Alright, today’s review is the MG MSZ-006-3 Zeta Gundam 2.0 “White Unicorn” version. The Zeta Gundam was an advancement in mobile suit technology at the time of its deployment during the Gryps conflict. It was designed by Kamille Bidan, who took the Gundam Mk.II’s movable frame and adjusted it to being a transformable frame. This design impressed the engineers at Anaheim Electronics so much, that they volunteered to build it for Kamille. Once completed it became one of the strongest mobile suits during the war. However, the Zeta being reviewed today is none other than Amuro Ray’s own personal Zeta Gundam which he used during his time with Karaba. Although this Zeta never appears in the series, it appears in the CG short “Green Divers” and Gundam Evolve 9.
To start things off, the first you notice is the color scheme for this Zeta which is dominantly white with gray, as opposed to the blue and white of the regular Zeta Gundam. Also worth noting are the pink markings all over the body including the oh so recognizable “A” on the left shoulder signifying it is Amuro’s Gundam.
The head is on a ball joint and can move left and right, side to side. The neck can also swing back and forth. The arms are on ball joints, but the ball joints themselves are clipped on to the side, which in turn is also clipped on to the “body” since the arms will have to rotate forward when transforming it. The body itself is actually hollow. The chest part with the cockpit cover the empty inside, while the “abdomen” are just to separate pieces that cover what the chest doesn’t. This also explains why the ball joints for the arm clip on to what’s really the back of the Zeta. It’s also hollow inside because that’s where the head will sink into during wave rider. The arms themselves are pretty standard and can get almost a 180 bend. The wrist swings back and forth and the hands are o the clip on ball joint allowing the hands more freedom. The fingers are the usual- thumb and index are free, while the other three fingers are stuck together. I separate the three fingers in order to have individual moving fingers. Shoulders are pretty standard, except you can move the thrusters back and forth. The waist is pretty interesting because it has to be able to allow transformation. As a result, the pegs for the legs are not directly on the main waist block, but are on ball joints attached to the main block. The side skirts are inserted though the pegs for the legs as opposed to the usual ball joint on top of the waist. Then there’s a piece that keeps the leg pegs locked to the waist, because once the legs are attached, they will flop about (which is annoying when transforming it). The Legs almost get the 180 as well but can bend forward over 90 degrees. The legs don’t have a full frame, but rather it stops knee really. The rest is 2 halves kind of deal. The feet are also different in that at the bottom of the leg there’s a part for you to attach the ankles to which you put plug in the front of the foot and the heel. Lastly, the wings are attached to the lower back, with ball joints on the sides to attach to the tail stabilizer, which can bend in two places to straighten out during wave rider. Also worth mentioning is that this kit has a lot of clip on pieces to allow parts to swing and rotate about for the wave rider. As such one has to clip on a lot of pieces, and some require a lot of force. My fingers hurt from pressing into plastic so much.
On to the weapons
The Zeta comes equipped with you standard beam rifle that can retract for when its wave rider, and uses E-Packs. The one really cool feature is that the tip can be used as a beam saber. As such you can put the beam blade on the tip of the rifle and it will stay there. It think it’s pretty cool, because it means the Zeta has three beam sabers, and give the rifle some use after all its E-Packs run out. The beam rifle has a two-sided peg attach to the arm (like a shield) or the tail stabilizer when in wave rider.
Next we have the Zeta’s shield, which is different from the usual rectangular-ish shield mobile suits carry. The shield can retract, making it smaller in size similarly to the Mk.II’s shield and is worn upside done, with the nose pointing back. I suppose you can put it pointing forward, but then it just looks weird. The shield attaches to the bottom of the Zeta when in wave rider form, covering up the Zeta Gundam’s head. The shield has an opening in the middle for the Hyper Mega Launcher to attach to.
The Zeta sports 2 beam sabers on each side skirt which actually double as beam rifles when in wave rider form. The handles are black as opposed to the usual white for most beam sabers.
The Zeta also has grenade launchers in its forearms which can also fire cables that shock whatever they hit. One can plug the grenade packs where the shield normally goes and by pushing the attached grenade pack forward, the grenades in the arm move up to become more visible. Unfortunately the shield cannot be attached at the same time as the grenade pack, so I tend to keep the shield in one arm, and a pack on the other arm.
Lastly we have the Zeta’s Hyper Mega Launcher or BFG. The HML is basically a compacted Mega Bazooka Launcher, which the AEUG developed after seeing it being tested by the Titans. As such they completed a MBL used by the Hyaku-Shiki and made a portable (ironic, given the fact it’s as tall as the Zeta Gundam) for the Zeta. The only thing to say about this really, is that it’s a BFG and blows up a lot of things. Oh and it can be attached to the shield for when the Zeta is in wave rider.
Display Stand
Yep, the Zeta 2.0’s all bring this display stand which doubles as a run-way for when MS launch. Its large base offers a lot of sturdiness and the connector can be adjusted to angle the Zeta in different ways. Bonus is also included the stand attachment so you can plug it to the MK.II 2.0. Actually, the MK.II’s own display base can connect to the Zeta’s to have them side by side. What’s also neat is the fact that when doing the run-way display, you can store the connectors on the bottom of the base, along with the grenade packs. The stand is definitely one of those very welcomed goodies that are included with models.
Wave Rider
I was originally not going to transform it because I was worried I’d break something. But I thought “what the heck? I transformed it once, so why not again?” and so I transformed it.
First thing you notice is how there’s really no body, just a hollow space for the head. The two abdomen parts just come together to make space for the arms.
Although I didn’t show this, this is the step where the very first time I tried transforming it I quit and turned it back to MS. Remember the crotch lock I mentioned before? Well the first time I couldn’t unlock it for fear of breaking something, but once it came off the legs just flapped about, since at this point their pegs were attached to small ball joints. Once the legs are flapping about, you peg the flaps to peg on the inside of the back skirt and sort of clip the top of the flap to something on the back simultaneously. Then you just rotate and move the legs so that they end up like the picture. Rotate the arms forward and that part is done.
Hmm I suppose I should’ve snapped a more in between steps here, given that there are 3 places where the wing attachments rotate to get it into place to cover up the front and become most of the wave rider’s base. Also there is the fact that the wings have their own little mechanism to extend.
But once you get it to this point, all that’s left is to cover up the face with the shield that actually attaches to like 5 positions just to stay on without falling off.
Lastly from the completed wave rider, you can see the legs do some crazy bending to get into place. With that the Zeta Gundam is now in its wave rider form. And of course you can attach its weapons to it. I put the beam saber to illustrate the idea of the Zeta using them as blasters.
Finals Thoughts:
Before praising this kit, I will offer what I think are its drawbacks:
- Hard to pose around, especially the legs because when you try to swing them out, they will not want to, and if they do, swinging them back will be a pain. It also feels like it’ll break because in wanting to swing the leg out, the peg flap wants to come out, which is being held in place by the crotch lock.
- Kind of back heavy, I have a really hard time getting it to stand up straight.
- Legs are weird to work with dues to the way the legs bend.
Aside from that, this is a wonderful kit to work with. I actually like this Zeta particularly because of its color scheme and markings throughout the body, which were very easy to work with. The stickers weren’t the regular clear stickers, but weren’t dry or water transfers. In fact they felt like paper and its adhesiveness would remain even after two or three screw ups that required me to peel it off. Also since this is a 2.0, you know it’s going to be wonderful to build. This was one of those kits that made you say “I want it...now, I don’t care if it’s a pain to get” which is exactly what happened to me with this kit. After seeing a review on it on another blog, I decided I had to have it and as such proceeded to find out that this was one of those limited edition kits; and as such would have a hard time finding. When I finally found it…it was $40 more that it should’ve been, but with the help of BabyTheEnd I was able to purchase it. That’s when the second part of this story kicks in: I had to wait 3 months to get it because the seller didn’t really have it in stock, but instead ordered it from its suppliers. But I finally got it and loved building it. Do I recommend this kit? Yes, yes I do. The Zeta 2.0 is a solid model that looks awesome on its display stand. I you like the White Unicorn Zeta as opposed to the regular Zeta then good luck finding it. Otherwise get the regular Zeta 2.0; you won’t be disappointed!
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