1. It has a very weak waist and a very heavy backpack (wings). You can glue the waist since it doesn't rotate much anyway. Even if you put this model on a stand, you still risk the top half falling off.
2. This is a nub mark nightmare. I do not recommend this kit for beginners, you'll scuff and mark it if you don't know what you're doing, especially the gold plated runner which are the shiny parts you see between the open wings.
3. You need a Raser or other nano glass file that doesn't mark the plastic, to damage it as little as possible as a TON of the nubs/gates are on the outside and not inside. Even then you'll need to be careful with the ones on the leg plates, which are concave and hard to get to.
Those were the warnings, on to the review:
RG #14 - Strike Freedom, the massively powerful Gundam piloted by Kira Yamato (aka Gundam Jesus) from the second Seed show; Seed Destiny.
If the "IMMA FIRIN' MAH LAZER" or "SHOOP DA WOOP" meme was a Gundam, this would be it. With it's akimbo beam rifles, skirt railguns and center chest beam cannon (plus the 8 'Dragoon' fin funnels) this Gundam is basically a walking ball of firing solutions, taking out dozens of mobile suits at a time (non-lethally) and shredding entire fleets of space ships (not so non-lethally).
Aesthetics:
It looks great assembled. I don't much like the gun designs, but they are far more color separated and detailed than any other guns I've seen so far.
The gold plated bits that are inside the wings look fantastic, especially through the little gaps everywhere, which shows them off nicely.
What is NOT nice are the two different injection gold plastic runners, which is all of the inner frame, as well as all the hands. It looks cheap and god awful, and it's a break hazard over time as metal injection plastic tends to crumble and break over the years (because the "swirls" make it inconsistent). Thankfully it's mostly covered up.
Mechanics and Equipment:
Wings are segmented into 4 pairs, which rotate freely and can slightly split apart. There's a 'Dragoon' bit or fin funnel (autonomous flying weapon that shoots lasers) which is the blue part on each tip.
You can pull the Dragoons off entirely (no stand connection bit, you have to be creative to pose them on their own), or you can pull them off half-way and open two plastic hatches, which reveals the gold plated parts underneath.
The side skirts have a railgun on them each, which fold out as skirt mounted rifles. They can fold together and rotate behind/over the rear skirts, revealing two C clips on the sides that can hold the beam rifles. Very nice detail!
You can put one beam rifle into the other, to form a long beam rifle. It kind of looks dumb if you ask me, but it's an option.
The cockpit hatch is on top in front of the head and can open.
The legs segment a bit as you articulate them. It's okay, but it's a minor detail on this model.
You can attach one included beam shield to either arm.
There are two beam sabers mounted on the side skirts, which combine to form a single 'Darth Maul' style dual beam saber (two red beam effects included), although the connection is quite weak.
There are four sets of hands - 2 fists, 2 spread hands, 2 holding hands and 2 Real Grade MS Joint System hands which are not great.
The kit is from 2013 (RG started in 2010) and the inner frame is the infamous MS Joint system, which sags/droops with age. Thankfully the way the wings rotate are assembled plastic on plastic friction, so they'll stay in the same pose forever.
The arms however, maybe not so much.
The waist is bad, it's an accident waiting to happen and it's annoying because even if you put this model on a stand (with an incredibly dodgy adapter), that doesn't take the weight off of the waist.
You also need a stand to balance it, as it's top and back heavy and the sloppy MS joints struggle to deal with it.
For whatever reason, the head on mine wants to look slightly to the right all the time. If I center it, the head will slowly but surely turn right a little, which is odd and annoying.
Conclusion:
Don't get it if you're a beginner.
It's a bit repetitive to build, but not as bad as I thought it would be, the wings are very simple to make despite how good they look. There are a lot of parts and while the color separation is really good, this will take you a while to build.
It does look impressive however, especially considering the kit that came just before this one ("Full Burnern" same year) has a lot less sharp details and not as good looking plastic colors.
The gold plating is extremely shiny and good looking, but the injection gold plastic is equally nauseating and disappointing.
I can't give this full marks however, the waist is not just weak, it's badly made and they did it because they stubbornly held on to the MS Joint system, ignoring the weight requirements.
