1/144 RG Freedom Gundam

As I recall, Freedom Gundam is a flamboyant machine full of weapons of mass destruction and it's all well packaged in this RG form, from the wings, railguns and accessories. Only the nuclear reactor and effects parts are missing from this RG model.

The whole Gundam is slim and sleek but has enough bulk and length, mainly coming from the wings, to give an intimidating but beautiful impression. Without the wings however, it's a scrawny guy with weirdly large shoulders, which would barely scare any Zakus.

There's also enough colours throughout the Gundam to break up the monotony though you won't really notice the difference as starkly as the RX-78-2. It was really nice that there's a lot of parts break up, mainly noticeable in the railguns, to provide that RG details.

I don't have the HG Freedom but if you compared the 2, you'll appreciate the RG's proportion and that's one of the major reason why this is an excellent 1/144 piece in my opinion. I also saw one fitted to the HG Meteor at an exhibition and it fitted in nicely for those who are concerned.

The wings are well executed in such a way that when it flares, it spreads almost 180 degrees each and are able to flap backwards. This goes the same for the rail guns, where there's even a foldable trigger handle for the Freedom to clasp on if you want the HNNNNGGG! appearance which we shall not explore.

On articulations, it's able to perform really sweet poses although for me, my Gundam logic of "The higher the tier, the harder it is to pose" prevents me from pushing it to the limits. It is able to kneel I believe, but the wings might get in your way, though they'll have to be swept all the way backwards.

Head and torse bends nicely forward and back and the legs have quite a room to rotate around and the same goes for the hands. In fact, I'm running out of superlatives without having to refer to the old RG posts I made because Bandai kept the good factors in this one and improved on the other issues, such as better clipping of weapons into the slot, availability of extra fixed-pose hands and front skirts that are better connected.

They also included the cockpit mechanism, though quite pointless for the Freedom given the small opening and little visibility inside if you do not have plans to light it up inside. But still, it's fantastic that it's there and it's easier to slide open than RG Strike's cockpit.

In fact, I think I've practically covered all the good points of the RG in this post and previous of my RG posts covers other aspect of the kit's positivity.

When it comes to things that don't work however, not even the almighty Freedom can escape the limitations of plastic form.

First of all, the beam saber holders. The clipping is so weak in mine that I lost 1 holder, hence why it was replaced with the metal versions, and even those were slipping out of place, frustrating me. I think if the peg was fitted into the skirt and not just held in place by the side slots, it will provide a tighter fit. This makes posing the sideskirts a nuisance, which was why I did not pose the kit too much as I have saber hilts all over me.

Then there's the wings. It looks great, it works great but it's a great deal of work to get it into place. The wings' points have to be pressed tightly after each posing to ensure it stays in place or it will start to droop. This and the difficulty in getting the white cannon in place makes posing the Freedom quite a chore, which was why I delayed it's picture taking.

And being a backpack heavy Gundam, well, that cannot be avoided, so I don't think I should harp about it but it is able to stand on its own, though leaning forward slightly.

In the end, I suppose if you're a really earnest modeller, you could solve the issues with a little glue, or maybe painting the joints so it's thicker, hence eliminating 80% of the problem but since I don't paint RG kits, I guess it's just something to nitpick on.

Overall, it is a great-looking beauty and since it's not for toying around with, it makes for a great display piece and with the variety of poses it can pull off, it'll look great for months. In fact, with minimal work, this will look really good amongst other kits that it makes me wish that there was an RG Strike Freedom.

But since we're going to get that sad excuse of a plane to push more RG Strike sales, I'm looking forward to what's coming AFTER the Skygrasper. I've got nothing against it but I don't think it's of higher importance than the likes of MK2 or GP01 in the RG scale.

For this kit, I was tempted to use the provided stickers but then chickened out and used those from Samuel Decals even though it's not as comprehensive and fitting as the RG provided one.

The stickers are really detailed and thorough and those with metallic colours were shining, begging me to use them though seeing my friend's RG made me think twice, as it started peeling, even with top coat.

Nevertheless, this time round, with my previous experience, the RG's frame and sliding armour have no accidents and works nicely though if I could do some things differently, it would be to colour in some of the frames where they are exposed when posing.

Freedom launching pose makes me wished I had painted the eyes green, just for a slightly friendlier look.

I'm Strike Ver 2.0!

Yes, there's actually a Kira Yamato there. Shouldn't have played with Contrast/Brightness buttons.

A very dynamic pose... who am I kidding, the metal hilt kept sliding out of the hands and in my usual lazy style, as you can observe, I have never bothered making a great pose with beam sabers. I'll try harder though!

Real Grade series. Excitement embodied, wooo! Also, somehow, I promised myself to only get Action Base 3 for any and all RG I purchase and to print a copy of the boxart as the base card.

I need to have an Angelg from SRW!