MGUniversal Century

RX-78-2 Gundam Ver. Gundam Crisis

The dependable Ver. OYW 0079 engineering under a limited, anime-accurate paint job you can only find secondhand now.

MechaGrade Score

4.1/5

RX-78-2 Gundam · 1/100 · 2009

GradeMG

Scale1/100

Released2009

Runnersn/a

Check price on Amazon

Affiliate link. We may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

The verdict

This is the MG RX-78-2 Gundam Ver.

One Year War 0079 wearing a different coat, and I mean that as a compliment. It was sold as an exclusive at the Gundam Crisis attraction inside Fuji-Q Highland back in 2009, recolored closer to the actual TV anime's on-screen palette instead of the slightly brighter standard retail colors. Under the paint it is the same well-loved 2005 frame, so you get proven engineering with a rarer, more collectible shell.

Best for: collectors who already know and like the Ver. OYW 0079 sculpt and want the harder-to-find anime-color variant

The full review

What it is

Strip away the exclusive packaging and this is the 2005 MG Ver. One Year War 0079 RX-78-2, one of the kits that set the template for how a modern MG Gundam should build and pose. The frame has a double ball joint neck, double-jointed elbows and knees, a sliding hip axis, and lift-up skirt armor so the legs actually clear when you crouch. I built one years back and the shooting pose, one knee down, rifle raised, is still one of the most satisfying stock poses in my collection. The Gundam Crisis release swaps in a deeper, more anime-faithful color separation and throws in the Gundam Hammer and an Amuro Ray figure, same as the standard version.

The catch

The honest catch is availability and price. This was a limited attraction-exclusive sold at one theme park gift shop in Japan in 2009, so today it only turns up on the secondary market and auction sites, usually at a real premium over what the standard Ver. OYW 0079 costs. The kit itself carries the fingerprints of a 2005 design too. Reviewers note the fingers are molded to separate into individual digits for extra hand articulation, but slicing them apart weakens the grip on weapons, so you are trading pose flexibility for a looser hold. It also skips the Core Fighter that some other RX-78-2 MGs include.

Who it's for

If you already love the Ver. OYW 0079 sculpt and want a display-shelf variant with a rarer color story and a bit of provenance behind it, this is worth tracking down. If you just want the best RX-78-2 experience for the money, buy whichever standard Ver. OYW 0079 or newer release you can find at retail and put the savings toward another kit instead of chasing a decade-plus-old theme park exclusive. Skip it if you want the absolute latest engineering; later Gundam versions have since refined the frame further.

The build story

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

The build itself is classic mid-2000s MG: clean part fit, well-placed nubs that clean up without much drama, and an assembly order that walks you through the inner frame before the armor snaps over it. Nothing about it feels fussy or fragile, it goes together the way a flagship MG should.

Where it earns its reputation is articulation. The double ball-joint neck, double-jointed knees and elbows, and that sliding hip axis let it hit a proper deep crouch and a real one-knee shooting stance, not just a stiff standing pose. Skirt armor lifts out of the way so the legs actually clear during those poses. The recolor on this Gundam Crisis release pushes the shading closer to the TV anime's screen colors rather than the brighter standard retail palette, which is the whole reason collectors seek this version out.

Lore & trivia

01The Ver. One Year War 0079 base kit this is built on was Bandai's first MG RX-78-2 to give the hands separable, individually articulated fingers.
02This Gundam Crisis version was sold exclusively at the Gundam Crisis attraction gift shop inside Fuji-Q Highland amusement park in Japan starting in 2009.
03The recolor was done to better match the RX-78-2's actual on-screen anime colors rather than the brighter tones used on the standard retail release.
04It ships with the same Gundam Hammer accessory and Amuro Ray figure as the standard Ver. OYW 0079, but does not include a Core Fighter.