MGUniversal Century

MS-06K Ian Graden's Zaku Cannon

The familiar Zaku II 2.0 frame in olive drab, with a bazooka big enough to matter.

MechaGrade Score

3.9/5

Zaku II · 1/100 · 2018

GradeMG

Scale1/100

Released2018

Runnersn/a

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The verdict

This is one of the easiest recommendations in the MG Zaku family if you can find it.

It takes the proven MG Zaku II Ver. 2.0 inner frame, one of the best-engineered MG kits Bandai has ever put out, and dresses it in olive green MSV colors nobody else offers. I built mine expecting a reskin and came away impressed by how much the new shoulder armor and cannon backpack change the silhouette. It is not reinventing anything, but it does not need to.

Best for: Zaku collectors who already love the MG 2.0 frame and want the MSV olive green Ian Graden colorway on the shelf

The full review

What it is

This kit is built on the same internal frame as the MG MS-06 Zaku II Ver. 2.0, so if you have built any Zaku 2.0 variant before, the runners will feel immediately familiar. What is new is the olive drab body color molded in plastic rather than left to paint, a redesigned backpack that mounts the 240mm cannon, and a head that can be assembled as either the standard Zaku dome or the twin-antenna 'rabbit type' Ian Graden actually piloted. Snapping the cannon assembly onto that frame and seeing the proportions shift was the moment this kit stopped feeling like a repaint and started feeling like its own suit.

The catch

This is a P-Bandai exclusive, so it was never in wide retail release and now mostly shows up through resellers and the aftermarket at a real premium over a standard MG, often north of ninety dollars. It inherits the same joint looseness the base Zaku II 2.0 has always had: the ankles loosen with repeated posing, the wrist armor piece has a tendency to pop off, and the finger ball joints are small enough that grip on the included machine gun and heat hawk can get sloppy over time. The exclusive markings lean on water slide decals rather than stickers, which look great once applied but add a step plenty of builders skip.

Who it's for

If you already own or have built an MG Zaku II Ver. 2.0 and want a second one in a colorway you cannot get anywhere else, this is worth chasing down. It is also a good pickup for anyone building out the MSV cast, since Ian Graden is one of the more recognizable named Zeon pilots outside the mainline show. I would not point a first-time MG builder here first, both because of the price and because the standard-release Zaku II 2.0 gets you the same engineering for less money. Buy this one for the color and the character, not because it does anything the base frame does not.

What works

Reuses the excellent, well-articulated MG Zaku II Ver. 2.0 frame, so the range of motion in the hips, knees, and shoulders is genuinely strong
Olive drab MSV body color is molded in, not left to decals or paint, and the water slide markings for Ian Graden's unit look sharp once applied
Comes armed with machine gun, bazooka, and heat hawk plus a choice of two heads, so the loadout and options feel generous for the price band

Worth knowing

P-Bandai exclusive pricing and scarcity make it a real premium over a standard-release MG Zaku
Carries over the base frame's known loose points, ankles, wrist armor, and finger joints all soften with repeated posing
Water slide decals instead of stickers add build time some builders will not want to spend

Sold? Grab it.

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The build story

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

Runner layout and gate placement match the MG Zaku II Ver. 2.0 lineage closely, so cleanup is exactly as involved as any other 2.0-era Zaku, mostly small nubs on the armor edges and frame joints. Nothing here is fiddlier than the standard kit, and the new backpack and shoulder pieces snap together with the same confident fit the rest of the frame has.

The standout is color separation on the olive drab MSV scheme, which shows up in the plastic itself rather than needing panel paint to sell it, and the choice between the standard head and the twin-antenna rabbit-type head is a nice bit of value for people who want to display both looks. The cannon-mounted backpack visibly changes the balance and profile from a standard Zaku II, which is more differentiation than a lot of MSV recolors bother with.

Lore & trivia

01Ian Graden is a Principality of Zeon ace pilot from the Mobile Suit Gundam MSV (Mobile Suit Variations) side-material line, tied to the North American Front of the One Year War
02The kit's twin-antenna head option is commonly called the 'rabbit type' by builders and collectors, distinct from the standard Zaku II dome head
03This MG was released in July 2018 as a Premium Bandai exclusive, meaning it was sold direct rather than through general retail
04The kit reuses the internal frame architecture of the MG MS-06 Zaku II Ver. 2.0, one of Bandai's most reworked and best-regarded Zaku engineering bases