MG Strike noir review

A spinoff to gundam seed destiny, Gundam seed stargazer is a 45 min ova divided into 3 parts, with the stargazer gundam and strike noir gundam as the two lead gundams. I watched the ova twice and found it very good, especially on the 2nd watch. Only complain is its length-too short. Now since there is no MG stargazer yet, i bought the mg strike noir and here is the review to the gundam that i feel is underrated.
This will be a more detailed review than usual showing off the parts.
1.Intro

Model: Strike Noir
Size: MG 1 100
Pilot: Sven Cal

Boxart:

I liked this boxart better than the mg freedom. Looks more dynamic.

A side shot. Showing off its many accessories. 

Manual Cover:

This is the back of the manual. The front only says MG strike noir anyway with a black background.

Price: 4500 yen. On the more expensive range of Mg's price spectrum. Shall see if it is worth the price.

2. Parts.

First time i am showing off each individual part.  Do comment if it is useful.

Head:

One of my favourite gundam heads thus far. Sharp, angular and cool. All the details are built in so no additional work is necessary.

Torso:

The torso is made up of black, grey, light grey and red parts. The black, grey and light grey parts form a beautiful contrast i think. The shoulder attaches on very well, unlike Mg freedom which i used super glue as the attachment was too loose.

In fact, the torso is so awesome that it looks good even from the back. Red vents and a solid mounting system for the noir pack.

Arm:

The Arm has a simple design that does not stand out much on its own, but it looks good when the gundam gets all put together. The shoulder is angular and evil-looking. The yellow pointy parts are small plastic parts and they fit into the shoulder with a satisfying click sound.

Waist:

The waist section is actually made up of 3 black and grey parts, making it not as plain. The side skirts stay on well and they can mount the dual beam pistols. The front skirts are independent and will not get into the way of leg movements.

The back of the torso looks good too and the red parts are small plastic parts.

Legs:

The leg inner frame. A complete inner frame, like the newer Mgs.

Bends all the way, with a double-jointed knee mechanism.

Armour on.

There is a separate part for the knee which looks good when bended.

The feet and the leg. Do be careful and not leave big nub marks as they can be quite visible. Alternative, u can be lazy like me and just use a gundam marker to cover those up.

Noir Pack: 

One of the more unique back packs looking evil and menacing as it should. The 3 parts on each side can be fanned open to form a wing-like structure. The upper grey part-the one with the handle sticking out can be detached and transformed into a sword. Only complain i have is that on one side, the attachment that attachs the middle black piece to the upper grey sword piece is loose. Had to reassemble it and added 1 drop of glue to increase friction.

3. Details and articulation

Only 3 stickers for the entire model. Something always pleasing, especially after my NG saviour's sticker disaster. Every detail and colour from what i know is accurate and there is no need to paint or do any modification. I did not use the green stickers for the beam rifle's scope, but instead use my clear green paint, the same one i used for 0 gundam 's torso.

Articulation wise, the legs can bend all the way in with a double-jointed knee mechanism as seen from the PARTS section. The arms is standard MG fare, being able to touch its shoulders. Torso is sort of fixed, though i dun know why would anyone wants to move the torso around. A too movable torso, in my opinion may cause the model to sag to one side over time.

It comes with Epic cool decals, there is a Phantom Pain decal on its left shoulder and a symbol on its right. The surface of the shoulder are very even so it is easy to apply the decal on it.

                                                    Yes, even my back looks cool.

On the noir pack u can put a big decal that says AOM/EX09S Noir Striker.

It also comes with a sheet of seals which i never used becaused seals always leave a clear sticker at the edges. Decals are better though i usually only used the bigger ones.


4. Weapons and accessories

                 Here is Mg Freedom's weapon, other than his hip mounted and wings mounted canons.

                                    And, here is Mg Strike Noir 's weapons and accessories.3 pairs of detachable hands, 2 trigger-happy hands for holding the GUNS, 2 for the swords that are supposed to be transformed from its noir striker pack. 2 open palms for the flying pointy weapon ( forgot its name) and for looking badass. Will be perfect if the Guns come in more shades of grey/black instead of being mostly mono-coloured.

5. Poseability

                                              Standing pose with 2 beam rifles.

                            Flash on! to see the clear green effect which i painted on the beam rifle.

                                   Close up sinister look.

                                        Flying pointy!

          Side shot to show it clearly. The black wire is attached well and do not sag down after a while. It can also be attached to the feet as well for good measure.

Dual beam pistols.

                         The last gun, notice it is different from the 2 beam rifles. Noir striker pack Expanded- giving freedom a run for its money. Opened palm for extra coolness.

                                       Flash on. For the nice shadow at the back.

Badass, even without doing cool poses.

                                                       Badass, even in cruising mode.

                                           The 2 beam rifles looks connected.

6. Sturdiness:

 The shoulder, the arms ,the legs stay on and do not fall off easily. The 2 small beam pistols can be mounted securely on the side skirts. Only complain i have is the trigger happy hands need to be opened to swap another gun in. But that is a small price to pay for having extra sturdy weapon-holding action.

7. Update: Decided to try out its 2 giant swords on its backpack.

The result:

When i saw the anime, i though mg strike noir was a cool dual gun wielding gundam. Now it is also an epic cool dual giant sword wielding gundam. 

This pose is infinitely easier to pull off than my Mg 00 raiser's.

Model wise, the Mg strike noir beats the Mg freedom hands down. In everything ranging from articulation to details to pure badassery.

8. Conclusion: After my giant sword update, i have changed my score for mg strike noir.

Details: 9/10 Few stickers= awesome

Articulation: 10/10 everything that should be movable are movable.

Sturdiness: 10/10 no falling parts though the trigger-happy hands should be completely closed after swapping the gun in. Small hassle here.

Poseability: 10/10 badass

Conclusion: A Must-buy kit, even for those who have not watched the ova. This kit combines the awesomeness of sword impulse and freedom. Not to mention that the stargazer ova is better than the entire series of seed destiny.