Entry Grade GN-0000 00 Gundam Gunpla Unboxing & Review

"Quantum Brainwaves"? Yeah, that's Mobile Suit Gundam 00 for you.

The first Mobile Suit installed with a "Twin Drive System" makes its grand appearance in its Entry Grade form here in Jyuzou's Blog! I hope that I've saved the best for last, since this is the final Gundam Model Kit that I'll review from the Entry Grade line.

Jump past the break for the full details of this Unboxing & Review post! 

Unboxing:

Front Cover

For our last Entry Grade kit review, we have another Gundam from the Mobile Suit Gundam 00 Anime. This is the only 2nd generation Mobile Suit in the EG line. I only planned on buying the other 3 initially, but since it's so cheap... Why not? As usual, all the primary details that buyers will be looking for, like the Mobile Suit's name and Model No. (GN-0000 00 Gundam), Grade and Scale (Entry Grade, 1:144 Scale Model), and the Gundam series' logo from which this kit is based from are all printed in the Front Cover. Oh, and the Cover Art, too.

The Entry Grade and Mobile Suit Gundam 00 logos.

I bought this online along with the EG Strike Gundam, so the box is also a little bit crumpled due to shipping. But aside from this, it's fine. The contents are fine, too. The first 2 Entry Grade kits that I bought were from a mall and it cost me ₱230 each. This kit and EG Strike Gundam cost me ₱175 each online. Yup, I got a cheap Gunpla kit cheaperer. When converted, I think it would normally cost around US$3-5 or ¥400-500. I wanted to buy multiple kits for this and the other EG kits that I have but, unfortunately, there's only one unit available for each of the last 2 kits that I've purchased.

The bottom part of the Front Cover shows the Model No. and Mobile Suit's Code Name.

If you're unfamiliar with the Entry Grade line, I think that's normal. They're pretty rare. (But I do remember toy stores selling a ton of these a couple of years ago.. Although, everybody can pretty much tell that it's not a hot selling item.) The closest "Grade" you can compare it to is to the "No Grade" line, although it's somewhat inferior to them in terms of detail and articulation. If you're interested, you can check my other Entry Grade Gunpla Reviews (actually, all my Gunpla Reviews) in the Reviews Page of this blog.

The Left Side Cover lists all the kits available from the Entry Grade line.

The 4 Gundam Model Kits in the Entry Grade line are all listed on the Right Side Cover of the box. I'll post a picture here for your reference, just in case somebody wants to collect them.

From left to right, we have:

1. GN-0000 00 Gundam
2. GN-001 Gundam Exia
3. RX-78-2 Gundam
4. GAT-X105 Strike Gundam

Also take note that the sample pictures printed here are from painted kits and that they won't look like this when assembled "OOB".

Right Side Cover

OOB pictures and Gundam Information.

Gundam series information.

The "Separator"

The Right Side Cover of the box gives you more information about the kit itself, including sample pictures of the kit when assembled "OOB". Very useful, I think, so that potential buyers can see what the kit actually looks like when it's not painted. Also, there's a few information about the Mobile Suit in the Gundam SEED Anime and the Anime itself. There's also a picture of the "Separator" here to the very right side of the Right Side Cover. We'll check that out later.

Back Cover

A few warning notes.

You can find more text and information at the back of the box, although most of it are written in languages that I can't read. I think most of it are just warning notes translated into different languages. If you're familiar with Gundam Model kits, you'll also notice that the box is different from a typical Gunpla kit, where this one is made with just one cardboard.

Top Cover

Bottom Cover

The Top and Bottom Covers of the kit are just images taken from the Cover Art at the Front Cover, so nothing really new here to look at. This is also where we can open the box.

Right, that's enough of the box. Let's go check the contents so we can assemble this thing!

Runner A1: 5 Parts ("Separator" Included)

Runner B1: 7 Parts

Runner C1-1: 8 Parts

Runner C1-2: 5 Parts

A total of 4 runners are included in this kit, 25 parts overall including the "Separator" which is not part of the Gundam Model Kit itself.

Seals

Also, seals are available for Gunpla Builders who (like me) are not comfortable with painting the kit (and ruining it).

Some advertising stuff about the different series kits.

Some questionnaires at the back.

There's also a piece of paper inside the box, but it's not the Construction Manual. It's some sort of customer survey with a few information of the other "Grades" or line of Gundam Model Kits that Bandai is selling. Just some advertising stuff. Here are some sample pictures, for those who are interested or curious.

Alright, that's it for the contents. Let's go ahead and assemble the Gunpla kit.

At this point, you might ask "Where's the Construction Manual?".

"Tear Here".

At the back of the box, there should be a line to guide you in properly tearing the box open. The Construction Manual is printed on the reverse side of the cardboard. I really wish that they didn't do it this way since I'm one of those people who also keeps their toy's boxes.

Construction Manual

Here's the picture of the Construction Manual for everyone's reference.

Now, time to remove the parts from the runners.

The parts are now separated from the runners.

Actual Picture of the "Separator".

Here's an actual picture of the "Separator". It's main purpose is to help the user remove or "separate" the Gunpla's parts from the sprues/runners. Most Gunpla Builders use Side Cutters to cut the parts off the runners and will likely recommend that you not use the Separator. I personally used a Side Cutter for a cleaner cut and to avoid nasty looking nub marks. There's also another cool gimmick at the other end of the Separator where you can use it as a guide in attaching the "eye seals" for the Gunpla kit.

That's done with. Finally, we can assemble the Gunpla.
Then, onto the actual Gunpla Review!

Review:

I advise to anyone who is planning on purchasing this kit to not expect anything extraordinary, or be prepared to be extremely disappointed. That's not to say that the kit is bad. Here are some profile pictures before we go in-depth.

Front View

Rear View

Side View

Height Measurement

Next, I'll try to get the EG Double O in a few "dynamic poses" as best as I can. (Remember, limited articulation.) This is going to be hard...

"Hey, what's that over there?"

"This is how you fight like a ninja!"

Again, similar to the EG Gundam Exia, this kit only comes with one weapon: the GN Sword II in sword mode. If you're familiar with the Mobile Suit Gundam 00 Anime, you'll know that the 00 Gundam comes with 2 GN Sword IIs. However, I can understand as to why this kit only comes with just 1 GN Sword II because of the big plastic molds they need to place in the Twin Drive System. This can also be fixed if you buy multiple kits. They're just too cheap that it doesn't really hurt to buy 2 kits so you can have 2 GN Sword IIs on one of them. I still don't understand why EG Gundam Exia only comes with just 1 GN Sword when I think it has the least plastic molds among the 4 Entry Grade kits. That's just cheap...

Next, we'll check the Gunpla's details. Since pictures will do a better job at showing detail, I'll just include a few captions here and there to give my comments.

Similar to the other Entry Grade kits that I've reviewed before it, it has very limited articulation. This particular kit has a more limited articulation due to the "Twin Drive System" attached over its shoulders. The inner arm is also hollow.

Moving the arms around is very hard because of the Twin Drive. It can stretch out further but for some reason the connection is too tight.

There's also no articulation in the legs except from the point where the legs connect to the hips.

There's a lot of lines here for panel lining opportunities. A little less, though, when compared to the EG RX-78-2 Gundam.

The legs can spread out this far, although it can go further if the Side Skirt Armor is not preventing it to do so.

00 Gundam doesn't have a typical-looking Front Skirt Armor. Because of this, you can move the legs forward and backward more than the other kits in the EG line.

The feet are connected to a ball joint. It can wiggle a bit but not that much because of the foot guard.

00 Gundam also has similar head articulation to Exia. It can rotate 360° and tilt slightly upwards and down. It also has better head articulation when compared to the other EG kits. (Except when compared to Exia.)

The Twin Drive in 00 Gundam is the biggest mold of plastic in the Entry Grade line. Unsurprisingly, it's hollow when you look at the back. There's also a peg hole at 00 Gundam's back, for some reason. I don't really know what that's for. I tried attaching a Shield accessory from the other EG kits that I own, but the peg appears to be too short.

The reason why I didn't use the seals/stickers for this kit is because I'm planning on painting it in the future. I'll be sure to post pictures once I get started. But I don't think that will be anytime soon...

And now, for my final thoughts...

Again, as expected, there's nothing extraordinary about the EG 00 Gundam. In fact, it lacks most of the detail and articulation that are common to a typical "High Grade" [HG] and even No Grade kits. But that's not to say that the kit is bad. Actually, the kit is not that bad at all. The build is solid (although I think that's mostly due to the number of parts involved) and the Entry Grade kits are surprisingly well detailed but comes molded in limited colors. For Advanced Gunpla Builders who can take their time in modifying this kit, it could look like a No Grade or even a High Grade kit. I'm afraid that I don't have the necessary Gunpla building skills to make that possible.

Assembling the kit is also quick and easy. There's only a few parts involved and you can even build the kit without the aid of the Construction Manual. It took me less than an hour to build, although that's mostly because of me polishing the nub marks as much as I could while taking pictures for this Gunpla Review. Again, I highly recommend this to beginners due to its ease of assembly and simplicity. Although, if you're looking for a more detailed or "typical" Gundam Model Kit, I suggest that you buy a High Grade kit instead. But, really, this is so cheap that it really wouldn't bother most people to buy a couple of kits.

"Quantum Brainwaves" gives you the ability to moonwalk. No, wait. "Moonslide".

That's my fourth and final Entry Grade Kit review! I'll be posting more Gunpla Reviews in the future, so be sure to check here from time to time. Thanks again for reading and I'll see you in the next post!