Kit Review
Straight build
+ panel lining + decals
1. Basic Photos
The universal standard for size comparison — next to a cigarette pack.
Upper body close-up. Quite a flashy look, as expected from an MG.
Destiny's signature "bloody tear" markings are done with color separation. That's MG for you!
Those slender legs..
The MG Destiny has some interesting feet — the left and right are made as mirror-image asymmetrical designs.
Most kits across all grades tend to have both feet in nearly the same shape, so this is quite a bold design choice.
The end result gives it a really unique and refined look.
The back, loaded up with all sorts of stuff hanging off it.
Cockpit hatch open.
The bright purple sections on both sides of the chest also have color separation, as you'd expect from an MG.
The backpack vernier detail is insane. Even when you remove the verniers, there's incredibly dense detail underneath..
1/100 Shinn and Stella figures, complete with display stands.
2. Weapons
Destiny's impressive arsenal. When are you ever going to use all of that..
Rear view without weapons, and the bare body.
Hands included: 2 articulated hands, 2 open-palm hands, and 1 beam saber grip hand..
But stingily, only 2 hand back covers are included, so you have to swap them around.
Even the No Grade 1/100 came with multiple hand back covers — come on~
Weapons are secured via pegs on the palm, as usual.
The grip strength is.. neither great nor terrible. It holds well enough.
Beam Rifle
Looking at those subtle little bits of color separation, you can't help but think — yep, this is MG~~.
Remove the cover on top of the rifle and there's a bit of inner frame detail inside.
The shield is articulated, of course.
Rear of the shield.
The beam sword and beam cannon mounted on the back are foldable.
The blade portion of the beam sword has nice color separation.
The sword extends at the middle section.
Attach the separate beam parts to complete the beam sword form.
The beam sword handle is actually black, so some spot painting is needed.. (so what are you gonna do about it?!?)
The beam cannon has a unique linked gimmick.
Fold the handle section downward and hidden structures pop out from the top and bottom accordingly.
The red accent on the rear of the beam cannon also moves slightly.
The beam weapon parts on the shoulders can accept two different beam effect parts.
3. Articulation &
Gimmicks
Arms and legs folding up nicely is a given at this point.
The split-movement knee gimmick is pretty unique.
The sliding thigh armor is a nice touch too.
However.. the front skirt doesn't even lift to 90 degrees,
so the skirt ends up restricting leg articulation quite a bit — that's a bit of a bummer... ;;
The shoulder forward-swing gimmick is really, really unique.
Part of the body armor at the outer edge of each shoulder separates and extends forward.
From that position, the entire shoulder gimmick links together and also raises upward.
Looking at the internal structure, you can see how the horizontal movement works..
Vertical and horizontal movement aren't separate — the entire shoulder joint is organically linked and moves together.
In a way, it's kind of similar to how human shoulder muscles work..
The shoulder gimmick in motion, seen from multiple angles from the front.
It's quite an original shoulder joint structure — a first for Gunpla.
So in the end, the shoulder moves organically like this, all linked together..
90-degree wrist bend is standard too.
A waist joint stopper is also included, so no matter how heavy the backpack is, the waist won't droop backward.
You have to open the stopper at the center of the lower back to allow the waist to bend rearward, and the range of that bend is fairly generous.
The beam weapon mount on the shoulder can also move within this range.
Yet another new hip joint structure has been introduced.
Instead of the usual front-and-back swinging hip joint, this one spreads the legs outward to the sides.
Push the switch in the crotch area backward and the legs automatically spread apart.
(Probably gave up on the front-back swing style due to skirt clearance issues.)
When the legs are spread, the switch locks in with a satisfying "click," so thankfully it doesn't wobble in and out.
The downside, though, is that the lock feels a bit vague when the legs are brought back together. -.-;
The internal hip joint structure looks roughly like this.
The MG Destiny's joint gimmicks really have a lot of new ideas going on.
Before and after spreading the hip joint. You can see the legs spread further out to the sides.
Maybe it's the skirt restrictions, but that pose looks a little unnatural somehow.
The legs can split to about this extent. You could say that's pretty impressive..
Range of motion for the wings.
There are articulated cylinders on top of the wings.
The three small feathers in the middle of the wing are linked, so when you spread the main wing, they all fan out automatically one after another.
To allow for wing movement, the mounting section can extend to a certain length.
Wings spread open.
4. Inner Frame
Armor removed. This is just the body armor removed — wings and weapons are still on.
Inner frame shots. Full-body frame.
Torso and arm frame.
The blue shoulder armor is integrated with the joint mechanism, so it's a bit awkward to remove..
Thigh frame with slide gimmick.
Leg frame
The precision of the leg frame is truly top-notch~.
There's also a cylinder at the front of the ankle.
The waist joint could move in all directions — forward, backward, and side to side..
The legs split well too..
Since the thigh's upward range of motion is limited, the fully-folded crouch pose is a bit stiff.
Still, it's an excellent frame befitting a recent release.
True to MG standards, the inside of the skirts and the inner surfaces of the armor panels are packed with molded detail.
5. Action Poses
The hip joint is a bit stiff, so the kneeling pose doesn't come out perfectly natural. Still, it looks pretty cool.
The included dedicated display stand. Like previous releases, the base is shaped like the unit's wings.
The stand can rotate and lock in multiple directions, and you can extend it further by adding a connector piece in the middle.
Stand action~
Unsheathing pose
Beam parts action 1
Sword action. The sword is incredibly long.
Destiny Gundam's trademark energy blast... ;;
Another sword action
Destiny Gundam comes with 2 different shields.
Beam cannon action
The beam cannons can also be used by rotating them around while still mounted on the back.
(Similar to the VSBR on the F91)
Dual gun action
6. Comparison Shots
Comparison shots with the MG Strike Freedom Gundam. Both kits were released with a similar concept.
The wings on the Destiny side definitely feel noticeably larger.
Two kits completely transformed by going MG.
Comparison with the
1/100 No Grade
There are quite a few differences compared to the 1/100 No Grade. (Well, obviously!)
Just like the previous Strike/Freedom/Strike Freedom,
going MG made it bigger, slimmer, and improved the molded colors and color separation.
Just comparing the base bodies first. The MG seems to have gone on a height-gaining(?) diet
Articulation-wise, the MG wins hands down, no contest.. (well, it costs double the price, so it better..)
Body comparison. Even though the colors look similar, there are actually quite a lo~t of differences.
The thickness of the blue stripe on the chest area is especially worlds apart;;
Wing comparison. The MG's level of detail is on a completely different level.
The MG's wings are overwhelmingly larger. The linked gimmicks when spread open and everything else — also a huge difference.
Slimmed-down legs.. The difference in the feet is dramatic.
The rifle and shield differences feel relatively less dramatic in comparison.
Beam cannon comparison. The MG version is longer as well.
Same goes for the sword comparison.
Straight build