Mu La Flaga
 | This article describes a work or element of fiction in a primarily in-universe style. |
 | This article's plot summary may be too long or excessively detailed. |
Template:Infobox Gundam Character
Mu La Flaga [ムウ・ラ・フラガ] (previously spelled Mwu La Fllaga in the original Japanese version) is a character from the Cosmic Era timeline of the fictional Gundam anime metaseries. He is voiced by Koyasu Takehito in the original Japanese version and by Trevor Devall in the English dub. He is an accomplished mobile armor ace known by many as "Hawk of Endymion" for his exploits in the Battle of Endymion. He was said to "make the impossible possible," as his accomplishment of destroying five ZGMF-1017 GINN mobile suits in a single battle was previously considered unthinkable. His experience in flying, combined with his natural spacial awareness, make him far more deadly in combat than most pilots, so much so he is one of the few pilots who can use the TS-MA2mod.00 Moebius Zero mobile armor which require amazing spatial perception in order to control its wire-guided gunbarrels (four external weapon pods each carrying a pair of rail cannons). In the earlier episodes of Gundam SEED, he is shown trading blows most commonly with the GAT-X103 Buster (piloted by Dearka Elsman). During these skirmishes they would make disparaging remarks towards one another in the heat of battle.
Mu La Flaga quickly comes to serve as the Archangel's mobile weapons commander, leading the inexperienced Kira Yamato in battle. Back on the ship, he takes the younger pilot under his wing, teaching Kira the finer points of both mobile suit combat and coping with the stress of a combatant's life. Mu is casually boastful of his preternatural abilities, sometimes calling himself "the man who makes the impossible possible."
During the Bloody Valentine War, he develops a romantic bond with the Archangel's commanding officer Murrue Ramius; their chemistry is almost immediately apparent. Later on when Murrue comments that she dislikes mobile armor pilots, he replies cheerfully, "Ah, I'm a mobile suit pilot now, though."
When the Archangel arrived at the Earth Alliance headquarters in Alaska, Mu was transferred to a different division. However, once the base came under attack by ZAFT he noticed that all the superior officers had long since vacated the facility. He then found Rau Le Creuset in the control room and discovered that the base was under a self-destruct sequence. He quickly took possession of a F-7D Spearhead and flew into the heat of battle in order to warn the Archangel of the threat. This action and Kira’s re-appearance resulted in the salvation of the Archangel and in its subsequent partition from the Earth Alliance.
At Mendel, Mu and Kira both found out that Kira was the Ultimate Coordinator, and that Rau was not only his brother, but one of many clones of Mu's father, Al Da Flaga, created by the Colony Mendel Conspiracy. Mu was injured in the incident.
Later in the war, Mu pilots the first FX-550 Skygrasper and then finally the rebuilt GAT-X105 Strike Gundam. He is presumed killed when his Strike Gundam is destroyed as he emerged in the last second to protect the Archangel's main bridge from the Dominion's "Lohengrin" positron blaster cannon.
Neo Roanoke
Neo Roanoke [ネオ・ロアノーク] (previously spelled Neo Lorrnoke in the original Japanese version) makes his first appearance right after the three Extended Gundam pilots under his command: Sting Oakley, Stellar Loussier, and Auel Neider stole three prototype Gundam mobile suits in the Armory One colony. Utilizing the power of the warship Girty Lue (which uses Mirage Colloid technology) and piloting the TS-MA4F Exass, Neo manages to create confusion outside of the PLANT in order to let those three escape. A chance encounter with Rey Za Burrel reaction implies a possible relationship between one another, like the one Rau Le Creuset and Mu La Flaga had (which is supported later on when it is revealed that Rey, like his brother Rau, is a clone of Mu La Flaga's father Al Da Flaga).
Although very ruthless and cunning as a captain, Neo is shown to treat the three Extended pilots very well, and despite doing what he believes needs to be done, he is somewhat reluctant to go through certain actions. For example, Stellar wanted to keep the bandana Shinn gave to her when she was cut and stuck with Shinn in an island and Neo said he wouldn't erase her memories of that day, but he lied (He also lied to Shinn when the ZAFT pilot returned Stellar to the EAF, on condition that she be taken off the battlefield, to which Neo agreed. However, he apparently to want to to fulfill his promise to Shinn because he seemed very reluctant to let Stellar use the Destroy, or for that matter, comply to Djibril's orders). Since Armory One, he has continued to be a constant thorn on ZAFT's side, especially with the battleship Minerva. He was also responsible for allowing Junius 7 to drop onto Earth, by interfering in ZAFT's fight with radical supporters of Patrick Zala.
Eventually, Neo comes down to Earth to pursue the Minerva. One event was over the Indian Ocean that ended in defeat for the Earth Alliance base there and the liberation of its labor camp. From there, he cooperated personally with the Orb Union in battling the Minerva on two occasions at the Dardanelles and at Crete. Ultimately, when he went to Berlin to help with the attack by the GFAS-X1 Destroy, his GAT-04 Windam is incapacitated by Kira Yamato's Freedom Gundam; he manages to not only fall out of his cockpit before it crashes but also to lose his helmet in the process, revealing the face behind the mask. After the battle, Archangel captain Murrue Ramius discovers that Neo bears a striking resemblance to Mu La Flaga and decides to bring him aboard the Archangel.
Neo's True Identity
The first suggestion of Neo/Mu's common identity arose from Gundam SEED: Special Edition, where Mu's broken helmet was removed from the scene showing the wreckage of the Strike Gundam in Phase-49 of the original series.
Some have suggested that Neo is only Mu's clone, but has been overshadowed by the events of PHASE-32 and PHASE-33. First of all, there is a scar on Neo's face across his nose and left side of his face below his eye; were Neo a clone of Mu, this scar would most likely not be present. Secondly, after having his GAT-04 Windam (which has a purple paint job reminiscent of Mu's normal suit) destroyed in battle, and being captured by the Archangel, the crew found out that the correlation between Neo's physical data and Mu's data stored in the Archangel's database is a perfect 100% match. Initially, Neo has no recollection of Mu's exploits during the First Bloody Valentine War; speculation by Murrue and Kira indicates that Mu may have lost his memory from his injury when he used the Strike to protect the Archangel's bridge from Dominion's Lohengrin attack.
Kira Yamato, on two separate occasions, sensed Neo's presence on the battlefield, due to his developing spacial awareness, and had sensed a sort of familiarity about him, leading him to suggest that Murrue "take care of the situation" and take Neo into custody after he was shot down by Kira's Freedom.
In Phase 34 of Gundam SEED Destiny, the Archangel is under attack by ZAFT's Minerva. During one sequence where the Archangel is hit by a volley of missiles, Neo is thrown about in the infirmary and comments to himself, "Why is this place always..." before stopping in puzzlement. Although this was the first battle involving the Archangel since Neo was captured, he seemed to have some recollection of the ship and its history, even as this confused him.
Subsequently, Neo calls in Murrue Ramius from the infirmary ward with a message from Athrun Zala, who urges Kira to intervine in a space battle between the Eternal and several Nazca-class destroyers. After Kira leaves, Murrue smiles and says "So you still remember the transmission codes to the bridge." This leaves Neo with a confused look on his face. The fact that he intervened at all suggests that he is starting to feel some familiarity with the Archangel and its crew, although this could also be out of his desire to fight against ZAFT, or to avenge his many comrades within the Earth Alliance who perished due to ZAFT's actions.
Murrue releases Neo from the Archangel as they prepare about to launch and protect ORB against invading ZAFT forces, giving him a Skygrasper as a means of transportation. When missiles launched from the Minerva are about to hit the Archangel, Neo appears with his Skygrasper and shoots down the missiles. Apologizing for the intrusion, he says that he hates the Minerva and encourages Murrue, telling her that the Archangel can win this battle, then adding, "After all, I'm the man who can make the impossible possible." The words shock Murrue; the statement is one which Mu made several times (his last words, in fact).
When Neo's Skygrasper is damaged by the Minerva, he requests emergency landing on the Archangel. During the landing, he has a flashback of what was obviously Mu's emergency landing on the Archangel during Operation Spitbreak; this represents the first concrete evidence that the two people are the same. Eventually, he confides to Murrue some of his vital statistics and his growing pessimism about whether or not they are legitimate. He tells her something inside of him remembers her and asks to remain onboard the Archangel, by her side. She accepts, and he embraces her. As the Archangel is commissioned into Orb's armed forces. Wanting to help, Neo enlists and receives a commission into the Orb military and is subsequently assigned command of the Archangel's mobile suit squadron. Since Cagalli Yula Athha found it her responsibility to stay on Earth and govern Orb, therefore making it impossible for her to go into space with them, she leaves the Akatsuki to Neo for his personal use.
In the following extraterrestrial battles, Neo ends up blocking the Minerva's Positron Cannon with Akatsuki. The situation mirrors the exact circumstances that lead to Mu La Flaga's supposed demise, and Neo regains his lost memories from Gundam SEED when he blocked the Positron Cannon of Dominion with Strike Gundam. A short flashback shows Mu being wrapped in bandages, with Lord Djibril and a few surgeons next to him; this suggests that after the explosion which supposedly killed him, Mu's body was recovered by LOGOS, to be used for their own purposes. Whether his amnesia is natural or artificial has not been confirmed, although it is known that LOGOS possesses the technology to erase and re-write memory, as evidenced by their treatment of the three Phantom Pain pilots Neo commanded during the second war. In either case, it is certain that he was given a new identity. The newly recovered Mu then proceeds to aid in the destruction of the Requieum, and returns to the Archangel, a smile on his face as he sees Murrue.
Fighting Skills:
Mu/Neo is one of the best mobile armor/suit pilot in Gundam Seed/Destiny. He prefers to engage in shooting duels with his opponents and tries to avoid melee combat as much as possible. His spacial awareness allows him to be extremely proficent with employing the remotely controlled gunpods of the TS-MA2mod.00 Moebius Zero and the TS-MA4F Exass in combat. He used these abilities to duel Dearka Elsman's GAT-X103 Buster, Shinn Asuka's Impulse and Rey Za Burrel's Blaze Zaku Phantom very effectively. While Mu/Neo had an unlucky streak using the GAT-X105 Strike, he was extremely competent piloting his custom GAT-04 Windam. He repeatedly frustated Shinn Asuka's attempts to shoot him down, who commented that Mu was very fast.
In games
In SD Gundam G Generation series and Gundam Wars card game, due to a more user friendly setting, he is listed as a Newtype instead of a different ability of spacial awareness. However, this is not the official story settings.
Trivia
| This article contains a list of miscellaneous information. |
- In the Gundam War trading card game, Mu's and Neo's card cannot be both on the field at the same time, as both of them are the same person/physical body.
- The mobile suits that he piloted are the GAT-X105 Strike (GS) and the Strike-derived GAT-04 Windam and ORB-01 Akatsuki (GSD), which are all capable of mounting Striker Packs and were all based on the same frame.
- The helmet Mu wears as Neo is very similar to the helmet worn by Zechs Merquise of Gundam Wing, who was also voiced by Takehito Koyasu.
External links
