Hello Mina-san! How have y'all been today!?
My name is Kou (AKA-Novice Coordinator). I have been looking forward to this project for a long time, but today I decided to make it a reality. I know for sure that many viewers looking at this blog right now are Gunpla lovers just as much as I am. Therefore, I wanted to share my reviews about the Master Grades the MG Strike Freedom Gundam variants. Hopefully, this post will be a helpful guide for you before purchasing the MG Strike Freedom Gundam model kits.
All MG versions of the Strike Freedom Gundam will share the same weaponry arrangements:
- Beam Rifles x2
- Beam Saber x2
- Rail Gun x2
- Beam Dragoon x8
MG Strike Freedom Gundam
Release Date: Dec 23rd, 2006
Materials: ABS, PS, PET, PE, PP
Runners: 21 runners in total. Comes with a display stand (plug-in type). Including poly-caps joints.
Articulation:
- Head: Good articulation overall in all directions.
- Abdomen: It has a little switch on the back allowing further leaning backward and can perform minor abdominal crunch. Horizontal rotation is available for this kit as it can rotate up to 180 degrees.
- Arms: Great horizontal flexibility, but horizontal lift is limited. Great upward movement over 90 Degrees.
- Hands: Contain three separate parts: Thumb, Index, and three molded fingers. Wrist articulation is limited.
- Legs: Both forward and backward movements are good. However, movements are less than 90 degrees. Side abduction is restricted at 70 degrees due to the Railgun and Beam rifles' mountings. The sliding parts at the thigh combined with the knee inner frame mechanism provide excellent knee bending action.
- Feet: A decent range of movements that can perform upward and downward as well as side-to-side articulations.
- Backpack: Both wing sets when not extended, can rise over 90 degrees away from the body and also from different directions of one another. Also, within the connection between the wings in each wing set, a rotate mechanism is used to turn the wings in different directions creating a wing expanding effect.
Additional Notes: Some people mention that the connection parts between the torso and waist can be broken if not handled well.
MG-Strike Freedom Full Burst Mode
Release Date: Dec 23rd, 2006
Material: ABS, PS, PET, PE, PP
Runners: 27 runners in total. Including poly-caps joints.
Base: Included. (Addition Burst Mode base for the Dragoons)
This model kit is based on the original Strike Freedom Gundam. Therefore, there are no differences regarding the articulations. The only difference is about gold coating parts (except waist and body parts). The Strike freedom Full Burst Mode will have gold coatings on fingers, joints, and wings inner frames.
MGEX Strike Freedom Gundam
Release Date: Nov 19th, 2022 (Bandai Spirits)
Materials: ABS, PS, PET, PE, PP
Runners: 23 runners in total. Including poly-caps joints.
Base: Included
- Including the runner stand, action base, and a lot of decoration materials such as:
- One water decal sheet
- One metallic 3D sticker sheet
- One etching Seal Decal sheet
Articulation:
- Head: The overall neck movements are good. A small armor located at the back of the neck can be lifted upward, allowing the head to extend further upward.
- Body-Hip: The central body can easily rotate side to side thanks to the special mechanism. The chest part can bend down forward, but is restricted due to the Multi-Phase Beam Cannon placement at the Torso.
- Shoulders: The lower section front armor part of the shoulder armor piece is flipable, giving aids for the already flexible arm rotations of the MGEX Strike Freedom. For looking gimmicks, the top armor parts of the Gundam’s shoulder is easily “popped-out” to show off the golden inner frame.
- Arms: Can rotate on their axis 360 degrees. At the elbows, the arms can also achieve movement of over 90 degrees forward, and rotate 360 degrees around the shoulder joints without restriction. The wrist part that connects to the hand shield is rotatable though not as much as 90 degrees. The Beam Shield can also protrude outward to reduce the interference when a blue plastic energy shield is attached.
- Hips: The front and back skirts armor parts can be slid out to expose golden inner frames within. There is also a semi-clear plastic cap at the top central front hip that allows the hidden golden inner frame to be seen from the frontal view angle. Different from other Strike Freedom MGs, the hip of this kit has separated joints that connect to the legs rather than molded in one piece of plastic. Therefore, those joints can be pulled outward into a V-shape structure away from the hip centre that allows the legs of MGEX Strike Freedom to move around easily.
- Legs: There are two joints at the knees. The top parts of the thighs slide down to perform the first knee bend action, and secondly, the knee joints that can bend backward on their segments. Also, the skirts behind the legs are flippable and attach to inner pieces that hold two mini thrusters on each leg. Each foot can move side to side using the joints at the legs’ ends. The front of the foot is divided into 2 segments that can move independently from one another, but the tip of the foot is only for upward bend action. The entire foot section can rotate a wobble 360 degrees at the ankle joint.
- Wings: There are two wing sets in total just like the other MG versions of the Strike Freedom. On each wing set, there are double joints. One connects the wings to the back pack, and another connects the two wings together. Those connections at the backpack allow the wings to fold toward or away from the Gundam body. The connection between the two wings allows the wings to expand in different directions from one another. The detachments of the Dragoons from the wings’ bodies leave behind the exposure of shiny golden inner frames.
Additional Details:
All MG variants of the Strike Freedom Gundam share the same features:
- The two Beam Rifles are able to connect to one another to create a single and longer Beam Rifle.
- Each Rail Gun at the hip includes two different segments that when united can transform into a single cannon, and at the longer side of the cannon itself can be extended a little further thanks to the sliding mechanism within. In addition, the Rail Guns can join together at the rear hip section (after pulling down the rear skirts) yielding mountings position for the Beam Rifles.
- Each Beam Saber includes a hinge at its smaller end tip that is interconnectable to one another to create a single double sided Beam Saber.
- Matte topcoat shouldn’t be used on clear parts of the kit to avoid fogged-like appearance.
- Enamel or lacquer-based paints may weaken the gold-coated parts. Therefore, the advice is to not use them to prevent the parts from breaking off easily.
- All poses and adjustments should be handled with care because certain parts of the kit are fragile.
Last but not least, to my dear reader. I hope that this little guide will help you to choose your own version of Strike Freedom Gundam according to your liking. Either you are out there looking for a standard MG version; or a little eye-catching gimmick of the Full Burst; or an all out super detail and shining MGEX, all Bandai products that we carry in our GUNNZO Store, will satisfy all your needs.
See you soon, Mina-san!
-Novice Coordinator