May was rough, as you can see with no updates at all on May. I think June will be rougher... *sigh* Adulting sucks. This kit was bought waaay back and was finished some 1 or so month ago. Anyway, with the announcement of RG Unicorn's announcement, would think we can get a glimpse of how it will hold with all those movement gimmicks by looking at another Gundam with a torso gimmick: RG GP-01 Full Burnern.
As mentioned, the shield can collapse. Do be careful as the pegs sandwiching them together isn't as tight and you might end up pulling the entire thing apart when you un-collapse the shield. The shoulder armor design and the shield does hamper articulation. Add that to the less than secure way the kit holds on to the shield means it's going to fall a lot when fiddling with it.
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| he wanted to make something similar to the old MG box art. looks about as bad as the rest of his work |
When it comes to lead Gundam designs with standard weapons, nothing beats the Gundams from stardust memory in my opinion. Sure there are fancier suits out there but UC suits are suppose to be a bit more utilitarian and blocky. The GP-01 is one of those suits are is blocky yet sleek at the same time.
Aesthetics
There are 2 RG GP-01s that came out. One is the ground equipment version (which I prefer) and this space type (which was what's available). Both retain the same basic design (blocky yet sleek) but bang for buck, you get more plastic buying the Full Burnern. The RG rendition is almost perfect save for the slightly smaller torso area.
Small torso and long legs are courtesy of designer Hajime Katoki.
As a Real Grade, color separation is of course excellent. The only color that you need to fill in are the red detailing inside each of the thrusters. Given that they are ridiculously tiny in 1/144, can easily be forgiven.
It also does not have an ugly looking faceplate, a problem with newer Gundam RGs.
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| he doesn't like people with ugly mouths either. or people in general |
As with older RGs, it is riddled with surface details. There's 2 shades of white as well even if you don't notice it as much. The kit as you can see is top coated. There were a few mold flashes on it though, especially on the grey bits.
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| top coating = no rants on bad nubs. |
Overall, it looks really, really good. I honestly do not see anything wrong with the aesthetics of the RG GP-01. And since the base design is pretty good to begin with, I don't think there's a way to make a bad looking GP-01 in these times. There is a sticker sheet, but judging with the stickers on my RG Freedom, Justice and Wing Zero, it's better to just leave them off. the only sticker I used are for the cameras, the 01 on the shoulder and the red on the knees. These are essential to complete the looks of the GP-01.
Articulation
So how does the core fighter gimmick on this one holds up? Quick summary: Articulation is good but the connection between the core block and the upper torso could be better. Top coating it makes it a bit more secure, but it still easily pops off.
The head has decent range and can move up and down. I wish it can look up a bit more, but so far the main weakness of RG kits is that they can't really look up far enough. The antenna thing on it's head can move but is super fragile.
While it has a collar, it's low enough to not hinder movement.
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| he hates his RG quan-t so much |
While it has a core block, the torso articulation is not bad at all.
Waist rotation is a bit limited though due to the blocky design.
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| waist rotated about 35 degrees. probably |
The rest are standard fare. The cameras on the shoulders clip on the RG frame and can get out of the way. The shoulder flap is a bit weirdly placed, but it does expose a vernier if you move it up.
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| glimpse of the top half detaching |
The butterfly joint for the shoulders though moves in a pretty good range, at the expensive of aesthetics. Not bad with a plane stuck to the chest.
The arms and knees have excellent range.
One piece of articulation is the crotch joint that lowers the legs. Good though, but man is it tight. You need to pull down a tab to unlock this joint, and given the inner frame is this rubbery plastic, you can see how degraded it already is with my attempts moving this.
There's a joint on the top of the ankles where the front flap hinges on, but maybe I built mine wrong since only one of the legs can do this. the other one is very stiff. You get a lower ankle joint at the foot with hydraulics and a toe joint.
The read flap and thrusters can also move.
Legs can move apart quite well, but ankle tilts are a bit limited. Not that that matters as it's a space unit.
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| weak ankle tilts = weak toy... cmon people |
The bulky backpack pods can articulate. One annoying thing about them is when you pull out the pods to expose the joint, it tends to pop off the sockets where it connects to the base of the backpack.
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| he used his teeth... don't touch this kit as it went inside his mouth |
The sabers are able to articulate due to the fact that they move for core fighter mode.
Last but not the least, there's a cockpit hatch.
It has all the articulation points that RGs have. Given the simple design, there are virtually no issues here. Could be because it's top coated but joints are a bit tighter compared to the wobbly mess that is RG Sinanju.
Weapons and Extras
The main selling point over the old HG is the presence of a fully transforming core block. I don't have the OG RG Grand daddy Gundam, but it's not a new gimmick. Execution though is a different story.
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| the beam sabers are suppose to be swivelled to the bottom -_- |
You get landing gear and a clear version of the landing gear for this plane... which for the life of me I cannot find. The clear landing gears pegs into different locations underneath the plane that will make it more solid. Without it, things will shift here and there.
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| paint the inside of the thrusters red |
To transform it into core block, pull the pods out and swivel it to the back.
Open the blue flap on top to expose connectors and swivel the sabers away. These pegs up top is the weakest of the connection points.
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| as you can see, he did not bother masking the clear part |
Flip it underneath and fold the white bit up and fold the nose cone.
The grey bit has 2 hinges. there are 2 pegs at the base of the back that's suppose to tab into the slots on the backpack. Mine doesn't tab securely.
And you get the core fighter in core block mode.
The pegs at the bottom a a lot more secure vs the one at top.
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| which he obviously does not have a picture of, the top connector |
Another gimmick is that you can extend the thrusters. You do this by removing the very loose yellow chest vent. You need to flip the front chest up 1st and extend the front thrusters.
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| extended it is not |
The shoulder verniers can extend and the tiny thrusters can spread. Barely. It's a bit difficult to push it out... probably because of the top coat. Imagine a top coated RG Unicorn Gundam with all these tiny tabs that allows the armor to slide. I shiver just thinking about it.
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| not that he plans to buy one as he's swearing off toy collecting |
The overall result is the high mobility mode. Sort of. Minor but you get a brief glimpse of possibilities for RG Unicorn.
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| ah hype and baseless assumptions. Don't turn RG Unicorn into No Man's Sky |
Other than that, you get the standard UC weapons loadout. A beam rifle with a cool beam jitte. A collapsing shield and beam sabers. You also get extra hands to hold the rifle and an alternate handle for the shield. The beam saber handles here are not the same as the one plugged into the back.
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| of course his review is comprehensive. he demonstrates how the alternate shield handle works here |
The beam jitte can be plugs into the base of the rifle and frictions into position. Pretty simple. The clear part is just clear. I painted mine clear red. The ammo pack can also be removed.
The shield is standard affair. It holds 2 more of the ammo packs. You can also see here how the shield is held. The RG joint is on a ball joint at the base of the shield and connects to a peg hole at the back of the elbow.
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| which he obviously demonstrates here |
The standard line art pose.
You also get a base connector... but seriously bandai. Make a connector that's compatible with tamashii stages and not those thick square pegs of a bandai gunpla action base. Overall though you have more gimmicks vs the standard GP-01 and the standard UC weapons assortment so you're not really wanting for more.
Size Comparison and Other Comparison
It's the standard 18 meter gundam so roughly 5 inches. Pretty standard affair.
Here it is vs a modern sleek suit with poor head articulation, the Qan-t.
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| he doesn't like the Qan-T but he felt obligated to review it. Guys buy the stuff you want else you become bitter and cynical like him |
Wish List: An RG GP-02 please.
Vs the beautiful floppy mess that is RG Sinanju.
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| He can't get over the HG hands, the floppy joints, loose kibble etc |
Summary
As mentioned before in other RG reviews, RGs are never really the playable type of kit, unlike the HG. They're fiddly, and overtime will start to become loose. Some more so than others. This one is a much more solid, but still suffers from having a loose preconstructed frame.
The kit itself pretty good, but requires you to fill in the panel lines to bring out it's full potential. The colors are accurate, the additional details are crisp, the core block does not hinder articulation and you get all the weapons it needs. It does not need more since it's what the kit comes with and the articulated hands does give you more options for dynamic posing. The only gripe is the loose connection between the upper half (holding the head and arms) and the core block. Overall a good RG kit.
Good:
- simple design is a boon for RG as it's pretty solid
- everything you need is provided
- it looks good and does not have a goofy faceplate newer RGs have. Excellent color separation as per the norm of RGs
- the FB mode, while minor is nicely executed.
Bad:
- shield connection could have been better. Mine barely holds it.
- the weak connection between the core block and the top half means it'll get unplugged pretty often.
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