Bandai Hobby - Gundam Seed Destiny - Strike Freedom Gundam, Bandai Spirits MGEX 1/100 Model Kit

This is the pinnacle of Gunpla engineering. It is by far the most complex, articulated, detailed, accented model I've ever assembled. I couldn't even fit all of the sprues on my kitchen table, there's SO much. It comes with its own stand because it has to: when you attach the wings to the main body, the whole model is so heavy that its knees can't hold it up. It does stand up on its own if you remove the backpack + wings.To be honest, I think this is at or even a little bit beyond the limit of what you can physically do with plastic. The legs are incredibly articulated, the thing can cross its ankles and go on tiptoe and honestly it could probably twerk in stop-motion if I spent the time on it. However, with so many articulation points in the legs, just getting a single leg into the pose you want is an exercise in joint isolation: you gotta hold all 3 other joints still and then move just the one you want, and then repeat that for every single joint. I almost wish it was simpler and less articulated, now that it's built.The inner gold frame is amazing, and it was super fun to build the whole thing twice: once for the inner frame, once for the outer armor. However, I didn't realize just how covered up the internal gold frame would be. There's a dozen etching stickers (which are a nightmare to work with, by the way), and while they're all visible on the inner frame, more than half of them are *completely* covered up on the finished model, and the instructions don't indicate which ones those are, at all. I almost wish I hadn't bothered with putting them all on.Also, I straight up broke off one of the four wings when trying to pose it. I wasn't even using that much force, I was just pivoting in the wrong direction. This should be considered an experts-only kit, if that wasn't obvious already.I got this for $180, and I'd say it's definitely worth that price. A lot of sellers are offering this for $250 and I don't think it's quite that good, but I don't think any model is that good.

Building this like building the PG unleashed RX78-2 in the sense that you build the inner frame and then you build the armor parts on later. This gave some pretty cool insight into what the suits look like behind al the armor. The gold that Bandaid uses is usually hit or miss but in this kit, they are mostly hits with the misses being parts that you can't really see so I have no issue with that. With most Gundam kits with wings or fins, they are tedious to build as you are just doing the same thing over and over but that's alright. I got this at a little it under MSRP but if you live Gundam SEED, I think it's worth it.

This is my second time doing this the product looks amazing when finished but it was truly a challenge.WarningsBe careful of the following breaks :Hipthe hip placement rails under mounts. I broke the pice that holds that part the hip on both sides and had to superglu.. post build only made the rail guns not posableWing joint: ensure you have them placed right moving the piece brok the joint and I had to superglue the wing to the wing arm in a position I'd be okay displaying.Posable hands: i didn't understand how the expected the fingers to stay in the hand joints but they all fell out. Can't use sabers now as those were the only way to hold them.Stickers: didn't even bother with the water ones they were too smallDidn't bother with some of the metallic ones as they were also too small would recommend a magnifying glass or something if you truly want to get all of those on thereMetal stickers 5/5Overall.The level of detail was insane there are internal details you won't see once the build is final and I love the experience that you are seeing internals meant for the builder to seeQuality: some parts broke so kinda meh... would give that a 3 out of 5. Would say 4 out of 5 if I was really experienced and knew what to avoid.Build time: it took an average of 2.5 dedicated days to completeValue: it's pricey for a master grade but the details make it totally worth it.Experience: 10/5 what a memorable experience. It's beautiful in every detail. I would consider this an amazing gift or purchase for anyone that likes gunpla.

Definitely deserved the MGEX title. Poses like you can't believe, peg tolerances are tight but not so tight that they need clipping, only a few joints needed sanding, piece size ranges from as big as my palm to 1/8 of my pinky nail.Only downside that I need to fish out is that some joints are unnecessarily tight that I feel like it's straining the plastic. Examples being the thigh and bicep swivel. Understandable in both cases why they should be so tight, but I can't help but be nervous twisting them when they're surrounded by so many other moving parts10/10

Worth the price! Loved how detail and aesthetically it looks. Such a fun experience to build. Just be careful when building the hands with the ball joints, was a handful to get it together.

The Kit that keeps on giving. A newer kit that you can tell they took some great time to design structure. the steps/Phases do not disappoint (Much like the RX PGU).

incredible model kit (wings of light buy from another store)

It exceeds expectations make sure you have proper tools so you don't end up with any regrets. If you are considering it stop considering ti and buy it, once I have cleared out more of my backlog I will be adding a second to my collection. I can't wait for more MGEX models.