What is everyone's approach?
Never even considered option A, really doesn't seem like a good idea especially when you get to a piece that has a lot similar pieces.
I will do Option A. It gets you more into an assembly line type of mindset. Which I can understand if that is a turnoff to some people. But when you're making a bigger kit, it's nice to be able to just hold onto the same set of tools and not have to pick up five different ones for each piece. It makes the builds go faster and also helps you hone your fine motor skills. Also, I will do panel lining before assembly, since panel lining a completed kit is annoying and cumbersome. That part alone makes option A the better way to go since you can panel line a bunch of pieces all at once.
or do I obey the color rules?
Grey panel lines on white; black on darker colors; brown on reds. Sometimes I'll do black lines on white pieces if I want to mimic the way a certain mobile suit looks in their TV shows, what with anime having thick black contours. It's all up to you though, and what you think looks is best!
ALSO to echo what folks said to me - don't waste time on the EG (Entry Grade) Kits.
Entry Grade kits are fine, they're just probably not for the demographic of people here. From what I've seen, they're great for:
1) Cheap gifts to little kids or scared newbies to get them into the hobby.
2) For really advanced modelers so they can either use them as cheap stock for testing/practice, or to really just stunt on ppl and show off how good their modeling skills are. I've seen people turn EGs into models that look BETTER than Real Grade kits through their custom mods.
As someone with little ties to actual Gundam series (so far...?) I have fewer must-model kits on my list (about 10)
...I was crushed to learn that the G Gundam representation isn't great, because the appeal of modeling an entire Punch Out!! of racial stereotyped robots is strong.
RIP Tequila Gundam.
There are a bunch of HGs and a smattering of Master Grade G-Gundam kits out there. All of the modern HGs are fine. There's HGs for The Shining, God, Master, and Nobell Gundams, as well as the Death Army robots. The Master Gundam comes with a Fuunsaiki which is neat. There are also HG kits for the Maxter, Rose, and Dragon Gundams, but those are rare for complicated reasons. Avoid the MGs though. They were designed and made 25 years ago, they are obsolete and ancient builds, and honestly not even fun to make. There is an RG God and Shining Gundams though.
RG RX-78-2 2.0
Time for Real Grade - gotta start with the OG (version 2)
I don't want to dissuade anyone from doing Gunpla, but Real Grades are generally pretty hard for newbies. They are harder than Master Grades on average, because the parts and stickers are
soooo small. It's nice that they're 1/144 scale, so they pair up with High Grades pretty well, but just be ready for the build to be much more challenging. Also RGs have a reputation for being "grenades" (I'm sure y'all can figure the etymology on that one out) on account of how intricate and fiddly they are. Just a word of caution so you're prepared.
The feet has a tendency to come loose if I bend them too much, but
This happens on kits from time-to-time. Sometimes because of wear and tear from the kits getting older and the joints wearing down. But sometimes on older kits, things just don't fit as snugly. One way to go about solving this is to paint a thin layer of super glue on the peg, let the super glue fully dry and cure, then plug it back in. That will usually be just enough extra width to make things fit snug again.
This btw, helps demonstrate just fun the hobby is. There is no mistakes, just learning opportunities. Any broken or lost piece can be fixed or replicated if the hobbyist is willing to put in the work and exercise a little creativity.