HGUniversal Century

RX-78-2 Gundam BAYSTARS Ver.

The best cheap Gundam mold in the game, dressed up in Yokohama DeNA BayStars blue for one very specific, very limited run.

MechaGrade Score

3.8/5

RX-78-2 Gundam · 1/144 · 2019

GradeHG

Scale1/144

Released2019

Runnersn/a

Check price on Amazon

Affiliate link. We may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

The verdict

I'd call this a great little kit wearing a costume, and the costume is the whole reason it exists.

Underneath the blue and gold BayStars colorway, this is the HGUC Revive-era RX-78-2 mold, which means you get excellent articulation and a genuinely fun build for basically nothing. The catch is that you're not scoring this as a generic RX-78-2, you're scoring a 2019 stadium exclusive tied to Gundam's 40th anniversary and a Japanese baseball team, and that context is most of the appeal.

Best for: Gundam collectors and BayStars/NPB fans hunting a genuine stadium-exclusive piece, not first-time builders looking for the cheapest RX-78-2 on the shelf

The full review

What it is

This is the Revive-line HG RX-78-2 body reworked in Yokohama DeNA BayStars team colors, sold in 2019 as part of Bandai's Gundam 40th anniversary collaboration with all twelve Nippon Professional Baseball teams. It was only sold at Yokohama Stadium and through a limited online window, capped at a few thousand units total. Building it feels exactly like building the well-loved Revive RX-78-2, snap-fit ease, a head that swivels and tilts further than an HG has any right to, and four hand parts so you're not stuck posing a fist the whole time. What makes it worth a second look is the color story: navy and gold instead of the usual white, red, and blue, with BayStars branding worked into the sticker sheet.

The catch

This is not a kit you buy for the sculpt, because the sculpt is identical to a kit that already exists and is far easier to find. It was never given a wide retail run, so today the only way to own one is secondhand, usually at a real collector markup over the original 3,000 yen sticker price. The team-color plastic covers most of the recolor, but the BayStars logos still lean on stickers rather than tampo printing, so careful application matters if you want it to read clean up close. And because the base Revive RX-78-2 is such a common mold, anyone who already owns one is essentially building a familiar kit twice.

Who it's for

This one's for Gundam collectors who also care about the BayStars or NPB crossover history, or for someone who wants a genuine Gundam 40th anniversary artifact rather than another standard RX-78-2 on the shelf. If your priority is just getting the best cheap articulated Gundam to build and pose, buy the standard HGUC Revive version instead and save the hunt (and the markup) for a kit whose novelty actually matters to you. If the team-colors angle does matter to you, this is a satisfying, quick build that happens to double as a piece of Gundam merchandising history.

The build story

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

Gate placement and part fit follow the Revive RX-78-2 playbook closely, nub marks land in low-visibility spots and everything clicks together without glue or a hunt for tiny loose joints. Runner count is modest and the build moves quickly, this is an afternoon kit, not a weekend project.

The standout is still the frame underneath the team colors: a hinged ball-joint head, hip joints that let the legs kick well past a basic stance, and ankle articulation that actually holds a wide pose. Weapon loadout matches the standard release, beam rifle, saber, shield, and hyper bazooka, so the BayStars branding lives entirely in the plastic color and the sticker sheet rather than the parts list.

Lore & trivia

01The BAYSTARS Ver. HG Gundam and a matching HG Zaku II were released May 14, 2019 as part of Bandai's Gundam 40th anniversary collaboration with all twelve NPB baseball teams.
02Total production was limited to 2,096 units, sold in staggered batches at Yokohama Stadium and through a same-day online order window, with a restock added May 25 after the initial run sold out.
03The base sculpt is the HGUC Revive RX-78-2, the same modern-engineering mold praised across the hobby for pushing MG-style articulation into a sub-$20 HG kit.
04The collaboration tied into Gundam Factory Yokohama, the full-scale moving RX-78-2 statue project that opened in Yokohama the following year, 2020.