HG00 HG 1/144 CB-0000G/C Reborns Gundam (Reborns Cannon)
Reviewed by Wavehawk

(F'NG) Ribbon's Almark's "Final Boss" Mobile Suit, a Frankensteined-together combination of two different MS and a Tau GN Twin Drive system. As of today (Sept.30, 2009), this is the only version of the Reborns (or Ribbons) Gundam ever produced in model kit or toy format.

Since my last reviewed kit was the (admit it, disappointing) Susanowo, I was hoping that the extra AU$20 I paid to get this kit rushed was not wasted.

OVERVIEW
This is a very unique kit, challenged by the gimmick of the Reborns Gundam/Cannon in-show: Two MS for the price of one. References to Amuro's Hi-Nu Gundam and the Guncannon aside, this kit has a lot to live up to; straight out of the box, you'll notice that the manual is 5 pages in length (i.e. roughly the same amount of pages as the larger/more complex HGUC kits).

Although the kit is mostly in color, you will need a bit of paint for some of the details, mainly Grey and Yellow. For this project, I used Gundam Markers Grey and Yellow, and they work okay, even if not spot-on to the kit's colors. Reborns Gundam has a very light shade of Lemon Yellow (75% white), so Gundam Marker Yellow (and even my Tamiya Lemon Yellow) are dark by comparison.

HEAD(S)
Refraining from making jokes about Ribbons Almark being two-faced, the two heads in this kit are straightforward: a Gundam head and a GN Cannon head. The Gundam head is the 'real' head--it's built just like other Gundam heads in the 00 series and mounted on the Polycap neck post.A little bit of painting will be required for the face and bits of the antenna. Normally not a problem, except the color needed is yellow.

Trouble is that Yellow is second only to white among paints that are hard to apply consistently on surfaces. I got around that by using Gundam Marker Yellow and a hobby knife to 'scrape' excess paint overruns.

The Cannon head is attached to a seperate neckpost, and although it's a full head in itself, the size is much smaller, more like half the height of the Gundam head. It consists of f parts: front, back, 'face', and clear visor. People who have put together the GN Archer kit will know what this is like. Even though the Cannon head is mounted on a ball joint, there isn't much room for the head to turn, even in Cannon mode.

TORSO
I advise you to take note of the upper torso assembly instructions and reread them a few times before assembly; the construction isn't hard, but it's easy to get lost with what you're doing, since there's a few moving parts there necessary for transformation. Likewise, if you're going to do any painting, you'll need to finish it on the torso prior to assembly.

The Gundam side of the chest requires either decals or paint (Yellow and Grey). I generally dislike using the foil decals where I can, due to the way they look on the finished kit. This is easy since it's mostly the white parts that need painting, so the colors are usually consistent. You may also opt to use paint or the foil decals for the Gundam's chest condenser before attachign the clear plastic cover. Personally, I painted it, but the foil sticker for this isn't too bad.

The Cannon side is also the Gundam's backpack, so it actually houses a thruster, covered by two red panels (the Cannon's chest). Take care of the connections, since a lot of them are snap-fit and meant to be movable. A pair of ball joints (for the Fin Fang mounts) finish it up.

The lower torso is also simple, but requires painting as well--the front skirt on the Gundam side requires some grey painted on--this can be easily done by panel liners (thin Gundam Marker or sharp-tip brush). The Cannon side requires more work, as you'll have to apply yellow paint on the Red skirt--the foil decals for these are downright appalling. IT goes without saying that the Reborns Gundam/Cannon has the most flexible skirt of any of the 00-series kits, since both the front and rear skirts are ball-jointed, and the side skirts use the same PC9 ball joint as all the other 00 kits' side skirts use.

ARMS/HANDS
The shoulder and bicep sections of the Reborns Gundam/Cannon are straightforward, even with the adjustable shoulder armor. It's the forearm section that stands out on this kit--not only because of the GN drives mounted there, but the setup of the arms themselves. Since the MS transforms from Gundam to Cannon, the arms also turn and rotate.The setup is simple but brilliant, as it allows you to turn over the arms from one mode to the other without having to remove either the shield or rifle while doing so.

The GN drive is where the bicep (and elbow joint) meet. It's assembled first. The forearm is then constructed, and attched to another part that allows it to rotate 160 or so degrees--One end of the forearm is for the Gundam's hand, the other is for the Cannon's Claw. This part is attached to the GN drive/elbow and allows the whole forearm to rotate 360 degrees if not holding weapons--this not only allows transformation, it also gives another level of articulation to the kit (and I'm a big fan of artiuclation).

One note: because of the way the forearm parts are molded on the parts tree, you will have to do a little bit of sanding to smooth the arm out of parting lines. This isn't a kit flaw; just an unavoidable limitation of plastic molding.

LEGS
Be very wary of putting the legs together, as they are built from identical parts trees. Like the HGUC Gelgoog Marine or HGUC Rick Dom Zwei, the upper thighs are built in such a way that they can be either left or right sections. Be aware of this (otherwise you'll end up with two of the same side leg). That aside, the thighs aren't all that complex--two halves and a white panel in front. As with the lower torso's skirt armor, you'll need to apply some grey to the lines if you're not fond of using the foil decals.

It's the lower leg, the calves, where the complexity is. The kneeguards consist of two parts--yellow kneeguards and the underlying mechanism (part C9). Note that this part is molded in white plastic, so again, you'll need to paint this grey before assembly.

You construct the white section first--again take note of the manual since the transformation system is critical in this segment. After the frame is done, apply the red outer (movable) armor. There's a bit of ingenuity with this system--if the red armor is closed, the legs will only bend normally for the Gundam. The Cannon cannot move unless the red armor on the legs is opened (freeing up the lock). Thus, anyone posing their kit in Gundam form won't need to worry about it suddenly bending over forwards at the knee.

The feet are movable, again due to the transformation system. Which is in a way a shame, since Reborns Gundam's feet have fantastic articulation, being able to flex the way it does. The drawback is that in Gundam mode, there's way too little area to stand on, so the Gundam may be easily dropped when posed--highly recommend a stand for this one.

EQUIPMENT
The main weapons are the Beam Rifle, Shield, 4 removable Fin Fangs, and a beam Saber. Like the Bushido Ahead and the Arche Gundam, Reborns Gundam's Saber blade is molded in clear plastic, so it may require clear orange paint. The Beam Rifle is attached to the forearm in Gundam mode, and can be held by it's hand. It can actually 'flip' over when converting to Cannon mode. Shield has some moving parts, but not really that impressive.

There are only 4 removable Fin Fangs in the kit. According to the manual, the Reborns Gundam/Cannon has 4 Large Fin Fangs and 8 Small Fin Fangs (4 in Cannon's skirt, 4 on shield). While this is nice to know, it's a shame the smaller Fin Fangs are unusuable--then again, given the 1/144 scale, it would probab;y be too difficult to make them detachable.

GIMMICKS
The transformation sequence is the main selling point for this kit, and is not really difficult, but may be a bit frustrating for some of us. The main difficulty for me is the head--while transforming, the Gundam head should bend forward and raise the Cannon head. The torso parts normally lock one or the other in place, but I find that I have to remove the whole arms and move the shoulder joints (the locking mechanism) for me to move the heads and torso into place. The legs and arms aren't hard to work with, although the arms might be confusing at first due to the many ways they can turn.

To be honest, I'm not at all fond of the Cannon form of this MS. While it's functional, it just doesn't impress me as much as the Gundam in terms of aesthetics. And though the transformation system is ingenious, I wonder if it might not be better to have sold these as separate kits, or just the Reborns Gundam in Gundam mode.

OVERALL
I'll enumerate the pros and cons of this kit in a list:

• Head and Torso 'transformation' system could use a bit more work. Sometimes stuck due to position of arms.
• Leg engineering to fix movement in one mode is ingenious.
• Arm engineering very good, adds a bit of articulation
• Feet look good but don't hold up well to balance in Gundam mode
• Cannon mode's skirt could have had separate parts molded in yellow to improve it's look

VERDICT
A good-looking kit with some flaws, but overall a worthy buy for 00 fans. Most will probably leave the kit in Gundam mode, but the transfomration system is actually fairly well-engineered despite the torso issue.

3.5/5