The following will contain spoilers for Mobile Suit Gundam SEED FREEDOM.
Following the complete reveal of all mobile suits appearing in Gundam SEED FREEDOM, we also get additional Gunpla reveals, though not all. Before going further, here are some unsolicited thoughts regarding these “new” designs and how they’ll translate to kits, if ever.
The problem with how things ended with Gundam SEED DESTINY, especially with Kira and the gang, is that they were unscathed at the end of the finale. Coming into the film, they went into battle with weaker machines so that there would still be some semblance of stakes because otherwise, it would be another one-sided battle. These came in the form of new, yet weaker, mobile suit designs. Eventually, they will have to go back to their more powerful mobile suits and since they’re already powerful, it won’t make sense to upgrade them further. Thus, we are seeing the trend of mobile suits getting the “Spec II” or “Type II” treatment. Some are in the form of minute design changes and some being minor color swaps.
Bandai Spirits revealed three new kits as of this post though we’re not sure if the other mobile suits will get new and/or updated kits because of the reasons mentioned. I will mainly cover just one, while another in passing.
Taking the title of the film’s new poster boy from the Rising Freedom Gundam is the Mighty Strike Freedom Gundam as it joins the High Grade Cosmic Era line. Based on the design alone, I will say that it will likely share a suitable number of parts from the HGCE Strike Freedom but with the minor changes here and there, they might just create new runners altogether for this kit. The most notable difference is, of course, the new Proud Defender backpack unit replacing the Super DRAGOON units which got destroyed in the film.
Thanks to the “SEED Action System,” the Mighty Strike Freedom is able to replicate the dynamic poses seen in the film. With the addition of the “Futunomitama” (Kira is clearly stealing Shinn’s thing here), additional articulation is placed on the forearms and wrists to better hold the physical bladed weapon. The Mighty Strike Freedom still has the two beam rifles, just in a darker color. Speaking of which, the kit does away with the hip rail cannons sliding to the back to be replaced by the beam rifles for storage. Instead, the beam rifles just connect to the hip rail cannons.
The Proud Defender can be attached and detached from the back of the mobile suit as seen in the film. I’m not so sure if the Proud Defender is using the standard double peg connector that most High Grades do. If it does, then you can recreate the Strike Freedom Gundam Type II configuration by replacing the backpack with the one from the HGCE Strike Freedom.
They mention the gold parts being molded in metallic gloss injection, though I will still have to see for myself if they would be good as is or if they need some gold painting. In addition, the pink glowing parts on each of the wing binders will be utilizing 3D metallic stickers. While I prefer painting such details, if this is the same as how they were used in the HG Schwarzette, then I’m all for it.
Lastly, the kit will come with a replacement blade antenna piece with the crest piece open to reveal its forehead mounted cutting beam. But for my sanity, I will probably keep this in a resealable bag and will just use the default parts.
With everything said, I will attempt to look for the Super DRAGOON backpack parts from HGCE Strike Freedom kit. After this kit was announced, there was an increased demand for these parts, so I assume many are thinking of having a spare to build the Type II configuration.
HGCE 1/144 Mighty Strike Freedom Gundam
May 2024 / ¥2,700
Order via HobbyLink Japan
I will be glossing over the HGCE Infinite Justice Gundam Type II, and this is a good representation of the point I was making earlier. Besides minor changes to the main mobile suit, most of the new parts for this kit went to the backpack. Unfortunately, many see the backpack design as lackluster compared to its predecessor.
It does function more or less the same, though it does look really boring thanks to the blatant use of gray as the primary color, whereas the previous ones came in the same colors as the mobile suit. I bet many would be painting this backpack in Justice colors. Oh yes, the wings do open in an x pattern, just like the X-Wing from Star Wars.
HGCE 1/144 Infintie Justice Gundam Type II
May 2024 / ¥2,800
Order via HobbyLink Japan
Here’s the new promo video for the aforementioned kits.
