HGUC 059 MS-09 Dom / MS-09R Rick-Dom

I purchased the new HGUC Dom kit at about the same time I'd purchased the Dom Tropen (original color) kit, and had a previous Rick Dom Zwei kit–I was trying to build them into a decent three-Dom squad, so some of my observations will refer to the older two kits, as reference.

MS-09/09R Dom/Rick Dom
This is the recently-released HGUC version of the One-Year War Dom/Rick Dom. In many ways, it's a kit many of us have been waiting for, and justifiably so. Although the HGUC Rick Dom Zwei (Gundam 0080) and HGUC Dom Tropen (Gundam 0083) were quite good models in their own right, they simply weren't the same thing as the original. There are two versions of this kit available, the Dom/Rick Dom single-model kit, and the special Triple Dom kit that contains the Triple Black Stars' Doms. I will review the single kit.

Construction:
As I mentioned, I was constructing this kit simultaneously with the Dom Tropen and had the Rick Dom Zwei for reference. The HGUC Dom/Rick Dom is a completely different beast from the first two–part of it is due to the simpler lines, as the Dom is modeled faithfully after the original TV series Doms. But there's also the details, which I will begin with:

First of all, the HGUC Dom/Rick Dom does not use PC120–a set of polycaps that were supposed to be standard for the HGUC kits. The Dom uses PC116, which I recall was the same set of polycaps used for the Master Grade Zeta–thus the parts used by the Dom have been tooled to use this set of polycaps. If you have extra polycaps left over from your other HGUCs, you'd be a bit dissapointed to know not all of them will go on the Dom.

Second, the Dom/Rick Dom parts. There aren't really that much of a difference between the two MS–the bottom of the feet, the backpack thrusters, and the rear skirt are pretty much the only differences between them. You can effectively build the core MS itself and decide which of the two you like better later on. This isn't to say you can swap between the two at leisure, though–once the feet and skirt go on, that's it. But it's not so different as to be notable; the Rick Dom's skirt is more flared, the feet show thrusters similar to the Rick Dom Zwei as opposed to a hobverfan foot, and the Rick Dom's thrusters are a bit larger than the Dom. But those are minor details.

Third, the upper thighs of the Dom as impressive–it consists of three parts–two halves which you mount together like a normal HGUC kit–then an outer shell that goes over it–this saves you the grief of cementing the two halves anbd sanding them together, and makes for a more impressive Dom kit—even if the upper thighs are mostly hidden under the Dom's thick skirt.

Posability and Details:
Detail is okay for the HGUC kit, but since this is modeled after the original Dom/Rick Dom, don't expect it to have the same amount of minor panelling details as the earlier Zwei and Tropn. This isn't really a fair assessment, mind you; the Dom is a superior kit in construction and design; it's just that it lacks the latter detail we've come to expect of the post-1980's mecha. Nonetheless, it's still good overall. and the relatively smooth surfaces will make a customizer/detailer's job easier, if you so wish.

The Dom kit comes with the 'typical' Dom weapons: a Giant Bazooka and Heat Saber. The Dom's Giant Bazooka (for some reason, the manual refers to it as the \”Giant Bazoo\”–a throwback to the original series?) has a movable handgrip and trigger grip, as well as the front harry handle/bipod. In ways, this 'classic' Giant Bazooka is superior to the Dom Zwei's Giant Bazooka, if only for the moving bits and pieces. Unlike the other Dom kits, the HGUC Dom's Heat Saber is constructed in two parts: the Saber Hilt, and a yellow plastic \”blade\”. The REAL prize of this kit (indeed, the reason I wanted this instead of the Triple Dom set) was the Beam Bazooka–almost identical in appearance to the weapon in the MG Rick Dom kit.

The hands on the Zwei and Tropen have movable trigger fingers, to allow for multiple weapons holding, but this detracted a bit from their appearance when holding some weapons. The HGUC Dom went the other direction–it has four hands, one Bazooka hand, one open hand, and two fists capable of weilding the Heat Saber. One the one hand, they're not as flexible as the Tropen and Zwei hands, but they simply look more impressive, and match the look of the Dom better overall.

The movable eye is a great idea, and it actually uses a ball joint, so some degree of posing above the X axis is possible. But once you put the helmet and lens plate on, there's not much else you can do. And unlike the MG, there's not that much space for you to tweak it from time to time without ruining your kit.

Problems:
There is a slight weight problem with the Beam Bazooka. Not really a problem per se, but this is similar to the problem I encountered with the Advanced Hazel–You simply cannot snap-fit the hand over the Beam Bazooka and expect it to carry the device. The weight of the Beam Bazooka forces the hand to come apart. You will have to be quite careful and certain about which of the Bazookas you want your Dom/Rick Dom to carry.

The action poses are decent, but the use of PC116 also limits some of the Dom's posability. For one, it does not use a balljoint neck like the Zwei and Tropen; the Dom's head is a straight-down peg into the Torso. The torso is also pretty much fixed into position; the Zwei and Tropen had some degree of torso twist, at least. I know that the original Dom probably won't be seen making many torso twists or head movements, but still-although it's a gorgeous kit once finished, the lack of posability within the head and torso regions annoys me.

At least the arm posability is good, but here's one where I'd love to crack Bandai–the technology for double-jointed 1/144 MS kits was proven with the Hazel, you'd think they'd try this with the Dom. Not really a problem, but a mild dissapointment.

Overall:
The HGUC Dom/Rick Dom is a great kit to put together–and that's the most fun part of it, to be honest; the details and bits that Bandai put into the kit is most fun in the assembly phase. Once completed, it is decent, but probably won't have nearly the same gruffness of look as the Tropen and Zwei. It's a bit clean-lined compared to it's later-year variants, but still, the Dom itself is an impressive sight once completed. I probably wouldn't give it the full five stars for overall, but the HGUC Dom/Rick Dom is a more than worth it buy for it's price, especially if you're an OYW fan.