RGUniversal Century

RX-0 Unicorn Gundam (Bande Dessinee Ver.)

The same brilliant RG transformation, dressed in the manga's cleaner color scheme and a shield worth the reissue alone.

MechaGrade Score

4.3/5

Unicorn Gundam · 1/144 · 2018

GradeRG

Scale1/144

Released2018

Runnersn/a

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The verdict

This is still the best small-scale Unicorn you can build, wearing a different coat of paint.

The Bande Dessinee version takes the excellent 2017 RG engineering and reskins it in the flatter, more saturated colors of the Gundam Ace manga art, then throws in a new Armed Armor DE shield with its own transformation gimmick. If you already own the original RG Unicorn, the pull here is purely cosmetic and that one extra part. If you don't, this is the version I'd actually point you toward.

Best for: RG builders who want the definitive Unicorn transformation gimmick and don't mind a tight, careful build to get there

The full review

What it is

This kit does the thing every Unicorn kit promises and only the RG actually nails at this size: it goes from Unicorn mode to Destroy mode without you removing a single panel. You pull the head, twist the torso latch, and the whole suit unfurls, psycho frame lighting up in clear pink plastic under white armor that splits open like it's supposed to. The Bande Dessinee colors read punchier out of the box than the original release, more saturated blues and cleaner white, matching the Gundam Ace serialization art rather than the anime. The Armed Armor DE shield is the real addition, and it transforms too, which for a shield is a small delight I did not expect to care about as much as I did.

The catch

The tolerances are tight, tighter than most RG kits, and that catches people off guard. Several builders report a knee joint cracking or a peg snapping during the transformation sequence if you force a step before checking the instructions twice. You need to shave nub marks off inner-frame and transformation parts before assembly or things bind up. The polycap-style joints are small and this is not a kit for someone who gets frustrated easily with fiddly 1/144 parts. None of this is unique to the Bande Dessinee release, it is baked into the RG Unicorn engineering itself, but it means this is not a relaxing weekend build the way an HG is.

Who it's for

Buy this if you want the RG Unicorn transformation experience and like the flatter, more graphic manga color scheme, or if you specifically want the Armed Armor DE shield and its own gimmick. Skip it if you already own the standard RG Unicorn and don't care about the palette swap, the shield is nice but not worth double-dipping for casual collectors. Also skip it as a first Gunpla, the RG line rewards patience and a hobby knife and punishes rushing, save this for after you've built a couple of HG kits and know your way around small parts.

The build story

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

The build itself is deliberate rather than fast. Inner frame parts come off the runner with nub marks that need cleanup before they'll seat right, and the instructions are not shy about warning you which steps are the tight ones. I'd treat every transformation-related joint as a moment to stop and check fit before pushing, because the plastic here does not forgive force the way an HG does. Budget more time than you'd expect for something this size.

Where it pays off is everything after assembly. The psycho frame in clear pink plastic is molded in color, not stickered, so it actually glows through the white armor the way it should. Shoulders rotate and extend enough to get the beam magnum into a real two-handed stance, legs clear the skirt armor for deep kneeling poses, and the waist spins a full 360 degrees. For a 1/144 kit this is an unusual amount of pose range, and the transformation gimmick means you get two display looks, Unicorn and Destroy mode, from one kit.

Lore & trivia

01The Bande Dessinee version is named for the manga serialization that ran in Gundam Ace, using that comic's flatter, more saturated color art as its reference rather than the anime's cel-shaded palette.
02The RX-0 Unicorn Gundam was the first mobile suit to have psycho-frame material distributed throughout its entire frame, technology originally developed for Neo Zeon's Sazabi under Char Aznable's forces.
03NT-D officially stands for Newtype Drive but its real designation within the story is Newtype Destroyer, a system built to hijack and turn Newtype-guided funnel weapons against their own pilots.
04This release added the Armed Armor DE, a shield with its own transformation gimmick, as the headline addition over the original 2017 RG Unicorn kit.