stargazer@gunpla: RG RX78-2 vs Rg Char's Zaku II review (part 1)

After watching mobile suit gundam movie trilogy, i was extremely impressed with the quality of the anime given that it is made in 1979. RG RX78-2 is the first real grade to be released as the original gundam is always the first to be released as a guinea pig of some sort. I have built the Rg aile strike before this and actually broke one part of the pseudo inner frame. (see its review here : part1 and part 2). Hopefully i have learnt my lesson and this will be a better build.

1. Intro
Model: RX78-2
Size: RG 1/144
Pilot: Amuro Ray
Boxart:

One thing about RG that is utterly impressive is the packaging. Glossy, with good CG and a clean,sharp design makes RG my favourite grade in terms of packaging.

Not forgetting the always good to have unpainted picture.

Some action poses showing MG quality in a 1/144 scale.

Manual:

Same cover as boxart, also comes with a postcard for action base 3 as some sort of promotion. Bandai should include such postcards for MGs too.

Price: 2500 yen
Currently all 4 RGs are 2500 yen. The price would probably go up as bandai makes more complicated gundams that requires more parts.

2. Parts

The head is as detailed as any newer MGs and the gold eye stickers look very good. There are other eye stickers you can choose, but the gold one suits me just fine.
Every other part on the head is actual plastic parts, nothing like silly red stickers at the back of the head.

Torso:

A real winner here, the baby blue looks good and makes for excellent colour contrast. I used the gold stickers for the yellow vents in front, but the result does not look that pleasing after all.

The back of the torso. The two beam sabers are movable and so are the thrusters to a limited extent.

I painted the inner side of the thrusters in chrome silver. I think they look ok since i am a total amateur when it comes to painting.

The paint i use is tamiya x-11, chrome silver.

Arms:

I also used the chrome silver paint for the joints for the arms. There are the usual copper foil stickers for that part, which are also used for Rg zaku II and aile strike. I tried to use them for my rg aile strike, but the stickers do not stay on well. So i am very pleased with the paint this time.
The decals on the shoulders look very good though they are the stick-on kind which tend to leave the edge of the sticker looking cheap.

180 degrees for the arm articulation. The decal for the back of the shoulders are good as well.

Waist:

The waist is awesome for 2 main reasons. One is the different tones of white that gives it a sense of depth.
Two is that the yellow v-piece is an actual yellow piece unlike my NG saviour which has a cheap looking lousy sticker.

The back of the waist is awesome for one reason. It looks exactly like the front.

Showing the bottom of the waist where the legs attach.

Legs:

I used only a few of the decals given, since most of the decals are danger! warnings and are too small to apply
for people with lousy hand-eye coordination. I like the decal for the ankle guard though, it says gunpla 30th, and the decal outlines are hidden well.

The legs can stand their own, even when bent.

Making full use of the chrome silver paint, i painted the small round parts near the knee joint area, which are supposed to be the copper stickers as well.

Accessories:

The bazooka, the shield, the beam rifle, and 2 grossly oversized beam sabers.
One look at the accessories and i thought : Oh 2500 yen is the same price as rg ailke strike, rg aile strike seems to offer more due to its aile striker pack.

And this is the deal breaker. The 1/144 core fighter lands giving the kit the bang for its buck and the MG the run for its money.

The back of the core fighter with amuro figure at the side.

First time my allelujah figure is useful for the size comparison
The core fighter can be transformed into the core block. And what makes this better than the MG 2.0 ver of Rx78-2 is that this is in addition to the core block for the torso. Which means the core fighter can be displayed along side the completed gundam. The MG 2.0 loses on this department as its core fighter is the core block itself.

This alone blows off the MG (for me anyway)

3. Details and articulation

All assembled, looking pretty realistic in terms of the world of fictional fighting robots. Details wise, The colour separation for this kit is wickedly well done. The different shades of white looks fantastic and the model looks fat better than its anime counterpart.

Sideshot

Backshot.

Articulation wise this is as articulated as model kits get and it sets the standards for future real grades.

When a kit can do a pose like this i have no complains about articulation.

4. Poseability

It can reach out to the back and pull out its beam sabers, unlike HG 0 gundam.

Distant Voice: Someone call me?

Amuro: What? ( stares at distant space)

ORE WA gundam!

Comparing HG 0 gundam with RG RX78-2, the difference between HG and RG is apparent. Height wise the rx78-2 seems a little bit taller.

Fun Fact: Amuro Ray and Ribbons Almarks share the same voice actor. Ribbons is the first non UC gundam character that the voice actor of Amuro voiced.

Mind-Blowing Fact: Amuro Ray's initials: A R , Ribbons Almark : R A Seems like Bandai loves such things, though they probably had a hard time looking for a decent name that starts with R. They failed after awhile and the poor antagonist of 00 was stuck with calling himself ribbons.

Related Fun Fact: Setsuna in the ending song (Wana) of 00 S1 was eating an apple. This is because his voice actor voice Light Yagami in Death Note.