HGUniversal Century

MS-05 Zaku I [Black Tri-Stars]

The 2017 Zaku I runners, repainted in the Black Tri-Stars scheme, and it might be the best cheap Zaku on the market.

MechaGrade Score

4.2/5

Zaku I [Black Tri-Stars] · 1/144 · 2017

GradeHG

Scale1/144

Released2017

Runnersn/a

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The verdict

I'll say it plainly, this is one of the best budget kits Bandai has ever put out.

It shares the modernized 2017 HGUC Zaku I frame, which means you get double-jointed elbows, a torso that leans into the shoulder tackle pose, and molded color instead of paint pretending to be color. The Black Tri-Stars trim adds almost nothing to the price and gives you a genuinely distinct-looking Zaku for the shelf.

Best for: Budget-conscious builders who want real articulation and a striking color scheme without picking up a brush

The full review

What it is

This kit takes the excellent 2017-era HGUC Zaku I tooling and reruns it in the black, purple, and grey trim associated with the Black Tri-Stars unit. Out of the box you get a Zaku bazooka with a shoulder rack, the 105mm machine gun, a heat hawk, a Sturm Faust, and a knuckle shield, which is a lot of hardware for a kit at this price point. The elbows are double-jointed for roughly 165 degrees of bend, the shoulders sit on swinging pegs so they rotate a full 360, and the torso rocks forward, which lets you nail the Zaku's signature shoulder-charge pose right out of the box. Building it feels less like an entry kit and more like a scaled-down MG in terms of how much the frame actually does.

The catch

The mono-eye is still a sticker, and you should expect to reach for a paint marker or panel liner if you want the vents, cockpit hatch, and other small details fully sold, since a few accents are left to the builder rather than molded in color. Runner colors get you most of the way but not every seam and joint reads perfectly clean without cleanup. It is also, at the end of the day, a repaint of an existing tool rather than new engineering, so if you already own the standard HGUC Zaku I, you are paying again mostly for the color scheme and a couple of alternate stickers.

Who it's for

If you want a Zaku that stands out on a shelf full of green and red UC suits, or you just want the best-engineered cheap Zaku I kit available, this is worth the money. It's a great first HG for someone who wants real posability without jumping to MG prices, and a fun impulse pickup for anyone who already loves the Zaku I silhouette. Skip it only if you already have the standard-color HGUC Zaku I and don't care about the Black Tri-Stars scheme specifically, since the frame underneath is identical.

The build story

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

The runners snap together with the confidence you'd want from a modern HG tool. Nub placement is sensible, the shoulder armor and skirt panels fit snug without glue, and the double-jointed elbow assembly goes in easily even for a first-time builder. The shoulder tackle lean in the torso is a nice touch that a lot of older HG Zakus never bothered with.

Articulation is the headline here. Shoulders swing on pegs for full rotation, the elbows bend past 90 degrees comfortably, and the legs have enough forward stride to pull off a proper charging pose, which matters a lot for a suit whose whole identity is close-quarters aggression. Weapon loadout punches well above the kit's price band, and color separation between the black torso, purple accents, and grey limbs holds up without needing much paint.

Lore & trivia

01This kit reuses the tooling from the 2017 HGUC Zaku I re-release, which is widely regarded as the best HG-scale Zaku I engineering to date, surpassing even the older 1.0-era MG in build feel.
02The Black Tri-Stars were Zeon pilots Gaia, Ortega, and Mash, a three-man team whose Jet Stream Attack formation tactic became one of the most iconic mobile suit maneuvers in the Universal Century timeline.
03The trio first made their reputation at the Battle of Loum on January 16, U.C. 0079, where their coordinated attack helped sink five Earth Federation ships including the flagship Ananke.
04The included Sturm Faust and knuckle shield reflect the Zaku I's earlier-war loadout, distinct from the more commonly kitted Zaku II accessories.