HGUniversal Century

MS-06R-2 Johnny Ridden's Zaku II

The Red Comet's rival gets a genuinely handsome HG in his own dark crimson.

MechaGrade Score

3.6/5

Zaku II · 1/144 · 2013

GradeHG

Scale1/144

Released2013

Runnersn/a

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The verdict

This is a solid, good-looking HG that trades on one of the best paint jobs Bandai ever gave a Zaku.

I like it a lot for what it is: a cheap, quick, striking display piece that nails the Johnny Ridden color scheme without asking you to paint anything. It is not going to wow you with engineering or pose range, though, because this is an older HGUC mold wearing new colors. Judge it as a shelf piece first and a poseable kit second and you will walk away happy.

Best for: One Year War fans who want Johnny Ridden's dark crimson Zaku on the shelf without picking up an airbrush

The full review

What it is

This kit takes the familiar HGUC Zaku II High Mobility Type frame and dresses it in Johnny Ridden's signature dark red, a color scheme deliberately close enough to Char's to be a running joke in the lore. The molded plastic already carries most of that scheme, so out of the box it reads as a finished, cohesive mobile suit rather than a project waiting for paint. You get a bazooka, a rifle, a heat hawk, a weapon rack, and a handful of swap hands for gripping and posing, which is a generous accessory spread for an HG at this price point. For a suit that is really an MSV footnote, that is more attention than I expected.

The catch

The articulation is where its age shows. Elbows only bend to about 90 degrees and knees to roughly 45, so deep dynamic poses are off the table, and the mono-eye only shifts side to side through a small switch rather than free rotation. The kit leans on foil stickers and marking stickers for some of the finer color separation and details, and builders note certain panel details read better with a Gundam Marker or a little paint rather than out of the box. None of this is a dealbreaker, it is just an HGUC-era mold, not a modern one, so do not expect RG-tier engineering at HG simplicity.

Who it's for

Buy this if you want a distinctive, story-connected Zaku for a One Year War Zeon shelf and you are fine with limited poses in exchange for an easy, satisfying build and a paint job you do not have to do yourself. It is a strong pickup for anyone building out MSV variants or anyone who likes the idea of a suit built to be mistaken for Char's own machine. Skip it if articulation and dynamic posing matter more to you than color accuracy, since the RG and MG versions of this same suit both flex further and will reward that priority better.

The build story

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

The build itself is straightforward HGUC-era Zaku assembly across 8 runners, nothing fussy or surprising, with clean part fit and gates that clean up without drama. It is a quick, relaxing kit to put together, which fits the price point and the fact that most of what makes it special is already baked into the plastic color rather than left to the builder.

The standout here is the color match rather than the mechanics. The ball-jointed neck and shoulder swing give you decent upper-body posing, and the swap-hand selection lets you stage the bazooka, rifle, or heat hawk convincingly. Where it falls short of a modern kit is the limited elbow and knee bend and the reliance on stickers for some panel accents, so the value proposition is really about getting an accurate Johnny Ridden colorway cheaply and quickly rather than about frame engineering.

Lore & trivia

01Johnny Ridden was nicknamed the Crimson Lightning, Zeon's number 3 ace of the One Year War credited with 185 kills, and was famously mistaken for Char Aznable in the field because of their similar red color schemes.
02The MS-06R-2 was an experimental high-mobility Zaku II test unit, one of only a handful built before the Rick Dom was chosen as Zeon's next mass-produced space mobile suit and the line was shelved.
03This HGUC release (kit #166) arrived in November 2013 and later spawned both RG and MG versions of the same Johnny Ridden color scheme, letting builders pick their preferred level of engineering for the same iconic paint job.
04Ridden was last seen at the Battle of A Baoa Qu on December 31, 0079, covering Kycilia Zabi's escape, and was officially listed missing in action before being posthumously promoted.