Name: Kanoko Tanegashi

Age: 21
 
Century: Universal Century

Appearance: A tall, rather burly woman, Kanoko's head is crowned by a mane of orange-red hair, complementing her vivid green eyes. With a round face and a bright smile, her personality is much different than her physique suggests, much to the surprise of many who meet her. Standing at roughly five-foot-nine, Kanoko is built thick, based on a regimen of physical training meant for weightlifting and enduring labor. Broad shoulders, thick thighs, and a barrel-like chest define her as well as impressive physical strength, being one of the toughest pilots of the Thunderbolt Sector in regards to raw power and stamina. Peach-colored skin, slightly darkened by exposure to the intense flashes and radiation of the ruins of Side 4, she's nonetheless very amiable, and tends to set people at ease with her open attitude.

Genetic Type: Human

Biography: Kanoko, like many of the Federation forces, was actually born in one of its space colonies as a Spacenoid, but in one particularly loyal to the Federation. She grew up relatively far from discrimination, and as such maintained a somewhat naive attitude towards the Principality of Zeon's cause, seeing it more as just major political unrest rather than any sort of independence movement on behalf of an ostracized group. As an engineering student, she had many opportunities to gaze upon the works of Anaheim Electronics and the Federation as a whole, which spurred her interest in mobile suit research. All of this was on track with her to have an internship at one of the biggest manufacturers in the entire solar system.

Until the draft came for the One-Year War, and Kanoko would finally see the brutality that both sides had unleashed. At this point in time, too, she found that most Federation personnel that weren't taken from the colonies were extremely skeptical of her loyalty and motives, even as she was dropped into the pipeline for mobile suit training due to her technical expertise and deeper knowledge of their systems. Given a GM, she was shipped off to the Thunderbolt Sector where some of the most intense fighting existed, among the lethal eddies of the shoal zone.

Kanoko would bear witness to many things, which would temper her mind and attitude and change how she thought about the relationship between Zeon and the Federation, as well as between the humans that might have caused the rift in the first place. She grew to comprehend and understand both sides, but currently she was bound to the Federation during her tour of duty and could not seek a better way to reconcile and help end the war. 

Her chance finally came after several months out, when her piloting skills were noted and slated her for a suit upgrade. Fully expecting to get a newer model of the R-79GM, she was instead shocked with the award and honor of piloting a Gundam, the second one Side 4's Federation group had managed to acquire. After Io Fleming's first disastrous run, despite his effectiveness in the first half of the operation, the military councils were loathe to part with another unit, especially as the Gundam, the RX-78 series, was seen as a symbol of power and hope as well as sheer might.

Unlike Io's model, however, her RX-78 was the base, space-oriented version with grappling gear made for securing itself on large enough sections of debris. It didn't matter; the stark white of the suit, in contrast with its dark torso and the muted colors called to her. 

She made damn sure she was going to protect it, versus running it around recklessly.

Character's Gundam/Mobile Suit:
 1st mobile suit (Start of rp) being used: RX-78 Space Combat model, base unit of FA-78
[img]http://www.gundamtoyshop.com/uploads/1/4/1/7/14174478/s940563549618061150_p1132_i24_w495.jpeg[/img]
 

 List of Gundam/mobile suit's weapons: 
[b]Equipment:[/b]
Additional high-resolution sensors
Grappling gear on feet for zero-G maneuvers
[b]Fixed Armament:[/b]
x2 Beam Sabers, stored on new recharging stations that fold onto the thruster unit on its back
Standard Gundam-issue shield, Thunderbolt Sector-use
Standard Gundam-issue beam rifle, +4 capacitor magazines
x1 Bazooka