I'm so glad there's a channel that shows us English speakers the value of older gunpla. I would happily build this kit. I had a lot of fun building the MG Gelgoog 1.0 from 1996, so I'm the target audience for this type of thing.
Older mgs just have a certain charm to them, engineering is certainly simpler but they made sure to still get the essence of the suit and more without sacrificing the design ,recently got the Gyan MG,was really surprised at how good the detail inside is,and the armor being designed to be removable in some areas is really nice ,so if you do a really good paintjob,not everything is lost on the inner frame
The fact that the original MG Sazabi had a functioning pump action for its Beam Shot Rifle complete with the resistance needed to make an audible "ca-click" is perhaps one of the most delightfully fun gimmicks i've seen on a figure. It's also interesting seeing this and comparing it to the HG Sazabi that they released in 2008, and how much detail is transplanted from the MG to the HG, even if a few of the gimmicks were budgeted out for the size and price point. You can tell that they knew the MG hit pretty much all the hallmarks you could want, and just focused on how to maintain that visual impact on a smaller scale.
I have two copies of the older 2000 MG Nu Gundam with the metal ankle and groin joints. It even came with screws for the inner frame. It makes me appreciate the work they put into the kit at the time. The mechanical artwork in the manual is also a treasure itself. To this day I haven’t been able to find the old MG Sazabi to complement the kit in short of going to Japan and finding it. Weird fact: I love sniffing the manual and box. The smell of that Japanese paper! lol
I just bought the original 2000 Nu Gundam Master Grade second hand, and I have to say, it's fabulous and probably becoming my favorite of the five Nu Gundam kits that I own. It is very line art accurate and a very stout build with the diecast hips and ankles. I genuinely think I prefer the aesthetics to the Ver Ka or the RG. My only regret is that I bought a completed kit, so this is the only one I didn't build myself, and it also has some slight discoloration in the plastic, but I was very pleased that it came with all the parts, including the decal sheet and sticker sheet. If you come across one, I highly recommend it. It looks very good standing next to my Master Grade Jegan. The primary downsides are limited range in the hips due to the lack of a thigh swivel, and the lack of a peg in the hand, which makes holding the beam rifle very difficult, although it can certainly be done. I'm considering simply swapping the hands with an aftermarket set, but I was worried it would stress or force the socket to open up, which I don't want, so it would have to be a 1:1 size ball joint. But the Ver Ka's hands droop, so I'm not too shaken up by it. I do prefer the Ver Ka head sculpt, though.
that sound awesome! I definitely want one! for the hands I would recommend using a little bit of blue tack / poster tack. I use that in all different parts of my kits. It's super handy and not permanent.
A friend at the time in the early 00s back in HS got his hands on this kit from one of those import stores at the local mall. I remember that thing being huge and very unwieldy and difficult to pose dynamically. Static poses were fine, but it would have been nice if they gave some of that clear plastic for the funnels to be in a flight position. Around the same time as that pickup, I got the Kampfer MG, which I still have. I gave it a full custom paint job & a very basic LED monoeye diy mod I did back around 08, with some RadioShack leds, capacitors, and a usb cable. I wish they would do a 2.0 of that one already. As far as the Sazabi goes, I've only built the old HG, but I have the RG sitting in my years old backlog. Going back to the clear plastic for the funnels, this HG kit from roughly the same era came with it. I ran out of space for stuff as big as a MG Sazabi (but I'd probably buy the newer Ver Ka is it?), also the reason why my Deep Striker is still sitting in the box... Old Gunpla really was built different back then, now they cut so many costs out of their production but continue to charge a premium for small batch runs. The quality of the kits is generally better, but you get such a diminished presentation/package compared to 20ish years ago, and the prices are higher than ever.
Great review. I have a different limited version that came boxed with the corresponding Gundam from that series. Bought it four years ago from the Gundam store in Yokohama and STILL haven't assembled it. This vid motivates me to get on it. Subscribed.
I’ve been looking for a review of this big boi for forever! All the other reviews are like, a decade old and some more, so thank you for highlighting the older kits!
Apart from the age difference and that this one lacks the fine details and articulations comparing to the MG Ver. Ka, I think it looks absolutely amazing, and nice finishing of the Sazabi. It must be very difficult to find such model kit these days. Well done, the Sazabi is nicely constructed. 😊👍🏼
Ohhh, hell yeah! older gunpla. I've had this kit for around 20 years give or take, still holding strong, and still proud of the glossy red paint job. Only issue for me has been the shoulder joints connecting to the chest, a bit of CA glue to thicken the ball works like a charm. Looking back, dam, i miss the older style of manual with the art work, and info.
I recently bought this kit as an addition for my collection, and i was blown away with the quality of such an old kit! The hands being fully articulated was most impressive to me. Also the molded cockpit & pilot figure inside, even the Ver.Ka didnt have that (though it did have a clear escape pod with Char in it)
I just bought this kit. I own the Nu gundam too. havnt put them together yet. I just like how the surface is simple and the design is more faithful to the anime. etc.
@@vintagegunpla Yeah I don't have anything against the Ver Ka in principle, it's a nice interpretation of the design but certainly not the definitive version for me. It's a smidge away from looking like a resin detail up kit and that's just too much for me.
Only just found your channel today. Please continue! So few people in the English speaking world talk about these older kits, let alone look at them in detail. Also your buying guide vid inspired me to take the plunge and grab the vintage core fighter and core booster to paint up. So, thanks for the inspiration.
@@vintagegunpla Oh no, though that one was neat too. I'm talking the 1/144 scale kit from 1982. I wanted to give myself a bit more of a modeling challenge, and it's one of the better sculpted kits from the era, so felt it would be a good time. Also I wanted to use it for a wargame me and a friend of mine play using gunpla. (I got it for like 15 bucks so felt worth it too.)
I would love to pick up this kit someday and apply the Ver. Ka markings on it. I did the same with my 1/100 Full Action Nu Gundam and MG Nu Gundam Ver. 1.0, and they look phenomenal.
The Full Action Nu ( I always thought it was a 1/100 no grade Nu) was absolutely ahead of its time. I built that thing in 1989 and its price tag was 2500 yen or something in the ballpark(lol) on a tiny japanese catalog I used to own. The open hatch for cockpit, semi articulated hands ( I believe it was a first for any gunpla), very decent color separation, good overall articulation and diecast parts for stability were all unbelievably good in 1989. My 1/60 FA-78-1 was a dated brick compared to it, although one could argue that the oldest gunpla design has its historical charm. I recently recovered this 1989 build from my parents' home. Apart from all the yellowing and weak joints and half broken waist peg it is still very intact and standing strong. I know the MG 1.0 looks quite a lot better and a lot more solid but this thing is a very monumental piece in my journey to gunpla.
The ver ka is one of my favorite model kits, but it’s a shame that this kit doesn’t get reprinted often. I still want to build it because it’s more anime accurate.
This was the kit that I built (at least half way finished) in 2000 before I stopped building gunpla (due to personal reason) all the way until 2020 with the RG Nu. The progress of engineering of Bandai of course was impressive jumping from this to RG Nu. But still this kit was definitely a dream come true to the young me since Sazabi has become my favorite Zeon suit since 1990 ( It is either it or Kampfer for me nowadays). leap and bound ahead of most kit out there in 2000 for sure.
I hope this kit, along with the old Nu and ZZ/Full Armor ZZ, gets reprinted sometime. I have the Ver. Ka versions, but these older kits with more anime accurate designs are really appealing to me.
Thank you for such a great review! I hope I can find this for sale one day because I like the simpler look more than the Ver Ka. I can’t wait to see your painted build! ❤
Couldn't find this. But I got the HG 2000 Bawoo and it was sweet. I also built a few retro old kits. Some were good for NG and others were... Well, let's say the boxes were deceiving.
I actually didn't know there was an original MG Sazabi! This looks pretty great, and looks more solid than the Ver.Ka actually, that kit felt to me like it pushed the limits a bit too far haha
I always hated the proportions of this kit because they were nothing like the lineart. But when you compare it to images from CCA it matches the appearance of the Sazabi pretty faithfully. Neither of the Ver.Ka kit did anything for me since I prefer more anime accuracy than "realism"/Mechanical detail so I hunted down both Original Nu and Sazabi kits during lockdown. I Even got the B-Club Hands for the Sazabi from Mandarake!
Love this kit, the Ver Ka is cool and fancy and all but this one is so much more faithful to Izibuchi's design. I wonder if you could engineer a magnet solution for the shoulder pauldrons?
I only ever saw this model on a store over a decade ago it was a huge box. The only other better sazabi is the metal structure sazabi but that’s just way too expensive
I have this box, bought years ago from Hong Kong, back to europe where I live. I didn't build it.. because well, the red color seems off of this kit, they different parts are all not the same color, is that also noticable with your kit? Maybe one day i will do it with spray paint job on all the parts before I build it. ;) Nice explaination of the parts though.
Looks like a great kit! It seems like it still holds up very well for being over 20 years old, so I'll keep an eye out for one too :) One question though; how are the legs, are they on ball joints? I wonder if you can do kicking pose with it
Thanks for watching!! The legs are on large ball joints. I’m not sure if you can really get a good kicking pose with them because of balance issues but perhaps if you did some slight mods or used glue you could get something decent.
The 1.0 was a missed opportunity in many ways. A poor inner frame detail, poor proportions in comparison to Katoki's art, lack of a true head-cockpit, poor detailing on the inside of the funnel rack (you mentioned this) and lack of gimmicks and posability. But there is a charm to it even today, even if compared to the overly designed Ver Ka.
@@vintagegunpla The one that I mostly missed is the head-cockpit. Under-armour detailing, a really plain frame, lack of posability (especially with the ankles and knees) coupled with the big price tag (at the time) really put me off of the MG when it came out. I liken it to the later MG release of The O. Expensive because expensive, not because it's a particularly good model. You are partly right; the original Sazabi is Izubuchi's design, but the MG concept lineart is by Hajime Katoki. Found on the inner cover of the MG's manual, Katoki's drawing makes the Sazabi look like a real banger. I really enjoy your reviews. Keep 'em coming!
![Rise of the MSN-04: The Mobile Suits which PAVED THE WAY to the Sazabi (Gundam Lore/ UC [CCA])](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/6QQHe_6dBfY/mqdefault.jpg)
I'm so glad there's a channel that shows us English speakers the value of older gunpla.
I would happily build this kit. I had a lot of fun building the MG Gelgoog 1.0 from 1996, so I'm the target audience for this type of thing.
Happy to be of service! That mg gelgoog sounds fun!
I agree, I feel like so many western gunpla fans just write off older kits, but I think they all have their own appeal!
@@therealquinnzack1819 could not agree more.
Older mgs just have a certain charm to them, engineering is certainly simpler but they made sure to still get the essence of the suit and more without sacrificing the design ,recently got the Gyan MG,was really surprised at how good the detail inside is,and the armor being designed to be removable in some areas is really nice ,so if you do a really good paintjob,not everything is lost on the inner frame
I couldnt agree more!
The fact that the original MG Sazabi had a functioning pump action for its Beam Shot Rifle complete with the resistance needed to make an audible "ca-click" is perhaps one of the most delightfully fun gimmicks i've seen on a figure.
It's also interesting seeing this and comparing it to the HG Sazabi that they released in 2008, and how much detail is transplanted from the MG to the HG, even if a few of the gimmicks were budgeted out for the size and price point. You can tell that they knew the MG hit pretty much all the hallmarks you could want, and just focused on how to maintain that visual impact on a smaller scale.
yeah the pump action is super cool! this was / is a great kit for sure.
I have two copies of the older 2000 MG Nu Gundam with the metal ankle and groin joints. It even came with screws for the inner frame. It makes me appreciate the work they put into the kit at the time. The mechanical artwork in the manual is also a treasure itself. To this day I haven’t been able to find the old MG Sazabi to complement the kit in short of going to Japan and finding it. Weird fact: I love sniffing the manual and box. The smell of that Japanese paper! lol
lol I also like the smell of freshly printed manuals. Same for video games. XD
Holy shit i didn't know a channel dedicated to vintage gunplas exist, absolutely based. Subscribed.
Thanks for the sub! Vintage for life!
I just bought the original 2000 Nu Gundam Master Grade second hand, and I have to say, it's fabulous and probably becoming my favorite of the five Nu Gundam kits that I own. It is very line art accurate and a very stout build with the diecast hips and ankles. I genuinely think I prefer the aesthetics to the Ver Ka or the RG. My only regret is that I bought a completed kit, so this is the only one I didn't build myself, and it also has some slight discoloration in the plastic, but I was very pleased that it came with all the parts, including the decal sheet and sticker sheet. If you come across one, I highly recommend it. It looks very good standing next to my Master Grade Jegan.
The primary downsides are limited range in the hips due to the lack of a thigh swivel, and the lack of a peg in the hand, which makes holding the beam rifle very difficult, although it can certainly be done. I'm considering simply swapping the hands with an aftermarket set, but I was worried it would stress or force the socket to open up, which I don't want, so it would have to be a 1:1 size ball joint. But the Ver Ka's hands droop, so I'm not too shaken up by it. I do prefer the Ver Ka head sculpt, though.
that sound awesome! I definitely want one!
for the hands I would recommend using a little bit of blue tack / poster tack. I use that in all different parts of my kits. It's super handy and not permanent.
A friend at the time in the early 00s back in HS got his hands on this kit from one of those import stores at the local mall. I remember that thing being huge and very unwieldy and difficult to pose dynamically. Static poses were fine, but it would have been nice if they gave some of that clear plastic for the funnels to be in a flight position.
Around the same time as that pickup, I got the Kampfer MG, which I still have. I gave it a full custom paint job & a very basic LED monoeye diy mod I did back around 08, with some RadioShack leds, capacitors, and a usb cable. I wish they would do a 2.0 of that one already.
As far as the Sazabi goes, I've only built the old HG, but I have the RG sitting in my years old backlog. Going back to the clear plastic for the funnels, this HG kit from roughly the same era came with it. I ran out of space for stuff as big as a MG Sazabi (but I'd probably buy the newer Ver Ka is it?), also the reason why my Deep Striker is still sitting in the box...
Old Gunpla really was built different back then, now they cut so many costs out of their production but continue to charge a premium for small batch runs. The quality of the kits is generally better, but you get such a diminished presentation/package compared to 20ish years ago, and the prices are higher than ever.
Do yourself a favor, build the rg sazabi... for Neo Zeon!!
This rules! Glad to see someone making videos on old kits, a lot of fans ignore "old" kits, I hope people see the charm and fun that these kits have!
They have so much charm! And they are the perfect canvas for modding!
Great review. I have a different limited version that came boxed with the corresponding Gundam from that series. Bought it four years ago from the Gundam store in Yokohama and STILL haven't assembled it. This vid motivates me to get on it. Subscribed.
woah never heard of that! the box must be gigantic!
I’ve been looking for a review of this big boi for forever! All the other reviews are like, a decade old and some more, so thank you for highlighting the older kits!
It's my pleasure!!! that was part of the reason I wanted to make this video! :)
@@vintagegunpla Thank you for your service of reviewing classic kits, much love!
I really like the original 1/100 kits they remind me of old toys of the time
definitely very nostalgic!
The instructions remind me of the old video game instruction manuals with cool design and artwork.
Totally!!
Apart from the age difference and that this one lacks the fine details and articulations comparing to the MG Ver. Ka, I think it looks absolutely amazing, and nice finishing of the Sazabi. It must be very difficult to find such model kit these days. Well done, the Sazabi is nicely constructed. 😊👍🏼
Ohhh, hell yeah! older gunpla. I've had this kit for around 20 years give or take, still holding strong, and still proud of the glossy red paint job. Only issue for me has been the shoulder joints connecting to the chest, a bit of CA glue to thicken the ball works like a charm.
Looking back, dam, i miss the older style of manual with the art work, and info.
nice!!! and I couldn't agree more. The old manuals are the best!
absolutely miserable how i only now found out about this channel. better late than never! good stuff!!!!
Thank you!!! 😊
I recently bought this kit as an addition for my collection, and i was blown away with the quality of such an old kit! The hands being fully articulated was most impressive to me. Also the molded cockpit & pilot figure inside, even the Ver.Ka didnt have that (though it did have a clear escape pod with Char in it)
That’s exactly how I felt! I was really blown away with this kit overall.
what even the little funnels open up and all?! A very nice touch
I just bought this kit. I own the Nu gundam too. havnt put them together yet. I just like how the surface is simple and the design is more faithful to the anime. etc.
awesome to see this, I always liked the look of it more than the Ver Ka
Yes! Old school sazabi club!!! I think the ver ka is cool but I def prefer the retro look.
@@vintagegunpla Yeah I don't have anything against the Ver Ka in principle, it's a nice interpretation of the design but certainly not the definitive version for me. It's a smidge away from looking like a resin detail up kit and that's just too much for me.
Only just found your channel today. Please continue! So few people in the English speaking world talk about these older kits, let alone look at them in detail.
Also your buying guide vid inspired me to take the plunge and grab the vintage core fighter and core booster to paint up. So, thanks for the inspiration.
Nice!!! I’m glad you found the channel (s) and were able to pick up something!! That core fighter looks cool! (Assuming you’re talking about the mg?)
@@vintagegunpla Oh no, though that one was neat too. I'm talking the 1/144 scale kit from 1982.
I wanted to give myself a bit more of a modeling challenge, and it's one of the better sculpted kits from the era, so felt it would be a good time. Also I wanted to use it for a wargame me and a friend of mine play using gunpla. (I got it for like 15 bucks so felt worth it too.)
This thing is beautiful! Great video. I have the Ver ka but now I want to track down this one lol... Love how it looks more accurate to the movie.
thanks! yeah this one is definitely the closest you will get to the movie / OG line art.
Woah,the algorithm served me solid gold.
It's great to discover a new channel only to see it's got a lot of videos
Welcome aboard!
I would love to pick up this kit someday and apply the Ver. Ka markings on it. I did the same with my 1/100 Full Action Nu Gundam and MG Nu Gundam Ver. 1.0, and they look phenomenal.
That’s a really cool idea!
The Full Action Nu ( I always thought it was a 1/100 no grade Nu) was absolutely ahead of its time. I built that thing in 1989 and its price tag was 2500 yen or something in the ballpark(lol) on a tiny japanese catalog I used to own. The open hatch for cockpit, semi articulated hands ( I believe it was a first for any gunpla), very decent color separation, good overall articulation and diecast parts for stability were all unbelievably good in 1989. My 1/60 FA-78-1 was a dated brick compared to it, although one could argue that the oldest gunpla design has its historical charm.
I recently recovered this 1989 build from my parents' home. Apart from all the yellowing and weak joints and half broken waist peg it is still very intact and standing strong. I know the MG 1.0 looks quite a lot better and a lot more solid but this thing is a very monumental piece in my journey to gunpla.
The ver ka is one of my favorite model kits, but it’s a shame that this kit doesn’t get reprinted often. I still want to build it because it’s more anime accurate.
I could not agree more. I don’t even think this kit needs a 2.0. It’s really great as-is
This was the kit that I built (at least half way finished) in 2000 before I stopped building gunpla (due to personal reason) all the way until 2020 with the RG Nu. The progress of engineering of Bandai of course was impressive jumping from this to RG Nu. But still this kit was definitely a dream come true to the young me since Sazabi has become my favorite Zeon suit since 1990 ( It is either it or Kampfer for me nowadays). leap and bound ahead of most kit out there in 2000 for sure.
I wish Bandai would reprint a lot of the older kits, I always liked how sleek the old Hi-Nu Gundam MG.
I think everyone here agrees!
I hope this kit, along with the old Nu and ZZ/Full Armor ZZ, gets reprinted sometime. I have the Ver. Ka versions, but these older kits with more anime accurate designs are really appealing to me.
Me too! I would love to get my hands on the original FAZZ
Your videos remind me so much of Prime92! I love her gundam reviews
Thanks :)
super cool. really nice looking older MG. I just built the RG so it's fun to see how things have changed
Nice! It’s kind of crazy how different they look.
Thank you for such a great review! I hope I can find this for sale one day because I like the simpler look more than the Ver Ka. I can’t wait to see your painted build! ❤
I hope so too! Thank you for watching!!! ☺️
MGs used to be an event, you used to get cool things like big pilot figures and card prints and giant base pieces.
I totally agree! miss those days!
very nice and honest review, keep it up!
Thank you!!
Couldn't find this. But I got the HG 2000 Bawoo and it was sweet.
I also built a few retro old kits. Some were good for NG and others were... Well, let's say the boxes were deceiving.
yeah is a bit all over the place with retro kits. often times I check the dalong website to see if I think it will be a good build before purchasing.
It is a really interesting kit. But wow the ver ka and RG have done wonders to improove the design.
I actually didn't know there was an original MG Sazabi! This looks pretty great, and looks more solid than the Ver.Ka actually, that kit felt to me like it pushed the limits a bit too far haha
it is very solid! I love it! Thanks for watching :)
I always hated the proportions of this kit because they were nothing like the lineart. But when you compare it to images from CCA it matches the appearance of the Sazabi pretty faithfully.
Neither of the Ver.Ka kit did anything for me since I prefer more anime accuracy than "realism"/Mechanical detail so I hunted down both Original Nu and Sazabi kits during lockdown. I Even got the B-Club Hands for the Sazabi from Mandarake!
Woah I didn’t know b club made hands for this! What do they look like?
@@vintagegunpla kinda typical round finger Zeon hands but scaled up for the Sazabi, plus it includes the long rifle the VerKa has!
@@narutoman876 oh nice! I would love to get my hands on that before I paint.
Beautiful
Imagine a 2.0 of this and the Nu with the Zeta Ver.Ka treatment
This kit is so cool!
It is a beast. I’m so excited to paint it!
Love this kit, the Ver Ka is cool and fancy and all but this one is so much more faithful to Izibuchi's design. I wonder if you could engineer a magnet solution for the shoulder pauldrons?
hmm, thats a good idea. I wonder if I can find space for magnets.
I love the look of this kit! Way better than the ver ka!
I only ever saw this model on a store over a decade ago it was a huge box. The only other better sazabi is the metal structure sazabi but that’s just way too expensive
oh yeah the metal structure is SUPER expensive!
ive seen it here and there in japan, might consider buying it
but the manual reminds me of the MS Kampfer MG fun kit
do it! lol
I have this box, bought years ago from Hong Kong, back to europe where I live. I didn't build it.. because well, the red color seems off of this kit, they different parts are all not the same color, is that also noticable with your kit? Maybe one day i will do it with spray paint job on all the parts before I build it. ;) Nice explaination of the parts though.
the different colors was intentional. It was to make the kit look more complex, mine are like that too.
Looks like a great kit! It seems like it still holds up very well for being over 20 years old, so I'll keep an eye out for one too :)
One question though; how are the legs, are they on ball joints? I wonder if you can do kicking pose with it
Thanks for watching!!
The legs are on large ball joints. I’m not sure if you can really get a good kicking pose with them because of balance issues but perhaps if you did some slight mods or used glue you could get something decent.
@@vintagegunpla ooh good to know, I'll keep that in mind! Thank you!
Please review the original MG Nu Gundam for comparison
I’d love to!
weirdly the shield is way more detailed on this than the modern rg?
interested! I haven't built the RG so im not familiar. Thats cool though.
Is it a hot take to not like the over designing and slimming of modernized kits
lol I feel the same way. You're good.
@@vintagegunpla also there's soo much variety in old kits ms wise
@@worstfriend9456 yep! Especially the old NG series!
Where can i get this kit? I badly want one 🥺
try surugaya, buyee, or ebay
The 1.0 was a missed opportunity in many ways. A poor inner frame detail, poor proportions in comparison to Katoki's art, lack of a true head-cockpit, poor detailing on the inside of the funnel rack (you mentioned this) and lack of gimmicks and posability. But there is a charm to it even today, even if compared to the overly designed Ver Ka.
I think there were a ton of gimmicks though! It definitely has a lot of charm.
Also it was designed by Izubuchi, not Katoki.
@@vintagegunpla The one that I mostly missed is the head-cockpit.
Under-armour detailing, a really plain frame, lack of posability (especially with the ankles and knees) coupled with the big price tag (at the time) really put me off of the MG when it came out.
I liken it to the later MG release of The O. Expensive because expensive, not because it's a particularly good model.
You are partly right; the original Sazabi is Izubuchi's design, but the MG concept lineart is by Hajime Katoki. Found on the inner cover of the MG's manual, Katoki's drawing makes the Sazabi look like a real banger.
I really enjoy your reviews. Keep 'em coming!
Can you rate the rarity 1 out of 10?
hmm its hard to say. In japan I'd say its like a 5/10, but in the US more like a 8/10 (10 being the rarest)