RG Aile Strike Review (Part 1)

Aile strike is by far one of the most iconic gundams and is so popular that Bandai reused its design and features for the impulse. Being the 3rd RG in the RG line, i bought it as my first RG since i started watching Gundam from the seed series. RG aims to pack MG features and details into a 1/144 palm size model and that will definitely cause certain problems like falling parts. But at 2500 yen i cannot possibly resist buying 1 RG to test the waters.
Since this is my first RG, i will split the review into 2 parts and part 1 will be about the strike gundam without its aile striker pack.

1. Intro:
Model: Aile strike
Size : 1/144 RG
Pilot: Kira Yamato

Boxart:

Bandai really did it this time with the most beautiful boxart i have seen. A clear unique style different from HGs and Mgs, this one really shows off the new RG line very well.

Sideshot:

Taking a look at the side it shows off the complete inner frame. And the newest, baddest advanced MS joints.

Always good to have an unpainted shot. Looks good already, with a tiny figure of kira. People who loves painting can paint that 1/144 figure of him.

Just in case there are people who still doubt the quality of the box, even the inner box is made of the same smooth material as the cover, instead of the usual cardboard. At the same time they show aile strike in its HG, SD, PG and MG forms. So if u are a fan of kira yamato and have bought aile strike in its FG,SD, HG, NG, MG, PG with skygrasper, then all the more u need to buy the new RG to complete the collection. (that is until its AG and GB form roll out)

The manual:

Price: 2500 yen
At around the same price as a NG the price seems reasonable.

2. Parts:

Head:

The head is MG quality, nothing less. It comes with alternate sets of eyes to choose from, or if u lose them.

The vfins does not attach on too securely and has come off a couple of times with the red jewel. But that can is not too much of a nuisance since it is easily put back on.

Torso:

Very detailed torso, really is MG quality. The back of the torso had these thrusters which are red parts with black parts in the middle. No painting or gundam markers required at all. 

Arms:

This entire hand is one part from the advanced MS joint. i was extremely impressed with the new joints at first. They come in one big piece, eg. the arm, etc. Then there are parts which u twist according to the directions and some small parts to be detached to use on another part of the kit.

However since this is my first RG, i was not exactly familiar with the twisting part and i end up breaking one small portion, which had to be glued back, and resulted in the loss of one point of articulation on the right arm.

But what really impressed me is not the advanced ms joints now, rather it is the extend of color differentiation on the kit. From the arms there are 3 shades of white already. Excitement embodied indeed.

There are decals and plenty of stickers included. I only used the two shoulder decals. The decals are not as good as MG ones since they are the sticker type not the rub-on type. Which means you can see the clear edge of the decal.
But my main complain is the gold stickers used on the arms. There are originally gold stickers for the joints to make the kit realistic. But those do not stay on well and they came off after a while. I ended up removing all of them.

The manual is helpful though since it is colored unlike most other black/white pages for decals.
Waist:

2 shades of white, one blue plastic piece and the side armour can be opened to store the greatest weapon in SEED's history: armor schneider swiss knife.

The back. The side armor does not open out that easily and most of the time i had to use a toothpick.

sorry for the lack of focus. From the bottom on the right side i have put in the armor schneider in. But it is rather cumbersome to do that so i will still store them in a ziplock when not in use.

Legs:

This is the real winner for me though so far. The legs are impeccable. More than MG quality i would say. It has the articulation of a MG but it is more detailed than some MG such as my mg freedom.
Nothing feels loose and everything feels just in place.

Weapons and accessories:

The armor schneiders. They can be flipped open and closed. Nothing to nit pick except that they flip out more than they should. They are very small as seen from the size comparison so do try not to lose them.

3. Details and Articulation

All put together.

Looking at the model itself, i though that perhaps it is overly detailed? Perhaps 3 shades of white is overkill? I only used the decals on the shoulders and i wonder how detailed it will look if i had actually used up the entire sticker sheet.

Some poses to show off its articulation.

4. Poseability:

Wing Chun for the win!

Reminds me of G gundam.

But this is the pose i have been waiting for. Bandai was kind enough to include this pose in the manual for people like me. The gundam can actually hold the armor schneiders fairly well.

Some stabbing action.

5. Sturdiness.

Being able to hold the armor schneider in backhand position is really awesome.

However not all is merry about its sturdiness. The vfins on its head do fall off sometimes and the feet needs some adjusting to get both feet flat on the ground. But these are minor nitpicks as compared to the waist side armour.

When i was constructing the waist, everything works fine.

But when i do any simple poses, even poses like this:

The side armor pop off. The kit, being a RG, has fantastic articulation, but when the legs move sideways, the side skirt armor pop off. And, since the side armor has inner frame as well, the inner frame is movable which means it is a pain to fix it back. I had to use the toothpick to hold its inner frame while i try to push the side skirt armor back in.


6. Conclusion:

While not without some falling parts issue, i had a great time building the new RG line.
Continue over to Part 2 for the aile strike pack and the kit's overall impression.