Kit Review

Straight build + panel lining + partial paint

Size comparison with a cigarette pack

HG Dom Trooper - Partially painted areas. The white parts and gray verniers are all hand-painted. The white areas can technic

Partially painted areas. The white parts and gray verniers are all hand-painted.
The white areas can technically be covered with stickers, but since they're on curved surfaces it looks off, so I painted them instead.

The gray areas on the verniers are also partially painted.

The saber grip was dark gray so I painted it white.
The vernier rims are also partially painted gray.

HG Dom Trooper - The seam line hiding on both the arms and legs is nearly MG-level. Unlike the usual HG approach of just spli

The seam line hiding on both the arms and legs is nearly MG-level.
Unlike the usual HG approach of just roughly splitting things into two pieces,
the arms are cleverly divided into three parts to hide the seam lines completely.

HG Dom Trooper - Interestingly, there are 3 left hands included. Two of them are open action-pose hands, and the detail and p

Interestingly, there are 3 left hands included.
Two of them are open action-pose hands, and the detail and proportions on them are really nice. ^^

HG Dom Trooper - Another unique touch — the wrists are articulated with ball-shaped polycaps. Thanks to that, they hold their

Another unique touch — the wrists are articulated with ball-shaped polycaps.
Thanks to that, they hold their position well and have a wide range of motion.

HG Dom Trooper - But... the wrists are great, but the hand holding the bazooka is a total disaster;; It won't stay in place o

But... the wrists are great, but the hand holding the bazooka is a total disaster;;
It won't stay in place once you plug it in, so you can't get a decent pose out of it. OTL
In my case I just stuck some double-sided tape on the grip to keep it in place.

Articulation shot. Chunky as it is, the legs fold up completely.

Action pose. "Hiyah~"

The bazooka can be mounted on the rear.

The sword-drawing pose is decent enough..

Beam saber and beam shield action.

It comes with the same deluxe stand as the one included with the Gouf Ignited.

As expected, it can be locked into various configurations like this..

Stand on~!

As always, lifting it up in the air makes for much more dynamic poses~

HG Dom Trooper - The connection between the stand and the body is nice and solid, so you can even display it in a low crouchi

The connection between the stand and the body is nice and solid, so you can even display it in a low crouching pose like this.

HG Dom Trooper - The beam saber mount on the back can be detached like this.. and if you've got a sharp eye, you've probably

The beam saber mount on the back can be detached like this..
If you've got a sharp eye, you've probably already noticed — the back is identical to the Zaku Warrior's.

HG Dom Trooper - Ta-da.. so you can mount the Blaze Wizard from the HG Blaze Zaku Phantom onto the Dom Trooper like this. It'

Ta-da.. so you can mount the Blaze Wizard from the HG Blaze Zaku Phantom onto the Dom Trooper like this.
It's designed to be 100% compatible right out of the box.

Blaze Dom Trooper action~

And of course, Gunner Wizards from other kits can be mounted on it too.

HG Dom Trooper - After the Zaku and Gouf, now we've got a Dom homage(?) too.. Does that mean we'll be getting a Gelgoog or Zi

After the Zaku and Gouf, now we've got a Dom homage(?) too.. Does that mean we'll be getting a Gelgoog or Zeong next..? (What about the Acguy? ;;)

Comparison with the HGUC Dom Tropen and Rick Dom II.
The Dom Trooper is a bit smaller than the original Doms.

Straight build, front view (with seals applied)

Straight build, rear view

Following the Zaku Warrior and Gouf Ignited, now it's the Dom's turn!! The Dom Trooper has arrived as the third One Year War homage MS. It's a Dom that hasn't even gotten an HGUC release yet, and here it is reborn as a SEED Destiny kit instead. ^^;

First off, as you'd expect from a modern kit, the quality is clean and solid across the board. Decent color separation, sturdy joints, great articulation... and in particular, this kit puts a lot more effort into hiding seam lines than your average HG. Both the legs and arms make clever use of panel lines and triple-layered armor splits to eliminate seam lines entirely — that's practically MG-level. The triple armor split on the arms especially is a rare move for an HG kit.

The molded colors have a similar vibe to the original Dom, but the color scheme is surprisingly complex, so if you want to nail the design colors properly, there are quite a few spots that need partial painting. The color separation on the main body itself is good, but the verniers in particular need a combination of white, gray, and red — and at this scale, there's basically no color separation there at all. The white areas can be handled with stickers, but they're on heavily curved surfaces so the stickers look pretty out of place... (see the straight build shots) I ended up painting all the white and gray areas by hand. Ideally you'd also add red inside and around the verniers to really complete the look, but I skipped that. The bazooka also basically needs a full paint job to match the design colors, but it looked great with just panel lining so I skipped that too... ^^;;

Despite those chunky legs, the full bend articulation means action poses come out looking pretty natural, and all the joints are solid so everything holds its position well. The wrist joints using ball-shaped poly parts are especially impressive — super smooth and flexible, and a genuinely fresh idea. On top of that, three sets of left hands are included, and the detail and proportions on the two fixed open hands are really nice. In a lot of ways, this kit feels like an unusual amount of attention was paid to the arms. :-)

But there's one thing... the hand for holding the bazooka is a complete disaster. OTL
You'd think just resting it in there would be fine, but the hand can't grip the bazooka properly and it wobbles all over the place, making it really tricky to get it to stay put. I ended up having no choice but to use thick double-sided tape stuck inside the palm. It definitely needs some kind of fix no matter what, and it's a really out-of-place flaw given the overall quality of the kit.

The stand that's become something of a "standard feature" lately is included with the Dom Trooper as well. It's the same deluxe stand as the one that came with the Gouf Ignited, and you can configure it in 8 or more combinations for various positions, angles, and heights — though in practice there are only a handful of configurations that are actually useful. Either way, the connection between the stand and the Dom Trooper's body is solid, so you can pull off more dynamic action poses at a variety of angles. Honestly though... unlike the winged Gouf Ignited, the Dom Trooper doesn't really feel like a kit that absolutely needs a stand. Makes me wonder if it just drove the price up for no reason... Well, it's still better than not having one, so I'll let it slide.

The Dom Trooper's back is the same shape as the Zaku Warrior's, so if you remove the Dom Trooper's beam saber mount pack, you can attach the Blaze Wizard or Gunner Wizard that the Zaku Warrior/Zaku Phantom carries. If you already own the HG Blaze Zaku Phantom or HG Gunner Zaku Warrior, you've got plenty of options to mix things up. (That phrasing came out a bit weird..;;)

In conclusion, aside from the floppy bazooka hand, this is an overall clean, high-quality kit — one that really stands out for its thoughtful approach to hiding seam lines. It does need quite a bit of partial painting to match the design colors properly, but it looks plenty sharp even with just the base molded colors.

One thing though... no matter where you look in the box art or manual, they've filled it with photos of three of them grouped together. Sure, it's recreating scenes from the original anime, but it kind of feels like they're pressuring you toBuy three!...if you know what I mean..; Either way, the quality is good enough that buying three actually seems reasonable. ^^

HG Dom Trooper | 2005. 7 | ¥1,500

AIThis page was translated by Claude Sonnet.