HGCosmic Era

ZGMF-X20A-PF Gundam Perfect Strike Freedom

A Strike Freedom frame buried under a backpack of DRAGOONs, a gatling shoulder, and two swords that fuse into one.

MechaGrade Score

3.9/5

Strike Freedom Gundam · 1/144 · 2021

GradeHG

Scale1/144

Released2021

Runnersn/a

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The verdict

This kit is a genuinely fun, no-drama build that rewards you with one of the most loaded silhouettes in the HG lineup.

The Strike Freedom frame underneath is proven and moves beautifully, and Bandai stacked the Perfect Strike accessory set on top of it without wrecking that mobility. The catch is balance, not build quality: the backpack is so dense with hardware that this thing will not stand on its own two feet for long without help.

Best for: Seed and Seed Destiny fans who want maximum hardware on a shelf-ready HG without stepping up to MG money

The full review

What it is

This is the Gundam Breaker Battlogue version of Perfect Strike Freedom, piloted by Sana Miyama in the ONA, built on the same frame as the HG Strike Freedom with the Perfect Strike Gundam's Sword and Launcher hardware grafted on. I went in expecting a gimmick recolor and came out impressed. The gatling-gun shoulder unit and grappling hook read as genuinely new silhouette elements rather than reused Strike Freedom parts, and the two huge weapons, the ship-cutting Schwert Gewehr sword and the Agni cannon, combine into one oversized gunsword that makes the whole kit feel like an event piece rather than a filler release.

The catch

The backpack is the story here, in a good and a bad way. It fuses a modified Aile Strike pack with Super DRAGOON pods into one enormous unit, and it looks fantastic assembled, but it is nearly as heavy as the rest of the body combined. Builders report the kit is extremely back heavy and will tip over on a flat surface, so a display stand stops being optional. You also get foil stickers for some of the color accents rather than full molded color, and there is real gate cleanup on the smaller weapon and DRAGOON parts if you want clean edges.

Who it's for

Buy this one if you already like the Strike Freedom silhouette and want it dialed up with more guns, more thrusters, and a proper action pose finisher, and you are willing to grab or improvise an action base. Builders who like a kit that sits flat on a shelf without support, or who dislike foil stickers standing in for molded color, will find this a harder sell. It is not a beginner-friendly first kit because of the balance issue, but it is an easy, satisfying build for anyone who has assembled an HG or two already and wants a bigger payoff for a similar afternoon of work.

The build story

What the build is actually like, and the engineering worth knowing about.

The build itself is straightforward and solid, and builders note it does not shed small parts during assembly the way some heavily accessorized HGs do. The backpack alone is a bunch of large, satisfying pieces that click together into something that looks far more complex than it actually was to assemble, which is a good feeling for an HG at this price point.

Where the kit earns its keep is articulation and payoff. It uses the standard Strike Freedom frame, so the hip, knee, and shoulder range is already excellent, and it holds a dynamic pose well despite the bulky arm guards and backpack getting in the way of some extreme poses. The accessory count is the real value driver: gatling shoulder, grappling hook, and the two-piece combining sword and cannon give you far more play and display options than the base HG Strike Freedom offers for a modest price bump.

Lore & trivia

01This HG depicts the version of Perfect Strike Freedom piloted by Sana Miyama in the Gundam Breaker Battlogue ONA, built as a recolor and hardware upgrade of the Strike Freedom to match the old Perfect Strike Gundam's color scheme.
02The name comes from fusing two different Cosmic Era units: the GAT-X105+AQM/E-YM1 Perfect Strike Gundam and the ZGMF-X20A Strike Freedom Gundam.
03The backpack combines a modified Aile Strike striker pack with Super DRAGOON wireless weapon pods, each armed with an MA-80V Beam Assault Cannon and capable of switching to close-range beam blades.
04Its two signature weapons, the ship-destroying Schwert Gewehr sword and the Agni Hyper Impulse cannon, are designed to combine into a single oversized gunsword.