MG Unicorn Ver Ka v.s. OVA Comparison

Welcome to my rough, yet fairly thorough review of the differences between the new MG Unicorn OVA version and the previously released Ver Ka edition.
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Design Changes In from a design prospective there aren't a whole lot of differences between the Ver Ka release and the new OVA. Surprisingly the OVA release comes with the exactly same runners as the Ver Ka. The new parts come on two small additional runners. Apparently it was cheaper for Bandai to keep the same molds and include the extra runners.
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These runners include new pieces for the legs, an ass armor piece, a full Destroy Mode v-fin, and new parts for the head. The most noticeable change are with the leg pieces that help improve the flexibility of the kit.
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These new pieces allow an improvement in the leg's range of articulation from...
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To...
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Not exactly a huge difference. Between you and me, I don't see the big deal. Unless your ideal pose had the Unicorn down on his knees. To my understanding it was fairly easy to modify the old Ver Ka kit to achieve the same range of motion. To allow the waist to swing around there's also a new ass armor piece. It's just slightly smaller than the original.
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The head also received some minor alterations. The top and side bits have been changed just slightly to make room for some new vulcans...
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I goofed with the contrast trying to make them a bit more noticeable on my unpainted kit. There's also a new v-fin for use in Destroy Mode...
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Color Changes What I don't think a lot of fans realized is that Bandai also changed some of the colors around. Changes, which I think, suck.
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The changes between releases is relatively minor. While the armor is still pure white the internal frame darkened, and along with the blue bits, changed to some sort of metalic plastic.
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As you can see the light gray of the Ver Ka release has been replaced with a darker, more metalic, gray.


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I screwed up! The picture should be reversed, the light gray is the color of the OVA weapons!
They even drastically changed the Bazooka color. The blue used in the feet and backpack is also slightly different. I don't have a good comparison shot because those Ver Ka parts have already been painted for my Banshee project. However I created the following to best represent the changes...

I purposely didn't buy the HD color version (the release that comes with the full cage) because it's not my bag of tea. Unfortunately without picking up one for myself I don't have a good comparison... because I suspect Bandai used the same plastic for the internal frame and the blue parts on both releases. It has a slight metalic shimmer that doesn't cut and sand as cleanly as normal plastics. Another, harder to photograph issue, with the new metalic plastic is that it doesn't mold properly. Although it's a lot easier to see in person, there are darker visible mold lines across the pieces. You can also see the issue on the left foot of the kit (first image in this post) and the internal frame comparison pic up a little bit. Misc Changes I should also note that the OVA version comes with a different (and considerably smaller) set of dry rub decals and stickers.
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Like my Scotch tape rigging to keep the pictures in place for scanning? Bleh. The beam saber color changes as well, from red to blue... In Conclusion If you have the Ver Ka should you run out and buy the new OVA? No. If you've yet to pull the trigger and pick up a MG Unicorn which should you get? Depends, which color set do you like? Personally, I think the new OVA color choices undermine the improvements to. If I had to go out and purchase a fourth MG Unicorn, I'd probably go with the Ver Ka over the OVA release. If you have any questions, comments, disgust for my photos, please let me know!