HGAfter Colony

OZ-10VMSX-2 Gundam Burnlapius

A P-Bandai deep cut that swaps into a claw-handed brawler without a single complicated gimmick.

MechaGrade Score

3.7/5

Gundam Burnlapius · 1/144 · 2024

GradeHG

Scale1/144

Released2024

Runnersn/a

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The verdict

This is a genuinely fun oddball kit that earns its keep on a shelf full of normal Gundams.

The Duel Mode swap, backpack onto the head, claws over the hands, is simple to execute and looks completely different from the standard mode, which is the best kind of gimmick a P-Bandai exclusive can offer. It is not a refined engineering showcase, and the bulk of the shoulder and claw parts means some poses fight themselves, but I closed the build glad I picked it up rather than just glad it was over.

Best for: G-Unit fans and gimmick collectors who want a two-in-one silhouette kit rather than another straight HG rebuild

The full review

What it is

The Burnlapius is a P-Bandai exclusive built off the HG Gundam Geminass base with new armor, a heavy claw backpack, and an assault bayonet that mounts over the forearm. What sold me on it is the Duel Mode swap: fold the shoulders, rotate the legs, move the backpack up onto the head, and slide the Golem Claws over the hands, and you get a hunched, four-armed brawler that reads nothing like the base mode. It is not a transformation in the panel-line sci-fi sense, it is a deliberate part-swap, but it is quick to do and the payoff silhouette is worth building around.

The catch

This being P-Bandai only, you are not finding it on a regular store shelf, and secondhand or import pricing runs higher than a comparable retail HG. The bulk of the shoulder armor and Golem Claws means the elbows and shoulders can clash with the torso in wider poses, so some display angles look better than others. It leans on the HG Geminass frame underneath, which means the articulation ceiling is a notch below what a from-scratch modern HG can do, and a few smaller claw and joint parts have thin gates that reward careful clipping rather than twisting off the runner.

Who it's for

If you already like G-Unit as a side story, or you collect kits for their gimmick rather than their frame, the Burnlapius is worth tracking down. Builders who want the cleanest possible articulation or a kit they can grab at retail without hunting P-Bandai listings should look elsewhere first. For everyone else who likes a kit that does one weird trick well, this earns a spot in the display case specifically because it does not look like the ten other HGs next to it.

The build story

What the build is actually like, and the engineering worth knowing about.

The build moves fast for an HG, with the new armor and claw pieces snapping over the Geminass-derived frame without much fuss. A few of the smaller claw hinge parts have thin gates, so I clipped rather than twisted them off the runner to avoid stress marks on visible surfaces. Nothing here demands panel lining to read well, the sculpted armor lines already do the job.

The real engineering interest is the Duel Mode swap, folding the shoulder and leg joints and relocating the backpack onto the head so the Golem Claws slide over the hands. It is closer to a costume change than a transformation gimmick, but it is deliberate and repeatable rather than fiddly, and the assault bayonet mounting over the forearm gives you a third distinct loadout on top of both stances.

Lore & trivia

01The Burnlapius comes from the manga New Mobile Report Gundam Wing Dual Story: G-Unit, piloted by the character Kratz Silvy.
02In the story it is an enhanced rebuild of the OZ-10VMSX Gundam Aesculapius, fitted with a copy of the PX System but deliberately left without a limiter.
03That missing limiter is fatal in the source material: the PX System overloads on its second sortie and the Burnlapius explodes, killing its pilot.
04The kit was a Premium Bandai online exclusive released in July 2024, built on the HG Gundam Geminass base with newly molded heavy assault armor.