#g40

2005 Ginetta G40

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Ford GT40

RX-78-2 Gundam [Beyond Global]

We’ve had a lot of RX-Types released for the 40th, and while I haven’t covered all of them, I have covered all the 1/144 releases, with this being the third, and possibly last? (Not counting the Core Gundam variants.) It’s actually really cool just how different the [BG], G40, and Origin are from the others. Each is its own beast, all using very different engineering and ideas to get across the same base design. It’s fascinating and fun to experience.

The Good: There is a lot of ideas unique to the [BG] that I haven’t seen, even on RG kits. For instance, the helmet and shoulder pads are each a single, solid piece, rather than being two put together at a natural seam. It’s such a cool and simple idea that I can’t believe isn’t used more often. There’s also a lot of good use of parts layering to bring out specific details, like the yellows and reds in the head, or the greys in the chest and legs. This was something I remember fist seeing effective use of with WarGreymon (Amplified), and it’s cool to see it being utilized not only on a standard Gunpla release, but one with such a seemingly simple design that’s been replicated dozens of times over. I think this is the first time I’ve seen the buckle not be a sticker.

The posability is also fantastic, with the chest and hips utilizing brand new joint layouts to allow for some ridiculous posing. There’re 2-4 joints at every point of motion, and they come together to create something pretty fantastic.

The Bad: The only real issue I’ve found is with the arms. The outward motion is somewhat loose, which doesn’t affect too much until you start raising them out while the [BG] is holding something, in which case they’ll start to sag. Out of all the photos I took, it really only impacted the last one, so it’s not a scenario that should come up often, but be aware.

The Details: This kit was designed to be pretty perfect straight out the box, so I didn’t need to do much. The only sticker it came with was one for the eyes (which were already yellow plastic), so I painted the area around the eyes black to mimic the same look. Other than that, everything else I did was panel lining with a standard liner pen, which goes to show how easy it is to make this kit look good.

The Deliberation: As I mentioned before, there were three RX-Types released in the 1/144 scale over the last year. So, which one should you pick up?

We’ll start with the Origin Version, since my opinions of it aren’t very high. In its favor, it is the most RX-looking of the three. Not only is it very detailed and comes with customization options, but it also brings those iconic anime colors the other two lack. However, it’s also the least solid of the three, and the least posable.

G40 is probably my favorite out of the three. It’s just as inventive as the [BG], and has slightly more posability. It stands above in how inventive a lot of the construction is, and because, when trying to get it into a pose, it flows a lot more naturally. It’s a lot easier to get G40 looking dynamic than the [BG]. Sadly, it has quite a bit of loose armor over joints, and that inventive construction can occasionally be just as intrusive as imaginative. Also, because of the pack-ins it comes with, it’s a bit more expensive than the other two.

The [BG] looks like an RX, and poses like a better RX. Since almost everything is plastic and not stickers, and none of the details are missing, it’s very easy to make this kit look good, unlike the G40 which requires a little added yellow. Its colors are a bit muted, but if it’s an anime-looking RX you want, and don’t care about its tones, then this is a fine kit.

Overall, this is a great kit. While I would recommend the G40 over it, I can understand why people would be more drawn to the actual RX, rather than an original design based on it. (Still, if you can swing it, you should just get both, because these are a fantastic pair.) If you were waiting for this one to fill your nostalgic itch, then it was worth it.