PGUniversal Century

RX-78-2 Gundam

The kit that invented the idea of a Gundam you build twice, once outside and once in.

MechaGrade Score

4.3/5

RX-78-2 Gundam · 1/60 · 1998

GradePG

Scale1/60

Released1998

Runnersn/a

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The verdict

This was PG number one, released in 1998, and it still earns its spot on a shelf almost thirty years later.

I say that as someone who went in expecting a museum piece and came out having genuinely enjoyed the build. It is slower and less refined than what Bandai does now, but the core idea, a full skeletal frame under real armor with hatches that open to show it off, still lands exactly as hard as it did the first time someone thought of it.

Best for: builders who want the original inner-frame Gundam experience and don't mind a slower, more old-school kind of complexity

The full review

What it is

This is the kit that started the Perfect Grade line, and you can feel the ambition in every runner. You are not building a Gundam, you are building a tiny mechanical body first (66 moving joints across the frame) and then dressing it in armor that opens at the head, arms, thighs, shoulders, and torso to show off what is underneath. The eyes actually light up off a watch battery tucked in the head, and a handful of joints have little pistons that slide as you pose them, which is a small touch that made me grin the first time I noticed it while just moving the elbow. The core fighter splits out and docks back into the chest exactly like it does in the show. At 626 parts across 23 runners this is a real commitment, not a weekend build, and I went in knowing that and still underestimated how much time the frame alone would take.

The catch

The age shows. This mold is from 1998, and next to anything Bandai has released in the last decade the tolerances feel looser, the sticker sheet is doing more of the color work than I'd like on a kit at this price point, and some of the smaller frame pieces are thinner and more prone to stress marks than modern PG plastic. Bandai has since released PG Let looseed, a full remake of this same suit with a modern frame, better molded color, and refined engineering, so if you want the newest word on RX-78-2 in Perfect Grade, that is a different kit entirely. This is the original, and it asks you to meet it on 1998 terms: more patience, more careful nub cleanup, more tolerance for a build that takes real hours before you see a finished Gundam standing in front of you.

Who it's for

I would point this at builders who care about Gunpla history and want the kit that actually pioneered the inner-frame concept, not just a suit that has one. If you want the smoothest, most modern build of RX-78-2 in this scale, PG Let looseed is the newer and more forgiving option and I would send a first-time PG builder there instead. But if you want to understand why Perfect Grade became the flagship line, sitting down with the original for a weekend and watching that chest hatch open over a lit-up core fighter is worth the extra effort. Skip it if you are chasing tight modern fit and minimal stickers, that is not what this particular kit is trying to be.

What works

the opening hatches at the head, arms, thighs, and torso genuinely deliver a full inner-frame reveal, not just a token window
the head lights up off a CR1220 watch battery, and small pistons slide in some joints as you pose them
the core fighter separates and redocks into the chest just like in the original 1979 show

Worth knowing

the sticker sheet carries more of the color separation than I'd like for a kit at this price and size
tolerances and plastic thickness on some frame parts feel dated next to modern Bandai molds
it has since been superseded by PG Let looseed, a full remake with a more refined frame, so this is now the classic option rather than the current best RX-78-2 in scale

Sold? Grab it.

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The build story

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

The frame goes together in stages and it is the slower half of the build by far, lots of small pins and joints that reward patience over speed. Gate placement is mostly fair but a few of the thinner internal parts need careful clipping and a light sand to avoid visible stress marks, this being an older mold. Fit on the armor shells is generally solid once the frame underneath is square, but I'd recommend dry-fitting before final assembly since a few panels are tighter than you'd expect.

The engineering payoff is real: 66 moving joints, double-jointed elbows and knees, and a ball-jointed neck give this a wider stance and pose range than the exterior silhouette suggests. Standing at roughly 31cm with 626 parts on 23 runners, the part-count-to-price value is strong for what is essentially a full mechanical body plus a separate flyable core fighter, and the opening panels turn a static display piece into something you actually want to keep fidgeting with after it's done.

Lore & trivia

01This was Bandai's very first Perfect Grade RX-78-2, released in November 1998, and PG kit number one in the line overall.
02The head lights up using a CR1220 watch battery and a small switch hidden on the back of the head, no batteries-not-included asterisk needed.
03The core fighter can be built as a fully transforming unit that docks into the chest as the core block, or assembled as a static core block if you'd rather skip the transformation mechanism.
04Bandai later released PG Let looseed RX-78-2 as a from-scratch remake of this same suit with a modern frame and refined engineering, making the 1998 original the historical version rather than the current flagship.