MGUniversal Century

MS-06R-1A Zaku II (Eric Manthfield Custom)

The Ver 2.0 Zaku frame in a fresh custom paint job, and it still moves like nothing else at this price.

MechaGrade Score

4.2/5

Zaku II · 1/100 · 2016

GradeMG

Scale1/100

Released2016

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 MG Zaku II Ver 2.0 frame wearing a new coat of paint, and that frame is still one of the best engineering jobs in the whole MG lineup a decade on.

I built one expecting a straightforward one-eyed grunt suit and came away genuinely surprised by how far the articulation goes. The shoulders swing forward almost to the chest, the skirt armor floats out of the way on ball joints without you touching it, and the double-jointed elbows let it hold a two-handed weapon pose without looking stiff. It is a Zaku, but it moves like it wants to be posed.

Best for: MG builders who want serious articulation from a mass-production Zeon grunt suit and don't mind a fiddly finger and tubing session to get there

The full review

What it is

This kit hangs the MG MS-06R-1A high mobility frame, the same engineering under the Black Tri-Stars and Shin Matsunaga releases, under a fresh custom color scheme. What that means in practice is you're building one of Bandai's better MG Zaku frames: a fully redesigned inner structure, individually jointed fingers, and a mono-eye that shifts when you turn the head. Everything clicks together with real weight and confidence, nothing feels thin or hollow once assembled, and the accessory loadout (heat hawk, machine gun, standard bazooka, and a beefier prototype bazooka that can convert toward a mega bazooka look) gives you a genuine variety of poses straight out of the box. I did not expect to enjoy building a Zaku this much.

The catch

The finger joints are the one part of this kit I'd warn you about. They're individually jointed for realism, which is great for posing but a real pain to de-nub because each digit is tiny and easy to mar or snap if you're not careful with your side cutters. The leg and torso tubing is also fussier than it looks, the tubes want to slip off their internal springs during assembly and take patience to seat correctly. The hands themselves are a mixed bag once built, they grip the heat hawk and bazooka fine but the machine gun sits a little awkwardly. None of this is cement-and-paint difficulty, it's snap-fit, but budget extra time for the small parts.

Who it's for

If you already like MG-level detail and want a Zeon grunt suit that can actually hold dynamic poses instead of just standing there, this is a strong pick, the frame rewards the extra assembly patience with genuine display versatility. Builders newer to MG kits should know the finger and tubing work is a step up in fiddliness from an HG, so this isn't the gentlest first Master Grade. Skip it if you specifically want a screen-accurate famous pilot custom rather than an alternate paint scheme, or if loose small parts and tubing wrangling sound like more frustration than fun to you.

The build story

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

The build itself is snap-fit start to finish, no cement or paint required, but it is not a lazy afternoon kit. The inner frame goes together fast and feels sturdy the moment you close the armor over it, but the finger assembly slows everyone down, each digit is its own small jointed part and the nub marks on them are unusually visible once you're looking at closed fists. The tubing on the legs is the other spot to go slow, the tube segments like to pop off their spring cores if you rush the fit.

Where this kit earns its keep is articulation and color separation. The shoulder joint lets the arm rotate well past neutral, the elbows are double-jointed so a two-handed grip on the bazooka doesn't look forced, and the skirt armor's ball joints get out of the way of the hips automatically. The mono-eye shifting when you turn the head is a small touch that sells the presence on the shelf. For the part count and price band, the weapon selection alone (two bazooka options plus heat hawk and machine gun) makes this one of the better value MG grunt suits going.

Lore & trivia

01The MS-06R-1A shares its inner frame engineering with the wider MG Zaku II Ver 2.0 line, the same platform used for the Black Tri-Stars and Shin Matsunaga custom releases
02The Zaku II was the Principality of Zeon's mass-production workhorse in the One Year War, prized for being cheap to build and adaptable into space, desert, and marine variants
03The mono-eye sensor design that defines the Zaku silhouette moves when the head is turned, a detail Bandai carried into the Ver 2.0 frame this kit is built on