MGUniversal Century

RX-78-2 Gundam Realtype Color

The original Gundam engineering dressed in the muted battlefield colors it was never actually allowed to wear.

MechaGrade Score

3.8/5

RX-78-2 Gundam · 1/100 · 2013

GradeMG

Scale1/100

Released2013

Runnersn/a

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The verdict

This one is a love letter to a piece of Gundam trivia as much as it is a model kit, and I think that is exactly why it works.

Underneath the recolor sits the MG RX-78-2 Ver.2.0 frame, a design that earned its reputation the hard way with a hydraulic-detailed inner skeleton and a torso that actually twists. Take away the bright primary paint job and what is left is a genuinely good engineering exercise wearing a costume most builders never see in person. I like it more the longer I have it on the shelf.

Best for: Universal Century collectors and Real Type lore fans who want the Ver.2.0 engineering in a colorway they will not find on a regular store shelf

The full review

What it is

This is the MG RX-78-2 Ver.2.0 kit, the version that gave Master Grade its first real hydraulic-look inner frame, reissued through Premium Bandai with the muted olive and grey Real Type scheme instead of the familiar white, red, blue and yellow. The Real Type colorway is not a Bandai marketing invention. It traces back to Kunio Okawara's 1981 poster art for a battlefield camouflage version of the Gundam that supposedly only existed in Earth Federation combat simulations. Building it feels like handling a piece of Gundam apocrypha. The frame underneath still does everything the Ver.2.0 was praised for: torso twist, hydraulic detail at the neck and ankles, and a Core Fighter that separates out from the chest the way the anime always implied it should.

The catch

This is a 2013 Premium Bandai reissue of a 2004 engineering base, so it does not have the crisper panel lines or the tighter color separation you get from a modern MG. Some surface detail on the recolored Real Type parts leans on the included waterslide decals rather than molded color, so you are doing decal work if you want the full effect, and waterslides take patience most gunpla builders are not used to compared to peel-and-stick stickers. Because it was a limited web exclusive, joint tension and plastic quality reports are thinner than for the mainline release, so go in expecting the same eventual joint looseness that Ver.2.0 owners have reported over a decade of shelf time, not a fixed defect unique to this run.

Who it's for

Buy this if you already respect the Ver.2.0 platform and want the one colorway that turns heads next to a wall of standard-scheme Gundams, or if the Real Type backstory is the kind of thing that makes you want a kit more, not less. Skip it if you want the sharpest, most current RX-78-2 engineering money can buy, since the Ver 3.0 and RG lines have both since improved on frame tolerances and color separation. Skip it too if waterslide decals sound like a chore rather than a feature, because part of this kit's identity depends on you doing that work.

What works

Full-Action Inner Frame still delivers real torso twist, ankle hydraulics and a removable Core Fighter that the anime silhouette was built around
The Real Type colorway is a genuinely rare display option grounded in actual Gundam concept art history, not a random recolor
Comes with its own waterslide decal sheet built specifically for the Real Type scheme rather than reused mainline stickers

Worth knowing

Panel lines and color separation read as dated next to Ver.3.0 or RG-era RX-78-2 kits
Waterslide decals mean extra patience and setup time compared to a sticker sheet
As an older Premium Bandai reissue, joints will loosen over years of posing the way other Ver.2.0 builds have reported

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 follows standard Ver.2.0 sequencing, frame first, then armor shells that snap over the hydraulic detailing at the neck, elbows and ankles. Gate placement is typical mid-2000s Bandai, mostly on non-visible inner faces, so cleanup is manageable with a basic side cutter and a bit of sanding on the visible outer shoulder and shin pieces. Nothing here fights you the way a fussier multi-part MG can. The main added step versus a standard-color build is the waterslide decal work, which asks for warm water, a steady hand and some drying patience if you want the Real Type panel markings to sit flush.

Where this kit earns its keep is the frame. The torso twist and the triple-jointed feet let it hold genuinely dynamic poses, not just the stiff forward-facing stance older MGs are known for, and the Core Fighter separating cleanly from the chest is a nice bit of engineering theater on a kit from this era. Accessory loadout mirrors the standard Ver.2.0 release, so you still get the beam rifle, saber, shield and hyper bazooka, just finished in the Real Type olive and grey rather than the primary color scheme, which makes the whole loadout look like a different suit at a glance.

Lore & trivia

01The Real Type color scheme was created by mechanical designer Kunio Okawara and first appeared on the poster art for the 1981 film Mobile Suit Gundam II: Soldiers of Sorrow as a battlefield-camouflage take on the original Gundam.
02Within Gundam continuity, the Real Type Gundam never actually saw combat as a built suit. It exists only in tactical computer simulations the Earth Federation Forces ran late in the One Year War to analyze further improvements to the RX-78-2.
03This kit reuses the MG RX-78-2 Ver.2.0 platform first released in 2004, recolored and sold as a Premium Bandai web-exclusive in 2013 under product code 0182260, complete with a Real Type specific waterslide decal sheet not found in the standard-color release.