Elemental Cheese: Gunpla Review: HGUC RX-78-2 Revive

The holiday is near, which means customers and project deadlines are getting fast tracked. To blow of some steam, I went ahead and built one of the simpler kits out there. Let's take a look at the grand daddy gundam, RX-78-2 Revive version

Dude, it's you work that enables you to buy these

The Revive line is basically the same as the MG 2.0 line: A modern rendition of kits that were released long ago when the HGUC line started.

Aesthetics

The RX-78 has always been a simple design. Over the years the design was tweaked from Bulky and square, to thin and streamlined. The best version, in my opinion, is the MG ver One Year War. It's sharp and has decent Bulk. This kit is the simplified version of the current rendition of the Gundam, which is based on the Giant life sized statue. It's thinner, and leaner, with bigger eyes and smaller v-fin.

It's not like slenderman dude

The colors are spot on. The only paint you need is the spot of gray in the knee armor. Even then it's optional. The only stickers are the eyes, cameras and the yellow V in the crotch... which I did not apply.

Surface detailing is minimal. Just enough to break the surfaces, but not enough to overwhelm (you'll see that in the size comparison). Wish they added some lines to the shoulders, but the flat surface is perfect for decals (which I added).

I'm not sure if it's the 1st kit 1/144 kit to have it, but the eyes are actually clear yellow plastic. Then you place the reflective silver sticker at the back to give it a lens look. Downside is, as with all Bandai kits, is there's no light piping mechanism to support this, thus resulting in a dead look.

It's like the author. Looks alive, but the eyes are dead

Build process is simple. If you have the Red Warrior kit, then it'll almost be exactly the same. I also like how the ankle joints have molded details in them.

Articulation

A simple design should equate to better articulation. The kit has enough joints to pull off majority of the poses you need. It uses the tried and tested joint set introduced by Bandai a year or 2 ago. One key difference is the shoulder polycap. As you can see in the image, it now swivels up, instead of forward. It gives it more range when doing beam saber poses.

*yawn

The chest assembly allows it to tilt very much forward... not so much back or side to side.

Who does number 2 work for??

Lower torso is also pretty standard. The back skirt armor is fixed, the crotch moves side to side and everything else is present. It's so simple that it gives the kit excellent balance. The design of the feet though, prevents ankles from tilting beyond 40 degrees. It has more range than the Denial, but not quite Build Burning.

Tiger Knee

Still, It's fairly commendable, with the joints robust enough for play. And it can kneel...

Loki approves

Weapons and Extras

Being the RX-78, you get almost all the basic stuff it needs to look correct: Beam Sabers, Shield, a Rifle and a Bazooka. It also comes with open palms.

Hey, it has more than the GP-01

The rifle also uses a dedicated trigger hand.The handle can swivel to the side so you can 2 hand the rifle. Also the yellow is plastic. No fumbling around with awkward round stickers here. The scope also swivels.

If stormtroopers have swivel grips, they won't miss as much

The shield comes in all the correct colors and mounts directly to the forearm. It has a handle as well, but not exactly needed.

He wish dark souls could add the rx-78 shield in DaK3

The bazooka's handle fits snugly in the normal holding things hands and it swivels forward. It is actually built with several parts, with the ammo and top bit separate. Not just 2 halves plugged together.

And the beam sabers. No you don't get the white toothpick beam of the HGUC gundam from back then. You get clear beams.

Clear. Beams.

The back comes with a part to clip the bazooka and a port to peg the shield.

Which means you can mount all included weapons on it. The beam rifle has no storage though.

Overall, pretty decent. If you want the Gundam Hammer and Javelin, well it doesn't come with those. I'm not really a fan of those weapons anyway.

Yep. Basic is good.

Size Comparison

This should be the standard kit height comparison, since most Gundam fans should have an RX-78 kit lying around somewhere. It's 18 meters, which is around 5 inches tall in kit form. Also, look at how plain it is compared to a RG Justice Gundam.

No he does not have a RG Grandaddy Gundam

Here he is next to a 1/12th scale human

well, mostly human

And last, with the MG 2,0 Gundam

Summary

It's a nice simple kit, well articulated and comes with all the accessories needed for accurate representation of the suit. It's easy to build, and robust enough for play. I would skip the Robot Damashii ANIME version and just get this, if you want a poseable and fun little RX-78. Shortest conclusion ever, i'll let the pics show how nice the kit is.