Got ahold of this set yesterday...and since I couldn't find any reviews of it I decided to do one myself!

*AHEM*

Series: Gundam Fix Figuration
Title: RX-78-2 Gundam Ver. Kai/RGM-79 GM
Release Date: 08/2005
Suggested Price: ¥4000
No. of Parts: 50+
Plastic Colors: Gundam: white, blue, red, yellow, grey; GM: white, red-orange, red, yellow, green, grey
Gimmicks: interchangeable conversion parts to each MS, display base(s), special parts for G-fighter (SOLD SEPERATELY) adaptions

INTRO
Whilst I can't make heads or tails of any japanese wrighting it doesn't discourage me too much to avoid reviewing this nice little Fix Figure set of the Gundam and GM kais. My intrest in this series was originaly sparked by the Mudrock/Gundam "G05" set that I read the review for here previously. Having been satisfied with both the review and outcome of the purchase, I took it upon myself to look into the possibility of getting another GFF figure. Does it stand up to my high expectations, or will it prove to be dissapointing?

HEAD
RX-78-2: Not much different from how the Gundam's head should look. Sits on a ball joint. Good detailing.

RGM-79: I've never realy seen a GM head like this one, except for the E-type from 08th MS team...then again both E anc C designs are aparently exactly alike in looks. Again it's on a ball joint and has some nice details. Antanae is a nice touch.

TORSO
RX-78-2: My goodness I've never seen so much articulation in the body! Shoulder joints swing forwards to allow greater range of movement in the arms. Upper section can bend forward and back to a small degree and lower section is mounted on a ball peg to allow even greater degree of movement. Slightly different from the Mudrock, not all the skirt armor is ball joint mounted, but it doesn't detract from movement ability very much. The back of the skirt armor has several selections for either holding two more beam sabers or one of the hyper bazookas.

RGM-79: The entire upper body is basicly a recolor of the gundam's, just colored in red-orange and white. The skirt armor no longer has those yellow squares that stick out, which suits the GM better anyway.

Several things that I find problemetic though...the conversion parts. The arm sockets have to be completely removed from the torso and placed into the other, as aposed to just replacing the shoulders and putting a new body cover on. This proves to be tedious and I think rather unnecesary, as bandai could've just assembled two seperate COMPLETE torsos to avoid struggle.

ARMS
Both: Shoulder armor is nicely detailed and has the neat ability to open the top. The elbow problem seems to have been solved and only goes the way it's supposed to instead of rotating and slipping out of place. Hands come in three sets, fists, open, trigger finger, and one completely open for the left. The little holes that hold the pegs for mounting the shield aren't so great though...either too loose or require too much pressure to keep in place.

To change between Gundam and GM only requires to replace the left shoulder pad from WB decal to MR.

LEGS
RX-78-2: Upper legs are nice an solid and the joint allows it a nice range of movement without being too loose. The knee joints are also pretty solid and can bend back at least 45 degrees. The lower legs have quite a bit of detail, among which are more labels for White Base and EFSF. The ankle is mounted, again, on a ball joint and allows the figure to stand pretty solidly. There does seem to be a problem with the front section of the foot though, as the joint it's mounted on is a bit loose and when the figure is picked up they will sometimes slip and point down.

RGM-79: Basicly a simplified version of the Gundam legs minus the White Base decals again. While the parts that are changed have no effect on the structural integrity of the figure, I must note that some of the parts don't always fit without some pressure aplied, and sometimes that doesn't even help.

WEAPONS AND ACCESSORIES

Beam Rifle- Looks pretty much exactly like the Gundam's rifle should, mostly dark grey with a yellow target scope. The second handle has no articulation though, but instead is removed and replaced to achieve the 'hold with both hands' look.

Beam Spray Gun- This little pea shooter was the GM's standard weapon and definately looks it. Good detailing and a small camera(?) painted green near the front.

Beam Saber- Two versions of course: Two bladed and I think 6 for storage on the backpack, rear skirt armor, and inside the shield. The handles all have TEENY red decals on them and they fit nicely into the backpack and sheild storage racks, but not as well on the rear skirt armor.

Shield- Three shields: Two for the gundam and one for the GM. The two that the gundam use both have White Base 102 and EFSF Decals, but only one has the yellow federation cross. The one for the GM is more red-orange, has MR and EFSF decals, and has no cross either. There are quite a few ways to attach the shields to either the arms or the backpack, and don't all fit very snugly.

Hyper Bazooka- Another great weapon, this set comes with two. Both have target scopes for use on either/both arms, but are a bit tricky to get into their respective trigger hands. Either one and be dissasembled and replaced into a storage rack on the back of the skirt armor.

Backpack- There are actualy two backpacks in this set: One with quad thrusters and beam saber storage rack(s) and one as seen on the GM Command Space Type. The standard jet pack is mostly solid, with a few details painted in white and four thrusters protruding from it, all mounted on ball joints. It can be converted with either one saber rack for use with the GM, or two for the gundam. The GM Command pack has six thrusters: Two on the top, the bottom, and on the front/back, again all mounted on ball joints, but not quite so mobile.

G-Fighter conversion parts(?)- uh...I'm afraid that I don't have the G-fighter that this figure can be addaped to, so I have no opinions on these parts.

CONCLUSION
I like Katoki Hajime's redesign of the Gundam/GM, hell I love it! Appart from some minor flaws here and there I would highly reccomend anyone who likes the original gundam to get this figure, though that's down to your interpretation of this review to decide for yourself if the pros outwheigh the cons.

Overall Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars