HGUniversal Century

MS-06R Zaku II High Mobility Type "Psycho Zaku"

An HG that packs the arsenal and the ambition of a kit two grades above it.

MechaGrade Score

4.1/5

Zaku II · 1/144 · 2014

GradeHG

Scale1/144

Released2014

Runnersn/a

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The verdict

This is the rare HG that makes you forget it's an HG.

Bandai crammed a full weapons rack, a pair of detachable sub arms, and a backpack the size of the Zaku's own torso into a 1/144 snap kit, and somehow it still goes together in an evening. I came away impressed with how much character survived the scale-down. It is not a clean, relaxing build, but it rewards patience with a genuinely intimidating shelf piece.

Best for: Gundam Thunderbolt fans and HG builders who want a weapons-loaded centerpiece without stepping up to MG

The full review

What it is

The Psycho Zaku is Daryl Lorenz's rig from Gundam Thunderbolt, and this HG leans hard into that identity: a hunched, cable-strung Zaku carrying a backpack rig that looks like it was welded on in a field workshop rather than designed in a lab. The kit ships with a rifle, a giant beam bazooka, sub arms that clip onto the backpack, and enough hand and weapon combinations that builders online keep comparing the detail and presence to an MG rather than an HG. Snapping the sub arms into place and loading all four weapons at once is the payoff moment, and it looks as deranged as the source material promises.

The catch

Builders consistently flag two things. First, foil stickers do a lot of the color separation work here, especially on the torso and backpack greebling, so this is not a kit where molded color alone gets you to screen-accurate. Second, several people who built it out of the box describe it as fragile, particularly the small thruster and vent pieces scattered across the backpack and legs, with more than one reviewer recommending a dab of cement on those tiny parts before they wander off or pop loose. Posing the fully loaded kit also takes some care since the backpack's weight and bulk pulls against the frame and needs the legs and waist to do real work to keep it upright.

Who it's for

This is a strong pick for anyone who wants a Thunderbolt-specific Zaku that actually looks like the unhinged war machine from the show rather than a generic recolor. If you like loading a kit up with accessories and building a dynamic, weapons-out display pose, the sub arm gimmick alone is worth the price of entry. Skip it if you want a quick, sticker-free weeknight build or a kit that stands cleanly at attention without extra support. Newer builders should budget extra time for sticker application and a little patience for the smaller parts.

The build story

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

The runners are busy but manageable in an evening, with the backpack rig being the most involved subassembly since it's built from several small greebled pieces rather than one solid block. Gate placement is typical HG-era Bandai, mostly on non-visible seams, though a few of the tiniest thruster nubs sit in spots where cleanup takes a careful hand rather than a quick clip.

Articulation holds up well for the grade, with hip and shoulder joints tight enough to support the extra weapons once everything is loaded, though the ankles and waist do the real work of keeping the pose stable. The standout is the accessory loadout itself: rifle, bazooka, and the sub-arm assembly give you more posing options than most HGs in this price band, and the alternate hand parts make swapping grips painless.

Lore & trivia

01The kit depicts the mobile suit from Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt, piloted by Zeon ace Daryl Lorenz, who lost all four limbs in combat and had his remaining arm amputated to maximize compatibility with the Reuse P Device neural interface.
02The Reuse P Device is a next-generation operating system that lets the pilot control the suit's limbs through thought, letting even inexperienced pilots handle it quickly.
03In the story, Daryl used the Psycho Zaku to cripple the Moore Brotherhood's mothership Beehive and destroy multiple Salamis-class cruisers before facing off against Io Fleming's Full Armor Gundam.
04This HG first released in February 2014 as part of Bandai's Gundam Thunderbolt line, later reissued with anime-accurate coloring, refreshed foil stickers, and updated packaging.