One of the most surprising find for this year.
Frankly, this is an Unboxing and First Impressions post that I have been really looking forward to doing. But this isn’t the kit that I had in mind when I decided to do an Unboxing for today’s segment.
Because right after going through my 10th annual rewatch of the War in The Pocket anime, I decided then that I should do an Unboxing and First Impressions blog post on a kit related to that anime. However, I was still undecided on which one to get for today’s segment because I can’t decide between getting the HGUC Alex or the HGUC Kampfer.
So still in my undecided state, I went off I was to my nearest local hobby shop, and as soon as I was in, instead of looking for the two kits that I still haven’t decided to get, I instead found this.
HG 1/144 MS-09R-2 ‘Rick Dom II’ (HGUC)
Release Date: Mid Jan 2004
Retail price: MYR RM 57.00 ( USD $ 14.01* / EUR € 11.56*)
*The price is subject to change, depending on the situation
The HGUC Rick Dom II.
Yes, the Rick Dom variant that I honestly didn’t expect to find when I was at the shop. Honestly, I expected myself to bring back either the HGUC Alex or the HGUC Kampfer.
But instead, when I saw the HGUC Rick Dom II, somehow, I find myself more compelled to bring this one back home instead.
You might be wondering why this? Why get the HGUC Rick Dom II when I could be doing an Unboxing a much more well known MS’s of that show?
Well, there are two good reasons for that.
For one, we do think that Rick Dom II is an MS design that is really one of the better MS designs in the whole War in The Pocket anime. Secondly? Well, that is because of its badass boxart, of course.
The boxart just looked too badass for one to ignore.
It’s funny that when compared to both the more action-oriented boxarts of both the HGUC Alex and the HGUC Kampfer, the ‘no action’ boxart art of the HGUC Rick Dom II’s looked more appealing to me. Why? Well, that is because the illustrator’s illustration of Rick Dom II’s simple imposing pose was enough to make me more interested in getting this over the two HGUC kits mentioned.
The other thing that I was impressed by its the HGUC Rick Dom II’s box packaging side section. Even though admittedly, it does look less impressive gimmick-wise when compared to the other two HGUC kits that I mentioned. But somehow, the Bandai marketing team managed to create a side section that helps me to make a firmer decision in getting this HGUC kit over the rest.
The bit with the lore section that we enjoyed going through, made better with the new Google Translation app.
But the bit that really sells the kit for me here is this section right here.
So good job Bandai for helping me to make my Gunpla life easier.
Although, admittedly, I was a bit worried at first that the HGUC Rick Dom II’s promotional materials might make me have high expectations of it coming in. However, all of that changed as soon as I pop the kit up. Because man, I was quite impressed by what I see hidden inside the box.
Why is that so, you may ask?
Well, honestly, for an old HGUC kit, I didn’t expect the content of this HGUC kit to impress me. I was expecting this to look plain and dated. Yes, admittedly, there are some sections here and there that confirm my suspicions of it upon closer inspection on the quality of the runners. But surprisingly enough, most of the HGUC Rick Dom II’s runners that I see here looked up to par even when compared to its modern HGUC standards in terms of its color separation and its sheer detail.
When I Unboxed this I was expecting to see really dated parts and was not expecting anything much from this
But somehow rather I was quite impressed by its color separation…
and the level of detail seen on some of the parts here.
Even the HGUC Rick Dom II’s manual was a joy to go through here. From its very well crafted lore section, all the way to its pretty simple and very quite well thought out HGUC Rick Dom II’s construction instruction section.
Just like what we see with the parts, the manual visual wise do look quite dated when compared to its modern HGUC standards. Again that is expected since this is an old HGUC kit. However, there is something about it, about its simplicity that I liked. I can’t put my hands on it just yet, but I’m sure I will figure it out as soon as I start work on it.
But the most surprising bit of this is most definitely its manual section..
Because the lore bit looks amazing and very well curated
The construction section, even though it does have dated visuals, but its simplicity is what I like the most here
As I find myself getting to that endpoint with the unboxing of this HGUC kit, I do admit that everything that I’ve seen so far does look quite promising to me. Just like the previously unboxed HGUC Gerbera Tetra, I do feel like this is going to be another fun HGUC kit.
But even with that said, I’m aware that this is a pretty old kit so, I know that I shouldn’t be having such high expectations of it coming in. But then again, I still can’t help myself to have such a strong feeling that this would be a good one.
Hopefully, my gut instincts are right on this one.
With that, ends today’s Unboxing and First impressions post of the HG 1/144 MS-09R-2 Rick Dom II (HGUC) by yours truly. Honestly, I didn’t expect to be quite taken by this HGUC kit when I first got it. The HGUC Rick Dom II might be one of the most surprising old HGUC kits that I’ve Unboxed this year, and one that I have a strong feeling will be something that I’ll have a lot of fun with as soon as I start work on it.
Hopefully, my gut feeling is spot on this HGUC kit. Because honestly, it would be a damn shame if this isn’t.
Anyway, it would be quite interesting to hear your thoughts on my unboxing of this HGUC kit. Do you guys experience the same things that I did here? Or are yours a bit different? It would be interesting for all of us here to hear your thoughts on our unboxing and your own experience with the HGUC kit, so don’t hesitate to text us here and have discussions with us about it.
We will be back this coming Thursday (hopefully) with a new Gunpla / plamo related posts, so do look forward to that!
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Ciao!
Kimi The Builder 