OLD Gundam 0083 1/144 Gundam GP03S

Release 1992.5

Price ¥1,000

BANDAI BANDAI Japan product info

OLD 1/144 Gundam GP03S - Box side view (1/3)

Box side view

Runners

This kit also uses system injection runners.

OLD 1/144 Gundam GP03S - Parts diagram (1/3)

Parts diagram

Manual

Straight build

Size comparison with a cigarette pack

The beam saber storage on the backpack is also reproduced.

The wings fold in half too.

It has the most generous weapon loadout of the bunch.

The bazooka can fold in half.

A total of 4 hands are included.

OLD 1/144 Gundam GP03S - Replacement sub-arms are included, and they deploy just like in the source material. The molded colo

Replacement sub-arms are included, and they deploy just like in the source material. The molded color, however, comes out as a plain gray that doesn't really match the rest of the body.

Limb articulation is a straightforward 90 degrees.

The backpack and binders have some articulation too.

Beam saber pose

Bazooka pose

Beam saber pose

Alongside the HGUC Gundam GP03 released in 2001.

With the 1/144 Gundam GP01 and GP02A.

The fourth kit in the 0083 series is the 1/144 Gundam GP03S, and it's a fundamentally different beast quality-wise compared to its predecessors. The GP01 and GP02 got a lot of flak for their lazy design, and while the GP01Fb improved things somewhat by swapping out some parts, the GP03 feels like it was designed from scratch — and it shows. There's a noticeably more polished feel compared to the earlier kits.

First off, the color separation is clean and the proportions still hold up pretty well even today. Articulation has improved a bit too, and the joint strength is noticeably more solid than the previous kits. That said, the joints are a touch on the stiff side, so they don't feel the smoothest to move — but hey, that's still better than loose joints. On top of that, the poses you can pull off feel pretty decent given the articulation range, so it's just more fun to handle overall.

The GP03's signature forearm folding arm deployment has been made into a separate movable part, though the molded color is an oddly plain gray that doesn't mesh well with the rest of the body. The folding arms are really only a gimmick you'd use when docking with the Dendrobium anyway, so it's a bit of an awkward feature to begin with — but you've got to give them credit for at least trying to faithfully recreate the design spec, even if it's in this limited way.

As you can see in the comparison photos above, it looks noticeably larger than the HGUC GP03 released in 2001. In reality, the old kit is actually closer to the correct size — the HGUC version seems to have been scaled down smaller than spec so it could fit inside the 1/144 Dendrobium.

Either way, this feels like a kit where they really sat down and put in the effort to make up for the shortcomings of the earlier releases — and it shows. It's easily the best quality kit in the 0083 series. :-)
[ Updated at 2017.10.9]

AIThis page was translated by Claude Sonnet.