HGUniversal Century

XM-X1 Crossbone Gundam X-1 Full Cloth Type.GBFT

A pearl-white pirate loaded down with more hardware than it knows what to do with, and I loved every minute of clipping it together.

MechaGrade Score

3.7/5

Crossbone Gundam X-1 Full Cloth Type.GBFT · 1/144 · 2015

GradeHG

Scale1/144

Released2015

Runnersn/a

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The verdict

This is one of the best-dressed HG kits I have put together in a long time, and it earns that reputation honestly.

The pearl white plastic alone makes it feel like a step above a normal HG, and the sheer pile of weapons in the box (twin beam brands, a beam shield, two knives, boot blades, the Buster Gun, Beam Zamber, Peacock Smasher, and the newly molded Muramasa Blaster) is genuinely absurd for the price. The catch is that the Full Cloth cloak that makes this suit iconic is also the thing fighting you every time you try to pose it holding all that gear.

Best for: Gunpla builders who want a showcase-piece HG with a mountain of accessories and don't mind a display pose over a dynamic one

The full review

What it is

Underneath the cloak this is a clean, solid HG Crossbone Gundam with a wide native range of motion in the shoulders, hips, and knees. Bandai gave it a fully molded pearl white plastic instead of standard white, so the finished kit has a shimmer to it straight out of the box that a lot of HGs simply do not have. It also packs a working Core Fighter that separates from the torso, a nice touch of engineering for a kit at this price point. Building it is genuinely fun. There is a lot to assemble, a lot of small parts to place, and the moment the cloak snaps onto the shoulders and back it really does transform from a generic Gundam silhouette into the pirate captain look Crossbone is known for.

The catch

The Full Cloth armor is the whole point of this kit and also its biggest limitation. Once it's on, the cloak panels catch on the arms and get in the way of almost every pose beyond standing there holding a weapon. Builders consistently report that the base Gundam articulates well on its own, but strap on the cloak and the big shoulder mounted weapons and you lose most of that range fast. This is also a sticker-heavy kit. The thruster panels, the yellow vents, the eye lenses on the skull-shaped I-field projectors, and the thin red stripes running down the cloth armor are all decals, and the small ones in particular take patience to place cleanly.

Who it's for

Grab this one if you want a kit that looks incredible sitting on a shelf in its signature pirate pose and you enjoy a build with real part count and variety. It rewards patience during the sticker phase and pays it back with a finished piece that punches well above its HG price. Skip it if you specifically want a highly poseable action figure you can swap between dynamic combat stances, since the cloak and weapon load genuinely restrict that once assembled. If you'd rather have full mobility than the pirate silhouette, the plain HGUC Crossbone Gundam X1 without the Full Cloth armor is the better pick.

The build story

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

The build itself moves along at a good clip for how much is in the box. Gate placement is typical modern HG, nubs clean up without much fuss, and the part fit throughout is snug without being tight enough to stress the plastic. Where it slows down is the sticker sheet: the tiny yellow accents and the narrow red trim strips for the cloak take real patience, and skipping them leaves visible gaps in the color scheme since this kit leans on stickers rather than molded color for some of its detailing.

The base Gundam frame articulates well on its own, shoulders, hips, and knees all move through a solid range before you add anything. The Core Fighter separating cleanly from the chest is a genuine standout for an HG, and the weapon selection is the real value driver here since you get roughly half a dozen distinct armaments plus the cloth armor bundled in for a High Grade price. Once the cloak and shoulder cannons go on, though, that articulation gets swallowed up, so plan on posing it standing tall rather than mid-swing.

Lore & trivia

01This kit depicts the version of the Crossbone Gundam X-1 Full Cloth built and piloted by Lucas Kankaansyrja in Gundam Build Fighters Try, distinguished from the original by its pearl white color scheme.
02In the show, the suit is modified with better control over Plavsky Particles and is hailed by rival Gunpla battler Wilfrid Kijima as the strongest Gunpla in the Japanese U-19 tournament.
03It includes a fully functioning Core Fighter that detaches from the torso, replicating the Core Block System of the original Crossbone Gundam X-1 Full Cloth, a feature omitted from the plain HGUC release of the same suit.
04The kit debuted the newly molded Muramasa Blaster and Peacock Smasher weapons alongside the returning beam zamber, beam shield, and boot knives from the base HGUC Crossbone Gundam line.