HGUniversal Century

MS-05 Zaku I (Gundam Thunderbolt ONA Ver.)

A beat-up old Zeon workhorse that builds like it fights, scrappy, over-armed, and full of character.

MechaGrade Score

4.1/5

Zaku I (Gundam Thunderbolt ONA Ver.) · 1/144 · 2016

GradeHG

Scale1/144

Released2016

Runnersn/a

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The verdict

This is one of the best High Grades Bandai has put out, and it earns that reputation honestly.

The Thunderbolt treatment gives an otherwise plain early-war Zaku a genuinely busy, lived-in look, and the sheer pile of accessories in the box makes it feel like you got more kit than the price tag suggests. I went in expecting a quick simple build and came out having spent real time on it, in a good way.

Best for: HG builders who want a loadout-heavy, characterful old-school Zeon suit without stepping up to MG money

The full review

What it is

This kit depicts Daryl Lorenz's MS-05 from the Thunderbolt side stories, and it leans hard into that identity. The molded plastic already carries the weathered, faded color scheme rather than a clean factory Zaku, so a lot of the visual work is done before you even pick up a hobby knife. What struck me most is how much gear comes packed in: a machine gun, two different bazookas, a heat hawk, flare bombs, and swappable sub-arm backpack parts. Clipping it all together and loading the suit up for a diorama pose is genuinely satisfying, and the mono-eye and cockpit hatch details pay off once it is standing on a shelf.

The catch

The count of tiny yellow vernier thrusters is the recurring complaint from builders, there are a lot of them to individually seat and clean up, and a couple are fiddly enough to test your patience. Backward hip and knee movement is limited by the non-poseable rear skirt armor, and knees only bend to about ninety degrees, so deep dynamic poses have a ceiling. It also leans on some stickers for finer color work rather than full molded separation, which matters if you want a completely paint-free finish straight from the runners.

Who it's for

Buy this if you like Zeon suits with personality, want a diorama-ready kit stacked with weapons for the price, or you are working through the Thunderbolt roster and want Daryl's Zaku specifically rather than a generic early Zaku I. Skip it if wide range of motion and deep past-90-degree knee bends matter more to you than presence and gear, an RG or MG in a more modern engineering style will pose harder. For anyone who wants a snap-fit kit that still feels like a real modeling project, this earns its spot on the shelf.

The build story

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

The build moves at a steady clip for an HG mostly because there is simply more kit here than usual, more runners, more small parts, more accessories to sort before you start snapping the frame together. Nub placement is typical Bandai HG, mostly on non-visible surfaces, though the vernier thrusters demand more individual attention than most kits this size ask for. None of it is difficult, it just takes longer than a bare-bones HG would.

Articulation covers the ball-jointed neck with a side-to-side mono-eye, tilting torso and shoulders, double-jointed elbows, ball-and-socket wrists, a 360-degree waist, and ball-jointed upper thighs, which is a real range for the grade. The skirt armor panels lift slightly to clear the hips during wider poses. Color separation out of the box is strong for an HG thanks to the multi-color Thunderbolt-specific runners, and the weapon selection alone makes this feel like better value than its price band usually delivers.

Lore & trivia

01This ONA version's faded, muted color scheme reflects the mobile suit as it appears in the Thunderbolt original net animation, distinct from the brighter, more saturated Anime Ver. re-release that came later.
02The kit represents the Zaku I piloted by Daryl Lorenz, a Zeon ace sniper and amputee veteran who later pilots the experimental Psycho Zaku after losing both hands over the course of the story.
03MS-05 Zaku I predates the far more famous MS-06 Zaku II in the Universal Century timeline, making this an early-war workhorse suit rather than the mass-produced icon most fans know first.
04The kit includes swappable backpack parts to mount an extended sub-arm, a Thunderbolt-specific gimmick tied to the suit's cluttered, field-modified look in the source material.