Let’s take a look at the finished Gundam Rose. Or should I say -

Gundam Fight! Ready … Gooooooooooooooooo!

I will echo what Mecha Gaikotsu says in his video review, which is that this doesn’t look or feel like a standard High Grade release. It has an incredible degree of color separation (while using only a handful of tiny decals), amazing out-of-the-box color accuracy, and almost no visible seam lines. Even the plastic feels different than usual.

(I also agree with Mecha when he claims that the model also feels heavier than usual. I’m not sure if that’s due to the plastic used, or due to the number of parts inside, but there is a definite heft to it)

One unintended consequence of this design is that, because the kit requires little to no painting or seam line removal (or decals), the build is extremely simple, pleasant, and quick. I didn’t expect to be able to build it in a matter of days, but that’s exactly what happened, and it was a fantastic experience.

About the Visual Design

Rose Gundam has a lot of body parts that are busy and colorful, and of course these are the places that most people’s eyes will focus on. But when you have the model in hand, you start to really notice and appreciate the rest of the model. I’m talking about things like the arms, the skirt armor, and the feet. They’re clean and simple and elegant, and they (subtly) add a lot to the design.

As I hinted at in the intro, there are a lot of ways they could have gone when designing a French Gundam, and I think they made the right choice. This Mobile Fighter is elegant without looking weak, colorful without being clownish.

Articulation

I’m not going to test the articulation on this model. The Rose Gundam may be a close combat fighter, but it also fights fairly stiff. It usually stands still swinging its sword or firing its Rose Bits,

Poses

You can get a lot of mileage out of this Gunpla by having it just stand there looking cool:

Even if that weren’t the case, I feel like the cape forces the issue. Any movement of the left arm causes it to flutter open, and it doesn’t always look good that way:

Better to keep a still pose and let the left arm do the talking:

And don’t forget that the cape doubles as a shield:

Now it’s time for the Rose Bits. The kit comes with some clear effect parts that work vaguely like the Jet Effect Parts for the Real Grade Nu Gundam. They hold the roses in place, and attach either to the mobile suit itself, or to the Action Base:

It’s interesting, though, how the effect parts can plug into the cape to help create the illusion.

This here is the most complex scene you can create, where for some reason bot the bits and parts of the cape are flying off:

I don’t recall anything like this ever happening in the show, but somebody at Bandai really wants you to create this scene, as it’s literally the only one the instruction manual tells you how to do.

But there are other options. You can just plug in the short ends of the effect parts and get a nice standing pose like this:

Of course, you can do the same post without the Rose Bits, and it still looks pretty cool:

And then we get to the curious case of this scene, which you can find on the product listing on the Premium Bandai website:

The bits are just floating in place with no indication as to what is holding them there. I was able to recreate it the best I can using the Witch From Mercury Weapon Display Stand. As it turns out, the Rose Bits just barely fit on:

And here’s just one more cool pose from the P-Bandai site I just had to recreate:

Conclusion

At this point I’ve built a few Premium Bandai kits, but none have felt quite as premium and as special as this one. It really is built differently in so many ways.

If the other High Grade Shuffle Alliance models are as good as this one, they’re going to be some of the standouts on my shelf. And on another note, I think this really speaks to the G Gundam design aesthetic. They may be lacking in mechanical detail, but they more than make up for that by wearing what are essentially really colorful, elaborate costumes. It’s just so different than what you get from pretty much every other Gundam setting, and this kit makes me appreciate it even more than I already did.