Kit Review

Straight build + panel lining + stickers/decals

Size comparison with a cigarette pack

MG Nemo - The shield design is unique. (1/3)

The shield design is unique.

Armor removed. Pretty much every piece of armor comes off, almost like a PG.

Full-body mechanical frame. Top-tier even among MGs.

The body frame

The arm frame

The detail is intricate even on the inside of the shoulder armor.

The arm and leg frames.

Top-class detail even among MGs..

Movable cylinders above the knee

There are also movable cylinders behind the ankle, barely visible.

MG Nemo - Every time you bend the ankle joint, the cylinders at the front and back of the ankle alternately slide in and out.

Every time you bend the ankle joint, the cylinders at the front and back of the ankle alternately slide in and out.
This is the kind of feature you really only see on PG-level kits.. ^^;

Sexy frame pose~

There's a frame at the elbow too, covered by a single-piece armor panel.

Unique forearm armor structure. The parts are split along the panel lines to eliminate seam lines.

Splitting the leg armor to eliminate seam lines is standard practice for MGs. Standard.

The calf verniers have an open gimmick that lets them flip right open.

MG Nemo - Thankfully, the clear parts on the head are molded in clear orange. Some older MG GM-type kits came with plain, bar

Thankfully, the clear parts on the head are molded in clear orange.
Some older MG GM-type kits came with plain, bare clear parts which was a bit of a letdown..

Looking up from below, you can see the verniers have nice, clean color separation.

MG Nemo - As befitting an MS with a movable frame like the Mk-II, a lot of the mechanical frame is exposed around the ankle are

As befitting an MS with a movable frame like the Mk-II, a lot of the mechanical frame is exposed around the ankle area.
Nice touch putting decals on the frame itself!

The color separation and detail on the sole of the foot are top-notch too.

The hatch-open mechanism is a little unique.

The pilot is orange :-)

Shield mounting similar to the MG Mk-II.

MG Nemo - The shield attaches the same way as the Mk-II 2.0 and HGUC Hazel — you slot it in and hang it there. Looks like the

The shield attaches the same way as the Mk-II 2.0 and HGUC Hazel — you slot it in and hang it there.
Looks like they're planning to stick with this style of shield mounting going forward..

MG Nemo - Uniquely, the beam sabers are stored horizontally on the rear end. You can pop them in and out of the upper and low

Uniquely, the beam sabers are stored horizontally on the rear end.
You can pop them in and out of the upper and lower mounting points one at a time, and they don't feel loose once attached.

MG Nemo - There's a peg on the palm to lock weapons in place, which is a nice touch.. but it's only on the beam rifle — the b

There's a peg on the palm to lock weapons in place, which is a nice touch..
But it's only on the beam rifle — the beam saber has no corresponding slot -_-;; Bit of a tease..

Detail on the inside of the shield. Clean and tidy.

The 1/100 mini pilot figure also comes with a stand, as expected.

Articulation bends about as far as it can go.
The only structural limitation is those chunky calves..

The shoulders can move forward and backward to a decent degree.

The shoulders fold up a full 90 degrees no problem.

The waist has a double ball joint and rotates pretty well..

MG Nemo - The fingers, following the recent trend, are structured so that a simple mod lets all five fingers move independent

The fingers, following the recent trend, are structured so that a simple mod lets all five fingers move independently.

The wrist bends 180 degrees forward and back!

MG Nemo - But.. but.. the part that covers the wrist polycap barely stays on. The slightest movement and it pops right off, d

But.. but..
The part that covers the wrist polycap barely stays on.
The slightest movement and it pops right off, dangling from the wrist T_T

The split toe section moves up and down quite a lot.

The calf armor makes kneeling poses look pretty awkward -_-;

The leg connection slide gimmick, which I thought was a premium feature, is included on the Nemo too~

A natural crouching pose after sliding the leg connection point forward.

MG Nemo - Beam rifle action. The pose looks natural. (1/3)

Beam rifle action. The pose looks natural.

A high-difficulty pose using the flexible shoulder articulation gimmick

The rifle can also be mounted on either hip.

An unusual draw pose...

Beam saber action

There's a strange connection gimmick that doesn't seem immediately useful. This is...

MG Nemo - Looks like it's there for attaching the Ballute Pack ^^; You can mount the Ballute Pack included with the MG Baund

Looks like it's there for attaching the Ballute Pack ^^;
You can mount the Ballute Pack included with the MG Baund Doc + Ballute Pack, but..
It doesn't snap on perfectly — it's more like just hanging it on loosely.

No real peg to attach it to, so it's just kind of draped on..

Together with the Mk-II 2.0 and Zeta 2.0. Being a mass-production MS, it's naturally a bit on the smaller side.

MG Nemo - A group shot with the GM, the iconic mass-production MS of the One Year War. Even though they're both mass-producti

A group shot with the GM, the iconic mass-production MS of the One Year War.
Even though they're both mass-production types, the Nemo — being from the later Zeta era — has a noticeably more refined look.

Together with the Hi-Zack and Rick-Dias. Standing next to those two, the Nemo actually looks slim :-)

Quite a crowd.. all the MG GM-type kits together.

MG Nemo - The AEUG squadron escorting the Nemo! Today's star is the Nemo~ (If not today, when would it ever get to be the mai

The AEUG squadron escorting the Nemo!
Today's star is the Nemo~ (If not today, when would it ever get to be the main character..;;)

Straight build front shot

Straight build rear shot

2006 in Gunpla kicked off with the storm that was MG Zeta 2.0, though that was technically a December 2005 release whose hype carried over into the new year. The first genuinely new MG of 2006 was the Nemo!

It's clearly part of the lineup riding the wave of the Zeta theatrical films, and like the GM from the One Year War, it's a mass-production MS. It wasn't exactly a surprising choice for an MG, but there's something meaningful about opening 2006 with a mass-production unit like this. ^^ As expected, it's a seriously high-quality kit — one that throws in just about every technique they've accumulated over the years.

Perfect color separation is basically a given for recent MGs, but the Nemo goes a step further with some cleverly evolved seam line hiding tricks all over the place. The split leg armor is something you could more or less anticipate, but the unusual parts breakdown on the arms to hide seam lines feels genuinely fresh.

On top of that, it has a complete full-body frame that you'd normally only expect from a major MG release. The body, shoulder armor, arms, legs — all of it has incredibly fine detail. The legs have movable cylinders in three different spots, and the ankle cylinder gimmick in particular is really impressive. Like the Mk-II, the Nemo is an MS with a movable frame structure, and you can clearly see that a lot of thought went into realizing a full mechanical frame from the very start of the MG Nemo's design.

Articulation is also pushed about as far as it can go — the shoulders raise a full 90 degrees, the arms fold cleanly and completely, the split toe section moves well, and the legs bend right up to the limits of the armor. The one structural limitation is that the calf verniers are so large that the legs can't fold completely.

On top of all that, it also includes the leg connection slide gimmick seen on the PG Strike, MG Gundam Ver. O.Y.W. 0079, and Mk-II 2.0. This makes kneeling-type poses look much more natural — and honestly, I'd always thought of this as a premium feature reserved for protagonist-level kits like the Mk-II or MG Gundam Ver. O.Y.W. 0079. Seeing it on the Nemo, one of the quintessential mass-production units, gives me a strange sense of excitement. It's almost like Bandai is saying: "What, this? This is just standard now. lol"

There's also the shield with its slightly unusual sliding fold mechanism unlike anything seen before, wrists that bend 180 degrees, and fingers designed so a simple mod lets all five move independently — it's fair to say almost every clever technique used in recent kits has been applied here. And this is a budget MG that costs under ¥3,000!

Overall joint strength is just right — not loose, not stiff, really nice. The MG Mk-II 2.0 had a slightly wobbly feel to it, but the MG Nemo holds its poses tightly with none of that. And the waist articulation, one of the MG Mk-II 2.0's biggest weak points, is actually decent on the MG Nemo — it rotates enough to feel satisfying.

From a review standpoint, the fact that the outer armor comes off easily is its own kind of appeal (^^;). The large calf verniers flip open like a hatch, which is a fun little trick. I also like that the clear parts on the head are molded in clear orange rather than a plain, bare clear color.

Despite all these lavish features for the price, there are a few things that stick out. The biggest issue is the wrist area. The wrist popping out a little is something I can live with.. but as shown in the photos above, the part that sits just above the wrist on the arm side — the piece that covers the wrist polycap — barely stays on. Looking closely at the structure, it seems like it's only designed to sit loosely over the polycap, so when you're actively posing the right hand, it frequently pops off and dangles from the wrist. And it's not really something you can just glue down either, since you'd need to apply glue to the polycap to get it to sit properly.

The modified-style fingers also have a pretty mediocre grip, honestly. It's not a huge problem only because there's a palm peg to lock weapons in place — but for some reason, the beam saber doesn't have the corresponding slot that the beam rifle has, so getting a clean pose with the beam saber is a bit tricky. It's not a complicated feature to include, so it's hard to understand why it was left out for the beam saber.

And while this is a structural limitation of the design itself, the calf verniers do noticeably restrict leg articulation range, which is a common complaint. The blue-green molded color certainly fits the original concept well, but depending on the person, the color might read as cheap-looking or reminiscent of candy toys. For reference, the green-toned molded color used on the Nemo is one of those shades that's hard to capture accurately with a digital camera. It comes out looking darker than it really is — the actual kit is a brighter shade of green than what you see in the photos above. The very sparse weapons loadout might also be a point of frustration, though that's partly down to the original design specs, and the low price point makes it easier to forgive.

Of course, the overall quality is so high that some of these might just be nitpicks — but they're all things that could've been polished with just a little more attention, so it does leave you wanting a bit more.

Given where Bandai's technical level is these days, it's not at all surprising to see an MG this good come out at this price. What's unexpected is that the subject is the Nemo — one of the most iconic mass-production units — which makes it feel ""Wait, really?!" That's the kind of feeling it gives you. Sure, it's a mass-production type — the poor grunt that gets killed off the most — but once you're done building it, it somehow feels like something special. It's truly a complete transformation.

And one last thing — it's pretty thoughtful that they made it compatible with the Ballute Pack from the MG Hyaku-Shiki + Ballute Pack set. The MG Rick-Dias and Hi-Zack were released before the MG Ballute Pack came out, so unfortunately they can't properly use it, but at least the Nemo can have the Ballute Pack draped on it, which is something to be thankful for. ^^;

That said... since it's not a perfect match, you can't get it to snap on snugly, and it just barely stays on with a "draped over" kind of feel. One little nudge and the whole thing falls apart...;;; Maybe that's why the manual doesn't even include a photo of the Ballute Pack attached — it just casually mentions in text "try putting the Ballute Pack on too." In that sense, I'm starting to wonder if the locking gimmick on both sides of the Nemo's legs was originally intended for something other than the Ballute Pack. The shape and size don't quite match up for the Ballute Pack to lock in securely, and on top of that, the Ballute Pack only needs to attach to the outer calves — so what's the reasoning behind putting locking gimmicks on the inner calves too? Hmm, hmm...

Anyway, to wrap things up — the MG Nemo far exceeded my modest expectations, and it's a surprisingly premium kit for the ¥2800 price tag. Bandai's knack for making even a mass-production type feel special deserves a big thumbs up — yet another ultra-high-quality MG has been born. Whatever else you might say, the build satisfaction you get for the price is absolutely top-notch. :-)

MG MSA-003 Nemo
Category	Rating	Analysis
Seam Lines	★★★★★	Even more evolved seam line hiding techniques.
Molding Color / Color Separation	★★★★★	Color separation is a given these days... and the vernier color separation is very good too.
Proportions	★★★★★	Poses very crisply and cleanly.
Articulation	★★★★☆	Pushes the design to its limits. The knee range is still a bit disappointing though.
Joint Strength	★★★★☆	All joints are stiff enough... but the wrists are a bit iffy.
Internal Frame	★★★★★	Wait — I thought this was a PG for a second ;;
Detail	★★★★★	Incredible inner frame detail. The outer armor is best-in-class too!
Weapons / Accessories	★★★★	The original design is a bit sparse... so it's definitely not what you'd call a rich-looking kit.
Parts Count / Price	★★★★★	244 parts total. Parts per ¥1000: 87.1. Top-tier value for the price!
Uniqueness	★★★★★	Don't underestimate it just because it's a mass-production type. In terms of sheer quality, it's on par with the MG Gundam Ver. O.Y.W. 0079.
Dalong's Point : 96 pts.

MG Nemo | 2006. 2 | ¥3,200

AIThis page was translated by Claude Sonnet.