HGUniversal Century

Zeta Gundam (U.C. 0088)/Hyaku-Shiki/Gundam Mk-II (A.E.U.G.) Set (Gryphios War Special Color)

Three old-school HGUC molds dressed up in gold and pearl for a Gryps War victory lap.

MechaGrade Score

3.7/5

Zeta Gundam (U.C. 0088)/Hyaku-Shiki/Gundam Mk-II (A.E.U.G.) Set (Gryphios War Special Color) · 1/144 · 2023

GradeHG

Scale1/144

Released2023

Runnersn/a

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The verdict

This is a nostalgia set first and an engineering showcase a distant second, and once I accepted that framing I had a great time with it.

Bandai took the classic HGUC Zeta Gundam, Hyaku-Shiki, and Gundam Mk-II tooling and reissued all three in pearlescent metallics and gold plating as a Gundam Base exclusive, complete with a triple action base and unique water slide decals. The molds themselves are the same ones fans have built for two decades, so don't expect Revive-era polish. What you get instead is a genuinely striking shelf piece that captures the AEUG trio at the moment they mattered most in the story.

Best for: Zeta Gundam fans and display collectors who want the Gryps War lineup as a matched, eye-catching trio rather than the sharpest individual builds

The full review

What it is

This box holds three separate HGUC kits, Zeta Gundam, Hyaku-Shiki, and Gundam Mk-II, all molded in a Gryphios War (Gryps Conflict) themed special color run of metallic blues, purples, reds, and gold plated accents, plus a shared triple action base and decals unique to this release. It homages a 2006 Gundam Base special edition, and building all three back to back feels like a mini marathon through the best moments of the original Zeta Gundam anime. The gold plating on Hyaku-Shiki in particular looks fantastic under any kind of light, and having all three suits mounted together on one base is the kind of display moment you don't get from buying kits piecemeal.

The catch

These are the older HGUC molds, not the newer Revive tooling, so the engineering shows its age. Expect simpler snap-fit joints, some visible seam lines on the limbs, sticker sheets for sensors and camera eyes rather than molded color, and articulation that's decent but not the double jointed range you'd get from a modern kit. The plating and pearlescent coats also mean extra care during cleanup, since aggressive nub trimming can chip the metallic finish where a matte kit would just show a small mark. This was a Gundam Base limited release at 9,900 yen, so it's pricier per kit than a standard HG and not always easy to find at retail now.

Who it's for

Buy this if you already love the Zeta Gundam story and want the Gryps War trio as a cohesive, good looking display set, or if you're chasing the gold plated Hyaku-Shiki specifically. Skip it if you want cutting edge HG engineering, tight color separation without stickers, or the loosest, most poseable version of any of these three suits, since the standalone Revive kits (where they exist) will out engineer this set on every technical measure. This is a collector's set that trades modern build refinement for character accuracy and shelf presence, and it delivers exactly that trade honestly.

The build story

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

Each of the three kits builds fast by HG standards, snap-fit with straightforward gate placement, but the special color runners are less forgiving than a normal matte kit. Trim nubs carefully and test-fit before final assembly, because the pearlescent and gold plated coats show cut marks more readily than plain injection plastic would.

Zeta Gundam keeps its Wave Rider transformation via part swapping and its double jointed elbows and knees, Mk-II holds a stable, sturdy stance true to its RX-178 profile, and Hyaku-Shiki's gold accents are the clear star of the set once built. None of the three break new articulation ground for the grade, but posed together on the shared triple base they read as a unified, well composed display far better than any one of them does solo.

Lore & trivia

01This 2023 release is a direct homage to an earlier 2006 HGUC Gryphios War special color set sold the same way, as a Gundam Base exclusive three-kit bundle.
02"Gryphios War" refers to the Gryps Conflict, the AEUG versus Titans war that forms the central conflict of Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam.
03The set includes a Triple Action Base built specifically to mount and display all three 1/144 suits together rather than one at a time.
04Zeta Gundam's kit retains full parts-swap Wave Rider transformation, with the beam rifle, shield/nosecone, and hyper mega launcher all converting into the flight mode configuration.