HGUniversal Century

RX-78-2 Gundam Buffaloes Ver.

A navy and gold ballpark suit built on the best HG frame the original Gundam ever got.

MechaGrade Score

3.8/5

RX-78-2 Gundam · 1/144 · 2019

GradeHG

Scale1/144

Released2019

Runnersn/a

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The verdict

I like this kit a lot more than a novelty crossover has any right to make me.

Strip away the Orix Buffaloes livery and what is underneath is the 2015 REVIVE mold, still one of the most poseable HG kits Bandai ever built around the original RX-78-2. The gold and navy repaint job is genuinely well thought out rather than slapped on, and the frame does all the heavy lifting on build quality.

Best for: Bandai completionists and Gundam 40th anniversary collectors who want a REVIVE-grade RX-78-2 in an unusual, hard to find colorway

The full review

What it is

This is the 2019 Gundam 40th anniversary collaboration piece Bandai built for the ORIX Buffaloes baseball club, one of twelve differently liveried HG RX-78-2 kits released for all the Nippon Professional Baseball teams that year. Under the paint job it is the REVIVE HGUC RX-78-2, so you get the double jointed elbows and knees, the ball jointed neck that turns and looks up properly, and a semi inner frame that was genuinely ahead of its HG class when it came out. The Buffaloes scheme swaps the classic tricolor for a deep navy body with gold trim on the vents, the v-fin, and the rifle sensor, plus a gold cross on the shield standing in for the usual red seven. It reads more like a stealthy alternate universe Gundam than a sports mascot, and I found myself liking the moodier palette more than I expected to.

The catch

This was a team shop exclusive sold through the Orix Buffaloes' own online store and a couple of physical Bs Shop locations in Osaka and Kobe for 3,000 yen, not a normal retail release, so secondary market pricing is the real cost here and it is well above what a standard HG runs. The gold parts are molded plastic rather than actual metallic chrome runners, so under bright light the luxury effect is more matte gold than shiny gold, and a few builders who picked these up expecting a true premium finish were let down by that. It also leans on the same panel lines and sticker sheet as the base REVIVE kit, so color separation on some smaller Buffaloes-specific accents comes from stickers rather than molded plastic.

Who it's for

If you already love the REVIVE RX-78-2 as a build and you want a second one in a color story you cannot get anywhere else, this is worth chasing down even at collector prices. It is also a fun pickup for anyone into NPB baseball crossover merchandise, since it is one of the more tastefully designed team liveries out of the full twelve kit run rather than a garish logo dump. Skip it if you are shopping by build economics or want the cheapest way into a good RX-78-2, since the standard REVIVE kit gives you the identical engineering and articulation for a fraction of what this one now costs on the secondary market.

The build story

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

The build itself is straight REVIVE RX-78-2, which means a beginner friendly three-ish hour assembly with clean gate placement and parts that click together with real confidence, no surprise fit issues from the recolor. Nub marks land in low visibility spots on the limbs and torso, and cleanup is the same light job as any other REVIVE kit in this family.

The articulation is where this kit earns its keep. The double hinged elbows and knees give real bend past ninety degrees, the neck's ball joint lets the head tilt up and turn without the collar getting in the way, and the waist can rotate a full circle before the front skirt armor starts to interfere. Paired with the beam rifle, beam saber, and shield that come molded in the team's navy and gold rather than as separate accessory colors, it holds dynamic batting-stance style poses better than most HG kits at this price point ever could.

Lore & trivia

01The Buffaloes Ver. was one of twelve HG RX-78-2 kits Bandai Spirits released in 2019, one for every team in Nippon Professional Baseball, as part of the Mobile Suit Gundam 40th anniversary collaboration.
02It was sold as a team exclusive through the Orix Buffaloes' online club shop starting March 2019, with limited over the counter availability at the Bs Shop inside Kyocera Dome Osaka and the B-WAVE shop in Kobe.
03The base mold is the 2015 REVIVE version HG RX-78-2, the same frame Bandai used to modernize the original Gundam's articulation for its HGUC line before folding it into later special editions.
04The shield's usual red cross accent is replaced with a gold cross unique to this version, matching the gold used on the air intakes, v-fin, and beam rifle sensor.