HGUniversal Century

MS-06S Zaku II [UNIQLO Color]

A Zeon classic dressed in Uniqlo red and white, built on a mold that shows its age the moment you start posing it.

MechaGrade Score

3.2/5

Zaku II · 1/144 · 2019

GradeHG

Scale1/144

Released2019

Runnersn/a

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The verdict

I like this kit more as a collectible than as a build.

It is the 2002-era HGUC MS-06S tooling wearing a novelty colorway from the Gunpla 40th Anniversary x Uniqlo UT collaboration, and that older frame just does not move the way a modern HG does. The torso barely rotates independently from the waist, the mono eye needs a fiddly rib flick on the back of the head to shift, and the legs can work loose mid-pose. Where it wins is presence: the flat red-and-white scheme reads clean on a shelf and the parts count is generous for what was a limited promo item.

Best for: Uniqlo UT collectors and Char's Zaku fans who want the novelty colorway, not builders chasing modern HG articulation

The full review

What it is

This is the classic MS-06S Char's Custom Zaku II tooling, the one Bandai first cut in 2002, repainted in Uniqlo's house red and white for the Gunpla 40th Anniversary UT collection in 2019. It shipped with the machine gun, bazooka, heat hawk, and a set of soft-material skirt armor alongside the usual PS-molded skirt pieces, so the loadout is not stripped down just because it is a promo piece. Snapping it together feels like stepping back a console generation, in a good way if you enjoy that chunkier, simpler Zeon silhouette and in a frustrating way if you have built anything from the 2020 Revive line first.

The catch

The elephant in the room is that this uses the original 2002 mold, not the 2020 Revive version that fixed most of the line's long-standing complaints. Builders of that older tooling report the torso cannot turn independently of the waist, so twisting the upper body means twisting the whole figure, and the mono eye only shifts through a small switch on the back of the head that takes some getting used to. The legs and spike armor connections can also feel loose once you start posing rather than just standing the kit on a shelf. None of this is unique to the Uniqlo release, it is baked into the base kit, the collab just adds a new coat of paint over familiar limitations.

Who it's for

Grab this one if you already collect Char's Zaku variants, want the Uniqlo UT tie-in specifically, or you are fine with a display-first build rather than a full range-of-motion pose machine. Skip it if your priority is articulation and engineering, since the 2020 Revive HGUC MS-06S solves the torso rotation and mono eye issues this kit still carries and costs about the same when you can find it at retail rather than resale markup. This is a nostalgia and novelty purchase first, a technical showcase second, and it is worth being honest with yourself about which one you are buying it for.

The build story

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

This snaps together the way you would expect from an early-2000s HGUC tool: manageable part count, straightforward gate placement, nothing that trips up a builder with a few kits under their belt. The soft-material skirt pieces are the one texture surprise in an otherwise all-hard-plastic build, and they go on cleanly. Where the build experience dips is posing, not assembly. Once the kit is together, the limited waist independence and the tight tolerances some builders report on the joints mean it wants to stand more than it wants to dynamically pose.

Color separation leans on Uniqlo's red and white runners plus foil seals rather than the deep green and cream of a standard Zeon paint job, so this is a kit you buy for the novelty scheme, not screen accuracy. The weapon set is the strongest part of the package for an HG at this price point: a full machine gun, bazooka, and heat hawk gives you real display options beyond just the default rifle-in-hand pose most entry kits settle for.

Lore & trivia

01This kit was a Bandai and Uniqlo collaboration for the Gunpla 40th Anniversary UT line, sold exclusively through select Uniqlo stores in Japan for a limited window rather than through normal hobby retail channels.
02MS-06S is the commander-type Zaku II famously piloted by Char Aznable, the Red Comet, in the original 1979 Mobile Suit Gundam series that started the franchise.
03The base HGUC MS-06S tooling this kit uses dates back to 2002, predating the 2020 Revive version of the same Char's Zaku that later addressed the torso rotation and joint tightness issues builders still flag on this release.