Kit Review

Straight build + Panel lining + Seals

Size comparison with a cigarette pack

Club G Real Experience Model RX-0 Unicorn Gundam (Auto-Trans Edition) - Destroy Mode with red lighting on (1/6)

Club G Real Experience Model RX-0 Unicorn Gundam (Auto-Trans Edition) - Destroy Mode with red lighting on (2/6)

Club G Real Experience Model RX-0 Unicorn Gundam (Auto-Trans Edition) - Destroy Mode with red lighting on (3/6)

Club G Real Experience Model RX-0 Unicorn Gundam (Auto-Trans Edition) - Destroy Mode with red lighting on (4/6)

Destroy Mode with red lighting on

Club G Real Experience Model RX-0 Unicorn Gundam (Auto-Trans Edition) - Unicorn Mode with red lighting on (1/6)

Club G Real Experience Model RX-0 Unicorn Gundam (Auto-Trans Edition) - Unicorn Mode with red lighting on (2/6)

Club G Real Experience Model RX-0 Unicorn Gundam (Auto-Trans Edition) - Unicorn Mode with red lighting on (3/6)

Club G Real Experience Model RX-0 Unicorn Gundam (Auto-Trans Edition) - Unicorn Mode with red lighting on (4/6)

Unicorn Mode with red lighting on

Destroy/Unicorn Mode with lighting off

Destroy/Unicorn Mode with green lighting on

Club G Real Experience Model RX-0 Unicorn Gundam (Auto-Trans Edition) - The sculpture-like detail, painted surfaces, and stro

The sculpture-like detail, painted surfaces, and strong lighting effect make this feel really premium.
The glow effect is clearly visible even with the room lights on.

That sculpture-like Unicorn Mode face

Club G Real Experience Model RX-0 Unicorn Gundam (Auto-Trans Edition) - The head antenna doesn't stay together as one piece i

The head antenna doesn't stay together as one piece in Unicorn Mode..
There seems to be a weak magnet inside, but in practice it almost always ends up gaping open like this -_-

Club G Real Experience Model RX-0 Unicorn Gundam (Auto-Trans Edition) - Shots taken with the lights dimmed. Even more dazzlin

Shots taken with the lights dimmed.
Even more dazzling and impressive.

Club G Real Experience Model RX-0 Unicorn Gundam (Auto-Trans Edition) - The auto-transform frame, provided pre-assembled. (1/

Club G Real Experience Model RX-0 Unicorn Gundam (Auto-Trans Edition) - The auto-transform frame, provided pre-assembled. (2/

The auto-transform frame, provided pre-assembled.

Club G Real Experience Model RX-0 Unicorn Gundam (Auto-Trans Edition) - Assembly notes emphasized in the manual. When inserti

Assembly notes emphasized in the manual.
When inserting the black vulcan parts inside the upper side-head armor, make sure to push them in all the way until fully seated.
Otherwise, the Unicorn Mode mask may run into interference when it slides inward, as shown in the photo on the right.

Club G Real Experience Model RX-0 Unicorn Gundam (Auto-Trans Edition) - Six AA batteries go in the back, and they tend to dra

Six AA batteries go in the back, and they tend to drain pretty quickly.

Underside

Club G Real Experience Model RX-0 Unicorn Gundam (Auto-Trans Edition) - On the side you'll find an audio jack and the operati

On the side you'll find an audio jack and the operation switch.

Background sheet included as a purchase bonus.

Club G Real Experience Model RX-0 Unicorn Gundam (Auto-Trans Edition) - There's something printed on the back of the backgrou

There's something printed on the back of the background sheet too.

Club G Real Experience Model RX-0 Unicorn Gundam (Auto-Trans Edition) - Both sides fold into triangular column shapes to stan

Both sides fold into triangular column shapes to stand upright, so it holds its shape nice and firmly.

Alongside the PG Unicorn Gundam.

Auto-Transformation : Operation

Here's a summary of what each button does.

EP1	Episode 1 playback (1 min 11 sec)
EP2	Episode 2 playback (1 min 2 sec)
EP3	Episode 3 playback (1 min 25 sec)
EP4	Episode 4 playback (1 min 28 sec)
EP5	Episode 5 playback (1 min 32 sec)
EP6	Episode 6 playback (1 min 24 sec)
EP7	Episode 7 playback (2 min 46 sec)
MS	Mineva Lao Zabi's speech (9 min 8 sec)
AC1	Press once to transform into Destroy Mode with red lighting, press again to return to Unicorn Mode
AC2	Press once to transform into Destroy Mode with green lighting, press again to return to Unicorn Mode
CV	Plays music only during episode playback with dialogue removed (Clear Voice)
Volume	Up/Down buttons to adjust volume
Special Functions	- During playback, press and hold any of the EP1~7, MS, or AC1/2 buttons for 3 seconds or more to stop playback. - Press and hold the EP7 button for 3 seconds or more to play EP1~7 continuously, with the ending theme "StarRingChild" playing as a bonus at the very end

AC1 and AC2 trigger the transformation display between Destroy and Unicorn Mode almost immediately with a brief background sound — AC1 lights up the psycho-frame in red, AC2 in green. Below is a video of the AC1 and AC2 actions on the bare frame before assembly.

FRAME : AC1 & AC2 PLAY

Second is a video of the AC1 and AC2 actions after the kit is fully assembled.

AC1 & AC2 PLAY

There are 7 episode playback modes in total, each playing background music and dialogue from the show while repeatedly cycling through the transformation.
Below is a video of holding down the EP7 button to auto-play episodes 1 through 7 continuously, ending with the ending theme "StarRingChild" (total runtime: 12 min 32 sec)

EP1 ~ EP7 PLAY

The MS button plays Mineva Lao Zabi's speech from the show, which runs for a whopping 8 minutes and 8 seconds. It cycles through the transformation multiple times with background music, and unlike EP1~7, the psycho-frame lights up in a variety of colors.

MS PLAY

REVIEW

This kit is the Real Experience Model Unicorn Gundam (Auto-Trans Edition), released as a Club G (Premium Bandai) online exclusive. As you can see, it's a large-scale Unicorn Gundam bust that features an electronic auto-transformation mechanism switching the head between Destroy Mode and Unicorn Mode. It's only the head, sure, but a Unicorn that transforms automatically — it caused quite a stir when it was first announced.

The contents consist of the pre-assembled frame body with the auto-transform mechanism built in, plus the exterior armor parts. There are only 24 exterior parts in total, so it's kind of like a semi-assembled model kit, similar to the old 1/60 Gundam F91. Befitting its premium price, all exterior parts come with a high-quality matte white paint finish, and the decal text and markings are printed on cleanly — no seals needed at all. Every part uses undergates so there are no gate marks left behind, and even taking your time you can finish assembly in about 10 minutes. It goes together with that smooth, satisfying feel you'd expect from a Bandai kit.

Six AA batteries go in the back, and as shown in the descriptions and videos above, you can trigger transformations through a variety of episode and play modes including EP1~7, MS, and AC1/2. The transformation between Destroy and Unicorn Mode is accompanied by impressive background music and sound effects, and watching it auto-transform right in front of you in person is genuinely GREAT!!! Even if it's only a secondhand experience, you can check out the videos above to see what content plays and how it all unfolds.

So this is an incredibly premium pre-painted model kit, and even setting aside the auto-transform feature it's a fantastic display piece in its own right. The problem, though, is the malfunction issue during auto-transformation.(See the malfunction video below.)

As shown in the video, the most common symptom is the side head armor stopping mid-rotation as if it's gotten stuck. Sometimes it does physically catch on something, but more likely it's the internal motor mechanisms stalling out due to subtle friction resistance during operation. When the side armor rotates, the Destroy Mode face inside the head is supposed to move in sync front-to-back, and it seems like one of these components is catching somewhere and causing the stoppage. Some people suggested slightly loosening the screw that holds the center of the rotating side parts, and while that does help a bit, it doesn't eliminate the malfunctions — it just reduces how often they happen.

The real issue is how frequently it happens.In my case it happened right from the very first operation (-_-), though it worked fine for a while after that. What makes it even more maddening is that the frequency is completely random. Sometimes it'll transform 10 times in a row without a hitch, then suddenly start failing and keep erroring out for 10 more attempts. Then it starts working again for a bit... then it's one success, one failure, on and on in an endless loop.... (I'll spare you the rest. It's an absolute disaster T_T)

At first I double-checked whether I'd assembled it wrong, then contacted Bandai wondering if I'd just gotten a bad unit with poor luck, and after looking into overseas cases and other people's accounts... I've just concluded it's a defect inherent to the product itself.In short, it seems like either the design wasn't properly worked out due to lack of experience with this kind of motorized product, or units with insufficient durability slipped through during mass production.

I actually went to see this product when it was on display at Gundam Base, and honestly, I witnessed these same errors back then too. I watched for quite a while but the side armor kept getting stuck and I never once got to see a complete, proper transformation. At the time I figured it had just degraded from being on display for so long... but looking back now, it was just always like that to begin with.That's all there is to it.

Anyway, after spending a good while analyzing the cause of this kit's malfunctions, the transformation mechanism is just fundamentally too unstable from the start. The parts rotate and move with barely any clearance to spare, and it feels like even the slightest deviation in the motor's operation is enough to cause an immediate stall. I'm an engineer who's been working with electronics for nearly 30 years, and from a control systems perspective, it feels like the board/circuit design is a mess — the kind of system that ends up with poor stability. In cases like this, the prototype might work fine, but once quality control slips even slightly during production, you end up with unstable mass-produced units all too easily.

Of course, depending on your luck you might get a unit that malfunctions less often... but I think you just have to go in accepting that this kit is the kind of product that will inevitably malfunction from time to time. The problem is that ¥50,000 is way too much to pay for that kind of experience. As a consumer who spent a serious chunk of money on this out of my own pocket (on a 6-month installment plan, no less), the thought of having paid this price for what amounts to a static display bust really stings.

The review videos above might make it look like it's working smoothly for the most part, but that's because I filmed it over and over and only edited in the takes where the transformation went well. The 12-minute video of EP1~EP7 playing automatically was one I simply couldn't capture perfectly no matter how many times I tried. If you watch that video closely, there's one error during the final transformation in the ending theme — but thanks to that, it was at least the one take where I could get through without it cutting out in the middle.

And when this kit was first announced, there were questions raised about why it only uses batteries with no option for a continuous power supply. After all, with such a cool transformation, you'd want to keep playing it and enjoying it without worrying about battery life. But looking at it now, it seems like Bandai's developers weren't unaware of the issue either. They probably knew that running it continuously on a permanent power supply would be too risky given the durability and operational instability...

Anyway, somehow this ended up being a review full of complaints, but I guess that's unavoidable given how disappointing it is for the price. The looks and transformation are excellent, but this is a kit that'll have a lot of people pulling their hair out due to the constant malfunctions. It was probably an experimental attempt for Bandai too, but here's hoping they don't write another dark chapter like this one T_T

Real Experience Model RX-0 Unicorn Gundam (Auto-Trans Edition) | 2021.11 | ¥50,000

AIThis page was translated by Claude Sonnet.