Kit Review

Straight build + Panel lining + Seals

Size comparison with a cigarette pack

Upper body and head

Weapons

Legs

RG Freedom Gundam - Wing unit detail shots (1/4)

RG Freedom Gundam - Wing unit detail shots (2/4)

Wing unit detail shots

Rail gun section

The depth of detail on the inside of the shield is no joke.. feels like it surpasses the MG.

A total of 6 hands are included.

Kira's 1/144 figure.

Outer armor removed

RG Freedom Gundam - Inner frame shots (1/2)

RG Freedom Gundam - Inner frame shots (2/2)

Internal frame

RG Freedom Gundam - Detail shots of each part of the frame. Very similar to the RG Aile Strike, but with slight differences.

Detail shots of each part of the frame.
Very similar to the RG Aile Strike, but with slight differences.

RG Freedom Gundam - Articulation in frame-only state is great, as expected. (1/4)

RG Freedom Gundam - Articulation in frame-only state is great, as expected. (2/4)

Articulation in frame-only state is great, as expected.

The wing connection points also each get one of those multi-material injection frame joints.

The articulation folds up nice and tight, as expected.

The shoulders raise up quite a lot too.

The wings spread out nicely as per the design specs..

RG Freedom Gundam - Interestingly, the large wings split apart one more time between the dark blue and blue sections!! It's a

Interestingly, the large wings split apart one more time between the dark blue and blue sections!!
It's a gimmick that wasn't even on the MG — a brand new addition for the RG.

The front thigh armor slides open,

and the knee armor also moves in a two-stage linked motion.

RG Freedom Gundam - The front shin armor also slides up and down in response to ankle movement. At this small scale, the legs

The front shin armor also slides up and down in response to ankle movement.
At this small scale, the legs are packed with slide mold gimmicks that surpass even the MG — really impressive stuff.

RG Freedom Gundam - Aerial firing pose using Action Base 2. Those wings really make the Freedom, as always. (1/5)

RG Freedom Gundam - Aerial firing pose using Action Base 2. Those wings really make the Freedom, as always. (2/5)

RG Freedom Gundam - Aerial firing pose using Action Base 2. Those wings really make the Freedom, as always. (3/5)

Aerial firing pose using Action Base 2.
Those wings really make the Freedom, as always.

RG Freedom Gundam - Beam saber action (1/4)

RG Freedom Gundam - Beam saber action (2/4)

Beam saber action

RG Freedom Gundam - Double beam saber action (3/5)

Double beam saber action

RG Freedom Gundam - Action pose with beam sabers connected (1/6)

RG Freedom Gundam - Action pose with beam sabers connected (2/6)

RG Freedom Gundam - Action pose with beam sabers connected (3/6)

RG Freedom Gundam - Action pose with beam sabers connected (4/6)

Action pose with beam sabers connected

RG Freedom Gundam - Combined cannon and rail gun action with weapons hidden in the wings (1/6)

RG Freedom Gundam - Combined cannon and rail gun action with weapons hidden in the wings (2/6)

RG Freedom Gundam - Combined cannon and rail gun action with weapons hidden in the wings (3/6)

RG Freedom Gundam - Combined cannon and rail gun action with weapons hidden in the wings (4/6)

Combined cannon and rail gun action with weapons hidden in the wings

RG Freedom Gundam - Full salvo pose with wings fully open (1/8)

RG Freedom Gundam - Full salvo pose with wings fully open (2/8)

RG Freedom Gundam - Full salvo pose with wings fully open (3/8)

RG Freedom Gundam - Full salvo pose with wings fully open (4/8)

RG Freedom Gundam - Full salvo pose with wings fully open (5/8)

RG Freedom Gundam - Full salvo pose with wings fully open (6/8)

Full salvo pose with wings fully open

True to the RG line, the complex cannon gimmick is reproduced perfectly.

RG Freedom Gundam - Alongside the HG Freedom Gundam. The difference in both proportions and quality is massive. ^^; (1/2)

RG Freedom Gundam - Alongside the HG Freedom Gundam. The difference in both proportions and quality is massive. ^^; (2/2)

Together with the HG Freedom Gundam.
The difference in both proportions and quality is massive. ^^;

Alongside the RG Aile Strike.
The overall quality feel of the two kits is pretty similar.

RG Freedom Gundam - Alongside the MG Freedom Gundam. The later RG is more refined, as you'd expect, but the MG is still very

Together with the MG Freedom Gundam.
The later RG is definitely more refined, but the MG is still very much a top-tier kit.

Straight build

The fifth entry in the RG lineup — which delivers MG-level (and beyond) detail at a smaller scale — is the Freedom Gundam. It's well known as one of the best-selling kits in the entire MG line, and it's easy to see why: that sleek body paired with those flashy wings is just a great combination.

Overall quality is very similar to the RG Aile Strike from the same SEED series, and the inner frame looks quite alike at first glance — but look closely and you'll see it's actually a newly designed frame specifically for the Freedom. This pretty much blows away the early assumption that Bandai would just reuse frames across multiple kits in the lineup. The fact that they're tooling up expensive two-material injection molds from scratch for each new kit is honestly impressive in its own right. ^^ You can really see the developers' dedication to quality over efficiency.

The slide articulation gimmick on the thigh, knee, and shin armor works similarly to the Aile Strike, but one difference from the RG Strike is that the shin armor only slides open at the front rather than both front and back. Probably a durability consideration.

Overall articulation and joint strength are both solid, but just like the other versions, the large rear wings make it tricky to keep balanced. Kits with big backpacks tend to be hard to stand upright regardless of scale, and I figured the RG's smaller, lighter build would make things easier — but it's not really any better, which is a bit of a letdown. That said, the joint strength is good enough that if you angle the legs back slightly into a slight lean, it stands up just fine.

Freedom's signature wing-spread gimmick is faithfully reproduced with all five sections just like on the MG — but interestingly, the RG adds an extra split in the middle of the large wing sections, allowing them to separate into seven sections total. It's a new gimmick that wasn't even on the MG, and it gives the fully spread wings an even more dramatic look. The downside is that cramming so many parts into such a small space does hurt the wing durability a bit — you may find the smaller wing sections loosening up and popping out slightly when opening and closing them. The easy fix is just to glue the wing joint parts in place. On the bright side, the wing joints themselves have great holding strength and the wings are light, so whatever pose you spread them into, they stay put — which I really love. (Another win for the smaller scale!)

Also, across pretty much every scale and grade, the beam sabers mounted on top of the side rail guns have always had iffy retention... but on the RG, they use a double-lock system with a palm peg, so the beam saber handles don't fall out easily. It's been one of the long-standing weak points of Freedom Gundam kits, so it's great that the RG has basically solved it as long as you seat them properly. The beam sabers and beam rifle both connect securely to the palm pegs too, so grip issues shouldn't be a source of frustration either. Lots of improvements all around on this one.

The overall gimmick design and build quality surpass the MG Freedom, and this is clearly a masterpiece kit that shows Bandai's firm commitment to pushing precision engineering to the limit regardless of size. It's the most popular mobile suit in the SEED series, and with quality like this, it looks set to be a long-running bestseller in the RG line just like it was in the MG line. :-)

RG Freedom Gundam | 2011. 11 | ¥2,800

AIThis page was translated by Claude Sonnet.