The good old G-Fighter… an absolute testament to the era in which the original Gundam aired. Back in those days, things were even more “to sell toys” than they are now. That’s what lead to the origin of the Gundam’s now iconic white/blue/red/yellow color scheme, and the origin of the Core Fighter. The G-Fighter serves little purpose in the TV series than to give the Gundam all these silly combinations to form, most of which aren’t even pivotal to the plot. That’s why the movies replaced it with the Core Booster, something far more manageable.
But hey, that doesn’t make the G-Fighter any less fun.
When I purchased this kit, I’ll admit to not knowing what I’d gotten myself into. I figured, “hey, it’s Gunpla. It won’t be so bad!”. Well, little did I realize that this would feel less like Gunpla, and more like an actual aircraft kit. It didn’t help that I bought the color used for F-15s to paint it, ha. No, part of the reason why I didn’t do any build logs for this portion in particular was the fact that, well, there was nothing to cover. It can’t function as anything other than a fighter, at least not alone. It’s all made up of gigantic panels that are an absolute pain to handpaint.
On its own, the G-Fighter is very “what you see is what you get”. It’s a big hunk of plastic. The only articulation to speak of in this mode are the elevating/pivoting cannons and the missiles hidden on the nose of the plane. They’re pretty cool, and it reminds me of using it in Federation vs. Zeon.
Two little plates fold up on each side to provide a mount for the Gundam. Ha, I bet you thought gravity held the suit up, didn’t you? See, even the silliest of designs can be made somewhat practical!
There are numerous ways to work with the bottom of the kit. The first is the most known method: treads. These are attached to the front portion of the fighter with a series of arms. Really, it makes me miss the simplicity of the old toy, which was just “take off when not in use”.
And when not in use, they can fold up and store inside the back portion. A small plate also gets added to this equation, which allows for the use of landing gear. They make the improbable thing seem just a bit more plausible!
When the treads are in use, a big block piece can be put in, but honestly I don’t see it as being needed. It’s more for the G-Sky Easy configuration which I’ll get to later.
When the treads are up, a big plate can be used to securely hold it onto an action base for flying poses. It fits into the landing gear ports really snugly.
The kit also comes with a second shield for the G-Armor, and the Gundam’s Hyper Hammer, making the Gundam 2.0 the only 1/100 scale RX-78 with a full arsenal! It’s always nice to have it all, isn’t it!
On its own, there’s really no reason to buy the G-Fighter. It’s just a silly gimmick from the original series. When paired with the Gundam, however, the usefulness skyrockets, and we’ll cover that in our last part. For now, make sure to go to FPNYC for all you Gunpla needs!