MG ZGMF-X10A Freedom Gundam (Dragon Momoko)

Presenting the newest addition to Dragon Momoko line of Master Grade, MG Freedom Gundam ;) Instead of direct duplication, Dragon Momoko actually remake the head and the leg armour :)

Manufacturer: Dragon Momoko
Scale: 1/100
Grade: MG
Origin: Gundam SEED
Price: RM85 (Contact me at DuelMasterNG@yahoo.com for availability)

Please take note that I did minor coloring and panel lining with gold marker so please do not expect that to be pre-colored on your kit ;)

Section 1: Runners

Detailing are fantastics! Good job, Dragon Momoko! I would say it is up to 99% as good compare to the original.

The plastics quality is a little soft compare to Gao Gao so do take extra caution when trimming ;) Should you want to re-color, please do a layer of primer to avoid any unfortunate incident :P

Rather than being like Bandai where multiple colors are molded on a single runner, Dragon Momoko separates into single-color runner :P

Section 2: Foil Stickers & Decals

This kit comes with the usual foil sticker and 2 set of dry-transfer decals (the supposingly dry-sticker is also come in the form of dry-transfer).

The quality of the foil sticker is below average and easily damage so handle with care.

As for the dry-transfer decals, the printing quality is excellent but the usability is close to ZERO, which means they are USELESS! You might say it is my lack of skill handling the decals but you would have to proof me wrong!

The decal basically stick onto any surface even without the need to apply any force so you would have to place it on the right spot on 1st placement and it gives you no room for adjustment! What in the world is Dragon Momoko thinking? Did they even try the dry-transfer themselves?

Just give us water-decal from now on for god sake!

Section 3: Skeleton Build

The Legs

Articulations are pretty good, except the hip is using ball joint that only permits limited movement ;)

The Waist

Pretty straight-forward ;)

The Chest

The pull-out mechanism would allow the shoulder joints to be pulled out for more dynamic posing. The shoulder can be pulled upward too, give a lot of room for handsome posing ;)

The Arms

Excellent articulations for the arms!

The Head

The head has gone through a facelift :) It is now more fierce and with a bigger V-fin, and I like the new look very much ;) Very good parts separation and detailing. I colored the eyes and sencors instead of using the foil stickers ;)

The Naked Freedom :P

Section 4: The Legs

Very solid legs here ;) Not much hinderence to the articulations even with the outer armor. Take note that the legs also gone through a facelift on the thights and feet :)

Section 5: Waist

Pretty straight-forward build ;)

Section 6: Chest

Pretty straight-forward build too :) Excellent parts separation, credit to Bandai ;)

Section 7: Shoulders

Pretty straight-forward build too :) Nothing much to mention.

Section 8: Arms

Fantastic arms articulations! No hindrance of movement when fully armored :)

Section 9: Semi-Completed Mecha

Purposely leaving the left arm and right leg naked for photo ops :P

Section 10: Freedom without Wings

Just want to take some pictures of Lacus' White Knight without it backpack ;)

Flying Pose without Wings

Shoot left instead of the usual shoot-right pose :P

Section 11: The Wings

The plastics are a bit soft so handle with extra caution not to break them. Other than that, this would be a pretty fun build.

I panel-lined with Gold marker instead and you could see the effect from the photos ;) Click here if you have not read my earlier tutorial on panel-lining with gold or metallic colors.

Section 12: Shooting Time ;)

Wings Not Deploy

Wings Deployed

The Epic Pose ;)

In case you didn't noticed, I managed to salvage some decals using the transfer2water trick :P










Posing with MG Strike Freedom ;)





Quick Review

Plastic Quality and Detailing

The plastic quality is a little soft compare to the usual Gao Gao/TT Hongli and Bandai quality so you need to take extra caution when triming. Do not skip the primer should you want to repaint the kit.

The detailing are very nicely done and it comes close to 99% of the original. I am taking away 3% due to no holes on the tip of the waist blasters so I would only rate the detailing at 96%.


Articulations

Articulations are pretty good!

• Head/Neck: Normal.
  
• Shoulder: Excellent! Able to do very handsome posing ;)
  
• Arm/Elbow: Excellent!
• Wrist: Normal.
• Hand: Normal.
  
• Waist: Normal.
• Skirt Armour: Normal.
• Hip/Tight: Normal+, due to its ball-joint...
• Knee: Excellent!
• Ankle: Normal+.
• Feet: Good.

Looks and Feels

The detailing are very nicely done and it comes close to 99% of the original. I am taking away 3% due to no holes on the tip of the waist blasters so I would only rate the detailing at 96%.

Althought some of you think the decals are not important, this is what bring the kit to another level of completion. Dragon Momoko is doing extremely bad on this department and never border to listen to the marker and therefore received a -10% rating from me!

If you are looking at only the mecha without decals, you would get a 96% kit.

But is you are looking at this replicating as a whole including the decal, I shall only give 86%.

Overall, this kit is the only viable replacement for the original in the market so far (I'm not looking at inferior bootlegs) so if you can tolerate with the shitty decals, the is a good choice!

Normally, I will end my review with "for those of you who can afford, do buy original" but in this case, since there's a certain level of facelift, it would be entirely up to you which "look" you like better ;)


Fin :)