As of writing this, my pre-ordered Tallgeese and Leo are apparently in transit and will not be arriving until 2 weeks from now. All my efforts to avoid buying toys are really futile at this point, having obtained a Lady Thor and Angela action figures to satisfy my toy itch. On top of that, a hobby shop opened just below my office building... which isn't good for my wallet as I ended up with this: the updated HGUC Blue Destiny Gundam.
There was already a HGUC Blue Destiny way back in 2007. That required you to paint the shoulders red if you wanted the Nimbus custom. Also this is an excellent way for Bandai to milk the updated Ground Gundam/GM mold. Would have been nice if the Efreet Custom wasn't a P-Bandai but that's off topic (only 1 Efreet was regular release sadly).
The Feddy Gundams of this timeline are mostly made up of blocks, and epitomizes that design aesthetic more that the ground line of GMs and Gundams. It looks like layers of square cakes.
Unit 2 of any gundam normally means a dark blue color and this is no different. It's mostly molded in 2 shades of blue ( a bit purplish IRL), albeit lighter than the 2007 version, with white sprinkled in.
There are grey details on the thrusters and all the red and yellow details are separate pieces. The only main parts that are not molded in it's correct color are the white circles around the ankles and the white on the backpack thrusters. Also the elbow joints are white and he knees are blue. Kinda wish the knee joints are white as well for consistency.
For the really minor details you need the stickers (like the triangles) or paint (the yellow/red insides of the thrusters). But out of box, it looks good even without paint.
Compared to the 2007 version, it looks oodles better. It has better proportions, details, and parts separation. It's still a box on legs, but it's a better detailed box
Talking about the build, it's one of those HG origin moments where the base of the kit is engineered very well and assembling it is a nice experience. It's not annoying at all and the nubs are relatively small. I hope bandai keeps using the softer plastic for blue and red pieces as they do not leave very obvious marks when cut (unlike the RG Qan-T). My only complaint is the wrist assembly and we'll get to that in a different section.
Overall, if you're a fan of the boxy early UC design, then this kit will not disappoint. It has excellent parts separation, the build is easy and it's engineering is good. If they use the same build for updated Hazel designs, I will be happy. Then again, I'm pretty sure they'll make it P-Bandai...
It's a box, so articulation will probably take a hit. And in some points it does.
Staring with the head. It's a ball joint at the top and a swivel at the base. Aesthetically it looks mostly ok unless you swivel it way up, then it exposes the gap.
Looking down is limited.
Head tilt to the side is preserved.
Main issue, as with most suits that feature this design, is the back of the helmet. Since it does not use the double ball polycap, it loses some range of motion and more often than not, it'll scrape on the collar.
From the pic above, you can see it also ditches the shoulder polycap for something more solid. It swivels up, but lacks the nice shoulder joints of the efreet so it can't cross it's arm much.
Also the flap on the shoulder armor extends, but is not secured in place so it'll pop in just as easy.
The mid torso is connected via an L shaped joint. The waist is also a ball joint and the black piece just floats there so as not to hinder it's movement. As the design is boxy and bulky, the range can be a bit limited but only for the most extreme poses.
It can do the splits and the side skirts, despite having those ammo clips, can get out of the way completely.
There is also the standard T joint that swivels up and down every so slightly.
The rest of the main joints have full range.
The main weakness is the ankle range... it's a bit too limited despite having a ball at the base and a swivel at the top of the ankle.
The ankle armor can swivel up and the front of the foot can also swivel a little.
Overall, its not bad as all the essentials are there. I just wish the ankles have better range.
Gundams are normally equipped with 2 sabers, a rifle and a shield... and for the most part, that's what you're going to get. Except you get an extra bull-pup rifle and some missiles and machine guns on the chest.
But 1st, you get an open palm for the left hand. I mentioned about the wrist earlier and why I'm not happy about it. It's because when you 1st insert the wrist, it'll produce a stress mark on the joint as it's not a polycap. It's plastic on plastic.
The beam sabers of these ground types are stored in the calves. And in the kit, you can pull it off to simulate it opening.
The machine gun has nice details, but is molded in blue. I do think that this is the suit's main rifle as there are 2 ammo pack as part of the suit design.
The stock and handle can swivel out as well.
The ammo pack is removable and you can use the packs stored on the waist skirt.
The beam rifle is pretty standard looking, but the build process and parts separation is much involved than what I'm used to. Believe it or not, there are 7 pieces to the rifle.
The shield connects via a peg. The shield can swivel around.
Main issue with this is the arm armor tends to come apart very easily. This would have been solved by making the shield archor point a separate piece to clamp the forearm armor in place. unglued and unmodified though, the connection is loose.
The backpack you're seeing is actually just a second backpack. You can pull out the big backpack to reveal smaller ground-type backpack. The connection is fine, albeit a bit loose.
The ground type backpack has it's own features. You can remove the top blue bits and part-swap in the deployed thrusters.
In the old HGUC Blue Destiny, you only have 1 option for the kit. You can opt for EXAM red eyes or regular green eyes. The green pops nicely but the preferred color is red. In this kit's case, you can have both as they provide you a clear green and a clear red piece and a relatively easy way to swap. By relatively easy I mean use a sharp thin blade to pop it out.
I always like it when a suit goes berserk with it's red eyes (EXAM, ALICE, Belphagor). I wish the wing zero had red eyes too.
As a bonus, you get extra parts to create the unit 2 before it was stolen. OPTIONS!!
It's a nice selection of parts. It's standard but expected. You get tons of options for this kit: Regular, Nimbus Custom, EXAM of either. The unit 3 gets a double beam rifle, but Nimbus' preferred fighting style is using 2 swords anyway so the extra gun is nice.
The suit is pretty standard and so is the height. It's the standard 18 meter suit in a 1/144 scale.
Compared to the Efreet.
Most modern kits are excellent these days and finding a bad kit is now the exception rather than the rule. It all boils down to design. I'm a fan of Unit 2 of the Blue Destiny. I also like the Unit 1 with it's EVA-01 like berserk mode. In fact, you have 5 kits to choose from using the same basic engineering of this kit (GM Ground, Gundam Ground Type, BD-01, BD02, BD-03). Just choose accessories and aesthetic you want, either way I highly recommend getting a version of this kit.
Good:
- parts separation is good (most of the modern kits these days have excellent parts separation anyway)
- it's very solid
- great build and engineering. Not Hyaku-Shiki level but up there
Bad:
- limited ankles
- that wrist joint... should have had a polycap up there so it doesn't create stress
 |
| If you play Gundam Breaker, this will look familiiar |
There was already a HGUC Blue Destiny way back in 2007. That required you to paint the shoulders red if you wanted the Nimbus custom. Also this is an excellent way for Bandai to milk the updated Ground Gundam/GM mold. Would have been nice if the Efreet Custom wasn't a P-Bandai but that's off topic (only 1 Efreet was regular release sadly).
Aesthetics
The Feddy Gundams of this timeline are mostly made up of blocks, and epitomizes that design aesthetic more that the ground line of GMs and Gundams. It looks like layers of square cakes.
 |
| he made cheesecake... and it was burnt |
 |
| Don't forget the red shoulders |
For the really minor details you need the stickers (like the triangles) or paint (the yellow/red insides of the thrusters). But out of box, it looks good even without paint.
Compared to the 2007 version, it looks oodles better. It has better proportions, details, and parts separation. It's still a box on legs, but it's a better detailed box
 |
| everything you need is in the box as long as you have... Imaginatiooooon |
Talking about the build, it's one of those HG origin moments where the base of the kit is engineered very well and assembling it is a nice experience. It's not annoying at all and the nubs are relatively small. I hope bandai keeps using the softer plastic for blue and red pieces as they do not leave very obvious marks when cut (unlike the RG Qan-T). My only complaint is the wrist assembly and we'll get to that in a different section.
Overall, if you're a fan of the boxy early UC design, then this kit will not disappoint. It has excellent parts separation, the build is easy and it's engineering is good. If they use the same build for updated Hazel designs, I will be happy. Then again, I'm pretty sure they'll make it P-Bandai...
Articulation
It's a box, so articulation will probably take a hit. And in some points it does.
Staring with the head. It's a ball joint at the top and a swivel at the base. Aesthetically it looks mostly ok unless you swivel it way up, then it exposes the gap.
 |
| it looks ugly because it'snot suppose to bend that far |
Head tilt to the side is preserved.
Main issue, as with most suits that feature this design, is the back of the helmet. Since it does not use the double ball polycap, it loses some range of motion and more often than not, it'll scrape on the collar.
 |
| You can see the shoulder design as well |
Also the flap on the shoulder armor extends, but is not secured in place so it'll pop in just as easy.
The mid torso is connected via an L shaped joint. The waist is also a ball joint and the black piece just floats there so as not to hinder it's movement. As the design is boxy and bulky, the range can be a bit limited but only for the most extreme poses.
It can do the splits and the side skirts, despite having those ammo clips, can get out of the way completely.
There is also the standard T joint that swivels up and down every so slightly.
The rest of the main joints have full range.
The main weakness is the ankle range... it's a bit too limited despite having a ball at the base and a swivel at the top of the ankle.
The ankle armor can swivel up and the front of the foot can also swivel a little.
Overall, its not bad as all the essentials are there. I just wish the ankles have better range.
Weapons and Extras
Gundams are normally equipped with 2 sabers, a rifle and a shield... and for the most part, that's what you're going to get. Except you get an extra bull-pup rifle and some missiles and machine guns on the chest.
But 1st, you get an open palm for the left hand. I mentioned about the wrist earlier and why I'm not happy about it. It's because when you 1st insert the wrist, it'll produce a stress mark on the joint as it's not a polycap. It's plastic on plastic.
 |
| enlarge image to see one tiny white line |
The machine gun has nice details, but is molded in blue. I do think that this is the suit's main rifle as there are 2 ammo pack as part of the suit design.
The stock and handle can swivel out as well.
The ammo pack is removable and you can use the packs stored on the waist skirt.
The beam rifle is pretty standard looking, but the build process and parts separation is much involved than what I'm used to. Believe it or not, there are 7 pieces to the rifle.
The shield connects via a peg. The shield can swivel around.
Main issue with this is the arm armor tends to come apart very easily. This would have been solved by making the shield archor point a separate piece to clamp the forearm armor in place. unglued and unmodified though, the connection is loose.
The backpack you're seeing is actually just a second backpack. You can pull out the big backpack to reveal smaller ground-type backpack. The connection is fine, albeit a bit loose.
The ground type backpack has it's own features. You can remove the top blue bits and part-swap in the deployed thrusters.
In the old HGUC Blue Destiny, you only have 1 option for the kit. You can opt for EXAM red eyes or regular green eyes. The green pops nicely but the preferred color is red. In this kit's case, you can have both as they provide you a clear green and a clear red piece and a relatively easy way to swap. By relatively easy I mean use a sharp thin blade to pop it out.
I always like it when a suit goes berserk with it's red eyes (EXAM, ALICE, Belphagor). I wish the wing zero had red eyes too.
As a bonus, you get extra parts to create the unit 2 before it was stolen. OPTIONS!!
It's a nice selection of parts. It's standard but expected. You get tons of options for this kit: Regular, Nimbus Custom, EXAM of either. The unit 3 gets a double beam rifle, but Nimbus' preferred fighting style is using 2 swords anyway so the extra gun is nice.
Size Comparison
The suit is pretty standard and so is the height. It's the standard 18 meter suit in a 1/144 scale.
Compared to the Efreet.
Summary
Most modern kits are excellent these days and finding a bad kit is now the exception rather than the rule. It all boils down to design. I'm a fan of Unit 2 of the Blue Destiny. I also like the Unit 1 with it's EVA-01 like berserk mode. In fact, you have 5 kits to choose from using the same basic engineering of this kit (GM Ground, Gundam Ground Type, BD-01, BD02, BD-03). Just choose accessories and aesthetic you want, either way I highly recommend getting a version of this kit.
Good:
- parts separation is good (most of the modern kits these days have excellent parts separation anyway)
- it's very solid
- great build and engineering. Not Hyaku-Shiki level but up there
Bad:
- limited ankles
- that wrist joint... should have had a polycap up there so it doesn't create stress
Nice
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