HGUniversal Century

MS-06S Zaku II BAYSTARS Ver.

Char's Zaku traded red for Yokohama blue and white, and it still poses like a champion.

MechaGrade Score

3.4/5

Zaku II · 1/144 · 2019

GradeHG

Scale1/144

Released2019

Runnersn/a

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The verdict

This is a genuinely solid HG Zaku dressed up as a ballpark souvenir, and I think that combination works better than it has any right to.

You are getting the older pre-Revive Char's Zaku II mold, which already earned its reputation for great poseability, wearing the Yokohama DeNA BayStars colors instead of the classic three-star red. If you can actually find one, it is a fun oddity that still builds and displays like a real kit, not a paperweight.

Best for: Zaku collectors and Gundam/baseball crossover hunters who already own or don't mind skipping a standard-color Char Zaku

The full review

What it is

Strip away the team colors and this is the older HGUC MS-06S Char's Custom Zaku II, the mold that made a name for itself well before the 2020 Revive version showed up. I built it expecting a novelty item and came away with a kit that still holds a bazooka pose, still turns its head and torso through a full range, and still has that hunched, mean Zaku silhouette that sold this suit as a villain in the first place. The blue and white BayStars scheme replaces the familiar Zeon red, and honestly it reads better on the shoulder spikes and shield than I expected, more like a limited variant than a gimmick paint job.

The catch

This was a Yokohama Stadium exclusive from 2019, limited to 2,096 units and sold for 3,000 yen alongside a matching BayStars Gundam, which means secondary market pricing is nowhere near the original tag and availability is genuinely rough. Because it is built on the older pre-Revive mold, you are also getting single-jointed elbows and knees rather than the Revive line's double-jointed upgrades, so the range of motion is good for its era but not class-leading by current HG standards. Color separation on a recolor like this leans harder on the included stickers to nail the small sensor and trim details, so cleanup and sticker application matter more than usual.

Who it's for

If you collect Zaku variants or want a genuine piece of the Gundam 40th anniversary baseball crossover, this is worth chasing down even at collector prices, since it is a real kit and not just a repaint gimmick. If you just want the best-articulating, most detailed Char Zaku for a display shelf, buy the current Revive HGUC MS-06S instead and save this one for when you specifically want the story and the colorway. Skip it if stickers-over-molded-color bothers you or if you are not willing to hunt secondhand listings for a kit that never had a wide release.

The build story

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

The runners are the familiar older HGUC Char's Zaku II layout, so gate placement and part fit are well trodden ground: nubs sit in reasonable spots, the shoulder armor and skirt plates snap together cleanly, and there is nothing here that trips up a builder who has done a few HG kits already. The recolored plastic takes the panel lines fine, and since this is an older, simpler mold there just isn't a lot of surface detail to fight with.

The engineering payoff is the same one that made the base Char Zaku popular: a torso that twists, a waist that has real range, and shoulders that swing forward enough to actually cross the signature heat hawk and shield in a two-handed pose. It ships with the usual Zaku loadout, the heat hawk axe and the shield, so you get a full silhouette without hunting for extra parts. For the price band of a limited-run recolor, you are mostly paying for the exclusivity and the colorway rather than new engineering, but the kit underneath is a proven, satisfying build.

Lore & trivia

01This kit was part of a 2019 crossover marking Mobile Suit Gundam's 40th anniversary, where all 12 Nippon Professional Baseball teams got Gunpla themed in their team colors, sold through team stores and stadiums.
02It was limited to 2,096 units and sold exclusively through the Yokohama Stadium team store and the BAYSTORE online shop starting May 14, 2019, priced at 3,000 yen alongside a matching BayStars-colored HG RX-78-2 Gundam.
03The base mold is the older HGUC MS-06S Zaku II Char's Customize Version, the mobile suit Char Aznable piloted in the original 1979 Mobile Suit Gundam as the Principality of Zeon's ace pilot, distinguished from standard Zaku II units by its three red-star insignia and the pilot's signature speed.