Mg Freedom Gundam Review

After my first Ng Arios review i am moving on to MGs. Well here it is, kira divine yamato's unit in the love-it-or-hate-it Gundam series,gundam seed and gundam seed destiny. I loved it when i first saw the freedom in the show as kira receives it from lacus and go whoosing down to save the archangel.

Model: ZGMF-X10A FREEDOM GUNDAM
Size: MG 1/100
Pilot: Kira Yamato

Boxart:

Boxart is decent though i must say i prefer the recent 00 series' boxarts better.

Manual:

A front shot.

A Backshot. this was a old kit released in 2004 and back then Bandai thought that the back of the manual should have a backshot. Now the back usually features front shots.

Price: 3800 yen. On the lower side of the price spectrum i would say. good value for money i think.

1. Details and Articulation

Starting from the head i will say that is very solid and sleek looking. however the sides are white and unlike some newer MGs there is no grey part which means some painting is needed. i have not done so here and i think it looks ok but some painting will definitely help.

The wings is what make freedom gundam.The dry decal transfers well and looks sharp(sorry for bad focus), and the wings look imposing when fully spread.

I bought this kit in 2010 where there is an clear extra runner for Bandai's anniv celebration. initially i thought the clear parts will allow me to build the hands and legs but it turn out that only the legs can be turned into clear parts mode.

The clear parts are useful for showcasing both its articulation and inner frame of the model. It can bend quite well better then ng arios for certain because it has a 2-point knee bending mechanism. The legs are very sturdy and one of my favourite parts of the kit.

Torso has a clean and simple design. No yellow parts unlike most other lead gundams. One thing i will like to complain is the shoulder and arms. For some reason they are very loose and keep falling off. I had to resort to using super glue to keep them in place. I was very disappointed indeed. Furthermore due to the split in the shoulder armour it is quite difficult to transfer the decal over correctly unlike its wings.

5. Weapons and accessories.

The beam rifle and two beam sabers that theoretically can be mounted onto its hips.
Complain no.1: Beam rifle's blue part is a sticker. I ended up breaking the sticker and got very frustrated. My blue gundam marker came to the rescue and here it is, looking not too good.
Complain no.2: The 2 beam sabers are very difficult to mount on the hips and they do not want to stay there.
Complain no.3: The hands does not have pegs attached and thus it cannot hold either the rifle or the beam saber well. My ng arios hold its rifle better because it has a simple closed fist design. Since this is a MG, the trigger finger, thumb and 3 finger split hand does a less-than-satisfactory job with weapon holding.

Compliment no.1: It comes with a stand. Actually i rather it does not come with the stand and simply lower the price or give us the beam rifle blue plastic part instead of a cheap sticker.


4. Poseability

The full burst mode: what i bought the kit for. Wow the way sunlight falls on one side of its wings is pretty cool.

Full Burst Shining mode.

I tried to do a standing pose and , came crushing down the wings. Yes, in case there is any doubt, this model is back-heavy. Very back-heavy. That is why Bandai provided us the stand.

One of my favourite poses without the rifle which keeps dropping out of place. there is a handle which you can pop out from the side canons which the freedom can hold.

Update:Mg Freedom, with its 30th Anniversary clear parts.
5.Verdict
The awesomes:
1. Very sturdy legs.
2. Comes with an unique stand
3. The all-canons-out pose is very cool.
3. It is the freedom after all.

The not-so-awesomes
1. Some details are not well done as compared to newer Mgs.
2. The beam rifle and its sticker.
3. Falling parts
4. Back heavy

Details: 6/10 ,could be higher if not for the beam rifle's sticker disaster
Articulation: 7/10 ,this is a 2004 kit after all, but there is no major limitation in articulation.
Poseabililty: 5/10 , 4/5 for nice poses, but 1/5 for ease of posing. Too many parts fall off, arms ,beam rifle, beam sabers, wing parts. shoulder pieces.
Sturdiness: 4/10 need i say more about falling parts ?


Conclusion: Looking at the score this is not a pleasant first MG build experience. Actually i got to give it more credit then this. This is after all a 2004 kit and naturally it will not stack up well against newer kits. But i must say that maybe beginner builders should get a newer kit though that is perhaps more sturdy.

Would appreciate any constructive comments.