You should get your PG 00 Raiser. If there's one thing I've learnt, it is that if you listened to others' advice, even if the alternative is awesome and perfect, there's a nagging feeling inside you of incompleteness. You'll always wonder, "What if" you get the PG 00 Raiser.

But instead of Exia Ignition, go get yourself an MG Ex-S Gundam :p

Do keep in mind, MG 00 Raiser is newer, so its actually better than just PG 00 Raiser scaled down. Ultimately, its up to you, but MGs tend to have more customization options if you're into that sort of thing (not as much as HGs, obviously).

Just placed an order!

Gonna be getting me my MG PROTO-ZERO, I cannttt waaaiiitttttt!!!!!!



Also NG 1/100 Arios Designer Ver. :3

The PG OO Raiser is a very mixed bag in my opinion...
First of all, it's bloody expensive. You get a ton of great gimmicks but the price is still something you should consider.
Then there is the fact that it doesn't come with the display base anymore. That is a HUGE problem in my opinion! That kit is massive and super back heavy, it's almost impossible to pull of any poses withit if you don't have the base. They offer knock off bases on Ebay though and they work well from what I've heard, but that would just make the whole thing even more expensive.
Bandai should done the same thing they did with the PG Strike... Release the OO Gundam and the O Raiser seperately and bundle the O Raiser with the GN Sword III and the display base. That way everyone could get the base. Oh well.
The kit also seems to be rather flimsy and incredibly tough to pose overall. And even though they gave it those locking mechanisms for the joints it STILL can't hold it's weapons properly!

Then there is the MG OO Raiser, which is superior to the PG in almost every way! XD
Even though it has the O Raiser attatched to it it almost isn't backheavy at all, it's very well balanced.
It can hold all it's weapons without any problems.
You can always just buy a regular action base for it.
It's a heck of a lot cheaper.
The PG may look more impressive but to be perfectly honest, I just think Bandai made too many mistakes with it.

As for PGs in general, I totally recommend the PG Astray Red Frame!^^ Amazing kit! It's stable, it's posable, it's not quite as expensive, everything works well and it looks awesome.
I also recently ordered the knock off PG Strike Freedom (still waiting for it though) which is supposed to be just as good as the Bandai kit for just 130 bucks total and they even include metal parts for the wings to replace the plastic pieces that regularly break on the Bandai version! I'm very excited for that right now and if you wan't I'll let you know what it's like^^

By that you mean Dragon Momoko right?

For a knockoff sure they're working hard on it, unlike their Chinese rival.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but IIRC PG Strike Freedom knockoff was released under Daban.

Really? :confused:

I don't know Daban's quality is that high, sorry.

I have heard the company Daban makes high quality products, but in the end they are bootlegs of Bandai kits. Supporting bootlegs is like pirating goods but you actually pay these companies for their pirating goods.

I would always advise against buying non-Bandai GunPla products.

Just do what I said.

Buy MGs of GunPla. That's it. And always buy Bandai kits from trusted sellers.

Hobby Link Japan
GG Infinite
Gundam Planet
Tatsu Hobby
Gentei Kits
Ami Ami
Robots 4 Less
Anime King

Those are some of the places I use to buy GunPla.

If you're new to the hobby then start with the MGs from Gundam Age or G Gundam since they are low cost MGs are simpler to construct compared to some thing like Gundam 00 or Gundam Seed/Seed Destiny.

If you like Seed, then get the MG Aile Strike RM Ver.

The MGs from the Wing EW Ver. line of kits is very good too.

For the most part I'm somewhat afraid with bootleg.

The main reason is because the quality of the joint and snap-fit, can't match bandai in this regard.

Dude, don't force him to start off with the MG especially if he's a beginner. I still recommend HG kits for beginners then later move on to MG if he wants to.

One of my nightmares too.

Really.

Speaking of which, I need to get back to Gunpla one day. Been going with RDs as of late because I feel a wee bit too lazy to put things together, which is also ironic because my recent RD, the Extreme's option parts, requires that I PUT THINGS TOGETHER.

Worse is I have yet to own an RX-78. Procrastination. :upset:

Well, one thing that all modellers agreed about bootlegs is: they are perfect material for part-cannibalism, kit-bash, customization and painting-practise coz they're cheap, but still generally resemble their Bandai counterparts. :p

Perfect time to buy the MG 3.0 then ;).

I am not forcing anything on anyone. I am making suggestions.

That's why I suggested he start with MGs from Age or G as generally they are significantly less complicated than normal MG quality.

I would say that MG Age and MG G would be perfect since the parts are bigger and complexity wise they're pretty much the same as HGs.

The problems I have with HGs:

- lots of stickers
- very very small parts
- details missing

But my main issue is the stickers and the smaller parts which is why something like MG Age would be perfect.

- bigger parts
- minimal stickers
- easy to build (simple frames)

You would know this if you've built the MGs from Age.

You always complain about stickers and missing details. This IS true for a lot of kits, but not really for the HG AGE line. You did get some of those kits, and build them, didn't you? I have assembled a lot of HGs and can speak of experience, so if anyone want to start the hobby, I would say start with HG AGE-Kits. The AGE-1 and AGE-2 are very easy to build for example, don't have a lot of stickers and are not missing details. One can get 2-3 HGs for the price of 1 MG. In my eyes, thats alot more beginner friendly than any MG.

I would suggest HGs for starters as well, since they're extremely easy to build and offers satisfaction of completing a model, even if it is missing a few details compared to the real one.

You can move up to the MG line after a few HGs, and once you get into painting, you can easily throw the HGs on the deck to test your painting skills, and make the HGs look as close to the real thing as possible (or screw up so badly that you throw them out, I mean, they're really not that expensive).

Definitely not the same, you can't change the fact that MGs still has a lot more parts than it's HG counterpart, common sense dude.

MG Age-1 kit still has a lot more parts than the HG Age-1, I built mine for maybe less than 3 hours(almost the same duration as I built the MG Strike Freedom last new year 2007) while the HG version well I built it for less than an hour.

Alright, so after a seven year hiatus from Gunpla, I realized there are a whole lot of technological improvements on these things that I wasn't even aware of. Doing a little research has made me realized how awesome the Nu Ver. Ka is (already ordered it) and the quality difference the current kits are compared to my really old ones (Freedom was my last one).

I was going to get Exia but I read up on the poor leg strength of the unit. Tbh, I don't really plan on having it stand as Exia looks far cooler doing hovering and flying poses, so are the joints strong enough to hold those poses? Or will they droop after awhile? Anyone with the kit knows?

I never had issues with mine. I have it displayed on an Action Base 1 Celestial Being version.
The 'issue' is usually from the ankles which aren't so bad. Some paint will tighten things up. But really something simple as posing it on an Action Base (which is a must..) would fix it.

I like the MG Exia mold so much that I Have the Exia, Exia Ignition Mode (for Repair 1 conversion parts), MG Exia Trans Am, and I will be getting the MG Exia Repair 2 (the online exclusive).

Be aware that the GN Sword is pretty heavy and can be a pain to stay in the hand of Exia. The connection to the forarm isn't very solid. I used to have it on display only with the beam sabers, but I'm keeping it in the box now because the legs have started to sag down a little. The connection of the hips to the lower torso isn't the strongest on mine

Many of them can't, but they have been coming very close to Bandai's level for the past few years. Do you still get looser or tighter joints than Bandai's official versions? Of course. For example, MC Nu and Hi Nu (which are more like third party kits than bootlegs) seems to have a problem with the ball joints at the waist, among other things.

But in exchange, you do get them cheaper, especially for bigger kits (Daban's PG S. Freedom saves you over $100). Also, some kits, such as the MC Nu series, gives you new design gimmicks to play around with.