MGUniversal Century

Kith for GUNPLA MG 1/100 RX-78-2 Gundam Ver. 2.0

The best-engineered classic RX-78-2 frame, repainted for a New York closet instead of a Universal Century battlefield.

MechaGrade Score

4.1/5

RX-78-2 Gundam · 1/100 · 2025

GradeMG

Scale1/100

Released2025

Runnersn/a

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The verdict

I love this kit for the same reason people have loved the MG Ver.

2.0 for twenty years, it is genuinely the most solid RX-78-2 frame Bandai ever cut, and the Kith orange and blue rework is the part that actually splits opinion. Underneath the streetwear colorway you get the same double-jointed elbows and knees, triple-jointed feet, and pull-out shoulder joints that made this mold famous. The collaboration is a paint job and a collector's box on top of an all-time great skeleton, not a new engineering effort, and once I accepted that framing I enjoyed it a lot.

Best for: Gunpla collectors and Kith fans who want the definitive MG RX-78-2 frame in a limited fashion-collab colorway rather than screen-accurate red, white, and blue

The full review

What it is

This is the MG 1/100 RX-78-2 Gundam Ver. 2.0, the mold Bandai first released in the mid-2000s and that still gets called the most solid RX-78-2 kit ever made, dressed up in an exclusive dark and light blue plus orange colorway through a Kith collaboration tied to Gunpla's 45th anniversary. The frame underneath is unchanged and that is a good thing. Building it, the inner skeleton goes together with real purpose, joints click into place with a confidence a lot of newer kits still do not manage, and the double-jointed elbows and knees plus triple-jointed feet mean it can hit dynamic, grounded poses rather than the stiffer stances older MGs are known for. It comes with a beam rifle with a removable napalm attachment, two beam sabers, a hyper bazooka, a beam javelin, and a gunpla hammer, so accessory variety is not a weak point.

The catch

Two honest problems. First, this is a repaint and rebrand of a nearly two-decade-old mold, so if you already own a Ver. 2.0 or Ver. 3.0 you are paying collector premium for a new colorway and custom packaging, not new engineering. Second, this specific run was a Kith App lottery release limited to Japan-registered addresses at 95 dollars, so getting one at all meant winning a raffle rather than just ordering it, and it now trades on the aftermarket well above retail. On the build itself, longtime builders of this mold flag the waist armor as loose and prone to popping off, and panel line detail on some parts is minimal compared to what Bandai does now, so a panel liner and a little plastic glue at the waist go a long way.

Who it's for

Get this one if you specifically want the Kith colorway as a display piece or a grail for the collection, or if you have never built a MG Ver. 2.0 and want to feel what made that frame a benchmark, in an orange and blue skin that photographs beautifully next to a streetwear shelf. Skip it if you want a screen-accurate RX-78-2, want the newest available engineering (Ver. 3.0 refines some of this frame's quirks), or you are not willing to hunt a lottery-exclusive kit on the secondary market at a real markup. If show accuracy or easy availability matters more than the collab story, buy a standard Ver. 2.0 or 3.0 instead and put the savings toward the topcoat and panel liner this mold rewards.

What works

Double-jointed elbows and knees plus triple-jointed feet give it a pose range that still holds up against much newer MG releases
Full weapon loadout (beam rifle with napalm attachment, two sabers, bazooka, javelin, hammer) means real display and pose variety out of the box
The inner frame assembly is confident and satisfying to build, joints seat with a positive click rather than a loose wobble

Worth knowing

Waist armor is a known weak point on this mold and tends to pop loose without a dab of plastic glue
It is a colorway and packaging exercise on a nearly 20-year-old mold, not new engineering, so the collab premium buys presentation more than performance
Lottery-only Japan release means most buyers are paying real aftermarket markup just to get one

Sold? Grab it.

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The build story

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

The build itself is classic MG Ver. 2.0, the inner frame assembles first and it is where the kit earns its reputation, tight joint tolerances and a skeleton that genuinely resists flopping once armor goes on top. Fourteen runners is modest for an MG by modern standards, and a fair number of those parts are small frame pieces rather than big armor shells, so cleanup is quick but you want a sharp side cutter for the tiny inner-frame nubs. The Kith colorway is molded in, not applied as a sticker sheet on top of standard plastic, which keeps the finished look clean if you skip topcoat entirely.

Where it stands out is articulation: the head runs on a double-jointed neck, shoulders pull outward for extra range, elbows and knees are both double-jointed, and the feet use a triple-joint arrangement for genuinely stable grounded poses. Finger articulation on the manipulators is a real 3+1+1 setup rather than fixed hands, so hand poses read naturally holding the beam rifle or javelin. Panel line detail is lighter than current-generation MGs, so a panel liner does more visible work here than on a 2024 or 2025 kit, and that is the one area where the age of the mold shows.

Lore & trivia

01The RX-78-2 Gundam first appeared in Mobile Suit Gundam in 1979, and the Kith collaboration was released to mark the 45th anniversary of Gunpla and the Gundam franchise
02The Kith for GUNPLA collection, including this MG RX-78-2 Ver. 2.0 and a companion Wing Gundam kit, launched through a lottery on the Kith App in December 2025 as part of Kith's Kithmas collection, limited to Japan-registered addresses, retailing at 95 dollars
03The colorway trades the RX-78-2's traditional red, white, and blue for a dark and light blue plus orange palette described by Kith as inspired by New York
04The base MG Ver. 2.0 mold this kit is built on introduced a new inner frame when it first released, engineered to hit more dynamic poses than any MG RX-78-2 before it