So after MUCH delay, here it is! :D

I’m sure what concerns people most about this is how the gold plating works, which is why I’m focusing more on that. They did a very good job molding the metallic pieces so that you never have to cut an outward-facing surface.

Every piece has that extra little nub added to attach to the runners. This means that the part you’re cutting isn’t actually even part of the piece. Excellent!

This is very good, because if they hadn’t done this, you would have gotten those black marks on every piece.

Aside from that, the kit shows a lot of age in terms of flexibility and inner frame construction. The hands show this most.

The hands are locked in place by the gold piece, which prevents the fingers from opening pretty much at all. Also, all the fingers are one piece and there is no tab for weapons, so they just kind of sit there in the hands. It can look awkward but it’s functional.

One thing I was impressed by is the stability. With a frame this bulky, it’s good that the joints can handle keeping poses. I was pretty surprised it hit this pose.

Although the inner frame is a little dated, it does look good. I applied flat coat to all the non-metallic pieces, and I think the contrast came out really well.

As you can probably tell, this illustrates what I meant about the guns sitting funny.

It’s kind of neat that all the weapons can be on this guy all the time. Limits the amount of fumbling in boxes you’ll ever have to do!

In closing, this is definitely a kit based completely around aesthetics. You’ll be able to find at least one pose you love that it can stay in forever; if that’s all you want the model for, it’s perfect for you. The unique molding process allows a finished product free of blemishes, and that’s what elevates this kit from “eh” to very good.

So finally, after much ado and time spent photographing, here’s the review!!

This is a beautiful model, and I can only think of a few drawbacks so I will get them out of the way fast! First, every single damn decal is wet transfer. UGH.

The next is the conflict of interests with the LED feature; you can put the LED in to light up the eyes, but the sticker provided with the eyes is not only opaque but reflective. This leaves you with two choices: leave the sticker off for a duller unlit product but brighter eyes when lit, or put the sticker on for a lackluster light show but a great looking normal display.

The last is with displaying the fin funnels in “Normal Mode,” aka the way the suit is always seen in the anime. It puts a lot of pressure on the hook mechanisms on the individual funnels and the slightest disturbance will knock most of them off the kit and each other.

You can see that the kit is tipping a little cause of the weight as well.

Thankfully, these are the only real issues, and I’ll use it to transition into the good! To counter this problem, they allow you to display the kit in “Double Fin Funnel” mode, which evenly distributes the six fins with no problem. (All the rest of the pictures are in this mode)

This kit can handle any pose you could throw at it, especially with the fully posable hands, which are more functional than the perfect grade ones, even.

This posability is largely due to the genius dual joints in the major spots. The shoulders, as you can see, allow the main vertical joint to swivel out of the torso a little to allow a lot of lateral movement, like reaching across the body.

Most MG kits would not be able to hit that pose. I was highly impressed.

The legs are also very well-equipped to handle all the weight that comes with a kit this big. They can do full splits or just normal wide stances, and it never feels shaky once you get the feet flat on the ground.

Now for the big deal, the transformation. As you can tell, it’s not nearly as big or difficult a switch as the Unicorn Gundam. The good news is that it’s done about five times better, with no structural integrity sacrificed. I actually prefer to display it in this mode.

They did a really cool thing here by including a sheet of reflective decals that you apply to each individual translucent psychoframe piece. You may be able to see the silvery quality to the green pieces; they’re designed to reflect any light that hits it back through the piece so it appears to glow. Brilliant!

The legs are my favorite transformation. The split frame and flaring thrusters give the kit a really mean and sharp look. (Damn do I hate wet decals though)

The last big issue is the display stand; people were very worried about the continuing problem of droopy funnels, as the issue has failed to be addressed for almost any previous release.

Finally a success!! The funnels never move on their own; where you put them they will stay. Each joint on the arms has locking ridges so they stay exactly where you put them.The stand is also unique in how it attaches—directly into the back and backpack rather than the legs.

I love this kit. If it weren’t for the issue of entirely wet-transfer detail decals, it would have easily replaced Shun Matsunaga’s Zaku as my favorite kit ever. However, I can definitively say this is the best-manufactured kit I’ve ever built. The pieces are all a dream to work with, even after separation from the runners, and everything fit together and worked exactly as it should. It was a pricey one, but I honestly feel that the price was 100% justified, something I couldn’t say about the only other $100 MG I’ve built.

Every builder should absolutely give this kit a shot.