The Epyon is the latter half antagonist mobile suit of Gundam Wing.
Besides being designed with the Real Grade aesthetic in mind (how a mobile suit would look in 'real life'), this is somewhat faithful to the TV anime version, whereas the Master Grade is an Endless Waltz redesign (despite Epyon never featuring there).
It is initially piloted by Heero Yuy and later by Zechs Merquise who was more suited to the dueling nature of this close quarters combat mobile suit.
Aesthetics:
The plastic comes in two shades of maroon, navy blue, light grey, dark grey, warm yellow and transparent green.
These are unusually toned down plastics for a real grade, but it looks almost entirely like it does in the TV show. The large amount of red suits the model well, giving it an imposing appearance and plays well into the dragon theme.
Incidentally it also gives the model a devilish appearance which fits well as a contrast to the angelic looking Wing Zero Custom. All in all, it looks like it's supposed to and the nearly 30 year old design still looks good today.
There aren't many panel lining opportunities as most of the surface is color separated, but curiously there's a ton of detail on the inner frame and just below the surface of some of the panels.
The kit is well undergated with only a few outer nubs here and there. The kit comes with the usual Real Grade decal and foil sticker sheet.
Mechanics:
Real Grade has reached a point where there's too much going on to summarize quickly.
Suffice it to say that while its immediate predecessor the God Gundam is far superior (being a 'kung fu' model), the Epyon is no slouch and in fact surpasses nearly all other models in the range.
To note a few things: It has a sliding stomach that enables a better ab crunch, a pivoting torso, tilting wrists and an opening crotch plate that enables the transformation and gives more hip joint movement. The model is built to handle its heavy wings and sword.
The wings have extending flaps that open automatically, but must be manually closed. They're are also the least articulated parts of the model and have a limited range of movement, which is slightly disappointing.
Finally it has a transformation as seen on the images, which is pulls off well enough with plenty of dragon head/neck movement and opening mouths.
Equipment:
The Epyon is famously a dueling mobile suit in an age of superior firepower. As such it has no ranged weapons, but it comes with:
5 hands - 2 closed fists, 2 holding hands, 1 open palm
1 Beam Sword which has a detachable cable, a giant beam blade effect and the handle can be stored inside its energy pack, mounted on one side skirt - The sword can be wielded in two hands and the kit enables movement to do it
1 Heat Rod Shield - A shield with a detachable spike and whip. The spike can be attached to the shield to give it the illusion of being retracted, the whole thing is stored on the back when transformed into a dragon, to simulate a tail.
2 base adapters for mobile suit and mobile armor (dragon) mode
Conclusion:
Real Grade is starting to reach its peak, there's not a lot more Bandai can do with the tolerances and the increased amount of parts is rivaling Master Grades, if not outright surpassing some of their equivalents.
This version of the Epyon is superior to the Master Grade in most ways. Due to the large sword, long shield whip and leveraged heavy wings, the MG suffers from its weight, so the parts sag and the wing back pack easily comes off. The RG has no such issues, though it benefits from being on a display base/stand to alleviate the weight from the waist.
Gundam Wing is my nostalgia show, I love this design and I think they did a great job.
There is no pilot figure, but both Zechs and Yuy are available from other kits (multiple Yuys).
The Epyon is a mean looking design and I can only recommend getting this model. I highly recommend an action base for display purposes. Now we just need an RG Wing Zero TV version.