Review: [Bandai] Gundam 00 Robot Mascot Haro

Posted By Sushi Boi on Jun 26, 2008 | 9 comments

I’m not a big Gundam fan per se, but somehow this particular item kinda intrigued me. I remember that only Gundam G caught my attention from the entire MS Universe. After seeing Gundam 00, I became very fond of the orange haro that Lockon is always dragging along and using when he’s sniping targets on his Gundam. So after the pre-orders came from our local shops, I immediately placed an order for one and decided to check it out.

Packaging:

The packaging is the standard box type with various pics of the figure on the back and the sides that features the different stuff Haro can do.

Overall Likeness-●●●●●

I’d say it’s pretty much spot-on. Looks very much like the haro from the series, except it’s a bit smaller(1/4) in scale.

Paint and Material Used-●●●●●
The pvc used for Haro is very durable(like most materials for toys meant to be played with). There are no paint applications since the pvc itself is colored. It also sports an LED for the eyes for it’s light-up gimmick. Overall the materials and colors are superb.

Gimmicks/Accessories-●●●●●

Haro has small arms on each side, under its ear flap, that you can retract. It also has a pair of legs you can attach to its torso to simulate its humanoid form. It comes with a translucent orange base that has a rounded bottom. The reason for that is because of its motion-activated lights and sound gimmick. You can turn it’s ear outward for that funny Mickey Mouse look.

One interesting and very functional gimmick of this is the time and alarm function. You can set the time and alarm via the control panel on its back. The voice instructions for telling the time and setting the alarm is all in Japanese though, so a little bit of knowledge in counting Jap would be a very big help. To set the time, press the “C” button first. It will then say “Jikan wa?” which means it’s asking for the time (am/pm). Press “A” if it’s am and “B” for pm. Then press “C” again and it will say “Jikan wa?” again (for the hour). Press “A” repeatedly to get to the right hour(it counts from ichi to ju-ni/1-12). Press “C” again to confirm and it will say “Fun wa?” which means it’s asking for the minutes. Press “A” for the first digit and “B” for the second digit. Pressing “C” again finalizes the time and haro finishes the step by saying the time. Pressing “A” first instead of “C” sets the alarm and follows the same step as setting the time. After that, you can gradually check the time by pressing the square button on top of its head.

Another fun feature of this toy is its motion and sound activated gimmicks. Depending on how you move it and what you say to it, it either flaps its ears, rocks to and fro, lights up its eyes, or a crazy combination of any of these. You can even roll it on the floor while in ball mode and it will raise its ears and stand on it’s own and utter a phrase or two. Here’s a video sample of what Haro does when it listens to the Buster Machine March(it seems that it likes this song very much since it reacts a lot when it plays on my pc):

Some of the things Haro said are:
Kureru! [Give it to me!]
Eii?!
Lockon! Lockon! [referring to Lockon Stratus, Gundam 00 Pilot and the orange haro’s owner]
Haro! Haro! [Hello! Hello!]
Haro! Kyuuto! Kyuuto! [Haro cute!]
Haro! Mawaru! Mawaru! [Hello! Turn round and round!]
Tsurutsuru! [Slippery~]
Ikitteru! [I’m alive!]
Asobou?! [Let’s play?!]

Haro apparently has 4 modes(thanks to Aenid for the info):
-Normal (is when it keeps on saying its name)
-Gundam ( is when it says the names of the Meisters’ names, the GN Particle and the ‘beam rifles’.)
-Girl(is when it starts saying cute all of a sudden)
-Taisa ( is when it acts like a Colonel (hence the Taisa name) and says, “Wakasa, ayamachi!” which roughly means ‘Youthfulness is a mistake!’ and “Bouya dakara sa!” ‘Because he is a child!’)

Overall-●●●●●
I highly recommend this toy, especially if you’re bored as hell and want an annoying, albeit entertaining, desktop companion. At first I never really thought I’d appreciate it much, but when you work alone, and at the wee hours of the morning, a good talkative companion is always welcome to have!

Series: Gundam 00
Manufacturer: Bandai
Scale: 1/4
Suggested Retail Price: Php 2200-2300 | ¥ 4,571
Release Date: March 2008
Where to Buy Locally:
Wasabi Toys
Great Toys Online

Where to Buy Internationally:
HLJ