It has been an awful long time since we reviewed a Unicorn Gundam on the blog, hasn't it? Well, luckily I had one lying around just perfect for the job. The
Unicorn Gundam Destroy Mode Awake Mode Narrative Version Pearl Metallic tongue-twister is one in a line of rather hard to find limited releases that just shows to what length you must now go to come up with a new Unicorn figure in Gundam Converge...
Not to be confused by the recently released Unicorn Gundam 03 Phenex (Narrative Ver.), which is a P-Bandai CORE release, the Narrative Version Unicorn is as far as I can tell not a purchasable item. Although I haven't yet found the exact circumstances regarding its release I would suspect it to be a Japan-only bonus item for people preordering tickets for the Mobile Suit Gundam Narrative film which premiered in late November last year. I picked up the figure only from Mandarake in December and had to cough up ¥3500 to obtain it.
There are a couple of special Unicorn Gundams floating around by now. We have the pearl clear version of the old sculpt which released in April 2014 as a bonus item for Unicorn Episode 07, Gundam Café released a metallic color version of the new sculpt in October 2017 and now we also have the Narrative Version Unicorn from November 2018.
Looking inside the box will not yield any particular cause for excitement. This is another bare-minimum Unicorn release. Sure, it comes loaded with both a beam rifle and a bazooka, but that is the default loadout for the ¥500 retail figure anyway.
Sometimes Bandai goes for clear bases when they do special releases, but since this one has the Narrative logo printed on it they went with opaque black which is definitely my preference.
I don't think there is a whole lot to say about this figure. This is the third time we see the exact same figure and it is just as competent as the previous two iterations. The resculpted retail version of the Unicorn Gundam is an excellent figure in itself so there isn't a whole lot of new ground to cover here.
Notice that the weapons have a slight tint of green metallic vibe about them which is markedly different from the metallic version figure from the Gundam Café. The figure also comes with the same hole for a shield peg in its right arm but we are still short on equipment to take advantage of it.
The photos above show the basic retail Unicorn Gundam from Converge #08 (October 2017), the metallic version Gundam Café exclusive (also October 2017) and the Narrative Ver. figure from November 2018.
The above photo compares the old Destroy Mode sculpt with the new. And below you can see some of the old-sculpt Awake Mode variations of the figure. We have the excellent Full Armor Variant (EX02, released March 2014), the Overseas Only metallic version (Converge SP, August 2015) and the Shield Wall version (CORE 009, March 2017).
Overall the Narrative Version Awake Mode Gundam is another solid version of the new Unicorn and if you enjoy the figure you will probably want to seek it out. The high price and limited availability will be a bit of a problem however, but considering that the figure introduces no new gear or gimmicks means it can easily be skipped. If you are in the market for a "green" Unicorn the CORE 017 Full Armor variant will be a much more interesting option and the one to seek out first.
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