HGUniversal Century

RX-78-2 Gundam Tigers Ver.

The Revive-era RX-78-2 traded its classic tricolor for black and gold, and it still nails the shooting pose.

MechaGrade Score

3.7/5

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 like this kit a lot more than a novelty crossover deserves to be liked.

Underneath the Hanshin Tigers black-and-yellow paint job is the same HGUC Revive Ver. RX-78-2 engineering that reworked the original 2001 mold with modern joints, and that base kit is genuinely good. The build is fast, the articulation is a real step up over the old-school HGUC line, and it holds a shooting pose without fighting you. It is a baseball promo item wearing a very solid skeleton.

Best for: Gundam collectors chasing oddball variants and Hanshin Tigers fans who want a shelf piece that is actually fun to build

The full review

What it is

This is the Revive Ver. RX-78-2 mold recolored into Hanshin Tigers team colors, part of Bandai's 2019 NPB baseball collaboration marking Gundam's 40th anniversary. Strip away the branding and you get the same kit that reworked the ancient 2001 HGUC tooling with double-jointed knees and elbows, a 360-degree head joint that can finally look up, and a torso that actually twists. I went in expecting a throwaway souvenir and came out with a kit that snaps together cleanly, holds the iconic rifle-raised shooting pose without drooping, and looks sharp in black and gold under a shelf light. The wedge-gate runners keep nub marks small and easy to clean up.

The catch

This was distributed as a limited stadium or team-shop item, not a mainline retail release, so pricing on the secondary market runs well above a normal HG and availability is inconsistent depending on where you look. Like the base Revive kit, the molded color plastic and foil stickers carry the detail rather than paint apps or panel lining, so a straight-out-of-box build looks good but not painted-good. The proportions are also plain Revive-era RX-78-2, meaning no extra surface sculpting or gimmicks, just the standard suit in an unusual color scheme, so if you already own the vanilla version you are mostly paying for the novelty.

Who it's for

Grab this if you collect Gundam variant kits, want a genuine conversation piece, or you are a Hanshin Tigers fan who also builds Gunpla, since the color swap is executed well enough to look intentional rather than slapped on. Skip it if you just want the best version of RX-78-2 for the money, since the standard HGUC Revive Ver. gives you identical engineering for a fraction of the price and effort to track down. It is also not the kit to start with if you are brand new to the hobby and want to buy retail without hunting eBay or Mandarake listings first.

What works

Same reworked Revive Ver. engineering as the mainline RX-78-2, so the double-jointed knees, elbows, and 360-degree head joint all carry over
Wedge-gate runners keep nub marks small and shallow, making cleanup quick even for a first-timer
The black and gold Hanshin Tigers scheme is applied cleanly across the runners, not just slapped on a sticker sheet

Worth knowing

Secondary-market pricing and availability are all over the place since this was a limited team-shop or ticket-promo item, not a normal retail SKU
Detail still leans on molded color and foil stickers rather than paint, so out-of-box finish is good but not showcase-level
No sculpting or feature changes over the standard RX-78-2, the novelty is entirely the color scheme

Sold? Grab it.

Check price on Amazon

Affiliate link. We may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.

The build story

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

The runners snap together fast, true to the HG line, and the wedge-gate design Bandai introduced with the Revive retool means the connection points between parts and runners leave small, shallow marks that clean up in a couple of swipes with a hobby knife. No glue needed anywhere, and the color-coded runners (in Tigers black and gold instead of the usual white, blue, red, and yellow) mean you are not painting to get a passable finish.

The engineering underneath is what sold me. The Revive retool gave RX-78-2 roughly one and a half times the joint count of the original 2001 HGUC tooling in a similar part count, and it shows in how far the knees and elbows bend before anything looks stiff or unnatural. The head can finally tilt up thanks to a new ball joint, the torso has real twist, and the kit holds the classic beam-rifle-raised shooting pose on its own without needing a stand. Accessories are the standard RX-78-2 loadout: beam rifle, saber, shield, and a hyper bazooka, all recolored to match.

Lore & trivia

01This kit was released in 2019 as part of a Bandai collaboration with Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball league, producing recolored Gunpla for all 12 NPB teams to mark Gundam's 40th anniversary.
02It was distributed through Hanshin Tigers channels, including as a giveaway to fans who bought tickets to specific July 2019 home games, rather than sold through normal Gunpla retail.
03The base mold is the HGUC RX-78-2 Gundam (Revive Ver.), Bandai's 2015-era retool of the very first HGUC release from 2001, redesigned with modern joint engineering while keeping the classic silhouette.
04A matching HG MS-06S Zaku II in Hanshin Tigers colors was released alongside it as part of the same crossover.