Series: High Grade Universal Century (HGUC) 1/144
Title: RX-178 Gundam Mk II (Titans colors)
Release Date: 2002
Suggested Price: ¥ 1000
No. of Parts: 114 + P.C.-123 + polycap sprue
Plastic colors: dark blue, dark gray, light purple-gray, yellow, red
Gimmicks: super poseability, collapsible shield, docking hardpoint on back

Introduction

Contributor: Jameson Leaser
Date: February 4, 2004

Excellent! After the release of the HGUC Gundam, I was hoping they’d get around to this kit. It also seems they’re honoring the original release by not putting out exactly the same kit - In the Gundam’s case, calling it the RX-78-2 versus the original HG’s RX-78. In This case, the RX-178 released was the Titans color version.

Head

Typically pleasant HGUC proportions, with a nice removable vulcan gun pod which you’ll have to paint to get it to look right, but don’t worry - this part flexes very little going on or off, so there shouldn’t be any paint flaking off.

Torso

Great work here too, with highly articulated shoulders, though the shoulders move up and down versus front and back, giving the kit the ability to shrug. The backpack is also nicely done, with a ball-and socket joint for the beam saber mounts versus the peg-and-hole mount of the earlier HG. A removable part on the backpack reveals a socket to either mount the shield or dock a G-Defenser (I’ll get to that). A hook on the rear skirt plate unfolds for the 360mm hyper bazooka, though the mont holes on the hip plates are non-functional.

Arms

Typically superb HGUC arms. No complaints here. You’ll have to paint the backs of the hands to make them look as they should.

Legs

Surprisingly articulated legs - The feet pinch half-closed (once again showing they were thinking ahead - I’m getting to it) and are mounted on nice, sturdy ankles which the lower leg parts fit around. The knee joint isn’t the post-in-polycap affair as in previous releases - well, not mainly. The knee has a polycap encased in a plastic knee joint, which the lower leg parts attach to horizontally, not vertically. This can cause problems if you decide to paint the power cables on the back of the knee (as I did) The top part of the knee joint is a post which fits vertically into the upper leg. The hip joint is HGUC tough.

Weapons and Accessories

The folding shield in this kit can be displayed in both open and closed modes with a tab on the lower half of the shield fitting into the non-functional eye slit on the upper half (I would have liked something like this in the HGUC GP01 and GP01Fb), and is molded with two nicely rendered spare e-pacs. I’ve never seen Zeta Gundam, so my painting guides have been this website and the box instructions, which can be confusing at times. The kit shown on the box is colored like the Perfect Grade Titans RX-178, which doesn’t have the yellow triangular patterns on the shield that this website shows it does. The shield attaches to the arm by a clip-like plastic part similar to the HGUC GP01 and GP01Fb that fits into a polycap contained within the suit’s forearm. The clip has two mounting posts, just like the GP01’s though it is slightly more detailed. With a little finagling (it’s a word now), the arm clip can be used to mount the shield on the backpack hole where the G-Defenser would attach in the AEUG version. The beam rifle and hyper bazooka are molded entirely in medium purple gray, so painting is necessary to make them look as they should. THis can cause a problem with the bazooka, as it is held in the hook on there rear skirt by wedging the upper handle of the bazooka (which is painted) under the bottom of the top part of the rear skirt hook assembly (if you have this kit, you’ll see what I mean). What it boils down to is scraped paint on the bazooka if you’re not careful. A major problem I had with this suit is it’s dedicated right-hand beam saber, molded ENTIRELY in dark blue, which can require at LEAST two paintings if your favorite red beam saber color (mine is fluorescent red, which is hard to come by) is semi-transparent. Ultimately, as with my HGUC GM and Zeta Gundam, I chopped off the attached blade, drilled a tiny tiny hole and stuck one of my many spare clear Gundam beam saber blades into it (NOTE: you may notice as I did that the beam saber hilts which attach to those backpack mounts have little holes just about the right size for Gundam beam saber blades in them - DON’T USE THEM THAT WAY - it’s a good way to ruin a beam saber blade!). This kit also comes with stickers for Units 01, 02, and 03, if you don’t want your kit to be anonymous.

Conclusion

Very tight little kit, great for fooling with in the way Master and Perfect Grade kits aren’t. The relatively light weight the well-made polycap joints bear keeps kits like these in poses that larger scale kits could never hold, though there is more painting involved. Of course, since this suit is also featured with a different color scheme, a second RX-178 release was inevitable....

Overall Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

<<back to Gundam