HGUniversal Century

NZ-999 II Neo Zeong (Narrative Ver.)

A mobile armor so big it eats your shelf, and I would not have it any other way.

MechaGrade Score

4.2/5

II Neo Zeong (Narrative Ver.) · 1/144 · 2019

GradeHG

Scale1/144

Released2019

Runnersn/a

Check price on Amazon

Affiliate link. We may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

The verdict

This is the biggest, weirdest, most rewarding HG I have ever put together, and I say that as someone who went in expecting a gimmick reissue.

It is not a gimmick. The scale is real, the engineering under that shell actually works, and the Sinanju Stein Narrative core it hides inside makes the whole thing feel like two kits welded into one. It asks a lot of your shelf space and your wallet, but it pays every bit of it back when it is standing there finished.

Best for: collectors who already love the original HGUC Neo Zeong and want the grittier gray Narrative colorway with Zoltan's Sinanju Stein tucked inside

The full review

What it is

The II Neo Zeong is the same towering pod-to-mobile-armor concept as the original HGUC release, recolored and retooled for Mobile Suit Gundam Narrative, where Zoltan Akkanen pilots it with none of Full Frontal's restraint. You build a compact Sinanju Stein Narrative Ver. first, then close it inside the huge outer shell, and that shell unfolds into the pod, the deployed mobile armor, or a half-open transitional pose. Popping the halves open to reveal the Sinanju Stein locked inside never stopped being satisfying for me, build after build. The gray-based molding reads darker and meaner than the original gold and purple scheme, and it suits Zoltan's whole unhinged character.

The catch

This thing is enormous. Owners of the original HGUC Neo Zeong already talk about it as one of the biggest HG kits ever made, and this Narrative version shares that same oversized shell, so you need real shelf real estate before you commit, not just a gap between other kits. It was a Premium Bandai exclusive, so pricing runs well above a normal HG and secondhand markups are common now that it is out of print. The Psycho-Shard effect ring that makes the finished pose really sing is a separate expansion part sold on its own, not included, which stings a little on a kit already asking this much of your budget.

Who it's for

Buy this if you already have a Neo Zeong problem, you love Gundam Narrative, or you want a Sinanju Stein and a mobile armor centerpiece in one box and do not mind hunting a secondhand P-Bandai listing to get it. Skip it if your shelf is already tight, if you dislike hunting down separately sold expansion parts to complete a display pose, or if you just want a straightforward weeknight build. This is a weekend project and a display commitment, not a casual afternoon kit, and it rewards people who go in knowing that.

The build story

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

The build splits cleanly into two projects. First you assemble the Sinanju Stein Narrative Ver. itself, a proper small mobile suit with its own articulation, gate placement, and cleanup, before you ever touch the outer shell. That inner kit alone is worth the price of admission for Sinanju fans. Then the shell parts come together as large, mostly hollow shapes, which builders consistently describe as quick and easy compared to the fiddly small-part work you would expect from something this size. Nub placement stays sensible even on the biggest panels, and nothing about the shell felt fragile once it was closed up.

The articulation list is longer than you would guess for something this size: the head swivels and tilts, shoulders angle forward and up, arms swing on peg-and-socket joints with shoulder armor that pivots out of the way, elbows bend a full 90 degrees, and the knees are double-jointed. You get two full weapon loadouts, a beam rifle and bazooka set doubled up so Sinanju Stein can wield one in each hand, plus a shield and a large beam ax, and the kit reproduces Neo Zeong's signature trick of stowing those weapons inside its own armor. For the part count and the sheer number of build-worthy gimmicks packed into a single HG price point, the value case here is strong even before you factor in the exclusive-release markup.

Lore & trivia

01The II Neo Zeong is not the same unit Full Frontal piloted in Gundam Unicorn. It was assembled from spare parts left over from the original Neo Zeong's development, and in Mobile Suit Gundam Narrative it ends up in the hands of Cyber-Newtype Zoltan Akkanen.
02Its most powerful weapon, the Psycho-Shard system, stores its generators in the skirt armor and shoulder thrusters, and when deployed it projects a ring of golden hexagonal crystals that generates a psycho field said to actualize the pilot's thoughts.
03Zoltan's Sinanju Stein started life as one of two prototype hulls, codenamed Stein 01 and Stein 02, built purely to test the limits of psycho-frame technology and never originally intended for manned combat before Neo Zeon remnants stole them.
04Because Zoltan pilots the II Neo Zeong with none of Full Frontal's restraint, Gundam Narrative is often described as showing what the mobile armor was truly capable of, unlike its more measured appearance in Unicorn.