HGUniversal Century

MS-06R-1A ZAKU II High Mobility Type

Char's Red Comet ride from a dream sequence gets a real, satisfying kit.

MechaGrade Score

3.9/5

Zaku II · 1/144 · 2025

GradeHG

Scale1/144

Released2025

Runnersn/a

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The verdict

This is one of the better small Zaku kits Bandai has put out in years, and it earned that reputation the slow way, by making people wait for it.

I built it expecting a simple recolor and got a genuinely well engineered High Mobility Zaku with real forward reach in the shoulders and torso. It is not a cheap impulse pickup since it only exists through Premium Bandai, but the parts inside justify the wait far more than the wait itself makes sense.

Best for: Zaku loyalists and Origin-line HG fans who want Char's Red Comet paint job on the sharpest-engineered small Zaku Bandai has built

The full review

What it is

This kit recreates the High Mobility Type Zaku II that shows up for a few seconds in Amuro's dream sequence in Mobile Suit Gundam: Cucuruz Doan's Island, wearing Char's red, white, and gold Red Comet scheme instead of the usual olive drab. Bandai first showed a painted prototype of this exact kit back in 2022 and did not actually release it until March 2025, which by their own numbers makes it the longest gap between reveal and release for any HG kit. Holding the finished model, I get why people kept asking about it. The proportions are stocky and mean in the right way, and the head sculpt with its narrow mono eye slit gives it more presence than a suit with a few seconds of screen time has any right to.

The catch

It is Premium Bandai only, so you are paying import shipping or hunting a reseller markup on top of the roughly 2,750 yen sticker price, and it will not show up on a store shelf. The kit leans on water slide decals for the unit markings and caution details rather than a printed sticker sheet, which looks great once set but takes patience and a topcoat if you want them to survive handling. Builders on the shared HG Origin-line Zaku chassis this kit descends from have flagged the same recurring niggle here: the side skirt armor likes to pop loose during dynamic posing, and the rear skirt pipe can clash against it if you push the hip too far.

Who it's for

If you already like the HG Origin-era Zaku engineering and want Char's paint scheme on it without waiting for a Ver. Ka reissue, this is worth tracking down. It also makes sense for anyone building a Black Tri-Stars or Char's-suit shelf who wants a High Mobility Type variant instead of the standard R-1. Skip it if you are not willing to deal with P-Bandai ordering and shipping, or if you would rather spend the same money on a widely stocked HGUC Zaku that gives you similar articulation without the decal work or the hunt.

What works

Double-jointed elbows and knees plus swinging shoulder and torso blocks give it real forward-reaching poses most small Zaku kits cannot hit
Loaded weapon set: Zaku machine gun, anti-ship rifle, A2-type bazooka, and heat hawk all included with a left-hand swap for two-handed grips
Red Comet colorway on a suit that barely got screen time makes for a display piece with a real story hook, not just another olive Zaku

Worth knowing

Premium Bandai exclusive, so price, availability, and shipping time are all worse than a retail HG
Side skirt armor pops loose in deeper poses, a known quirk on this Zaku chassis line
Markings rely on water slide decals rather than stickers, which look better but add real build time

Sold? Grab it.

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The build story

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

Gate placement follows the modern HG Origin-line standard, mostly on non-visible seams, and the parts snap together cleanly enough that I did not fight any joints during assembly. The double ball-jointed neck and the c-clip pivot behind it let the head tilt and swivel more than the classic monoeye Zaku silhouette suggests it should, and it is a fun surprise the first time you rack it into an aggressive pose.

The real engineering payoff is in the torso and shoulders. Roughly two thirds of the torso block can swing forward together with the shoulder joints, which is what lets this stocky little suit lean into a bazooka brace or a heat hawk swing instead of standing stiff. Elbows and knees are both double-jointed, and combined with the interchangeable left hand you can get it gripping the anti-ship rifle two-handed for a proper firing-line pose. Weapon variety for a kit this size is genuinely generous.

Lore & trivia

01This kit depicts the Zaku II that appears only briefly in Amuro's dream sequence in the 2022 film Mobile Suit Gundam: Cucuruz Doan's Island, wearing Char Aznable's Red Comet colors on a High Mobility Type frame.
02Bandai first displayed a painted prototype of this kit in October 2022 at the 60th All Japan Model & Hobby Show, then did not release it until March 2025, the longest reveal-to-release gap on record for a High Grade Gunpla.
03It shipped as a Premium Bandai (P-Bandai) exclusive at 2,750 yen, meaning it was never sold through normal retail channels.
04The kit shares its double ball-jointed neck, swinging torso/shoulder engineering, and double-jointed elbows and knees with the HG Origin-line Zaku II kits, one of the more articulated small-scale Zaku chassis Bandai has produced.