HGUniversal Century

RX-78-02 GundamRX-78-02 Gundam (Cucuruz Doan's Island Ver.)

The same great Origin-mold RX-78-2, dressed in the desert-worn colors from the movie that redeemed Gundam's worst episode.

MechaGrade Score

3.9/5

GundamRX-78-02 Gundam (Cucuruz Doan's Island Ver.) · 1/144 · 2022

GradeHG

Scale1/144

Released2022

Runnersn/a

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The verdict

This is a genuinely satisfying kit wearing a genuinely interesting coat of paint.

Bandai took the well-regarded HGUC Origin-mold RX-78-2 skeleton, the one with the double-jointed elbows and knees and the toe-articulated feet, and reissued it in the muted, sand-worn palette from the 2022 Cucuruz Doan's Island film. If you already own an Origin HGUC RX-78-2, you already know the shape of this build. If you don't, this is one of the better ways to get that shape.

Best for: Origin-mold fans and Doan's Island viewers who want the RX-78-2 in a specific desert livery rather than another plain white release

The full review

What it is

What you get here is the Origin-line HGUC RX-78-2 engineering, which I've always liked for how much pose range it packs into a budget kit, reissued with a new decal sheet and molded plastic tuned to the muted, weathered look Amuro's Gundam wears through the film. The Early Type and Middle Type swap options carry over, so you can build the head and shoulder configuration to match whichever point in the story you like best. Assembly took me under two hours, which tracks with what other builders report, and the part fit across roughly ten runners felt tight without being a fight.

The catch

This is still an HG at HG money, and it leans on a new waterslide decal sheet rather than molded panel graphics to sell a lot of the desert-worn detailing, so if you dislike wet-decal work you'll want to budget extra patience there. It's also, structurally, the same mold Bandai has released more than once, so if you already have an Origin RX-78-2 in the toy box this is a paint-and-decal variant more than a new engineering exercise. Premium Bandai exclusivity on most releases in this sub-line means secondary market pricing can run above a standard retail HG.

Who it's for

Buy this one if you watched Cucuruz Doan's Island and want the Gundam in the colors it actually wore on screen, or if you just want a great-handling HG RX-78-2 and this happens to be the version sitting in front of you. The double-jointed limbs and toe articulation give you real dynamic poses for the price, which matters more to me on the shelf than an all-white repaint would. Skip it if you already own an Origin-mold RX-78-2 and don't care about the film-specific decals, since the underlying kit won't feel new to you.

The build story

What the build is actually like, and the engineering worth knowing about.

Gate placement on the roughly ten runners was clean enough that nub scars stayed out of visible surfaces on my build, and nothing needed serious sanding to seat. The polycap joints in the hips and shoulders held tension well right out of the bag, which isn't always true at this price point, and the whole thing came together in a single sitting.

The engineering payoff is in the articulation: ball-socketed head and waist, shoulders that both raise and swing forward, and hip joints that swing and rotate independently of the thigh give you poses an HG usually can't manage. Accessories cover the beam rifle, hyper bazooka, two beam sabers, shield, and shoulder cannon, which is a full loadout for the price band, and the new decal sheet is what actually turns the plain molded plastic into the film's worn desert look.

Lore & trivia

01This colorway comes from Mobile Suit Gundam: Cucuruz Doan's Island, the 2022 theatrical film that reanimated episode 15 of the original 1979 series, an episode so poorly outsourced and rushed that director Yoshiyuki Tomino asked for it to be cut from international DVD releases.
02The film's version of Doan's Zaku deliberately incorporates the original episode's off-model animation quirks as intentional custom design details, turning a decades-old animation mistake into in-universe characterization.
03The kit reuses the HGUC Origin-line RX-78-2 mold, keeping its Early Type and Middle Type head and shoulder swap options intact under the new film-accurate decals.
04Most releases in the HGCDI (High Grade Cucuruz Doan's Island) sub-line were sold as Premium Bandai exclusives, with the Guncannon as the notable retail exception.