HG 1/144 Principality of Zeon Prototype Psycommu Mobile Suit gMS-κ "GFreD"
Time for the GFreD! I've had this kit for almost 3 months, but just haven't had time to get around to it until now. The Gundam FreD is the counterpart to the Gundam QuuuuuuX (which I built at the start of the year), being a platform for experimental extradimensional psycommu research, and bearing a "kappa" as a nod to Kycilia's involvement (and apparent resemblance?).
The design of the GFreD is just as complex as its sister suit. GFreD does share a lot of design elements and thus parts with the GQuuuuuuX, but as the colour blocking is different, it needed quite a few unique parts to help it maintain Bandai's current standard of HG colour separation. Bandai was a little stingy here, as they didn't print any of the surplus extra parts that you usually find on re-used moulds. They would've been wonderful for kitbashing...
The ankle collar has been redesigned to block the medial calf struts with the ankle rather than with the leg, and the knees and calves have been redesigned as a single part. There's also a few parts that have been rearranged onto different runners due to different colour grouping, such as some small knee parts, the feet thrusters, and the chest parts. There's also a ton of new parts to replicate the unique head (and transformation gimmick), the new shoulders, and the sharper thruster design for the backpack/core fighter.
Just like GQuuuuuuX, GFreD also requires a lot of small sticker decals (in green, red, and white) to replicate markings on the thrusters, shoulders, and thighs. The long stripes and some of the smaller ones that wrap around the lateral strut sections on the calves weren't too difficult (having had experience with both GQuuuuuuX and the Police Zaku), but I found that I struggled a lot with the round ones on the shoulders, especially as these shoulders are a lot narrower and pointier and the stickers are thus smaller and broken up into 3 parts.
There are also some colour correcting stickers, including on the propellant tanks hidden within the lower legs, and some red markings on the face and hip piping, as well as some white markings behind the eyes (that are achieved using the unique eye stickers).
Despite all the colour correction stickers, the design is still just a little too complex to be totally colour correct. I painted the rest of the turquoise rail on the rifle, as well as the section on the foregrip and handle, the turqouise on the inside of the thrusters, the white on the inside of the elbow detail and on the wrists, and all of the smaller detailing on the backpack/core fighter (including on the cockpit of the core fighter, just as I did with the GQuuuuuuX). Additionally, I added a lot of the orange detailling that was missing from the kit, including on the rifle and shield, and some of the grey piping that was also missing on the shield. I of course also had to add the turquoise on the backs of the hands. Everything was finished off with some metallic weathering on the grey parts. The required colour correction is pretty much identical to the GQuuuuuuX.
Just like the GQuuuuuuX, this kit is incredibly flexible and poseable, and comes with lots of optional parts. There are two open hands and two open fists for holding the weapons, each rendered in a rather nice orange. There are two beam sabers with their unique sword-shaped effect parts rendered in a pearlescent dark purple. Thanks to the show being completed, the manual actually includes lore for this kit, revealing that the beam saber is actually created through a loop of constantly moving minovsky particles, more akin to a chainsword than a traditional lightsaber-like weapon.
There's also a beam rifle. The GFreD includes a simple rack for it that plugs into the action base port, which lets you keep it with the kit on display. It's super disappointing this wasn't included with the base GQuuuuuuX (doubly so as it will be in the Gundam Endymion version).
The main gimmicks of the GFreD are its small funnel weapons stored on its "ears", and the transformed head that can plug into the Yomagn'tho superweapon. The funnels are securely attached, but can be easily taken off the head, and come with two grey display adaptors compatible with the WFM display base. I wish these had come as clear parts, as in the show the funnels look super unique as just the tiny boomerang shaped darts.
According to the manual, these funnels are named "Luna" and "Artemis" - the name of Sailor Moon's cats (among other things). Paired alongside GQuuuuuuX's true name being Gundam Endymion, with QuuuuuuX lining up with the number of letters in Endymion, I have a headcanon that GFreD is a codename variable for Gundam Moon, to tie the Sailor Moon reference up neatly. I just wish they'd said as much in the show.
The GFreD doesn't seem to share any imagery with the other Gundam Moon, which feels like a bit of a missed opportunity.
The Yomagn'tho transformed head is rendered pretty nicely, with the face depicted as folded up in a way that almost resembles a wolf's mouth wide open.
I detailed the wire ports with gold. I wish there was some form of connection point here where you could plug in actual Bandai-gauge wires, although I imagine a third-party display for the Yomagn'tho controls is in the works somewhere.
This kit pairs super nicely with the GQuuuuuuX, especially to recreate scenes from Nyaan and Machu's fight as well as their eventual team-up.
You can actually see a little improvement between my GQuuuuuuX build and my GFreD build almost 7 months later.
I really love the colourway for this kit. It was a little controversial on the show, and didn't look the best on the CGI pre-vis for the kit, but in person it's a pop of colour that plays super nicely with the GQuuuuuuX's colour scheme when side-by-side.
The violence duo are complete! If I can get a third-party upgrade set for the Endymion version, all that remains is to get a Mega Size RX-78-2 and we can get a real showdown display.
Next up? An old SEED kit, with a twist! Please reblog, it helps more people see my posts.
