All Things Andromeda, continued

When Yamato 2202 first arrived, it became obvious that Andromeda would be revived in a big way. Thus the time came to curate a history of the ship from its first appearance in 1978 to its expansion to FIVE ships (five – just imagine!) in 2017. To that end, All Things Andromeda was published here in June 2017.

Since then, well, the lid has been blown so far off Pandora’s box it’s hard to remember it even having a lid. 2202 Chapter 6 gave us an explosion of Andromedas beyond anything we could have imagined at the start. Whole fleets of Andromedas hurled themselves at the super-sized Gatlantis in a glorious display of mecha fan service. Therefore, it behooves us to pick up where the previous article left off and gather up all the developments we’ve seen since then.

When last we left our hero, the first 1/1000 model kit was out, the 3-meter display model made its debut (and appeared for duty at nearly every subsequent movie premiere), and we got our first look at the prototype for the 1/2000 “Shining Ship” miniature. Much has happened since those innocent days…


Mecha Collection model kits (Bandai)

01 Andromeda

December, 2017

Andromeda became the first in the lineup of 2202 mini-kits. The original 1978 version was number 4 in the line of 30 Mecha Collection models that spanned all three TV series.

Andromedas both new and old are shown here to demonstrate how far modeling technology has come in 40 years.

See a gallery of finished kits here.

Advance ticket bonus model

March, 2018

While supplies lasted, fans could obtain three different bonus items with advance tickets for Chapter 5: a standard ticket plus poster with the Chapter 5 flyer art, a card ticket plus matching clear file, OR – undoubtedly the most popular choice – a card ticket plus an exclusive clear version of the Mecha Collection Andromeda. It was referred to as “metallic color” since reflective glitter was baked into the plastic.

Fans were quick to build their kits and post photos on Twitter. Marusei320 gave us a good look at the model with its special box (above left) and 94Ragunso11 brought out the previously-released clear models from Ark of the Stars for a three-way lineup.

04 Apollo Norm

May, 2018

Though molded in blue, it was possible to repaint this kit in grey to represent Antares (alternate name decals were included), then combine both with repainted Andromeda models to fill out the entire 5-ship armada.

See a gallery of finished kits here.

07 Earth Flagship Andromeda-class set

November, 2018

With both the battleship and carrier variants previously released, Bandai put appropriately-colored parts for all five of the AAA-class ships in one box and added a large display stand to accommodate the entire fleet.

See more product photos at Hobby Search here.


Cosmo Fleet Special Miniatures (Megahouse)

Andromeda

January, 2018

Following Yamato with asteroid ring, a reissue of the Megaluda, and the hi-spec Cosmo Zero, this was the fourth 2202 CFSP miniature from Bandai’s Megahouse division.

Andromeda is in scale with Yamato at a lengthy 7.5”. It has metallic painting inside the Wave-Motion Guns and moveable main turrets. A mini Cosmo Tiger 1 is included as a bonus item. Package photos posted on Twitter by Sousui.

A large collection of prototype photos was published at this blog prior to release.

Aldebaran and Achilles

March, 2018

These two were repaints of the CFSP Andromeda and came with different support craft. Whereas Andromeda included a Cosmo Tiger 1, each of these ships came with a differently-colored Cosmo Falcon.

They were a web-only release, not sold in stores or through major retailers like Amazon. Thus, photos are hard to come by. We have Twitter user Ayahtt to thank for these.

They both sold out quickly, but their listings at the Megahouse website can still be seen here and here.

Find multiple pics of Aldebaran here and Achilles here.

These prototypes were unveiled to the public at a hobby show in November, 2017. (Photo by friend-of-the-website Hiroshi Ban.)


1/2000 “Shining Ship” Miniatures (Premium Bandai)

Andromeda

December, 2017

The second in this line of finely-crafted miniatures from Premium Bandai includes internal lighting, multi-layered hull paint, rotating turrets, a standard display stand, and a jointed stand with mirrored panels. Its length is just over 8.5″ and it retails for about $60 US.

See the Bandai Premium home pages for this product here and here.

See a gallery of photos here.

Apollo Norm

November, 2018

This was the fourth ship in the “Shining Ship” lineup. See the official site for the ship here.

See product photos here and here.


1/1000 Model Kits (Bandai)

Aldebaran

August, 2017

Aldebaran is essentially an Andromeda model recast in blue, but that doesn’t make it any less gorgeous. As the “movie effect” version, it comes with electronics that allow for light and sound features.

See a gallery of finished kits here.

Achilles

January, 2018

In a break with tradition after the release of Andromeda and Aldebaran, Achilles was not sold through regular sources. Instead, it was an exclusive Premium Bandai product, only available online. It was sold with custom decals but without the light-and-sound package. Thus, its price was about half that of its predecessors.

See Bandai’s home page for the model here.

See a photo gallery here

Apollo Norm

March, 2018

With the Andromeda clones out of the way, Bandai finally rolled out the first carrier version of the ship. Measuring 19” long when built, it includes tiny Cosmo Tigers and Falcons, and is ready-made to accommodate the light & sound kit from 2017’s Andromeda.

See a photo gallery of prototype and finished Apollo Norms here.

See more product photos here.

Andromeda DX

December, 2018

With all the Andromeda customizing seen in Chapter 6, it was only fitting that Bandai released a deluxe (DX) version of the ship to put the same power in the hands of fans. This kit includes all the parts needed to build either the battleship or carrier variants, and multiple decals to decorate the ship as you see fit – with a smaller set to customize the Mecha Collection mini-kit. Light and sound features are not included.

This is the first kit to include the Wave-Motion splitter seen on the “final battle” version of Andromeda in Chapter 6, and the instruction manual is augmented by several new pages dedicated to the ship. Bandai indicated that this was a thank you to fans who made the earlier Andromeda kits such a success. (Keep reading to see the interior.)

See a photo gallery of the kit and book here

See more product photos at Hobby Search and Big Bad Toy Store.


Chapter 6 Mecha Guide entries (official website)

Autonomous unmanned Battleship BBB Andromeda Black

BBB: Black Berserk Battalion

Faced with the unimaginable military might of Gatlantis, the Earth Federation decided on mass production of a single-class battleship, creating the Black Andromeda. They are armed with the same artillery weapons as the Andromeda class, but do not carry fighters. High-mobility nozzles have been added to the hull in various places, making possible the intense manueverability of a torpedo boat. The hull color is a unified black.

Spacecraft carrier CCC-01 Neu Balgray

CCC: Crimson Cameraderie Carrier

In order to cope with the unexpected scale of the enemy forces, the production of naval vessels was increased in the time fault factory, and Garmillas created a unified front with the Earth fleet. Rather than the existing Guipellon-class multi-deck carrier, the fleet was strengthened by licensing the new ship of Earth, the Andromeda-class carrier. There is no change to the basic structure of the Andromeda carrier, but electronic equipment for air traffic control, navigation systems, etc. were replaced with those of Garmillas style.

Four vessels were built in advance to organize a new carrier group, and Fomto Berger, who previously experienced fierce battle with Gatlantis, was appointed as the commander. The “Berger Battle Team” consisted of Neu Balgray with another three vessels designated Neu Lambea, Neu Schderg, and Neu Darold. The ships are equipped with Debakke fighters, Dolcia torpedo planes, and the heavy bomber Galunt II with its Wave-Motion drill bullet. The upper deck is protected by a Wave Barrier and warp is possible with the aircraft moored to the hull.

Vanguard armament space battleship ZZZ-0001 Andromeda-Kai

The first battleship Andromeda was subjected to emergency repair and large-scale remodeling in the time fault factory. In the Gatlantis anti-matter missile attack in the Battle of Saturn, the ship’s Wave-Motion bow muzzle and Wave-Motion Engine were damaged. It became impossible to warp, so two Dreadnought-class battleships were attached to its sides by gravity anchors, and a return to Earth was carried out via trans-warp.

Like the Dreadnought class, the destroyed Wave-Motion Guns at the bow were enhanced by adding a splitter to the muzzles that strengthened them into a quadruple-spread Diffusion WMGs. The formerly manned ship was reborn as the prototype of a high-mobility combat system with complex autonomous navigation. To avoid the risk of deploying this weapon in an unmanned operation, one crew member was appointed at the opinion of Captain Yamanami. Several identical ships were built, and the YF-2203 unmanned Andromeda fleet was reorganized under this new Andromeda-Kai commanded by Yamanami himself. It was deployed into battle at the absolute defense zone in Mars airspace, and the single crewman needed reinforced space clothing in order to perform high-mobility combat.


Click here to continue

3 thoughts on “All Things Andromeda, continued

  1. Im confused..

    So the BBB type Andromedas are totally unmanned but the ZZZs have one crew member? or were they also all totally unmanned save for Andromeda with Yamanami? Because during the attack on the citadel they cut to another Andromeda ZZZ bridge and only an “Analizer” can be seen sugesting only Yamanami its aboard..

    The BBBs i didnt had much clear if they were or not crewless.. wonder if the darker hull with red trim Dreadnoughts were unmanned too

  2. Tim is correct, Yamanami is the sole human in the entire BBB fleet. However, he is not the sole human in the entire Andromeda fleet as Aldebaran was last shown fighting just fine, Antares is shown being towed into repairs, and Achilles is shown in the background also being repaired. Since those three original AAA class ships were never converted to BBB specs, they remain crewed.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *