Kit Review

Straight build

1/1000 U.N.C.F AAA-1 Andromeda Movie Effect Ver. - Size comparison with a cigarette pack. It's quite large at roughly 44cm in

Size comparison with a cigarette pack.
It's quite large at roughly 44cm in length.

1/1000 U.N.C.F AAA-1 Andromeda Movie Effect Ver. - Various angles (1/7)

1/1000 U.N.C.F AAA-1 Andromeda Movie Effect Ver. - Various angles (2/7)

1/1000 U.N.C.F AAA-1 Andromeda Movie Effect Ver. - Various angles (3/7)

1/1000 U.N.C.F AAA-1 Andromeda Movie Effect Ver. - Various angles (4/7)

1/1000 U.N.C.F AAA-1 Andromeda Movie Effect Ver. - Various angles (5/7)

Various angles

1/1000 U.N.C.F AAA-1 Andromeda Movie Effect Ver. - Detail shots (1/6)

1/1000 U.N.C.F AAA-1 Andromeda Movie Effect Ver. - Detail shots (2/6)

1/1000 U.N.C.F AAA-1 Andromeda Movie Effect Ver. - Detail shots (3/6)

1/1000 U.N.C.F AAA-1 Andromeda Movie Effect Ver. - Detail shots (4/6)

Detail shots

Bottom view

You can place 2 Cosmo Tigers on each side of the stand.

The gun barrel and the hangar cover on the lower rear can be moved.

1/1000 U.N.C.F AAA-1 Andromeda Movie Effect Ver. - The 4 front panels can be swapped out for a deployed Gravity Spread Cannon

The 4 front panels can be swapped out for a deployed Gravity Spread Cannon configuration.

1/1000 U.N.C.F AAA-1 Andromeda Movie Effect Ver. - All 4 Gravity Spread Cannons opened up (1/3)

All 4 Gravity Spread Cannons opened up

1/1000 U.N.C.F AAA-1 Andromeda Movie Effect Ver. - There are some leftover parts, and if you look closely, they're actually t

There are some leftover parts, and if you look closely, they're actually the parts for when you choose not to use the Movie Effect parts.

Together with the 1/1000 Yamato 2199.
The Andromeda is noticeably bigger!

1/1000 U.N.C.F AAA-1 Andromeda Movie Effect Ver. - The Movie Effect parts take 3 AA batteries and come with 4 LED light units

The Movie Effect parts take 3 AA batteries,
and come with 4 LED light units and 1 Diffusion Wave Motion Gun effect block.

1/1000 U.N.C.F AAA-1 Andromeda Movie Effect Ver. - You'll need to wrap black stickers around the Diffusion Wave Motion Gun ef

You'll need to wrap black stickers around the Diffusion Wave Motion Gun effect parts to prevent light bleed.

1/1000 U.N.C.F AAA-1 Andromeda Movie Effect Ver. - The internal mechanism for securing it to the underside of the ship is nic

The internal mechanism for securing it to the underside of the ship is nicely done.

1/1000 U.N.C.F AAA-1 Andromeda Movie Effect Ver. - In addition to the power switch on the far right, there are 3 buttons. But

In addition to the power switch on the far right, there are 3 buttons.
Button 1 is for the engine startup sound effect and turning the LEDs ON, button 2 is the Diffusion Wave Motion Gun firing button, and button 3 is the volume.
The volume works as a toggle — each press cycles through 3 levels, going louder and then softer.

1/1000 U.N.C.F AAA-1 Andromeda Movie Effect Ver. - The front Diffusion Wave Motion Gun, the rear engine nozzles, and the brid

The front Diffusion Wave Motion Gun, the rear engine nozzles, and the bridge all light up.
Check out the YouTube video below to see the Movie Effect in action.

To commemorate the theatrical release of Yamato 2202, a new Yamato kit has been released after quite a while — and the Andromeda battleship I've been longing for has finally arrived in 1/1000 scale! T_T

However, rather than a standard battleship kit, this one comes under the name "Movie Effect Ver." with LED effect parts included — which has pushed the price up to ¥12,000, basically PG territory. They could've released a standard version and sold the Movie Effect parts separately, but setting aside the quality, it just feels way too expensive.

The ship's official length is set at 444 meters, so it's absolutely massive — and even as a 1/1000 model, it delivers an impressive 44cm of presence. Compared to the 1/1000 Yamato, the Yamato almost looks cute next to it. The overall proportions and detail look nicely done. That said, the assembly process feels oddly stiff in a way you wouldn't expect from Bandai, so the build experience isn't great. Fitting the nozzle units on both sides in particular requires a surprising amount of force, and a few other parts feel like the tolerances weren't quite managed properly.

As you'd expect from a battleship kit, there isn't much articulation — the main guns can move, and the hangar cover on the lower rear can open. As a bonus gimmick, you can swap out 4 panels on the front to show the Gravity Spread Cannons in their deployed configuration.

The Movie Effect parts feel similar to those on the 1/350 Yamato — you get the Diffusion Wave Motion Gun firing effect on the front, engine nozzle ignition and startup on the rear, and LED lighting on the bridge. Check out the video above for a closer look at how it all works. It's pretty cool in its own right, but unless you're a die-hard fan, it's hard to feel like it's worth spending over ¥10,000 on.

Setting the effect parts aside, the Andromeda has personally been my all-time favorite space battleship since way back, so seeing it get such a large and impressive kit release is genuinely moving. That sleek design with double Wave Motion Guns!! It brings back memories of secretly sketching the Andromeda in the back of class during school. :-)

Anyway, this is the 2017 theatrical version of the kit, but it does a good job of preserving the silhouette of the original design, so it's satisfying enough to build. It's pricey, but if you're an old-school Yamato fan, this is an absolute must-have. :-)

1/1000 U.N.C.F AAA-1 Andromeda Movie Effect Ver. | 2017. 3 | ¥12,000

AIThis page was translated by Claude Sonnet.