TT Hongli HG 1/144 Destiny Review

Price: RM1X*
*I bought mine for RM26 BUT you can find it for way less than RM20 from certain places such as Chow Kit.

I built this one quite a while ago but didn't ultimately felt like reviewing it in the end because of a few problems that persisted. At first it was something meager buy then I lost one of the beam boomerangs. Total mood killer. Nonetheless, I've decided to review it today as I have finished giving it a rough paint job. Would've looked nicer if I could cover the seams and sand it though. Then again, I'm pretty satisfied with this quick and rough job. Furthermore, this is my first bootleg HG... IIRC. XP

According to the manual;
ZGMF-X42S - Destiny (Gundam)
Pilot: Rear Fly Bird... (Shinn Asuka)
Height: 18.08m
Weight: 79.44t
Armaments: CIWS - Head Vulcan, High Energy Beam Rifle, Arondight Anti-Ship Sword, High Energy Long Range Beam Cannon, Palma Fiocina Beam Cannon (2), Flash Edge 2 Beam Boomerang (2), Solidus Fulgur Beam Shield Generator (2), Shield

Woah, the Destiny really comes packing with weapons but... erm.. it wasn't all that in the anime though... Basically it is Shinn's newest Gundam after his first which was the Impulse (which looks better in design IMO). Nonetheless, the Destiny shines in beauty thanks to its Wings of Light.

Read on for the review!

EDIT: Manual scans are up now! Enjoy the Engrish translations courtesy of TT Hongli. XD

Part 1: Box...

Sorry! I didn't really took much shots of the box. Essentially it is the same as the original except with Chinese and Engrish words inscribed. If I have the time later on, I MIGHT take some new pictures of the box completely.

Part 2: Box Open!

As per usual, the runners are packed in one huge plastic bag.

Part 3: Manual Scans

This transcript of the Destiny is rather ridiculous. Shinn is called what now?

Part ORZ: ONORE TT HONGLI STICKERS!

I was totally unhappy here. The stickers has lost all ability to STICK! *exasperates*
With that said, I had to rely on... a no sticker build! My first ever no sticker build...

Part 4: Runners

The plastic looks kinda cheap and all shiny. The beam parts, however, are totally nice (to my surprise). Hey look, a Destiny stand!

Part 5: Building Process & Lack Thereof
Since I built this during the time when I was less experienced,the building process was not recorded fully. I also don't remember every single detail anymore but I'll try to highlight important aspects especially since this is a bootleg review.

As for this bootleg.. I suggest you get some superglue. You'll definitely need it. Oh, a hobby knife (or any small knife) might also be needed.

SOME of the markers I used to do this no sticker build.

Part 5.1: Head & Torso
The head and torso are easy to put together. Unlike the new 00 HGs, THERE IS NO inner frame whatsoever. I highly advise you to use the superglue trick on the ball joint polycaps in the upper torso to enhance shoulder strength... and prevent the arms from falling off (easily) later on.

I also tried to get a light blue color for the front portion of the chest though it didn't come out tht well...

Part 5.2: Beam Rifle & Shield

Beam rifle. Simple construction with no problems whatsoever. I painted the sensor white as per image.

Literally scribbled the black area using my CD marker. Some yellow marker was used for the small yellow points at the side as well. No building problems here as well.

Part 5.3: Arms

There shouldn't be much problems when building the arms.

Part 5.4: Legs

Construction should be quite straightforward. Note that legs can only bend that much... not even 90 degrees. Also, if you try to bend it too hard, the blue armor pieces by the knee CAN fly out.

Part 5.5: Waist

Construction here should be quite easy as well. I scribbled the black area with the CD marker as well. Wasn't such a good idea though as it kinda rubbed onto the leg armor later on... @_@

Part 5.6: Arondight & Beam Cannon

Painted the white edges and the red spots of the weapons above.

Sadly... the Arondight cracked! ORZ!

Destiny: NOOOOOOOOOOOO~!!!

Because of that, I tried to hide the crack by adding some extra layers of paint on it. Due to the bad ratio of using marker tips, the end result resulted in that section being more white. @_@

Part 5.7: Wings of Light

Hmm... IIRC, you need to cut a bit of excess plastic inside the black part of the wings. Otherwise, the building process here is also quite easy. I suggest you superglue the backpack to the back though as it lies to come off...

The earlier finished Destiny!

Sadly, after a while... I lost one of the beam boomerangs... T_T

Also, all photos after this are taken under natural sunlight near noon just now. Ah, sunlight, you've returned!

Part 6: Introducing... HG Destiny Extreme Burst Mode (Lame Attempt Edition)!
After a while, I decided to give it a shinier overall color... so I painted most of the body using metallic paint from paint markers. The blue, red, green and gold comes from the Sangokuden set while the silver came from a different brand altogether. The silver was a bit flow-y so I used a metal plate to set it down and dry brushed most of the gray parts. Note that the smaller patches of red are from the regular red Gundam marker as I was lazy to touch them up with the metallic color later on since I did those earlier.

Due to the paintjob, some parts became a bit more stiff.. which is a good thing. ^^

Part 7: Destiny EBM Stands Proud!
Part 7.1: Height Comparison

Here is the Destiny compared to the usual empty chewing gum bottle.

Part 7.2: Lotsa Parts

Destiny has a total of 3 different pairs of hands. 1 pair open and 2 pair closed. The closed ones differ because of the orientation of the connection.

Part 7.3: Front & Rear

Still sad I lost on of the beam boomerangs... T_T

Part 7.4: Articulation

Shoulder, wings and weapon rack articulation.

Arms and legs articulation... wait! Why does the leg bend more than 90 degrees now?! O_O

The reason is because I cut some of the plastic of the knee joints. Too lazy to paint that part silver in the end. XP
*Ignore the plastic at the back as I tried to use the plastic bag trick for the backpack.. which didn't work out in the end.*

Head can go high up though a bit difficult... Note to self; don't paint neck joints.

Spread! The arms can go a little higher than what you see there but the shield kinda blocks it (didn't take off, my bad). Haha.

I think this one a little hard to see but it has a decent amount of waist movement.

Part 8: Action!

Destiny reaches for its signature weapon.. the Arondight!

This part here needs some extra help to open though as it is quite difficult to open... (you can just leave it be if you're too lazy).

Destiny... Extreme Blast Mode!

BTW, here's the shield opened. Yep, the red part needs paint.

The arms are a little weak to properly hold the Arondight nicely though..

DESTINY FINGER!

*coughs* The beam rifle blocks the beam cannon... time to remove it!

BA-SHUUUUNG~!!!
(I don't like it much though.)

Beam boomerang!
The beam part doesn't go all the way in though. ^^;

It can also be a beam saber!

Final shot!

Beam shield. A good backup when your primary shield gets busted. The beam part is connected to the hands by taking out the yellow part and putting the beam part in between it and the hand.

DESTINY FINGER SHIELD!
(In Shinn's dreams.)

"The School of the Undefeated of the East! Ultimate Secret Technique! SEKIHA TENKYOUKEN!"

"This hand of mine is burning red!"

"Its loud roar tells me to grasp victory!"

"ERUPTING DESTINY FINGER!"

*HEAT END!*

Lame attempt of the the MG Destiny EBM boxart.

Part 9: Conclusion
Pros

• Lovely wings.
• Wings can stay up perfectly fine.
  
• Abundance of weapons (still lose to Crossbone however).
• Huge sword!
• Glittery beam parts.
• Cheap at less than RM20. I saw this at Jia Yang last month (December 2009) under the new TT Hongli logo - "Gao Gao". As such, I picked up another Destiny that day. I might evaluate it under the rumor that TT Hongli has better quality products under the name "Gao Gao" instead. We'll see.
  

Cons

• Needs superglue trick for a few parts (arms especially).
• Low articulation for the legs.
• Stickers don't work.
• Arms like to fall off.
  
• Loose backpack (probably due to the extra weight of the wings beam parts).

Overall it is pretty decent. Not great but not totally bad. Then again, SEED HGs are pretty lame from what I've heard and seen so far. It is mostly good for its eye candy which is the Wings of Light beam part which the NG and standard MG versions do not have.

If you do want to get this bootleg model, make sure you have some superglue ready and maybe some paint to make it look nicer. =)