MG Strike Freedom – GBWC custom
My first MG is this Strike Freedom and it was a gift (thanks Sarah!); it’s also my first competition kit, contending at GBWC 2011 (I think), Perth, Australia. I was brand new at customizing and it shows, with lots of cool concepts that were not well thought out or polished. This was the first time I learnt ‘when you think you’re done sanding, you’re not’. The finish is incredibly rough wherever I customized; not only because it was sanded enough, but also because this was my first go at air brushing. Now some people can pick up a new tool, play around with it for an hour and be competent…I am not that person.
I’m very fond of this build though, because it was crazy ambitious for me at that time. I was cutting armour pieces apart, gluing pla-plate wherever I could find space, and, experimented with casting for the first time. Looking at it 7 years later I’m annoyed at all the glaring flaws, but hey, we all have to start somewhere.
Anyway, a bit of a review of the kit:
Things that work:
- Even out of the box, this is an impressive looking kit, especially with those gorgeous wings deployed. If you want a model that grabs attention regardless of whether it’s a straight build or a year long customisation project, this is a winner.
- The inner frame is incredibly detailed and houses multiple moving gimmicks, from sliding armour panels, a mechanism to slide the rear skirt down thereby making room for the rail cannons to rotate to the rear, and the wing mechanism which spreads the dragoons apart when the wings go into Hi-Mat mode.
Things that don’t:
- No critique of the Strike Freedom neglects to mention this: the normal gold plastic looks crap. It’s more of dirty yellow than a true gold. If you get this kit, at minimum you should get a can of gold spray paint and put it to the frame, no ifs, no buts.
- Much like the Nu above, the basic MG doesn’t come with any way to display the dragoons, which I can see being irritating for some. For that you would need the Full Burst Mode which is a fair bit more pricey, and from what I’ve seen, is very prone to drooping.
Who this kit is for:
I emphatically recommend the MG Strike Freedom to you if:
- you love the design of the Strike Freedom (that was easy),
- you’re looking for a show piece that is eye catching regardless of how much time effort you put into it (though it will look better with more of both of course),
- you’ve built simple MGs before and are looking for a challenge. For me, this is the most compelling reason to get this kit. There are lots of fun MGs that look great and are fun to build, for e.g. Blitz gundam, Zaku II 2.0, Exia. Then there are skill gate kits, which force you to learn new skills in order for you to proceed, a perfect example being the MG Sinanju: a decent kit out of the box, but, if you don’t handle the sleeve details well, much of the kit’s beauty is wasted. Similarly, the MG Strike Freedom is a skill gate kit that tests your patience, detailing, and, delicacy. I say patience because of the wings and dragoons, which you will be repeating ad nauseum; i say detailing because there are many tiny, easily missed section that are not provided in the right colour and catching these really makes it pop; i say delicacy because the wings are fragile. Not only are they long, thin, and easily broken, the dragoon spreading gimick (mentioned above) is easily broken if you don’t assemble it right or you rotate the wings too far. I don’t have photos of this because I broke mine! (Luckily, you can check out the working version on Dalong’s review). Most MG kits look like real robots (with the detailed inner frame and attached armour) but only the Strike Freedom ACTS like a real robot: it is majestic and capable, but also incredibly complex and, if treated without care, fragile. Conversely, if you treat it with respect, patience and care, it is an immensely fulfilling kit.