Kit Review

Straight build + Stickers + Panel lining

Size comparison with a cigarette pack

HGCE Black Knight Squad Cal-re.A - Various angles (1/6)

HGCE Black Knight Squad Cal-re.A - Various angles (2/6)

HGCE Black Knight Squad Cal-re.A - Various angles (3/6)

HGCE Black Knight Squad Cal-re.A - Various angles (4/6)

Various angles

HGCE Black Knight Squad Cal-re.A - Detail shots (1/4)

HGCE Black Knight Squad Cal-re.A - Detail shots (2/4)

Detail shots

HGCE Black Knight Squad Cal-re.A - The super-high-impulse cannon "Ardor Onjis" built into the chest can be exposed by opening

The super-high-impulse cannon "Ardor Onjis" built into the chest can be exposed by opening the cover.

For weapons, you get two anti-mobile suit enhanced swords and a high-energy beam rifle.

The high-energy beam rifle can be mounted on the rear skirt.

HGCE Black Knight Squad Cal-re.A - The anti-mobile suit enhanced swords mount on the side skirts. Honestly, beam sabers store

The anti-mobile suit enhanced swords mount on the side skirts.
Honestly, beam sabers stored in that position tend to cause all kinds of problems, but the fit on this kit is relatively solid.
That said, they're pretty long, so they do catch on things and pop off every now and then.

Beam parts for the anti-mobile suit enhanced swords are also included.

To deploy the binders on the back, you first need to disassemble them as shown above.

HGCE Black Knight Squad Cal-re.A - Then you have to transfer the binder parts onto a separate deployment frame that's include

Then you have to transfer the binder parts onto a separate deployment frame that's included.
It's a bit of a hassle, but by giving up a movable mechanism, you get rock-solid stability instead.

HGCE Black Knight Squad Cal-re.A - The 8 Dragoons named "Sahasrabhuja" can be spread out to both sides, and the cov

The 8 Dragoons named "Sahasrabhuja" can be spread out to both sides,
and the covers can be removed to expose the stand attachment holes.

HGCE Black Knight Squad Cal-re.A - A whopping 16 beam parts are included, so you can plug them into both sides of all 8 Drago

A whopping 16 beam parts are included, so you can plug them into both sides of all 8 Dragoons.

HGCE Black Knight Squad Cal-re.A - Having all the Dragoons deployed together is quite a spectacle, but displaying them is no

Having all the Dragoons deployed together is quite a spectacle, but
displaying them is no easy feat..

Eight "Wings of Light" are included in a premium PET sheet material.

HGCE Black Knight Squad Cal-re.A - The front and back of the PET sheet are slightly different in color, so you'll need to pay

The front and back of the PET sheet are slightly different in color, so you'll need to pay attention to the orientation when attaching them.

HGCE Black Knight Squad Cal-re.A - After inserting the Wings of Light into the Dragoon frame, you can cover them with the upp

After inserting the Wings of Light into the Dragoon frame, you can cover them with the upper parts to lock them in securely.

HGCE Black Knight Squad Cal-re.A - The binder with the Wings of Light attached. The Wings of Light can only be attached with

The binder with the Wings of Light attached.
The Wings of Light can only be attached with the bottom Dragoons removed.

You can choose from 4 different styles of eye stickers.

Leftover parts

Excellent limb articulation

Forward/backward shoulder articulation

Waist articulation

Shoulder nozzle articulation

The backpack binders also move slightly forward and backward.

Posed on a stand

Ardor Onjis firing pose with chest open

HGCE Black Knight Squad Cal-re.A - High-energy beam rifle firing pose with binders deployed (1/3)

High-energy beam rifle firing pose with binders deployed

Anti-mobile suit enhanced sword pose

HGCE Black Knight Squad Cal-re.A - Pose with Dragoons detached and Wings of Light attached. Absolutely stunning presence. (1/

Pose with Dragoons detached and Wings of Light attached.
Absolutely stunning presence.

Wings of Light pose 2

HGCE Black Knight Squad Cal-re.A - All 8 Dragoons launched with beam parts attached. An incredible sight, but you'll need a l

All 8 Dragoons launched with beam parts attached.
An incredible sight, but you'll need a lot of extra stands and it takes up a ton of display space.

Together with the HGCE Black Knight Squad Shiva.

Straight build

The Black Knight Squad Cal-re.A from the theatrical anime film "Mobile Suit Gundam SEED FREEDOM" has been released as an HGCE. Compared to the previously released HGCE Black Knight Squad
Shiva,only one joint runner is reused, with everything else being all-new tooling — and it shows. This is clearly one of those kits where Bandai really put in the effort, and it turned out great.

Even before release, one of the big talking points was that all the gold parts on the body are achieved 100% through color separation alone. The clean parts breakdown recreates the look beautifully, and the parts fit together smoothly, making the build feel really satisfying. The gold molded color also comes in two different tones — one for the joint areas and another for the armor — and while the armor's gold sections aren't plated, they're molded with a gloss injection finish that looks sleek and premium. The joints, which are carried over from the existing Black Knight Squad, feel like they've been tuned to be a bit smoother — they're in an ideal state, moving fluidly while still locking firmly into place exactly where you want them.

The backpack binder deployment forgoes a movable mechanism in favor of a disassemble-and-reassemble approach — you have to swap out the two-piece folded binder frame for a single elongated part. To do this, you need to detach and reattach a total of 16 parts from top and bottom, which is a bit of a chore. But in return, you get perfect stability in the deployed position, and the Dragoon parts snap in with a satisfying click. The one thing to watch out for is that the part placement can get confusing when you're swapping things over, so it's worth following the manual carefully to avoid any mistakes.

The signature Wings of Light are provided as PET sheets — the same material frequently used in the Figure-rise Standard Digimon series — and they slot into the spots left by removing the Dragoons from the bottom of the binders. You do have to remove the upper covers as well before inserting the PET sheets, which is a bit fiddly, but again, it results in a very secure hold. The 8 detached Dragoons can each be fitted with 2 beam parts (16 total), letting you recreate a spectacular launch scene. It looks absolutely incredible, but you will need a good number of extra support stands and it does eat up a lot of display space.

Overall, this kit offers an exceptionally premium level of parts breakdown and options for an HG, on top of ideal articulation characteristics. If there are any gripes, it's that the purple sections on the wings are left as stickers, and the anti-mobile suit enhanced swords mounted on the side skirts are so long that they keep catching on things and falling off. It's especially a little frustrating that after handling the gold parts so brilliantly, they left the wing sections — which look like they'd be much easier to color-separate — as stickers... -_-

That said, the ¥3,700 price tag — steep for an HG — feels very well justified by the quality delivered here. The design looks fantastic, the build is enjoyable, the articulation is excellent, and the action parts and poses are spectacular... The deployed binder pose is stable, the Wings of Light hold firmly in place, and the overall sense of solidity is really commendable. This is probably the best HG of 2024 by a wide margin, and I have a feeling it'll be regarded as a classic for quite some time to come. :-)

HGCE Black Knight Squad Cal-re.A | 2024.10 | ¥3,700

AIThis page was translated by Claude Sonnet.