MGEX Unleashes the Mighty Strike Freedom Gundam

The Mighty Strike Freedom Gundam is officially joining the MGEX lineup, taking one of Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Freedom’s most powerful mobile suits into Bandai Spirits’ premium Master Grade Extreme series.

The ZGMF/A-262PD-P Mighty Strike Freedom Gundam combines the Strike Freedom Gundam Type II with the Proud Defender, a support craft that replaces its Super DRAGOON Mobile Weapon Wings and unlocks a new level of combat capability.

The Proud Defender is equipped with technology capable of deploying nanoparticles for both offense and defense. These can form a spherical barrier around the mobile suit to defend against attacks from every direction, while also unleashing powerful electrical bursts across a wide area.

The added output also allows the Mighty Strike Freedom to activate its ultimate weapon, the Convergent Heavy Nucleon Beam Cannon “Disruptor,” a weapon the Strike Freedom Type II could not use on its own.

And, of course, the Proud Defender also equips the Mighty Strike Freedom with the Futsunomitama, the massive physical sword that became one of the mobile suit’s defining weapons in Gundam SEED Freedom.

For MGEX Mighty Strike Freedom Gundam, Bandai Spirits is taking its high-end brand in a particularly shiny direction. Each MGEX release is built around its own theme, combining GunPla technology and different materials to pursue what Bandai describes as the "ultimate expression" of the featured mobile suit.

This time, that theme is "Iridescent Expression."

To achieve it, the kit uses mechanical core plating to create an even greater level of sparkle, including the first-ever use of colored plastic mechanical core plating in GunPla history.

The gold parts are also getting a major overhaul. Bandai has completely revamped both the molding colors and secondary processing, combining multiple types of gold plating and extra finishes with real metallic gloss injection molding to create different shades and gradations of gold across the mobile suit.

Underneath all that gold, the Mighty Strike Freedom is based on the frame of the MGEX Strike Freedom Gundam, which Bandai describes as featuring the most frame-linked articulation gimmicks in MG history. Some parts of the frame have also been newly molded specifically for this release.

The kit will also reproduce the Mighty Strike Freedom's Disruptor through interchangeable deployment parts, allowing builders to recreate its ultimate weapon in its deployed configuration.

The MGEX treatment does not stop with the mobile suit itself, either. The kit includes figures of Kira Yamato and Lacus Clyne that can be placed inside the cockpit, along with a separate Lacus figure that can be piloted inside the Proud Defender.

A standing Lacus Clyne figure is also included, allowing fans to recreate one of Gundam SEED Freedom’s memorable scenes by placing her on the Mighty Strike Freedom's chest.

As for equipment, the MGEX Mighty Strike Freedom comes loaded with the Futsunomitama anti-ship sword, Prototype Type 35 Modified Railguns, a pair of beam rifles, beam sabers, arm beam shield effect parts, Disruptor deployment parts, interchangeable hand parts, character figures, a display base, and stickers.

With a completely reworked approach to its gold finishes, new mechanical core plating technology, the return of the MGEX Strike Freedom's highly articulated frame, and the massive Proud Defender configuration, the MGEX Mighty Strike Freedom Gundam is shaping up to be one seriously extravagant GunPla release.

And honestly, considering just how much of Gundam SEED Freedom's final act revolves around this mobile suit, MGEX feels like a pretty fitting place for it.