MGUniversal Century

RGC-80 GM Cannon (North America Front)

The same great MG GM Cannon frame, dressed in the desert-and-olive scheme of the six units that actually fought to retake North America.

MechaGrade Score

3.8/5

GM Cannon (North America Front) · 1/100 · 2017

GradeMG

Scale1/100

Released2017

Runnersn/a

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The verdict

This is a straight recolor of the standard MG RGC-80 GM Cannon, and that is exactly why it works.

The base kit already had double-jointed elbows and knees, a pull-out shoulder for extra reach, and a waist that actually turns, so all this P-Bandai release has to do is not mess that up, and it doesn't. I like it more than I expected to, because the North America Front palette (sandier tan over the usual federation colors) actually reads as a different suit on the shelf, not just a reprint with a new box.

Best for: MSV collectors and GM completionists who already like the base MG GM Cannon and want the North American theater colors without painting them

The full review

What it is

This kit takes the 2015-era MG RGC-80 GM Cannon engineering, an inner-frame Master Grade with real double-hinged elbows and knees, a swing-out hip axis, and a head on a genuine ball-jointed neck, and hands it molded-color North America Front markings instead of the usual federation green and white. The cannon itself is nicely proportioned for the scale and the water-slide decals for the unit markings are a step up from stickers. Building it feels like building any good mid-2010s MG: parts click home with confidence, the gates are placed where you'd expect, and there's real satisfaction in getting a GM variant this well-articulated onto the shelf.

The catch

The cannon barrel itself barely moves beyond up and down, so a lot of the character depends on how you pose the arm and torso around it, not the weapon. This is a P-Bandai exclusive, which means it comes and goes from stock, usually runs pricier than a retail MG for what is fundamentally a recolor, and you're depending on secondhand or resale markets once a run sells out. Builders also note you'll want panel lining and maybe a Gundam Marker pass to make the molded details pop, since straight out of the runners some of the finer panel work reads flat.

Who it's for

Buy this if you already appreciate the standard MG GM Cannon's engineering and specifically want the North America Front look on your shelf, or if you collect GM variants and like that this one depicts a genuinely rare in-universe unit. Skip it if you just want a good-value MG GM and don't care about the specific paint job, since the standard-colorway MG RGC-80 gets you the same frame for less hassle and less hunting. It's a kit for the completionist, not the first-timer.

The build story

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

The build itself is friendly for an MG: gates are in sensible spots, parts seat with a confident click, and there's nothing here that trips up someone who's built a Master Grade before. The frame goes together first and the armor snaps over it cleanly, which is the standard MG rhythm and it works well on this one.

The standout is the articulation for a suit this bulky looking: 3+1+1 finger joints on the manipulators, a double-sided ball neck, and hips that swing forward as well as back. Combined with the molded North America Front colors and decal sheet instead of stickers, the part-count and color separation punch above what you'd expect from what is technically a paint-job variant kit.

Lore & trivia

01The RGC-80 GM Cannon shares roughly 60 percent of its parts with the standard RGM-79 GM, since the Earth Federation redesigned it to use existing GM production lines under wartime pressure.
02It replaced the earlier GM Cannon Test Type's twin 240mm cannons with a single recoilless cannon and added heavier leg and skirt armor specifically to fix that prototype's recoil and balance problems.
03In the fiction only 58 GM Cannons were ever built, and just 6 of those were the North America Front units this kit's colors depict, assigned to the campaign to retake the continent from Zeon.