Robot Spirits RX-78-2 Gundam Ver. ANIME Review

The Robot Spirits line, hated by Gunpla fans and enjoyed by others. Even as a Gunpla fan I must admit the line makes good figures. I've always wanted an RX-78-2 Ver. ANIME due to it's unique look, extreme advertised articulation and effect parts, but never actually got one due to me buying kits before I can save up for one. So when I found this at $25.65 at Mong Kok I instantly jumped on it, and boy was that a decision i'd never regret.

Box:

The box to the figure is a nice one, average Robot Spirits but it does differ a bit. The background of the box are blue-tinted screenshots from the original Mobile Suit Gundam anime, and the Robot Spirits logo is red, with the banner being white with a red outline instead. You still get the fact it's an MS, the number and the product.

In the back, you get a shot of the product impaling a Zaku, a few images of the figures in the form of movie reel, and a few mentions of what the figure can do.

Product:

The figure might look like it has strange and weird proportions, but it's intentional. This figure is part of the Ver. ANIME subline, which is a sub-line of Robot Spirits Mobile Suits where they take the designs and elements from the original Gundam anime series, while putting in the most modern Robot Spirits technology as well as tones of accessories to market the figures. Due to this, the designs of the figures are made to replicate those derpy and weird proportions the original anime had, and thus it might look weird. Personally I like it, it gives the most anime accurate representation for the RX-78-2 for better or worse, and it doesn't miss anything. Details are nice and it looks great from a distance and up close with a few issues, mainly the mold nubs that Robot Spirits are known for. Besides that, i'm very happy with how this figure looks.

Articulation:

The head is on a ball joint, however the ball joint itself is not much more than a swivel. It has a hinge at the neck though which allows him to look up a lot more. The neck itself is on a ball joint though, and that's what gives more universal movement, so overall some great head articulation here.

Shoulders can move up 180˚.

Arm itself can go in a little too. This is because the whole side of the chest actually collapses into itself, this works for both sides, so it can look quite natural.

Elbows bend pretty much 180˚ and swivel at the bicep.

There's even another

Torso is designed so it has good movement, the torso itself moves around, and it itself is connected to the waist via ball joint, so he can go back and crunch quite a bit.

Beam sabers on the backpack can also move straight if needed.

Side skirts and front skirts are on ball joints, the thighs actually swing forward so they can have more movement.

Thighs can swivel and legs also do a perfect 180 bend. The knee armor splits from the lower leg to do this, and it just adds more depth to the whole thing.

Feet can also move quite a bit, they pivot, rock, and even have a toe joint.

Accessories:

Another way this Robot Spirits excels is in the plethora of stuff it comes with.

You get 5 pairs of open hands, and a rack to hold them all. The two not shown are the fists which are being used by the MS. Along with this, you have open hands, trigger finger hands, half open hands, and gripping hands.

The trigger finger hand is for the beam rifle.

It does it's job well, the other handle can also swing to the side and be slid into the gripping hand for a two handed pose.

You also get a beam effect part for the rifle which looks really good, it's also really long too.

You also get a shield, along with 2 adaptors to equip it in different ways.

Here is how they are used on the shield. You can't actually use both at the same time, i'm just putting them like this for demonstration purposes.

To put it on the side of the arm, you use the adaptor that's shaped like an L and plug it into the arm.

You can also use the second arm swivel to position the shield in whichever direction you want, the adaptor itself is also on a ball joint, so the shield itself can move around too.

If you want a more realistic type shield, you can use the handle and let the figure hold the shield like an actual shield instead.

Slides into the hand easily.

He's prepared for anything.

You can even used the L shaped adaptor to plug the shield onto the back for storage.

You also get this piece to attach the beam rifle to the shield. However when doing this, you cannot actually equip the shield onto the figure, which was quite a wasted opportunity. Oh well, at least it helps for storage.

You plug it into the side of the rifle and put it into a tab onto the shield.

The figure also has beam effect parts for the beam sabers on it's backpack. It can reach back and grip them perfectly, and the sabers themselves have vivid beams that stand out and look great.

There's even a beam effect part to emulate swinging poses, which is really awesome.

You also get an extra beam saber with a longer handle.

This is to emulate poses of holding a single beam saber with two hands, nice to have the option.

The figure also has it's Hyper Bazooka which has a swinging handle and a useless moving part on the back.

The figure holds it well.

It can even be used with a holding hand for some shooting poses, and yes, this figure can kneel.

There is also a final adaptor to store the bazooka as well. You flip up the middle section of the figure's backskirt and plug the adaptor in.

After that, you clip the bazooka in, and have storage.

You also get an extra v-fin made of rubbery plastic, this has orange effect parts to simulate the vulcan guns. This v-fin is entirely painted, so be careful not to scratch the paint due to the clear plastic. You need to carefully remove the hard plastic default v-fin, and carefully put this in.

It's a delicate process, but the effect looks pretty damn good.

You finally get two effect parts to simulate thrusters being used. The pegs on these are at an angle, so they can be posed in a certain direction to simulate movement to said direction.

They can be plugged into the backpack as well as the feet, works best with a stand or action base of some sort.

Size Comparison:

Comparing this to the HGUC RX-78-2 Revive, and it's actually pretty much the same size. The picture I took for this was not a good one, so the size might seem a bit off, take my word for it though, this guy's to scale, and thus is my staple figure for size comparisons, since I consider the RX-78-2's size to the the "standard" MS height, and the figure is basically my personal play-toy which is always on my desk.

Verdict:

This figure is an awesome one, there is no denying that. Not everyone would be attracted to the Ver. ANIME aesthetics of replicating the derpy proportions of 0079, but personally I find it quite endearing and special. The price is hefty, however for it, you are getting one awesome figure. It's made of sturdy plastic, perfect color accuracy, a decent amount of detail for an anime-accurate RX-78-2, a bunch of accessories/effect parts, and even articulation that trumps the HGUC RX-78-2 Revive, which is quite an impressive feat. This figure is legitimately awesome, and I honestly urge collectors of any Gundam fan to consider it. Even if you're a Gunpla builder, you might be surprised about what this thing can do, have it in a pose or use it's effect parts for customs, the thing's even to scale so it will blend in decently with your kits! If you're a mecha collector, I recommend this as well, this is the most anime accurate RX-78-2 for better or for worse, and it's a fantastic figure overall, and represents the MS seen in the original Gundam series very well. I highly recommend this Robot Spirits, and urge you to add it to your collection.

Pros:

- Extreme amounts of articulation, trumping even the RX-78-2 in terms of mobility and engineering. (!)

- A plethora of accessories, effect parts, weapons, options, this figure's got it. (!)

- Color apps are all well applied and solid, little issue here.

- Solid construction, very easy to mess around with.

- Accurately sized to the 1/144 scale.

Cons:

- Not easy to afford at the price of 5,400 yen.
- Few visible nubs from molding.

Neutral:

- Most accurate proportions of RX-78-2 to the original 0079 anime to date, for better or for worse.