Gundam Model Kits

The torso of the Freedom is one of its more original parts; the cockpit block slides over the 'neck' peg and sinks into the torso, a small, molded in white figure is inside the pilot seat and the cockpit hatch uses a sliding mechanism to simulate the top loader cockpit seen in the anime. The design is simple and not entirely true to the anime but works without disturbing the kit. The shoulder sockets are positioned in such a way that they allow some movement which greatly adds to the poseability of the arms.The torso and waist connect on a single peg which allows full rotation of the torso, but there is no vertical movement whatsoever. The skirt armor allows for plenty of movement even tough its a solid piece. The design of the Freedom's skirt armor makes it pitched slightly which also creates extra space for leg movement. The side armor inhibits the poseability a little bit when the rail cannons are folded up, but it's less than I would have expected.

The arms are the pride of this kit. The construction is very similar to the arms on the MG God Gundam's inner action fighting frame, which means they are both sturdy and poseable really nicely. Although there are no screws to hold the joints they lock very smoothly and have great poseability. On the outside of the arms, under removable panels, are retractable pegs which you can use to attach the shield on and which are neatly concealed by the removable panels when you opt not to attach the shield or make Freedom hold it on the handle. The hands on this model are its main plus: 4 individual double-jointed fingers and single-jointed thumbs which rival the PG Strike's hands. Slots in the hands lock all weapons extremely sturdily with hidden pegs on the handheld weaponry.

The legs on the Freedom are very simple and nothing really stands out on them. However, the the ankle armor is incredibly annoying to keep in place and I recommend gluing them to the legs. The poseability is fine though and the knees bend quite a bit. The legs are a bit heavy too, but considering it can stand on its own with its wings spread they do their job amazingly well. This is something that the 1/60 Strike Gundam didn't do as it tended to fall over when equipped with the Aile pack.

Freedom's weapons are what makes it so unique: the Xiphias rail cannons and Balaena plasma cannons being the best ones, but the Lupus beam rifle is very nicely done. The beam sabers, normally stored on the hips, combine to form a dual beam saber as seen in the anime.
Balaena Plasma cannons & wings- These are HEAVY. Not only do they hold the humongous plasma rifles but they can even spread out for Freedom's famous HiMAT mode, and this model does it flawlessly. The joints are tight and the wings CANNOT sack because they only have a 45 degree rotation in the vertical arc. However this does NOT mess up poseability at all since the wings are mounted on pivot arms. All of the moving parts should make the wings relatively susceptible to sagginess in the polycaps, but the Freedom's wings are very sturdy and even with their weight they stay in place perfectly. Whether the plasma cannons are folded into the wings or over the shoulders in active mode they look fine and they don't sag. What more do you want?
Xiphias rail cannons- These really are Freedom's best weapons. They fold into the skirt armor exactly as they do in the anime and the rail cannons are so incredibly sturdy that even after folding them up 50 times in a row they still haven't lost their tight lock-up. Next to looking incredibly nice when folded up they also look very nice when folded out and the even have handles hidden in the guns themselves, which Freedom can hold on too.
Lupus beam rifle- The beam rifle has a nifty little peg in the handle to securely lock it into place in the Freedom's hand. Not only that, the armor on the beam rifle makes it look very nice and you can use the poseability of the model to get some really nice action shots with the beam rifle. Another nice thing about the rifle is that it can be stored on the back skirt armor. A little point of note tough is that when the rail cannons are fully deployed the beam rifle doesn't exactly fit in between anymore. Nothing major though as you usually wanna keep this rifle in the Gundam hand!
Beam sabers- These beam sabers are molded in red transparent plastic and the base of them in white and black. There's a fair number of parts here, mostly to hide away the little retractable peg which you use to secure the sabers in the Freedom Gundam's hands. The little caps at the end of the handles can be removed and replaced by a double one to join the two sabers together. When the sabers aren't in use they slot very nicely onto the top of the side armor.
Shield- There's quite a lot of parts to the Freedom Gundam's shield, and as a result it looks great. It's also pretty big but fits onto the arm nicely. Personally, I'm not a fan of shields so it will probably stay in the box when Ii put mine on display, but for those who like shields this really is very nicely done.

For only ¥ 5000, this kit is great. It beats the Strike Gundam model of the same line in almost every way and it's more fun to build and actually has more sturdiness and poseability than most MG kits do. If you're looking for a big Gundam kit and don't want to spend ¥ 12000 on a PG kit, buy this kit because its the closest you'll get to it for a nice price. For fans of SEED and Freedom in particular, this model should be on the top of your list. (Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 stars)

Contributor: A.M.G.

General and Technical Data
Series: 1/60 Scale Release Date: 08/2003 Price: ¥ 5000