RGUniversal Century

High Mobility Type Zaku II (Team Monstor Custom)

A workhorse RG Zaku mold dressed up in Red Comet colors for a promo suit that never appeared in an actual show.

MechaGrade Score

3.6/5

Zaku II · 1/144 · 2021

GradeRG

Scale1/144

Released2021

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 RG Zaku II High Mobility Type mold doing what it has done since 2011, just wearing a new coat of paint.

I like it a lot as a Zaku, and I'm lukewarm on it as a P-Bandai exclusive. The Team Monstor colorway (a Char's Zaku red-and-white scheme grafted onto Shin Matsunaga's High Mobility Type body) looks sharp assembled, but you're paying exclusive-kit money for decals and plastic color, not for new engineering.

Best for: RG Zaku fans and Char's Zaku collectors who want the High Mobility Type body in Red Comet colors and don't mind paying P-Bandai prices for a recolor

The full review

What it is

Strip away the marketing and this is the RG MS-06R-1A Zaku II High Mobility Type kit, one of the older molds in the Real Grade lineup, reissued in a red and white scheme referencing Char Aznable's Zaku II Commander Type for the Gundam Build Real promo series. I like this suit for what a Zaku is supposed to be: a lean, monoeyed grunt with real personality once assembled. The ball-jointed head with the geared monoeye that shifts when you turn the head is still a fun little gimmick every time I build one of these RGs, and the silhouette (that hunched, predatory stance) sells the mobile suit better than most kits half its price point.

The catch

The mold is genuinely showing its age. This is one of the earlier entries in the Real Grade line, and it does not have the refined Advanced MS Joint frame that later RGs use, so the waist and torso connection can feel loose out of the box, and builders have flagged fit issues around the torso and abdomen that make it harder to hold a weapon-raised pose without help. It also relies on RG's signature tiny runners with small, easy-to-lose parts, so a hobby knife and patience matter more here than on a bigger kit. And this being a Premium Bandai exclusive, you're paying a real premium for what amounts to new plastic colors and a sheet of Team Monstor water-slide decals over a kit that already exists in other colorways.

Who it's for

Grab this one if you already like the RG Zaku II High Mobility Type shape and want it in a striking red Char's-colors scheme, or if you collect Gundam Build Real exclusives and want the Double Nu Bazooka accessory that comes packed in. Skip it if you just want the best-engineered small-scale Zaku for your money. A newer RG or even a well-built HG Zaku will pose more confidently for less money, and this kit's appeal is almost entirely about the colorway and the novelty accessory, not about being a step up in build quality. If waist looseness on a 1/144 kit bothers you, this is not the RG to start with.

What works

The geared monoeye gimmick and ball-jointed head are still a genuinely fun engineering touch even a decade into this mold's life
Striking Char's Zaku red-and-white scheme with dedicated Team Monstor water-slide decals that most other Zaku kits don't offer
Ships with a proper Zaku loadout plus the oversized Double Nu Bazooka, giving it real shelf presence next to other RG suits

Worth knowing

Torso and waist joints run loose out of the box, which undercuts posing with a weapon raised or hands on hips
Older RG frame architecture (predates the Advanced MS Joint refinements) means fiddlier small-part assembly than newer RG releases
P-Bandai exclusive pricing for what is fundamentally a recolor with new decals rather than a new engineering pass

Sold? Grab it.

Check price on Amazon

Affiliate link. We may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.

The build story

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

Like most RGs from this era, expect a lot of very small parts and a real workout for your nippers and hobby knife. Gate placement is typical RG-tier fussy, nothing that ruins the piece if you're careful, but you will want good lighting and a sanding stick on hand for the visible seams on the limbs. The frame goes together in the usual RG order (inner frame first, then armor snapped over it), and I found the shoulders needed a firm, deliberate press to fully seat, since a half-seated shoulder socket is an easy way to end up with an arm that droops.

The standout piece of engineering is still that monoeye gear mechanism tucked into the head, a small mechanical flourish that a lot of newer, more "refined" kits don't bother with anymore. Articulation is double-jointed at the elbows and knees and the fingers get individual digit movement, so the suit can hold a rifle two-handed and get into a reasonable crouch, it just needs the waist and torso joint firmed up (a drop of joint-tightening cement helps) before it holds a dramatic pose reliably. Accessory-wise you get the heat hawk, a machine gun, a shield, and the Double Nu Bazooka exclusive to this release, which is a genuinely fun oversized prop for photos even if it's mechanically just two Hyper Bazookas grafted onto a Nu Gundam shield.

Lore & trivia

01The RG Zaku II mold this kit is built from was originally released in 2011 as RG-02, making it one of the oldest tooling families still being reissued in the Real Grade line.
02This colorway first appeared in Gundam Build Real, a CG/live-action hybrid promotional video series released for Gunpla's 40th anniversary rather than in a mainline Gundam anime.
03The Team Monstor Custom recolors Shin Matsunaga's MS-06R-1A High Mobility Type body in a red and white scheme referencing Char Aznable's MS-06S Zaku II Commander Type.
04The kit's signature accessory, the Double Nu Bazooka, is built as two Nu Gundam Hyper Bazookas combined with a Nu Gundam shield, an original weapon created for this release.