Bandai Hobby RX-0 Gundam Unicorn Unit 02 Banshee 1/100 Master Grade (175316)

The MG Banshee is a beautiful kit. I know the MG Unicorn (of which this is a derivative) get a bad rap, and some of that is deserved. The knee articulation is just bad (this kit does have the updated parts that allow it to bend a full 90 degrees--yay), the shoulders and arms are just ok, and the transformation gimmick means you can't get much out of the chest. And while I can't speak to the kit transformed into destroy mode, but at least if you leave it in unicorn mode it's solid and holds together well.There are a few other nitpicks--some pieces that are meant to be gold, namely various vents on the waist and legs, are instead molded in the clear orange of the psychoframe, and even then the gold parts are a very "meh" injection metallic color with all the attendant swirls and nub marks that entails. I just painted those segments, something I don't normally do, but it was easy enough.So then why 5 stars? It's just a really, really good looking kit. The proportions are excellent (I prefer it to the RG which I feel is a little bulkier), and all the contours and strange lines of the design are captured perfectly, the profile is sleek and intimidating, and the dark navy blue is mesmerizing. It's hard to capture in words or pictures, but it just looks gorgeous once finished. As someone who builds their kits, settles on a pose, and puts them on a shelf, this is a perfect representation of the Banshee.

The initial color is not to my liking. In the show, it appears to be a darker grey like color, so I decided to paint the armor paints with Tamiya Matte Black. It came out AWESOME!!! Now I will be using this color to paint the Perfect Grade and High Grade variants of the Banshee. Since I had such a great experience painting this kit, I am thinking to buy a second kit to paint over the yellow parts, and make them more gold. I won't paint the pyscho-frame at all though, because if you have a black light/UV light it makes it glow in the dark!!! When you do this, it really makes the purchase worth it!He's fairly pose-able. You get a 90 degree bend in the knees. The claw and laser cannon can get in the way, but you do get the arm pieces to replace them, so you can make 3 different versions with this kit. First, you can make the regular Banshee Gundam with the rail gun, claw, and lion grown on the torso. Second, you can make a dark blue Unicorn Gundam, and finally you can make the ver Ka Banshee Gundam but there are not enough parts to make the gun. You'd have to order ver ka decals from ebay or some other place though. Pieces are also included to make the shield! It would be good to have a Unicorn Gundam instruction book, to help you figure out how the shield connector parts(3 small pieces) come together. Again, you don't get the gun, but there are 3 pieces for it. You get 4 beam handles, and 2 pink beam sabers. There are 4 tiny pilots since Marida and Riddhe piloted this Gundam in the show. You get extra leg, head, chest, and more pieces that you can experiment with for other customization. The ankles are a little loose so like many people say, the feet are not sturdy enough. I painted the parts, so it does make it tighter. The transformation is not bad. You just have to be careful doing it so you don't accidentally break anything.I would highly recommend an action base so that you can pose him and not worry about him falling over. It comes with a few stickers, and a few decals that are dry transfer. For dry transfer you need to place the decal where you want it, and then get some medium soft/hard, and rub it back and forth until the dry transfer peels onto the surface. Since I painted mine Matte Black, I love it without stickers, so I am thinking to put semi-gloss on it to see how I like it. Then I'll buy a second kit, paint it Matte Black, paint the yellow, non-psycho-frame parts Gold, and then put the stickers on that one. Previously, I built the Banshee Norn Awakening version without painting it, and I liked its color, but with this one I prefer the Matte Black more.

I got this model kit because I have the original Mg Unicorn RX-0 Unit 01. Of course, when building this model, there are a lot of similarities. The only differences are the weapons and the head unit. With that being said, I enjoyed building this kit as much as I enjoyed building the original. I enjoyed that this model also included a banshee/unicorn horn, a v-fin that splits, and a regular v-fin. What I really enjoy about this kit that it includes different guards for the lower arms, similar to that of the original. With those guards, you can pose the gundam in different ways. Also, it comes with a shield as well. Back to the posing, the posing of the gundam is the same as the original unicorn. It is stiff in certain areas, but that is because of the transformation. Even so, you can make this gundam have pretty dynamic poses. This review is basically the same one that I gave the original, and so it will be given the same response. This gundam is great for a gundam collector. Whether it is for the manga, anime, or a gundam fan in general, this gundam is a great addition to the collection.

This is astounding it's enormity and color selection (A very dark midnight blue, gold and transparent orange) giving it a similar imposing powerful feeling to the Unicorn Gundam but it's additional pieces (The brutal claw and railgun) gives off a more violent vibe about it as if it's the antipole to the more heroic looking Unicorn gundam.The model is also very complicated as it is not only a huge heavily detailed gundam but it also can transform between unicorn and gundam mode freely and it also comes with pieces to make it similar to the original Unicorn GundamI suggest any fan of Gundam skilled at modelling should get it as it is a truly complex model with occasionally difficult steps in construction (and some pieces are fragile) so beginning modellers should avoid this until they have at least constructed a noteworthy number of models.

This is NOT worth it. Parts kept coming off and instructions in the book were missing and extra parts… when I say extra, I mean like it had over 55 pieces