1/100 MG Gundam GP03 Stamen (RX-78GP03S)
This is the brilliant GP03 Stamen originally designed by Hajime Katoki that appear in the extremely popular anime; Mobile Suite Gundam 0083 Stardust Memory.
I personally feel, it is the best amongst many of the Gundam anime within the Universal Century timeline (UC) and even untill today, Stardust Memory remained as my old time favorite together with Seed.
This GP03 Stamen appear in the final 3 episode of the anime and eventually "piloting" the biggest and the most devastating monster ever created by Anaheim Electronics (at least till at that point of time) - The Dendrobium Orchis.
One thing I like about Stardust Memory is that the ending is quite solid and firm. Although at the end Kou Uraki have this "unfinished business" kind of feel but surely for me as the viewer I think the ending is excellent if compared to the ending of the Char's Counter Attack ... what it seems to be a great finale were ruined by some sort of "magic" elements - I seriously hate it.... why can they just make that big falling asteroid explode and killing Amuro Ray and Char Aznable long the way and that's about it.
Nonetheless, let's have a look at this Stamen.
The box...
All the runners... the last time I work on MG kits was September 2009 and after several months now, I feel so intimidated to see all these runners....
One thing I like about the old MG kits from Bandai is that they always give this nice big poster... I just love to have it and put it on my desk as some sort of reference while I'm working on my kit.
Not too many decals and stickers.... if you're a lazy person like me, you will be so happy... and eventually I only use a few of them....
The color scheme of the Stamen is more or less is almost the same as RX-78NT-1Alex, lots' of white and blue but very minimal red....
And thus, I decided to do some changes and try to follow the color scheme of GP01 and/or Strike Gundam...
That little changes prove to be a whole lot of work.... I regret doing it but after all the hardship I'm somehow glad that this kit didn't end up goes to rubbish bin...
Despite being released in 2001, this model can do well in articulation department...
Kneeling pose is never a problem...
The articulation on the arms are quite good as well...
Perhaps the only weakness is the poor articulation and movement range on the waist part but I think I can live with that... not a big deal for me...
This model comes with a core fighter and a default core block, you can choose either one but since I am such a lazy person, I decided to choose the easy option and choose the normal or default core block. The core fighter is transformable which is nice but I just don't want to do any extra work anymore... enough is enough...
One of the nice features of this Gundam is this hidden claw arms inside his arms...
The beam sabers are stored inside the rocket packs at the back...
The face/head of Stamen is one of the most outstanding amongst all of the Gundams.... a real strong testimony, out loud and proud.... a great vision of Hajime Katoki....
All the weapons and armaments... a rifle, a folding bazooka and shield and lastly the standard 2 beam saber.
The Stamen fully armed, standing strong...
Action pose on the floor is not really great.... this Stamen is meant for space configuration - that means flying all the time...
So other than that GFF stance (standing pose), perhaps it is best to use the action/display base. Though please bear in mind that no standard action/display base adapter is really suitable perfectly but you can still force it in anyway....
1 think that I noticed on the beam saber handle, it is truly in accordance to Hajime Katoki's favorite design in which he did the same to all of the beam saber handle that comes with GFF.
Overall this Stamen is in fact an easy MG kits to work with, everything is just simple straight forward, no complex stuff and upon completion you will get a completed models which is based on Hajime Katoki's design and it sure looks great.
If you like Stardust Memory, surely you would want to get this GP03 Stamen as well as the GP01 Zephyranthes and GP02 Physalis.
I believe the chance for us to see the 1/100 MG scale of Dendrobium Orchis would be very slim if not impossible because as far as Bandai concern, the 1/144 HGUC GP03 Dendrobium is the one and only GunPla kit that is logical and available now and at the price tag of 28,000 yen or about SGD 440.00 - surely it is already expensive enough for many people (bear in mind shipment charges is another issue to be considered).
Perhaps at the moment, only a serious hardcore GunPla collector that have plenty of extra cash to spare can afford to buy that monster.
As for the rest of us, the Dendrobium probably will remain as our "holy grail" in our wish list.
I personally feel, it is the best amongst many of the Gundam anime within the Universal Century timeline (UC) and even untill today, Stardust Memory remained as my old time favorite together with Seed.
This GP03 Stamen appear in the final 3 episode of the anime and eventually "piloting" the biggest and the most devastating monster ever created by Anaheim Electronics (at least till at that point of time) - The Dendrobium Orchis.
One thing I like about Stardust Memory is that the ending is quite solid and firm. Although at the end Kou Uraki have this "unfinished business" kind of feel but surely for me as the viewer I think the ending is excellent if compared to the ending of the Char's Counter Attack ... what it seems to be a great finale were ruined by some sort of "magic" elements - I seriously hate it.... why can they just make that big falling asteroid explode and killing Amuro Ray and Char Aznable long the way and that's about it.
Nonetheless, let's have a look at this Stamen.
The box...
All the runners... the last time I work on MG kits was September 2009 and after several months now, I feel so intimidated to see all these runners....
One thing I like about the old MG kits from Bandai is that they always give this nice big poster... I just love to have it and put it on my desk as some sort of reference while I'm working on my kit.
Not too many decals and stickers.... if you're a lazy person like me, you will be so happy... and eventually I only use a few of them....
The color scheme of the Stamen is more or less is almost the same as RX-78NT-1Alex, lots' of white and blue but very minimal red....
And thus, I decided to do some changes and try to follow the color scheme of GP01 and/or Strike Gundam...
That little changes prove to be a whole lot of work.... I regret doing it but after all the hardship I'm somehow glad that this kit didn't end up goes to rubbish bin...
Despite being released in 2001, this model can do well in articulation department...
Kneeling pose is never a problem...
The articulation on the arms are quite good as well...
Perhaps the only weakness is the poor articulation and movement range on the waist part but I think I can live with that... not a big deal for me...
This model comes with a core fighter and a default core block, you can choose either one but since I am such a lazy person, I decided to choose the easy option and choose the normal or default core block. The core fighter is transformable which is nice but I just don't want to do any extra work anymore... enough is enough...
One of the nice features of this Gundam is this hidden claw arms inside his arms...
The beam sabers are stored inside the rocket packs at the back...
The face/head of Stamen is one of the most outstanding amongst all of the Gundams.... a real strong testimony, out loud and proud.... a great vision of Hajime Katoki....
All the weapons and armaments... a rifle, a folding bazooka and shield and lastly the standard 2 beam saber.
The Stamen fully armed, standing strong...
Action pose on the floor is not really great.... this Stamen is meant for space configuration - that means flying all the time...
So other than that GFF stance (standing pose), perhaps it is best to use the action/display base. Though please bear in mind that no standard action/display base adapter is really suitable perfectly but you can still force it in anyway....
1 think that I noticed on the beam saber handle, it is truly in accordance to Hajime Katoki's favorite design in which he did the same to all of the beam saber handle that comes with GFF.
Overall this Stamen is in fact an easy MG kits to work with, everything is just simple straight forward, no complex stuff and upon completion you will get a completed models which is based on Hajime Katoki's design and it sure looks great.
If you like Stardust Memory, surely you would want to get this GP03 Stamen as well as the GP01 Zephyranthes and GP02 Physalis.
I believe the chance for us to see the 1/100 MG scale of Dendrobium Orchis would be very slim if not impossible because as far as Bandai concern, the 1/144 HGUC GP03 Dendrobium is the one and only GunPla kit that is logical and available now and at the price tag of 28,000 yen or about SGD 440.00 - surely it is already expensive enough for many people (bear in mind shipment charges is another issue to be considered).
Perhaps at the moment, only a serious hardcore GunPla collector that have plenty of extra cash to spare can afford to buy that monster.
As for the rest of us, the Dendrobium probably will remain as our "holy grail" in our wish list.
I build this model too.
ReplyDeleteLike it so much, even thought no much screentime in the series itself.
and thanks for showing how to handle the bazooka, I don't know what to do with that thing...