MGUniversal Century

RGM-79SP Lydo Wolf's GM Sniper II

The best MG grunt suit around, dressed in a dead ace's black.

MechaGrade Score

3.7/5

Lydo Wolf's GM Sniper II · 1/100 · 2019

GradeMG

Scale1/100

Released2019

Runnersn/a

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The verdict

This is the excellent MG GM Sniper II engine wearing a paint job with a real story behind it, and that combination mostly works.

Lydo Wolf's jet black scheme molds in cleanly and looks sharp on the shelf without a drop of paint. Where it stumbles is value: this is a straight recolor with zero new parts, sold at P-Bandai exclusive pricing, so you are paying a premium for color plastic and a name plate.

Best for: GM Sniper II fans and Gundam Legacy readers who want Lydo Wolf's ace colors without painting a whole kit

The full review

What it is

This kit is the same MG GM Sniper II frame that a lot of builders already rank among the best grunt suit Master Grades Bandai has put out, just recolored into the pitch black scheme Lydo Wolf carried over from his fighter jet days as the Dancing Black Reaper. The molded black plastic means you get the paint job for free straight off the runners, which is the whole appeal. Building it feels like building the standard GM Sniper II: friendly nub placement, forgiving cleanup, and a kit that rewards you with real sniping poses once it is together. I liked handing the sniper rifle to a suit that finally has the wrist and shoulder range to hold it properly prone.

The catch

The honest catch is that this is a recolor and nothing else. No new sculpt, no new accessories, no beam sniper rifle even though that is part of Lydo Wolf's actual lore loadout in Gundam Legacy, just the same GM Sniper II weapons in black plastic. It was a Premium Bandai exclusive, so you are paying above a regular retail MG for a suit that changes nothing structurally, and on the secondary market that markup gets worse. A few builders have also flagged that the plastic compound on this MG line can loosen at the joints faster than older kits, and there is still no way to holster the sniper rifle on the body between poses.

Who it's for

Buy this one if you already love the GM Sniper II mold and want the Lydo Wolf colors without a paint session, or if the Gundam Legacy manga connection matters to you. It is a genuinely satisfying build with strong articulation and a striking finished look that stands out next to the usual Federation white and blue. Skip it if you already own a standard GM Sniper II MG and were hoping for new parts or a beam sniper rifle to match the character's actual gear, because you will not find either here, and the exclusive pricing stings more once you know it is a recolor.

The build story

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

The build follows the standard MG GM Sniper II experience almost exactly: gates are placed where you would expect, cleanup is forgiving for an MG, and nothing about the runners feels like a trap for less experienced builders. Because the plastic is pre-colored black, there is no masking or painting required to hit Lydo Wolf's scheme, which makes this a satisfying weekend build rather than a paint project.

The engineering underneath is the real draw. The GM Sniper II frame added shoulder mobility and a reworked waist over earlier MG grunt suits, plus a dedicated hand part with a cocked trigger finger for the sniper rifle, so the suit actually holds the prone aiming pose the character is known for. The accessory set covers the sniper rifle, bullpup machine gun, beam saber, and shield, giving decent part-count value even without anything new added for this release.

Lore & trivia

01Lydo Wolf, nicknamed the Dancing Black Reaper, was credited with 68 mobile suit kills and ranked as the Earth Federation's third highest scoring ace of the One Year War behind Amuro Ray.
02He started the war as a fighter pilot before transferring into the mobile suit corps, and he carried his personal black paint scheme over from his aircraft to his RGM-79SP GM Sniper II.
03The character and this kit trace back to the Gundam Legacy manga, and Lydo Wolf was killed in action during the climactic battle of A Baoa Qu.
04This MG version released in July 2019 as a Premium Bandai online exclusive priced at 4,104 yen, following an earlier HGUC release of the same Lydo Wolf color scheme.