Pictures:
Summary:
Pros:
- GN Bazooka very posable
- GN Field generators can open up
- Comes with beams
- Chest flap can open up
Cons:
- Limited leg posability
- GN Bazooka is a little too heavy
- Chest flap pops off easily
Due to recent feedback of my reviews being too long, I will focus on the special features of the kits only.
Build Quality
This kit has a weighty feel to it however it is very fustrating posing it due to fragile parts. Panel lines seem to be plentiful, but no, there still isn’t enough panel lines! Plenty of stickers are included so almost no painting is required.
Body
I encountered quite a few problems doing the chest vents as the parts do not fit together easily. For the GN capacitor in front of the body. The flap covering it will swivel up 90 degress and the bottom flap can nudge downwards a little. The yellow antennas at the top of the torso moves the most among the HG 00 lineup. Waist posability is very good.
Arms
The shoulder armour moves a lot thus it hardly limits upper arm posability. However, the hands are rather bad as the piece that forms the back of the palm often pops off at the slightest nudge while holding the GN Bazooka
Legs
The legs have near zero posability. You cannot pose the virtue with its legs standing straight up as the bulging calves just simply get into each others way! Behind the enormous shin armour, two beam sabers hilts are docked in place. The ankle posability is very limited and this peeved me as the very unposable forelegs and the obstructing ankle flap has made things really nasty for its balance. You will have to make do with Virtue standing like a block if you do not use an action stand. Stand still there Chubby! The GN Field generators at the side of the calves can extend outwards.
Weapons
The real deal of this kit! It comes with 1 GN Bazooka, 2 back-mounted GN Cannons and two beam sabers complete with transparent, pink beams! The GN Bazooka can be held in 3 different manners. The one-handed way of holding it is to insert the right grip at the bottom back of the cannon and grip it. I don’t recommend doing so as the front end is way too heavy, thus the cannon will actually cause the hinge on the grip to slant forward, pointing the cannon downwards. For the two-handed holding method. Put the grips at the sides, extend them outwards and push the rail mount of the grips to the front. Insert the back into the opened GN drive core. For the full blast mode, slide the front of the bazooka downwards and extend the yellow barrel. The GN cannons have extendable barrels and the top can open up in GN Field mode. They are connected to the back in a similar fashion to the 00 Gundam’s drives. These cannons can be detached and hand held by Nadleeh.
Final Verdict
This is an average kit that does not really stand out. Get it if you love that fat look!
1 response so far ↓
jellyz // January 22, 2009 at 3:15 pm
The 1/144 HG Gundam Virtue is an odd case. It has everything this Gundam is supposed to have, but that winds up being very ho-hum, as reflected by being by far the cheapest kit in the series (on a number of levels).
The build quality as actually on par with the other kits in this series, with everything snapping together well and requiring little or no paint. As this is the sturdiest of this 00’s Gundams, this kit is appropriately built, and could easily take a number of shelf dives with no scarring (though I wouldn’t recommend testing that).
But the central gimmick of Virtue is supposed to be the ability to change into Gundam Nadleeh, and that transformation isn’t present here. Perhaps that was too much to ask of a 1/144 kit, but without that gimmick, Virtue is just so plain. Its bulky armor looks cheap because there’s little detail. Although it has all its equipment, all of its equipment is very bulky. You’ll need some careful work with a detailing pen to make this kit look less like a dollar-store toy and more like a Gundam kit.