MSiA MSN-02 Zeong

Height: 10.5cm to top of head.

Articulation: 23/31 total points of articulation: Double-jointed neck; 6 points in each arm - ball-jointed shoulder, pre-elbow swivel, hinged elbow, post-elbow swivel, double-jointed wrist. hinged fingers(optional); double-jointed waist; 2 ball-jointed main thrusters under skirt, 5 additional ball-jointed thrusters.

Accessories: Cables x2, Extra Hands x4

Colors: Molded, light blue, medium blue, gunmetal, and dark gray. Painted dark green, gunmetal, red, yellow, dark blue, purple, dark gray, pink(Monoeye camera), black, and black ink (panel lines).

Release Data: Released September 2000 for ¥1980, re-released in October 2004 for ¥1980. This item is no longer in production as of this writing (February 25th, 2005)

Gallery: 6 images.

Author: RAC

The Figure

The famed Zeong is the last Mobile Suit design to appear in First Gundam, and certainly one of the most unusual. I mean, there are certainly some oddball aquatic MS, but they do all have legs. The Zeong would have, supposedly, if there had been time for it to be completed. There seems to have been a backup plan though, as the Zeong sports a pair of massive thrusters where its legs would have been. Add to this a head that always reminds me of a two-slot toaster with antlers stuck on it and you have a pretty memorable design. Big, too- this legless torso is as tall as many other MSiA!

The Head

The unique head is mounted on a neck block which appears to be ball-jointed, though it doesn't have too much flexibility. The head itself is on a simple swivel joint, and for a very good reason- it's removeable. As seen in the show, the Zeong's head has thrusters and a beam cannon all its own and is capable of operating independently of the body in case of emergency. It's nice to see this feature reproduced in MSiA form.

The Arms

The arms are in the old MSiA style, with a static ball-jointed shoulder and single hinge-jointed elbow. It doesn't really hurt the figure much, however, since it has no weapons to hold and simple shoulder armor that doesn't obstruct the arm. As I said above, there is a post-elbow swivel here, though that's mainly a function of the Zeong's other action feature, which I'll cover under the Cable accessories. The elbow gets close to a 90-degree angle, but that's about it. Again, more would be nice, but what we have is pretty much all the design demands. The wrist is a swivel/hinge combination, rather than ball-jointed, or even plugged like the early hands were. It works well, holds well, and makes hand-swapping pretty painless.

The Torso

Much like the Dom Second Version, the Zeong's torso is divided into three sections, joined by a double ball-jointed center piece. Unlike the Dom, unfortunately, this really doesn't do all that much for the Zeong. The waist movement is minimal, and the tilt in any given direction isn't enough to add much to the figure.

The Zeong has no backpack, and almost all the thrusters are under the skirt armor. The main thrusters are huge, and are mounted on what would be the figure's hip joints. Naturally they have a nice range of movement. There are also five smaller ball-jointed thrusters in the back, which are minimally adjustable, though they pop off if you force them. There's some very nice detail under the skirt as well in medium gray and gunmetal. An excellent choice on Bandai's part, since this is a design that pretty much begs for a stand.

Paint and Decoration

My Zeong's paint applications are pretty clean, though the yellow seems a little uneven up close. The panel lines are pretty clean, with minute amounts of bleeding in the skirt. Other than that, I don't know what else to say except that it looks good.

Articulation gets 7/10

Sculpt and Deco get 8/10

Accessories

The Zeong doesn't have a lot of accessories, since all of its weaponry is self-contained. What is included is a selection of option parts, mainly intended to help you get a specific pose or effect.

-Cables

As a Newtype-use Mobile Suit, the Zeong can use its forearms as remote wire-controlled weapons. The cables included plug in between the forearm and the elbow- though it's hard to remove the forearm to begin with. The elbow joint will pop loose before the forearm will if you try to force it, so keep a prying implement handy. Two cables are included, one is straight and one is curved. I feel more could have been done with this accessory, especially since it's the only one the Zeong really has. I'd like to have seen two matching pair of cables, or even a set of stiff, poseable wires would've been nice. It's a good accessory, but I'd have liked a wider selection of positions for the arms in the long run.

-Extra Hands

Other than the fists, two pair of open hands are included, one straight-fingered for a "firing" pose, and a pair with curved articulated fingers. Both are quite easy to get on and off with the hinged wrists. The curved fingers could be good for posing, and possibly even grabbing another Mobile Suit, but the curved fingers and fixed thumb mean that the straight hands will be better if the Zeong's supposed to be using its Beam-Weapon fingers.

Accessories get 7/10

Closing Remarks:

The Zeong is a pretty early figure, and in some ways it shows. It's actually helped in a way by its lack of legs, as the leg articulation is where many of the improvements in MSiA have taken shape over time. The arms hold up well, though the torso and neck joints, while a good idea, don't contribute much in the way of articulation. And, I do feel that just a bit more might have been done in terms of accessories, even taking into account the self-contained nature of the Zeong's weaponry. But I do like it, and there's really nothing that desperately needs "fixed" like most of the other MSiAs from this time period.

I hit a bargain and paid about $8 shipped for mine, and bargain-hunters should be able to do similarly well for an imported Zeong- it's not a rare figure at all. It was also widely available as part of the US line, so finding one shouldn't be too difficult at all.

Given how different it is from other MS, it's kind of hard for me to rate. It's certainly the best figure of its time- of the early MSiA, it's one of very few that hasn't received a Second Version, and really, it probably doesn't need one as much as the others did. While there are a few aspects I'd have liked to see improved, it's a Good figure and a good representation of the Zeong.

-RAC 2/25/2005