Dec 27, 2007
Union Flag (SVMS-01) – Introduction
Thanks to Raidensama, I was able to get this kit from the Gundam 00 Series before New Year.
Gundam 00 and the new mecha
The Union Flag is a “working horse” of AEU (Advanced European Union) military. While it may look like an ugly duckling to some (wait until you change it into fly mode 
), I would argue that it is rather elegant comparing to the other mecha in the Series — an interesting break-out from the traditionally followed ways of creating mobile suits for the “bad guys”. Nothing fancy in terms of weaponry, although, its defense rod (a compact rotating shield) is an interesting idea if only it did not touch the shoulder wing…
I guess AEU’s engineers wanted to create a highly maneuverable mobile suit sacrificing to some extent its protection by reducing its weight, hence Union Flag’s slim silhouette — it represents much smaller target in any mode, be it flying or normal (“walking”) one.
What’s in the box?
The box it comes in is surprisingly small for a High Grade kit and more surprises await once you open it, so read on!
First of all you’ll notice that the parts are… tiny to say the least – no wonder considering the mecha itself is rather anemic compared to most of it antagonists (especially Gundam Virtue ) – hence the number of runners – you’ll only find 3 of them in the box.
But wait, where are the polycaps? And here is the second surprise — there is no such thing. For those of you, who dealt with BANDAI’s Eureka Seven kits, this will be a familiar territory, while the rest of us will learn something new
In the box you will find
- 100 coloured parts
- 10 foil stickers
- booklet
One interesting innovation is worth mentioning here: runners are now marked in a way that makes perfect sense for GUNPLA modellers — letters “A”, “B” etc. are punched through the plastic and thus are much easier to read:
My next post is going to be about the assembled Union Flag, so see you soon!
