Kit Review

Straight build + Panel lining + Seals

Size comparison with a cigarette pack

Detail shots

Outer armor removed

Internal frame

Frame detail shots

RG Sinanju - Since the frame is reused from the RG Gundam Mk-II, there are a lot of extension parts added to increase the ove

Since the frame is reused from the RG Gundam Mk-II, there are a lot of extension parts added to increase the overall size.
The articulated hip joint in particular is actually guided to be used in the lowered position.

Frame articulation is top-notch, as you'd expect.

Frame kneeling pose shot.

RG Sinanju - The most shocking thing about the RG Sinanju is how perfectly the gold trim areas are color-separated. Something

The most shocking thing about the RG Sinanju is how perfectly the gold trim areas are color-separated.
Something the MG never even bothered with — the RG actually pulls it off with gold plating, giving it a really premium look.

RG Sinanju - You can remove the head cover and rotate the mono-eye, but... you can barely even see the mono-eye from the fron

You can remove the head cover and rotate the mono-eye, but...
You can barely even see the mono-eye from the front, so it feels pretty pointless. -_-

The cockpit hatch opening — which opens in three stages — is faithfully reproduced in detail.

The arm section has gimmicks that open across a total of four points, starting from the shoulder.

The side skirts also have an extending gimmick.

The armor on the sides of the legs can also rotate and expand.

The backpack can be fully spread out in five stages.

Even the center section of the backpack has a gimmick that opens up and down.

Even the small duct flaps on the rear skirt have a slight range of movement.

There's a hidden mounting pin in the center of the rear skirt for storing weapons.

A total of 5 hands are included.

The gold trim on the shield is all color-separated too — once again, impressive stuff.

The weapon storage inside the shield is on par with the MG.

You can also mount the shield on the inside of the shoulder armor.

You can also attach a grenade launcher to the underside of the rifle.

The peg on the rifle is quite large, so there are absolutely no issues with it staying in place.

The beam parts configuration is identical to the MG.

For the beam axe, instead of an extending gimmick, you swap parts in and out to change the length.

All the ways to use the beam parts are perfectly reproduced.

You can also attach the beam parts directly to the forearm cover.

The stand joint parts slide in and lock securely into place.

A finely detailed 1/144 Full Frontal figure made with laser processing.

There are a few leftover parts.

Just looking at the arm and leg articulation, it feels pretty good.

RG Sinanju - The skirt structure in particular links together very flexibly and spreads open, barely restricting the hip join

The skirt structure in particular links together very flexibly and spreads open, barely restricting the hip joint's range of motion at all.

RG Sinanju - The shoulder articulation feels a bit limited though... I get that it doesn't come forward much, but the armor s

The shoulder articulation feels a bit restricted..
I can understand the limited forward swing, but the armor structure means the arms can barely raise to the side either.
When actually striking action poses, the limited range of motion in the shoulder armor really gets in the way..

RG Sinanju - In particular, the side armor on the forearm floats up like that and won't come back down any further, so it end

In particular, the side armor on the forearm floats up like that and won't come back down any further,
so it ends up looking awkward and feels like it's getting in the way of posing — a bit of a bother, honestly.

RG Sinanju - Also, there are a lot of parts that keep popping off during posing and driving up the frustration level.. The us

Also, there are a lot of parts that keep popping off during posing and driving up the frustration level..
The usual culprits are the toe parts, knee armor, and forearm armor T_T.
You'd probably be better off just gluing them all down for your own sanity.

RG Sinanju - Pose with beam parts plugged into the forearm. The foot grip is really terrible, making it very hard to get a st

Pose with beam parts plugged into the forearm.
The foot grip is really terrible, making it very hard to get a stable pose while standing on a flat surface.
It almost feels like this kit was designed to be posed on a stand..

RG Sinanju - Aerial pose with beam parts plugged into the shield (1/3)

Aerial pose with beam parts plugged into the shield

RG Sinanju - Aerial firing pose with all hatch gimmicks open (1/4)

RG Sinanju - Aerial firing pose with all hatch gimmicks open (2/4)

Aerial firing pose with all hatch gimmicks open

Beam saber action

Beam axe action

RG Sinanju - Together with the HGUC Sinanju. The HGUC turned out pretty well too, but the RG wins hands down in terms of visu

Together with the HGUC Sinanju.
The HGUC turned out pretty well too, but the RG wins hands down in terms of visual quality.

RG Sinanju - Together with the RG First Gundam. The Sinanju's in-universe height is so tall that it looks almost MG-sized nex

Together with the RG First Gundam.
The Sinanju's in-universe height is so tall that it looks almost MG-sized next to it.

Together with the MG Sinanju.
The RG still wins on visual quality.

RG Sinanju - Together with the MG Sinanju Titanium Color. No matter how glossy the gloss injection finish is, it's no match f

Together with the MG Sinanju Titanium Color.
No matter how glossy the gloss injection finish is, it's no match for the Titanium Finish.. ^^;

Straight build

The RG Sinanju was released in 2016 as one of Bandai's most ambitious projects. Being such a popular mobile suit, it generated a ton of buzz even before it came out — and Bandai clearly put a lot of effort into this kit to match those expectations.

Opening up the biggest and most expensive box in the RG lineup, you're greeted by a mountain of runners and parts that rivals an MG kit. Maybe because the mobile suit itself is relatively large, the individual parts feel noticeably bigger than other RG kits. In fact, the 1/144 Sinanju is physically much larger than the MG V Gundam — one of the smaller MG kits — yet the part sizes between the two kits seem surprisingly similar.

First of all, this RG Sinanju can be summed up in one phrase: "A visual powerhouse." With gloss injection applied, the armor surfaces have a smooth, lustrous shine, and the Sinanju's distinctive gold emblem patterns are broken out into perfectly separated color parts, with the gold sections finished in gold plating — the out-of-box visual quality of this straight build is good enough to be called the greatest in Gunpla history, no exaggeration.

In particular, the gold emblem patterns that were lazily handled with stickers even on the MG are broken out into parts so cleanly here that assembling this section is genuinely satisfying. It does make you wonder why they couldn't have done the same on the MG if they can pull it off at 1/144 scale. The overall assembly experience is relatively manageable since the parts are larger than other RG kits, but with the high part count and the stiff gloss injection parts throughout, your fingers will be pretty sore by the time you're done. One nice thing — the amount of seals is less than half of what you'd find in other RG kits, which makes the finishing work much easier. That's probably because the focus was on the shiny gloss injection surfaces instead.

In terms of gimmicks, pretty much everything from the MG version has been reproduced here, and from a hatch-opening standpoint, there are actually quite a few unique gimmicks added that are exclusive to the RG. The deployment of the shoulder armor and side skirt armor, the movable rear skirt flaps, the improved forearm armor opening function — overall, the gimmick lineup is a step up from the MG and genuinely impressive.

So the visual quality and gimmicks speak for themselves in the photos — it's top-tier stuff. But when it comes to articulation and part retention, this kit leaves a lot to be desired. The articulation itself isn't bad if you just look at how far the limbs can bend, but the complex armor structure on the shoulders severely limits the arm's range of motion, which becomes a major obstacle when trying to pull off a variety of poses. The skirt structure is flexible enough that the legs at least have some decent posing potential. But it seems like reusing the solid frame from the much smaller RG Gundam Mk-II meant they had to add extension joints all over the place — shoulders, waist, hip joints, ankles — and as a result, the overall joint strength ends up feeling wobbly throughout.. This makes it oddly difficult to hold a pose. The joints themselves aren't necessarily weak, it's more that they're hard to lock into the exact angle you want. Honestly, for an ambitious kit of this caliber, they really should have designed a brand-new, larger solid frame from scratch — reusing a small frame and stretching it out to make it work feels like a significant misstep on Bandai's part.. T_T

On top of that, parts popping off during posing really cranks up the frustration level — the main offenders are the toe parts, knee armor, forearm gold emblems, and backpack cover, which fall off basically every single time you move something (-_-). You'd be better off just gluing them down, but the problem is the connection points are weak and the plastic material means even glued parts can come loose again later.

The real killer, though, is that "maintaining a good proportion is genuinely difficult." The foot grip is arguably the worst I've ever seen, making it hard to even stand the kit upright T_T. The joints are wobbly, the feet won't stay planted, the ankle joints are unreliable, and the backpack adds weight — it's like trying to balance two ping-pong balls stacked vertically, you really have to nail the center of gravity just to get it to stand on its own. The backpack isn't even that big, yet it struggles this much to stay balanced — it's maddening. About 80% of the time it falls backward, 20% forward. So rather than trying to stand it on a flat surface, you're better off putting it on a stand. At least the joint parts for stand use connect well to the body, so using an Action Base 2 for aerial display or posing is probably the way to go.

The MG Sinanju, which is much bigger and heavier, can stand upright stably — so it's more than just disappointing that a kit this size can't support itself, it's actually infuriating. You can spread the backpack thrusters out to the sides as much as possible to reduce the rear weight, and angle the legs back slightly into a bit of a leaning-back stance to get it standing well enough, but then the proportions end up looking off — so it's a frustrating kit in more ways than one T_T.

In the end, the RG Sinanju is a unique kit that will go down in history for giving you heaven and hell at the same time. The joint structure is a mess, but the assembly process is thrilling and the visual quality is so outstanding that you end up recommending it anyway. I think most of you will understand the feeling — when something is not just pretty but *incredibly* pretty, you find yourself forgiving a lot :-)

RG Sinanju | 2016. 8 | ¥3,800

AIThis page was translated by Claude Sonnet.