HGUniversal Century

MS-06FZ Zaku II FZ Type-B (Unicorn Ver.)

A Fritz Helm Zaku for the Zeon remnants still fighting a war that ended decades ago.

MechaGrade Score

3.2/5

Zaku II · 1/144 · 2017

GradeHG

Scale1/144

Released2017

Runnersn/a

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The verdict

This is an old-bones HGUC dressed up in new colors, and it builds like exactly that.

The Torrington Base loadout and the Fritz Helm head are the whole reason to want this kit, and they deliver, but the frame underneath is the same limited-articulation Zaku II Kai engineering Bandai was using well before the modern HGUC line loosened up. I like having it on the shelf next to my Unicorn-era suits. I don't reach for it when I want to actually pose something.

Best for: Gundam Unicorn completionists who want the Zeon remnant Zaku from the Torrington Base assault and don't mind an older-generation build

The full review

What it is

This kit reproduces the Zaku II Kai B Type that Zeon remnants used against the Federation at Torrington Base in Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn, and it was a Premium Bandai exclusive first in 2017 with a later general reissue. The pull here is the fit to that scene: the Fritz Helm B-Type head (styled after a WWII Stahlhelm, and designed in-universe so a downed pilot could pop the dome and self-repair), the Unicorn-specific color scheme, and a new Zaku Bazooka sculpted alongside the usual 90mm machine gun and heat hawk. Snapping the head, the bazooka, and the muted UC palette together and seeing an actual Torrington-era Zeon holdout take shape on my desk was genuinely satisfying.

The catch

The engineering underneath is dated. Elbows and knees cap out around 90 degrees, the front skirt armor doesn't move out of the way so the legs can't kick back much, waist rotation is minimal, and the shoulders only swing forward rather than rotating freely. The mono-eye isn't poseable either, it's a sticker applied once and left alone, so there's no fixing a crooked application after the fact. Bandai also leans on stickers and paint markers for some of the color separation instead of molded plastic, which is standard for this generation of HG but noticeably behind current HGUC releases. Being a former P-Bandai exclusive, secondary market pricing runs above the retail 1,760 yen it reissued at.

Who it's for

Buy this if you're building out the Unicorn timeline and specifically want the Torrington Base Zeon remnant Zaku with its correct headgear and bazooka, that specificity is the entire value proposition. Skip it if you just want a good-posing 1/144 Zaku for a diorama or a display that needs real dynamic articulation, because newer HGUC Zaku releases (and even some REVIVE-era kits) handle that far better with the same footprint. This is a lore piece first and a posable action figure a distant second.

The build story

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

The build itself goes together the way most Zaku II Kai era HGUC kits do: straightforward gate placement, no serious fit surprises, and nothing that trips up an intermediate builder. Where it shows its age is in what the frame lets you do once it's assembled. The waist barely rotates, the shoulders swing rather than roll, and the non-articulating front skirt means the legs can't swing back for a real running or kneeling pose without looking stiff.

The new tooling on the Zaku Bazooka is the standout part of the kit, it's a meaningfully different sculpt from the standard Zaku bazooka and it's the piece that sells the Torrington Base connection. Between the bazooka, the 90mm machine gun, and the heat hawk you get enough hand-swap variety to keep display poses from feeling repetitive, even if the joints themselves won't hold anything too dramatic.

Lore & trivia

01The MS-06FZ Zaku II Kai was a late-war second-phase production model under the United Maintenance Plan and effectively the final Zaku II variant fielded during the One Year War.
02The B-Type 'Fritz Helm' head is modeled after the German Stahlhelm and was designed in-universe so a pilot whose machine went down could remove the dome and perform field repairs.
03In the Gundam Unicorn timeline, surviving Type-B units were used by Zeon remnants hiding on Earth decades after the war, including in the assault on Torrington Base that this kit's colors and bazooka loadout are based on.
04This release began as a 2017 Premium Bandai (P-Bandai) exclusive before Bandai Spirits reissued it later for wider availability.