Gundam Unicorn

MG Narrative/Unicorn Remix
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MG Narrative/Unicorn Remix

Why yes, it has been a long time since I built a kit. And, based on the quality of my technical work here, it shows.

I envisioned this right when I saw the MG Narrative ver. Ka announcement and began scrutinizing all the marketing photos looking to make sure everything was doable. I got the MG Narrative from HLJ, which arrived so quickly it was probably a part of the first shipment of Narrative kits to make it to the United States. Quickly built, started modifying, then stuffed in parts bins for many weeks while working on other things and partaking in this year’s PMW. Naturally I had a spare MG Unicorn laying around. I mean, who doesn’t? For the Sinanju Stein I grabbed some ‘junk’ kits from Yahoo Japan. A regular Sinanju Stein, and a Sinanju Stein Narrative ver, ’cause why not. read more

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Otaku Evolution Episode 244 – Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn

My Anime News Network review of Gundam UC Episode 1

Gundam Unicorn is full of flashy Newtype nonsense that I love. A lot of the OVAs try to stay away from Newtypes to maintain some sense of groundedness, but this one feels more like a proper mainline entry when compared to titles like Stardust Memory or 08th MS Team, so it’s no surprise that it addresses things Tomino typified. I really enjoy how it questions the validity of the very fabric of the UC timeline and its goals. Now, it does this imperfectly, sure, but that it even attempts to is worth noting. But it also has a lot of sparkly Newtype “understanding” that you have to be in a certain frame of mind to appreciate. I think you’ll find that while this entry is generally fairly well liked, it can be rather divisive. Personally, it’s one of my favorites. read more

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MGEX Unicorn – A review and model retrospective
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MGEX Unicorn – A review and model retrospective

Yeah, yeah, I’m late to the game with my MGEX Unicorn review. Even so I wanted to take some time, since I have an interesting perspective (read: I’ve built a lot of Unicorns – note, that’s three years old at this point), and the MGEX Unicorn is a kit very worthy of discussion. I’m not going to go into all the ins and outs of the build, so if you want a super detailed look pair this with Dalong’s review. I’m sure there are some good YouTube reviews out there by now too. What’s up guys, Rick Dias here… read more

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Customized MG Banshee Gundam
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Customized MG Banshee Gundam

I wanted to take a few minutes to share some photos and some thoughts for a quick build I put together. The fantastic GoodGuyDan is having a Unicorn build off this month and as I have a unquenchable thirst for Unicorn kits I had to participate. Instead of building one of the several RG ‘corns that I have waiting for love, or the MGEX that just came in, I figured I’d help an old boy out. Specifically, this one,

I can’t remember where I got this Banshee – probably a part of numerous used kit auctions I keep getting myself into. I like a good charity case and this one needed a lot of love. Dust, terrible nub marks, and a part missing here and there. I recently just discovered the treasure trove of cheap (well, before you consider shipping in the era of Covid) leftover and extra “junk” parts available on Yahoo Japan. Way back in the day, probably around the time I built my PG Strike Freedom, I had the idea of putting the same wings on a Unicorn kit. It seemed like a waste to buy a Strike Freedom just for the wings to I tabled the idea for nearly a decade. read more

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RG Gundam Banshee Norn Destroy Mode – Lighting Model
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RG Gundam Banshee Norn Destroy Mode – Lighting Model

I don’t really have anything new to say about this kit that I didn’t already cover when I built the Unicorn ver TWC Lighting Model a few years back. The Banshee version is the same, save for the design differences and a LED setup that’s yellow instead of red.

The paint is a handful of custom mixes. I started with Tamiya X-16 Purple and added various shades of gray for three separate tones. Inner frame is typical X-10 Gun Metal. I sat on this project for ages because I couldn’t quite figure out what I wanted to colour wise. Eventually I just said, “Screw it, I like purple, let’s go with that.” I’m pretty pleased with how it turned out. Just enough subtle colour separation and deviation from the typical Banshee colour scheme. read more

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Mobile Suit Gundam Narrative (MOVIE) Review

 

(Basic) Synopsis (Spoiler Free): It’s Universal Century year 0097. A year after the “Laplace Incident”, there are once again calls for autonomy for Spacenoids, but little being done about it. As if to break the stagnation, the third Gundam Unicorn model, the Phenex, thought to have been lost years previous, reappears. Both the Earth Federation and the Neo-Zeon remnants are determined to capture it for its Newtype capabilities, but they seem to be chasing a literal ghost in the form of its pilot, Rita Bernal. What did she, a Miracle Child, see so many years before that brought these events in alignment? And can either side prevent the bizarre Zoltan Akkenan from igniting a tragedy worse than anything seen before? The Pheonix Hunt will test the limits of all parties! read more

Penguin Truthby Penguin Truth•
Steel Legend Metal Build 1/100 Kshatriya Review
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Steel Legend Metal Build 1/100 Kshatriya Review

The Steel Legend Metal Build Kshatriya is a third party/bootleg figure. At 1/100 scale it’ll look fantastic with all your MG kits (MG or RE Kshatriya when?!). Who would’ve known that a Metal Build kit out of China would be, not only the best third party piece of Gundam merchandise, but better than any Unicorn official merchandise from Bandai/Banpresto?

As you should already know by now, I’m a sucker for all things Gundam Unicorn (even though the Jesta Schezarr Type Team B & C is stupid is fuck – why the fuck are you using your mechanical eyes to look at a flip down mechanical eye which is pointed at an even larger mechanical eye?). When I see a 1/100 Kshatriya, I jump. Even if it’s a bucket of mess like the Elyn Hobby version. When I saw that someone was making a MG sized figure I had to have it, even if getting a pre built metal frame toy from third party folks in China is a questionable concept. Shout out to my crack dealer Samuel Decal where I picked this up for roughly $200 plus shipping. read more

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RG Unicorn Gundam – ver TWC Lighting Model – 5 Day Build
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RG Unicorn Gundam – ver TWC Lighting Model – 5 Day Build

I’m a sucker for all things Unicorn, so when Bandai announced a RG version with light up features I had to have one. A limited release from Gundam Base, this TWC Lighting Model is stupid expensive. Like $200 after shipping expensive. For a RG. To some extent I get that, gotta have a high price to subsidize the development cost for a limited run, highly specialized kit.

Internally the kit has been modified to fit a big strip of wired LEDs, both red and green for whichever mode you prefer. It’s pretty easy to install, and it looks great, much nicer than the LEDs in the PG IMHO. It just has a brighter, more glowy look to it, mainly due to the frosted clear plastic used for the pyscho frame. The downside is that it’s in a fixed pose, one matching that of the 1:1 Unicorn in Tokyo. Again, highly specialized. read more

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MG Unicorn Gundam – Marida Cruz Custom
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MG Unicorn Gundam – Marida Cruz Custom

Here’s a clever and dynamic opening paragraph that gets you interested in reading what I have to say about this build instead of skipping to the photos.

Despite building so many Unicorn Gundam kits over the last 8 years there’s always been a few ideas I’ve had floating around but never got to. While a Marida Cruz custom Unicorn was the runner up in my recent poll of ‘what project should I tackle next,’ it just happened to coincide with r/Gundam slash r/Gunpla’s UC 0096 group build on discord. Figured now would be a good time to try out a few of those ideas and see how they play out. read more

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Falldog’s Unicorn Collection

For awhile now I thought it would be swell to get all my Unicorn kits and related all together into one big family photo. I’ve been holding off because, as you may have noticed, that’s quite a bit of work. Well last night I spent quite a few hours on what may be some of the worst photographs I’ve ever taken.

I had a very terrible idea that I’d be able to manage to get them all on my photo table, which obviously didn’t work. At the very least I was able to get the built kits onto the center section of my display room though by then I had run out of patience to get everything sorted by height as much as possible. In both scenarios though I had to resort of my wide angle lens which sucks in low light and isn’t good at focusing ob objects a meter away. Of course the latter half of the issue is my inability to mitigate those problems.  read more

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