HGUniversal Century

MS-06R Zaku II High Mobility Type "Psycho Zaku" (Gundam Thunderbolt ONA Ver.)

A Zaku wearing every thruster in the parts bin, and I mean that as a compliment.

MechaGrade Score

3.8/5

Zaku II · 1/144 · 2016

GradeHG

Scale1/144

Released2016

Runnersn/a

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The verdict

This is one of the best HG kits Bandai has put out for the price, and it earns that by being almost absurdly generous with hardware.

You get two giant bazookas, three regular Zaku bazookas, four Sturm Fausts, a machine gun, a heat hawk, and a backpack studded with more verniers than I can count on both hands. The trade off is a kit that fights you a little on assembly and a lot on posing once it's loaded up. I still think it's worth it.

Best for: Thunderbolt fans and HG builders who want a parts-and-accessories haul that punches way above the price point

The full review

What it is

The Psycho Zaku is a Zaku II High Mobility Type dialed up to eleven for the Gundam Thunderbolt ONA, and Bandai's HG version leans into that with fifteen runners and a genuinely huge weapons loadout for an HG price point. Building it, I kept being surprised by how much plastic kept coming out of the box, giant bazookas, backup bazookas, four throwaway Sturm Fausts, a machine gun, a heat hawk, three hand types. The piping detail on the limbs and the Thunderbolt-signature cluster of gold thruster parts on the shoulders and legs give it a busy, lived in silhouette that a plain HGUC Zaku just doesn't have. For an HG, the part separation on those thrusters is legitimately good.

The catch

The build is fussier than a standard HG. Those gold thrusters are individual parts you're expected to cement in place if you don't want them rattling loose later, and there are a lot of them. The spiky shoulder details are stickers rather than molded parts, and the sheet of foil stickers and dry transfers for the rest of the suit is bigger than most HGs ask of you. Builders also flag weak wrist joints that struggle to grip the heavier weapons, and once you've mounted the giant backpack and a bazooka in each hand, the kit gets top heavy fast, the stock action base stand isn't quite up to the job of holding a fully loaded pose without help.

Who it's for

If you want the Thunderbolt aesthetic and a genuinely stacked accessory count without stepping up to the MG Ver. Ka price, this is the one to get. It rewards patience during assembly, a little extra cement on the thruster parts saves headaches down the line, and it looks fantastic on the shelf armed to the teeth. Skip it if you want a kit you can pose aggressively out of the box or if fiddly sticker work isn't your idea of a good night at the desk. Builders who want a lean, no-fuss weekend build should grab a standard HGUC Zaku instead and save this one for when they're ready to commit an evening to it.

The build story

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

Expect a longer sit at the desk than a typical HG. Fifteen runners is a lot for this grade, and the gold thruster parts scattered across the shoulders, legs, and backpack are individual pieces that benefit from a dab of cement rather than trusting the friction fit long term. The foil stickers and dry transfers cover more surface area than most HGs ask for, so budget real time for that pass if you want the piping and gold accents to read clean.

Where it earns its price is the loadout: two 360mm Giant Bazookas, three 280mm Zaku Bazookas, four Sturm Fausts, a 120mm Zaku Machine Gun, a heat hawk, and three hand types (trigger, holding, open) to run them all. Articulation is standard HG Zaku fare, functional but not spectacular, and the real challenge is posing something this weapon-heavy without it toppling. Get it braced on an action base and it holds surprisingly well.

Lore & trivia

01The Psycho Zaku appears in Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt, built around Zeon ace Daryl Lorenz, who lost both hands and his legs earlier in the Thunderbolt Sector conflict and had the suit's Reuse P-Device interface fitted directly to his remaining limb.
02This HG release is part of Bandai's Gundam Thunderbolt HG line and matches the anime colored ONA version of the suit rather than the manga's original coloring.
03The kit ships with fifteen runners, unusually high for an HG, most of the extra parts going toward the individual thruster and vernier pieces scattered across the frame.
04Bandai also released the same mobile suit as an MG (Ver. Ka), which stands nearly two feet long with its boosters attached, giving builders a clear step up path from this HG if they want the design at a bigger scale.