'Gundam' Fans Actually Figured Out The Guntank's Firing Range

Mobile Suit Gundam is one of the longest running anime franchises, and because of its length has [...]

By Nick Valdez

Mobile Suit Gundam is one of the longest running anime franchises, and because of its length has some of the most dedicated fans. So dedicated, in fact, that fans have even figured out how effective one of the most ridiculed Gundam mecha would be in real life.

The RX-75-4 Guntank, first introduced in the original Mobile Suit Gundam series, may not seem as cool as some of the more extravagant Gundam designs, but it's just as deadly as anything else in the series.

Twitter user @7446asuka crunched the numbers, and thanks to the help of Google Maps, has figured out the range of effectiveness. The Guntank can essentially fire at Tokyo from Nagoya according to their tweets.

The RX-75-4 Guntank has a maximum range of 260 kilometers (about 162 miles), although the dispersal of Minovsky particles interferes with electromagnetic and radio waves, making accurate machine-assisted, long-distance targets impossible, according to the Gundam Wiki.

@7446asuka addressed the Minovsky particle issue as well with the following tweet which translates to, "As a common follow-up, if you suppose that the Guntank's main cannon only had an effective range of 240 kilometers, even though it still seems like a numerical error when you think about it, if you apply it to the current map, you can still bombard Nagoya all the way from Tokyo (lol)."

So while Gundam fans may have forgotten about this lonely Guntank, it makes you think about how fearsome any one of these mechas would be erected in the real world. Even the lesser loved mechas would have a huge impact.

Not familiar with Gundam? You may want to give its latest anime a spin. Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans, the series is set more than 300 years after the Calamity War first seen in the original Mobile Suit Gundam anime. With the Earth Sphere falling into anarchy, the world has given way to bandits and rebels. Iron-Blooded Orphans focuses on a young boy named Mikazuki Augus as he works for a security company, and his is used as cannon fodder during an ambush. Augus, along with his friend Orga Itsuka, take the chance to revolt against their demeaning employers - and the determined boy changes his fate when he begins piloting an abandoned mobile suit known as Gundam Barbatos.

via Crunchyroll

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