Kit Review

Straight build

Size comparison with a cigarette pack

Detail shots

The red parts on the wings are handled with seals.

Articulation is the usual honest 90-degree range.

HG Raider Gundam - 100mm energy cannon firing pose (1/4)

HG Raider Gundam - 100mm energy cannon firing pose (2/4)

100mm energy cannon firing pose

HG Raider Gundam - The flail known as Mjöllnir can be displayed with a separate wire parts piece. (1/4)

HG Raider Gundam - The flail known as Mjöllnir can be displayed with a separate wire parts piece. (2/4)

The flail known as Mjöllnir can be displayed with a separate wire parts piece.

Transformation

First, fold the shoulders down, then spread the wings and rotate them backward.

Next, rotate the claw hidden under the wings forward,

Then fold the legs at the angle shown above..

Plug the flail into the belly area, and the 100mm energy cannon onto the top of the right shoulder.

Attach the separate 76mm machine gun M2M3 parts onto each shoulder..

HG Raider Gundam - Open the front of the backpack cover to expose the 80mm machine gun M417, and the transformation is comple

Open the front of the backpack cover to expose the 80mm machine gun M417, and the transformation is complete.

HG Raider Gundam - Mobile Armor transformation complete (1/3)

Mobile Armor transformation complete

Viewed from the side, the large claw looks a bit unbalanced.

View from below

The claw is reproduced as a poseable piece.

All three HG drug trio kits assembled!

The Raider Gundam, the last of Gundam SEED's drug trio, has been released as an HG — and unfortunately, this HG Raider Gundam carries the dubious honor of being the worst kit in the HG SEED lineup..

To begin with, it already loses some style points compared to the flashy, distinctive Calamity/Forbidden Gundam, but beyond that, the overall build quality just feels a bit "meh"... The articulation isn't drastically different from other kits, but the ankle articulation is poor, making action poses tricky to pull off, and even a basic standing pose ends up looking a bit stiff. The Mobile Armor transformation gimmick itself isn't a major problem, but it doesn't feel particularly impressive or exciting either..

All the red parts on the wings are covered with seals, and those seals have a cheap, shiny look to them — they don't look great, and on top of that they peel off easily. In the end, whether you stand it still, strike a pose, or transform it, nothing really looks that cool. A bland mech design, joints and poses that feel somehow cramped, cheap seals, and a transformation process that doesn't really excite — all of it comes together to form what you might call a perfect storm of mediocrity (?)

Maybe that's why this kit has taken a lot of heat from SEED fans, and in a way you almost feel sorry for it. Since the mech itself wasn't all that appealing to begin with, it really feels like even the Bandai developers kind of gave up on it and phoned it in T_T

Anyway, it's not a kit I'd really recommend, but if you want to collect all three drug trio kits, it's not so bad that it's worth skipping entirely — that's probably the best way to wrap this up.. :-)

HG Raider Gundam | 2003. 11 | ¥1,500

AIThis page was translated by Claude Sonnet.