HG 1/144 Reborns Gundam Review - Part 1

Price: 1800 Yen

I bought this last week right after the Hari Raya break as when I went to the shop, many new kits already came in. Since I wanted the Reborns Gundam for quite a while already, I decided to get it first even though there are many others I wanted such as the Gundam FA 7th Unit and 0 Gundam. I was short on usable cash, so Reborns gets my buy plus a SD. >.>

Quick MS Bio

Reborns Gundam is piloted by Ribbons Almark who is also the pilot for 0 Gundam. Reborns Cannon, alternate form of the MS, appeared at the end of episode 24 and Reborns Gundam throughout most of episode 25 fighting against 00 Raiser. This mobile suit is very powerful as it sports a Twin Drive system of its own and handled the 00 Raiser rather well until they ended in a double KO.

*Note: FYI, "quick MS bios" are normally my quick take on the model kit in relation to the story. It is in no way a translation of the snippets in the manual. ^^;*

Pilot: Ribbons Almark
Height: 23.3m(Gundam Mode), 21.8m(Cannon Mode)
Armaments: GN Buster Rifle, Large GN Beam Saber(2), GN Shield, Large GN Fin Fang(4), Small GN Fin Fang(4?), Egner Whip(2)

Part 1: Box

Part 2: Box Open!

Part 3: Runners

Quite a lot of runners there. Immediately you can spot two sets of "twin runners".

Even if there are quite a number of parts for the Reborns, a good amount of painting is required if you want it to look good. I only did panel lines and some yellow on the face as my gray was running low...

Part 4: Building Process
Part 4.1: Torso

The torso of the Reborns has a really different and nice design. Different in the sense that the lower toso, especially, does not follow Gundam traditionally "boxy" designs.

I used my totally cheap purple permanent marker to "paint" the underside of the clear piece purple. =P

I decided to use the sticker for the vents in the end as I didn't want to waste my already short time to build this guy. A little disappointing on my part. D=

Time for the "Cannon" section of the back.

As usual, used an unshaken metallic green Gundam marker.

It already has a head!

Part 4.2: Head

Love the V-Fin. Don't really know why though, I just like it. ^^;

Yellow on the V-Fin and on the faceplate. Simple to do, so why not? Too bad my yellow isn't in the right tone of yellow. I also sharpened the V-Fin so that the Reborns looks... sharper. XP

The rear sensor needs to be painted unfortunately. No sticker for that part. =/

Part 4.3: GN Buster Rifle

Really simple assembly and gimmicks. The circular section actually needs some purple paint as it is a GN Condenser. Sadly, I missed this part and not planning to paint it. ^^;

Part 4.4: GN Shield

The shield can open up, just like the Impulse's shield, sort of. Some gray is needed if you want the shield to look nicer.

Part 4.5: Arms

Ah, GN Drives on the arms. Interesting concept and quite practical. The articulation of the arms can actually go further than that, its just that it'll look awkward. The reason why the arm can bend like that is because of the transformation gimmick.

Part 4.6: Legs

Thanks to the transformation gimmick, the feet are more articulated than any of your average HG. =)

Legs assembly and a preview on the legs in Gundam and cannon modes. The cannon mode legs cannot really bend as it is "fixed" into that posture.
A great deal of gray paint is needed for the inner portion of the rear side of the legs for the Reborns as the internals gets exposed in cannon mode. As I lack a good amount of gray paint, I didn't do in the end. If I have more time later(and mood), I might try to open it up to at least use some black marker on it. =P

Part 4.7: Waist

Thanks to the transformation gimmick once again, the waist parts are almost all moveable. Sadly the ball joints are fixed and cannot rotate on an axis like some of the 00 HG kits.

Part 4.8: Rear Section/"Backpack" & Large GN Fin Fangs

A great deal of painting is needed for this area if you want it to look really nice otherwise, it'll be mostly red. I didn't really do much as when I reached this point, I was already to tired to do any accurate painting and decided not to in the end.^^;

Part 5: Preview & Early Impressions
Here's an early preview before the 2nd part of the review, which matters more. The first thing I noticed when and after I built the Reborns was the... scale height! It's shorter than the Arche! Its supposed to be 23.3m, way taller than even the 20.7m Arche! What happened Bandai? Budget cuts on the Reborns so that it can be lower priced? =(

Fret not, scale height inaccuracy shouldn't be a problem in actuality as the overall build is what counts... sigh, I was expecting it to be taller than my Crossbone... >_>;

At any rate, this review isn't done yet. Final conclusions in the 2nd part by which might be done by this Saturday if not I get distracted by my incoming heavy assignments...

Continue to part 2.