HGUniversal Century

MS-06 Zaku II & Big Gun (Gundam Thunderbolt ONA Ver.)

A regular Zaku with a cannon so big it needs its own tripod, and somehow that's the whole appeal.

MechaGrade Score

3.9/5

Zaku II · 1/144 · 2016

GradeHG

Scale1/144

Released2016

Runnersn/a

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The verdict

This kit is worth it for the gun alone, and I say that as someone who usually cares more about the suit.

The Zaku II is a solid, familiar HG build, but the Big Gun and its tripod are the real reason to own this set. It turns a standard grunt suit into a diorama piece about patience and long-range murder, and the anime color recall makes it pop next to the older manga-tone release.

Best for: Thunderbolt fans and anyone who wants a genuinely huge, stable display weapon without stepping up to MG prices

The full review

What it is

This is the HG 1/144 Zaku II bundled with the Big Gun, the massive beam sniper rifle from the Thunderbolt Sector, redone in the brighter anime color scheme instead of the original manga-tone release. Snap-fit, no glue needed, and the Zaku itself builds like the reliable HG Zaku it's based on with some Thunderbolt-specific armor and thruster additions. The reason to buy this kit isn't really the Zaku, it's the gun. Assembling that tripod and gun barrel and then mounting the Zaku behind it feels like building a small siege weapon, and once it's together it just looks right sitting on a shelf, dwarfing everything around it.

The catch

The gun assembly uses actual screws in the tripod legs, which is unusual for a snap-fit HG and trips people up if they weren't expecting hardware. The thruster bells on the Big Gun are small and finicky, and more than one builder has had them pop loose or fly off during cleanup if you're not careful attaching them. It also runs pricier than a standard HG for what is, frame-wise, still a fairly normal Zaku II, so the value proposition rides almost entirely on how much you want that gun. If you already own the earlier manga-color release, this is mostly a recolor, not a re-engineered kit.

Who it's for

Buy this if you're building out a Thunderbolt shelf or just want an absurdly oversized sniper rifle that actually stands up on its own without wobbling, the screwed tripod legs handle the weight better than you'd expect from an HG accessory. It's also a fine pickup for anyone who wants a Zaku II with some visual novelty beyond the standard mono-eye grunt look. Skip it if you already have the manga-version Big Gun kit and don't care about the color difference, or if you're strictly after the best value Zaku II for parts and articulation alone, since a plain HGUC Zaku II will get you there cheaper.

The build story

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

The Zaku II itself goes together the way most HG Zakus do, straightforward snap-fit with clean part fit and no real surprises. The Big Gun is where the build gets interesting, the tripod legs use actual screws rather than snap pegs to keep the whole rig from tipping under the weight of the barrel, which is a nice bit of over-engineering for an HG-tier accessory. The thruster bells on the gun's rear are the one fiddly point, they're small and it's easy to seat them at a slight angle if you rush.

Articulation on the Zaku is standard HG Thunderbolt fare, a ball-jointed neck with a sliding mono-eye, elbows and knees that bend close to 90 degrees, enough range to pose it crouched or braced behind the rifle. Color separation benefits from the anime-tone molding, so you get less reliance on stickers for the main color blocks than the original manga-color version needed. For the price band, the value is lopsided toward the gun, you're really paying for that one big, stable, great-looking accessory more than for extra Zaku parts.

Lore & trivia

01The Big Gun is the signature weapon of Daryl Lorenz, Zeon's ace sniper in Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt, who lost all four limbs in the war and piloted his suit through a full-body prosthetic interface.
02In the story, the Big Gun is powerful enough to destroy an enemy battleship in a single hit when fired from extreme range.
03The Thunderbolt Sector setting is a debris-choked former colony cluster named for the constant electrical discharges arcing through the wreckage, and it serves as a critical supply route to the Zeon fortress of A Baoa Qu.
04This ONA/anime-color version recolors the kit from the earlier manga-tone HG Thunderbolt release to match the show's on-screen palette.