Finally getting around to the Granddaddy itself, mostly because Bandai didn’t release its REVIVE kit until recently. I’m fairly certain this is the first RX-78-2 to be featured on this site too – in contrast, there are at least five posts on different variations of the Strike – Universal Century fans come at me with your pitchforks now.  Being such a basic mobile suit design, you can’t expect a lot of parts. Only three real runners – one gray, one red/yellow/blue, and one white. The white was actually a bit of an off-white – it had a strange tinge to it that wasn’t quite pure white. Didn’t matter in the long run since as usual, this kit’s getting a full repaint. Seam lines are very minimal, given this is such a modern kit. It’s still a High Grade though, so some work had to be done. The most noticeable bits were of course the weapons as usual, and surprisingly there was a big nasty one on the rear of the legs. Minimal stickers, which is good – means less I have to fill in with paint. Kind of disappointed that the crotch crest wasn’t a separate piece, but what can you do. It always brings me a strange sense of satisfaction to cut the entire kit out and throw all the parts into a single ziplock bag. A no-nonsense design and modern Gunpla-engineering means a very free range of movement. The rifle has the standard second handle and articulated scope, while the shield just pegs straight into the forearm or backpack. A dedicated trigger hand is also included for the rifle so wielding the weapons isn’t really an issue. CHAR!! Hyper Bazooka had one big nasty seam running down its length so that had to be done away. The handle adjusts a bit so there’s really no issue having the Gundam hold it over its shoulder. Rear skirt also flips down to store bazooka. Despite there being no pegs or anything for this connection, the bazooka itself is actually surprisingly secure. And finally some iconic beam saber action. I would say it’s a lot better than the older HG’s which featured solid-color sabers with the hands molded to the hilt, but ironically the original HGUC actually sported clear beams too. After taking a week, working on this kit, I could now truly apologize to the HG Grampa for ever thinking that you are just the same as all the other HG Grandpas that come before you and not realizing that all the awesome things that were introduced in the Origins are used to update you, to make you better. Which in turn made you into one of the very best HG Gramps variants that I’ve worked on currently thus far. Oh before we start with the review, its Kimi here and today I will be giving you guys my Final Thoughts on the P-Bandai’s HG 1/144 RX-78-2 Gundam (Revive Ver.) [21st Century Real Type Ver.] (HGUC) kit. God that is a mouthful…haha. Oh, since the history bit for the RX-78-2 Gundam has been covered on the previous review on the MG Origins grandpa, we will move on from that and just get into the review for this awesome kit! So, without further ado, let us get into it, shall we? The Review Yes, I admit after working on this kit I started to really ADORE THIS KIT. Even though by my initial impressions I was expecting this to be good, but truth to be told? I wasn’t expecting to be THIS good. Which was a surprise for me since from the start I was expecting this to not be too different than the HG Gundam Ver.1.0, to only find that to be, well not true. Because, lo and behold it was BETTER than what I what I expected, well honestly? I would say that this kit is actually quite brilliant as well. Let me take the time here to explain why I think so. First, let’s touch on this HGUC ‘Revive’ Grandpa’s overall build quality. The one thing that really stands out here with this particular kit is just on how well everything here is gated. The positioning of the gates on some of the parts on the HGUC Revive Grandpa which hides the nubs well, plus with the small size of the gates which makes it easy to deal with them annoying excess sprue. Because of that as well I almost didn’t encounter any major issues with the nubs, don’t get me wrong there are still some annoying nubs here and there, but it is less annoying because it wasn’t taking up so much plastic real estate here. Another thing that I was impressed by this kit is as well the overall design and look of almost all the parts for the HGUC ‘Revive’ Gramps. Just by seeing the way they designed the parts to make the seamlines look natural and not to mention how all the individual parts here are so well produced, makes me wonder if Bandai is taking everything that they’ve learned from the MG line up and applying it here. I really can’t help to appreciate the sheer brilliance that just experienced with the quality of the build, but if you think the awesomeness ends there…well keep on reading because there is still more awesomeness that I encountered here. Secondly, let’s talk about the redesigned look of this HG ‘revive’ Gramps and let us not beat around the bush here because seriously the HGUC ‘Revive’ Gramps looks badass. Though, yes I admit that it might not look as good or detailed like how the 30th-anniversary gramps Ver. were, but somehow rather I find that I prefer the more ‘anime’-ish look of this grandpa better than the 30th-anniversary version’s look. The only thing that I wish that they could’ve included here is the core fighter, yes, you heard me right, there is no core fighter included here with the kit. Though, I would admit that I wasn’t really that bothered by its inclusion if I were, to be honest. Especially when the kit itself is already looked this good. But the looks aren’t the only selling point of this awesome kit, besides the look, it does as well look like they improved the articulation of this kit quite considerably. For an example, they ditched the 3 point system from the 2001’s version arm unit and opted instead to use a much more simplified version of the RG inner frame system for the arm unit. Which in turn does help to improve both the articulation of the arm unit and the stability of the whole arm unit for the HGUC ‘Revive’ Gramps. Other improvements that were made is seen on the gramps leg unit’s joints, where they completely redesigned the whole leg joint system for the HGUC ‘Revive’ Gramps. The improvement that was made on the HGUC ‘Revive’ Gramps is seen from the reinforcement of the HGUC ‘Revive’ Gramps the middle leg joints and they as well added a new joint part on the leg unit which helps to increase the articulation point on its leg unit. I would go as far as to say that the leg articulation for the HGUC Revive Gramps is similar like the MG Ver.2.0’s articulation. Honestly, I was really genuinely impressed by how much improvements that are made here. Though, I know by now you all here might be thinking to yourselves, I have been rambling too much about the ‘Retail’ side, how about the ‘P-Bandai’ side of this HGUC ‘Revive’ Gramps? Well, hold on now because now we are getting to that. Because now are going to finally to talk about the P-Bandai side of this HGUC ‘Revive’ Gramps. Which is the very best thing about this kit if I were to be really frank. Because seriously, that beautiful P-Bandai ‘Real Type’ color scheme makes this HGUC ‘Revive’ grandpa look really freakking badass. Really, when one looks at that awesome the blue-ish grey, dark blue, crimson red and the greenish-yellow color scheme of the ‘Real Type’ version really turns the already awesome grandpa look even more badass here. The Fact that the color scheme that is used on this HGUC ‘Revive’ Gramps looked so badass here, that I do feel one might struggle with the thought of using the included ‘Real type’ waterslide decal to cover all the awesome details on the kit up. However, while we are on the subject of this P-Bandai HGUC ‘Revive’ Gramps waterslide decals…. Due to the time constraints, I haven’t really had the time to start work on garnishing the HG ‘Revive’ grandpa with them awesome decals so I can’t say on how they at this point of time. Which, I will come back to it in the near future… However, from What I can see here is that I can see the waterslides decals would further enhance the overall look of this. Although some sections of the water slides do help to enhance the look but there are some decals that I’m not pretty sure of due to its design. Though we will get back again to this in the near future to talk about how it is going to be, but all I can really say is that I have no doubt that them decals would make the kit look even more awesome then it is now. Overall, I do feel like the revive HGUC Gramps, for both (retail and P-Bandai) versions is worth getting. Though, if you are looking for a different and badass looking gramps, while at the same time don’t mind spending a bit more to get it, then I have no doubt that this version of the HGUC ‘Revive’ Gramps might be the one for you! As well with it being the cheapest P-Bandai around, makes it a ‘not so painful’ P-Bandai purchases that you can make, ever on a P-Bandai kit. With that ends the review for the P-Bandai HG 1/144 RX-78-2 Gundam (Revive Ver.) [21st Century Real Type Ver.] (HGUC). What do you think of both the kit and the review for this awesome P-Bandai kit? Do you share the same thoughts with us or do you think that this kit could’ve been better? Regardless, this is one P-Bandai that we would love to see made more of, and I wonder if Bandai has any future plans in releasing more future Revive HGUC kits, if one is this good now I can’t imagine how the other future Revive HGUC kits would be! Anyways, we will be back again this week more Let’s Talk Gunpla Segment on the coming Wednesday and we will be back as well on the coming Sunday with a new unboxing! So, do look forward to that! As ever please do leave us a like if you enjoyed this article and oh do follow us here on the blog or on FB or on Instagram if you enjoy this kind of content from us! As well do feel free to give us some feedback and comment if you think there are areas in the post that we can work on so to further improve our posts in the future! As well your comment and feedback will ensure that we would be able to give you all here a much-improved content in the future! As well, we want you to know that your likes and shares would be highly appreciated in supporting and helping us grow further, honestly, your love and support means the world to all of us here in Kimi the Builder Blog editorial team. We hope by sharing our love and passion for gunplas here, it’ll inspire you to pick up the hobby or reignite your love for gunpla! Anyways, we shall see all of you again next week, and we hope that you all have an awesome week and weekend ahead! Have an awesome Gunpla building time there as well and until next time! |
