RX-78GP00 Gundam "Blossom"

The RX-78GP00 Gundam "Blossom" first appears in the B-Club Gundam -Phantom Bullet magazine, and subsequently Dengeki Hobby Magazine "Gundam Secret Weapons" and Gundam Wars series. Although the existence and details of this machine in canon plot are disputed, the GP00 is said to be a model tested before 01~04 was designed and was the first of the Gundam Development Project series. This unit never appeared in 0083 Stardust Memory.

Technology & Combat Characteristics
The Gundam Blossom was an experimental transformable mobile weapon unit developed by Anaheim Electronics at the lunar city of Von Braun as part of the Gundam Development Project and used the existing Core Block System of the RX-78-2 Gundam, which was then designed to dock with the FF-X(7)II Core Booster II which carries experimental equipment such as the long-range beam rifle and the Minovsky Particle Interference Wave Searcher (MPIWS), as well as its back boosters and its beam sabers. The taskings between docked by Core Fighter and FF-X(7)II Core Booster II were different, that docked with Core Fighter would tasks the Blossom as assault purpose, and docked with Core Booster II would transform the Blossom as heavy assault purpose. The prototype long-range beam rifle did not feature a standard E-Cap system, and had a long recharging period after firing. The MPIWS was a large high-performance sensor powerful enough to detect wreckage on the lunar surface from a high altitude, but its reliability was low and frequently malfunctioned. Due to the fact that the Blossom gave a lot of stress to the pilot, the later four models in the Gundam Project were developed.

Armaments

 * Long-range Beam Rifle


 * Beam Saber

System Features

 * Core Block System
 * The FF-X(7)II Core Booster II was designed to carry most of the equipment on the Blossom, such as the long-range beam rifle and the Minovsky Particle Interference Wave Searcher (MPIWS), as well as its back boosters and its beam sabers.


 * Minovsky Particle Interference Wave Searcher (MPIWS)

History
This model was to be designed to contain all the special features and concepts of the GP series (and therefore if this one had actually succeeded, all the other four would not have been designed.). However, the configuration shown here as the primary test run only contains a long-range beam rifle, a multi-sensor and a core fighter. The machine was destroyed, but it is disputed as to exactly how. In Phantom Bullet(the original appearance of this mobile suit which is an unofficial side story) it says: "Destroyed in a combat against Zeon forces."

In Dengeki Hobby Magazine "Gundam Secret Weapons", it says: "Caught in the collapsing wreckage of an abandoned ship." In the Gundam Wars card game (the first official appearance of the mobile suit with detailed design as shown in picture), it says: "Due to all the equipment, the balance of the machine is lost and self-destructed on the test run."

No evidence points to one explanation being more accurate than the others. However, a combined story might have been: "During a test run, GP00 encountered Zeon forces and was forced into battle (just like GP03 in Gundam Evolve 4). While battling Zeon forces composed of YMS-16M Xamel mobile suits, due to all the equipment, the balance of the machine was lost. After losing control, the machine crashed into the collapsing wreckage of an abandoned ship (which was abandoned due to the battle) and is destroyed." However, the most important part is "It was destroyed due to an unbalanced design", Thus leading the project team on separating the features into different units, which were RX-78GP01 Gundam "Zephyranthes", RX-78GP02A Gundam "Physalis", RX-78GP03S Gundam "Dendrobium Stamen" and RX-78GP04G Gundam "Gerbera". Although the Blossom was full of flaws, the GP00 was one of the first experimental transformable mobile weapon due the timeline of the mobile weapons developments era (even the transformable doesn't mean the shapeshifting yet, but by other equipment units combining the machine via Core Block, yet still quaint on that time). Those flaws not just for fatal unbalance and stressing the pilot only, but also the maintenance supports wasn't compatible for transformable mobile weapons yet on that time. Years after the Stardust Memory events, the Blossom has inspired the next developments for the transformable mobile units, from combine-transformable into shapeshifting-transformable (as Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam events, and so on) mobile weapons, including improved the maintenance systems that could supported it.

Variants

 * RX-78GP01 Gundam "Zephyranthes"
 * RX-78GP02A Gundam "Physalis"
 * RX-78GP03S Gundam "Dendrobium Stamen"
 * RX-78GP04G Gundam "Gerbera"