Terry Sanders Jr.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Terry Sanders Junior (テリー・サンダーズJr., Terī Sandāzu Junia^?) is a fictional character in the anime OVA Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team. The character is voiced in Japanese by Tesshō Genda and in English by Steve Kramer.

Terry Sanders Jr., often referred to as Sanders by his teammates, was a member of the 08th Mobile Suit Team. He was 29 years old during the events of the series. Among the Federal Forces, he gained a reputation of being cursed due to several notorious strokes of bad luck: Every team he was assigned to would be completely annihilated on their third mission together, save for Sanders himself. This earned him the unfortunate nickname of "Shinigami Sanders" ("Sanders the Reaper" in the English version).

[edit] Story

Sanders was a veteran Earth Federation Space Forces test pilot long before he joined the 08th Mobile Suit Team. On October 10, UC 0079, Sanders and his team engaged an experimental Zeon MS-06RD-4 Zaku II Prototype mobile suit and its escorts. But during the battle all of Sanders' teammates were killed and Sanders' own RGM-79[E] GM Type-E was slightly damaged and ran out of ammunition. However, Sanders was saved by Shiro Amada who attacked the experimental Zaku II Prototype in a measly RB-79K Ball K Type, allowing Sanders to retreat to a waiting shuttle.

With all of his old team dead, Sanders was transferred to the 08th Mobile Suit Team under the Kojima Battalion in South-East Asia, placed under the direct command of Shiro Amada, the young man who had just saved his life. Sanders would pilot the RX-79[G] Gundam Mass Production Ground Type unit 083, and he would quickly prove his worth as a heavy weapons user.

However, all was not well with Sanders. As the 08th Team received additional missions he would become more unconfident with himself and Sanders began to get into fights with the other mobile suit teams as rumors of the circumstances of his past team-mates' demise spread throughout the other squads.

However, Shiro Amada refused to believe in the rumor, rejecting Sanders' request for a resignation before their third mission. On their third mission the 08th Team encountered the massive Apsalus I mobile armor, but although the units all came out of the fray damaged, all of the pilots were still alive. Sander's jinx was broken and he would continue to be a valuable member of the 08th Team until the unit was disbanded in December of 0079 and Sanders was sent back to space.