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Crosswire40 — MSA-008 Bar-GM (Rowsendower Custom)

Published: 2013-11-11 04:08:16 +0000 UTC; Views: 4297; Favourites: 16; Downloads: 11
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Description After the disbandment of the Titans a lot of good units were taken out of service. Most were sold off or junked, waiting for Neo-Zeon scavengers to find or steal them, others were spared but doomed to be experimented on and tested, never to be mass produced again. Others however managed to escape the shadow of the Titans, the Asshimar remained in service for quite a while until being replaced. Other Titan units lived under a different name and shell. 


Due to the sheer number of Barzams, their outrageous performance, and low maintenance costs the Earth Federation had most of the surviving Barzams modified into "Bar-GM's. Not many modifications were made, the Bar-GM is essentially the Barzam with a GM like shell. The Bar-GM sometimes went by the serial number RGM-87 when listed publicly, often to try and pass it off as a GM III variant. This was mostly to distance the Earth Federation from the negative appearance and reputation the Titan machines brought with them while still allowing them to field effective mobile suits used by them. 


The Bar-GM saw it's most use in the first Neo-Zeon War. After the Battle of Gryps and the disbandment of the Titans, the AEUG was almost totally annihilated and the Earth Federation was left little time and little resources to prepare for the war. The Bar-GMs were deployed as quickly as they could be 'modified'. They saw combat alongside the GM III on many of the war fronts. One Bar-GM came into the hands of Ex-Titan pilot Zap Rowsendower. Somewhat reminiscent of his GM Custom in the days before he joined the Titans, Rowsendower had his Bar-GM painted in a similar color scheme. 

A few other minor customizations were made but outside of that he was very satisfied with the machine as he had piloted a regular Barzam during the Gryps Conflict. Rowsendower and his Bar-GM Custom saw service aboard the Argama Class vessel "White Castle" he was quickly assigned as Captain over the mobile suit teams. 

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Comments: 13

runewuff [2020-04-20 07:06:34 +0000 UTC]

  So pretty... *pets*

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Crosswire40 In reply to runewuff [2020-04-20 13:43:33 +0000 UTC]

Its admittedly just colored lineart, but it was nice enough I wanted to do something with it. Drawing mechanical stuff is difficult and its something I haven't delved into yet.

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DaiGuard78 [2014-12-16 04:27:28 +0000 UTC]

Actually the Asshimar and Barzam were Federation MS. They were just closely associated with the Titans. But the fact that they were of Federation manufacture probably is the only thing that saved them

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Crosswire40 In reply to DaiGuard78 [2014-12-16 18:19:19 +0000 UTC]

That makes sense. Though considering how thoroughly the Titans tainted the reputation of the mobile suits they used it's a miracle the Federation even bothered to save those two. I rather like the Bar-GM's design, even if it's just the Barzam in a GM-esque shell. 

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DaiGuard78 In reply to Crosswire40 [2014-12-17 02:25:49 +0000 UTC]

One thing that bugs me about it though. They never state what the GM armor on it is made from. They say that it incorporates a lot of GM III parts. And earlier GMs were typically made of Titanium. I do know that the Barzak was supposed to be armored with Gundarium. But they never really say whether or not that was changed with the modification

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Crosswire40 In reply to DaiGuard78 [2014-12-17 04:37:07 +0000 UTC]

I think the inner frame is still made of Gundarium and the outer armor has been replaced with Titanium/Ceramic composite. So the Bar-GM's armor is probably inferior to it's original armor, but lighter and thus makes the Bar-GM more maneuverable. Alternatively they could have dropped the money and just reshaped the Barzam's existing Gundarium armor to look GMish. 

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DaiGuard78 In reply to Crosswire40 [2014-12-17 09:28:06 +0000 UTC]

I suppose that's true. Though from what I can tell, I don't think that the Barzam or Bar GM were any sort of major improvement over the Nemo and GM III. After all the Nemo was a great MP MS in space combat, and the GM III had a body and movable frame inspired by the Gundam MK II. The Barzam also had some balance problems due to rushed development. In the end I'll bet the Bar GM conversion fixed some of it's balance problems by incorporating GM III parts.

All that aside the Refined Barzam is probably a much more comparable machine to the Gundam MK II. It's likely more durable than the Gundam MK II because of Gundarium armor. But it also doesn't seem to have as good of a weapons loadout by comparison either. Either way I think I'd trust my life most to the Refined Barzam

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Crosswire40 In reply to DaiGuard78 [2014-12-17 20:12:15 +0000 UTC]

Bare in mind that the Barzam was highly versatile, it could use just about any weapon it could pick up thanks to it's powerful generator (which actually more powerful then the GM III's generator). It's performance was great, trumping Hizack and Marasai however it was too generic and suffered balancing issues not because of it's rushed development but because it's generator was too powerful for it's body.

It makes sense that it would be converted into the Bar GM, since it's generator would allow it more weapon options then the GM III and the the conversion probably fixed it's balance issues. The Bar GM probably has better performance perimeters then the regular GM III, though only be a small margin. The Bar GM is a fine machine and definitely one I'd want to use over the stock GM III.

As for the Refined Barzams, who's to say they weren't converted into a more usable shape? There weren't that many made and the Federation's not one to waste units. Maybe they GM-ified the Refined Barzams and labeled them Bar GM Kai's or something like that? 

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DaiGuard78 In reply to Crosswire40 [2014-12-18 01:47:04 +0000 UTC]

Or maybe they modified the Refined Barzam production line to produce the MP versions of the Gundam MK II that were seen in Revival of Zeon. I do know that what Refined Barzams were left were kept in use. One appeared in the Unicorn manga. But it was undergoing repairs and I don't know if it was destroyed or not since a pilot took it out anyway.

Yes the Barzam could use any Federation or Titan weapon that was made prior to it's release. And probably most of the weapons for the GM III as well. But it was most often just equipped with a typical beam rifle. And after the GM conversion I think they may have been unpopular with pilots since you see so few of them. Though I think they should have had a cameo in Unicorn.

And yes the Barzam was highly versatile. But bare in mind, so was the Gundam MK II that it was based off of. And the Gundam MK II suffered from being even more generic than it's ancestor unit the RX-78-2 Gundam. In terms of sheer adaptability the original Gundam still has the MK II beat. Which means the Barzam by comparison must be really generic.

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Crosswire40 In reply to DaiGuard78 [2014-12-18 16:18:42 +0000 UTC]

Wait, there were MP Versions of the Mk.II Gundam? I haven't read Revival of Zeon before but I'd love to see what they looked like.

While the Barzam was generic, I like it's design and the design of the Bar-GM. It was a descent unit and that's what's important, because it's not what you have but how you use it. Besides a customized Bar-GM would be kickass. 

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DaiGuard78 In reply to Crosswire40 [2014-12-19 22:22:56 +0000 UTC]

That it would!

Yeah they did produce more Gundam MK IIs. Much like they did the light armor Zetas. They also made more ZZ Gundams. But the newer models were larger and much more scary looking. One of them blasted a The O II point blank and melted half of it

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Crosswire40 In reply to DaiGuard78 [2015-01-02 19:43:06 +0000 UTC]

I know about the mass production ZZ Gundams and Z Gundams (though I didn't know there were light armor versions of them) but I had no idea they mass produced the Mk. II Gundam, I wish I could find the MP version online. 

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DaiGuard78 In reply to Crosswire40 [2015-01-10 01:59:00 +0000 UTC]

You can. There's a wiki page on it gundam.wikia.com/wiki/RX-178_G…

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