GUNPLA REVIEW: RG 1/144 ZGMF-X42S Destiny Gundam

Hello All!(゜▽゜;)

This is my review for RG Destiny Gundam that I bought last Philippine TOYCON 2013 (thanks for the cheap prices of the stores that I mentioned on my recent post about TOYCON 2013- GUNPLA Stores that I got to buy one RG model) (★^O^★). Anyway, hope you'd enjoy the post!d=(´▽｀)=b

ZGMF-X42S Destiny Gundam is the final Gundam of the main antagonist/protagonist (Depending on your view I guess?) of the Gundam Seed Destiny series. b(=^‥^=)o The Destiny is the most balanced Gundam in the series as it is a Jack-of-All-Trades Gundam, and is equipped with great short range, long range and mid range weapons as opposed to other specialist Gundams in the same series (If you watched the Gundam Seed Destiny series, you know that other Gundams have their own specialties: Strike Freedom excels in long range, Infinite Justice excels in Short Range, Akatsuki excels in defending, and Legend excels in long range <(*ΦωΦ*)>). 

So what made the Destiny distinct among the others? It's its Hikari no Tsubasa (literally Wings of Light).ー( ´ ▽ ` )ﾉ When activated, it creates after images of destiny making it supposedly difficult to follow destiny's movement.

Anyway this is one of the best looking Gundam designs I have seen, so let's see if this RG Destiny can give justice (can be a punლ(´ڡ`ლ)) to the Gundam Destiny.
  

Overall Look [9/10]

The kit looks great as expected from the Destiny Gundam. The usage of off gray is not overkill and its contrast from the white really helps the look of the kit. The added details adds a lot more substance to the kit as expected from the RG line. The color separation of the parts is top notch and really, you don't need to paint this kit as it looks really really great out of the box. (ﾉ´∀｀*)ﾉ

The wings look amazing especially when opened up. I find it sad that the wings of light effect is not included because this would have looked epic with that ヽ(≧Д≦)ノ

But of course, the design still have some few flaws. I do not like how there are some ball joints which are very exposed in the back of the hands near the elbow and the white space created when you move the hand in other angles where the blue hand armor does not meet the blue forearm armor.  (✖╭╮✖)

The head also looks a bit wrong. I think the face somehow looks to long or too sharp. And the space between the head armors is really annoying. Also, there are
 some intentional armor-less places put in the design which looks unsightly and impractical to me but all these aren't really a big issue because overall the kit still looks really great! (〜￣▽￣)〜

 

Articulation [9/10]

As expected, the articulation of this kit is amazing o(≧∇≦o). To me it feels that this kit is better articulated than even the its MG version. へ（>_<へ)

Let's start with the hands. The hands itself have great articulation although like the other RGs, the posability with weapons greatly suffers from it.

The shoulders and arms have great articulation. Being able to move in the full range of motion as expected of a hand so no problems here at all.

The head also is able to move freely and for me at least moves as expected of a head. （＾_＾）

The chest as well is very well articulated. Although, I would have liked it if it could bend a little more forward (´▽｀;)ゝ but really it still moves pretty well.

The legs have a perfect range of movement and surprisingly (⊙▂⊙), it is not hindered at all by the skirt because the skirt itself have great articulation. d=(´▽｀)=b I find that the ankle lacks articulation though which renders the kit a bit unable to stand on wide stances. However, The armor movement for the foot is really great and should be applauded  ಥ‿ಥ

I didn't count the articulation of the wings because it can only go up and down. 
( ；｀ヘ´) It has virtually no front and back motion because it is hindered by the weapons and the body so I did not bother taking pictures of it  (¬▂¬)

Extras and Weaponry [8/10]

Destiny has all it's weapons included so that's really great. All weaponry are well made and I'm surprised they even made an inner frame for the "MMI-714 "Arondight" Anti-Ship Sword" and "M2000GX High-Energy Long-Range Beam Cannon".  （゜◇゜）

However, I did not like the included beam effect for the "MMI-714 "Arondight" Anti-Ship Sword", it's too thick for my liking and does not feel like a beam for a sword at all not to mention it really lacks substance compared to the 4 awesome beam effect parts provided for the two "RQM60F "Flash-Edge 2" Beam Boomerang" and the awesomely made Beam Shield effect part. o(´^｀)o Oh, just so you know, Destiny never used its "Anti-Ship Sword" against a "Ship" of any kind if I recall correctly (☞ﾟ∀ﾟ)☞

"MA-BAR73/S high-energy beam rifle" has nothing significant in it, but it still looks really good. щ(゜ロ゜щ)

There are also two included beam sabers effect parts but no beam saber handles (●´∀｀●)such a waste.

The left and right hands for "MMI-X340 "Palma Fiocina" Palm Beam Cannons" are included as well. Actually this model has lots of hands included, however I think it's sad that they did not provide left and right version for all types of hands. All hands can equip the beam shield as well. The beam shield effect part, as mentioned above already, looks really great. (☆^ー^☆)

The biggest negative point for this GUNPLA for me is that the a Wings of Light effect part was not added in the kit just like in its MG model.(ι´Д｀)ﾉ I think that it is a very big sin to not include the Wings of Light because it is one of the effects that defines Destiny Gundam and makes it so unique, just the wings being sold separately at a similar price as the RG Destiny is enough to warrant a 2 point deduction for me (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻.

Posability [8/10]

This kit is very back heavy because of the wings and weapon on its back. Because of that, don't expect it to be able to do decent poses on the ground. （ ＴДＴ）I actually gave up on posing this on the ground because it keeps falling down on its own. ヽ(●ﾟ´Д｀ﾟ●)ﾉﾟ

If you have a stand however, you can pose this kit really well because of the incredible articulation it has. 。(⌒∇⌒。) There are probably only three problematic parts in posing this kit: First is that the wings do tend to get in the way; Second is that like any other RG, the articulated hand is very very hard to work with; And last is that the hand cannot carry the weight of the "MMI-714 "Arondight" Anti-Ship Sword" so dont expect natural poses with the sword if it is not supported by anything else other than the right hand.

Other than the two above gripes, this kit is really very posable and almost always looks good in any pose because it looks really mean. (✖╭╮✖) The "MMI-X340 "Palma Fiocina" Palm Beam Cannons" will even allow you to make very good Kame Hame Ha/Hadouken poses and you know... everyone loves Kame Hame Ha/Hadouken pose (☞ﾟ∀ﾟ)☞

It is so hard to pose it like this

And I think the poses available while holding the gun is so low

Better to pose it ala Freedom Rail Guns

Bang! Bang!

DESTINYYYYYYYYYYY

Dashing in!

Here comes....

ARONDIGHT!

SLASH!!!!!!!!

Wild shield appears!

Awesome beam sheild is awesome!

Can't help but feel that the gun and destiny hates each other

Pew! Pew!

Hiya!

Boomerang left!

Effort grab for right boomerang

There we go!

Boomerang dual wield!

Reverse the beam parts and the boomerang changes to swords!

Destiny Finger!!!

Destiny Double Finger!!!

Kame... Hame...

Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

Build Quality [9/10]

This is probably the third best RG there is in terms of build quality.  
＼(-___________-;)／

There are no parts constantly falling which is a really big thing because RG models have a history of having so many parts falling apart from all over the model. (ñ_ñ)

The moving parts, especially the knees, look great and move seamlessly. The wings look to be way better than its MG and HG counterparts.

There are several nubs put in obvious places which is really a pain to remove without leaving a nub mark.

Also, take note that the black parts are made from really soft plastic. Which I think is awesome as it is very flexible. However do it carefully when handling it as you might accidentally bend it if you expect it to be as hard as ABS plastic.  ヽ(ﾟДﾟ)ﾉ

There is a noticeable gap in the head which can't be closed no matter what. p(´⌒｀｡q) I think this is a manufacturing issue because it seems that I am not the only one who has this issue so please take note of this. It will not look very unsightly from afar but if you look at it closely it's really irritating. (×_×;）

 

I do not like how the "MMI-714 "Arondight" Anti-Ship Sword" and "MA-BAR73/S high-energy beam rifle" only have pegs for the right hand. Although this seems to be the norm on newer RG, I still think that it's a pretty bad practice. It'd be better if they stopped with using pegs on a model as small as this altogether and just provide perfectly sized and positioned hands to hold the weapons perfectly. (o´･_･)っ

Conclusion [8.6/10]

Overall, I think this kit is extremely good. I guess the biggest con in this kit is the little gap on the head. ￢o(￣-￣ﾒ) I can't believe BANDAI missed that... (But then again they also missed the molding error on the faceplate of MG Deathscythe Hell Custom which to me was so obvious so I guess it happens...) 

Posing this kit may be a bit hard so if you play with your GUNPLA you can't play with this one for sure because the hands will give you plenty of trouble. If you are ok with those gripes, there is no reason not to get this kit because it is one of the finest 1/144 scale Gundam kit out there (づ￣ ³￣)づ. This kit is very wide so it attracts attention and can make a good centerpiece for any 1/144 collection out there so go grab your destiny... now (☞ﾟ∀ﾟ)☞

 That's it for my review for RG Destiny.Hope you find the post informative.  p(*＾-＾*)q Also, don't forget to post a comment if you have extra info regarding this model! Bye!! ~ヾ(＾∇＾)