| HGUC
1/144 RX-77-2 Guncannon
Series: High Grade Universal Century (HGUC) 1/144 Title: RX-77-2 Guncannon Release Date: 05/1999 Suggested Price: ¥ 800 No. of Parts: 69 + P.C.-120 polycap sprue Plastic colors: red, bluish white, greenish gray, yellow Gimmicks: spray missile launchers
Contributor: Jameson Leaser Photography: Jason Kwong Date: May 6, 2004 The first HGUC release was a pleasant surprise. I never really thought of the Guncannon when I thought of Gundam models. I had recently bought the High Grade 08th MS Team and High Grade Fighting Action Endless Waltz kits and was fairly impressed by their level of detail and proportion (the HG 08th M.S. Team kits being the weaker of the two series). I suspected the HGUC series would have roughly equivalent levels of details and articulation. I was wrong....
Basic high-grade head, the main camera visor being a foil sticker like the HG RGM-79[G] GM ground type. The head attaches to a knob on a polycap neck (tastefully hidden inside a collar molded on the torso pieces) like the HG Fighting Action EW Gundams, and is capable of tilting upward at a 45 degree angle (all the better to replicate the Guncannon’s prone firing pose).
More complicated than I expected, mainly to accommodate a yellow vent block, superior to the older plate-type vent parts in earlier releases (this won’t fall off and get lost). Sturdy separate shoulder joints with molded ammo bands serving as posts to mount the Guncannon’s trademark weapons are used in place of older-style pre-molded divided joint posts (or, heaven forbid, arm joint posts molded on either the front or back torso piece only - DON’T GET ME STARTED!!). The cannons themselves can rotate to 90 degrees vertical (the spray missile launchers rotate to 45 degrees). The torso connects to the waist by a post-and-polycap arrangement like the HG Fighting Action kits, the waist polycap allowing the Guncannon to bend back and forth as well as limited side-to-side movement. The backpack attaches by post-and polycap and is stabilized by two tabs from the shoulder plates sticking out the back. The skirt is jointed in front, allowing for extreme leg movement. Unlike the original HG Gundam, this kit does not come with a removable Core-Fighter (there simply isn’t any room for one). The increased sturdiness and poseability of the kit’s design almost makes up for it’s absence.
The shoulders are contained within sleeves simulating the louvre-style anime joints. The upper arms have a feature unique (at the time of it’s release) to HGUC kits: instead of designing a shoulder with a tab-style rotating cuff (where one would attach two upper arm pieces around the joint as in the HG Zaku II-J from 08th M.S. Team), the shoulder parts are molded with a thick rod which the upper arm slides onto like a sleeve. This post-and-sleeve arrangement won’t accidentally catch on seams (as tab-and-block joints are prone to) , allowing for smoother arm movement and more “realistic” posing. The end of the post fits into a polycap at the elbow, which is covered by a piece that fits into the upper arm. The two-part lower arm attaches to tabs on the elbow polycap, making the whole arm rotate left or right versus just the lower arm as in earlier releases. Another polycap serves as the wrist joint for Guncannon’s various nicely detailed plastic hands (the wide variety of polycap hands contained on the PC-120 sprue aren’t needed).
Standard late ‘90s High Grade legs for the most part, the covered knee polycap joint and the separate ankle joint piece (with some surprising mechanical detailing) being the main HGUC features. The feet have nicely molded soles (far better than the rather cursory HG Fighting Action sole patterns and the utterly blank bottoms on the HG 08th MS Team EFSF* kits - UGH!). Regarding
the Guncannon elbow and knee joint covers: these are not true
to the anime, which has ribbed hose-like joints (eyeball the
pic in the Mecha section). This has proven to be a characteristic
of the HGUC line - while very much like the anime or manga version
overall, at the nuts-and-bolts level there are occasionally
significant design differences to what’s drawn or shown
on-screen.
The Guncannon comes with its anime-featured large beam rifle, and non-anime featured spray missile launchers (I’ve only seen the Gundam compilation movies, so I’m not entirely sure of this. If the spray missile launchers do appear in the anime, I’m guessing it would be towards the end of the series). Four hands are included with the kit (two open hands for the prone firing position, a gun-holding right hand and relaxed left), but the Guncannons grenades (and the above-mentioned Core Fighter) are left out. A sticker sheet is included with the compilation film Guncannon numbers (108 for Kai, 109 for Hayato), but they aren’t necessary to complete the kit.
A very tight little kit, great for posing or foolin’ around with. It’s relatively small size and light weight helps it almost totally avoid the sagging limbs and instabilities of larger-scale kits. The crisp molding and relatively high level of surface detail makes it (and all the rest of the HCUC series, in my not-at-all humble opinion) superior to small-scale toys like the MSiA series, and it’s sturdy snap assembly, mostly pre-colored, well-proportioned parts, low price and high availability beats garage kits any day. Recommended! Overall Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars <<back to Gundam |
