GundamMecha

RX-78GP03S Gundam GP03 Dendrobium Stamen

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Model number: RX-78GP03S
Code name: Gundam GP03S Dendrobium Stamen
Unit type: prototype space attack use mobile suit
Manufacturer: Anaheim Electronics
Operator: Earth Federation Forces
Rollout: 4 October UC 0083
First deployment: 11 November UC 0083
Accommodation: pilot only, in panoramic monitor/linear seat cockpit in torso (option to replace panoramic monitor/linear seat cockpit with standard-type cockpit in Core Fighter II-Sp)
Dimensions: head height 18.0 meters
Weight: empty 41.6 metric tons; max gross 70.0 metric tons
Armor materials: Luna Titanium alloy
Powerplant: Minovsky type ultracompact fusion reactor, output rated at 2,000 kW
Propulsion: rocket thrusters: 188,000 kg total (2 x 40,000 kg, 2 x 42,000 kg, 2 x 12,000 kg)
Performance: 180-degree turn time 0.8 seconds
Equipment and design features: sensors, range unknown; 2 x extending manipulator arm, mounted in forearms, used to retrieve hand weapons from RX-78GP03 Gundam Dendrobium Orchis weapons container pods; docking binder backpack for docking with Orchis; optional Core Block System using Core Fighter II-Sp, replaces standard backpack and panoramic monitor/linear seat cockpit block inside torso
Fixed armaments: 2 x beam saber, stored in recharge racks in backpack docking binders, hand-carried in use
Optional fixed armaments: folding shield, mounted on either forearm
Optional hand armaments: beam rifle, power rated at 1.5 MW, powered by replaceable e-pac, with mounted “jitte” beam saber blocking unit, 4 spare e-pacs stored in folding shield; folding bazooka, clip-fed, 6 rounds in clip plus 1 round in chamber

During its military reconstruction following the devastating One Year War, the Earth Federation Forces contracted a private company, Anaheim Electronics, to develop a series of new Gundam-model mobile suits to serve as conceptual testbeds for new and improved mobile suit technology. The third of these new prototypes to be produced by Anaheim was the RX-78GP03 Gundam, codenamed Dendrobium. The Dendrobium was composed of two units: the RX-78GP03S Gundam mobile suit itself, codenamed Stamen; and the large RX-78GP03 mobile weapon unit, codenamed Orchis. The Stamen was, for the most part, a standard type of mobile suit, although it did incorporate some differences from other “normal” Gundam prototypes. Instead of the costly Core Block System, the cockpit was of the panoramic monitor/linear seat type, a concept originally tested in the RX-78NT-1 Gundam NT-1 Alex during the latter days of the One Year War. This cockpit configuration provided the pilot with an almost unlimited field of vision and served as the basis for the standard mobile suit cockpit to be used in all designs thereafter. The usual head vulcan guns were absent, replaced by an advanced sensor and avionics package. The backpack was composed of a “docking binder” system to link up with and control the Orchis mobile weapon component. The arms also each incorporated a large, folding manipulator arm, which was used to retrieve the Stamen’s own weapons (such as beam rifles, folding bazookas, etc.) from their storage racks in the Orchis‘ weapons container pods. The Stamen was also developed with the intention of its cockpit block and backpack being replaced with a Core Block System. This Core Block was composed of a special Core Fighter II-Sp, with the cockpit/nose section borrowed from the FF-XII Core Fighter II. Although the standard backpack and cockpit block were constructed and installed in the Stamen, the Core Fighter II-Sp was never built.

The Stamen was completed at Anaheim’s Von Braun City lunar factory and delivered to their La Vie en Rose dockship, where the Orchis component had also been completed. The only thing left to make the GP03 field-ready was piloting and combat data. However, with the shutdown of the Gundam Development Project, EFF security officer Nakahha Nakato dismissed all of the Anaheim research staff except for systems engineer Lucette Audevie. With the threat of the Delaz Fleet and the impending colony drop crisis, Lucette strongly argued for the GP03’s completion, all to no avail. To face this desperate situation, Gundam pilot Kou Uraki and the crew of the assault carrier Albion hijacked the GP03 – with the assistance of Lucette (and at the cost of her life) – and quickly fielded the Dendrobium in November UC 0083, proving to be a devastating foe to the Delaz Fleet escorting their hijacked colony falling towards Earth. Although the Orchis was heavily damaged in battle, both Kou and the Stamen survived. Following the end of Operation Stardust, the EFF erased all data on the Stamen as part of a massive cover-up of the Gundam Development Project.

Pilot(s): Kou Uraki, Defrah Kar
First appearance: Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory
Original mechanical designer: Hajime Katoki

rx-78gp03s-beamsaber

Beam saber

rx-78gp03s-cockpit

Cockpit

rx-78gp03s-foldingbazooka

Folding bazooka

rx-78gp03s-foldingshield

Folding shield

rx-78gp03s-hatch

Cockpit hatch

rx-78gp03s-maniparm

Manipulator arm

rx-78gp03s-rear

Rear view

rx-78gp03s-tailbinder

Tail binder

Gundam 0083 Info

Director(s):
Takashi Imanishi
Mitsuko Kase

Writer(s):
Fuyunori Gobu
Ryosuke Takahashi
Akinori Endo
Tomohide Ohkuma

Mechanical Designer(s):
Hajime Katoki
Shoji Kawamori
Mika Akitaka
Junya Ishigaki
Yasushi Ishizu

Character Designer:
Toshihiro Kawamoto

Musical Composer:
Mitsuo Hagita

Format:
13 episodes; 1 compilation movie

Video Release:
Japan 05.23.1991 – 09.24.1992
U.S. 01.22.2002 – 07.23.2002

Theatrical Release:
Japan 08.29.1992

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