HGUniversal Century

MS-06F Zaku II Solari (Requiem for Vengeance)

A wolf-painted Zaku with real screen presence and a couple of stiff joints holding it back from greatness.

MechaGrade Score

3.6/5

Zaku II · 1/144 · 2024

GradeHG

Scale1/144

Released2024

Runnersn/a

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The verdict

I like this kit a lot, but I want to be upfront that it is a good Zaku, not a great one.

The wolf claw feet and the ear-like antennas give it a personality that most mass-production Zeon suits do not have, and the panel line detail molded into the plastic is genuinely sharp for an HG at this price. Where it loses points is the leg pipe hinges, which are tighter than they need to be and fight you a little on deep poses. It is still a kit I would happily build again.

Best for: Requiem for Vengeance fans and Zaku collectors who want a distinctive squad-leader variant without stepping up to MG

The full review

What it is

This is Bandai's HGRFV take on Iria Solari's personal Zaku II F Type from the Netflix series, done up in her Red Wolf Squadron colors with painted claw markings on the feet and a pair of wolf-ear antennas on the head. Out of the box it reads exactly like the CG model from the show, which is the whole appeal of these RFV tie-in kits. I went in expecting a fairly plain repaint job and came out surprised by how much texture and grime detail is actually molded into the parts rather than left to stickers. The sliding mono-eye mechanism is a small touch that pays off every time I pose the head, and the shield's front-and-back detailing is a nice bonus most HG shields skip.

The catch

The leg pipe joints are the real sticking point. Bandai gave them movable axes so the pipes track the leg during posing, which is a clever idea, but on this kit several builders and I both found them stiffer than expected, which limits how far you can push a deep knee bend or wide stance before it feels like you are fighting the plastic. Markings still lean on stickers rather than molded color, so if you want the wolf claw details to survive years of handling you will want to be careful with them or consider panel-lining over them. At around 20 to 23 dollars it also is not the cheapest HG on the shelf for what is fundamentally a Zaku II reissue with new colors.

Who it's for

If you watched Requiem for Vengeance and want Solari's suit specifically, or you just like the wolf motif variant of the Zaku II family, this is worth the money and a satisfying weekend build. Skill level 2 with no cement or paint required means it is friendly for someone past their first kit but not yet reaching for an MG. If you are chasing maximum poseability or you already own several other HG Zaku variants and do not care about the show tie-in, I would save the money for a kit that pushes the engineering further instead.

The build story

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

Assembly is straightforward Skill Level 2 snap-fit, no cement or paint needed, and the gates are placed in low-visibility spots so cleanup is quick. The main thing to watch is the leg pipe assembly, since the articulated joint axes there are the tightest tolerances on the kit and benefit from test-fitting before you commit to final assembly.

The standout engineering is the sliding rib mechanism behind the head that shifts the mono-eye left and right, which is a fun small detail to fidget with once built. Loadout covers a Zaku machine gun and heat hawk, both mountable on the back via joint parts, plus swappable hand parts and an action base adapter, though the action base itself is sold separately.

Lore & trivia

01The pilot behind this paint scheme, Iria Solari, codenamed "Red Wolf Alpha," is a former concert violinist who joined Zeon at the start of the One Year War and leads the Red Wolf Squadron defending the European front in Mobile Suit Gundam: Requiem for Vengeance.
02The wolf motif is not just cosmetic to the story, the painted claw markings on the feet and the ear-like head antennas echo the pack-hunting tactics her squadron uses in the series.
03Requiem for Vengeance premiered on Netflix on October 17, 2024, produced by Sunrise and Safehouse, and this kit is numbered 254 in Bandai's HG line under the HGRFV sub-branding for the show.
04The MS-06F variant this kit is based on is a mass-production Zaku II that strips out anti-nuclear composite armor and radiation shielding found on earlier models, trading protection for a lighter, faster frame.