Kit Review

Straight build

HG Raider Gundam Remaster Ver. - Detail shots (1/4)

HG Raider Gundam Remaster Ver. - Detail shots (2/4)

Detail shots

Comparison with the original version

The black molded color has gotten noticeably darker, resulting in a deep, rich black.

HG Raider Gundam Remaster Ver. - The red seals on the wings also came out looking rich and nice without any of that shiny, gl

The red seals on the wings also came out without any of that shiny, glossy feel —
looking rich and really nice.

HG Raider Gundam Remaster Ver. - The colors on the weapon parts have changed, and the joint parts have been updated to a sort

The colors on the weapon parts have changed,
and the joint parts have been updated to a sort of metallic-ish color.

HG Raider Gundam Remaster Ver. - Instead of a separate joint part for the stand, a stand hole has been added directly to the

Instead of a separate joint part for the stand,
a stand hole has been added directly to the hip parts.

HG Raider Gundam Remaster Ver. - 100mm Energi Cannon aerial firing pose (1/3)

100mm Energi Cannon aerial firing pose

HG Raider Gundam Remaster Ver. - Mjöllnir (flail) aerial action recreated using the wire part. The wire has no stiffness to i

Mjöllnir (flail) aerial action recreated using the wire part.
The wire has no stiffness to it, so it just droops down to the ground..

HG Raider Gundam Remaster Ver. - Transformed into Mobile Armor mode (1/4)

HG Raider Gundam Remaster Ver. - Transformed into Mobile Armor mode (2/4)

Transformed into Mobile Armor mode

The "drug trio" HG Remaster Ver. lineup.

The third unit of the "drug trio," the Raider Gundam, has now gotten the HG Remaster treatment. This one was arguably the worst quality kit out of the entire SEED HG lineup back in the day, so I was keeping a close eye on whether the Remaster version would actually improve things.

First off, the previously murky black molded color has been changed to a really deep, rich shade — just having that base black look better already bumps the overall quality up a notch ^^; On top of that, the wing seals that used to have that cheap, shiny look have been updated to a richer, more premium color, which makes the straight build look even better overall.

Beyond that, the weapon parts got a slight color tweak, and the joint parts have been changed to a metallic-ish color, similar to the Forbidden Gundam. One thing that has me scratching my head, though — if they had used proper hard-plastic metallic molding, the joint strength would've improved too. So why did they choose not to apply proper metallic molding to the joints on the Forbidden and Raider, which had the weakest joints of the originals? It's a bit hard to understand why these two kits in particular only got a color change on the joints while giving up any chance of actually strengthening them.. (Did the developers give up on the drug trio too?..)

Also, the Raider Gundam doesn't come with a separate joint part for the stand — instead, a stand hole has been built directly into the hip parts, so you can mount it straight onto an Action Base 2.

To sum it up: the molded colors are a definite upgrade over the original, but the flimsy joint structure hasn't really been improved. The awkward proportions and that somewhat unsatisfying build feel are still there too. That said, at least the colors got better and the overall quality has gone up a little, so I guess that's something to take comfort in. :-)

HG Raider Gundam Remaster Ver. | 2012. 1 | ¥1,500

AIThis page was translated by Claude Sonnet.