Kit Review

Straight build + panel lining + waterslide decals

Size comparison with a cigarette pack.

Detail shots

Outer armor removed

MG Dom (Renewal) - Internal frame shots. Same frame as the MG Dwadge. (1/2)

MG Dom (Renewal) - Internal frame shots. Same frame as the MG Dwadge. (2/2)

Internal frame.
Same frame as the MG Dwadge.

MG Dom (Renewal) - Detailed frame shots. Compared to the original MG Dom, arm frames have been newly added (which didn't exis

Frame detail shots.
Compared to the original MG Dom, arm frames have been newly added (which didn't exist before), and the chest and thigh frames have been changed.

Articulation on the frame.

A joint has been added that lets the shoulder swing forward in a wide arc.

Hip joint slide gimmick added as well.

MG Dom (Renewal) - Just like the base kit MG Dwadge, there's a very high risk of breakage if you assemble the hip joint pins

Just like the base kit MG Dwadge, if you don't sand down the hip joint pins and shoulder articulation pins slightly or
trim them with a knife before assembling, there's a very high risk of breakage.
This was pointed out countless times back when the MG Dwadge came out, and yet they've recycled it here without fixing it at all. -_-

Action poses on the frame.

MG Dom (Renewal) - The weapon lineup itself is the same as v1.0, but the grip sections and the Giant Bazooka have been change

The weapon lineup itself is the same as v1.0, but
the grip sections and the Giant Bazooka have been changed.

MG Dom (Renewal) - Since this is a renewal version, let's take a close look at how it compares to the 1999 MG Dom v1.0. As yo

Since this is a renewal version, let's take a close look at how it compares to the 1999 MG Dom v1.0.
As you can see, aside from the molded color, there's almost no visible difference in appearance..

The arms are similar, but the hip joints are noticeably improved.

Upgraded from the old ball joint (left) to a swivel-type hip joint.

Accordingly, the hip joint and thigh armor have changed as well.

The ankle joint structure has also been revised, giving it a slightly wider range of motion.

MG Dom (Renewal) - The shoulder articulation range is much better too, but just like the MG Dwadge, the joints are way too st

The shoulder articulation range is much better too, but just like the MG Dwadge, the joints are way too stiff and it's a pain to work with.

MG Dom (Renewal) - The arms have been completely redesigned from shoulder to hand, both the internal joints and the outer arm

The arms have been completely redesigned from shoulder to hand, both the internal joints and the outer armor.

MG Dom (Renewal) - Switching to fully articulated hands also made them noticeably smaller. The joint strength on the fully ar

Switching to fully articulated hands also made them noticeably smaller.
The joint strength on the fully articulated fingers is solid enough, and they don't pop off easily either.

MG Dom (Renewal) - The Raketen Bazooka sculpt is nearly identical, but the difference is that a palm-locking peg has been add

The Raketen Bazooka sculpt is nearly identical, but the difference is that a palm-locking peg has been added to the grip.

The Giant Bazooka has been changed to the MG Zaku v2.0 sculpt. (bottom)

Along with that, two new palm-locking pegs have been added to the grip section.

A locking peg has been added to the Heat Saber grip as well.

MG Dom (Renewal) - The machine gun is completely identical to the original. No pegs were added to the grip, but it's light en

The machine gun is completely identical to the original.
No pegs were added to the grip, but it's light enough that grip strength isn't an issue.

The mono-eye rotation gimmick and cockpit hatch opening feature are the same as before.

Leftover parts.

MG Dom (Renewal) - Action poses. Thanks to the improved hip joints, you can get much better poses out of it. (1/9)

MG Dom (Renewal) - Action poses. Thanks to the improved hip joints, you can get much better poses out of it. (2/9)

MG Dom (Renewal) - Action poses. Thanks to the improved hip joints, you can get much better poses out of it. (3/9)

MG Dom (Renewal) - Action poses. Thanks to the improved hip joints, you can get much better poses out of it. (4/9)

MG Dom (Renewal) - Action poses. Thanks to the improved hip joints, you can get much better poses out of it. (5/9)

MG Dom (Renewal) - Action poses. Thanks to the improved hip joints, you can get much better poses out of it. (6/9)

MG Dom (Renewal) - Action poses. Thanks to the improved hip joints, you can get much better poses out of it. (7/9)

Action poses
Thanks to the improved hip joints, you can get much better poses out of it.

Together with the MG Dwadge, which could be considered the base kit.

Straight build

After 23 years, the MG Dom has come back as a renewal. Like Bandai's recent version-up kits, it's been released under the exact same name as before with no version number or additional label, which is a bit confusing. (For the record, I've added "Renewal" to the name to distinguish it from the original.) I'd heard it was roughly a v1.5, but opening the box, it feels like the upgrades fall a bit short of even that.

First of all, there's only a grand total of one (!) new runner added specifically for this kit. At its core, it's based on the MG Dwadgereleased as a Club G exclusive back in 2019. It reuses the MG Dwadge's improved joint structure and armor as-is, and just like that kit, the Giant Bazooka uses parts from the MG Zaku v2.0. Various things have been changed here and there, but the overall appearance is barely distinguishable from the original MG Dom. And that makes sense — while the arms got a complete exterior overhaul, most of the other changes were to internal gimmicks rather than the outer armor.

The joints upgraded from the MG Dwadge include the shoulders, hips, and ankles. The shoulder joints do have a much wider range of motion in all directions. However, the moving parts are still so stiff that if you don't sand down the locking pins first, there's a good chance they'll snap during posing. The hip joints have been changed from the old ball joints to swivel-type joints and even include a hip pin slide gimmick, so it's definitely an upgrade — but again, just like the MG Dwadge, the hip pins are severely stiff, and if you don't trim them with a knife or sand them down before assembly, the risk of breakage is very high. The ankle joints have also been improved, giving them a slightly wider range of motion.

The weapon lineup itself is the same as v1.0, but the Giant Bazooka has been swapped for the MG Zaku v2.0 version, and palm-locking pins have been added to all weapons except the machine gun. These locking pins interlock with the corresponding pegs on the new fully articulated fingers, so all the weapons lock into the hands nice and securely.

So while improvements have been made here and there, it still feels a bit disappointing for a version-up that took 23 years. Sure, the 1999 MG Dom was a top-tier kit for its time, but after more than 20 years, you'd hope for something a bit more impactful. The shoulder and hip joint improvements were already introduced with the MG Dwadge, so they don't feel new, and the exterior looks so similar to the original that you basically need to compare molded colors to tell them apart. Most baffling of all is that the excessively stiff shoulder and hip joints — a problem that was already called out with the MG Dwadge — have been carried over completely unchanged. If you assemble without trimming the pins, it's not only difficult to put together but there's a very real chance of breakage during posing. It almost makes you wonder if they ever did a straight build of the prototype before releasing it.

Also, instead of the usual seals or dry transfer decals, only waterslide decals are included. Thankfully the workload isn't as heavy as a Ver.Ka, but the quality isn't great. In my case I don't use topcoat for reviews, and on top of that I'd run out of Mark Setter, so I just applied them with plain water. The adhesion is so bad that they'd come off with a gentle puff of air. The joints are already stiff enough to make posing a chore, and every time I applied some force to get a pose, decals kept disappearing and I had to keep replacing them. Eventually I ended up dabbing a thin layer of plastic cement on the back of each fallen decal and sticking them on one by one.. -_-

Personally, this kit left me feeling more disappointed than impressed. Objectively speaking, it's not a bad MG kit by any means. My gripes are about the scope and results of the upgrades compared to the original — the base kit itself was already a good one. That said, this is a 2022 kit that still feels very much dominated by the sensibilities of 1999, and if you go in expecting a revolutionary upgrade after 20-plus years, there's a good chance you'll come away let down.

Either way, the 1999 version will be discontinued and this will be the only option going forward, so if you want an MG Dom, you don't really have a choice. It's a half-hearted version-up, but at least it means the MG Dom is now easier to get your hands on — and that counts for something. I think you'll have a more enjoyable build if you just think of it as Bandai reprinting the MG Dom and swapping out a few runners as a bonus. :-)

MG MS-09 Dom (Renewal)
Category	Rating	Analysis
Seam Lines	★★★★★	Even the seam lines on the shoulder armor have been improved. Everything is perfect except for the weapons.
Molding Color / Color Separation	★★★★★	Color separation isn't much different from v1.0. It was already clean to begin with.
Proportions	★★★★★	Same as the excellent v1.0. Hard to tell apart by appearance.
Articulation	★★★★★	Best possible articulation given the proportions. Improved shoulders and hip joints.
Joint Strength	★★★★☆	Points docked for joints that are so stiff they're more of a hindrance than a help.
Internal Frame	★★★★☆	With the addition of arm frames, it's now almost a full-body frame.
Detail	★★★★★	On par with v1.0. Not super detailed, but clean and Dom-like.
Weapons / Accessories	★★★★★☆	The basic lineup is unchanged, but grip-locking gimmicks have been added.
Parts Count / Price	★★★★★	347 parts total. Parts per ¥1,000: 69.4. Feels like good value for the volume.
Uniqueness	★★★★★	Better than v1.0, but for a 23-year upgrade... it's a bit..
Dalong's Point : 99 pts.

* The scoring system used only for MG has been carried over from First 1.0 twenty years ago,
so applying it uniformly even to the latest kits — whose quality has leveled up across the board — is honestly a bit ambiguous.
Since it's just my personal take and can't clearly capture the differences in kit quality over the years,
please don't read too much into it and just use it as a loose reference.
(For kits scoring above 100, take it to mean the quality is much better than kits of the past.)

MG Dom (Renewal) | 2022.2 | ¥5,000

AIThis page was translated by Claude Sonnet.