HG Unicorn Mode has landed!

So after almost 2 years, my MG Unicorn's sprues remain unspoiled in their original cellophane wrappings but I think this HG's arrival will help put my arse in gear. Released Nov 2009 retailing at ¥1500. Yes... Today I picked up the still fresh HG Unicorn, and I must say, it looks a corker! The idea is to have it partner the MG, which despite being transformable (with a great deal of effort it seems), will now most probably be destined to remain in a permanent state of Destroy Mode glory. This non-transformable HG will be a perfectly adequate reminder of it's more subdued form. There was no way I'd get 2 MG Unicorns just to display both its modes... I find it not only wasteful, I dislike building the exact same kit of anything twice. Forgive me if I digress but I can barely tolerate even the re-use of left and right limb parts in the same MG. Not in this day and age. You know... it happens where you build arms or legs only to discover it doesn't matter if its left or right sided 'cos they and are interchangeable. So... no, you'll not find me building the exact same kit twice just because Bandai release a re-issue in a different colour.


Back to this HG though... It is very very nice looking right out of the box! There are small grey sub-components that I'd have naturally expected to be in need of some paint as being a part of a much bigger single white piece such as the lower halves of the legs, but I am happy to be proven wrong! WRT the colour separation of the parts, they did an amazing job on both this and the Destroy Mode HG. (I saw the Destroy mode HG in-store, and can tell you it is a fantastic looking kit too!)

Has to be said... I could not care less that the HG Unicorn does not transform. To have that feature would have sent the price of the kit skyrocketing. If you absolutely must have transformation then go ahead and spring for the 1/100 MG or if you have extremely deep pockets, try the 1/144 HCMPRO figure. The 1/144 HG Unicorn is not entirely inexpensive as it is... mostly because of how well they segregated the colour parts. But it is worth what they are asking. I'd much rather have a successful non-transforming kit than a semi-failed kit that transformed with a mass of parts which like to rearrange themselves whenever you tried to touch it for poses. Delivering 2 kits for 2 modes was a good move on Bandai's part. It keeps the price reasonable and that is important for the HG line. Typically... the Destroy mode would sell better anyway and those people who are only going to display in that mode do not have to pay for the engineering needed for getting the other mode they'd never use. Considering the 2 open hands, 2 beam saber hands and the trigger finger at the ready hand... all very nicely sculpted, the 2 clear pink beams, and the retractable barreled bazooka... it's got a pretty nice accessory package. I'm holding off commenting on the articulation though... that may potentially be less than stellar but then again, the MG of this guy never sold on the strength of it's infinite posing abilities.

My ultimate plans for my HG Unicorn is to use up what remaining pearl white that I have left over from my MG Shining Glam-dam project and have this Unicorn's blandness replaced with a subtle sparkly off-white. I have some REAL pearl paint powders I could work with on this too if I feel like it. To finish it off... a bunch of tiddly decals to adorn this guy with too.