Note: This is Part 2 of a post on the Pale Rider Seies. Part 1 discusses the original Pale Rider and it’s design.
Before beginning though I would like to mention that, while the actual number of Gundam’s running around the One Year War is largely set in stone, the Pale Riders are pretty much always deniable assets, with much of the information destroyed or lost. As such, new models are introduced on a semi regular basis, with the White and Black Riders being the most recent to my knowledge.
So, how about those other Rider units, then?
The White Rider was the first (in-universe) machine manufactured under the Pale Rider Plan. It is not equipped with a HADES system, but is instead equipped with the earlier ZEUS system (oh… I see what you did there). Which instead of hijacking the pilot like HADES, instead acts as a sort of really good fire control system. This is also the reason for the crown and more Gundam-like face. The system has not yet been miniaturised, and thus extrudes from the head quite considerably. It is armed with the Prototype Shekinah, which houses a Gatling gun and High-output Beam Cannon. The Shekinah was found to work fine, but the High-Output beam cannon severely limited the suit’s ability to use other beam weapons (and was quite frankly overkill), so the output was ratcheted down in future iterations. Because of this, the White Rider is armed with a heat sabre, styled after a rapier, as opposed to any beam sabers. I’m genuinely not that sure what the “cloak” on its left arm is for. It could be extra armour, but I seem to recall reading it was cooling apparatus/balancing for the Beam Cannon at some point, so I’m not sure. I’ve chatted about it’s design in a post I did on Code Fairy little while back, but in a nutshell, I like. The Beam Cannon being styled like a bow and the crown on its head both evoke the Biblical White Rider Pestilence, who rides a white horse, dons a crown and carries a bow, which is pretty neat. It was given to the Federation’s Black Dog Team after testing, and deployed against Zeon’s Noisy Fairy.
Next up, the Red Rider (which has some lovely art of it, by the way). The Second unit produced (by process of elimination) and the one that basically nailed down what the design was going to be. It was built to collect data to fine-tune the final product and was supplied to the Aggressor Squadron. It is fitted with an ARES system (getting a theme here), which… is essentially a baby HADES system, just with a much higher chance of killing the pilot. Because of this, the cockpit is fitted with a heart resuscitation program called “rymm-va”. I have no idea how this passed health and safety, not to mention that if the pilot dies in the suit, Zeon forces could easily capture it and steal valuable federation secrets. Nice job guys. Anyway, the Red Rider is armed with the standard suite of Federation machine guns, a beam saber and two new weapons. One, a 100mm machine gun equipped with beam bayonets, and two, a shield that can unfold and become a Zweihänder (as seen in the upper right image). Which is honestly pretty dang cool. It is designed after - you guessed it - the Biblical Red Rider War, who rides a red horse and carries a sword.
Unit 3 of the Rider Plan is the Black Rider. It was built to test a variety of specialised equipment, now that the basic design was down. From the fact that most of it never shows up again, we can assume things didn’t go well (or the data wasn’t properly backed up). It is equipped with a Rail Cannon (identical to the type used by the GM Ground type from M-MSV), heat daggers, a grenades launcher, stun anchor (a sort of electric harpoon similar to weaponry found on the Gouf) and fitted with a unit known as a Steelyard. I’ve talked at length about it’s design and my opinions on the existence of the Steelyard in an earlier post about Code Fairy, but in a nutshell: actual cloaking just isn’t a thing in UC, so this unit having it is very odd. I do love the Black Rider’s design though. It nails that whole “Tacticool” style I see getting thrown about so much lately without falling into the easy trap of going overboard with it. The Steelyard unit itself is styled after a pair of scales - such as the ones used by the Biblical Black Rider Pestilence (to measure the rising cost of grain). It is also equipped with the THEMIS system, which is a weaker version of HADES that removes most of the drawbacks (to my knowledge). Like it’s sibling unit the White Rider, it was eventually handed off to the Black Dog Team after testing, where it was then deployed against Zeon’s Noisy Fairy, and destroyed while attempting to kill Renato Germi, commander of the Black Dog Team.
The last Pale Rider unit deployed during the One Year War was the Pale Rider Cavalry. It was essentially supposed to be the Pale Rider, tweaked and simplified for mass-production after the war as a next-gen mobile suit. It was eventually stolen by the (by this point rogue) Slave Wraith team, but was later damaged and abandoned. It was armed with the Shekinah, a composite weapon made up of a Beam Cannon, Gatling Gun and Missile launcher in order to save costs (essentially a composite of the G04 and G05’ primary weapons, built to look like the Heavy Gundam’s frame Launcher). Other than it existing and having a pretty sweet design, I don’t honestly know a whole lot about it.
But speaking of that pretty sweet design, let’s go over that, shall we? I honestly really like the more Gundam-style design here, with the extra detailing just being wonderful. The Shekinah is a really good integrated weapon, because whatever weapon you want to switch to is going to be aiming at the same target at the one you switched from, so it’s very quick. I do love the Heavy Gundam’s frame launcher anyway, so the Pale Rider Cavalry having one is also nice. The colours evoke the Blue Destiny Unit 3, which is a very advanced and very good mobile suit. It all works so very well together, I think.
The Pale Rider Dullahan was built and deployed in 0080. It is the wreckage of the above pale rider cavalry restored to a functioning state after it was damaged. Unfortunately, since a large amount of the records regarding the Pale Rider had been lost, it was reconstructed without the HADES system. It was armed with a Hyper Beam Rifle/Hyper Bazooka, Heat Lance (taken/spare from the G-line Project) and Guardian Shield (taken from the GM Guard Type). It would be deployed against remnants of Zeon’s Marchosias team, where it would be destroyed in combat against the Pale Rider (VG). It was named the Dullhan after the headless horseman, since it wasn’t equipped with the HADES system. I honestly don’t have a whole lot to say on this one.
What I have considerably more to say on is the Pale Rider DII. It’s a reproduction of the Pale Rider Cavalry, with the Pale Rider Dullahan filling in the parts they don’t have information for (so, again, no HADES System). It was deployed against Zeon Remnant forces (that would eventually become part of the AEUG) in UC 0084. The full story can be found in Anaheim Laboratory Log, but in essence, the Pale Rider DII deploys with some GM’s to take on Two Galbaldy Alpha High Mobility Customs along with a new mobile suit, the Dowas Custom (painted red). The Pale Rider DII gets wrecked (though not destroyed).
The Dowas Custom, while initially appearing to be little more than a supercharged Dom, is actually rather special. It is the first (in-universe) second-generation mobile suit, acting as a carrier for some of the early Axis Zeon’s best technologies, which will in turn be used to develop the Rick Dias, the AEUG’s first mobile suit. So the fact that the Pale Rider, arguably the Zenith of First-Generation Mobile suit tech, loses to it is wonderful. Why? Because it shows that the Pale Rider’s time is over, that a new generation of mobile suits is coming, far superior over what came before. It emphasises just what a big deal the second-gen suits are compared to their forebears, how different things are going to be compared to the One Year War. It’s the first victory of the early AEUG over the titans. I love how the DII is used here as a microcosm of the events surrounding it. (Also it makes me think of a beefed-up GM Quel, which is quite nice).
Last one now. The AMX-18 [HADES] Todesritter. An unapologetic fourth-gen mobile suit, it was built by Neo Zeon using parts from the original Pale Rider, and retains its pilot, Chloe Croce, in addition to the HADES system in its head. It’s armed with Vulcans, Machine cannons, beam sabers, beam guns and so much more. It’s main gun is a hyper Knuckle Buster taken from a Ga-Zowmn, it uses a shield from a Bawoo with built-in mega particle guns, it has the tri-blades used by the Dreissen, and of course Incoms taken from the Döven Wolf. In addition to all this, it has two sub-arms in its shoulders that are used in close-quarters to wield additional beam sabers, such as hyper beam sabers of a similar design to those wielded by the ZZ Gundam. It is a lot. It was deployed by Char’s Neo Zeon in UC 90, against some Glemy Faction remnants, and is piloted by former Marchosias team personnel. Honestly, I quite like it. It doesn’t feel overarmed, since fourth-gen mobile suits typically have a lot of armaments. If anything, I tend to look at it as Neo-Zeon’s answer to the ZZ Gundam. It looks like this big, operatic villain, the incom units looking like a cape and the pointy feet adding a lot to this impression. The built-up arms and obvious emphasis on its weaponry makes it feel like it’s about to turn to me sadly and say “well if that’s how you really think of me, *draws sword* then you and I are enemies”. It’s a very solid aesthetic, is what I’m trying to say. It’s a distinctly odd blend of old Earth Federation aesthetics and Neo Zeon ones, but it all works. I especially like the legs, though that might just be because they remind me of the Döven Wolf. (Also, as an aside, I really like a lot of mobile suits with High Heels, simply because they’re always animated to run so delightfully. The Todesritter having a very busy back adds to this significantly, it looks like it’s lugging around a small dress train, or indeed, a cape).
