Kimi The Builder

A real beginner friendly RG kit.

I have been quite the busy little bee in this past few weeks. Catching up to the two constant things in this life of mine. Which is both my life and my health.

Trying to juggle both of them is really taking a toll on me, so when the time came for me to start work on the RG Destiny, I admit that I was unsure if that is a good idea, since I thought it would be too much for me. Even with my experience with the RG Destiny, I can’t say that I was looking forward to it.

But then again, it really has been quite a while since I’ve worked on another RG Destiny so I don’t really remember much on my time with it back then.

But since it had the RG tag attached to it, I kind of have this assumption that this kit would be one that would take alot of time and effort in completing. However, as soon as I start working on it, then I remembered how much fun I have working on this.

Oh, before I forget! Kimi here and this week I will be doing a review of the recently completed RG 1/144 ZGMF-X42S Destiny Gundam (RG)!

and oh, another thing…before we get to the review, let us first take a look into the History of this awesome MS, shall we?

The History and development of the ZGMF-X42S Destiny Gundam 

Model name:

• ZGMF-X42S

Classification:

• Prototype General Purpose Mobile Suit

Weapon systems:

• MMI-GAU26 17.5mm CIWS
• MA-BAR73/S High-Energy Beam Rifle
• Shield
• MX2351 “Solidus Fulgor” Beam Shield Generator
• M2000GX High-Energy Long-Range Beam Cannon
• MMI-X340 “Palma Fiocina” Plam Beam Cannon
• RQM60F “Flash-Edge 2” Beam Boomerang
• MMI-714 “Arondight” Beam Sword

Height:

• 18.08m

Armour Material:

• Variable Phase Armor

Powerplant:

• Hyper-Deuterion Engine

Total Thrust:

• Unknown

Effective Sensor Radius:

• Unknown

Crew:

• 1 pilot

We have previously covered the Terminal’s (One of the Three Ship Alliance factions) ∞ Justice Gundam on the previous review and the ∞ Justice Gundam which was quite an impressive machine at the time. Today, however, we would be talking about one of the MS that went against the ∞ Justice during the war, the ZAFT’s ZGMF-X42S Destiny Gundam.

∞ Justice Gundam’s opposite during the Final Stages of the whole conflict.

The ZGMF-X42S Destiny was apart of ZAFT’s secret MS project that was commissioned by the then ZAFT Chairman Gilbert Durandal, seeing on how advanced both the Alliances and ORB’s MS development was at the time and as well not forgetting the constant intervention by the Archangel’s crew in each ZAFT’s engagements. ZAFT’s then chairman Gilbert Durandal pushed for a more powerful and a more technologically advanced MS to be developed to help the crew of the Minerva to combat any possibilities that might arise, during those uncertain times.

Hence why the Destiny was crammed with alot of ZAFT’s latest and greatest tech, like for an instance the Destiny was equipped with ZAFT’s version of the Voiture Lumiere Propulsion system. Which was an internal laser-based version, which is alot different from the of the solar wind-powered version of the DSSD’s. The system as well produces a very impressive light effect when activated that was dubbed “Wings of Light” by its engineers.

It was as well equipped with a Mirage Colloid System, which only activates when the “Wings of Light” is in use which helps the Destiny to create after images that would help to confuse its opponents during battle.

However, the Engineers didn’t just cram the Destiny with just advanced tech, ZAFT Engineers as well used alot of the Impulse Gundam’s combat data to further develop its weapons system and fine-tune the Destiny. So much so, that even some elements of the Destiny’s design were designed from the Combat data that was collected on. All of this helped to improve all the fine movements and articulation of the MS, which turns out to be quite helpful in combat situations.

However, the combat data aren’t the only thing that the Destiny inherited from the Impulse.

Some of the weapons that were installed in the Destiny were the improved versions of the ones used by the Impulse’s Silhouette weapons pack. Like the M2000GX High-Energy Long-Range Beam Cannon, which was based on the ZGMF-X56S/γ Blast Impulse’s M2000F “Kerberos” high-energy long-range beam cannon and the MMI-714 “Arondight” Beam Sword, which was based on the ZGMF-X56S/β Sword Impulse’s MMI-710 “Excalibur” anti-ship laser sword.

So how does all of this awesome performance stack up in real-world situations? Quite good actually, there were many occasions where the Destiny was documented to be able to hold up quite well against both terminal’s state of the art MS, which was the ∞ Justice Gundam and the Strike Freedom Gundam. Even though it was ultimately destroyed during the final stages of the war, the Destiny proved itself to be quite a formidable and the most capable MS’s that was produced by the ZAFT during the whole war.

The Review

If someone would ask me today,

“what is currently the best RG kit today that I can get?”

I could easily answer that question because the RG Sazabi would definitely be the one I would recommend. However, if someone were to ask me,

“What is the best cheap RG kits that I could get?”

That might be one question that I might struggle to answer since there is ALOT of good cheap RG’s out there that I would recommend.

However, if someone asks me what is the best cheap RG kit that would be good for someone that wants to try out the RG line up for the first time. Well, that would be easy because the answer would most definitely be the RG Destiny.

Why?

Well, if I were to put it simply. This kit is probably one of the EASIEST RG kits to pick up and it was really obvious as I was working on it. You can see it through some of the design of the individual parts and though just the way it all of these parts comes together, they really managed to make something…that is truly a beginner friendly kit.

For example, the one thing that I realized while working on this is that RG Destiny’s individual parts are mostly quite….large. Well larger than any of the other RG kits that I’ve worked on before. Which makes working on the RG Destiny’s parts to be quite fun and easy.

Even the RG Destiny’s small parts were alot easier to handle when compared to the rest of the other RG kits that I’ve worked on, mainly due to the fact that they were all not designed to be too insanely small.

I as well noticed that unlike all the other RG kits that I’ve worked on this kit seems to have a pretty basic inner frame, relying solely on the Real Grade inner frame system fully in making up for the bulk of the RG Destiny’s inner frame sections. Though I was sad that they just really didn’t do much in terms of design to make the inner frame here to be interesting, however, I do appreciate that because of that there aren’t any serious fitting issues and parts here feels really solid.

But if I were to be really frank at times I really feel like I wasn’t actually working on an RG kit, it felt more like I was working on an HG kit…well to be more precise, it felt like I am working on an HG moon Gundam level kind of kit. But it is not a bad thing, because this kit would be good for those that are thinking of trying on RG line up for the first time. Really I do feel like this kit would be a good introduction to the RG line up.

Even to the veteran builders, I do think this kit would be a good practice kit to work on.

Another thing that I was really impressed by is the articulation for RG Destiny. The articulation for both the arm and the leg unit of the RG Destiny really has an impressive range of movements. I think it could be due to the well-designed hinges on both the shoulder part and the waist part which enables me to really push the limits of how big or how small the poses for the RG Destiny be. All of this really helps to bring out a wide range of very expressive poses for the kit.

Which as well made possible by the fact that all the parts work as intended with no loose bits, unlike the one seen on the RG Gramps.

However, all of these awesome poses is only made possible if you have an action base stand available. Because this kit is quite heavy at the back due to the RG Destiny’s HUGE  backpack wing unit and if you are thinking of having the kit stand up without support, you may find that to be quite a tricky job.

Unless if you have a stand or a blue tack lying around.

Which does make me wonder….why then they even bother giving this version of the RG Destiny huge feet units if it can’t even stand properly on its own weight. What baffles me, even more, is that the huge feet unit looks disproportionate to the rest of the kit and not to mention it as well looks quite ridiculous.

But regardless, despite the weird feet design choice, the rest of the kit here does look pretty good. The RG Destiny’s individual parts look insanely detailed and I would even go as far to say that this might be one of the most detailed RG kits that I’ve worked on. But I do admit that even though the kit was insanely detailed, you can still feel like there were alot of thought was given to the form and function of each detail on each individual sections of the parts.

The only downside when talking about the RG Destiny’s look is the fact that there are some sections of the this RG kit that requires the use of the stickers. Yes, I know that by now that the parts stickers on the old RG kit sucks. But since it was a part of the building process I do feel that I should at the very least give it a try.

aaaaaand, just like I expected, yes it still sucks and what annoys me with the stickers is that they don’t even bother to check the fitting of the stickers here. Plus I don’t think that they even bother to check if the stickers would stick to the plastic surface of the kit. I do suggest that you avoid using the blasted stickers and just paint the parts up.

Really, the time that you may spend trying to get the stickers to line up correctly and stay still is better off used in just painting the unpainted sections up.

Speaking of painting the kit, I was quite surprised that some of the unpainted sections, has a pretty large surface to work on, which makes life easier. Not to mention that it as well encourages beginner painters to just pick this kit up to just work on their painting skills here. Even one which had no experience painting would as well be encouraged to pick up the brush If they were to be able to see on how easy it is to just work on the unpainted sections of this awesome kit.

Overall, this is really one RG kit that I can really endorse to anyone that thinks about picking up the RG for the first time. The kit is by far the easiest to work on and one of the most beginner friendly kits that I’ve ever come across.  Not to mention it is as well one of the best looking ones too.

I really enjoyed my time working on this RG kit, even though I do admit that it might not be as good to build or as good to look at as most RG kits out there. But unlike the others, The RG Destiny is one that even someone new to the hobby would be able to pick up and have a blast working on. Plus with its war-winning looks, this kit is one that I feel is a good kit to gift to your loved ones.

But to be really frank with all of you here, right after finishing this one up I really feel like getting the P-Bandai variants of the RG Destiny after working on this one, I really feel like I can’t get enough of it…..I really hope they still have em available…somewhere…

Because I wouldn’t mind getting me the Deactivated version of the RG Destiny.

With that ends the review for the RG 1/144 ZGMF-X42S Destiny Gundam (RG). What do you think of both the kit and the review for this awesome RG kit? Do you share the same thoughts with us or do you think that this kit could’ve been better?

I’m already really looking forward to the next build since we are finally will be able to take on the MG kit that I’ve been waiting to work on since we did the unboxing of it a few weeks back… Yes, we finally will be taking on the 2003’s MG MSA-0011 [EXT] Ex-S Gundam!

and I hope this build would be one that would really be useful reference to those that are planning to get the updated version of the EX-S Gundam and for us too when we are able to buy that expensive beast. Hahaha.

Anyways, we will be back again this week more Let’s Talk Gunpla Segment on the coming Wednesday and we will be back as well on the coming Sunday with a new unboxing or review! So, do look forward to that!

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We hope by sharing our love and passion for gunplas here, it’ll inspire you to pick up the hobby or reignite your love for gunpla!

Anyways, we shall see all of you again next week, and we hope that you all have an awesome week and weekend ahead! Have an awesome Gunpla building time there as well and until next time!

Ciao!