Series: High Grade Gundam SEED (HGGS) 1/144
Title: GAT-X105+AQM/E-X01 Aile Strike Gundam
Release Date: 11/2002
Suggested Price: ¥ 1200
No. of Parts: 63+20+PC+stickers
Plastic colors: blue, red, white, gray, black
Gimmicks: removable Aile Pack, beam saber (2)

Introduction

Contributor: SladeTekka
Date: July 4, 2004

This model is pretty slick. It is generally a good model, with only a few complaints, as shall be seen....

Head

The head is a pretty standard HG head: separate face, chin, and front and back of head. Eyes are featured on faceplate, so paint or sticker it; crest is 1 piece plus red middle, so painting is necessary.

Torso

Four pieces, pretty simple. The lower half is all red, the upper all blue, so to get the protruding endoskeleton the right gray and the white on the lower half, painting is necessary. Waist is also pretty simple, back flaps don't move, front move as a unit. The side armor is attached via side pegs, so the legs are pretty poseable.

Arms

Pretty straightforward, the shoulder pieces are all white, so paint is necessary. The arms rotate just below shoulder and at wrist, so it is pretty poseable. The hands are two pieces, back (white) and fingers (gray).

Legs

Pretty poseable; I am impressed. The knee is double-jointed to a degree, and the ankle is a double joint also, so the leg is really very flexible. The lower leg is built with the gray internals and then the armor attaches to it, which is a neat touch. The foot also has a white cap on top of the two piece setup so that you don't need to paint it to get the white part (for once...).

Weapons and Accessories

Beam rifle - Beam rifle is 4 parts, with a moveable secondary handle. Nice looking, but is kind of a loose fit in the hand.

Shield - White base and red top, the handle is built into the base so it only attaches to the arm connector. Top is all red, so painting is necessary for the yellow and white.

Beam saber - It is a 2 piece setup, with the saber attached to the hand (white) and the back of the hand (white). Much painting is then necessary, but it is a nicely posed hand on the saber. The two saber handles in the Aile pack are removable, but no blades to insert into them.

Aile Pack - Pretty impressive for 1/144 scale - built much like the 1/100 and 1/60 scale versions. Top fins are all black, so sticker or paint there; center is all white, so paint for the gray look. Also, lower boosters are all black, so you'll need to paint the yellow stripes. The lower boosters are decently poseable for 1/144 scale.

Conclusion

I think this kit is pretty decent. It is rather poseable, and it holds poses rather well. I felt there were a lot of pieces that could have easily been two pieces and saved a lot of painting and fussing, but overall it was pretty good.

Overall Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

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