Kimi The Builder

We may finally get the F91 movie of our dreams, but it’s the SEED version.

HELLO! We are back!!

In today’s 501st edition of our Let’s Talk Gunpla segment, we’ll discuss a few recent Retail Side’s HUGE Gunpla release announcements. Interestingly, it looks like the prediction from the leaked list is correct. We got the MG Narrative and new HG SEED FREEDOM kits. 

However, we didn’t anticipate that we are getting quite a lot of SEED FREEDOM kits.

So, without further ado. Let us get into it, shall we? 

HG 1/144 STTS-909 Rising Freedom Gundam (HGCE)

Release Date: 26th January 2024

Estimated price: JPY 2,640 (MYR RM 83.90* / USD $ 17.76* / EUR € 16.74*)

*The price is subject to change, depending on the situation

When we saw this for the first time, we admitted that we didn’t like it because it looked like something from the Build series, not the mainline SEED series. Not to mention, it looked like a worse upgrade from the epic Strike Freedom. 

However, as time goes by, and after seeing its Preorder window and memes of it everywhere. We admit that it started to grow on us. Because if the rumors we read online about it are true, it makes sense why it looked like a downgrade because it might be a downgrade. 

What’s more, design-wise, we can see that they combined the looks of Destiny and the standard Freedom into one MS. And for the first time, we all can agree that it makes for a badass-looking MS. Although, it makes us wonder if the real pilot of this MS might be Shinn instead of Kira.

Plus, it has a really cool flight form too. Usually, we would be happy to get an MS that shares some elements from the MS that we adore. But the problem is its color scheme. But we’d get to that in a bit. 

Now, let’s discuss what we think of its Gunpla form. 

We wanted to start with why we don’t like its color scheme. The color made it look too toy-ish and doesn’t fit well with the freedom look. Honestly? We do not understand why they do not want to stick with the standard Freedom color scheme as they did with the Freedom and Strike Freedom.

Why? We here think that the iconic Freedom color scheme would look fantastic on the Rising Freedom, and we have seen some people make some cool edits to make the HGCE Rising Freedom come with the standard Freedom Color scheme.

But that is the only thing we do not like about it. 

Because if we disregard the ugly HGCE Rising Freedom’s color scheme, the rest is quite badass.

Why?

Well, it retains many of the same gimmicks as the SEED Freedom. So you have the hidden wing beam cannons and waist armor beam cannons. And since you have those, you can easily recreate the iconic Freedom Full burst mode. But again, it doesn’t look as impressive as the Strike Freedom’s Full Burst Mode with its dragoon system. 

But that doesn’t bother us as much since the more we look at it, the more we realize that the Rising Freedom looks like the SEED version of the Zeta Gundam. And we like where they’re going with this. 

But admittedly, even though it is good that we finally get more Zeta mecha design influence here in this upcoming SEED movie. But we suspect that story-line-wise, Sunrise may adopt some elements of the F91 and Victory to SEED FREEDOM. But we’re glad that in terms of MS design, it is nice to see some of the Zeta MS design make it to the main Gundam of the SEED series.

And since Rising Freedom is confirmed to be able to transform (like the Zeta Gundam), we are all happy to know that Bandai designed the Gunpla version with that feature, too. And from what we can gather by looking at its ‘MA’ mode, it doesn’t look like it would be a partsformer, so that is already a win for us.   

But the biggest surprise for us is that Bandai isn’t releasing this kit under the HGSEED lineup but instead under the mainline HG. Surprisingly, that is something we didn’t expect. 

Oh, while on the matter of unexpected surprises.

HG 1/144 Black Knight Squad Shiva (HGCE)

Release Date: February 2024

Estimated price: JPY 2,640 (MYR RM 94.39* / USD $ 19.98* / EUR € 18.83*)

*The price is subject to change, depending on the situation

The ‘Black Knight Squad Shiva’ is an MS design that we were surprised to find that we immediately fell in love with when we saw it for the first time. It made us remember the same admiration we had for the Crossbone Vanguard MS designs when we watched the F91 movie for the first time.

Frankly, it doesn’t look like your typical SEED MS design. Yes, this is a more common Mecha design everywhere else. But a Knight-inspired MS design is uncommonly seen on a mainline Gundam series. So it’s nice to see a proper them making another go here in the upcoming SEED FREEDOM movie. 

And from the looks of it, we are getting quite a banger here. Despite us saying this looked like something designed for the Crossbone Vanguard, it doesn’t look like anything from the existing Crossbone Vanguard MS arsenal. 

Heck, it looked like nothing from UC or any Gundam series, for that matter. Yes, it may have things we’re familiar with, but it incorporates all the recognizable elements well into its design. Honestly? It is safe to say that this might be the best original MS design we’ve seen in years.  

We love the bulky armor design, the eyeless head unit design, and the melee mains. And not to mention, it had a really badass beam cloak, too! It may not be a practical thing to have in combat, but it does make it look cool AF.  

All in all, we’re excited for this one! We really can’t wait to get our hands on it next year! 

HG 1/144 STTS-808 Immortal Justice Gundam (HGCE)

Release Date: February 2024

Estimated price: JPY 2,970 (MYR RM 83.90* / USD $ 17.76* / EUR € 16.74*)

*The price is subject to change, depending on the situation

The Immortal Justice is the only Kai version of the two SEED FREEDOM protag MS that we were very impressed by when we saw it for the first time. 

It’s not because it’s all in a very badass red/black/white color combination. It’s because, unlike the HGCE Rising Freedom, the HGCE Immortal Justice doesn’t look like a downgrade. It does look like a modernized version of the Infinite Justice. 

So, do we think the HGCE Immortal Justice is better than the HGCE Rising Freedom? Honestly? Yes.

Because, despite this being a new Justice variant, it doesn’t stray much from what we are familiar with. For one, the Immortal Justice looks like a combination of the Justice and Savior looks into one MS.

Secondly, just like the HGCE Rising Freedom, the HGCE Immortal Justice could also transform into a proper flight mode, which looks similar to HGCE Rising Freedom’s. 

And lastly, this kit comes with all the awesome Justice Gimmicks in this new package. That means you get the badass leg articulations and the detachable flying backpack. 

The HGCE Immortal Justice is one of those kits that we’re really looking forward to getting next year! 

And that concludes our 501st edition of the Let’s Talk Gunpla segment. Honestly? What an announcement! We’re glad to see some of the new SEED kits looking badass. We hope all of these kits will be great kits. 

It would be a shame if something looking this good becomes a disappointment. 

And yes, there are still more SEED FREEDOM kits that we haven’t discussed. So, we will continue that in next week’s blog post. 

Anyway, we’ll be back next Thursday (hopefully) with a new blog post. So do look forward to it! 

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Hopefully, by sharing our love and passion for building and writing about gunplas or other plamos here, we hope this post will inspire all of you to pick up on the hobby. Or better yet, reignite your love and passion for the hobby.

We shall see all of you again soon, and we hope all of you here have a splendid day and week ahead! Oh, before we go, please have an excellent time building your awesome gunplas there and until next time.

Ciao!