After a long hiatus from making new RG kits (the last one was released in August!), Bandai surprised us with a non-Gundam related RG release; the RG EVA 01. Needless to say, most people, including myself, were extremely hyped for this kit to release. Now that this kit is here, does it live up to the increasingly high bar set by recent releases in this scale? In short, the answer is a resounding “yes”!

The Eva 01 continues the trend of RG kits with incredible articulation. In this case, the kit has great articulation in its legs, waist and body. The legs are able to bend fully, with the waist articulation giving it a larger range of movement, making it possible to recreate some of the more dynamic poses from the show. The body of the kit is able to bend in several places of its torso, both forwards and backwards. I was also impressed by the color separation of the kit. The face color separation is done entirely though part separation without the use of stickers!

This kit includes a multi-colored part runner which is something I hope Bandai continues to use in future RG kits down the line! I’m going to have trouble keeping track of all the hands that come included with this kit; there are 7 pairs! This kit does have a few downsides, though I’d consider most to be small nitpicks. The biggest of which being that the kit doesn’t come with an action base connector. While posing the kit, I had trouble using a bandai base connector on the backpack since the peg was just small enough to slip out. Even though, this kit has incredible articulation, the shoulders armor prevents the arm from moving forward or back too far. Finally, due to the EVA 01 being really tall and skinny, gravity tends to take over and make the kit fall over a lot. Unless you’ve secured it in a pose, I’d highly recommend placing this kit on its back while working on it to prevent it from falling over. That horn will break under stress, so luckily the kit came with two!

For this kit, I had a chance to finally use the EVA line of Gaia paints. They are great and fit the bill perfectly. I also used a bit of silver to paint the inner frame details rather than using the foil stickers provided. The base that comes with the DX kit is great and is a great opportunity to detail up the hangar to your liking!

I can’t recommend this kit enough. The color separation on this kit, make it so that even an unpainted EVA would look great! This combined with the incredible articulation I was able to recreate some of the iconic poses from the show as well as a few of my own! I can definitely see Bandai releasing more RG kits from the series down the line (hopefully they’re not all P-Bandai) due to the work they’ve put on the inner frame. This kit can certainly move like no other kit in the line and is a breath of fresh air for those of you that primarily build Gunpla. In the meantime check out the collection of pics I took of the EVA 01!

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Running poses

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Jumping poses

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Progressive Knife

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Pallet Gun

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EVA 01 Berserk

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AT Field

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Build Details

PROS:

• Some of the best articulation I’ve seen in terms of leg, waist and chest movement; it can move like no other kit in the RG line!
• Incredible color separation, including multi-color parts!
• Comes with 7 pairs of hands!
• Hands are double jointed allowing for a great range of poses

CONS:

• Due to how tall the kit is, it can sometimes just fall over-be careful!
• Arm movement is limited due to the shoulder armor on top of it. Arm tends to come loose a lot
• The first RG kit not to include an action base connector? I have serious problems using bandai/figma base connectors to hold it in aerial poses
• No pilot figure!

Paints Used:

• Purple: Black preshade followed by Gaia Eva color series 01 paint (purple)
• Yellow: Base coat of Orange, then add white for preshade. Then Gaia Eva color series 05 (yellow) of white added for highlight
• Green:
• Red: Black preshade then Gaia Nazca series Flame Red. Added yellow for post shade
• Black: 90% Rubber black+Gaia neutral grey III. Added white for highlights
• Silver: EX Silver gundam marker