HGUniversal Century

MSZ-006LGT-3 Lightning Zeta Gundam Aspros

A P-Bandai repaint of a Build Fighters original that trades transformation for a phoenix-shaped finishing move, and looks the part on the shelf.

MechaGrade Score

3.3/5

Lightning Zeta Gundam Aspros · 1/144 · 2016

GradeHG

Scale1/144

Released2016

Runnersn/a

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The verdict

This is a solid, unglamorous kit dressed up in a striking color job.

The Aspros is a recolor of the earlier HGBF Lightning Zeta Gundam, built by Yuuma Kousaka for the Meijin Cup in Gundam Build Fighters Try, and Bandai mostly changed the plastic colors and added one shoulder/shield decal rather than reworking the kit. I like what it looks like standing still a lot more than I like what it does once it is in my hands.

Best for: Build Fighters Try fans and Zeta-shape collectors who want the Aspros colorway specifically, not builders chasing top-tier HG engineering

The full review

What it is

The Aspros is the P-Bandai exclusive recolor of the HGBF Lightning Zeta Gundam, done up in the white, purple, and yellow scheme that matches Yuuma's competition-winning custom from Gundam Build Fighters Try, finished off with a single water-slide decal for the shoulder and shield markings. Under the new colors it is the same suit as the original release, a non-transforming take on the classic Zeta silhouette that swaps the wave rider gimmick for the Phoenix Burst system, where the back binders clip onto the forearms and combine with the shield's mega particle cannon for one big finishing pose. Snapped together, the silhouette reads exactly right, tall, winged, and clean, and the color separation between the three main tones is genuinely good for a kit this size.

The catch

The frame underneath is unchanged from the 2015 original, and that kit was never praised for its poseability, the shoulder and hip joints are on the stiffer side and the overall mobility reads as workmanlike rather than dynamic. The hands are noticeably undersized for how big this suit looks assembled, which is a common complaint on the base kit too. The red accent stickers included for detail work are thin and prone to silvering or peeling if you are not careful applying them, and since this is fundamentally a repaint job, you are paying P-Bandai exclusive pricing for a new decal sheet and different runners of the same 2015 tooling rather than any new engineering.

Who it's for

Grab this one if the Aspros colorway and the Build Fighters Try connection matter to you, if you already like the Lightning Zeta shape and want it in this particular scheme, or if you build for display and are fine with a suit that looks striking standing in a neutral pose rather than one that holds dramatic action poses all day. Skip it if you are chasing best-in-class HG articulation or value for money, since you can find newer HG kits with better range of motion and bigger part counts for less. This is a shelf piece and a piece of Build Fighters history first, a poseable action figure a distant second.

The build story

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

Assembly follows the standard 2015 HGBF Lightning Zeta Gundam sequence, since the Aspros is a color and decal variant rather than a retooled kit. Gate placement and part fit are typical mid-2010s HGBF, nothing that fights you, but nothing that impresses with cleverness either. The one wet decal for the shoulder and shield markings is the main assembly step that differs from the base release, and it needs a steady hand and some setting solution to lay flat over the curved shield surface.

The suit carries a real inner frame rather than sticker-only color blocking for its main body panels, which is why the finished color separation reads well from a few feet away. Where it falls short is the joints, hip and shoulder movement is limited enough that dramatic mid-flight poses are a struggle, and the small hands make gripping the beam rifle and shield look slightly off-scale. The Phoenix Burst combo pose, binders clipped to the forearms plus the shield cannon, is the one true standout feature and the reason most people pick this kit up.

Lore & trivia

01The Lightning Zeta Gundam was built by Yuuma Kousaka and won the Meijin Cup Open Course, an artistic Gunpla-building competition inside Gundam Build Fighters Try.
02Its Phoenix Burst finishing move, combining the back binder beam blades with the shield-mounted mega particle cannon, is Yuuma's own answer to Sei Iori's Try Burning Gundam attacks from the same series.
03Aspros comes from the Greek word for white, referencing this variant's pale color scheme against the original Lightning Zeta Gundam release.
04The kit removed the original Zeta Gundam's signature wave rider transformation gimmick, with Yuuma instead boosting the suit's base mobility stats to compensate in-universe.