Finally, another MG in five years! This time, it's a special kit, RX-78-02 Gundam Origin. Ver., released as one of the main lottery prizes of Ichiban Kuji, which is very famous among otaku community in Japan. The lottery tickets were sold at some 7Eleven convenient stores in Japan (not every 7Eleven sold it though), each with 630 Yen price tag. If you want to play, just take voucher(s) on the shelf (which showed the event was taking place), give it to the cashier and pay, then you can draw the tickets from the box (based on the number of vouchers you bought). The more tickets you buy, the bigger chance you get to win the main prizes. There are two main prizes (A and B) and one special prize (last one prize, if you buy the very last ticket of the event). To make the story short, this gundam is the prize A of Ichiban Kuji this time. Last year, the same event also took place, with the main prize was MG RX-78-2 Gundam ver.3.
How did I get this kit, you ask. Well, I just simply bought it online. Last year, I tried to play, and to my disappointment, I only got a green zaku tray and a rubber gundam runner key chain (one of the weirdest key chains I've ever had). So, I decide not to waste money for the petty prizes this time. After scouting Yahoo!Auction for two weeks, finally, somebody sold it for a cheap price, 3900 Yen (the original retail kit costs 4500 yen in stores).
I will make the review short and simple, since this is basically just a recolor of the retail version. There are only two runners of this kit which have clear colors: runner A and F, which are the colored parts for the armors (blue, red and yellow). The white armor and inner frame parts have solid colors. Interestingly enough, the white parts of this kit are in 'pure' white instead of orange-ish white of the retail version. Also, the black/grey parts are in metallic grey (sort of) this time. To make it simple, only the torso, some parts of waist, some parts of head, feet and shield came in clear parts.
This is the first time I built a clear kit and I am not a big fan of clear kits, but I found semi-clear kits (only some parts are clear) are quite interesting, and I could say that I enjoyed building this kit pretty much. Except the colors, I assumed everything is 100% similar with the retail version. The build was quite tricky on some parts, mostly for distinguishing the parts from runner gates which were concealed by the clear colors. In general, every thing was going smoothly, and once completed, I immediately made some poses with it and took photo shots. Posing the hands were quite challenging because they were articulated hands, nevertheless in the end, I could get some good shots. The clear parts are gorgeous and it pretty much concealed the blandness of this gundam.
The verdict, if you like clear gunpla, this kit is an excellent one, and I personally prefer it than the last one prize (it is the same gundam, but has reversed color parts, with only runners A and F have solid colors). Since the event has mostly ended in Japan, I believe you could only find this kit at hobby shops or online stores soon. Some places you may consider to find this kit (if you plan to visit Japan) are: Mandarake (Shibuya, Nakano, Akihabara), Ami-ami and Yellow Submarine (Radio Kaikan building Akihabara) or Hobby-off (almost in every city).
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RX-78-02 Gundam (Origin ver. -Banpresto Ichiban Kuji Vol. 2)
Pros:
- Clear parts are gorgeous.
Cons:
- Some clear parts concealed the runner's gate, need to be extra careful while building it.
