Another
concept central to the
world of
Gundam, especially the
Universal Century
saga (as opposed to
alternate worlds such as X,
Wing, or G) is that of the Newtype.
The term "Newtype" was coined by Zeon Sum Daikun, the philosopher
and spacenoid-rights activist most famous for founding the
Republic of Zeon, later to be hijacked by the Zabi family and
renamed the Principality of Zeon. Daikun predicted that, as
humankind left the sheltering pull of Earth's gravity, the
stresses of space travel would bring about the appearance of a
new breed of humans - the Newtype. Daikun theorized that Newtypes
would have increased powers of perception and empathy,
bordering on ESP. His Newtype theory was largely ignored in favor
of his revolutionary politics; however, after his assassination
in the Zabi coup and the beginning of the One Year War, the
appearance of incredibly skilled ace pilots such as "Red Comet"
Char Aznable would prompt speculation. While Zeon head general
Gihren Zabi saw the Newtype theory as a doctrine of Spacenoid
genetic superiority, his sister Kishiria, general of the Earth
Attack and Mobile Assault forces, decided to encourage more legitimate
scientific research.
The Newtype Research Institute, also known as the Flanagan Agency,
was founded in June of 0079 by Dr. Anton Flanagan under Kishiria
Zabi's supervision. The Institute confirmed the existence of
Newtypes in its first group of patients, who exhibited extraordinary
reflexes and a limited ability to sense the presence and
emotions of other people. Furthermore, the Flanagan Institute was
able to develop a way of detecting the source of these abilities.
Its research revealed that the human brain produces another type of
radiation in addition to normal electrical brainwaves, which
Flanagan dubbed "psyco-waves." The Institute's Newtype subjects were
unusually sensitive to these waves, as well as producing unusually
strong psycho-waves of their own. With the One Year War in full
swing, the Institute rushed to develop a way to make these findings
work in a military setting.
In October of 0079 the Flanagan Agency put the finishing touches on
the "killer app" for Newtype research. The psycommu system, short
for psychic communicator, receives a subject's psycho waves and
interprets them as computer commands, thus allowing a Newtype to
control a mobile weapon with extraordinary precision by the
power of thought alone (though in practice this system almost always
served to supplement normal physical controls). However, the
enormous detector apparatus necessary to receive the pilot's
ethereal psycho waves precludes the system's use in any but the
largest of mobile weapons. The first weapon to be fielded using
this system was the MAN-03 Braubro, which allowed the pilot to
remote-control several wire-guided gun turrets, which could
attack targets outside of visual range from several directions
simultaneously. The MAN-08 Elmeth improved on this system,
controlling self-powered drones called "bits" not by wire-transmitted
computer command, but by the Newtype's own amplified and re-broadcast
psyco waves. Though this system allowed a single pilot to control
multiple beam cannons at long range without Minovsky
interference, its use was restricted to the few Newtypes powerful
enough to control it.
After the end of the One Year War, the scientists of the Flanagan
Agency were absorbed up into the Titans' Newtype Labs, established
in 0082. While these labs included such diverse sites as Japan's
Murasame Labs and Canada's Augusta Labs, they functioned as a
unit, exchanging data and research subjects. It was the
Murasame Labs which first developed the technique of creating
artificial Newtypes, also known as "strengthened humans." These
unfortunates were subjected to a variety of physical and
psychological tortures that left them with superhuman strength,
endurance, and Newtype abilities, while destroying their memories
and mental stability. The Titans' Newtype Labs also produced a
psyco-control system that allowed a Newtype to control a mobile suit
like a giant bit, but it was only put into use once, in the Psyco
Gundam.
In an attempt to make better use of his Newtype powers, AEUG ace
pilot and electronics whiz Camille Vidan, working with the
lunar-based Anaheim Electronics, developed a compact but
inefficient psycommu system called the bio-sensor. This system,
installed in the prototype Zeta Gundam, allowed Camille to control
his mobile suit with even greater precision, but was not powerful
enough to allow him to use bits. The notoriously fickle Anaheim
later leaked the technology to the charismatic would-be
conqueror Paptimus Scirocco, who used it in his personal mobile
suit, The O.
The Axis faction of Zeon remnants, which had been hiding in the
asteroid belt since the end of the One Year War, was also developing
miniaturized Newtype weaponry. Returning to the Earth Sphere during
the AEUG-vs.-Titans conflict of 0087, Axis surprised everyone with
their military might. Contributing greatly to this was Regent
Haman Khan's personal mobile suit, the Quebely, which sported the
world's first true miniaturized psycommu system. This allowed her to
use new drone weapons called "funnels." Consisting of a beam
cannon and thrusters powered by e-caps, the funnels acted as
virtual wingmen for the Quebely, launching to perform all-range
attacks on her foes, returning to recharge from the Quebely's
reactor, and re-entering the fray.
After the defeat of the Titans and the reabsorption of the AEUG
into the Earth Federal Forces, the Federation's Newtype lab in Augusta
finally produced something other than damaged-goods psychics. Their
quasi-psycommu system actively scanned the pilot's brain for
commands, allowing oldtypes to use Newtype weapons, if to a limited
extent. This system is implemented in both the Super Gundam and the
Axis MS Doven Wolf.
The final [advancement in Newtype weaponry of the first Universal
Century is the psyco-frame, developed by One Year War veteran and
revolutionary leader Char Aznable in conjunction with Anaheim
Electronics. This revolutionary frame surrounded the pilot's
cockpit with thousands of miniaturized psycommu receptors, boosting
his Newtype powers enormously. The technology was leaked, at Char's
insistence, to the Federation's Londo Bell taskforce, and thus found
its way into both Char's Sazabi and his perennial foe Amuro's Nu
Gundam.
Though little Newtype research was performed in the 60 peaceful
years following Char's rebellion, a few advances were made. The
Federation's Strategic Naval Research Institute (SNRI)
developed a device called the bio-computer which fed combat
data directly from the mobile suit's sensors into the pilot's
brain, and the Crossbone Vanguard refined psycommu technology
to the extent that some of its mobile weapons had no physical
controls at all.
The final terrible evolution of Newtype weaponry came in UC 0153,
in the form of the Zanscare Empire's Angel Halo device. A
weapon consisting of several concentric rings almost the size of
a space colony, Angel Halo gathered and amplified the psyco-waves
of over 20000 people, and placed that power in the hands of a
single Newtype operator, who could brainwash or slaughter entire
populations with a thought.
Although Newtypes are never mentioned by name in any of the
alternate universe stories, to my mind Gundam Wing's Quattre
Rebibah Winner, with his spacey attitude and unjustifiable
statements about other pilots' emotions, acts a lot like a
UC-continuity Newtype. And anti-hero Heero Yuiy, with his intense
physical and psychological training and resulting flat affect,
is strongly reminiscent of the strengthened humans from Zeta
Gundam. Finally, the Zero System incorporated in the Wing Zero and
the Epyon is similar to the psyco-control system of the Psyco
Gundam (in that it forces the pilot to fight) and the bio-sensor
of the Z-Gundam, ZZ-Gundam, and The O. It seems that the Gundam
franchise is stuck with the Newtype concept forever], even in its
alternate universe storylines.
Newtypes of note include longtime Gundam pilot Amuro Ray, spacenoid
freedom-fighter Char Aznable, short-tempered Z-Gundam pilot Camille
Vidan, and charismatic Jupitoris captain Paptimus Scirocco.