MSiA ZGMF-X42S Destiny Gundam

General and Technical Data

Series: Mobile Suit in Action!! (MSiA)
Title: ZGMF-X42S Destiny Gundam
Release Date: 06/2005
Suggested Price: ¥ 1600
No. of Parts: 1 Destiny Gundam figure + 20 parts
Plastic colors: blue, white, red, light blue, gray, black, green, yellow
Gimmicks: none

Introduction

Contributor: ShadowCell
Date: August 28, 2005
Ah, the Destiny. Long bashed for being too plain, the Destiny, much like its predecessor the Freedom, first made its debut and promptly shut up the naysayers. Now the Destiny has made the jump to small plastic form, but is it still cool? Well, let's find out.
Head

With about twenty degrees of vertical movement and about sixty degrees of unhindered horizontal movement, the Destiny's head is adequate but not terribly impressive. Design-wise, though, it looks rather intimidating, Instead of that sort of sickly gray/green color in the lineart and animation, the Destiny's head, as well as its arms, boomerangs, shield, and legs are white. It's kind of odd, but I'm not complaining.

Torso

Another rather nondescript affair, when you leave out all the nifty extra stuff on the back, the Destiny's torso is similar to the Impulse's, and has a clip on the back to attach the beam rifle. Waist turning is difficult, but less so than with the Impulse. The Destiny's back features the enormous wings, though they lack beam blades, and two racks for the anti-ship sword and beam cannon. The beam cannon can fold down underneath the Destiny's arm, and the anti-ship sword fits snugly in its rack. Both remain folded up firmly as well.

Arms

The Destiny's arms are similar to the Impulse's, joint-wise, but have a smaller range of motion due to the wings. The beam boomerangs fit reasonably well in the shoulders, though it doesn't take a whole lot to knock them out. The most frustrating thing, though, is the Destiny's hands. The hands themselves are molded in gray plastic, with two holes on either end to attach the Destiny's beam shields. However, the beam shields do not stay on at all, and since the Destiny only comes with two beam shield covers and eight unshielded hands, you have little choice but to swap the shields between hands... unless you get sick of it and just leave them off, like I did. The Destiny has ten hands total: two closed fists, two closed fists with molded beam shields and holes to attach the beam shields themselves, two open hands for the Destiny's palm beam cannons, two gun hands, and two hands for the beam sword and beam boomerangs.

Legs

Double-joints and movable vents on the back don't quite make up for the shortcomings this time. The Destiny's feet have practically no range of motion. And because the feet are difficult to put flat on >insert surface here<, the Destiny has a hard time standing up. Some creative posing is in order here.

Weapons and Accessories

Beam rifle- Much like the Impulse's beam rifle, the Destiny's rifle features a swiveling scope and a peg to put it on the back of the skirt armor. It's also got a swiveling hand grip. Not terribly exciting, though it looks pretty good. The only annoying thing is that the hole on the back of the Destiny's skirt armor puts the rifle in the way of practically everything, making posing difficult.

"Arondight" anti-ship sword- Folded up on the Destiny's back, this sword is taller than the Destiny itself when unfolded and can sure make for an awesome pose. Its blade is molded in hard translucent plastic, but as seems to be the case with these anti-ship swords, it seems to be too heavy for one arm to support. 

"Flash Edge 2" beam boomerangs- Another case of the nature of a boomerang being lost in the conversion to a small plastic toy, the Destiny's beam boomerangs aren't really very impressive. The Destiny's hands can hold them without problems, and they come with two short beam blades. They also come with two much longer blades, and judging by the instructions, it seems the Destiny can use its beam boomerangs as beam sabers. An interesting trick, I guess.

Beam cannon- Attached to the Destiny's back, on the left, the beam cannon folds up underneath the arm and has a swiveling handle for firing. It's nothing too exciting, though, but the arm has a tough time reaching the handle, so I usually just leave it be.

Shield- Aside from its beam shields, the Destiny has a small regular shield. Like the Impulse's shield, this one has two configurations, though this one's transformation consists of taking the bottom part off and moving it up to make the shield a little longer. It's somewhat unnecessary and can get in the way of the beam shield and wings.

"Solidus Fulgor" beam shield- The Destiny comes with two specifically molded hands, which have holes to insert this little beauty. The beam shield is molded in translucent plastic, and fits snugly in place. It's far more elegant than the Impulse's big clunky shield.

Conclusion

A nice figure all around, though not without its flaws. Of course, I'm rather biased because I like the Destiny anyway, but it's a good addition to the collection of any SEED fan.

 Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

<<back to Gundam