I am happy to report that despite the fact that building Ilfrith was (mostly) miserable, my time with her since then has been fantastic.
Despite making so many mistakes, and despite feeling intimidated by the build, I think she came out looking really good. I still think she pushes the limits of how much detail you can fit into a High Grade, but the flip side of that is that if you can unlock all that detail, you’re going to wind up with a phenomenal looking model.
I’m also happy to report that she is extremely sturdy. Even after tons of posing, nothing is broken, and nothing is loose. The “worst” thing that happened is that the right hand popped off a few times.
I’m also also happy to report that my fears regarding the shield were unfounded. To reiterate - most of the places where the GUND Bits connect together are supposed to be painted grey, and I was worried that attaching and reattaching them would cause the paint to scrape off.
As it turns out, the connections between each GUND Bit are secure without being too tight. So far the paint is all still there. I don’t plan to mess around with the shield from here on out, but I’m glad to know I can.
So yeah. I had a ton of fun taking photos of Ilfrith. All the bad vibes and negative emotions have washed away, and I’m excited to show off some poses. But first, let’s go over the articulation.
Articulation
It’s not bad, but it’s also not quite as good as you might hope from a modern High Grade.
The head moves up and down quite a bit. Even better is the fact that the joint is nice and stiff. However you position it, it’s going to stay in place:
You also get nice side to side motion:
The elbow bend is pretty strong, but I’ve seen HG’s where the joint in “bend in half” 180 degrees. This doesn’t quite get there:
Ilfrith doesn’t have much of an arm lift, but she can do this weird bend with her shoulder:
I’m not sure how this would be useful, but it looks cool.
You get a full torso rotation:
There is the tiniest amount of torso bend, though not much:
This is the most shocking - Ilfrith can only do a 45 degree split:
At least she can do a slightly better kick:
And the knee bend is as good as you’ll get considering the shape of the leg:
All in all, the articulation get the job done, but I’m still surprised at how short it comes up some times.
A Little Bit of Cheating
Before we dive in and look at some poses, I want to make it abundantly clear that I ‘cheated’ a little bit. Like so many High Grades, Ilfrith only comes with a single pair of closed fist holding hands. But so many of the poses I wanted to do would look better with some open hands, so I busted out this little accessory pack:
This is the Mirasoul Flight Unit for the High Grade Aerial (which I’m planning to build in the near future). It happens to come with a set of open hands, and since Aerial looks so similar to Ilfrith, I figured it’d be alright to borrow them for the sake of this photoshoot.
Standing Poses
I took a surprising amount of standing, non-action poses, so I might as well share them:
Here’s a comparison between the two different chest panels:
I’ll admit that I got a little obsessed with using the open hands to try and pull off sassy, hands-on-hips poses, but since the individual fingers can’t move, it’s hard to properly place them on the hips:
But get used to them, because I tried a lot.
There’s something Ilfrith’s face that gives her a ton of personality. She can look stern:
Or puzzled:
And just a little bit scary:
It’s usually a good sign when I take so many non-action poses. It means the model worked with me rather than against me, and that it had a lot of personality shining through:
Action Poses (With Shield)
I tried recreating some of the poses I found in the manual, since they seemed pretty cool:
Because the shield is so large, it always plays a pivotal role in any pose. In the first photo she’s using it to prop herself up, while in the second photo she’s using it to protect her whole body. It’s the rare shield that feels like a real piece of equipment, rather than just a decoration.
This is the same pose with a different weapon, but it manages to have a different feel, as if Ilfirth is slowly narrowing in on her opponent, waiting for the right time to strike:
Unfortunately those are all the poses I have with the shield. Since I took these photos last, I was running low on patience and energy. But I think they capture the essence of it perfectly.
Action Poses (With GUND Bits)
Now let’s look at some poses where the GUND Bits are attached to Ilfrith. To start with, you slap this one on her butt:
Four of them on the backpack:
And two on the gun:
As much as I love the shield, I think this may be my favorite way to “use” the GUND Bits. It makes the gun feel more substantial, and it gives the backpack a purpose:
My only issue with this mode is that the backpack tends to pop off, though it’s easy enough to reattach:
I can’t think of any mobile suits with a backpack or a rifle that look quite like these. It really makes the design feel that much more unique.
And what’s a photoshoot without a couple of half-assed beam saber poses?
Conclusion
All these poses, and we’re still not finished! In our final post, we’ll bust out the Weapon Display Base, and see how easy it is to make those GUND Bits fly.