MGUniversal Century

RMS-179 GM II Semi-Striker

A battlefield-scrounged GM gets the MG treatment, and the desert paint job alone makes it worth the shelf space.

MechaGrade Score

3.6/5

GM II Semi-Striker · 1/100 · 2019

GradeMG

Scale1/100

Released2019

Runnersn/a

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The verdict

This kit earns its keep by borrowing the best parts of an already-good MG.

The Semi-Striker is built on the proven MG GM II Ver. 2.0 body, so the frame underneath is solid before you even touch the new armor sprue. What you are really paying for is the desert molded plastic, the reworked shoulder armor, and a twin beam spear that nobody else in the GM family gets. It is not a kit that reinvents anything, it is a kit that dresses up something already reliable and does it well.

Best for: UC completionists and GM fans who want a desert-camo oddball with real melee presence on the shelf

The full review

What it is

This is a Torrington Base field mod dressed up in plastic. The lore is that some maintenance crew bolted spare GM Striker armor onto a stock GM II and called it a day, and Bandai leaned into that scrappy, improvised feel with the kit. Because it shares its core with the MG GM II Ver. 2.0, you get a frame that already had its kinks worked out, so the build feels dependable rather than experimental. The desert tan is molded in, not painted on, which matters a lot once you are done and the color holds up under light without a single coat of paint. The twin beam spear is the standout piece, a proper melee weapon that most GM variants never get, and it changes how the kit reads on a shelf full of beam rifles.

The catch

This is a P-Bandai exclusive, so it comes with exclusive pricing and the usual availability headache of hunting down a reissue instead of grabbing it off a shelf. It also is not a from-scratch design, it is the existing GM II body plus a new armor and weapon runner, so if you already own the standard MG GM II you are largely paying for the desert plastic, the shield, and the spear rather than a new engineering exercise. Builders have flagged the weapon loadout as the one place the kit feels thin for the price, since so much of the sprue budget went into armor and color rather than a deep accessory set.

Who it's for

Buy this if you already like the base MG GM II and want the version that looks like it actually saw combat, or if the twin beam spear and desert scheme are pulling you in for display purposes. It also makes sense for UC background-suit collectors who want the Torrington Base story on a shelf next to the more famous names. Skip it if you are hunting for a kit that pushes engineering forward or gives you a fat weapons loadout for the money, and skip it if paying P-Bandai prices for what is functionally a reskin does not sit right with you. As a mostly-solved MG wearing new armor, it rewards people who already know what they are getting.

The build story

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

Because the core is the established MG GM II body, gate placement and part fit feel familiar rather than fiddly, the new shoulder armor and forearm shield runners are the only real unknowns and they clip in cleanly with the usual light cleanup on visible seams. Nothing here fights you the way a from-scratch MG sometimes does, and that predictability is part of the appeal.

Articulation is balanced rather than extreme, flexible enough to hit a real fighting stance with the beam spear but rigid enough in the hips and shoulders to actually hold that pose instead of drooping. The twin beam spear itself has a transformation gimmick letting the blades sit vertically or horizontally, which is a nice bit of engineering for what could have been a static prop. Molded desert color across the body means color separation does not depend on the water-slide decals doing all the work, though the decals do carry the unit markings.

Lore & trivia

01The GM II Semi-Striker's backstory is that it is a GM II fitted with spare GM Striker armor at Torrington Base, which is why its model number stays RMS-179 instead of getting a new designation.
02It appeared in Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn, tying it to the Torrington Base storyline within the Universal Century timeline.
03The MG version reuses the MG GM II Ver. 2.0 as its base and adds a newly sculpted twin beam spear, shoulder armor, and forearm shield rather than an all-new frame.
04As a Premium Bandai exclusive, the kit has seen limited production runs and reissues rather than staying in continuous retail circulation.