MSiA RX-78-1 Prototype Gundam

Height: 10.5 cm to top of head

Articulation: 26 total points of articulation: Ball jointed neck; 6 points in each arm - double jointed shoulder, pre-elbow swivel, double jointed elbow, ball joint wrist; ball-joint waist; 6 points in each leg - ball joint hip, double jointed knee, ball joint in ankle, hinged ankle cover,ball joint in foot.

Accessories: Prototype Beam Rifle, Hyper Bazooka, Beam Saber x2, Shield, FF-6 "TIN Cod" Fighter, Extra hands x4

Colors: Molded matte and gloss black and light and medium gray. Painted red, yellow(eyes), silver (TIN Cod intakes), light blue (TIN Cod detailing) and pale yellow (pilot).

Release Data: Released December 10, 2004 in Japan at a price of ¥1500. This item is still in production as of this review (February 5, 2004).

Gallery: 10 images.

Author: RAC

The Figure

The RX-78-1 Prototype Gundam hails from the MSV line of model kits, and was originally one of many variations designer Kunio Okawara produced before the final RX-78-2 design was settled on. As it is a variation, it's practically identical to the RX-78-2 Gundam Second Version, with a few minor cosmetic differences and a new, darker paint job.

The Head

The head is identical to the Gundam Second's in every way, from the ever-so-slightly asymmetrical V-fin to the noticeable gap in the forehead. It has 360 degrees of swivel, but tilt is somewhat limited.

The Arms

The shoulders still have the swivels that give an excellent range of movement, and the double-jointed elbows that the Gundam Second brought to the line work pretty much as well as they ever did. The shoulder armor has been shortened slightly here, both vertically and horizontally. It's so subtle that you likely won't notice unless the figures are side-by-side. What is much more noticeable is that the forearms have been remolded completely, and look slimmer and less blocky. They're nicely detailed, and don't look out of place at all with the rest of the figure. They don't quite bend flat against the upperarm as the orignal forearms did, but they come pretty close. There's still a rectangular hardpoint on the back of the arm to attach the shield to.

The Torso

The torso itself is completely unchanged, with its excellent swivel and slight tilting capabilities. The cockpit hatch still opens, but the pilot is now painted yellow, the standard color for EFSF pilot suits. Nice touch.

The removeable backpack has been completely remolded, though it's easy to overlook this at first glance. The first thing I noticed was that there was no longer a hardpoint for storing the shield. From there, I noticed that the backpack was now more angular and featured smaller thruster cones. The thrusters are still ball-jointed, with a good range of movement, and feature nice ridged detailing on the outsides. It's a sharp-looking backpack, and accomplishes its goal of looking less refined than the "later" RX-78-2 version.

Three-quarters of the hips and skirt armor are unchanged, and are pretty much standard fare for an MSiA. The first change is a long skirt piece on the right hip. I'm not quite sure what this was for- a power pack for the Beam Rifle, perhaps? At any rate, it's been angled so as to be just outside of the Gundam's range of leg movement- it shouldn't get in the way much, if at all. The other change is the rear center skirt, which has an odd "ledge" on it. It's probably only there to further differentiate the design from the standard Gundam, but it does eliminate the mounting clamp for the Hyper Bazooka. Yet another good example of making the design seem less sophisticated.

The Legs and Feet

The legs are unchanged except for one detail- which I'll get to in a moment- and are still excellent overall. The hip joints have a fair range of movement side-to-side, and enough front-to-back to do a respectable split. The knees are double-jointed, of course, and fold up into a tight "U" formation without any trouble at all. It's still up there with the best leg designs to date.

The new ankle armor pieces are the only change to the legs- they now have three vents on each side. I'd always thought those vents were supposed to be holes, and not just indentations- but I imagine that would be next-door to impossible to do at this scale without being exceptionally fragile. At any rate, they move as well as the old version, and the indentations are gloss black while the rest of the piece is matte, so there's some nice contrast there. The feet are unchanged, with that odd-looking but effective ball-joint that makes the Gundam look as though it's wearing bedroom slippers. Coupled with the decent hips and superb knees, the leg articulation holds up fine despite being a few years old.

Paint and Detailing

The overall detailing on the Prototype Gundam is very nice- the gloss black, while used sparingly, allows for contrast on what could have been a fairly monochromatic design. The white "EFSF" marks on the left shoulder and right knee also help, though the overall look is still pretty black-and-white until it's carrying the shield.

The panel lines aren't inked in, but it doesn't hinder the figure much since it's plenty dark enough to begin with. Even the lighter portions of the body are subtly darker than the white used on the Gundam second version. The only problems my figure has are a light gray spot on top of the left shoulder armor and a red smear on the black part of the shield. As usual, I'm assuming until I'm told otherwise that these are problems unique to my figure, and so I won't deduct points for them.

Articulation gets 9/10

Sculpt and Deco get 9/10

Accessories

-Prototype Beam Rifle

Significantly different from the RX-78-2 version, with no secondary handgrip and a much smaller inline camera. It fits the hands well and seems a bit easier to hold than the Second Version's rifle, despite being the slightest bit larger.

-Hyper Bazooka

The Hyper Bazooka is unchanged except for the color- it's now gloss black instead of white and gray. It's still molded nicely and fits in the hand well, but I feel an opportunity was missed here. There are two versions of the Hyper Bazooka: one has an enclosed magazine, and one shows the bazooka shells when seen from the back. The version all Gundam MSiA use is the former, and it would've been neat to finally have a version of the latter. It also would've been an opportunity to add a little much-needed color to the weapon.

-Beam Sabers

Again, these are identical to the previous version of this mold in every way- unfortunately, this includes the now-outdated soft plastic blades. They're molded fairly thick, and so far the blades are straight, but the pegs that you insert into the Beam Saber grips are a bit soft, and it's a tight fit. This can make things a bit difficult. The grips themselves, though, do everything they should, staying in both the appropriate hands and the backpack without any trouble.

-Shield

Except for its snazzy new black-on-red color scheme and "01" marking, the shield is unchanged as well, and is still mostly excellent. The hinged post locks easily into either arm, and when used with the ball-jointed handgrip holds to the arm fairly well and is easily adjustable.

There are two problems, one of which is a minor gripe: first off, and more importantly, the post slides out of the forearm just a bit too easily when you're adjusting the position of the shield. Second, and more in the realm of nitpicking, is that the post for stowing on the backpack is still present- but this Gundam's backpack doesn't let you do that. So, it's a useless post just sticking out of the back of the shield for no good reason. It's a minor thing, but it does bug me.

-Extra Hands

As usual, there are three pair in all: "Rifle" hands, "Saber" hands, and fists. The hands are molded of a noticably firmer plastic than the Gundam Second Version's, which helps one of the few problems I had with that figure. The other problem is still present in the Saber hands: the thumb and forefinger are linked to assure a good grip on the Beam Sabers. That's all well and good, but this means that the Gundam has to hold its shield with the trigger finger inexplicably extended! Again, a minor thing, but one that could've been fixed. Bandai's obviously thought better of it, since no MSiA has used a hand like that before or since.

-FF-6 TIN Cod Fighter

The TIN Cod is an MSV EFSF fighter that eventually made its way into Zeta Gundam and 08th MS Team. It's an angular but attractive design, and fits in neatly with the Core Fighter in terms of the overall design. It's the same shade of light gray as the Prototype Gundam, with some gray and black detailing, as well as the tiniest dots of light blue on the tips of the nose and one wing. Cameras, maybe? Either way, the TIN Cod is a nice little addition to this set- it's been far too long since any Universal Century MSiA came with support vehicles.

Accessories get 8/10

Closing Remarks:

The Proto-Gundam is every bit as good as the Gundam Second Version. As well it should be, since it shares most of its body with that figure. The new additions blend in well with the existing figures, and in many cases give a good sense of being less sophisticated than the RX-78-2. It's poseable, sharp-looking, and comes with a new MSiA-scale vehicle- a good package all around. I paid around $17 shipped for mine, and I think that's a pretty fair price. I might even have gone a dollar higher.

Overall, the Prototype Gundam is Excellent, but whether or not a slight remold/recolor is worth the money is entirely up to you.

-RAC 2/05/2005