RGUniversal Century

MS-06R-1A Black Tri-Stars Zaku II

The RG Zaku frame finally gets the paint job it always deserved, three coats of it.

MechaGrade Score

3.8/5

Zaku II · 1/144 · 2018

GradeRG

Scale1/144

Released2018

Runnersn/a

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The verdict

I think this is the best-looking RG Zaku Bandai has put out, and also the one I'd tell a first-time RG builder to skip.

The molded matte black and the tonal variation across the frame sells the Black Tri-Stars look without a drop of paint, which is genuinely special for a mass-retail kit. But it's built on the same RG Zaku II frame from 2010, and that frame still has the waist wobble and back-heavy balance issues it's always had.

Best for: RG collectors and Zeon fans who already know the RG Zaku frame and want the definitive Black Tri-Stars version on the shelf

The full review

What it is

This is the P-Bandai exclusive dress-up of the RG MS-06 Zaku II line, retooled as the high mobility type flown by Gaia, Ortega, and Mash. The kit gives you three swappable head sculpts and a full decal sheet so you can build any one of the three aces, which is a genuinely thoughtful touch for a team that's usually only represented by Gaia's suit. The molded colors do the heavy lifting here, deep matte black on the torso and limbs with the leg and shoulder armor picking up the reddish-brown accents from the anime, so a straight out of the box build already reads as a finished Tri-Stars unit rather than a paint job waiting to happen.

The catch

It's still the 2010 RG Zaku frame underneath the new colors, and that frame has known issues. Builders consistently flag a loose, wobbly waist joint that undercuts otherwise solid posing, and the side skirt armor doesn't swing far because it isn't hung off the original frame's swing joint the way later RGs handle it. The suit is back heavy for its backpack size, so it can tip if you're not careful with stands. Being P-Bandai exclusive also means it isn't sitting on shelves, expect secondary market pricing well above a standard RG, and the runners are the usual RG small parts with foil-look stickers for a few chrome details rather than molded metallic plastic.

Who it's for

Buy this if you already have an RG Zaku or two under your belt and you specifically want the Black Tri-Stars look done right, or you're building a One Year War Zeon shelf and want all three aces represented from one box. Skip it if this would be your first RG, the fiddly small parts and wobbly waist will frustrate a newer builder more than they'll reward one, and skip it too if you just want a black Zaku for cheap, since a standard RG Zaku II with some panel lining will get you most of the visual punch for a fraction of the price and hassle.

The build story

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

The build is classic RG Zaku: small gates, small parts, and a real need to take your time on cleanup because nub marks show on flat black plastic more than they would on a lighter color. Nothing here is conceptually hard, it's the same runner logic as any RG, but the part count and part size mean this is not a fast build, and stability while posing takes patience because the ankles and waist need to be worked with rather than snapped into a pose and left.

Where it earns its keep is the color separation and the accessory loadout. You get the Giant Buzz, the Zaku Machine Gun, the Zaku Bazooka, and the Heat Hawk, which is a strong weapons set for a 1/144 kit, and the tonal shifts between the deep black torso and the brown-toned leg armor give the finished suit real depth on the shelf that a flat black repaint usually can't match without airbrush work.

Lore & trivia

01The Black Tri-Stars were Miguel Gaia, Ortega, and Mash, an elite three-man Zeon team famous for the Jet Stream Attack formation that sank five Federation ships, including the flagship Ananke, at the Battle of Loum.
02The team started the war in dark sea blue MS-05B Zaku I units before moving up through the Zaku II Early Production and Commander Types and finally into the MS-06R-1A High Mobility Type this kit depicts.
03This RG release was a P-Bandai (Premium Bandai) online exclusive first released in March 2018 and has seen at least one reissue run since, rather than sitting on general retail shelves.