Update (04/03/2010): English Construction Manual for the 1/100 00 Raiser Designer's color version found here.
Setsuna F. Seie's penultimate ride in Gundam 00 second season, the 00 Raiser. Well I guess that will hold true till the Gundam 00 movie comes *snicker* The 00 Raiser is formed by the docking of the 00 Gundam (pronounced Double 00 Gundam) with the 0 Raiser that is reluctantly piloted by Saji Crossroad. Aside from an additional weapons platform, the 0 Raiser serves to regulate the twin GN drives of the 00 Gundam in trans-am mode.
Aside from benefiting from the power of the twin drives, taken from the Gundam Exia and the 0 Gundam, the 00 Raiser has improved long range capability compared to its predecessor, the Gundam Exia. Of course it still has the melee and short range capability that was originally Setsuna's speciality and the purpose of the Gundam Exia.
Bandai hasn't released a Master Grade version of the 00 Raiser, but it has released two non-grade 1/100 versions. The second being dubbed the designer color's edition which comes with decals and glowing LED lights and is colored to the specification that the original designer had intended it to be versus what came out in the series. Despite not making a Master Grade version, Bandai went ahead to make some HG versions and a Perfect Grade 00 Raiser.
The 00 Raiser's selling price is 5,000 yen at HLJ, while the Designer's color version also costs 5000 yen. At HWJapan it goes for 3500 yen. At Hobby Search the selling price is 4,750 yen for the Designer's color ver while the regular one is also going for 4750 yen. Over at Amiami the designer's color ver is selling for 3660 yen while the regular is going for 3669 yen. That has got to be a typo for amiami because most online sellers have the designer's and regular version priced the same. Wouldn't be farfetched too considering how close the numbers "0" and "9" are at the keyboard.
So which should you get? Designer's Color Version or the regular one? I asked myself the same question before. The only thing going for the regular one is the unique stand while the former has decals, LED lighting and the GN Sword III. It all boils down to personal choice and whether you have faith that the 00 Raiser can stand alone on your display area without a stand *snicker*
Here's the color guide for the 1/100 00 Raiser
While here's the color guide of the 1/100 00 Raiser Designer Color's Version (click to enlarge)
Color guide for the Perfect Grade 00 Raiser meanwhile can be found here.
Translation of the color guide was made from the manuals posted at Dalong, here and here.
More pictures of the 00 Raiser can be found at the next page.
