Bandai Hobby #2 Model HG EVA-02 Production Model Neon Genesis Evangelion Action Figure (Limited Edition)

Excellent model! See my other remarks on the "Production Model" (white flying) EVA for comparison. Maybe this one was a little easier to put together or maybe I've just got the hang of it better now. I assembled this completely in one evening, except for fiddling around with the different weapons and hand options and adding the stickers. Functionally quite similar to the Production Model but with some better engineering. For starters, the arms come mostly assembled in a soft colored plastic, and where the Production Model relied on black stickers for the upper arm black bands and forearm highlight, this one has those done as hard plastic snap-in pieces. Look much much better. The legs and feet, in contrast, appear identical except for color.Joint articulation is good and balances standing upright, unsupported. Weapons included are the axe, the Lance of Longinus, the pistol, the long rifle (which I believe only Shinji uses in the show), and the Space Shuttle heat shield (which only Ayanami uses in the same ep where Shinji uses the long rifle.) With all the interchangeable hands, I assume just about any of these (00 - 03 & PM) can wield any of them.I've solved the mystery I note in my other review. It looks like the same set of black plastic pieces is included for these two, and 00 & 01 as well.I have those ready to go too, and they have what looks like the same black set, so that explains all the extra parts.[UPDATE] A neat feature on 02's back is the entry plug and mechanism. The plug is removable, and a clever gimmick lets it slide up and down while opening the hatch and cover. The plug is in black plastic, and does need painting to look authentic. The jaw opens and closes too, as does the pilot's viewport, like a visor, across the top of the head.02 itself looks fine without paint, and even the stickers will hardly be necessary. The weapons could do with a little paintwork, though. If I get ambitious, I may study the show itself and get ambitious with paint on 02 after all and avoid some of the stickers (I'm thinking mainly the eyes.)If you know NGE and want this, go for it. Just remember that as the others, the instruction booklet is in Japanese. However, it is put together very logically.* Each frame is clearly identified with Western lettering (A, B, C, etc.), and each part is numbered. There is even a photo of each frame at the beginning of the booklet to help you. Just be patient and it WILL make sense. One frame, the "PC" frame, is all the internal joint parts that hold things together, for example. (These are all a slightly soft rubber, not hard plastic.) Oh, and I DID end up with one extra red piece, in addition to all the black ones. I've been over the book a couple times again and just do not see it in the assembly instructions. Maybe it's for another of the kits too, maybe I just need to look again when I'm fresh, but I don;t see where it might go (a small V shape.)My only gripe at all -- and it is a bit on the petty side -- is that to get your pieces perfect, you DO need to scrape/file/cut the burrs down a bit from where they were on the sprues. This wasn't an issue with the PM, because it's white, but just about any kind of work like that on this vivid red leaves a visible mark, and I'm not going to try and fiddle with little bits of touch-up paint because I know that will get into endless re-doing. But all things considered, that will not keep me from declaring this ---- an unqualified winner! I can't wait to set up my display table and take a few photos of Asuka facing off against the PM! Go for it!*I admit I had one or two little fumbles. At one point I thought I'd missed something about assembling the different torso parts, but then realized it was all there. Then I thought something was just wrong. The ends of the arms, as I note, come separately and in one piece. When I went to insert the hands, I was faced with male-to-male connections! However, the ends which were there were just -aha- dummy plugs, presumably to keep the opening from closing up. They pulled out easily. Other than that, no problems.

I have ordered about five modles from hobby one and have beenpleased with all of them. To start, all modles came well before their expected delivery date, all in great condition. Now on to the modle it's self. I have been a fan of bandai products since I was young and they never dissapoint me, the quality of this modle exceeds expectations. I am a recen Evangelion fan and instantly fell in love with unit 02, there's something about the original concept of the 4 eyes that I find unique. The figure has limited, yet impressive posability and is sleek like in the anime. There is some painting involved but the figure doesn't look bad without it. I still have yet to master water stickers but they adhear well. The face opens up to expose the internal eyes (they need to be painted) and the knee guards move seprately unlike some preasempled figures i've seen. It comes with a few wepons that Auska never used in the anime but they are cool to have, the also include a Miss Mesato (may have spelled her name wrong) and auska figuret that need to be painted. All in all I give this figure and Hobby One Japan 10 stars!!

This kit was very fun to build and was my first model kit I have ever done! I chose it because of its price and it being a “high grade” which means it is more basic and easier to build than other kits.The kit DOES not come with the tools you will need to build it OR a stand to hold it up for certain poses you may want to try so please buy them in advance or alongside this kit if you do not already own them! The kit comes with many accessories and they all have a great level of detail to them for what they are! The kit also stands up on its own with no issues (granted you aren’t posing it in a extreme action stance) and balances itself very well!Some of the stickers supplied to add color unfortunately like to come off a bit and I constantly have to re-stick them. But this is not so bad as it makes all the more a reason why I would like to paint this kit in the future! I did not apply all of the decals yet or finish the weapons since I will go through and repaint them at some point. The cost of this kit and its level of difficulty make it perfect for a first time builder who is looking to learn and not worry as much about it being “perfect.”Some things I would like to bring up as well for all first time buyers is that this kit is a solid piece of plastic and does not come fully colored like you will see in the images. This is no issue for me but I was surprised at how little color there was, however this is all apart of building these kits and is what comes at the more entry level of buying a “high grade” kit. Another thing I have added an image of was a piece from the kit that caused me some grief that I circled in the manual. This piece along with others made from the same plastic are very soft compared to the others and made for an issue where I was unable to close the chest and crushed the part partially. This lead to me having to be a bit more creative about building the kit and I had to sand it down a bit to make the chest close up, the piece in question is used to add rotation and a socket for the left arm to go into the torso/chest piece. Please be very careful and make sure you are taking your time building this kit!Some positives of the kit are the level of detail and amount of accessories you receive! The nape of the neck actually opens up and allows you to display a small entry plug as if you are inserting it! It is very charming and made me very happy to see. You must paint the entry plug alongside the umbilical cable, Spear of Longinus, the shield Rei uses against Ramiel in the anime, pellet rifle, “desert eagle” inspired pistol, and progressive knives it comes with if you want these props to look as they do on the show/ movies.All in all this kit taught me a lot of valuable lessons, provided me with some more supplemental projects in the future with the addition of the water decals and painting I now would like to take on, and introduced me to a new hobby I would have otherwise not tried had it not been for Evangelion! The cost of entry for this kit was a bonus for me seeing as Unit-01 cost much more and I would have hated to finish it and made the mistakes I had made for much more money haha! I hope you were able to learn a lot before deciding to purchase this kit and I hope you have as much fun or more building it as I have! I look forward to building more in the future and displaying them!I may even buy another one of these kits someday, so I can do it justice from the start!

Very good

An amazing figure just like my unit 01, amazing articulation as to excpect, fairly instructions, and overall a great model. I would say you should do one or two entry grade to high grade models before this one though.

It's a good model and fairly easy to build once you start to see the pictures going together. The instruction manual is not in English, only Japanese. Once the figure comes together though, it's a beauty. Especially when put next to a Unit 01 model.