HGAnno Domini

SVMS-01X Union Flag Custom II/ GN Flag

Graham Aker's stolen GN Drive turned into a genuinely clever, all-new HG mold.

MechaGrade Score

3.8/5

Union Flag Custom II/ GN Flag · 1/144 · 2025

GradeHG

Scale1/144

Released2025

Runnersn/a

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The verdict

This is one of the better-engineered P-Bandai exclusive HGs I've put together in a while.

Bandai built the GN Flag from scratch rather than reusing the older Union Flag frame, and it shows in how confidently the joints move and how the transformation-era gimmicks (opening goggles, a lead-wired solar reactor that swaps from back to shoulder) get carried into a static HG without feeling like leftovers. It is not a perfect kit, some hands and connection points run looser than I'd like, but it is a genuinely fun, story-accurate build of a suit that never got a proper HG until now.

Best for: 00 fans and Graham Aker loyalists who want the definitive HG take on his revenge machine and don't mind exclusive-only pricing

The full review

What it is

The GN Flag is Graham Aker's Union Flag Custom with a stolen GN Drive Tau bolted in, and this HG treats that backstory with more care than I expected from a P-Bandai-only release. It's an entirely new mold rather than a Union Flag Custom reissue with new stickers, which means the proportions and the frame underneath actually match the suit as it appeared on screen. The head unit's goggles open and close, and the solar reactor on the back can be repositioned to the shoulder with lead wire running to the beam sabers, recreating the combat pose from the show without me having to fake it with tape or wire I sourced myself. Building it felt like Bandai actually watched the episodes.

The catch

It's P-Bandai exclusive, so you're paying exclusive pricing and dealing with secondary market markup once the web store run sells out, there's no walking into a shop and grabbing one. It's also a polycap-free build, which keeps articulation crisp out of the gate but means some of the smaller connection points and accessory hands run looser than a standard polycapped HG, particularly the weapon grips, which some builders found tended to slip. The bundled beam sabers and GN hand missile units look better with a coat of paint since the molded plastic alone reads a bit flat, and Bandai didn't publish a hobby-site assembly guide for it at launch, so a couple of small parts (the white engine intakes on the torso) are easy to knock loose if you don't glue them early.

Who it's for

If you've been waiting for Graham Aker's actual mobile suit instead of yet another Union Flag Custom repaint, this is worth tracking down and worth the exclusive premium. It rewards people who like posing their kits in the specific combat stance from the show, the reactor-to-shoulder gimmick is the whole reason to own this over a display-only alternative. Skip it if you want a cheap, easy weeknight build or you're not willing to hunt down a P-Bandai exclusive after the ordering window closes, and if you want rock-solid weapon grips out of the box without any fussing, a standard retail HG will frustrate you less.

The build story

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

The runners clip clean and gate placement is standard HG fare, nothing that needs heavy cleanup, but I'd glue the white engine intake pieces on the torso early since a few builders reported losing them to the floor before the kit was finished. The all-new frame means nothing here is a re-run of the older Union Flag Custom parts, so even fans who already own that kit are building something legitimately different.

The standout engineering is the solar reactor linking gimmick: lead wire actually runs from the reactor unit to the beam sabers when you shift the reactor from its back-mounted stow position to the shoulder, mirroring Graham's combat pose from the show. The opening and closing head goggles are a nice touch that a lot of Union Flag variants skip entirely. Articulation is confident thanks to the polycap-free joints, though I noticed the weapon-holding hands and a couple of accessory pegs run looser than I'd like, which is the one place the engineering doesn't quite match the rest of the kit.

Lore & trivia

01The GN Flag was created when Billy Katagiri installed a GN Drive Tau, salvaged from the destroyed GN-X unit 21, into Graham Aker's existing Union Flag Custom, giving Graham the power to finally challenge Celestial Being's Gundams.
02It's one of the only GN-Drive-equipped mobile suits in Gundam 00 whose model number doesn't carry a GN prefix, since it started life as a standard Union Flag before the drive was retrofitted.
03This HG released in September 2025 as a P-Bandai web exclusive priced at 2,200 yen, and unlike earlier Union Flag Custom HG kits it uses an entirely new mold rather than reusing the existing Union Flag frame.