Kit Review

PG LED Unit for Unicorn Gundam - LED lit up in Unicorn Mode first. (1/3)

LED lit up in Unicorn Mode first.

PG LED Unit for Unicorn Gundam - Detail close-ups. (1/6)

PG LED Unit for Unicorn Gundam - Detail close-ups. (2/6)

PG LED Unit for Unicorn Gundam - Detail close-ups. (3/6)

PG LED Unit for Unicorn Gundam - Detail close-ups. (4/6)

Detail close-ups.

PG LED Unit for Unicorn Gundam - As you can see, even in Unicorn Mode the LED unit gives off a subtle glow through the gaps i

As you can see, even in Unicorn Mode the LED unit
gives off a subtle glow through the gaps in the armor, and it actually looks surprisingly cool.

PG LED Unit for Unicorn Gundam - Bazooka action pose with LED unit (1/3)

Bazooka action pose with LED unit

PG LED Unit for Unicorn Gundam - Beam saber action pose with LED unit (1/3)

Beam saber action pose with LED unit

PG LED Unit for Unicorn Gundam - Now switching to Destroy Mode... Press the LED unit button once and the green LEDs light up

Now switching to Destroy Mode...
Press the LED unit button once and the green LEDs light up in the eyes only first.

PG LED Unit for Unicorn Gundam - Press the button again and the psycho-frame across the entire body lights up too. When you p

Press the button again and the psycho-frame across the entire body lights up too.
When you press the button, the lights don't just snap on all at once — a fade in/out effect is added so they
slowly come on and slowly go off.

Destroy Mode LED lit full-body shot

PG LED Unit for Unicorn Gundam - LED glow shots compared at different camera exposures. The glow effect looks different depen

LED glow shots compared at different camera exposures.
The glow effect looks different depending on the exposure, so for the review I standardized on a middle-exposure setting.

Roughly this exposure level seems to show both the body and the glow effect nicely.

PG LED Unit for Unicorn Gundam - LED glow effect close-up shots (1/6)

PG LED Unit for Unicorn Gundam - LED glow effect close-up shots (2/6)

PG LED Unit for Unicorn Gundam - LED glow effect close-up shots (3/6)

PG LED Unit for Unicorn Gundam - LED glow effect close-up shots (4/6)

LED glow effect close-up shots

PG LED Unit for Unicorn Gundam - With the LED on, open the cockpit hatch and the light illuminates the inside of the cockpit

With the LED on, open the cockpit hatch and
the light illuminates the inside of the cockpit too, making the pilot clearly visible.

PG LED Unit for Unicorn Gundam - Rifle action pose with LED unit (1/3)

Rifle action pose with LED unit

Beam saber action pose with LED unit

PG LED Unit for Unicorn Gundam - LED unit + beam gatling and bazooka combo pose (1/3)

LED unit + beam gatling and bazooka combo pose

PG LED Unit for Unicorn Gundam - Unchained Mode LED glow shots. (1/4)

PG LED Unit for Unicorn Gundam - Unchained Mode LED glow shots. (2/4)

Unchained Mode LED light-up shot.

PG LED Unit for Unicorn Gundam - With the LED lighting extending to the additional areas that open up, it looks even more spe

With the LED lighting extending to the additional areas that open up,
it looks even more spectacular than Destroy Mode.

Either way, it looks absolutely awesome~

This kit is the LED unit for the Unicorn Gundam, released alongside the PG Unicorn Gundam, and it's a super premium accessory kit priced at a whopping ¥12,000 — on par with the PG First. On top of that, it comes in a box even smaller than an HG kit, which somehow makes it feel even more expensive.

The contents consist of a battery pack and 8 LED units divided into the head, backpack, upper body, lower body, arms, and legs. The power connector from the battery pack plugs into the torso and is well-designed to chain through the entire body. The connectors between each unit are easy to attach and detach, so you can test each section individually during the build process. The 20 LED units each come with their own PCB and casing, which gives the whole thing a really premium feel. (Well, it should be, given the price..)

One interesting thing is that the assembly instructions for the LED unit aren't included in this kit — they're actually built right into the PG Unicorn manual from the start. It's probably easiest to install the LED unit as you build the PG Unicorn, but for the sake of the review, I deliberately chose to fully assemble the PG Unicorn first, then disassemble it and install the LED unit afterward. I figured that was the best way to really understand the challenges (?) of putting the LED unit together.

Looking at the manual alone, the assembly seemed incredibly complicated and I was pretty worried — but once I actually got into disassembling and reassembling it, it turned out to be less difficult than expected, just a bit tedious. A lot of people have probably struggled with light-up units in similar kits where the LEDs just wouldn't turn on (I've been there myself~), but the Unicorn LED unit connects so cleanly via connectors that there's almost no chance of the lights failing to come on after assembly. I was still a bit nervous, so I did connect the battery pack to test things at each stage, but honestly it probably wasn't even necessary.

One nice touch is that the PG Unicorn manual actually includes a separate, helpful disassembly guide specifically for adding the LED unit later. That really minimized any confusion during the disassembly process, and made it pretty easy to get everything back together. That said, the process of installing the LED unit is still fairly involved, so I've put together a separate LED unit assembly review pagewith 100 photos explaining it in detail — definitely check that out.

You'll need 4 AA batteries for the LED unit. There's a dual-switch setup: first you flip the main switch to ON, then pressing the round button once lights up just the eyes, and pressing it again lights up the entire body. When it turns on, the light doesn't just snap on all at once — it gradually brightens over a few seconds with a nice fade-in effect, and when it turns off, it fades out slowly as well. Very premium feel.

As for the actual lighting effect — surprisingly, even in Unicorn Mode with the armor closed, it still puts on quite a show. The light leaking through the gaps in the armor looks better than you'd expect. That said, the LED lighting is really at its best when you've got all the armor panels open.. ^^

The lighting effect in Destroy Mode with the hatches open is pretty spectacular — it genuinely made me go "Whoa...." involuntarily. The lighting is concentrated on the upper body, which makes the lower half look relatively darker by comparison, but either way it's more vivid and three-dimensional than the glow effect in the anime, and it's a real treat for the eyes.

And then in Unchained Mode with every single hatch thrown open, the lighting effect kicks up another level entirely — it gives you the kind of visual satisfaction you'd get from a Christmas tree, all on its own. The quality is in a completely different league compared to any other light-up Gunpla Bandai has put out, and there's really no arguing that this is the must-have accessory that completes the PG Unicorn. It honestly can't get much better than this..

That said, when it comes to value for money, the story gets a bit more complicated.. Realistically, not many people are going to keep it lit up all the time, and spending ¥12,000 just to light it up once or twice and go "wow" feels like a stretch. In the end, it really comes down to how big of a Unicorn Gundam fan you are — personally, I wouldn't go as far as calling it a "must-buy," but more of a "recommended if you've got the budget" kind of thing.

In bringing the Unicorn Gundam to PG form, Bandai managed to nail the gimmicks, articulation, and stability, while also delivering a proper official LED lighting effect — and that's really what makes this release significant. The only real issue seems to be that supply hasn't been keeping up with demand.. Either way, Bandai has a tradition of dropping something big at the end of every year, and in 2014, they really did gift us with the ultimate Christmas tree. :-)

PG LED Unit for Unicorn Gundam | 2014.12 | ¥13,000

AIThis page was translated by Claude Sonnet.