HGUniversal Century

MS-06S Zaku II Marines Ver.

The same excellent Revive-era Zaku engineering, just dressed in a colorway you won't see on every shelf.

MechaGrade Score

3.8/5

Zaku II · 1/144 · 2019

GradeHG

Scale1/144

Released2019

Runnersn/a

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The verdict

This is the HGUC Revive-mold MS-06S Zaku II wearing a special Marines Ver.

paint job, and that mold is genuinely one of the better One Year War kits Bandai has put out at this price point. I like it a lot. The frame improvements from the 2020 Revive tooling carry over completely, which means you get real elbow rotation and a torso that actually twists, not the stiff old-school Zaku silhouette people warn you about. It is not a flawless build, and I will get into where it wobbles, but as a display piece and a fun afternoon project it earns its spot on the shelf.

Best for: One Year War fans who already know the standard Zaku II and want the same great mold in a distinct color scheme for the display case

The full review

What it is

At its core this is the Revive-generation MS-06S Zaku II, the mold that finally gave the classic mono-eye grunt suit the articulation it deserved. The elbow is a genuine two-piece joint that lets the forearm rotate instead of just bending, the knees are double-jointed, and the waist spins a full 360 degrees. The mono-eye itself slides side to side on an internal switch, which is a small touch that does a lot for personality on the shelf. Snapping it together, the frame pieces click in with confidence and the shoulder armor pivots out of the way of the arm so you are not fighting the kit to get a raised-arm pose. For an HG at this price, that is a lot of engineering packed into a small suit.

The catch

The wrist joints run stiff out of the box, and more than one builder has snapped a hand peg trying to swap grips before the joint loosens up, so go slow the first few times you change hands. The front skirt armor has a known habit of popping loose when you kneel the suit into a dynamic pose, which is annoying mid-photoshoot but an easy fix with a dab of glue if it bothers you. Seam lines show up mainly on the forearms and on the heat hawk, visible enough that panel-line fans will want to address them. None of this is unusual for an HG, but none of it is invisible either.

Who it's for

If you already like the Zaku II as a design and want a version that stands out from the usual green or the Char red on a shelf full of One Year War suits, this is a satisfying pickup. Builders who value snap-fit speed and real posability over maximum part count will be happy here, and it is a fine kit for someone past their first build who wants a quick, rewarding afternoon project. If you specifically need painted-on stickers to survive years of handling or you want zero armor pop-off out of the box, be ready to reinforce the skirt joints yourself. Skip it if you are chasing MG-level detail; that is a different kit and a different budget entirely.

The build story

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

This is a straightforward snap build with no polycaps needed at the wrists, which is part of why they start stiff. Gate placement is typical HG, mostly on the underside and inside of parts, so cleanup is fast if you bother at all. The skirt armor and shoulder shields go on with peg connections rather than a locked ball joint, which is why the front skirt can shake loose under stress poses.

The engineering payoff is in the arm and torso movement. The forearm rotation at the elbow lets you get a natural-looking aim or block pose that older Zaku molds could never manage, and the 360-degree waist swivel means torso twist poses actually look convincing instead of forced. You get a heat hawk axe and the classic Zaku machine gun as the accessory loadout, enough to recreate the suit's signature look without needing extra parts.

Lore & trivia

01The Zaku II was designed by Kunio Okawara and became the first mass-produced antagonist mobile suit in the original 1979 Mobile Suit Gundam, setting the template for grunt suits across the whole franchise.
02The Revive tooling line, which this kit's frame descends from, was Bandai's mid-2010s to 2020s project to rebuild older HGUC molds with modern engineering, and the MS-06S Zaku II was one of the suits to get the full rotating-elbow treatment.
03Char Aznable's personal MS-06S Zaku II, distinguished by its extra thrusters and commander-type sensor array, is one of the most recognizable mobile suits in the entire Gundam franchise thanks to Char's signature red color scheme, though this particular release swaps that scheme for a Marines-themed colorway.