed to block a beam-saber swing by the gundam by closing the distance and catching the arm before Amuro could make a full swing.
• Moment of Weakness: Ramba's death comes about due to him running into Sayla (actually Artesia Som Deikun, Zeon Zum Deikun's daughter), distracted as to why the person he watched over when she was little was doing on White Base. As he aptly puts it, "in the middle of a battle", Ramba Ral "forgot how to fight."
• Mysterious Parent: His father Jimba Ral, who served under Zeon Deikun and raised Casval and Artesia under the names Edward and Sayla Mass after Deikun's death.
• Opposites Attract: With Crowley Hamon. He's loud, cheerful, and leads from the front. She's quiet, graceful, and The Strategist.
• Punch-Clock Villain: He may be a believer in Zeon, but he's a perfectly friendly guy when he's not on duty and even manages to have a friendly conversation with Amuro (whilst unaware of the latter's identity as the pilot of the "White Devil", albeit).
• Red Baron: Known as the Blue Giant
• Spared by the Adaptation: In the novels he's a secret service agent instead of a pilot and is one of the comparatively few named Zeon characters to survive to the end.
• Sore Loser: Amuro pronounces him one after he tells Amuro he won because of the Gundam rather than his own skills.
• Worthy Opponent: Alternates between considering Amuro this and saying it's the Gundam.
• Wouldn't Hit a Girl: Tells his soldiers to let Fraw Bow (and Amuro) go. It's a ploy to track them back to the ship, but there are nastier ways to get intel. Also kicks Fraw's gun away as soon as he sees her again and tells her to hide. His fatal Moment of Weakness comes when he's distracted recognizing Sayla.
• Unholy Matrimony: Romantically attracted to Hamon and they're both after White Base as part of Zeon's forces.
• Younger Than They Look: He's only in his 30s, but looks much older thanks to his mustache and greying hair.

Crowley Hamon

Voiced by: Yumi Nakatani (JP), Lenore Zann (EN, TV series), Dian Andrews (EN, Movies)

"I really did like you, kid."

Main mecha: HT-01B Magella Attack

Ramba Ral's devoted girlfriend and Number Two, Crowley Hamon is the brains of the Blue Giant's outfit, planning strategy while he leads from the front. Quiet, composed, and always graceful, she makes quite the contrast with her Boisterous Bruiser partner. Despite her civilian-like appearance, Hamon is still physically capable and versed in machinery. Notably she manages to be a threat using a Magella Attack Tank, a vehicle largely piloted by redshirts and easier to dispose of than a Zaku.

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• Anti-Villain: Hamon is a perfectly nice person; graceful, intelligent, and kind; not even officially part of the Zeon military — just someone who's totally devoted to her partner who's fighting for the bad guys.
• Avenging the Villain: She targets the White Base due to their role in Ramba Ral's death, and even before then, sought, alongside Ral, to avenge Garma Zabi.
• Brains and Brawn: The brains to Ramba Ral's brawn.
• Despair Event Horizon: Doesn't care if she lives or dies following Ral's death.
• Lady of War: Establishes herself as one after Ral's death, piloting one of Zeon's tanks during her revenge strike on the White Base. She would have pulled it off, too, had it not been for Ryu's sacrifice.
• Last-Name Basis: Everyone calls her Hamon, including Ral. Her first name is only All There in the Manual.
• Like a Son to Me: Per Word of God, since she never had any children with Ral, this is the basis for Hamon taking an interest in Amuro.
• Near-Villain Victory: Leads the second most successful attack on the White Base, and is within seconds of destroying the Gundam and then the ship before she is killed by Ryu.
• Ojou: Very sophisticated and refined.
• Opposites Attract: With Ramba Ral. He's loud, cheerful, and leads from the front. She's quiet, graceful, and The Strategist. They couldn’t be happier together.
• Punch-Clock Villain: Like her partner, she's a kind person when she's not on the battlefield.
• The Strategist: This is her position in Ral's group and from their armored base she makes the plans and calls the shots.
• Tank Goodness: She actually gets some mileage out of her Magella Attack Tank, and was about to destroy the Gundam (too busy keeping a land battleship laden with explosives from ramming and destroying the White Base to defend itself) when she was stopped by Ryu.
• Undying Loyalty: Loyal to Ramba Ral even after his death.
• Unholy Matrimony: Technically a subversion. She acts very much like Ral's wife and is completely devoted to him, but they're not married.

Clamp

Voiced by: Kouji Totani (JP ep.12), Kaneto Shiozawa (JP ep.16), Shozo Iizuka (JP ep.17), Glen Hopkins (EN), Richard Plantagenet (EN Movies)

A soldier under Ramba Ral's command. Whenever Ral engages White Base, Clamp coordinates from whatever mobile HQ Ral's forces have at the time, usually taking orders directly from Hamon.

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• Even Evil Has Standards: When he leads an assault on White Base, he's surprised to see Kikka and other children on board, and when he sets a charge to break into the windows he's yelling at the staff to get the children out of the way.
• Lean and Mean: Played With. Clamp's got a very thin character design and an appropriately nasally voice to go with it, but outside of being a Zeon soldier he's no more villainous than Ramba Ral.
• Mook Lieutenant: Of Ramba Ral's men he seems to be the highest ranking under Ral and Hamon and often relays their orders. Fittingly his uniform is the unique commander uniform that Dren wears that distinguishes him from the other soldiers.
• Villainous Widow's Peak: Not a notable one as he has a helmet on at all times, but when he takes it off, it's apparent.

M'Quve

Voiced by: Kaneto Shiozawa (JP), Masahiko Tanaka (JP), Michael Benyaer (EN, TV series)

"Come if you dare!"

Main mecha: MAX-03 Adzam, YMS-15 Gyan

Kycilia Zabi's right-hand man, the aristocratic M'Quve represents his mistress on Earth, commanding her troops in the desert, and leading Zeon's forces at the Battle of Odessa. Totally loyal to Kycilia, M'Quve has an ingrained distrust of Char Aznable. Despite all appearances, he is a skilled mobile suit pilot.

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• Ace Custom: The YMS-15 Gyan kind of qualifies; it was M'Quve's pet project and was intended to replace the Zaku II as Zeon's main mobile suit. However, its focus on melee and need to partner with another MS (intended to be the Rick Dom) made it lose out to the self-sufficient Gelgoog. Only three Gyans were made, with M'Quve claiming one for his own personal use. The Gihren's Greed games have a M'Quve Custom Gyan which is covered in gold filigree.
• Adaptational Heroism: In the movies and their supplementary material, he's a mildly snooty Anti-Villain and none of his nastier actions are shown.
  • When Ramba Ral requested some Doms to replace his destroyed Mobile Suits, M'Quve had the requested Doms deferred, even though Ral had the request approved, because of the small risk that their mining operation could be discovered; the act ultimately lead to Ral's death. The movies cut that and instead Ral asked for reinforcements; M'Quve's refusal was a lot more logical as a major Federation offensive was about to happen and they couldn't spare anyone.
  • When he lost to the Federation Forces during Operation Odessa in the series, M'Quve violated the Antarctic Treaty and launched a nuke. In the movies he never does that and instead just pulls his forces out.
  • In the series he was willing to pass by a civilian evacuation ship (containing Zena and Mineva) and leave it in space before his subordinate guilted him into stopping. He just picks them up in the movies.
  • He carries out a Heroic Sacrifice to save Dozle's wife and infant daughter.
• Adaptational Wimp: His Kick the Dog moments are removed but so were many of his moments of competence. In series M'Quve is largely Armchair Military as the Gyan and Adzam were Adapted Out. The moment where he has the White Base shot down is also removed.
• Agent Peacock: M'Quve is a swishy snob with an upper class accent, effeminate hobbies (including antiquing), and an ascot. He's also one of the few characters in this (or any series in the franchise) who can give Amuro Ray something approaching a decent battle.
• Arbitrary Skepticism: He doesn't believe in Newtypes, even though weapons are already being developed for their use and his boss Kycilia soon after organizes her own Newtype Corps.
• Aristocrats Are Evil: Invoked by his wealth, obvious connections to the Zeon upperclass, and total ruthlessness.
• Armchair Military: In the movies his two attempts at engaging the Gundam directly in combat (first with the Adzam—copiloted by Kycilia!—then the Gyan) were excised because it was thought to be out of character for him.
• Awesomeness by Analysis: Analyses the Gundam thoroughly before trying to engage it.
• Booby Trap: Liberally booby-traps the Texas Colony before his duel with Amuro.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: At first he appears just a sissy villain. Then the White Base finally gains his personal attention... And he swats it out of the sky. The White Base was not completely destroyed only because he was too much in a hurry to finish the job...
• Camp Straight: Most likely, given the nature of his relationship with Kycilia.
• The Chessmaster: M'Quve doesn't leave a hell of a lot to chance.
• Close-Range Combatant: His Gyan is meant primarily as a close combat suit, with excellent reflexes and agility, and a primary armament of a beam rapier.
• Combat Pragmatist: Has zero understanding whatsoever of the concept of 'fighting fair'.
• Cultured Warrior: Despite being an overconfident Smug Snake, he's actually a pretty competent pilot and strategist, as his final battle with Amuro attests to. Even Char admits that "M'Quve's putting up quite a fight," and it takes the first full-fledged activation of Amuro's Newtype powers for the Gundam to gain a decisive advantage.
• Cyber Cyclops: The Gyan.
• Duel to the Death: Deliberately lures Amuro into one of these, and carefully rigs everything in his own favor.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: He's an awful person, but his devotion to Kycilia is unquestionable.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Looks quite shocked and actually objects when Kycilia orders him to blow up a mine that still has some of his men in it.
• Evil Brit: His dub voice is vaguely British, and is most definitely evil.
• Faux Affably Evil: Affects an upperclass attitude and tone, but at his core is cold-blooded and ruthless.
• Flanderization: His video game appearances tend to cut his competence and few redeeming factors, leaving him a dimwitted upper-crust sociopath obsessed with a vase.
• Forehead of Doom: Sports a huge forehead as part of his villainous characteristic traits.
• General Failure: His failure to give Ramba Ral proper support is widely cited as one of the reasons Zeon lost the OYW.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: Like Kycilia, M'Quve knows when he's beat. He doesn't like it, but he's aware of it.
• Lady and Knight: The Black Knight to Kycilia Zabi's Dark Lady. He is utterly loyal to her, right unto death, and the Gyan is even designed to resemble a knight.
• Lean and Mean: As skinny as his boss.
• Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: The Gyan comes equipped with round buckler shield, itself equipped with missile launchers.
• Macross Missile Massacre: The Gyan's shield is equipped with fifty-six missile launchers, enabling it to create one of these with ease.
• Man of Wealth and Taste: One of Zeon's richest commanders, and a connosieur of fine art - antique vases in particular.
• Mean Boss: Among other things, M'Quve sees funeral rites for fallen comrades as a meaningless waste of his soldiers' time.
• My Death Is Just the Beginning: When he is forced to return to space he gloats about all the precious minerals his unit extracted during their occupation and boasts that "Zeon can fight for another 10 years if necessary!" As it turns out, this boast is actually understated, as 13 years later Char's Neo-Zeon trots in carts full of gold bars to bribe the Federation officials with in Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack.
• Nuke 'em: After losing the Battle of Odessa he fires an ICBM at the Federation forces.
• Outdated Outfit: Resembles a refugee from the 18th century.
• Pet the Dog: While his attempts at bringing reinforcements to Solomon ultimately fails he does seem to take pity on the recently widowed Zena her daughter and has them sent back with the bulk of the reinforcements. M'Quve himself stays with a few ships to rescue the other survivors.
• Rich Bitch: M'Quve is very well off and enjoys demonstrating that wealth to everyone.
• Royal Rapier: M'Quve's a fencer and the Gyan comes equipped with a beam rapier for this very reason.
• Sissy Villain: He's got the fancy clothes, swishy wrists, mincing motions, and cultured tone of voice one associates with this villain type.
• Smug Snake: He isn’t incompetent, but his ego has clearly grown past the point where it would be justified.
• The Strategist: He leads the White Base around by the nose for quite a while.
• Spared by the Adaptation: In the films, his final battle with Amuro in the Texas Colony in the fancypants fencing Mobile Suit Gyan was one of the many things cut for being too Super Robot-y and was replaced by Char & an early appearance of his MS-14S Gelgoog. However, the Zeta Gundam Interquel Char's Deleted Affair has him die at the helm of the Gyan in a different manner, in a desperation attack on The Federation to cover the retreat of Zeon forces from A Baoa Qu.
• Subordinate Excuse: Possibly towards Kycilia, whom he was very devoted to.
• Underestimating Badassery: Does this constantly, not only to his enemies but even to his allies. He seems to regard Ramba Ral as a useless nuisance, when in fact the latter had White Base on the ropes and likely would have finished the job had it not been for M'Quve preventing key supplies from reaching him. In the case of the Federation, he believed General Revil would back down from taking Odessa when threatened with a nuclear strike. Revil did not back down.
• Undying Loyalty: To Kycilia; with his last words he instructs one of his subordinates to deliver his prized Ming vase to her.
• Villainous Cheekbones: Just like his boss.
• We Have Reserves: Was willing to nuke his own men at Odessa, though only after the battle had been lost.
• Wicked Cultured: See Man of Wealth and Taste above.

The Black Tri-Stars

Voiced by: Issei Masamune (JP, Gaia), Ichirō Nagai (JP, Mash), Issei Futamata (JP, Ortega)

Main mecha: MS-06R-1A Zaku II High Mobility Type, MS-09B Dom

The nickname of Gaia, Ortega, and Mash, a trio of Ace Pilots famous for capturing General Revil at the start of the war. They're currently serving under M'quve, and have been assigned Zeon's deadly new Dom suits with which to hunt down the White Base.

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• Ace Pilot: Amongst the first Zeon aces Amuro faces.
• Agent Mulder: The Newtype plot is introduced much earlier in the movies than in the series so a number of characters discuss it. M'Quve maintains that the idea is bunk, but Gaia thinks it's completely possible that there's a bunch of superpowered teenagers running around with heightened precognition.
• Attack Pattern Alpha: Their 'Jet Stream Attack', which uses their Doms' superior speed and maneuverability to land several hits on an enemy suit in rapid succession. Unfortunately for them, Amuro figures out the pattern after the first time they use it on him, and turns it to his advantage.
• Elite Mooks: A trio of Zeon's most elite soldiers they debut the Doms, one of Zeon's stronger mobile suit models.
• Even Evil Has Standards: They believe that honoring their dead is important, M'Quve disagrees.
• Gonk: None of them are exactly male-model material, but while Gaia and Mash are merely plain, Ortega has a face only an elephant seal could love.
• Good Scars, Evil Scars: Mash has one over his right eye.
• Hero Killer: One of the series's most notable elite pilot groups with a fearsome reputation preceding them including several important victories and having captured General Revil previously. In their debut they prove to be a powerful enemy to White Base even with a squadron of seasoned Federation soldiers behind them; Ortega even kills Lieutenant Matilda.
• Lightning Bruiser: The Dom is Zeon's heavy assault suit, an armored battering ram floating on two powerful thermonuclear thrusters. It's fast, tough, and a lot more heavily-armed than the Zaku.
• Noodle Incident: In the series at least. The Tri-Stars came to prominence during an engagement early in the war that lead to the capture of General Revil. The event is only mentioned in series but supplementary materials, most notable Origin, go into the details of the event.
• No-Sell: Downplayed. While the Gundam's Vulcans (the machine guns in its head) were its weakest weapon, they were usually reliable to damage Zaku's and take down enemy aircraft. They have no effect on the Doms's armor though Gundam's other weapons do.
• Quirky Miniboss Squad: They're a trio of elite ace pilots and are distinguished enough from regular Zeon pilots to be given more advanced MS.
• Southern-Fried Private: The dub gave them all thick Southern accents, which became canon from then onwards.
• Terrible Trio: They're on the more competent end of the trope, though it doesn't save them against Amuro.
• This Cannot Be!: Ortega is left flabbergasted by Amuro evading their signature attack formation.
  Ortega: He evaded the Jet Stream Attack! Impossible!
• True Companions: A villainous example, but the trio are quite loyal to each other and fight well together.
• Villainous Friendship: A strong team of True Companions who're loyal to Zeon and each other.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: Mash is killed in their first engagement and his death does help flesh out Ortega and Gaia as they mourn for him and dedicate their next offensive to avenging him.
• Worthy Opponent: Gaia can't help but admire Amuro's strength and piloting ability.

Lalah Sune

Voiced by: Keiko Han (JP), Willow Johnson (EN, TV series), Lia Sargent (EN, Movies)

"I can see through time..."

Main mecha: MAN-08 Elmeth

A Newtype from one of Zeon's labs, Lalah Sune's potential was recognized by both Char Aznable and Kycilia Zabi. She is eventually recruited to serve as the pilot for the MAN-08 Elmeth, a Newtype-specific mobile armor. During this time, she also meets and forms a connection with Amuro.

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• Action Girl: Aside from becoming a One-Woman Army, she's also Char's driver.
• Animal Motifs: A swan. She watches one die in a lake in her debut.
• Anti-Villain: The war ruined her life, and the person that "saved" her afterwards is Char Aznable. Lalah is easily the most pitiable among the characters working for Zeon.
• Attack Drone: On the Elmeth.
• Bird Run: Down the road after meeting Amuro.
• Broken Bird: The biggest example in the series.
• Cloud Cuckoo Lander: Skirts the trope sometimes.
• Custom Uniform: She wears a unique dark orange Zeon one when meeting Kycilia in the compilation movies.
• Facial Markings: Has a bindi on her forehead — in all likelihood, because she sees herself as married to Char.
• Hero-Worshipper: Of Char. He can do no wrong in her eyes.
• Hooker with a Heart of Gold: It's very strong lore Lalah was this before being picked up by Char, and she is pictured like this in various other materials, but it's never mentioned or referenced at all in the show.
• I Let Gwen Stacy Die: For both Amuro and Char.
• The Ingenue: Definitely comes off this way, complete with an overly simplistic, black and white view of the world.
• Insistent Appellation: In a First-Name Basis world, Lalah calls Char "Taisa" (Colonel/Captain, and never "Char-taisa" like others), despite the personal side of their relationship, even when she's Taking the Bullet for him. While it's possible she does it precisely because she's aware "Char" is an alias, she does refer to him as Char in Newtype conversations with Amuro, so it's almost as if "Taisa" is an Affectionate Nickname.
• I Owe You My Life: Prior to her appearance, Lalah was rescued by Char. See Recruited from the Gutter.
• Last Kiss: Possibly also her first one with Char, right before she battles Amuro for the final time. Coming, of course, right after Char promises to listen to her from that point forward and follow her lead.
• Love at First Sight: She and Amuro instantly feel a connection, courtesy of their Newtype abilities. It gets deconstructed when she learns he's a danger to Char, and she proceeds to get surprisingly snarky and bitchy to him over the course of their next few combat encounters before it becomes quite mystical again around her death.
• Love Triangle: The center of one involving herself, Amuro, and Char. It ends horrifically for everyone involved.
• Meaningful Appearance: Lalah has very distinct green Empty Eyes and they match well with her mystical nature and with her debuting the Newtype Powers to the series.
• Moral Myopia: Courtesy of being mentored by Char. Everything she and Char do is right and justified, anything anybody does to them is "evil".
• My Death Is Just the Beginning: Seconds before her death Amuro hears her make a mysterious pronouncement that she can see time itself. She winds up enduring as a kind of Newtype ghost, and appears to Amuro no less than fourteen years later in CCA.
• Mysterious Waif: Her background is completely unexplained in the series itself and she might as well have sprung fully-formed from the cosmos for all the explanation we get. A 1997 manga, Mobile Suit Gundam: Secret Rendezvous, shows that she was a child prostitute in India prior to being discovered by Char.
• One-Woman Army: She devastates an entire Federation squadron in her first appearance, before fellow One-Man Army Amuro runs into her.
• Orphan's Ordeal: After her parents die in the war, her life is very rough.
• Person of Mass Destruction: One Zeon officer states that, with her powers and the Elmeth, she can take down an enemy battle squadron single-handedly. In her first outing, she does.
• Phlebotinum Girl: The Trope Maker, with Four Murasame as the Trope Codifier. She's slightly better-adjusted than later examples, and has a better relationship with her handlers (well, mostly Char), but is still an appropriately tragic figure.
• Psychic Link: With Amuro and Char.
• Psychic Powers: The most powerful Newtype to appear in Mobile Suit Gundam, Lalah has been trained to exploit this as a weapon. Her very presence is enough to awaken Amuro and Char's latent powers as well.
• Recruited from the Gutter: Lalah's official background is incredibly unclear, but the source of her Undying Loyalty to Char seems to be this. It would have been great if Char had simply saved her life, but for equally unexplained reasons, she's ended up as one of Zeon's newest weapons, with Char deploying her.
• Replacement Goldfish: For Sayla, whom Char abandoned, multiple times. She's the same age and Char tellingly introduces her by saying "just think of her as my little sister", although he seems to accept their relationship becoming romantic.
• Skilled, but Naive: Lalah is an exceptionally powerful and deadly pilot... who's so unused to combat that she gets headaches, and who doesn't appear to know much about why she's fighting in the war at all, other than to protect her beloved Captain, who must be good and right.
• Star-Crossed Lovers: With Amuro, and even moreso with Char. It ends horribly.
• Stepford Smiler: Considering her messed up past and how she's treated as a weapon by Zeon, yet remains seemingly cheerful at first. It isn't until she and Amuro have a Psychic Link that she begins to break down and finally asks "Why did you come so late in my life?", hinting that she knows she's screwed.
• Super Prototype: The Elmeth is an experimental Mobile Armor created for Newtype-use. Once Lalah is inside its cockpit, she annihilates an entire squadron without any trouble.
• Taking the Bullet: Takes a blow from Amuro's beam sabre to save Char.
• Tragic Villain: In the end, Lalah is just an innocent girl thrown into a war she doesn't fully understand by one of Zeon's most deadly ace pilots, and sacrifices her life out of love for him.
• Undying Loyalty: To Char. Anyone who attacks him is "evil" in her book.
• Unskilled, but Strong: Her complete lack of piloting experience is balanced out by being the most powerful Newtype in the show, complete with a mobile armor designed to maximise her abilities.
• Villains Out Shopping: The first time Amuro encounters Lalah, she's just a girl sitting on a porch in the rain. Amuro scares her. She and Char then give Amuro a tow out of the mud, and later she drinks tea and watches television with Char — she's apparently the only person Char willingly and relaxedly takes the mask off around.
• Violently Protective Girlfriend: She states to Amuro that protecting Char is her sole reason for fighting, and she won't hesitate to kill anyone who threatens him. It's very telling that she sees herself as this, more than as a Zeon soldier or experiment.

Dren

Voiced by: Ichiro Nagai (JP), Brian Drummond (EN, TV series), Barry Stigler (EN, Movies)

Char's second in command from when he first begins pursuing White Base. Dren's a recurring soldier who sticks with Char as he pursues Amuro and the others even as he plots against the Zabi family.

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• Mauve Shirt: Of all the named Zeon soldiers who don't take a major role in the series, Dren is the most prominent. Unlike Slender, Denim, or Kommun, Dren lives past his first few episodes and goes on to serve.
• Number Two: Char's second in command who gives orders to the Musai crew when Char's in the field and when Char falls under Garma's command, Dren is the only one of his previous soldiers to still be with him.
• Put on a Bus: He disappears after the episode "Icelina- Love's Remains." Since Char was reassigned and Garma's unit transferred, Dren had to go; later episodes established that he returned to his command position in space.
• Tempting Fate: In the movies he laughs at the idea that he should wear a space suit, saying such an act would inspire fear in the men. Ironically the possibility of the space suit actually saving him is negated when the Gundam just blows up the bridge of his ship while in the show (where the possibility of him wearing a suit is never brought up) it could have saved him as the bridge was only damaged.
• Thrown Out the Airlock: Him and his bridge crew are thrown out into space after Amuro slashes the bridge.
• Undying Loyalty: In episode 11 when Char speaks to him about how they're going to lie about him not bringing the Red Comet into the combat situation, it's clear that Dren has at least some knowledge of Char's schemes.

Cozun Graham

Voiced by: Banjou Ginga (ep. 12 JP), Totani Kouji (ep. 16-17 JP), Ron Halder (EN)

Main Mecha: MS-06F Zaku II

A Lieutenant under Ramba Ral, both he and Acous were Zaku pilots who backed up Ral during his first two offensives against White Base. Acous was killed in the second and Cozun was captured by the White Base crew.

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• Affably Evil: Like Ramba Ral there's a semi-formal politeness about him. When Sayla is arrested and sent to the brig she asks him about Char, which he answers to the best of his ability. When he attempts escape he offers to free her as well, believing her to be a Zeon agent.
• Alas, Poor Villain: Right as he was about to flee White Base he's accidentally killed by a bazooka blast that was only meant to open a door he'd locked but ultimately damaged his jet pack and sent him plummeting to his death. Omur and Sayla are quite shaken by this, having wanted to capture him alive but instead having killed him.
• Eye Scream: A relatively painless version involving the mechs. When Gundam (piloted by Sayla) was injured, he opted to blind her by crushing the visual cameras. He smashed the central camera (in the Gundam's head crest) and attempted to gouge out the mech's eyes. At episode's end the Guncannon decks him and smashes the Zaku's eye.
• Mauve Shirt: He's given more character than the average mook and stays on for three episodes.
• Punch-Clock Villain: As with Ral and the rest of Ral's soldiers, Cozun largely comes across as someone just doing their job. It's especially notable when he's cornered the Gundam and proudly declares that when they defeat it they can all go home.
• Undying Loyalty: He may be a Punch-Clock Villain, but his loyalty to Zeon is real. When captured he refuses to give anything up and when he escapes he tries to transmit White Base's secrets to Ramba Ral as soon as he can rather than escape immediately.
• Yank the Dog's Chain: An entire episode of him using his quick thinking and ingenuity to elude all the armed staff members of White Base and winning his boss's approval ends with him clipped by an explosion and falling to his death after just being a hair's breath away from making it home free.

Cecilia Irene

Voiced by: Kikuko Inoue (Gihren's Greed)

Gihren's secretary, who only appears in the compilation movies.

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• Canon Foreigner: She's not in the original series and only shows up in the movies, where she's The Voiceless.
• The Dragon: She is this to Gihren in the political arena, making sure his grip on Zeon's politics stays ironclad.
• Evil Redhead: Depending on the media, her hair color can vary from blonde with an orange tint to full on ginger.
• The Mistress: Gihren has an unseen, unnamed wife, but is only ever pictured with Cecilia, who is Sleeping with the Boss in addition to her professional duties.
• Satellite Character: She gets very little to do in the series other than stand near Gihren. Spin-off media like The Plot to Assassinate Gihren fleshes out her character more.
• Secretary of Evil: Serves as secretary and managerial assistant to Gihren Zabi.
• The Voiceless: She has no lines in her original appearance.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Her fate after the end of the One Year War is left unconfirmed. Supplementary materials state she was taken into custody by the Earth Federation, but what happened to her after is unknown.

Darcia Bakharov

Voiced by: Masaru Ikeda

The Prime Minister of Zeon, introduced in the compilation movies. Despite his position, Gihren is the one who actually controls Zeon's parliament.

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• The Good Chancellor: He wants an end to the One Year War as much as anyone, and even helps Degwin set up a peace negotiation with General Revil.
• Vice President Who?: He's Prime Minister, which nominally makes him the political second-in-command to Degwin. However, thanks to Gihren's machinations he's basically a non-entity who holds little sway over the Zeon assembly.

Zeon Zum Deikun

The original leader and founder of the Zeon Republic, Deikun was a voluntary immigrant in UC 0052 from Earth to Side 3 who promoted his philosophy of Contolism to encompass the ideas that Earth is sacred and humanity ought to migrate to Space, and that the colonies at the Sides ought to be self-governing. He also spoke of his belief in a "new type of humanity" that would emerge in Space. Died in 0068 under very suspicious circumstances.

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• Disappeared Dad: He died when his children Casval and Artesia were very young.
• The Extremist Was Right:
  • Humanity migrating to space, leaving Earth entirely behind and living in space colonies to save the Blue Planet from its own children? Extreme, but the conflict that ensued in the series and Char's Counterattack shows how destructive space-age warfare is to Earth's biosphere.
  • The Newtype theory was assumed by a majority of the cast to be bullshit Transhumanism at first... Until they start appearing during One Year War, with elements of the Zabi family beginning to research them.
• Founder of the Kingdom: Republic, actually, but the Zabis end up turning it into this, anyway. More than that, the struggle against The Federation goes a long way beyond the One Year War.
• Last-Name Basis: It's a First-Name Basis world, but given how he apparently either consented to Side 3 being re-named after him or did it himself, and how often "Zeon" gets tossed around in other contexts long after his death, the man is occasionally referred to on a Full-Name Basis, but more often as simply "Deikun".
• Missing Mom: The woman who gave him Casval and Artesia is never shown or even named. Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin changes this.
• The Philosopher: The philosopher of the Gundam universe, quoted for centuries to come in the UC, especially since his "Newtype" thesis ends up being correct.
• Plot-Triggering Death: His death was effectively the birth of the Zabis' transformation of Side 3 into the undemocratic Principality.
• Posthumous Character: He died more than a decade before the start of the show, but he sure gets mentioned a lot.
• Small Role, Big Impact: He's long dead before the series even begins and never even gets a speaking line, yet the antagonist faction is named after him and his philosophies influence characters on both sides of the aisle.
• The Unsolved Mystery: No one even knows if his death was foul play, let alone who was responsible. Nothing since 1979 has made this any clearer, with good reason.
• The Voiceless: Dead for more than ten years and he doesn't even have any lines. The guy has a LOT of influence.
• Wide-Eyed Idealist: His philosophy of Contolism presents Newtypes as an enlightened type of human that will usher in a new era of humanity, yet in every appearance they make Newtypes are exclusively tools of war.

Others

Icelina Eschonbach

Voiced by: Keiko Han (JP, TV series), Shiho Nagoshi (JP, Movies), Marjorie Malpass (EN, TV series), Lara Cody (EN, Movies)

"Oh, Garma!"

The daughter of an Earth Federation official, Icelina falls in love with Garma Zabi when he occupies her hometown. Completely unsuited for war, and profoundly ignorant of just how the world works, Icelina gets herself into a lot of trouble after Garma dies.

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• Anti-Villain: She just was a naive young girl who happened to be on the wrong side of the war.
• Avenging the Villain: Aims to avenge Garma following his demise.
• Break the Cutie: To say that Garma's death wracked her up inside and out would be an understatement.
• Broken Bird: Left utterly broken after Garma's death.
• Dating What Daddy Hates: Her fat-cat father hates the Zabis and Zeon. Subverted, though, in that Icelina's not doing it due to her father's dislike, if that factors in at all. Also, her dad's not a pleasant guy, but to be fair to Mayor Eschonbach, in plenty of Real-Life examples, if you go out with a member of an invading military force, you're liable to get a lot more than just your father angry at you.
• Death by Falling Over: Combined with Disney Villain Death, though she could hardly be described as villainous. She manages to survive long enough to crawl out of her downed ship and aim her gun at Amuro, but collapses, presumably due to injuries sustained during the crash, and dies from the resulting fall.
• The Ingenue: She has no idea about what being at war really means until her beloved Garma dies.
• Misplaced Retribution: Pointedly calls out Amuro and Mobile Suits for having killed Garma. The reality of the matter is that while Amuro led Garma's forces into the trap (at the betraying false call of Char), not a single Mobile Suit fired in the act and it was entirely White Base's own defenses. Not that she had any way of knowing that.
• Moral Myopia: It's okay for her to collaborate with Garma, who's trying to help his father and utter psychopath of a brother Take Over the World, but the people who killed Garma are monsters and deserve to die.
• Ojou: Complete with servants, a Big Fancy House, a party, a pretty dress... and everything else on this list. Being so sheltered ended very badly for her.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Subverted. It doesn't achieve much.
• Spared by the Adaptation: Her death is cut from the Compilation Movie trilogy, which removes her subplot of trying to avenge Garma.
• Star-Crossed Lovers: Complete with two feuding sides. She's the last thing Garma sees.
• What a Senseless Waste of Human Life: Her revenge is futile and sad, and she ends up dead. Amuro doesn't even know who she is or why she was after revenge at the time of her burial.

Kamaria Ray

Voiced by: Toshiko Sawada (JP, TV series), Lisa Ann Beley (EN), Mari Devon (EN, Movies)

"Is this because I let his father raise him...?"

Amuro's mother stayed on Earth when he and his father went into Space. When the war brings them together again, Kamaria has intense difficulty reconciling the sweet boy she remembers with a young soldier who now shoots to kill — and Amuro finds himself similarly upset.

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• Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder: Side materials mention the man waiting in the car in Kamaria's last scene is her boyfriend. Not really relevant to anything except Amuro has big problems with it in other continuities.
• Calling the Old Woman Out: Inverted and subverted. Kamaria is truly horrified and justifiably traumatized at Amuro shooting someone in front of her eyes, and scolds and shames him for it. For his part, Amuro does NOT get into Kamaria essentially abandoning him, but he does very angrily and heartbrokenly accuse her of not loving him, refuses to believe her when she says otherwise, then flees to blow more things up in a rage before they can talk it out.
• Jerkass Has a Point: Kamaria might sound heartless and illogical when she starts talking about enemy soldiers having families, but she's not living in the middle of a battlefield day after day, and does represent a pretty fair noncombatant viewpoint. She and her son have a fair argument.
• Missing Mom: In both senses. She's seen her only child a handful of times in the last decade, and it's rapidly apparent Amuro misses her pretty badly. It's also invoked to the point where Amuro is amazed she's still alive.
• Mood Whiplash: Her reunion with Amuro goes from joyful and touching with her babying him to nightmarish, in an instant.
• My God, What Have I Done?: After Amuro runs out on her.
• Strong Family Resemblance: Despite what Kamaria thinks and says, Amuro clearly gets his looks, his moodiness, and his temper from her.
• Unnamed Parent: She's just "Mom" in the show. Her name is All There in the Manual.
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Kamaria's left talking in disbelief to his wooden doll at one point. "He wouldn't hurt a fly..."

Miharu Ratokie

Voiced by: Satomi Majima (JP), Kelly Sheridan (EN, TV series), Bridget Hoffman (EN, Movies)

A Federation civilian and Zeon spy, Miharu strikes up a friendship with Kai, eventually accompanying him aboard the White Base.

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• Anti-Villain: She is spying for a fascist dictatorship, yeah, but only because she needs the money to raise her younger siblings.
• Becoming the Mask: Is sent to spy on the White Base. However, she falls in love with Kai and sees that the crew has children among their protegees, and starts questioning herself...
• Everyone Has Standards: Spying is a lot easier when you don't humanize your targets. Unfortunately for her, Kai treating everything like a game led to her discovering just who she was endangering (a guy she liked plus little kids), combined with Zeon not giving a damn if they killed her as part of the operation. Miharu rapidly decides to help Kai instead — right into a Heel–Face Door-Slam by no one's inherent fault.
• Girlish Pigtails: They reinforce her Innocent Flower Girl look.
• Heel–Face Turn: A pretty rapid one. Some people just aren't cut out to be spies.
• I Let Gwen Stacy Die: This and The Lost Lenore, for Kai. He sits in the hangar sobbing her name while everyone else tries to figure out who she was, and Miharu's spirit seemingly attempts to tell him it's all right, but it's unclear whether Kai can hear her, or not. In any case, Kai is markedly more cooperative with everyone afterwards, and many side materials show he never forgets her or her siblings.
• Innocent Flower Girl: She sells pastries and not flowers, but otherwise fits in perfectly.
• The Mole: Got into Zeon to spy on everything White Base and its crew does.
• My God, What Have I Done?: She doesn't take much convincing to try to help Kai given Zeon is trying to blow up White Base with her on it, not to mention her sight of small children being directly exposed to danger, which makes her remember her own two siblings.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Her attempt to earn some money for her siblings ends up leaving them worse off than before, with their only caregiver dead and them completely alone in the world. And if you take Kunio Okawara's MS Collection as canon, that quickly becomes the least of their worries...
• Not the Fall That Kills You…: The series intentionally leaves it ambiguous if her proximity to the force of the backblast was enough to kill her outright, given how limply her body flies away, or if it was the fall to the ocean below that did it.
• Oh, Crap!: She may have had good intentions, but she forgot that missiles have backblast. The resulting blast flings her outside the other open end of the Gunperry's missile bay, clearly horrified at her imminent demise and screaming Kai's name.
• Only in It for the Money: She badly need the money to support her younger siblings and doesn't really care for the two warring factions.
• Promotion to Parent: Has two little siblings, Milly and Gill, whom she takes care of after their parents died in the war.
• Punch-Clock Villain: She's got absolutely zero grudge against the Federation - she just needs to feed her family, and Zeon pays well for information.
• Redemption Equals Death: Falls victim to Not the Fall That Kills You… after bonding with Kai.
• She Cleans Up Nicely: She looks pretty good in a female Federation uniform when blending inside White Base.
• Slipknot Ponytail: Her Girlish Pigtails come undone when she's knocked out of the Gunperry by the backblast from its missiles, falling to her death.
• Star-Crossed Lovers: With Kai. He is the Jerk with a Heart of Gold that has recently discovered he cannot abandon his friends when they are in danger. She is The Mole trying to sell his friends to the enemy.
• Surprisingly Sudden Death: Ends up dying so bluntly and swiftly with no fanfare at all that Kai doesn't even see or realize what happened to her for a solid minute until she doesn't respond to him, nor come back up at all.

Cameron Bloom

Voiced by: Kaneto Shiozawa (JP, TV series), Hiroshi Isobe (JP, Movies), David Mackay (EN)

"Mirai! Just tell me what I need to do, and I'll do it!"

A lawyer who works for the government of Side 6, wealthy Cameron and his family fled there to avoid the carnage at the start of the One Year War. Pre-war, he and Mirai were engaged by parental arrangement, but she hasn't seen or spoken to him in months, and they have differing feelings encountering one another when White Base docks in Riah late in the war.

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• Arranged Marriage: His parents and Mirai's seemingly arrange this while Mirai is still in school and before the war. The wedding doesn't take place.
• Cowardly Lion: Becomes this when he uses his own shuttle to escort the White Base out of Side 7, during a battle.
• Dirty Coward: Mirai seems to think this of him when she learns Cameron used his money to look for her instead of trying himself — until Sleggar's "The Reason You Suck" Speech to him and Mirai.
• Disposable Fiancé: As the last of Mirai's romantic interests, Cameron's basically just there to add another point on her Love Dodecahedron. She does care for him a little and if not for the war, things might have worked out, but it's not enough for her to continue the engagement. See Romantic False Lead.
• Four Eyes, Zero Soul: A variant. Cameron isn't a bad guy, but his stiff reassurances to Mirai often sound hollow and coupled with a number of shots animating only his glasses (be they to convey distance or Opaque Lenses) make him seem rather cold and unfeeling even if by accident.
• Money Is Not Power: Double subverted. Mirai is both already disdainful Cameron "ran off to avoid the war" and then even more unimpressed that Cameron used his resources to look for her and didn't try personally. Sleggar punching him in the face just lampshades this. He does have a Screw the Rules, I Have Money! moment and uses his own ship to personally and riskily escort White Base out of Side 6, but he can't persuade Mirai to stay with him.
• Romantic False Lead: Played with. He's scarcely mentioned until three-fourths of the way through the show, let alone showing up even later, and he's not the first guy to show interest in Mirai (the third). It is established he's the first one to be in a relationship with her, though, and Mirai has very conflicting emotions from the moment he appears again.
• You Wouldn't Hit a Guy with Glasses: Doesn't even get to ask; Sleggar is polite enough to just take them off him first, and hand them back afterwards.

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