MGUniversal Century

MS-06R-1A Zaku II (Anavel Gato Custom)

The Nightmare of Solomon's personal ride, done up in Ver 2.0 muscle with a paint job that still turns heads.

MechaGrade Score

3.9/5

Zaku II · 1/100 · 2013

GradeMG

Scale1/100

Released2013

Runnersn/a

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The verdict

This is a genuinely satisfying build wrapped around one of the best Zaku frames Bandai has made, but the pipe assembly and the limited waist rotation keep it out of the top tier.

I came away liking the finished suit a lot more than I liked getting there. If you already respect the MG Zaku II Ver 2.0 line, this Gato-custom colorway is one of the better ways to own it.

Best for: Zeon loyalists and MG Ver 2.0 fans who want Gato's signature High Mobility Type in molded color, not stickers

The full review

What it is

This kit puts Lieutenant Anavel Gato's personal Zaku II, the one Zeon pilots called the Nightmare of Solomon, on your shelf in his real green, blue, and off-white scheme, molded into the plastic rather than painted on with a marker and a prayer. It runs the MG Ver 2.0 inner frame, which by 2013 Bandai had already refined across several Zaku releases, so the engineering under the armor feels mature. I liked how the skirt armor panels lift out of the way on their own when you pose the legs, a small touch that stops the classic Zaku hip-lock problem before it starts. The three-weapon loadout, the machine gun, the prototype bazooka, and the heat hawk, gives you real posing variety without digging through a parts box.

The catch

The backpack and leg propellant pipes are the low point of the build. They are small, they require careful alignment, and more than one builder has called them an outright nightmare to get seated without stress marks on the joints. Waist rotation tops out around 45 degrees because the movement pipes physically block further travel, so some dynamic poses need more shoulder and hip work to compensate. The hands are the standard Zaku manipulator type and don't always grip the included weapons with total confidence, especially the bazooka. This was also a P-Bandai online exclusive at original release, so pricing and availability run higher than a regular retail MG.

Who it's for

Get this one if you already like the MG Zaku II Ver 2.0 platform and want Gato's suit specifically, in real molded color instead of painting a standard Zaku yourself. Diorama builders staging 0083-era Zeon scenes will get the most mileage out of the weapon set and the pose-friendly frame. Skip it if you want your first MG to be frustration-free, the pipe work will test a first-timer's patience, or if the P-Bandai premium doesn't sit right with you when a standard Zaku II runs cheaper. Newer builders should cut their teeth on a regular retail MG Zaku before tackling this one.

The build story

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

Runner cleanup on this kit is typical MG Ver 2.0 fare, manageable nub placement on the big armor pieces but tight tolerances in several of the smaller frame joints. The pipes are where the build slows down. Getting them to seat cleanly at both ends without stressing the peg takes patience and a light touch, and several builders flag this as the one part of the kit that fights back. Everything else goes together with the confidence you'd expect from a suit Bandai had already tooled several times over.

The frame is where this kit earns its keep. Double-jointed elbows add real bend past a right angle, and the ball-and-socket manipulators with 3+1+1 finger articulation let you dial in a grip rather than settling for a fixed claw. Color separation is the headline feature, since the personal scheme comes molded rather than relying on stickers or paint, and the three-weapon set (machine gun, prototype bazooka, heat hawk) means you're not stuck posing the same silhouette twice.

Lore & trivia

01Anavel Gato, nicknamed the Nightmare of Solomon, is the elite Zeon remnant pilot from Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory who stole the Gundam GP02A and detonated a nuclear warhead over the Federation's Torrington base.
02The MS-06R-1A is an improved variant of the R-1 High Mobility Type Zaku II, one of several personal-color Zaku variants that circulated among Zeon's ace pilots late in the One Year War.
03This MG version released in August 2013 as a Bandai Premium (P-Bandai) online exclusive rather than a standard retail kit.
04The kit was later reissued as an updated Ver. 2.0 release, reflecting continued demand for Gato's personal colorway years after the original run.