HGUniversal Century

Gaplant TR-5 [HRAIROO] Titans [AOZ RE-BOOT version]

A weird, wonderful mobile armor that trades poses for pure silhouette shock.

MechaGrade Score

3.3/5

Gaplant TR-5 [HRAIROO] Titans [AOZ RE-BOOT version] · 1/144 · 2024

GradeHG

Scale1/144

Released2024

Runnersn/a

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The verdict

I like this kit for exactly one reason, it looks like nothing else on my shelf.

The Hrairoo is a transformable mobile armor with claw-shoulders and a long blade rifle slung underneath, and once it's built it reads as genuinely alien next to a row of standard Gundams. The catch is that this AOZ RE-BOOT release is mostly the old 2010 HGUC re-run with a light refresh, not a ground-up redesign, so you're paying current prices for old-school engineering.

Best for: AOZ and Titans-faction collectors who want a striking mobile armor silhouette and don't mind sacrificing poseability for it

The full review

What it is

This is a P-Bandai reissue of the 2010-era HG Gaplant TR-5, recolored into the Titans scheme for the Advance of Zeta RE-BOOT lineup, released February 2024. Out of the bag it's a mobile armor first and a robot second, all claw-shoulders, a shield booster, and a long blade rifle that mounts underneath the fuselage in flight mode. Snapping the shoulder claws onto the rifle to form the beam cannon setup is the moment that sold me on it, it is a genuinely cool piece of engineering for a kit this old. Molded color is decent for an HG this vintage, and the Titans purple and grey read well without much paint.

The catch

Be honest with yourself about what a 2010-vintage mold gets you in 2024. There's no head articulation and no waist twist, both understandable for a transforming mobile armor but still a shock if you're coming from a modern HG. The shoulders use a fiddly grey joint piece that pegs in two directions and never feels fully secure, and the single-jointed elbows only bend about 90 degrees. A YouTube reviewer summed up the RE-BOOT branding well, calling it a re-hash rather than a re-boot, since the changes from the original release are mostly a few reinforced parts and the new color scheme, not new tooling.

Who it's for

Buy this if you collect AOZ side-story mechs, want a Titans-colored oddity that stands out in mobile armor mode, or you're chasing the Hrairoo's lore tie to the Psyco Gundam support arms. Skip it if you want a poseable action figure, the frozen waist and shoulders will frustrate anyone used to modern HG articulation. It also is not the kit to hand a beginner expecting a fun snap-together build, the shoulder assembly is genuinely confusing on first pass. Display it in its mobile armor form or with the beam cannon assembled and it earns its spot, try to pose it like a Gundam and it will disappoint you.

The build story

What the build is actually like, and the engineering worth knowing about.

The build itself is straightforward HG-era snap-fit, but the shoulder joint is the one part that will make you stop and reread the instructions. It's a grey connector that polycaps onto the torso peg and pegs separately into the arm, and getting it seated right takes a couple of tries. Elbows are single-jointed and cap out around 90 degrees, knees are double-jointed and move well, and the hip is the usual HG ball-and-socket. Gate placement is typical of the era, nothing brutal, but expect a bit more visible nub cleanup than you'd get on a current-year HG.

Where this kit earns its keep is the transformation and weapon loadout. The long blade rifle mounts underneath the body in mobile armor mode, and the shoulder claw units carry beam emitters that connect to that rifle to form a much bigger beam cannon, which is a satisfying bit of parts engineering for an HG. You get the long blade rifle and shield booster as the core loadout, and the Hrududu II support unit lore (extra hardpoints for manipulator arms and shield units) is there even if this particular release doesn't include it. For the price band it's a fair amount of plastic for a niche mobile armor, just don't expect MG-level articulation payoff for it.

Lore & trivia

01The Hrairoo first appeared in Advance of Zeta: The Flag of Titans, a photo-novel side story set in the Universal Century timeline rather than a broadcast anime.
02"Hrairoo" (also romanized Hrairoo-rah) is a Lapine word borrowed from the novel Watership Down, continuing a pattern of Gaplant-line mobile suits using non-Japanese literary naming.
03The standard Gaplant produced intense G-forces through its movable shield binders that only a Newtype pilot could handle, so the TR-5 variant swapped in booster shields borrowed from the TR-1 Hazel to make it flyable by a normal pilot.
04This AOZ RE-BOOT version shares most of its tooling with the original 2010 HGUC release of the same kit, reworked into Titans colors for the 2024 rerelease.