Mobile Suit: NIAN

Mobile Suit: NIAN

Nian is a legendary creature in Chinese folklore which is said to be a ferocious animal that breathes fire and hunt down people. Motivated by this folklore, I designed a mobile suit that has a resemblance to the monster. 

Mobile suit Nian is China's mass-produced mobile suit made to counter other mobile armors. The gigantic left arm can easily crush enemy mobile suits with its pile bunker and spikes around it. 

Designs Motive-

In order for Nian to immobilize enemy mobile armor, it needs to approach in close-range since it is capable of fighting only in melee range. To make the approach quicker and easier, Mobile suit Nian is designed to have legs with backward knees and all thrusters heading toward the back of the mobile armor to help the mobile suit run in fast speed.  Although there is a machine gun attached to the back of the left arm, it can barely do damage to mobile armors and is there only for attacking non-mobile suit weapon systems.

Flamethrower

On the face of Nian is a flamethrower, installed to kill enemy mobile suit pilot or other ground unit soldiers when the mobile suit can't use its arms to eliminate the enemy. The flamethrower can also be used to burn forests to prevent enemy ambush or clearing path.  

Original Design

The original concept of Mobile Suit: Nian was to create a mobile suit that is capable of countering enemy mobile suits in any situations, whether that was in close-combat or from long-distance. However, I soon concluded that this design is inefficient due to its lack of strength in both the close and long range combat. This led me to design a mobile suit that has the maximum potential when it comes to melee-range combats, removing the canon from the original sketch and giving more beast-like body to provide steady movements. 

Head Sketch