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RX-78GP03 Gundam "Dendrobium"
Series: Super Deformed (SD) Title: RX-78GP03 Gundam "Dendrobium" Release Date: 2003 Suggested Price: ¥ 1000 No. of Parts: 71 + 16 polycaps Plastic colors: white, blue, gray, red Gimmicks: beam rifle, hyper bazooka, beam saber, shield, hyper beam saber, opening bay doors
Contributor: Chris 'KokopelliChindi' Knudtson Date: February 3, 2004 This is another SD kit I bought because I had no plans on getting the HGM or HGUC versions. This is basically two kits in one: the Stamen MS, and the Orchis MA.
Two halves enclose the face and antenna, with the seam hidden in the head's panel lines. The details are great from the Katoki bolts to the massive V-fin. For once, I actually used the provided stickers on the face since the eyes would be too hard to paint and the stickers have green reflective areas.
Instead of a moveable waist, the torso splits in half and folds so the suit can fit into the mobile armor. The back thruster mount acts as a hinge and there are two 'teeth' in the upper section that lock into the lower. The top half is the blue upper torso and the bottom half is the white lower torso and skirt armor. There's a red piece for the cockpit hatch and stickers for the chest vents. The backpack thrusters move up and down but are unfortunately hollow. The tail binders attach to the rear skirt with pegs and have some little moveable flaps.
Shoulders are in two hales and the upper arm is just a small piece of plastic. There's plenty of articulation in the simple arms though. The lower arms have the technical arms molded into them but there are no replaceable folded-out versions (not that I expected them anyway). The hands are also molded into the lower arms so they're fixed in a gripping pose.
There's no real legs, just the feet mounted on ball joints. The feet are just a top and bottom piece with a polycap. The bottoms have a thruster molded into the foot. While there are no real legs, the feet can be easily positioned to put the Stamen into an action pose.
This is about 2/3 of the kit in size, although it has less parts than the Stamen. There are basically two parts, the weapons bays and the lower section of the MA. The bays are two large pieces that enclose the mega beam rifle and the I-field generator. The I-field generator is hollow on the inner side and only has the louvers in the closed position. The MBR is molded on both sides and has a cap on the end to make it look hollow. The bay doors are hinged so they can fold up to show the weapon containers, but the V-Fin of the Stamen will get in the way when its docked. The weapon silos are all molded into the bay, although the shape is deformed (of course). Slapping a coat of gray on the white interior makes the it look much better. The doors are not floppy and will remain in the open position. The back of the bays has a bunch of large bolts molded into it. The lower section has a large open bed where the SD GP03S rests. The arms are immobile but the claws can open and close to hold the hyper beam saber. The thruster arrays are large pieces that snap onto the bed. The weapon bays plug into the lower half by the means of a jointed piece that is locked into place by the main thruster array. There are panel lines, vents, and box-shaped depressions all over the underside of the mobile armor. The kit can either balance either on the back fins and the rear claw fins, or on both sets of claw fins. To insert the Stamen, the suit has to be folded open on its hinge. The tail and back binders rotate down. The arms bend at the elbow and the feet need to be positioned correctly. Then the entire mobile armor opens up and the figure goes in. There are two slots, one under the cockpit, and one under the rear skirt armor. They line up with matching tabs on the mobile armor. The weapon bays fold down and the figure is locked into the mobile armor.
The weapons are all single pieces and fit into the hands easy. The beam rifle has a small hollow part on the inside. The hyper bazooka has an entire hollow side and no bore. The bay doors get in the way of holding the bazooka when the Stamen is docked. The shield also has a small hollow bit on the front. The hyper beam saber is nice and long, and the hollow part of the hilt can't be seen when being held in the claws. No complaints about the beam saber though.
Like the Neue Ziel, this kit's only fault is all the hollow pieces. All the weapons are bad, but if you don't fill the binders the suit simply looks cheap. Fortunately, all these flaws are hidden when the Stamen is docked. The kit looks very impressive with the Stamen docked, both bay doors open, holding the beam rifle and hyper bazooka, and the hyper beam saber in one of the claws. It is very white, which I thought was boring so I gave it a new color scheme and doodled a bunch of WWII style nose art all over it. Like the Neue Ziel, this kit will satisfy your Dendrobium craving if you can't afford or house the larger models. Overall Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars <<back to Gundam |
