HGUniversal Century

RX-0 Unicorn Gundam 02 Banshee (Unicorn Mode)

The Unicorn's black-and-gold rival, built on the same solid HGUC bones with a psychoframe that actually glows through the joints.

MechaGrade Score

3.9/5

Unicorn Gundam · 1/144 · 2012

GradeHG

Scale1/144

Released2012

Runnersn/a

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The verdict

This is one of the best-looking HGUC kits from the Unicorn line, and it earns that reputation honestly.

The molded black armor against the clear orange psychoframe runners is a fantastic combination straight off the runner, no painting required to sell the look. It builds like the rest of the Unicorn HGUC family, which means it is comfortable and familiar rather than groundbreaking, but the color scheme and the lion-inspired detailing make it stand apart from the base Unicorn kit it shares an engineering lineage with.

Best for: UC fans who want the Unicorn's engineering in the Banshee's black-and-gold color scheme without hunting down a Destroy Mode kit or a separate saber set

The full review

What it is

This is the Unicorn Mode version of Marida Cruz's rival Gundam, built on the same HGUC frame as the standard Unicorn kit but recolored into near-black armor with a gold collar and more elaborate head antenna to sell the lion motif. Snapping it together, the psychoframe runners come molded in clear orange rather than the usual clear pink or grey, and once the outer armor closes up, you get real glow-through in the chest, shoulders, and knee joints without touching a paintbrush. I like that this version skips the transformation gimmick entirely, since the fixed Unicorn Mode pose keeps every joint tighter and less prone to the wobble that hurts some transforming kits in this line.

The catch

The elbow joints are the one spot I would flag before you buy. The two-part elbow assembly on this frame is known to separate with normal posing over time, and because those parts have to stay mobile you cannot just glue them shut for a permanent fix. This kit also ships with beam saber hilts but no actual saber blades, since Bandai expects you to pull the pink blades from a separate Banshee Unicorn Mode saber set or another kit in the line, which is an annoying gap if you did not already know to plan for it. The hand parts are also snug enough during separation that forcing the thumb pin apart too roughly can snap it, so take your time there.

Who it's for

Buy this if you already like the Unicorn HGUC's build and want the same solid, budget-friendly experience in a moodier, more aggressive color story, or if you are collecting the Unicorn Mode variants side by side with the standard Unicorn kit. Skip it if you specifically want the transformation gimmick, since that lives in the Destroy Mode releases, or if you are hoping for complete-out-of-the-box weapon loadout, since you will need to source the beam saber blades separately. For most UC fans building a shelf of Unicorn-line kits, this is an easy recommend at HG prices.

The build story

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

The build follows the familiar Unicorn HGUC path: gate placement is clean on most runners, the frame goes together quickly, and the armor snaps over it without much fuss. The one part that needs a light touch is separating the hand runners, since the thumb assembly has a thin connecting pin that can snap if you pull too hard rather than working it loose gradually.

Articulation matches the rest of the Unicorn HGUC line: the head pivots and swivels on a ball neck, shoulders lift and swing, elbows and knees bend to roughly 90 degrees, and the waist and thighs work on ball joints, though the rear skirt armor limits how far the legs swing backward. Where this kit pulls ahead is presentation, since the clear orange psychoframe pieces at the chest, shoulders, and knees catch light and read as a genuine glow effect once the black armor is closed over them, no NT-D light-up gimmick needed for it to look striking on a shelf.

Lore & trivia

01Banshee's design motif is a lion rather than a unicorn, expressed through gold head accents, a golden mane-like collar, and a more ornate antenna compared to the original Unicorn Gundam.
02In the story, Banshee was piloted first by the brainwashed Neo Zeon soldier Marida Cruz, one of the Ple clones from the Gundam ZZ era, before later being reassigned to Riddhe Marcenas.
03Despite lacking the original Unicorn's La+ System, Banshee is depicted as far more capable in atmospheric combat, reflecting a reworked operating system built off data captured from the Unicorn Gundam itself.
04This kit's psychoframe parts are molded in clear orange, a step up from earlier Unicorn-line kits, letting the NT-D glow effect show through the armor without any painting.