Kit Review

Straight build +
panel lining

Size comparison with a cigarette pack. That bulk is just *chef's kiss*.

Upper body close-up

1/100 Gundam Virtue - The head. That red sticker on the mouth area looks pretty rough.. T_T Come on, give us some proper colo

The head. That red sticker on the mouth area looks pretty rough.. T_T
Come on, give us some proper color separation...

Arms

Back section

GN Cannon. The grip and barrel sections are articulated.

Those thick, chunky legs.

1/100 Gundam Virtue - Thing is though.. the GN Bazooka is so big and heavy that it just droops down;; The hand grip and wrist

Thing is though.. the GN Bazooka is so big and heavy that it just droops down;;
The hand grip and wrist polycap strength are nowhere near enough to hold it up.
Classic dilemma with larger scale kits, I guess..

The GN Bazooka. The construction is pretty much identical to the HG version.

Various GN Bazooka gimmicks

GN Field deployment

The GN Field deployment gimmick is nicely done. Just hard to tell at a glance..;;

Articulation. Given the chunky build.. the range of motion is inevitably a bit limited.

1/100 Gundam Virtue - Action pose. As you can see.. the GN Bazooka is so heavy there's just no way to hold it straight up;; Y

Action pose. As you can see.. the GN Bazooka is so heavy there's just no way to hold it straight up;;
You pretty much need some kind of support stand for a natural-looking pose T_T

1/100 Gundam Virtue - All the GN Bazooka action poses were shot using a beam saber as a prop stand (-_-). As you can see in t

All the GN Bazooka action poses were shot using a beam saber as a prop stand (-_-).
As you can see in the photo on the right, the beam saber was Photoshopped out in the subsequent shots, just so you know...

Beam saber action

Mounted on a universal action base.

GN Cannon firing pose.

Absolutely full of impact.

To do the GN Bazooka action using the GN Drive, you need to open up the chest gimmick.

GN Bazooka, fire!

1/100 Gundam Virtue - As you can see.. the GN Bazooka is so heavy that it just droops like that normally. There's no way to k

As you can see.. the GN Bazooka is just too heavy,
so it droops like that normally. There's no way to keep it pointing straight.

So I propped it up with a stand and Photoshopped it out.

Hmm.. not bad, right? ^^:

1/100 Gundam Virtue - And the legs too.. I'd love to spread them wide for a dynamic pose, but they're so heavy they just drop

And the legs too.. I'd love to spread them wide for a dynamic pose, but they're so heavy they just drop straight down. OTL

Alright, it's getting hot out — time to strip down a bit..

To transform into Nadleeh, you'll need the whisker(?) parts and the Nadleeh head antenna as extras.

1/100 Gundam Virtue - Armor removal shot... well, not exactly — this is what it looks like after stripping off all of Virtue'

Armor removal shot... well, not exactly — this is what it looks like after stripping off all of Virtue's outer armor
to reveal Nadleeh.

Head armor removal

Torso armor removal. There's a simple gimmick on Nadleeh's back for connecting Virtue's backpack.

Arm and leg armor removal

1/100 Gundam Virtue - This is Virtue's hidden inner unit — Gundam Nadleeh. (1/4)

1/100 Gundam Virtue - This is Virtue's hidden inner unit — Gundam Nadleeh. (2/4)

This is Virtue's hidden inner unit — Gundam Nadleeh.

Upper body and face.
The red whisker parts feel a little unnatural, I have to say.

The back of the head(?) can also move up and down slightly.

Face close-up.

Since the whiskers are fixed.. they move along with the head every time you turn the neck.

1/100 Gundam Virtue - The now-slimmed-down legs. The feet look small, don't they. (1/2)

The slimmed-down legs. The feet look small, don't they.

1/100 Gundam Virtue - Articulation is definitely better than in Virtue mode. Once it becomes Nadleeh, the shoulder articulati

Articulation is definitely better than in Virtue mode.
Once it becomes Nadleeh, the shoulder articulation gimmick finally moves smoothly too.

Even kneeling down — impossible in Virtue mode — is doable now!

1/100 Gundam Virtue - The beam sabers are located behind the knee guards. In Virtue mode they're almost completely hidden by

The beam sabers are located behind the knee guards.
In Virtue mode they're almost completely hidden by the chunky armor..

Nadleeh beam saber action

Dual sword action using the action base

It definitely looks sleeker than Virtue, doesn't it.

1/100 Gundam Virtue - Nadleeh striking a cool pose. In the show, Nadleeh fights by gripping the GN Cannons that were mounted

Nadleeh striking a cool pose.
In the show, Nadleeh fights by gripping the GN Cannons that were mounted on Virtue's back with both hands.

1/100 Gundam Virtue - GN Cannon attack! (1/4)

1/100 Gundam Virtue - GN Cannon attack! (2/4)

GN Cannon attack!

Comparison between Gundam Nadleeh and Exia. Pretty similar builds, right.

1/100 Gundam Virtue - Comparison with the HG Virtue. Structurally they're quite similar. (Which might mean there wasn't much

Comparison with the HG Virtue. Structurally they're quite similar.
(Which might mean there wasn't much improvement..)

The FG - HG - 1/100 Virtue trio

Finally, all four Celestial Being Gundams are assembled in 1/100 scale.

All four Gundams together in 1/100 - HG - FG.

1/100 Gundam Virtue - Straight build shots. (1/4)

1/100 Gundam Virtue - Straight build shots. (2/4)

Straight build shots.

At last, the fourth Celestial Being Gundam — Virtue — has been released in 1/100 scale. This one seemed to generate a bit more anticipation than the other 1/100s, and that's because it recreates the Gundam Nadleeh mode from the show.

Gundam Virtue is piloted by the androgynous Tieria, and in an emergency it can shed its chunky outer armor and transform (well, "transform" might be a bit of a stretch) into Gundam Nadleeh. In Nadleeh mode it even displays the uncanny ability to take control of nearby GN Drives — though when Gundam Nadleeh first appeared, it seemed to get more flak than praise.

The concept of stripping away the outer armor to reveal a whole new Gundam underneath is pretty interesting.. but there was definitely some resistance to the name "Nadleeh," which has a kind of tacky, over-the-top ring to it, and to those weird whiskers (or are they hair?) that you can't quite tell are masculine or feminine. That said, the more you look at it the more it grows on you..; In reality they're not whiskers at all but something like energy pipes that connect to Virtue's outer armor, and either way you have to admit the design concept is unique.

I never really expected the FG or HG to recreate Nadleeh mode, but I did think it might be possible at 1/100 scale — and sure enough, it was released with the full Virtue/Nadleeh conversion. And just as hoped, the armor removal and transformation is reproduced almost perfectly.

Starting with the positives, the standout feature is how perfectly the armor-removal gimmick is executed. On top of that, if the armor fit had been too loose or too tight this kit would've been a real mess.. but even in full Virtue mode with all the armor on, everything locks in nice and solid. And when you go to take the armor apart, it comes off without too much of a struggle either. In short, the snap-fit tension on the armor parts is tuned just right, so there are zero issues with the complex armor attachment and removal. When you think about how technically tricky it is to get that snap-fit tension just right, you can't help but think — yeah, this is Bandai.

And just like the previous 1/100 kits, the dense detailing gives it a great sense of depth, and that massive backpack gives it a real commanding presence. Of course, the complex structure and increased parts count also give the price tag quite a commanding presence.. (¥4000 is practically mid-range MG territory, isn't it..;; )

There are downsides too, though — something I anticipated even before release.. At this larger 1/100 scale, the weight of the parts puts a real strain on things. In slim Nadleeh mode all the joints are nicely stiff and hold poses well, but once you put it into Virtue mode.. things get rough.

The hip joints, for example, feel quite stiff in Nadleeh mode, but the moment you bulk it up into Virtue mode they suddenly feel loose and saggy. Well, the legs need to be a bit thicker to support all that weight..;; So even if you try to spread the legs out on a stand, gravity just drags them straight down.

The real killer is trying to recreate a dynamic firing pose with the GN Bazooka — it's a serious struggle. With the HG the GN Bazooka was light enough to pull off poses without much trouble, but on the 1/100 it's pretty much impossible. In other words, holding the GN Bazooka up against the chest and pointing it straight forward for a firing pose just can't be done. As you can see in the photos above, without propping it up from below with something like a beam saber, there's no way to hold it at a right angle structurally. You'd basically be relying almost entirely on the polycap friction in the wrists to hold it up.. and the GN Bazooka is just way too heavy for that.

Sure, it's a physically unavoidable problem, but not being able to recreate the most iconic pose is still a pretty big letdown. So this 1/100 Virtue is probably best displayed just standing on the ground. The moment you put it on a stand, the legs and weapons droop straight down like a dog on a hot summer day..

Also, even at 1/100 scale the color separation is still a bit lacking. Maybe they're deliberately holding back with an MG in mind, but the yellow parts on the GN Bazooka in particular feel like they were intentionally skipped. They covered everything else with seals, so why did they just silently pass on the most eye-catching part.. -_-; The top of the head would've looked much better with a seal too.. It can't be that hard to add a few more seals — classic "Bandai sabotage," as always.

All in all, the 1/100 Virtue deserves near-perfect marks for recreating the Nadleeh mode, but it's hard to give it high scores for durability and pose recreation. You could call it a display kit — it's not an action kit for dynamic posing on a stand.

But then again, "full transformation" has always been a huge draw for mecha fans.. It's not a transformation in the strict sense, but the way it so neatly pulls off what looks like a pretty complex concept is a strong selling point unique to the 1/100 Virtue that you just won't find in other kits. If you're interested in the Nadleeh mode conversion, this will be a great kit for you. Just don't expect too much from the joint strength when it comes to action poses ^_^

1/100 Gundam Virtue | 2008. 2 | ¥4,000

AIThis page was translated by Claude Sonnet.