Bandai Hobby - Gundam The Origin - RX-78-02 Gundam, Bandai Spirits MG 1/100 Model Kit

Another year, another model of the RX-78-2 Gundam from Bandai.It's like seeing another yearly release of a popular sports car. It's the same basic look, but the engineering and features gets better with each iteration. So what's new with this latest Master Grade version of the most popular Gundam ever?For starters, this is a bit of a bit of a redesign based on the "Gundam The Orgin" manga/OVA version of the RX-78-2. The most notable differences are a shoulder cannon, various added machine cannons, and a more boxy, squared off shoulder and torso design. (Watch out for the yellow vent pieces on the chest, they tend to fall out, might I suggest some glue?) Underneath, 90% of it's insides are entirely new, engineered for even greater posing. The only tiny reused bits are a few parts from the Gundam 2.0 for the arms. With the provided accessories you can display the kit in either it's intended Origin version or a more standard RX-78-2 version (albeit with some extra guns).You get two "2" beam rifles with this kit. One is the normal, standard Gundam rifle. The other is the Orgin Beam Rifle which looks quite looks nice. However I must add that the clear lens piece on it does not tend to stay in place so you may have to employ creative means to keep from loosing it. You get the standard shield, which can be displayed either right side up, or upside down. (I don't know what the tactical value is of having the shield upside down is, but that's the way it's often portrayed in Orgin style). You also get a rather nice hyper bazooka, slightly redesigned for this kit. Two beam saber come as well, though you can only have one on the suit in Orgin style.The beam rifles and bazooka all have attachment pegs to allow you stow them to either the back hip or back of the back of the backpack. They can also be attached to the underside of the shield if you want. (No, you can't attach the rifles to the arm peg holes like the Gundam 2.0 could. :( )Now about that shoulder cannon. It's a great little gimmick with a slightly complex folding/swinging up over the shoulder system. However there is a catch with it. Should you choose to go with it (and why wouldn't you?) you'll find that this piece stretches out the polycap in the backpack. Once that happens, the beam saber holder part that replaces it won't fit back in securely and be forever limp and loose. So you pretty much have to decide if you want this kit to have two beam sabers from the get go, or just forgo one for the cannon.It has a cannon, just go with the cannon.Now for some of the little things. There are various added machine cannons on this Gundam. A vulcan in the right shoulder, which you have the option of having a matching blue or clashing yellow cover for. A... I think it's a flare or small grenade launcher for the left shoulder. You get the option of having machine cannons on either both forearms or just one. I think it's silly Bandai didn't just provide an extra blank cover for having no forearm guns, but whatever.By now you might be thinking, great! Sounds like a totally loaded Gundam with everything the previous had and more.But wait, where's that danged core fighter?There is no core fighter.Take it as a blessing here that there is no core fighter. In the absence of having a solid box stuck in the abdomen of the Gundam we now have a Gundam that can do ab crunches. Joy. From my understanding, the Orgin Gundam is a "early" version of the RX-78-2 in which the core fighter wasn't incorporated yet. I find the story explanation puzzling since I always assumed the Gundam was designed with a core fighter in mind in the first place, but I'm not missing it here. You get much more natural posing out of the torso now than in any previous MG Gundam kit.The kit will take a LED if you have one. I have green ones, but green seems to the wrong color for this kit. I don't know if Bandai has yellow LEDs, but if so that would be more appropriate. The decals provided are the sticker form. Hands if you're curious, are the 3.0 style with fold out pegs. Watch the pinkies.Cockpit also opens downward, a new one for me. That makes three ways I've seen the Gundam's cockpit open up now.Last, but not least, you do get some nifty gun effect parts for the many body cannons. Effect parts for guns are a bit unheard of to me in regular releases so I thank Bandai for the nice bonus.Well, I think about covers it. Despite it's minor flaws this is a wonderfully well engineered kit and a marvel to have. I admit I'm not always so keen on seeing yet another RX-78-2 Gundam from Bandai when there other suits I'd rather see them make, but in this case they did enough new and different to warrant it. Now if this thing would actually show up in the OVA... Me thinks Bandai might had jumped the gun a bit, but we still got a great kit.Perhaps we'll get an MG Origin version of Char's Zaku II this year to go with this.

This build is excellent for beginners since the instructions are very straightforward and the kit itself is very solid and sturdy, even though the shipping too a While the box and contents came in perfect and well packaged. The origin version of the rx-78-2 is in my opinion the best version as it comes with 2 laser guns, one simple and the other more detailed, a bazooka, 2 laser swords, the iconic shield and my personal favorite the shoulder cannon. Furthermore this kit also brings 3 shooting affects, 1 for the arm and 2 for the gun and cannon on the chest which I don't think comes with other versions of this model, if you're trying to make your mind up over the version 3.0 and the origin I would say the origin is a much better choice, detail wise it's great, wonderful articulation, 3 weapons AND the shooting effects make it an awesome choice.

Overall a great kit and of the 4 different RX-78-2 sets I have built my favorite by far. The only two issues are rather small but worth pointing out. The first is the hands, they are the highly detailed hands with 5 individual fingers and each finger has several joints making them extremely posable and are very impressive. However they are fairly weak at the ball joints in the palm and tend to pop out all the time when adding or removing a weapon. I am sure they will be better after I take the time to add some clear coat to the balls to thicken them up but out of the box you need to be careful. The second one is more about the led light you can add.Bandai lights are garbage, of two I have bought one never worked and the other constantly flickered and then would just turn off after 30 to 45 seconds. Due to this I have tried two alternate led lights that are cloans of the official ones but coat a fraction of the price. Overall these are much better and much brighter but tend to get jammed in the gundam making them hard to turn off or replace. This is not really the fault of this kit, and more the fault of the worthless bandai led, so I don't hold this against the kit, just be warned that it you want to light it, you might have issues.

I know there are a lot of RX-78-2's out there now, but this one really redefines the mobile suit as a model. I have built a couple high grades, a handful of real grades, and some master grades. This was far and away my favorite. There are a lot of parts which makes this build take a little longer but that is what I was looking for. Each piece has plenty of detail and the exterior pieces look really nice after some panel lining. I would recommend this to anyone, however if this is your first mg then be ready for a challenge.Cons:-when breaking in the fingers, they are prone to popping out, and the pinky will often fall out after this.-The beam saber blades fit somewhat loosely in the handle.-The scope on the larger rifle is loose and does not hold its positionPros:-The shade of white used looks really good.-The large rifle looks incredible, kit also includes the standard RX-78-2 rifle.-Model is solid with a good range of motion.-Option for Led.-Can change the color of the right shoulder panel for the gattling gun, and can equip wrist gun on either on or both wrists.-Plethora of detail on every part.-The new method of weapons attaching to the hands is very secure.-The armor shirts move out of the way easily.-The included effect parts really make this model stand out.-Both rifles, the bazooka, and the shield and be mounted to the back of the waist.I am very happy with this model and highly recommend it. It is a challenging and satisfying build. Buy and enjoy!