MGUniversal Century

MS-06R Zaku II High Mobility Type "Psycho Zaku" [Gundam Thunderbolt] Last Session Ver.

A battered, one-armed war machine that builds like a monster and poses like it means it.

MechaGrade Score

4.1/5

Zaku II · 1/100 · 2017

GradeMG

Scale1/100

Released2017

Runnersn/a

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The verdict

This is one of the best Zaku kits Bandai has put out, and it earns that reputation honestly.

The Ver.Ka sculpt turns a beat-up prototype suit into something genuinely menacing on the shelf, the color separation is close to paint-level out of the box, and the sheer pile of accessories (giant bazooka, sturm faust, two heat hawks, debris parts, a display frame with twelve arm options) makes it feel like a diorama kit as much as a robot kit. The catch is that all that presence comes with real fragility, and I will not pretend otherwise.

Best for: MG builders who want a damaged, lore-heavy hero unit and don't mind babying a few delicate parts

The full review

What it is

This is the Ver.Ka take on Daryl Lorenz's Psycho Zaku from Gundam Thunderbolt, and it is dripping with character straight out of the box. The damaged head, the exposed left arm frame, the scorched thruster housing, all of it is molded in, not painted on, so the battle damage reads as part of the design rather than a paint job you have to add yourself. Building it feels less like assembling a stock Zaku and more like assembling a war story. The backpack alone runs close to a foot and a half with the giant thruster unit attached, so this thing has real presence before you even pose it.

The catch

The inner frame is a legitimate upgrade over the standard MG Zaku 2.0 skeleton, but the big thruster tank on the back is basically three large shells clipped together with comparatively little structural support, and several builders report verniers and small thruster nubs popping loose during handling or posing. The tiny power-pipe covers and joint bags are fiddly to seat and are also flagged as prone to falling off if you are rough with the kit. None of this is a design failure exactly, it is a kit that rewards a little cement or a gentler grip, but if you want something you can pose aggressively and never think about again, this is not that kit.

Who it's for

Buy this if you already have a Zaku or two under your belt and want a display centerpiece with real narrative weight, or if you are a Thunderbolt fan who wants Daryl's suit done right. The accessory loadout alone (bazooka, sturm faust, twin heat hawks, debris, display frame) makes it feel worth the MG price tag even before you factor in the sculpt. Skip it if this would be your first MG ever, the delicate backpack assembly and small pipe parts are more patience than a total beginner needs, or if you specifically want a clean, undamaged Zaku since this one is built entirely around its scars.

The build story

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

The core Zaku frame goes together the way a modern MG Zaku should, confident snap-fit joints and a satisfying click at each stage, but the backpack subassembly is where the pace slows down. You're threading small pipe covers and thruster housings onto a structure that isn't as forgiving as the frame underneath it, and more than one builder has flagged that a dab of cement on the smaller thruster nubs saves a headache later. None of it is beyond an intermediate builder, it just asks for a slower hand than a standard grade Zaku would.

Where it earns its keep is articulation and payoff. Over 30 points of articulation let the suit hold genuinely dynamic combat poses, the sub-arms fold into the backpack for the classic Thunderbolt silhouette, and the sole-mounted claws and joint pipe covers add a level of mechanical detail you don't get on a standard Zaku. Between the giant bazooka, sturm faust, two heat hawks, and the debris and display-arm set, the part count and accessory spread make the price feel earned even before you factor in how good the sculpt looks finished.

Lore & trivia

01The Psycho Zaku belongs to Daryl Lorenz, a Zeon ace sniper in Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt who loses his left hand in combat and later voluntarily amputates his right to interface directly with the suit's experimental Reuse "P" Device neural system.
02In the story's climactic duel against Io Fleming's Full Armor Gundam, a lightning strike briefly reactivates the disabled Psycho Zaku, letting Daryl fire one last sturm faust shot that forces the fight to a draw.
03This Last Session Ver. release does not include the oversized fuel tank or the beam bazookas seen in some other Psycho Zaku kit variants, focusing instead on the damaged-suit loadout from the anime's final act.