Pros:
1. Perfect proportions. While the old HGUC/MG looks short and stubby, the RG GP01 looks just right. I'm glad there's no Katoki or Beecraft influence here. I think proportions are the most important thing in a kit. If it looks this good, I can overlook most of its shortcomings. But if a kit looks crap, I'm not buying it even if it comes with a thousand different gimmicks.

2. Great part separation. Grey pieces are actual grey pieces, the yellow inverted-V on the chest is a yellow piece and not a sticker.

3. This kit has the best gundam head ever. Some RGs have weird-looking heads which to me is a dealbreaker - RG Zaku, MKII, Justice being prime examples.

4. The decals are superb. The clear stickers work so well, even with the shiny ones. Foil stickers are obsolete and should not be used anymore in future kits.

5. I was concerned about the excessive panel lines initially, with the fear that they may end up looking messy like dalong's kits. Yet they turned out pretty well, just look at the leg armours. Absolute beauty.

6. Amazing details, made even more impressive given it's a 1/144 scale. The shoulder and chest thrusters are actual moving pieces instead of needing to swap parts; the transforming corefighter, the various little pipes/pistons/vents; pure amazing.

7. Advanced MS joint is truly an advancement in gunpla technology. Saves a lot of time not needing to assemble complex internal frames especially when most of them will be concealed underneath armour parts. Hopefully this technology makes it into future MGs.

8. Apart from the torso connections (see Cons no.1), it is overall pretty solid. Once you pose it, it'll stay there with no sagging.

Cons:
1. The connections between the upper torso, corefighter, and the lower torso are loose. A common problem with both Fb and Zephyranthes if you look around other reviews. This is probably this kit's greatest weakness.

2. As much as I like intricate details, there are several unnecessarily complicated parts. For example, the sliding pistons on the rear side of the upper arm frame, the frames of the skirt armours, the shoulder joints and shoulder sensors. Even the beam sabre handle comes in two white pieces instead of one. They can be somewhat frustrating during assembling yet don't add much to the overall look when completed.

3. Somehow the two red pieces on the cockpit of my GP01 don't close tightly. Not sure why.

4. Beam sabres are too long, almost as long as the gundam's height. 2/3 of its length would be ideal, in fact that's the proper 1/144 beam sabre length. You can't swap them with spare 1/144 beams either as the connection is too small.

5. The shield connector doesn't work well. It protrudes too far out and doesn't fit tightly with the forearm. You're better off using the fixed hand-handle part to pose the shield in front of the arm like how GP02 carries its shield.

Conclusion:
Overall I am extremely pleased with this kit. Yes, it is quite pricey but trust me it's worth every cent.

Should you buy the Fb or the Zephyranthes? If you have to choose, get the Fb. The Zephyranthes costs the same but is smaller and has less parts. Bandai could have spiced it up by throwing in the bullpup rifle which Kou used more often while he was on Earth.

Where to from here onwards? Obviously the GP02 and the GP03! Bandai could go crazy on the details for the Physallis's shoulder thrusters and massive legs, but personally I'm more interested so see how the Stamen turns out. The Stamen deserves a better representation than its horrible HGUC and MG versions. The folding shield, folding bazooka, large skirt thrusters, and of course the extending arms - imagine all those in RGfied glory.

I wasn't a fan of RGs before, now I am one.

Pros:
1. Guns, guns, guns !! This kit looks awesome when fully loaded. The additional red from the missiles and grenades add some much needed colour variation to an otherwise two-toned kit.
2. I always thought that the massive boosters look silly, but seeing them in model form actually changed my perspective. They look brilliant and add stability to a kit with tofu-like ankles. The redesigned mini-stands look and work better than the MG’s garden fence.
3. There’s enough handguards for all the manipulators, unlike some HGUC kits where they give only 2 handguards but various different manipulators and you have to keep switching them.
4. Price. Yes, it’s not entirely cheap at 3000yen for a 1/144 kit, but you get a lot of plastic. A lot.
5. Extra original Unicorn bazooka is a nice add-on, especially when the FA version only comes with two (with the Jesta’s grenade launchers on the barrels). Bandai also threw in extension barrels for the FA bazookas when they could just give you short bazookas to attach to the backpack since you can’t dual wield unless you do some mods (see Cons #1).
6. Somehow my FA Unicorn has stronger shoulder, elbow, and hand joints compared to my Banshee which is older. Hmmmm… I doubt it’s a deliberate improvement by Bandai, probably just luck.

Cons:
1. The manipulators – Only the right side comes with the trigger finger, hence you can’t carry any firearms on the left hand. The regular “fist” manipulators do not work with the bazookas or the guns unless you modify the handles. I had to cut off the trigger of the bazookas to fit the regular manipulators and yet because of this they do not grip tightly.
2. Loose joints. The ankles are the main culprits, more so in FA mode where they have to support a very top-heavy torso. The manipulators are not very secure either and will tend to sag with the heavier weapons, especially if you mount the missiles on the bazooka making it front-heavy (this is more prominent on my Banshee than my Unicorn).
3. Gatlings do not spin. Well at least the barrels won’t sag down as they are moulded together with the rest of the gatling gun body.
4. Forearm beam sabre handles, beam sabres stored in the backpack, and the backpack hole to peg the shield/rifle/bazooka are held together with friction and tend to get loose very easily.
5. There’s a major flaw in the backpack design. The backpack frame connectors for the rear booster are located too closely to the rear gatling mount, hence if you use a shield with its fins deployed, the fins get in the way of the boosters. In fact you can’t even attach the boosters at all! It works fine with the undeployed shield but Bandai will need to design a new frame for the FA Destroy mode. The fully loaded backpack is also pretty heavy and if you don’t use the mini-stands e.g. airborne poses with action base, it will pull the waist backwards and possibly detach the backpack from the torso where the connection is not the most secure.
6. Leg grenade racks do not fit into the Destroy mode. Another design problem for Bandai when they release the FA in Destroy mode.
7. Despite having green stickers for the weapons’ cameras and the Unicorn’s eye, Bandai somehow decides not to give an extra green piece for the head camera behind the horn. Not a big issue since you can easily cut one yourself, but why?
8. No beam halberd unlike the MG. It’d be sweet if they added this in but I’m not too fussed since I think the halberd looks weird and will be hard to pose with due to its over-complicated handle. The FA Unicorn already has too much toys to play with.
9. Huge thick nub at the tip of the Unicorn’s horn. If RGs can come with pre-sharpened V-fins, HGUCs should too. Take your time sanding the horn, a rushed job might end up causing an uneven looking horn.

Final thoughts:

The Full-Armour is quite a misnomer since it doesn’t come with any additional armour bits. It probably should be called Fully-Armed Unicorn but the Japanese often use funny English names anyway, e.g. Full Burnern (wtf).

From the above it seems like I have lots of complaints about this kit, but ultimately I have to say I absolutely enjoyed the assembling process. For 3000 yen it’s a very good deal for a kit with such a huge arsenal, even though you’ll need some minor mods to fully utilise its gear.

Where to from here? Obviously the FA Destroy mode, but as mentioned above Bandai probably will need to redesign certain parts. There’s the Phenex (silly spelling with even sillier puke-gold), and I wonder whether the Banshee Norn will have new toys when it transforms.

I think Bandai has been treating the Banshee unfairly in the OVA – Marida got a beam smartgun which doesn’t seem to be any more powerful than the crazy beam magnum, and an out-of-place vibrating claw. Norn gets an underwhelming big shield, revolving ammo canister, and an ugly sticker-laden backpack.

I’m actually looking forward to the modified Sinanju mobile armour. Hope they don’t fck it up. They’ve already removed the legs and added on a huge skirt. T_T Sinanzeong?