Kado Senshi RGM-79 GM

Review by Optimal III

Once upon a time, a few years back, I had it in my head that it'd be a pinky-keen thing to try and collect all the different vehicles featured throughout the various iterations of Gundam. Thankfully, I gave up before any money was spent. But I did my research for a good while, and when I looked into the Fanfan, I discovered this absolutely fantastic toy.

Besides being a GM toy that I hadn't seen before, I wasn't sure what I was looking at. The box looks nice at least, with a mix of hand drawn art and an actual toy photo. Serves the same purpose as art and a window, but it's still nice, unique even. And the art is particular, depicting a GM in action with a Fanfan inside Jaburo, during the big Zeon assault.

This figure is part of Bandai's Chogokin line, and thus has a number of GD-28. This signifies that the toy came out between the late 90's and early 2000's. After GD-99, Bandai switched to GE numbers.

Points for the instruction booklet looking like a pilot's manual. On the inside is a good profile shot showing off the accessories and articulation.

So let's start with the lesser attraction, the Fanfan. There's not much to it, just a Federation fan jet with two fan jets and two five-barrel missile launchers. It's all plastic, but doesn't feel like a cheap afterthought. I think the coloring speaks to that. The fans do spin, but they're hard to flick unless you've got tiny fingers. Better to use compressed air or your lungs.

Why, I do believe there's even a tiny little Lt. Woody in the cockpit.

The two bits of assembly are attaching the rear fins, which come on a sprue, and putting together the stand (two pieces) that's modeled after a Federation cross.

Next to AM Optimus for comparison, this little vehicle comes about an inch off the ground and isn't much longer.

And now the meat. Coming in at over 5 inches and just barely taller than the FIX version, two things pop about this GM. First, the design looks so animation-accurate. I mean literally, this mobile suit looks like it walked right off the TV screen back in 1979. And that's pretty cool since most Gundam toys have more of a modern polish. The shapes and panels are so...clean, flat, and smooth. So there's no need for a bunch of panel lines. The second may be hard to discern due to the brightness of my pics in conjunction with one's eyes and display. But all of the white body parts aren't white so much as a kind of off-white, gray, sort of blue color. Again, animation accurate. This was so surprising to me, because even the photos on the box and in the manual make all those parts look white. Same for pictures on the internet. And I've never heard of toys "bluing", so this is a funky surprise and apparent intentional design choice.

Check out those flat feet.

Articulation is the name of the game, and this GM delivers. Definitely blows the MSIA out of the water, and it's hardier than the FIX, but it's not too far away from Robot Spirits territory. The ankles are ball-jointed and share a spring with the ankle covers. The calf armor is spring-loaded too. The knees are pin-hinged but have the kind of extension you normally only get with double-joints. No swivels, but the hips are also ball jointed and do everything you could want except a super kick, because the hip skirt is only segmented into three pieces, both sides and the center.

The waist doesn't rotate, but there's an ab crunch that works forward, backward, and side to side. The sides are also jointed, making them amenable to however the chest and hips are orientated. As you can see, the shoulders are ball joints and the elbows double-joints. The shoulders can actually extend out of the body far enough for either arm to touch the opposite side. And the forearms are extendable, which allows the interior joint to be hidden in less extreme poses. The hands rotate at the wrist, mounted on a ball peg and switchable. The head is also mounted on a ball joint with a sort of spring effect. Not a problem, but it makes for a cool mechanical sound, like something metal is moving. All of this comes together with great stability, strong joints, solid paint, and a little heft courtesy of the metal feet and chest.

For weapons, the usual suspects are in play. Vulcan cannons x 2? Check.

Beam saber x 1? Check. Among the four sets of hands are two for this.

Shield x 1? Check. This one is very static, but it mounts on the back perfectly, and the gun/shield hands hold it well.

Beam spray gun x 1? Check. This thing is smooth and probably shouldn't look so good, but it does.

Hyper bazooka x 1? Chec..- actually that's new out of the GM toys I have, and pretty cool. Nifty that none of them come with all the same weapons.

So, what say you, oh Gods of Gundam? Who is the bestest of them all?

And the winner is......

This guy.

But seriously, this GM rocks and by far is my favorite RGM-79. It's total fun, has a cool retro look, goes the extra mile to hide most of its inner toy workings, has GOOD metal content, the best set of weapons, and it even comes with an in-scale Fanfan. The only cons are that these aren't that common, and they're not cheap. I lucked out and got it for $30 MISB, cheaper than my MSIA ($50) and FIX ($70). But if you're a completest, big MSG nut, or love the GM, you owe it to yourself to try and find one.