Gunpla Review: HGCE Freedom Gundam ver. Revive

It's been a crazy, heavy week and a half. A bit of a window before I go back to work (yes, weekend work), let's take a look at the newest freedom in town: HGCE Freedom ver. Revive.

Nope. He's not getting any better editing images

Ah the Freedom. Piloted by the famous (infamous in Seed Destiny) Jesus Yamato, I still remember how amazed I was as a teenager when they showed the clip where the Freedom Gundam swooped down to defend the Archangel.

Aesthetics

No doubt the Freedom Gundam is one of the most popular suit design there is. Personally, my favorite suit from Seed are the Guaiz R and the Duel Gundam, but there's no denying that the suit design is very pleasing to the eye. The nuclear-powered, beam spamming machine deviates from the standard color scheme, trading it the bright blue, red and white of the Strike to a dark navy blue, blue and white, similar to how the Gundam Double X is darker compared to Gundam X.

It's a machine of peace really. No one was killed during the beam spam attacks.

Speaking of Gundam X, there's no denying the influence of the Gundam Double X in it's design, from the angular wings, dual cannons affixed to it, and little bit's and pieces that references to it, but in a much sleeker package. This model kit captures that sleekness that the old HG can't (as the old one was stumpy and sticker filled).

Like the revive RX-78, you also get a clear yellow piece for the eyes that's just hidden enough to not make it shine. The head design inserts a few changes: bigger eyes, thicker cheeks and a smaller face plate. There's enough surface detailing to keep it interesting, and it's genius to add the raised detail in the shouder armor to hide the seams. The only eye-sore are the seams and nubs in the rail cannons in the hips.

Most of the colors are accurately molded in plastic (no sticker v-fin here), with stickers used mostly in the trim pieces of the cannons (both wing and hip cannons).

Overall, it captures the sleekness of it's anime counterpart in 1/144 scale better than the old HG. It has a better face sculpt compared to the robot damashii, and cleaner overall than the RG. The build is simple and easy, and the kit overall requires little effort to make it look good.

Articulation

The Freedom rarely fights on the ground, unlike the Strike. Hence it excels only when placed in a stand. We'll get to that in a sec.

Head is standard double joint, but as with all Freedom toys, the high collar and the rear helmet flap (?) hinders the head movement a bit.

He for got to take head articulation pics.... smh

Torso, now has the standard double joint: a ball joint on the stomach (polycap) and another one at the base of the torso connecting to the waist (plastic). Be careful not to wear out the torso joint too much, as it gets difficult to make it stand correctly... especially since as with all Freedom kits, it's incredibly back heavy.

Arm articulation is pretty standard at this point, allowing you to put it in whatever poses you need. It uses the new polycap position so the shoulder connection swings upwards instead of forward.

The legs again are pretty standard. With the sleek design not hindering any articulation point whatsover.

I mentioned earlier that the Freedom is mostly and aerial suit. The ankle guard hinders the tilt that it can't really make dynamic ground poses. Add in the heavy backpack, and it becomes difficult for the Freedom to stand and do ground poses. One thing to note is that the skirt is fixed, and if you have a thick stand, will interfere with the range of the stand.

If you want it to stand with straight legs, you'll need something to prop it up

Speaking of the backpack, it's plenty poseable. It now has the articulation to properly perform the signature beam spam pose with the wings spread out. Do note, however, that the small wings connected to the big wings are fixed (it's actually just in one piece).

Overall, not bad poseability wise. Once you put it on a stand is where this kit shines, but since the kit does not come with a stand, you'll need to buy one that fits (tamashii stages fit better vs. action bases here). More images on that after the weapon section.

Weapons and Extras

Most of Freedom's weapons are built in. The Plasma cannons from the backpack and the hip mounted railguns. But for hand help weapons, you get the signature rifle and shield (Justice has the same shield rifle combo). You also get beam sabers that can combine into a darth maul style weapon.

One thing about the shield is that it does not mount via a connector arm to the forearms or elbow. This one is completely handheld. Good thing the hands are tight enough so it doesn't flop around. It also has 2 connection points in the shield, so you could adjust it's position. This means you can't have a shield and a weapon on the left hand.

Once all mounted, you now have the complete Freedom Gundam. It does not need additional hands since it'll have some weapon in it's hand either way. The cannons have nice articulation so you can put it in Hi-Mat mode.

You can store the beam rifle behind via a peg in the rifle and a slot in the skirt.

With that, Kira can now sweep and cut the arms and legs off suits like a crazed Obi-wan mech.

swoop

swish

Nooo. Not the hands!

Overall package is complete. No missing accessories (looking at you 1/100 Barbatos) and there's nothing I feel lacking in accessories. Perhaps a display base would have been nice, but that'll bump up the price.

Size Comparison (and other comparison)

Standard 18 meter Gundam means it's about the same height as the RX-78. It's a pretty decent sized kit, with enough mass to feel substantial.

Of course, the bigger question is, how does it stack-up to the RG? Pretty well actually. They go for completely different aesthetics. The RG is busy while the HG is sleek. I prefer the head of the RG though, compared to the HGCE. It looks proportionally better compared to the tiny faceplate the HG has. The HG has better play value as it's not as fragile as the RG.

Summary

People were asking why we need the HG Freedom when we already have the RG. The RG of course is a wonderful kit, and if you pay a bit more, you'll get a kit that's more detailed with a full inner frame. But it's fragile and not fun to mess around. HG provides you anime aesthetics (sleek with clean lines) and a more playable robust figure. If you want to pose, and re-pose the kit without breaking anything, then the HG is for you. If you want a display piece, I would honestly recommend the RG due to the details it presents. But for a fun, playable, anime accurate freedom for not much money, then this is the kit for you. If you don't have a Freedom anything, this kit is very highly recommended.