Kit Review

Straight build + Partial paint + Panel lining + Decals

Size comparison with a cigarette pack

1/100 Strike Freedom Gundam - The wings are a bit large, but with a little balancing it stands up nice and solid. (1/3)

The wings are a bit large, but with a little balancing it stands up nice and solid.

The wings unfold in a double-layered fashion like this.

The 4 wings, each made up of 2 blades, can spread out even wider on their own.

Full open!

The hip railguns are simpler than Freedom's — you just unfold them once and that's it.

1/100 Strike Freedom Gundam - One interesting thing is... the hip railguns can rotate 90 degrees to the rear like this. Almos

One interesting thing is... the hip railguns can rotate 90 degrees to the rear like this.
Almost gives off a rear skirt vibe. ^^

1/100 Strike Freedom Gundam - And when you rotate the railguns to the back, you can also hang the beam rifles on the polycaps

And when you rotate the railguns to the back, you can also hang the beam rifles on the polycaps on the hips.

They look like twin beam rifles at first glance, but...

each one has its own unique gimmick.

1/100 Strike Freedom Gundam - So the clever trick is combining them into one like this! It's a similar concept to Wing Zechs'

So the clever trick is combining them into one like this!
It's a similar concept to Wing Zechs's twin guns, but the way they connect is quite different.

1/100 Strike Freedom Gundam - Two action-style open hands are included, and they look really good. A signature feature of the

Two action-style open hands are included, and they look really good.
A signature feature of the Strike Freedom is that the hands and joint areas are gold like this...

Articulation. Leg articulation is a bit better than average for a 1/100.

Dual rifle action pose

Combined rifle action pose

Beam saber and beam shield action

Pose with beam rifles mounted on both hips

1/100 Strike Freedom Gundam - The first-release limited stand is, just like Destiny Gundam's, a modified version of the MG Wi

The first-release limited stand is, just like Destiny Gundam's,
a modified version of the MG Wing Zechs stand. The only difference from Destiny's is the color.

1/100 Strike Freedom Gundam - Just like Destiny Gundam, it mounts and locks onto the backpack. The slight difference is that

Just like Destiny Gundam, it mounts and locks onto the backpack.
The slight difference is that there's a peg on the backpack attachment point, so the connection is more secure.

Stand on!

Action pose using the low stand angle

Side view

Looks like it wants to recreate the legend of Freedom...

1/100 Strike Freedom Gundam - Just like Destiny, the crotch joint can be swapped out for an action-type joint. On the left is

Just like Destiny, the crotch joint can be swapped out for an action-type joint.
On the left is the standard crotch piece, and the two on the right are the replacement action crotch parts.

Once you twist and connect the action-type crotch joint, it ends up like this.

A pose using the action crotch joint. Honestly doesn't feel all that different though;

1/100 Strike Freedom Gundam - Following Destiny, we get a couple-style character plate! It's Kira and Lacus, the main charact

Following Destiny, we get a couple-style character plate!
It's Kira and Lacus, the main characters of the original SEED.

Together with Destiny Gundam. The first-release bonus family.

Together with the original 1/100 Freedom Gundam.

The difference in wings.

1/100 Strike Freedom Gundam - As befitting a unit that carries on Freedom's lineage, the original Freedom and Strike Freedom

As befitting a unit that carries on Freedom's lineage, the original Freedom and Strike Freedom share almost identical color schemes.

Straight build shot — front

Rear

Following the 1/100 Destiny Gundam, its rival the Strike Freedom Gundam has been released right on its heels. Just like Destiny, it came out as a first-release limited edition in a large box that includes a stand and special joints.

First off, as a unit that carries on the lineage of the original Freedom, the overall style and coloring follows Freedom closely. Of course, it's just the concept that's similar — the design and details are different in various places — but it does share quite a similar silhouette. The most noticeable difference is the double-layered wings...

With its decent articulation and stiff joints, you can pull off a wide variety of action poses, and using the first-release limited stand along with the twisting crotch joint allows for even more dynamic poses. As expected, winged units and stands are a great match. ^^

The gimmick where the two rifles each have their own separate mechanism and then combine together is fully reproduced, and the color separation is generally well done, if a little lacking in spots. The two included action-style open hands are also really nice quality — it seems like Bandai has been putting quite a bit of effort into these resin-style hand parts lately. :-) The hip railguns, which are simpler than Freedom's, can also be rotated 90 degrees to the rear to sit like rear skirts. And the spot where the railguns used to be can then hold the beam rifles — a nice little touch!

The joints throughout the body are very solid, but... the wing attachment points are a bit weak. They're not loose exactly, but the pegs don't go in very deep, so the wings tend to pop off when you're moving things around. Also, strangely, only the action-style open hands fit a bit loosely into the wrist polycaps (and oddly the left hand is worse than the right;) — seems like there was a tolerance error somewhere in the design.

The one big issue with this Strike Freedom is... the proportions are a bit off; Something about the balance between the head, torso, and legs just feels awkward. It might be a matter of personal taste, but compared to other kits there's a sense of imbalance. Destiny Gundam had nice, sleek proportions, but Strike Freedom feels a bit iffy... I'm half-suspicious that they're deliberately holding back so the MG version can really blow it out of the water.

If you can get past the proportion complaints, it's a cleaner, more up-to-date quality kit than the older 1/100 Freedom, with a generally decent look. The impact of full-open mode on the stand is, as expected, great. And even if the proportions look a bit off when standing still, once you twist it into a dynamic pose it's not that noticeable. ^^;

1/100 Strike Freedom Gundam | 2005. 8 | ¥2,600

AIThis page was translated by Claude Sonnet.