MG OO Raiser Review

Damn, i started to get use to what adult collectors are doing, piling up the back log and took few months to complete one own custom gunpla project. It almost 4 month after i customize my own MG Destiny and till now i don't even have any clue what to start. Getting in for the November competition and try to have some fun over there, I think this is not going to happen this year. So, lets focus on this review kit now.

What we have here is a MG OO raiser, man we have waited this long time and finally i get my hands on it but unfortunately its not mine and i still going to build the best out of it. It was part of my "ex-boss" project and this is the sixth MG gunpla that i build for him. There is another MG OO seven sword, MG Astray Red Frame Kai and MG Force Impulse, after that it will be the time for me to build my own project ( its great to enjoy this addiction without paying a single cent while i can save some money for the future project). I forgot when was this release but if i'm not remember wrong it released last year and few month later, the seven sword version came out too. The MG version was released later than the PG version and that was the time for RG take place in the market, i guess the designer sure headache about this which want it maintain the "not overly done" look, better and worth more than a normal RG while it won't exceed what we have from the PG, quite tough isn't it.  

Alright, some brief introduction of this MS. It was from the Double O gundam series season 2 which airing around 2008 and first appearance was on 2007 ending of the Double O gundam season 1 (only the upper torso and the head unit were show). I though this is it, the best gundam in the Double O series, nothing can be better than this but the ending of the series was, quite disappointed for me as such brilliant design MS will end up with it "soul" being separate back to its predecessor and the worse part is, although it did appear back in the " the Trailblazer" movie but it got destroy by some sort of alien call ELS and the OO Qanta was replacing it? I don't care, this is the best gundam in the Double O series no matter from which season or movie series of it. Instead of those "quantum brain wave power" or what ever special power of the pilot, the only thing make sense to me is machine is a machine, machine will not bring superpower (that is why i hate this MS sometime when it use the so called "burst" more where everyone get naked and able to talk to each other through again, "quantum brain wave"). I do admire that it is a MS that using twin drive system which sound like a twin cam engine that able to double up it power, with the O raiser attach on it will make it even more stronger (and of course it look better) but operating it seems a bit complicated since it need two pilot where the pilot of the O raiser need to support to maintain the stability of this twin drive system. Another thing that i like most about this MS is the weapon system. When the GN Sword 1 from the Exia, it was amazing, it feels like the old WWII Rifle with a knife in front of it. It can use as a melee weapon or it can shoot the enemy from the far side, as for this.... large sword that going to slice the pity Enact apart from Mr. Patric and transform into a small GN Beam Pistol to shoot the rest. And when it come to this MS, it carry 2 GN sword 2 instead of one, can be combine to become like a lance on what we have on the MG Infinite Justice, while it can become a high frequency "heat sword" it can also become beam swords and like it predecessor, it can transform into a rifle which something that can shoot the enemy down. The GN Sword 3 will be another nasty version of it as the sword is as large as the GN Sword 1 while it can create a very large beam sword that might even bigger than the bean from the Gundam Seed Meteor unit. Just the hand carry primary weapon is not impress you enough because the wing binder which is have a small cannon beneath it and also can become a shield like the Forbiden gundam, it also can generate a biggers beam "sword" that can slash down a "fotress". Two GN Beam saber at the back, that is the flying knife for Setsuna to cure his throwing weapon addiction on the battlefield. Enough for the MS and lets see what it have inside this kit.

Well, I'm really not sure why the designer will choose this pose as the boxart while there is a lot more scene with cooler pose and background

From what i saw in the manual guide, this kit really emphasize a lot of the inner frame detail where it can remove lot of outer frame and everything are still attached to each other.

This kit got 22 runners and some extra part for the LED light, lot of stickers and less markings. LED light? I saw a lot of people try to modify it on the kit now days, and even not the gunpla kit itself is including it. Its cool to have the kit with some bling bling LED light but when it come to battery or on what reason that i should on the light on the kit, instead of bling my mind went blank for a while. Therefore, the LED idea? not really work on me.

Assemble process, detail and others

From here, its the topic for the assemble process, detail and some other gimmick include in. Lets start with the assemble process. Compare to building the PG version this is a easier but not because it have lesser part, this thing does have a lot of part to build a leg or a arm with lot of detain from each parts. It's more easier because it doesn't come with those lock and the parts are smaller. The building process is not hard but a bit confuse for the left and right arms which i will show it later. Other than that, nothing special.

As for the details, like what i said which it cannot lose to the RG but it can't beat the PG or..... the Metal Build version. Other than that, the details are still great. At least, the inner frame was not made for just holding the armors but to show off the inner frame when those armors remove. As for the detail on the armors, I think the RG beat it but that should left for the modeler to decide how detail the armors should look like. 

Special gimmick? scroll down......

These are the shoulder joint that all Gunpla kit especially MG kit should have rather than any simple single socket joint type or ball joint type. This type of joint is more sturdier and at the same time, it also very flexible.

From here, you might think there should be a ball joint for the neck and the male side of the joint is from the head unit and....

Why do they create a "cave" here? It was clearly state please pay some money to fill in the hole with some appropriate component (which is the LED)

And there is cover for it.

Here is the answer of the neck joint. It's not a ball type neck joint to connect the head unit and the chest unit, its a multiple socket joint which allow the head to move as flexible as the ball type joint. And the male side of the socket joint is made from clear green color part so when the "cave fill in with the money" the glow will come from the chest and the light will come from the eyes (sounds like some kind of hint right). To simplify that, it just make sure the light from the LED in the chest will reach the head unit which it can't store LED unit to make the censor (eyes) glow. Good idea but bad for me.

Get what i mean about the inner frame detail now?

Another good thing about the inner frame and the armor design is the armors doesn't affect must on the articulation which is great for posing it and the armors also not easily falling from the inner frame which some other kit will.

The GN Condensers are provided as well but its only come with few simple parts to assemble it.

I forget to mention the shield from the introduction of the kit but it just not important when it have the wing binders.

I'm not sure what i did wrong the O Raiser's pilot figure, it just can't go in properly. Maybe it all due to the lunatic Saji who don't realize what is war.

Landing gear are provided for the O Raiser but no missile pod like what it have in the PG version. 

Proportion, articulation and pose

When i saw it release in MG version, my first thing in my mind is the proportion. For gunpla, this version is the best of the best in terms of the proportion compare to the small arms PG version and weird face HG version. Everything was almost perfect if not because of the Metal Build version existent. If it categorize in larger MG size such as MG Sazabi or MG Nu size, i think it can be made even more sharper but too bad, MG Exia and MG GN-X is already there.

It is one of the latest MG project after the MG ver.2 from those MG Zeta ver.2 or many variant Zaky ver.2, nothing can complain about the articulations. Most of the joints are made to be perfect in terms on holding the weight and provide enough flexibility to post. The HG version can do a lot of extreme pose due to its simple but extremely flexible joints, how could the MG lose to it. So, articulations? no complain.

Pose, it always affected by the articulations and weight issues. No matter how strong the joints are build, it still to heavy to carry those big wing binders. The GN sword 3 is not something light either. The size is another issue for the pose. After combining the OO gundam and O Raiser, this kit actually become heavier and bigger as the amount of part from the O raiser is also quite a lot. Bigger space needed for the photo shooting because it size need bigger background to cover. Although the inner frame and armors are doing quite well which it won't obstruct each other but there is still some design flaw which is the GN sword 2 position when the whole kit carry full weapon. The worse part is part swapping or different weapon needed or different mode for both OO gundam and O raiser in ( will show the needed part swapping below). Alright, enough for the negative part and let just be a little bit positive to enjoy the pose now.

It's definitely easier to pose when OO gundam and O raiser are not docking together but it just not look as " strong" as what they are when both dock together.

These are the part required for holding the wing binders (when O raiser dock with OO gundam), hold GN Sword 2, combining both GN sword 2 become lance and cover for the "crotch".

Overall for this kit is great actually. Without any major modification it will still look great but it still have a lot of potential for this kit to be the base kit for kit bashing such as combining OO gundam with O Raiser, XN raiser, Seven Sword parts and also GN Sword 5. Additional detail adding to the outer armor as well as armor trimming to show off the inner frame also will do for the modification from this kit. 

Well, that's all for now. Painting, additional detail or stickers and markings are later (until i own mine). As for now, time to move another MG ( will review it soon), stay tune.................