Black Tri-Stars

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The "Black Tri-Stars" (黒い三連星, Kuroi Sanrensei^?) were a three-man mobile suit assault team in the classic anime TV series Mobile Suit Gundam. They are sometimes alternately referred to as the "Black Trinary", or less often, the "Black Trinity".

The trio consisted of Zeon ace pilots Lieutenant Gaia (ガイア, Gaia^?), Lieutenant Junior Grade Ortega (オルテガ, Orutega^?), and Lieutenant Junior Grade Mash (マッシュ, Masshu^?). The three men first met in May, U.C.0076 when the Zeon space forces began secretly practicing combat maneuvers in preparation for the upcoming war. The three were all assigned to the Mobile Training Battalion D Company, 2nd Platoon, and became good friends quickly.

Gaia

Ortega

Mash

During the Battle of Loum on January 16th, U.C.0079, the three men first earned their notorious reputation when they captured General Revil. The three customized MS-05 Zaku I that they piloted, painted in a black-and-purple colour scheme, earned the trio the nickname "Black Tri-Stars".

The Black Tri-Stars came up with their own unique tactical maneuver with the high speed and maneuverability of the Zakus, developing their trademark attack, the "Jet Stream Attack". Moving in at high speed, the trio lines up one behind the other, forming a lethal simultaneous triple assault in which two of the members attack with ranged weapons and the last one attacks with a melee weapon. The danger of this maneuver is that dodging one attack puts the victim perfectly in the sites of the second or third attack. The three members of the Black Tri-Stars were said to be more skilled than an entire squad of normal soldiers, and they proved it constantly with their ruthless attacks on the Earth Federation's space forces. In July, 0079, the Black Tri-Stars alone in their new High Mobility Zaku IIs destroyed an entire Earth Federation Reconnaissance in Force fleet near the Zeon asteroid fortress of A Baoa Qu.

In October, U.C.0079 the Black Tri-Stars are each given a new Dom and transferred to Earth by Kycilia Zabi where they join the 7th Terrestrial Mobile Division, 1st Mobile Suit Battalion. On November 6th, the Black Tri-Stars arrive at Odessa, Ukraine to shore up the defences of the mining facilities against the Earth Federation's all-out attack. The trio immediately sets out to ambush the White Base, during which the Black Tri-Stars manage to kill Medea transport commander Ensign Matilda Ajan. However, Federation's Gundam pilot Amuro Ray is able to break through the deadly Jet Stream Attack by using Gaia's Dom as a jumping platform, and kills Mash in return, forcing the two remaining Black Tri-Stars to retreat in shock.

Gaia and Ortega return to Odessa where they honour the death of their fallen comrade, Mash. They decide the best way to both honour and avenge Mash's death would be to destroy the Gundam and the White Base. On November 9th, the remaining two Tri-Stars attack the White Base during Operation Odessa (M'quve finds out about this and chews them out as they attack but the remaining Tri-Stars still continue on). However with the triad broken, Gaia and Ortega are easily killed by the Gundam, putting an end to the legacy of the Black Tri-Stars.

[edit] Trivia

As a nod to the Black Tri-Stars, a Notorious Monster in Square Enix's MMORPG Final Fantasy XI consisting of a trio of small bats is named the Black Triple Stars. In addition, the Black Triple Stars and all the mobs in its family are known for using a special attack called Jet Stream.

In the anime Mahoromatic, a group of 3 villagers perform the Jet stream attack on Mahoro while she performs the role of the Gundam.

In Great Teacher Onizuka manga, one of Onizuka's students, Urumi Kanzaki, makes a string of pranks and vandalisms on Holy Forest Academy and its faculty and students. During this, she is confronted by a trio of female upper classman who are collectively known as the "Black Stars". They are named Gaia, Masha and Ortega respectively, have notably dark skin and wear loose socks that are wide around the bottoms, in the style of Dom feet.

In the 29th episode of the anime series Yakitate!! Japan!, the rivalling bakery calls for the aid of three expert bakers from their Kyūshū branch, who bear an amazing resemblance to the Black Tri-stars. Even more intriguing is the fact they often wear jumpsuits similar to the pilot suits of the original characters, and often rode around on roller blades (as a contrast to the Dom mobile suits which hovered). When they later try the main character's special bread, they hallucinate, and find themselves in Doms fighting against their former employer (in G Gundam's GF13-050NSW Nobel Gundam, for some reason).

In the strategy game series Gihren's Greed, it is possible to save the Black Tristars from their demise at the hands of the Gundam. This can be accomplished in a number of ways, such as providing Ramba Ral with the support he needs to capture the White Base or simply not sending them to earth. If the player keeps them alive, they can get their own customised Gelgoog or YMS-15 Gyans.

In the RPG Shadow Hearts: Covenant, there are a trio of wolves that call themselves the "Black Dog Stars" that the player can fight as an optional quest. Their names are Maya, Mash, are Martega, an obvious homage to the Black Tri-Stars.

In Full Metal Panic!, one episode had an Arm Slave (AS) match between two teams. One had the main character, Sousuke Sagara, helping his friend whose father owned said team (and lost every year). The opposing team, with a cocky leader, beats the team each year with his infamous 'Red Stream Attack'.

In G Gundam, Sai Saichi saves Neo-Denmark's Hans Holger's younger sister Cecile from a gang of thugs. Those thugs later try to attack Sai Saichi before he can get to his match with Hans. Domon decides to take care of them, and his God Gundam more than easily defeats their mobile workers. These guys perform a move they call the 'Jet Stream Attack' on the God Gundam, but instead of charging straight on, these thugs circle around the opponent (to which Domon sticks his foot out and trips them).

A homage to the original series, the end of Gundam SEED DESTINY has three pilots (one with an eye-patch) who pilot 3 ZGMF-XX09T DOM Trooper mobile suits. They perform the same Jet Stream Attack that the original Black Tri-Stars do.

In Front Mission: Gun Hazard, there is a trio of enemies piloting hovering robots painted in purple and red. They use an attack called the "Meteor Storm".