What, exactly, is a Newtype? Mobile Suit Gundam's super soldiers, explained

Newtypes are a staple of Mobile Suit Gundam, as far back as the original Gundam 0079 in 1979. Various variants of Newtype have appeared in the Gundam franchise, even recently, as in the newest series, Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX.

But older fans, and prospective newcomers into the series via Witch from Mercury and GQuuuuuuX alike, all confront the same question: What, exactly, is a Newtype?

A Newtype is a human being who has evolved with a heightened sense of mental awareness, owing to their adaptation to life in space. It’s akin to having a sixth sense, allowing a superhuman reaction time like mutants from X-Men.

With all the variants of Newtype (Cyber Newtypes, Coordinators, Innovators, X-Rounders, and the like), the basic concept deserves explanation for anyone who needs it.

Disclaimer: The following article will contain spoilers from the Gundam franchise, including recently released episodes of Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX. All opinions are exclusive to the author.

An explanation of Mobile Suit Gundam's Newtypes

What is a Newtype?

Different Newtypes in Mobile Suit Gundam (Image via Studio Sunrise)

The term "Newtype" originated from the theory and philosophy espoused by the founder of the Republic of Zeon, Zeon Zum Deikun.

The original theory posited that humans would eventually develop all their latent abilities to communicate across the vastness of space and understand each other without any misconceptions. In essence, Deikun proposed that space-born humans or spacenoids would eventually develop telepathic communication.

In actuality, the concept was introduced in the original Mobile Suit Gundam, or Gundam 0079, via the eries protagonist Amuro Ray. As the archetypical Newtype, Amuro demonstrated the various powers and baggage that come with being a Newtype, and possibly the hope of the Earth Federation for victory against Zeon. In short, it's a horrific existence being forced on the battlefield as an empath.

In the Universal Century, the main timeline in which the mainline Mobile Suit Gundam series takes place, there are over 55 known Newtypes. Though Amuro Ray is arguably the most famous, Newtypes like Lalah Sune, Kamille Bidan, and Judau Ashta are all either more in tune with their abilities or far more powerful than he was.

Newtype abilities and technology

Newtype abilities in Mobile Suit Gundam (Image via Studio Sunrise)

Although most Newtype abilities and how they develop tend to be purposely vague, enough context is left in the series to give an idea of what they can do. The basic Newtype abilities include a "danger sense"— they can sense danger approaching.

They can react at superhuman speeds to hostile intent, and can detect other Newtypes and communicate telepathically. Some even have clairvoyance, like Lalah Sune.

That said, some Newtypes have gone beyond this stage: either bonding with and communing with their Gundams on a much higher level, as in GQuuuuuuX's Nyaan, Shuji, and Amate.

This causes their Gundams to fully activate and become faster due to unlocking the full Psycommu system, Banahger Links and Loni Garvey in Unicorn unleashing psychic shockwaves that blow up the ground around them, or Kamile Bidan harnessing the emotional energy and strength of slain Newtypes to stop Paptimus Scirocco in Zeta Gundam.

In essence, Newtypes are usually considered "cheat codes" on the battlefield because of advanced technologies like the Psycho-Frame or Psycommu, allowing them greater control of their Mobile Suits.

But a Newtype's advanced mental acuity can fail them in battle, either from overeliance on it, taking on too much emotional stress from an overloaded Psycommu system, as seen with Loni Garvey in Gundam Unicorn, or having no real piloting experience, as with Amate and Nyaan's first Clan Battles, and Challia Bull destroying Duex Muramase and the Psycho Gundam in GQuuuuuuX.

The latter is especially impressive, given how Bull was in an older MAN-03 Kikeroga mobile armor and going up against the top-of-the-line Psycho Gundam.

Newtype exploitation

Newtype suffering and exploitation (Image via Studio Sunrise)

Although Newtypes are considered humanity's next evolutionary step, a lot of them face exploitation and isolation from Oldtypes (regular humans). Amuro Ray didn't enjoy a comfortable life after the One Year War, being under house arrest due to the Earth Federation's mistrust of Newtypes. Despite living in a luxury estate, it was like a gilded cage, as his serving staff were government agents.

The exploitation and suffering of Newtypes is visible across the Universal Century: Loni Garvey, in Unicorn's novelization, was killed by her father when she objected to the amount of death the AMA-X7 Shamblo caused. Cyber Newtype Four Muramase was mentally unstable due to the vast amount of brainwashing she went through, suffering from seizures and memory loss throughout Zeta Gundam.

Even the relatively lighter GQuuuuuuX was not immune to showing Kycilla Zabi exploiting pilots with Newtype potential to pilot the Gfred to gain an advantage over Gihren Zabi.

This includes Nyaan and Gihren breeding a clone army of Cyber Newtypes solely to kill Kycilla, how the Titans started the Muramase program early, and had Duex Muramase attempt to kill Kycilla. The latter nearly destroyed the Side 6 colony when Duex went berserk with the Psycho Gundam.

Cyber Newtypes and Artificial Newtypes

Cyber Newtypes in Mobile Suit Gundam (Image via Studio Sunrise)

Cyber Newtypes and artificial Newtypes began to emerge following the climax of the One Year War. They are named so for their cybernetic enhancements, including organ transplants, chemicals that increase reaction speed and radiation resistance, and the process by which they are experimented on.

There are, roughly, 24 named Cyber Newtypes, and plenty of them suffer from the same problems as each other: because of the extensive memory and personality manipulation and augmentation they go through, most Cyber Newtypes are mentally unstable, such as Duex and Four Muramase.

Although these "bugs" were worked out by the time Full Frontal came along in Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn, Full Frontal was still a megalomaniacal and nihilistic man who was, at best, ambivalent to the plight of Spacenoids despite being a genetically altered copy of Char Aznable.

Marida Cruz from the same series likewise had a degree of emotionlessness to her when she started, and her fits of PTSD tended to debilitate her due to past trauma from being involved with Harman Kahn's Neo Zeon movement.

Final thoughts

In short, Mobile Suit Gundam's Newtypes are considered the next phase of human evolution in the series. Their abilities usually make them a nightmare on the battlefield, especially when paired with deadly Mobile Suits like the Gundam line.

That said, much like the X-Men in Marvel Comics, they face unique issues that affect them, usually stemming from humanity exploiting them.

Newtypes like Amuro Ray, Lalah Sune, and Char Aznable don't always get happy endings because of war or hatred that goes on around them. Most Newtypes end up either lost in the timestream, as with the aforementioned trio, brain-dead like Kamille Bidan was until ZZ Gundam, or dead on the battlefield.

So it's worth noting that the times Newtypes get to live are few and far between, and just as much a cause for celebration. Gundam Unicorn ended as positively as it could in this regard, and ZZ Gundam more positively than Zeta.

Mobile Suit Gundam may be renowned for its mecha, but its Newtypes and their stories are the heart of the series.