MGUniversal Century

MS-06S Zaku II Crystal Version

One of the first MGs ever made, recast in clear plastic so you can watch its own skeleton work.

MechaGrade Score

3.4/5

Zaku II · 1/100 · 1996

GradeMG

Scale1/100

Released1996

Runnersn/a

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The verdict

This kit is a time capsule, and I mean that in the best and most complicated way possible.

It is genuinely special to hold one of the earliest Master Grade kits ever produced, redone in transparent red and grey plastic so the frame underneath is on full display the moment you close up the shell. But it builds like what it is, a mid-1990s kit, with joint ranges and engineering that modern MG owners will find stiff. I'd call this a love letter to Gunpla history first and a great poseable model second.

Best for: collectors and long-time builders who want an artifact from the earliest days of the MG line, not someone whose first kit should be this one

The full review

What it is

The Crystal Version takes the original 1996 MG MS-06S mold and casts big chunks of it in clear red and clear grey plastic, so once you close the chest, head, and legs, you can still make out the inner frame ticking away underneath. That was the whole point of Bandai's early crystal releases, and it works. The head has an opening canopy over the mono-eye rig, the chest opens to show the cockpit area, and even the feet have hatches. Building it feels like handling Gunpla history, since this was one of the very first Master Grade kits Bandai ever put out, arriving right alongside the original MG RX-78-2. Holding a completed one in hand, clear plastic glowing under a lamp, is a genuinely cool feeling no modern reissue really replicates.

The catch

The engineering is from 1996, and it shows. Elbows and knees only bend to about 90 degrees, the shoulders have a limited frontward swing instead of true ball joints, and the overall pose range is nowhere near a current MG. The mono-eye moves through a manual slider switch on the back of the head rather than anything you'd call articulation. Clear parts are also unforgiving, you cannot sand or glue them without leaving visible marks or stress-whitening, so seam work on the clear runners is basically off the table. This is also a discontinued kit, so you're hunting secondary market listings and paying collector prices rather than a current shelf price.

Who it's for

This one is for collectors, Gunpla history buffs, and Char's Zaku fans who want the version of this kit that shows its own guts, not builders looking for their first MG or their best posing Zaku. If snap articulation and a forgiving build are what you care about, the Ver. 2.0 MG MS-06S from 2009 does that job far better and should be the pick instead. But if you already own a few modern MGs and want a genuinely interesting piece that traces the line back to where it started, this is worth tracking down. Go in treating it as a display piece with a neat internal reveal rather than a poseable action figure and you'll enjoy it a lot more.

The build story

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

The build itself is short by modern MG standards, since part counts and runner complexity from this era are nowhere near what Bandai does today. Gate marks on the clear runners need careful, patient cutting because any slip shows through the transparent plastic in a way it never would on solid color. The mono-eye assembly uses a simple slider switch reached from the back of the head, a charmingly analog solution compared to how later Zaku kits handle it.

The best part of the engineering is honestly just the concept: molding the frame pieces in clear plastic so the completed model still reads as see-through under light, while the opening chest and head canopy let you show off the cockpit detail without fully disassembling anything. Articulation is the clear weak point, with 90-degree elbow and knee bends and shoulders that only swing rather than rotate, so dynamic action poses are mostly out of reach. Accessories are the expected Zaku loadout of a machine gun and heat hawk, nothing exotic, which fits the era it came from.

Lore & trivia

01The MG MS-06S Zaku II was one of the very first Master Grade kits Bandai released, arriving in the same wave as the original 1/100 MG RX-78-2 Gundam that launched the entire MG line.
02MS-06S denotes the command-type Zaku II piloted by Char Aznable, distinguished from the standard MS-06F/J grunt Zaku by its extra thrusters and red paint scheme.
03The Crystal Version recasts the original 1996 tooling in transparent red and grey plastic specifically so the completed model's inner frame stays visible after the shell is closed up, a novelty approach Bandai used on several kits from that era.