The universal standard for size comparison — next to a cigarette pack. Same 18cm height as v1.0.

To cut straight to the chase, the biggest feature of the RX-78 Ver. 1.5 is this!!
It's the one-piece leg joint that you'd normally only see on a PG.

The advanced technique of molding multiple materials into a single part has now been applied to MG as well.
There are so many gates that clipping it off the runner is a bit of a pain, but either way, it's a remarkable part.

All 14 of those parts are molded together as if they were a single piece, and each one moves independently.

The leg's inner frame is built around this one-piece joint as its skeleton.
The inner frame and outer armor structure is taken straight from the PG.

Incredible articulation~! Fully folded shot.

The cylinders at the front and back of the ankle work too.

Cylinders at the front and back of the knee work as well.

Whoa~ The leg hatches can now open both up and down.

This leg frame and articulation structure is taken directly from the PG RX-78. A miniaturized copy!

Even the hatch opening is straight-up PG style.
Sure, the PG opens hatches on the sides and front of the knee too, but for an MG, this level of hatch opening is pretty impressive.

Hatch open shot of the MG RX-78 Ver. 1.5.
Unlike v1.0, the head hatch does not open.

The red part of the head antenna isn't a separate red part — instead, it's handled with a sticker applied over the white part.
Since the white antenna and red parts for v1.0 are also included, you can choose which style to use.

Just like v1.0, both the core block and core fighter are included, so you can choose which one to store in the body.

The core fighter is completely identical to v1.0.

There are no fewer than 4 sets of hands included. A dedicated gun-action hand that wasn't in v1.0 has been added.

The dedicated gun-action hand. The thumb rotates and locks into place.
Using this gun-action hand lets you get a firm grip on the rifle and bazooka.

Thanks to this, you don't need to worry about the finger grip on v1.5 at all.
With the gun-action hand holding it, the rifle won't come loose no matter how hard you pull. ^^;;

The 3 chest ducts move individually. Very Good~!

The Ver. 1.5 also comes with a more generous weapons loadout.

Articulation shot. The arms are the same as v1.0, but the leg articulation is incredible~!

This was the first MG where a natural wide-stance pose like that was actually possible.

Action pose showing off those wild leg movements~.

Again, a very natural leg pose..

Kneeling shot.

Beam saber action shot.

Two unique weapons added in Ver. 1.5 — the Gundam Hammer and Beam Jabelin.
The plastic chain parts for the Gundam Hammer are included already assembled.
These were also included in the PG custom set, which again shows the intent to make Ver. 1.5 a miniaturized PG.

Gundam Hammer action shot.

A pose throwing the Beam Jabelin. "Jabelin" originally means a throwing spear.
The clear parts really should be painted clear pink to look right, but.. ;;

Bonus shot~ The leftover parts after building Ver. 1.5.
Since it shares a good number of runners with v1.0, quite a few v1.0-specific parts end up left over.
If you look closely at the parts, you can actually figure out what changed in Ver. 1.5 :-)

Front comparison. The panel lines on Ver. 1.5 are overall simplified, giving it a cleaner look.
If you look closely, you can tell that v1.0 is slightly taller. The reason for that will come up further down ^_^

Rear comparison

Side comparison. The difference in the legs is very noticeable.

As you can tell from the shield, the molded color of the red parts has gotten a bit darker in Ver. 1.5.

For the body, only the blue armor on the front of the upper torso and the yellow duct section were replaced.
You can see that moving to Ver. 1.5 brought the panel lines in line with the PG's simpler style.

The rear of the body — the backpack, the red parts around the waist, the rear skirt parts — are 100% identical between the two.
The molded color of the gray parts like the backpack and hands has gotten noticeably darker in Ver. 1.5.

Head comparison. I borrowed the HY2M display stand for a quick side-by-side.
You can see that Ver. 1.5's face looks more refined and clean-cut.
The green head camera on v1.0 is just my personal paint choice — it should actually be painted clear red. ;-)

Looking at the back of the head, you can also see the panel lines have been simplified there too.

Shoulder part differences. Ver. 1.5's design is more simplified and clean. Same shape as the PG, as expected.

You can see that the front-to-back width of the shoulders has gotten wider in Ver. 1.5.

The arms are identical except for the elbow joint. This is something a lot of people have complained about.

The v1.0 elbow joint was very weak and had a tendency to pop off way too easily.
Ver. 1.5 at least fixed that. The design was slightly changed,
and the joint structure was revised to hide the poly-caps inside, which also improved the look.
Most importantly, the fit is now much better so the elbow doesn't pop off anymore.

The biggest difference between v1.0 and Ver. 1.5 is definitely the legs!
They were completely replaced with no shared parts.
Sharp-eyed folks may have already noticed — the Ver. 1.5 legs are slightly shorter and thicker.
So when you stand them side by side, Ver. 1.5 looks a little shorter.

The overall style of the legs is a straight-up miniaturized copy of the PG.

Ver. 1.5 has the strongest inner frame of any MG!

The core fighter is used as-is with no structural changes whatsoever.
The only difference is that the Ver. 1.5 manual instructs you not to apply seals to the core fighter.

Weapons differences. The shield, rifle, and bazooka have the same structure but darker molded colors.
The darker color does give them a weightier, more substantial feel...
Ver. 1.5 also includes the Beam Jabelin and Gundam Hammer as bonus weapons ^^

Manipulator (hand) parts comparison.
Ver. 1.5 includes one extra pair of gun-action hands.

The only articulation difference is in the legs — everything else is the same.
But the difference in leg articulation is truly night and day

Hatch open. On Ver. 1.5, the hatches open all the way to the back of the thighs.

The one thing v1.0 has going for it — the head hatch open. Ver. 1.5 doesn't have that.

Whatever version it may be, we're still talking about the First Gundam here!