HGUniversal Century

RX-78-2 Gundam Ver. [Alexandros]

The excellent Beyond Global engineering wearing a rock band's colors and decal sheet.

MechaGrade Score

3.7/5

RX-78-2 Gundam · 1/144 · 2021

GradeHG

Scale1/144

Released2021

Runnersn/a

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The verdict

This is the Beyond Global RX-78-2 in a different jacket, and that is a genuine compliment.

The frame underneath is one of the best-engineered HG Gundams Bandai has made, and the Alexandros colorway (tied to the band's tie-in song for Mobile Suit Gundam Hathaway) adds a fun collector's twist without touching what made the base kit good. I like it as a novelty pickup more than as anyone's only RX-78-2.

Best for: Beyond Global fans and Gundam Hathaway collectors who want the tie-in colorway alongside their standard build

The full review

What it is

This kit runs on the same Beyond Global tooling that Bandai built to push HG engineering forward for Gunpla's 40th anniversary, just recolored and re-decaled to tie into the ALEXANDROS song used for Mobile Suit Gundam Hathaway. That means you get the same single-piece smooth helmet, the same clever ball-and-socket shoulders, and the same hip and groin axis that lets this little guy split its legs past 180 degrees. Building it feels like building a kit that actually got engineered on purpose rather than assembled from a parts bin. The color palette leans into pastel blue and warm red instead of the primary tri-color scheme, and the sticker sheet carries the band branding for anyone who wants it.

The catch

Gate placement on curved surfaces, especially around the helmet, takes patience to clean up without leaving witness marks. The accessory loadout is thin: beam rifle, shield, two beam sabers, and only one hand posed to hold the rifle, no spare open palm, no bazooka, no hammer. Ankle joints run tight out of the runner, which is good for posing but can feel almost too stiff at first. And because this is a themed colorway tied to a song promotion, the plastic colors and decal choices are built around branding rather than screen accuracy, so purists chasing a comic-accurate RX-78-2 should look elsewhere.

Who it's for

Grab this one if you already like the Beyond Global RX-78-2 and want a second copy in a different finish, or if you're a Gundam Hathaway or ALEXANDROS-the-band completionist who wants the tie-in piece on the shelf. The engineering underneath rewards anyone who enjoys posing over just displaying. Skip it if you want the most screen-accurate white, red, and blue RX-78-2 for a diorama, or if you want a loaded weapons set for the money, either of those goals are better served by other HG or RG releases of the same suit.

The build story

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

The runner layout mirrors Beyond Global: two full-size runners, five half-size runners, and two small runners plus the beam saber runner. Assembly goes together fast and the fit is snug throughout, with the ankle joints running notably tight right out of the bag. The main cleanup headache is the helmet, which is molded as one smooth piece but carries gate connections on curved surfaces that take real care to trim without leaving a flat spot.

Where this kit earns its reputation is articulation. Five-point ankle hinges instead of simple ball joints give it stability other HGs in this price range don't have, and the hip/groin axis lets it hold deep lunges and splits well past 180 degrees. Color separation is handled almost entirely through molded plastic in the Alexandros palette, with the sticker sheet reserved for the band branding rather than doing the heavy lifting on the suit itself. The weapon set is the weak point: rifle, shield, two sabers, and a single rifle-holding hand, no bazooka or second open palm to expand posing options.

Lore & trivia

01The Ver. [Alexandros] colorway ties into the Japanese rock band ALEXANDROS, who performed the theme song 'Senkou' for the Mobile Suit Gundam Hathaway film trilogy.
02The kit reuses the tooling from the HG RX-78-2 Gundam (Beyond Global), a 2020 release built for Gunpla's 40th anniversary to showcase updated HG engineering.
03Beyond Global's frame introduced a swiveling shoulder blade design and a groin axis specifically to expand the suit's pose range beyond older HGUC RX-78-2 releases.