HGUniversal Century

MS-09 Gaia's/Ortega's Rick Dom (GQ)

The Black Tri-Stars' bruiser gets the articulation its silhouette always deserved.

MechaGrade Score

3.9/5

Gaia's/Ortega's Rick Dom (GQ) · 1/144 · 2025

GradeHG

Scale1/144

Released2025

Runnersn/a

Check price on Amazon

Affiliate link. We may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

The verdict

This is the best HG take on the Rick Dom silhouette I've built, and the transformation gimmick is the reason why.

Getting a tripod high-mobility mode without swapping a single part is a genuinely clever piece of engineering for a kit this size and price. The dark purple over black colorway looks fantastic assembled. The tradeoff is gate placement that fights that same colorway, landing right on visible leg armor panels.

Best for: Zeon fans and Black Tri-Stars completionists who want a posable, gimmick-forward Dom without an MG-level time commitment

The full review

What it is

This is Bandai's HGGQ reinterpretation of the Rick Dom for GQuuuuuuX, done up in the purple twin-tone scheme shared by Gaia and Ortega's personal units, with swappable parts and emblem stickers so you can build either pilot's machine from the same box. What got me was the transformation gimmick. The kit deploys its own waist-mounted leg unit to drop into the suit's high-mobility tripod stance without pulling a single piece off the frame, which is the kind of trick I expect from something twice the price. The monoeye moves up, down, and side to side, and the shoulders have a pull-out gimmick that opens up poses this suit never used to be able to hit in HG form.

The catch

The plastic choice works against the assembly. Between the near-black frame purple and the lighter accent purple, nub scars and stress whitening show up more than they would on a kit molded in flatter colors, and the gate placement on the leg armor panels is right where your eye lands first. A few builders also flagged the hip armor connection as loose out of the box and the third leg (used for the tripod stance) as a little stiff to swing into position, so the suit can settle at a slight lean rather than standing dead flat. None of it is a dealbreaker, but it means this one rewards careful nub cleanup more than most HGs do.

Who it's for

Grab this if you want a Rick Dom that actually holds dynamic combat poses and you don't mind spending extra time on gate cleanup to keep the purple plastic looking clean. It's a great pick for Zeon builders who skipped past older Dom kits waiting for one with real shoulder and monoeye articulation. Skip it if you want a completely stress-free snap build with zero visible seams, or if you're not invested in the GQuuuuuuX version of the suit and would rather wait for a plainer green Dom reissue.

The build story

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

Assembly is straightforward snap-fit HG work, but the two-tone purple frame means every nub mark and stress whiten spot is more visible than on a kit in a flatter, lighter color. Take your time with side cutters and a final nub file pass, especially on the leg armor where the gates sit. The hip joint benefits from firm, deliberate seating since a couple of builders found it starts loose.

The engineering standout is the tripod high-mobility transformation, deploying a waist-mounted leg unit without removing any parts, a real step up for a kit at this scale. Color separation on the purple and black bodywork is handled well through molded plastic rather than stickers doing the heavy lifting, and the loadout covers the Giant Bazooka with a movable grip, twin heat sabers, and a wire-rigged electromagnetic haken, giving you the full spread of the suit's on-screen arsenal for the price.

Lore & trivia

01Gaia and Ortega are members of Zeon's Black Tri-Stars, the elite ace unit built around the original Dom's speed and firepower
02This HGGQ release reimagines the Rick Dom for the alternate Universal Century setting of Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX, swapping the classic green scheme for a purple twin-tone unique to Gaia and Ortega's personal machines
03The kit's tripod deployment lets it drop into the suit's signature high-mobility stance using its own waist-mounted leg unit rather than a separate accessory part
04The included Electromagnetic Haken uses an actual lead wire for the wrist-mounted wrap weapon rather than a molded plastic stand-in