| HGGS 1/144 ZGMF-X666S Legend Gundam
Series: High Grade Gundam SEED (HGGS) 1/144 Title: ZGMF-X666S Legend Gundam Release Date: 10/2005 Suggested Price: ¥ 1500 No. of Parts: approx 160 Plastic colors: red, blue, black, gray, translucent blue Gimmicks: DRAGOON units
Contributor: Sevrin Date: January 16, 2006 The Gundam that was simply destroyed by Kira’s “heart touching” words rather than Kira’s skills. Nonetheless, the Legend Gundam continues to be one of the coolest looking Gundams (without all the flashy colors) and one of the most bulked up Gundams in the series.
Formed through snapping seven small pieces of plastic together, it has to be painted to look presentable. Otherwise the head would only appear to be a clump of gray plastic with a blue plastic V and a shiny sticker with two green dots as its eyes. The head has pretty flexible and free rotation in its cramped neck space and could somewhat moved in a way that resembles the head’s position when the Legend’s in “flight mode”. The head is pretty detailed for a 1/144 model and even has grooves stamped on the back of the head shroud. Best of all, the red stripe under the eyes of the Legend still remains somewhat after the application of the “eyes” sticker (if applied properly, be careful though, it gets crooked easily). Generally, a typical head supplied by Bandai.
Not much to cry about really, besides outlining the shape of the Legend’s chest and cockpit, it doesn’t hold much detail. The cockpit door was modeled by a piece of red plastic slipped into the blue chest part, which (the blue chest part) was slipped into a part that resembled the Legend’s torso. Note that the neck collar on this piece is lined by three curved white stickers, and one red sticker on the front.
Standard model arm, with five pivots (I think). The nice little detail is the small red and black piece below the shoulder blade (which you have to paint). The blue hand guard of the Legend is pretty nice and also includes the polygon shape on top (which again, you have to paint.). Hands are kind of odd; most model kits supply you with more than one pair of hands, but with the Legend, all you get is one set…which could balance and “hold” both the beam saber and the beam rifle.
The legs are nicely done - the grooves are set and in the back of the legs, it has tilting boosters. On the side, it also includes the booster pads. To me anyway, the most amazing things were the booster ports on the feet of the Legend (they’re on the side of the feet, and below). However, the legs are REALLY hard to move; everything seems to be on the tight side. The ankles are nice and smooth, but when it comes to the knees and the pivots on the waist, you really have to put in some effort (and care, don’t break it) to position them. The legs could only really be spread to a width showed in the picture above. Any more spreading seems to be impossible since it takes so much force, and you get the feeling you’re breaking something.
Accessories include a beam rifle (which you have to paint), the translucent blue energy shield, and the red/pinkish beam sabers. The best parts of the plastic model are the DRAGOON units and the Legend’s backpack. Each DRAGOON unit can be tilted (including the ones on its side) and also has the blue “shooting rays” similar to the Freedom’s. However, the DRAGOONs are awfully fragile and snapping them in and out from their pivots seems a bit risky. The hooks used on the pivots of the DRAGOONs are also kind of fragile - any kind of bending or bad “snapping” could cause these hooks to widen. As you can tell from the picture, the DRAGOON unit on the left of the model is a bit “limp” compared to the one on the right. Its hook wasn’t snapped in correctly, and through some bending…it widened and practically lost its grip. Of course, it still holds its position in certain angles, but it would’ve been better for it not to go limp in the first place, as you can tell. The backpack on the Legend can bend up - simply “pull” the two halves of the backpack apart, bend each half towards each other, and lift the pack to get the position seen in the picture above (a position rarely seen in the series). Also, the beam rifle can be mounted on the back of the pack, with the rifle pointing up.
This is actually the first Gundam model I have ever made and also the first model that I’ve started for a long time (at least four years or so). I’ve always been the type to look at models rather than to build them. Oh well, it’s better to start late than to never pick up this hobby. Generally, this model wasn’t too hard to build and it also has great poseability. The DRAGOON pack is really the highlight here (to me anyway), and the rest of the model is also above average (better than the construction of the GOUF and etc). I personally prefer this model over any other model in the DESTINY series (besides the Murasame) due to the model’s unique weapons pack, small number of parts to be painted (it still takes a long time though), and its “not so flashy” colors. However, the downside to the model is the limited poseability of its legs, and the fragility of the individual DRAGOON units. Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 stars <<back to Gundam |
