MSiA MSZ-006 Zeta Gundam Second Version

Height: 11 cm to top of head, 11.5 cm to top of Wing Binders

Articulation: 24 total points of articulation: Ball jointed neck; 5 points in each arm - ball-jointed shoulder, pre-elbow swivel, double jointed elbow, ball joint wrist; 4 points in backpack- ball-jointed Wing Binders, double-hinged Tail Stabilizer; Ball-joint waist; 4 points in each leg - ball joint hip, double jointed knee, ball joint ankle. Various other hinges and ball-joints associated with Wave Rider transformation.

Accessories: Wave Rider adapter, Shield, Beam Rifle, Hyper Mega Launcher, Beam Saber x2, Grenade Packs x2, Extra hands x4

Colors: Molded white, blue, gray, and black. Painted red, blue, yellow, green (eyes) and gray ink(panel lines)

Release Data: Originally released May 2003, rereleased with file card September 2004. Price of both issues ¥1500 This item is still in production at the time of this writing (December 9, 2004).

Gallery: 7 images.

Author: RAC

The Figure

The Zeta Gundam is probably the most ambitious design to come out of a Gundam series, at least in terms of transformation. Designed to convert to a sleek Mobile Armor mode called the Wave Rider, the transformation was seemingly designed with no regard to how a physical representation would need to be engineered.

Toys and models of the Zeta have almost always made compromises, and these compromises often cause issues with appearance(As with the ridiculously broad-chested HCM), articulation(original High Grade Zeta, which can't move its legs forward much if at all), stability (Master Grade Zeta, which is horribly floppy and also somewhat fragile), or all three. The first Zeta MSiA dodged these issues by skipping the transformation entirely, but for the Second Version Bandai went back and decided to give transformation another try, using a new kind of compromise: part-swapping.

The Head

Zeta's head design is reproduced fairly well here, though the V-fin antenna seems slightly thicker than it should probably be. The head has a fairly good range of tilt and swivel, though it can be obstructed if the upper torso isn't locked down just right. Overall, it looks good and moves pretty well.

The Arms

Zeta's shoulder joints are mounted on swinging plates because of the Wave Rider transformation. They don't offer any extra forward movement like most Second Versions do, but the shape of the plates themselves allow Zeta to reach across its own chest with relative ease. The shoulder armor is a single piece that covers the shoulder completely. This limits how far Zeta can swing its arms out to the side. In short, Zeta will never be a cheerleader due to its inability to form a decent "T." The other joints compensate for this sufficiently that it doesn't hamper the arms too terribly much. The elbow has a good range, and there's some detailing on the back of the joint to simulate conduction cables. The forearm would be able to lay flat against the shoulder armor if not for the flared shape of the upper arm. The wrists are solid, but easy to move, and there's a hardpoint on each elbow for attaching either the shield or the Grenade packs.

The Torso

Zeta's torso is far more complicated than that of any other MSiA I'm aware of, thanks to its transformation mechanisms. To keep things simple, I'm going to try and restrict comments to those aspects that have some bearing on the MS mode.

The torso is generally attractive and streamlined, though my Zeta has one of the two yellow chest vents glued in at the wrong angle, which detracts from the appearance a fair bit. The red portion of the torso, traditionally the cockpit hatch, has a tab that slots into the midsection to keep the torso stable. In theory, anyway- my Zeta's torso refuses to stay locked down, which makes the gap between the blue and white parts that much worse when the figure is viewed in profile.

The waist has a very good range of swivel and tilt, but it can look kind of odd since the rear skirt plate is attached higher on the back than the rest of the skirt. Fortunately, Zeta's large backpack assembly will mask this from most angles. All of the skirt armor is mounted on ball-joints, so the range of movement is excellent, and warping shouldn't become a problem even with extreme poses. The tradeoff is that the front skirt armor has a habit of popping off. The long plates of hip armor don't have this problem, but they also aren't able to open for storage of Zeta's Beam Sabers. Not that big a deal- including that feature would've made the hip armor unnecessarily bulky at this scale.

Zeta's back is where most of the complications come into play. On the back you have the two large Wing Binders, which are mounted on a fairly complicated pair of articulated arms, and the Tail Stabilizer, which is a double-hinged assembly in the center of the back. None of this is heavy enough to put Zeta off-balance by much, and the Wing Binders do have small tabs on the mounting arms to try and lock them into place. However, the tabs don't do all that much good, since they don't do anything to stabilize the double ball-joints that attach each wing to the body. They're naturally floppy because of this, and may need lots of fidgety adjusting once you have your Zeta posed how you want it. The Tail Stabilizer is much better, and holds a position nicely. The problem is that all three of these pieces attach to the blue part of Zeta's back, which is held on by a set of five pegs. So far, the back holds with no problems as long as I press it on firmly, but I do wonder if it will give me trouble in the future.

The Legs and Feet

Zeta's legs are on par with most Second Versions in terms of articulation, but of course there are a couple transformation-related quirks to mention. First off, the knee is technically double-jointed. I say "technically," because if you try and bend the lower joint too far back the sliding cover for the thrusters on the back of the legs will pop right off. That's not too much of a problem, really, because the range of the upper joint is superb, thanks to the requirements of the Wave Rider. So it's a problem that mostly corrects itself- if I'm not paying attention I still pop the covers off sometimes. The ankle does a fine job, and the hinged armor plate in front has a good range of movement and presents no problems. The foot itself has a joint in the middle so it can fold for the transformation, which doesn't add anything to the overall effectiveness of the leg but fortunately doesn't subtract anything either.

Wave Rider Mode

This is the source of most of my issues with Zeta. The Wave Rider Mode looks okay, but is fairly loose- they had the good sense to lock the legs into place, otherwise they would droop horribly. However, they didn't do the same with the Wing Binders. These are horribly loose and floppy, and a couple tabs to plug into the shield would have fixed this with minimal effort. The shield itself is a problem too- though it's supposed to form the nose of the Wave Rider, it doesn't meet the torso correctly, and there's a large, ugly gap. This is a design flaw, and could've been prevented if the shield had been reshaped slightly.

Further problems are introduced when the Beam Rifle and Hyper Mega Launcher are attached to the Wave Rider. The problems with the Beam Rifle are due to the Rifle itself, and I'll detail those below. The problem with the HML is one of balance- it's quite narrow compared to the Wave Rider body, and you're essentially resting the whole thing on a relatively small point on the bottom of the weapon, so expect tippiness.

And finally, the transformation is very complicated and a bit touchy. The midsection has to be swapped out for a special part, and the arms and head removed altogether. When all is said and done you're left with a considerable pile of Zeta parts and a half-decent Wave Rider.

Paint and Detailing

Zeta is very, very nice looking overall- small details like the yellow highlights and the gray panel lining are all very clean. The only problem I've detected thus far is the paint on the chest vents, which is a little thin and gives a greenish tint around the edges. The other problem with the chest vent is an isolated problem with my figure, so I'm not going to deduct points for appearance based on that.

Articulation gets 8/10

Wave Rider Mode gets 6/10

Sculpt and Deco get 8/10

Accessories

-Shield

The elongated shield/nosecone attaches by a singular rectangular peg to either forearm. Usually I frown on a peg-only connection, but this seems to be accurate to the show, and also there are no problems with stability here. The mounting peg is also ball-jointed, so the angle and tilt of the shield are fairly adjustable. It is mounted on what I'd consider to be the back of the arm, but that seems to work better here than it does with more traditional shield designs and, again, is true to the animation.

-Beam Rifle

Zeta's long, slender Beam Rifle is nicely detailed, has a removeable energy pack, and it fits into the appropriate hand well. Once again the Wave Rider interferes, however- the barrel is designed to retract, and the handgrip to fold up, so that the rifle can be attached and used in Wave Rider mode. There's a peg like the one used for the shield to accomplish this, but the barrel mechanism is the real issue here. It's designed to move the handgrip into a good position when the barrel is pushed in, but if you try to fold the grip flat against the rifle as intended it will pop off. There's not any completely satisfactory way to get the barrel as short as it should be while the handle is as flat as it should be, so a little wiggling and compromise is called for here.

-Hyper Mega Launcher

The Zeta's largest weapon, the Hyper Mega Launcher is a massive beam cannon which folds for storage. It was also designed to be used in a weightless environment, which is painfully obvious. Unfortunately, because it is so huge, there isn't any practical way for Zeta to hold it, and the arms aren't strong enough to hold it level, either. It can also mount to the bottom of the Wave Rider, but be prepared for a struggle to keep the HML on the shield and the shield on the Zeta. It's a shame, too- it's an attractive design and it folds up far more effectively than the Beam Rifle. There is one other thing that bugs me, though: The HML was apparently designed to be ambidextrous, as there are secondary grips hidden in compartments on either side. But one of them is a dummy- it was molded as a solid piece! There's just no excuse for that.

-Beam Sabers

Zeta has a pair of long-bladed Beam Sabers with black handgrips. The blade is the earlier softer plastic, unlike the superb Gundam SEED Destiny sabers. But, it's fairly thick, and so stays relatively straight. The blades are removeable, of course, but serve a unique purpose for Zeta: the blade can also be used for the Beam Rifle, which itself doubles as a Beam Saber when necessary. This is a nice addition, though technically it should also be compatible with the Hyper Mega Launcher, as Zeta used it in a similar way several times during the course of the show.

-Grenade Packs

The Zeta Gundam has a pair of Grenade Launchers in each forearm, and these packs serve as extended magazines for those launchers. Another nice extra, though you'll probably only use one at a time since they prevent the use of the shield otherwise.

-Extra Hands

As usual, you get two Rifle hands, two Saber hands, and the standard fists that are attached in the package. All the hands hold their respective weapons well, and hold to the wrists firmly. So firmly, in fact, you may have a bit of trouble removing and replacing them but as I said, once they're on, they stay, so I'm more than willing to put up with that.

Accessories get 7/10

Closing Remarks:

Zeta Gundam is an attractive, poseable Second Version figure dragged down somewhat by the compromises made for Wave Rider Mode and a difficult-to-hold weapon in the Hyper Mega Launcher. I paid roughly $18 for the reissue, which is probably a fair price.

In short, I'd consider Zeta a Very Good figure if you leave it in MS mode, but it Could Have Been Better in Wave Rider Mode. Which gives the Zeta Gundam an adjusted rating of Good.

-RAC, 12/09/2004