[CUSTOM] Bandai HG 1/144 RX-78-G40 Gundam G40

Model Number: RX-78-G40
Designation: EFSF Prototype High Performance Close Combat Mobile Suit

#CircuitBreakerBacklogChallenge Build #4 - the HG 1/144 RX-78-2 Gundam G40 Industrial Design Ver. is really a groundbreaking High Grade.

The Gundam G40 has been divisive right from its announcement, with an almost equal number of supporters in both camps. While many lauded its unconventional design that results in supreme mobility, an equal number of people dislike the more techno-organic design with its rounded proportions and curves. However, both sides have to admit that this is one hell of a kit with mindblowing engineering built into a 1/144 scale figure. 

Utilising a completely new set of joint parts and mechanisms, the G40 is dexterous and nimble enough to achieve pretty much any pose. In fact, the articulation of the G40 puts many Perfect Grade model kits to shame, let alone its fellow High Grade brethren and Master Grade cousins. The level of mobility contained in the G40 also outshines action figures that boast playability. For instance, the Gundam Universe RX-78-2 Gundam cannot hold a candle to the G40 in terms of poseability and stability. That's how fantastic the G40 design is.

Part of what makes the G40 design so great is that while it's a humanoid mobile suit, it doesn't try to be as human as possible. There are joints - like the incredible thigh bits - that bend far beyond what a human analog can do, but what's the point of being a machine if you are still bound by biology? The G40 pushes these boundaries to produce a model kit that is not ashamed of being anatomically or physiologically incorrect.

While some parts of the kit still left questions (like the loose waist section that just hangs out at the torso area not plugged in to anywhere), the Gundam G40 is an amazing model kit to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Gunpla. The thick art book that comes bundled with the premium box is nothing to scoff at either, full of Ken Okuyama's sketches and design drafts.

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