Bandai Spirits / Banpresto Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Freedom : Lunamaria x Meyrin

The Banpresto SEED Freedom prize figure series was launched by a trio of Kira, Lacus and Athrun in early 2024 and here come the to follow-up figures of the Hawke-sisters, released in late spring/early summer. No further characters are planned as far as I know, so it sucks to be Shinn or Cagalli or any of the new lot for that matter. Everything feels rather uninspired to say the least.


The box art follows the same style as see on the previous three releases, except that the camera has zoomed in a bit on the character portraits on the sides.


If you are familiar with the previous Banpresto prize figures there are no news here. The box size is fairly compact and doesn't leave a lot of empty space like say how the Bandai Glitter x Glamours figures love to waste space. Assembly is a simple affair and those same old circular bases make their return which means you will not be able to pose the two figures together like, you know, on the box cover?


Here we have the sisters with their enormous bases, these footprints prevent any interesting poses and the two can barely fit in a photo. Forget doing any interesting poses with the entire cast unless you go out of your way to create custom bases with foot supports because these figures have no hope of standing upright by themselves.


I thought SEED Destiny was creatively bankrupt and Freedom is clearly drinking from that same well. The character design evolutions from the previous show are really uninspired and at a single glance you will be hard-pressed to determine what show this figure belongs to. I can't fault the figure sculpt or painting for this obviously but the whole thing is just a bit underwhelming when you consider that this energy could have been spent on a brand new character instead. Well, the Compass insignia on the right shoulder looks neat I guess...


Now, I still haven't watched Freedom but this strikes me as a really boring choice of outfit, couldn't she have got that cool flight suit instead? The lame pose doesn't help either and mostly reminds of early SEED Destiny Meyrin where she ran around on the Minerva like a frightened mouse. The hairstyle reminds me of the "wet-look" of the 1980s, only the denim jacket is missing. This figure is a completely underwhelming in my opinion.


My studio isn't big enough for the full ensemble display but here are the five boxes together instead... Overall I was not terribly impressed with any of the Banpresto SEED Freedom figures but they are nicely sculpted and painted at least. In the future I would prefer to see smaller figures with less obstructing bases and with a wider range of characters. Surely no one really needs another Lacus or Lunamaria figure for a while?