Link to revised review
here.
This is the first time I bought a premium edition. Not P-Bandai.
Why this kit
A bad guy's Gundam. It's been a while since I built one. Or is this the first? Aegis is a bad guy's Gundam but Athrun Zala is not exactly a bad guy [Spoiler Alert]. Anyway, the main antagonist of Seed, I'm in for a treat.
Kit Details
The strike noir kit was released in March 2017, a D2 box kit with 16 runners and 399 parts. Also in the box are a big sheet of sticker decal, a small sheet of dry transfer decal and a small sheet of foil stickers. This kit is priced at 5000 yen. Now, this is the regular box.
The premium box which I got, is a slightly thicker box, with additional inner box art including a cheesy quote from Rau Le Creuset. There's also a custom ZAFT action base, instead of the regular Freedom 2.0 base and a huge sheet of water slide decal for original Seed's backstreet boys. This still sits in the box since I'm still missing Duel, Blitz and Buster. The premium box kit is priced at 7580 yen.
I did got the premium box at the launch discount but price step up for the ZAFT action base is quite huge to make it a good buy. Regular box is priced at 5000 yen. The upside, the ZAFT action base looks really good.
Build / Difficulty
(Score: Neutral)
This kit's is based on the Freedom 2.0 kit. I worked on the Freedom 2.0 not long ago and this one is a repeated build with different armor design slapped on top of a Freedom's inner frame. This kit do feels like it's a heavily reused kit and some of the design feels like an afterthought to maximize the reuse of parts from freedom.
There are many new things Bandai tried with this kit. Some are good, some not so good. First, the rubber pipes around the providence's chest unit. I don't really mind the rubber pipes but I'm not exactly sure about the longevity of it.
Then, bandai removed the whole cockpit and Rau Le Creuset is now molded into the chest unit. This is too small to notice even with the hatch open. But it's a small price to pay to allow a lot more movement on a tightly packaged chest unit. But I hope Bandai don't keep doing this for future kits.
Then, there's the giant pieces of plastics. I think Bandai is taking too much shortcut here. I for one are not really a fan of slapping big piece of plastics together. Makes this kit feels a lot cheaper than it should.
Overall the build is not overly complicated. It does get repetitive once you got to the dragoons. And there's tons of panel lining to do. More than the Freedom. All the tedious lining work are heavy on the turtle shell backpack and the myriads of dragoons.
Not much decals are needed on this already busy looking kit with lots of leftover decals.
Looks / Details
(Score: +2)
Despite the underwhelming build, this kit looks absolutely awesome. Menacing and fit for a final boss. Over-sized weapons, over-sized armor and over-sized turtle shell backpack, combined with the sharp looks and bad guy color. This kit looks absolutely bad guys material in all angles.
Oh and if you're willing to pay those 2500 yen for the ZAFT action base, put this kit on that base and BOOM! bad guy material x2.
Accessories
(Score: Neutral)
Everything you get with this kit is up-sized. Especially the weapons.
You get the XXL Judicium beam rifle, a super huge composite shield which providence wore like a glove and a super big and long beam effect part.
But the problem with huge ass weapons, like the Fenice is that posing is going to be a problem with I will describe in the next section.
You'll also get a set of dragoon launchers as standard. Very cool inclusion, Bandai.
Articulation / Pose ability
(Score: +1)
This kit is essentially the Freedom 2.0. The inner frame has all the posing potential. However... all the posing potential is hindered by, you guessed it all the over-sized parts.
The armor pieces are too big, making movement a bit restricted. Turtle shell backpack is too big, restricting most of the poses to the forward direction. So forget about reaching the arms to the back cause it ain't happening.
And when you picked up the weapons, there's even less action you can do. The beam rifle is way too big so there's not much pose you can do with it. Luckily the arms and shoulders are strong to hold it. The shield is horrendously big making the left arm a dead weight. And don't even think about attaching the beam effect part.
Shelf presence
(Score: +1)
This kit has all the element to make it look as evil as possible. The bad guy color scheme and the optional red ZAFT action base is hard to miss.
This kit comes with all the potential to make it as shelf dominant as possible. If you have the shelf space premium, put on the launching dragoons and the red beam effect part, and suddenly the Providence looks larger and more evil to boot.
Bonus
(Score: +1)
I give a plus one just for the red ZAFT action base.
Summary and Rating
(Total Score: +5)
If you've built the Freedom 2.0 before, this kit is a great addition to complete the SEED collection alongside the Justice. This kit captures all the essence of a bad guy Gundam and did it perfectly. It has a same great inner frame but posing is a bit of a challenge. If you're looking for a Gundam kit, which is a bad guy and is not ZEON, this is the kit for you.
Gundam: Providence Gundam
Code: ZGMF-X13A
Series: Mobile Suit Gundam Seed
Pilot: Rau Le Creuset
Faction: ZAFT
Weapons: MA-M221 Judicium Beam Rifle, Dragoon System with big and small dragoon pod.
Release: March 2017
Box: D2
Runner: 16
Parts: 399
Price: 5000 yen
Pundit: This is a good kit but not better than Freedom 2.0.
Variants
No variants.
Dalong's Review
Dalong's Score: 104
Up Next: 00 QAN[T]
