Okay, okay, I’ll admit… I cheated a bit here.
I built a Gundam 2.0 back in 2008 when it first came out. At that point, I didn’t have an RX-78-2 on my shelf, and I figured the 2.0 would be the perfect choice. Of course, I didn’t paint my larger kits back then, so it just got thrown together with minimal panel lines. When I started working on this kit, I figured hey, I’m not doing anything with that old kit, so I just took the inside frame from it to build the Gundam. I just didn’t want to cut out those parts all over again, okay? I’ll probably use the ones I have for some kind of custom project later on.
So here we have the Gundam, in all its animation-style glory. Bandai has attempted to put the Real Type colors on other versions of the Gundam before, usually ones with some modern styling based on the Perfect Grade. In my opinion, none of them were nearly as successful as this one. The almost tacky yet muted color scheme works best on the design that, well, looks like it came out of the 80’s. It’s pretty much what the original kit wanted to be.
The 2.0 has some fantastic articulation and is pretty much a monument to how far we’ve come. If I still had a 1.0, I would have done a comparison. The joints are fluid, smooth, and plentiful, thanks in part to the excellent inner frame. Because the feet have the bizarre shape they had in much of the old art and television series, the center of gravity allows it to hold some great poses while standing on just one foot. It even has some extra joints in the shoulders to allow for a good “last shooting” pose.
The Core Fighter is, well, easily the worst part about the kit. Don’t get me wrong, it looks fantastic. It’s also absurdly finicky. It fits snugly into the torso for sure, but the transformation is infuriating. If you don’t do it in just the right order, it’ll get stuck into place. And of course, the paint scratches like crazy. Somehow, the force of me pulling the cockpit forward caused a huge chunk of paint to come off. Ew.
The weapon selection is where the kit truly shines, however…
The standard beam rifle, saber, and shield are included and are all well designed. The rifle can be held in both hands without looking awkward, and the shield’s locking mechanism keeps it in the hand flawlessly.
The bazooka is a bit cooler than normal, including a mounting mechanism for the butt and a hinged handle, which allows it to sit on the shoulder while again, not looking awkward.
The Gundam Hammer included is the same one included with the Turn A Gundam. Accurate to the series model with a nice chain. If you’ve built one 1/100 scale Gundam Hammer, you’ve built ‘em all.
The beam javelin is included, too, and unfortunately, it still has a clear plastic beam. I managed to get around this, however! I did a wash of the beam using a very thin pink paint. It barely even looks like it was painted.
But the big draw to this release? The Super Napalm! Yes, the Gundam’s single most neglected weapon, used only once in the entire story. You have to take part of the beam rifle apart to use it, but hey, it has it. It’s nice to see this weapon actually included now, even if it was barely used.
Overall, the Gundam 2.0 is probably the best release of the suit you can get at this scale. If you’re not interested in the anime style, well, there’s always the One Year War version. Remember, if you’re ever interested, make sure to look for this kit at FPNYC!
That concludes the articles covering the Gundam itself. Up next is the G-Fighter!