Cannot bend... what? Can take picture? AFAIK this MG is really poseable because of the simple design, and being a milestone for new MG tech at that ime

Most probably you assembled the joint wrongly. Verify with the manual once again.

up/down as in, kicking motion towards the front? left and right i assume is towards the side skirts, like a side kick? if it's the up/down motion, u might want to check the crotch/waist piece, the problem should be there and not on that piece
if it's outwards towards the side skirts, then u may want to disassemble that piece, check properly the direction and reassemble it, it may be because you have that piece assembled the other way round

1. Both side of the hip joints are using the same J3 and J4 piece, so it doesn't matter.
2. Most probably the pieces are just too tight so you might have to loosen it a bit.

Best way to loosen up (and not break anything in between) is to detach the entire leg from the crotch, take out the hip joint (J3 and J4), and try moving J4 outward when holding J3. There's no locking mechanism between the 2 pieces.

380? isn't that pretty darn cheap for MB Freedom? i thought it was in the range of 500

but metal build cant enjoy the fun of assembling a gunpla. haha. anway tats super duper cheap for a metal build. i though at least need 6xx?

Might go tomorrow for a snippet. On Saturday, will go there with more serious intention... and moolah