Review: Gundam HGUC 1/144 RX-79(G) Ez-8, Part 2

 This is the second installment in the Ez-8 articles, and this time, we get into some details about mechanics and compatibility plus points for the kit.

 

 Epic posing is epic.

As with the original kit, the chest armor is removable. However, the original HG 1/144 kit had extending arms for the front chest plate, (more on that in the next article), which, while fragile, made for a more interesting build.

  

It's a given, of course, that the shoulder mounts ended up different, as the Ez-8 now uses the ball-joint shoulder. The advantage with this is that it allows for more posability, but the disadvantage is that it ends up with sagging shoulders more easily than the original stick joints - and even more so with the original HG version, which had no shoulder articulation beyond the basic stick and polycap joint.

 

The arm articulation for the new kit is actually just slightly better than the older HGUC version of the RX-79(G) standard kit.However, the older kit had full ABS joints, and this mean that as time went on (and if the person loved playing with the kit as an action figure), the joints would loosen. The current construction has returned polycaps into the center of the joints. One sticking point for the shoulders, though: the shoulder latches where the parachute straps are tied are not movable in this version, but was fully articulated in the older HG kit.

 

This is where the new polycap set wins mightily, as the newer torso has two balljoints versus a large stick joint for the earlier types.

 If you were wondering... yes, the backpack attachment holes are the same - you can technically use all HGUC RX-79(G) accessories with the Ez-8. And once the 08thMS GM comes along, it'll will probably be just as compatible.

In the next article: Some stickers and detail concerns.

Update: Click on the following links for the other parts of this multi-part review.

Part 1 - Part 3

 

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