Dendrobium Unboxing

                  One post after another, I am starting to find blogging interesting if not addictive.

                  Anyways, I kind of did this a couple of weeks ago already. Better Late than never I guess...

       First, some pics of the box at four different angles.         

                Notice the Psyco Gundam in the two pics. I just put ithere fore size comparison. Indeed, the box towers over the almighty Psyco Gundam.

                                  Just fooling around before opening the box.

Psyco Gundam tries to pushes the box but to no avail.

  

Emergency! Unknown Object detected!

    


                    Alright now on to serious stuff, Upon opening the box we get...

A fully assembled Dendrobium... or maybe not.

             Joking aside, upon opening the box we get two smaller boxes labeled Container A and Container B.

When taken out of the Big box the two containers form two halves of one of two images.

Image1:  Image of Dendrobium (Front)

Image 2: Dendrobium (Lineart Side View)

              I was supposed to take it out the parts one by one from the each box and take pictures of each but I seem to have mixed up the parts when I inspected each runner back at the shop. And to think the parts  were originally put in the boxes in a specific order so that you'll  only get the specific runner from the box when you follow the assembly sequence in the manual.(You start at Container A then B.) Plus I admit that I got a bit lazy (And we're off to a good start... sigh) to take pictures of individual runners. So i simply opted to lay them in the floor and take group shots.

           This kit also contains  a bunch  of  screws for connecting/closing up various parts and springs for the deploying mechanism the weapon containers. Three metal plates are also included to support the structure of the Orchis' main body thus preventing it from collapsing from its own weight. (Probably due to the weapon containers.)

          You'll probably notice the GP03 Stamen in one of the pics. Actually I assembled that a few days earlier
 just to hold off the urge to straight-build this whole thing. Plus I didn't see any problems in painting the Stamen after assembly compared to the Orchis. A little pic of the stamen runners:

I also assembled the beam sabers out of the fear that they will be bent or have stress marks if they stay any longer in the box, along with the other parts.

One beam saber blade is slightly bent as I suspected.

     From what I have read in other reviews, the beam saber blades (or beams) are for Perfect Grade models. I don't really know since I haven't had a Perfect Grade before but I let my old HG ZZ Gundam hold it and the result...

The ZZ Gundam gets a longer Hyper Beam Saber.

    
So that's it for the unboxing of the HGUC 1/144 Dendrobium . I'll probably do some pre-assembling of the parts to determine which parts are going to be hidden during assembly in order to save some paint and time. I also need to find parts where the paint is most likely to be scraped off (mostly on moving parts)before I can start painting/detailing. Hopefully I can cover these things by tomorrow if my work schedule permits it.

Let's Start With A Big Bang!

           Sorry for the crappy images, I was using a webcam at the time.    

           So much for adding mystery... My Profile pic alone is already a dead givaway.

          Okay, so you must have skipped my boring introduction and decided to check out this one . Yup I am now one of the proud ,if not few , owners of the  HGUC 1/144 GP03 Dendrobium.

            I'll just share a short history on how I got this kit.  I've been considering on buying this for quite some time now only to hesitate because of the cost and the storage space until I finally thought to myself: Screw the cost and Storage Space! After working really hard for two months, plus the timely arrival of my mid-year bonus and a little bit of borrowed money from my family I've finally scraped enough to buy this High Grade behemoth. I actually tracked this kit down at the GreatToys Alabang branch which is really far from where I live compared to Greenhills branch which is just a walk away.  Earlier, when I first decided to go there to confirm the dendro's existence I was actually prepared to carry/drag this thing back home after buying it. (A bad move in hindsight and thankfully something that I didn't have to do)  Luckily my brother (yes, my brother accompanied me, that place was still unfamiliar territory for me and I admit that he is better in taking care of transactions than I am.) asked the salesperson in charge if the kit can be transferred to the GH branch, which thankfully was possible although I would have to pay the minimum of 25 percent of the price (valid for 15 days).  So I returned home and had it reserved  at the GH branch, which basically sealed the deal, which means no more turning back. So I just waited until the next pay day to pay the remaining balance and claim this dendrobium . End of Story... or maybe not.

                              
                     Funny thing is, there was no plastic big enough to wrap this kit and I have to carry it with me back home with the box shown to everyone I pass by. Just imagine the curious looks of the people around you while carrying a box with an image of a "robot" (for the not so well informed people) with it's gigantic vehicle.  And boy is this thing heavy! I was glad I didn't drag/carry this thing from Alabang thanks to my brother's PR Assist.(What can I say? I lack some people skills.)   However, the weight didn't stop me from bringing this thing to work getting even more curious looks in the process. (In the jeepney , at work, heck even the security guard didn't even bother inspecting the insides of the box while commenting on my new "toy".) I guess I couldn't resist showing off a bit.

                                             
                      Many people would ask; Why the Dendrobium of all kits? To put it simply, this is my number one favorite mobile unit/armor in all the Gundam universes even if new releases would come that would surpass this one's design.  9 years ago, this unit would also be the very catalyst in my Gunpla  collecting craze. Back then I would just buy a few models with no intention of starting a big collection. This was during the Gundam Wing/G Gundam craze here in the Philippines and my earlier models reflected this. I did buy some models outside these series (Zeta Gundam, Kampfer.. ) but it was really nothing serious. I got hooked to playing the Super Robot Wars games on the Playstation and there was a stage where the dendrobium appeared. Upon looking at said unit I was perplexed at the unit's appearance.  As the mechs appeared SD (Super Deformed ) in SRW, the dendrobium looked a battleship with a Gundam head on it. I was able to read GP03D Dendorobiumu on its name in Katakana and deduced that this is connected to the GP01 and GP02A (Two units that I am vaguely aware of the existence of and would later join my collection.)  I asked a classmate of mine who is knowledgeable in Gundams about this wierd battleship with a Gundam head and GP03 on its name. He told me that  I must be talking about the dendrobium and it was not a battleship with a gundam head but sort of a huge vehicle/armor with a gundam docked in it.  The concept really intrigued me (One could say I have a huge, if not unhealthy, obsession to Area Dominance units/Mobile Armors as I'll probably show in the future. ) and got me into surfing the net to find more details.(I guess I'll also have to thank the GP03D for exposing me to the internet and the whole Gundam series.) I didn't stop with the GP03D though as I decided look around a bit and found even more interesting designs which I really couldn't bear to not have in my starting collection and this got worse as I found about HobbyLinkJapan which shows kits I never even knew existed.(Making me ask myself what have I been doing until now?) All of this happened during my college years where I had to resist the urge to eat lunch using my allowance and just to save up for a kit.(Although I did eat alot at breakfast and dinner.) The HGUC Dendrobium was also released around that time and it was definitely a no go during college with my meager allowance and all. (I would save my allowance for a month and just be able to buy a HG Mobile GINN from Seed). I figured things would be different once I graduate and get a job and my goal was to get the HG's I missed at that time and probably even the GP03D. I eventually managed to do just that and got all the HG's I missed as well as the new releases which  I still continue to this present this day. I already got the 1/550 and 1/400 versions of the dendrobium and finally after 8 years since I saw it's initial release I finally had the courage to buy this HG monster in my collection. Looking back at those times, I still can't believe I used to be a struggling college student trying to have his bills changed for coins to put in his piggy bank to save for  gunpla. (I actually attempted to save coins for the HGUC Dendrobium when it first came out until I realized the futility of it and that I had to pass up on other kits in the process.) Now I'm person who is living his dream job and could buy a kit like this just by exerting some initiative and some extra effort. It has really been a long journey to arrive at this point.

                 Oh crap, I took too much time reminiscing. I  was supposed to show some of the stuff about the dendrobium on this post. I'll just have to show it on the next post. I am not a very talkative person in real life which is probably the reason most of my words go into my writings. I hope I didn't bore you guys too much with this long winded post.


                    

My First Blog. Yay!

        My first post  hmmm... I am not really that good with introductions but I suppose every blog should have one.  First off, this blog was designed so I can share my thoughts and my ideas on Gunpla. (Gundam Plastic models for those unfamiliar with the term.)  I have a huge collection of Gunpla and some of my co-workers suggested that I make one to show my collection, which I will in due time.  However, the one thing that really urged me to start this blog is the arrival of a very unique item in my collection.(And I do mean unique!) Before getting the said item, I had to spend hours looking for reviews for this thing. I did find some reviews on certain sites/forums but found these somewhat lacking in the information I needed. Initially, I decided to create this blog for the primary purpose of documenting the build process for this latest addition (or soon to be) in my collection for those interested in buying the same thing. I'll probably (no, make that definitely ) post my future projects  and other Gunpla-related stuff on this blog  and I hope you guys will enjoy reading my blog.

  

                   I suppose it wouldn't take a rocket scientist to find out what the mysterious item in question is as you'll just have to check the next post which I immediately posted after this one or If you've read my latest posts.  (Scratching the mysterious approach from my list...)  Like I said before enjoy reading. 

Oh, and welcome to my blog.