EMIA MSZ-006 Zeta Gundam

EMIA MSZ-006 Zeta Gundam

Height: 11.5cm to top of head

Articulation: 32 total points of articulation: 7 points in each arm - double jointed shoulder, upper arm swivel, double jointed elbow, post-elbow swivel, ball joint wrist; Double jointed neck; 3 points in Tail Biner - double jointed base, single mid-point hinge; Ball joint waist; 6 points in each leg - ball joint hip, triple jointed knee, double jointed ankled; Additional various points specific to transformation.

Accessories: Beam rifle; Shield; Grenade packs x2; Beam sabres x2 with removeable blades; Extra hands x4; Wave Rider adaptor; 4 piece Wave Rider stand; MS-06F Zaku II head.

Colors: Molded grey, black, clear pink; Painted white, blue, red, black, yellow, green, Zaku green, pink, light blue, brown (panel highlights).

Release Data: Released in Japan on June 29th, 2005 at a price of ¥2000.

Gallery: 27 images.

Author: ExVee



The Figure

Normally in this space, I'd talk about the history of the design itself, but this time I've chosen to discuss the figure since there are some things that should be cleared up before really getting into the rest of the review.

Despite appearances to the contrary, the EMIA Zeta Gundam is a completely new toy. It shares few or no parts with its predecessor, the Zeta Gundam Second Version. This is quite a good thing, too. The Zeta Second Version was in its time the most complicated normal size transforming MSiA, a year and a half or so after the much larger Psyco Gundam, and following just a few months after the much simpler Raven and Walter Gundams. Naturally, the Zeta is also one of the most complicated transformation schemes in all of Gundam. The result of this unfortunate combination is an overly ambitious figure suffering from varying absence of structural integrity in both modes.

For the sixth installment of the Extended Mobile Suit in Action series, Zeta is revisited and given a much needed overhaul. While naturally resembling the second version quite strongly, effectively every piece is new, and the engineering of the Wave Rider transformation has been modified. The result of this is a transforming figure just as stable in MS mode as any non-transforming figure, with the benefit of an equally stable Wave Rider mode.


The Head

The sculpt is top notch, with every single line captured in sharp detail and "inked" for visibility - even around the eyes. The neck is a double ball joint made with plenty of room to move at both ends. I'd say that this is probably the best poseability of any "traditional" style neck joint to date. Certainly other specialized types can move farther, but they also lose out on some level of normal movement.

The Torso

Most of the action is on the back. However, the torso itself now manages to lock down quite securely using the same cockpit hatch tab strategy that failed so completely on the Second Version. The waist joint is similar in type to the current style ball joints in use, though the skirt armor doesn't get along especially well with the shape of the lower torso, reducing the range of movement available. The ability to do a straight turn is also restricted somewhat, but still results in a "natural" looking range of motion.

There is one downgrade, in the loss of the ball jointed front skirt panels, which were more or less my favorite design feature on the Second Version. I really have no idea why those would have been dropped, especially since every other piece of the skirt armor is attached by ball joint.

As for the back, there's the Tail and Wing Binders. Neither structure is particularly new or different, but they didn't much need to be. Aside from possible addition of a peg or two to lock down the Wing Binders in this mode. Everything is as it should be otherwise. The Tail Binder can be moved up to where it appears useful, and if you so choose you can open up the wings to no logical effect.

The Arms

This is where you get the real signs of improvement. Previously, the shoulders remained with the portions of the torso that went to the Wave Rider, and so were hinged to fit inside. This led to not only shoulder joints that were unstable, but could even fall off entirely because of the relatively weak joint used to attach them. Part of the revisions to the engineering included separating the shoulders from the Wave Rider bits, which has strengthened them considerably. In my view, this is one of the most important improvements.

While completely covering the shoulder joints, the armor has been given a ball joint with clearance enough to move up and out, allowing the arms to nearly rise straight out to the sides. The new joint added to the arms is one of my favorites, a post-elbow swivel. With the new ability of the forearms to turn independantly of the rest of the arm, it now becomes much easier to pose with things like the Grenade Launchers or the shield. This joint has a surprising range, considering how limiting the shape of the forearm first appears.

Legs And Feet

These are the least changed, probably due mostly to the fact that they had the least wrong with them in the first place. Hip joints have normal range, but because the skirt armor isn't ball jointed anymore, you again have to be careful of leaving some poses for extended periods for risk of panel warping.

The knee is triple jointed to go along with the modern standard, but it's kind of backwards. Because of how some things have to work for the transformation, the ball joint is placed in the thigh end. The way it is, I can't really tell if it's having any positive impact on poseability up there.

The feet have a hinge in the foot to fold up for transforming, but it really has no benefit to the MS mode. And while the ankle is double jointed, it's really hard to tell or make use of more than one ankle joint. besides which, the shape of the lower leg adds an inherent limit to how far the ankles can bend without bending something else in response. This is really a failing of the design, rather than the figure, which can still manage a variety of poses.

Wave Rider

The big thing here is that tabs and slots have been added to at least partly secure the Wing Binders to the shield, eliminating the main problem in the Second Version. In this mode, the backwards triple jointed knee becomes an issue, since the ball joint can and will allow the legs to become misaligned. Aside from this, it's not really different.

The Wing Binders are still a bit delicate, since they have to fit into place pretty specifically to fit the tabs in the slots, and the ideal angle does not match the "correct" angle necessarily. Most of the unfortunate gaps and open spaces in the previous version are concealed pretty well. And in an impressive display of attention to detail, the adaptor piece that replaces the MS torso features little fists where Zeta's arms would be sticking out the back, if the arms were included in this figure's transformation. There's one other benefit, but that'll be covered in the Accessories.

Paint and Deco

Simply excellent, as with the other EMIA releases. It's more than a little disappointing, though. We know that they're capable of delivering a high level of paint quality, but we still get lazy, sloppy paint errors on the normal MSiAs. Though to be fair, there is one small error here. The monoeye on the Zaku head is off center. So it's not perfect, but it's much closer than the normal line.

Engineering: 8.5/10
Articulation: 9/10
Paint and Deco: 9/10


Accessories

-Beam Rifle

Zeta's techy rifle. Well, "techy." Mostly because it's neither a retro sci-fi thing like the RX-78 rifle, nor sleek advancement like the Mk II. This design is truly its own.

Though on the toy level, this is almost a straight rerun of the Second Version's rifle. There are minor differences, such as the targeting sensor being above the grip, instead of under the barrel. The tab on the butt is given more range of movement, and the shape of the bit the E-pack attaches to has been changed. Also, the barrel is no longer able to accept the beam sabre blades. Shame, really. Another of those seemingly nonsensical changes.

Things that are the same include the sliding joint used to collapse the rifle, and the folding grip. Said grip still has the problem RAC noted in his review, where the grip cannot fold up completely when the rifle is collapsed. Further, it cannot mount correctly to the Tail Binder in Wave Rider mode, where it ends up pointing downward.

Alternately, it can be attached to the forearm with the hardpoint used for the shield or grenade packs.

-Shield

Much the same as the Second Version, except for addition of a number of slots. Two of them are meant to secure the Wing Binders for the Wave Rider, one is for the stand, and another is to attach the cockpit hatch.

The shield becomes much more useful with the addition of the forearm swivels, so the shield can be at least held to the side while preserving elbow articulation. One could also do the Gundam vs Zeta Gundam trick, and attach the shield upside-down, then point the forearm straight up. That way it's in front, and looks useful. Unlike the Mk II's shield, this one actually looks more correct upside-down.

-Grenade Packs

Little blocks of PVC, meant to plug into the forearms and supply the ammo for the built in grenade launchers. They fit comfortably snugly, and since both the forearm and the Grenade Pack are painted, color matching is a non-issue. And with the additional articulation in the forearm, they're very easy to pose with.

-Beam Sabres

The blades are a good bit shorter than the previous ones, and made of the wonderful harder plastic. They also seem to be slightly "frosted", as in they're not the normal perfectly clear or vaguely translucent. It's a nice effect, which gives them a better appearance of glowing.

The grips initially appear to have kind of "soft" detailing, but that's mostly a paint side effect, since the light doesn't catch the same way to set off the fine details. The blades fit in the grips nice and snug. Sadly no means was added to this revision to allow grip storage.

-Extra Hands

The normal set of four: two regular open, two trigger finger. Switching between hands is easy, but the hands stay on securely. Fortunately, one place on the figure that's not fully painted are the hands. Thankfully the palms and fingers are just bare plastic.

-MS-06F Zaku II head

So, in Double Zeta, the new Zeta Gundam pilot Judau Ashuta takes the Zeta out into a fight. And promptly gets the head shot off. Lacking an immediately available replacement, someone gets the genius idea to stick a salvaged Zaku head up there instead. So, for one fight, Zeta launches with its field replacement head, earning the nickname, "Zeta Zaku". Too bad it wasn't a Galbaldy head salvaged, then it could have been called Galbaldy Zeta.

Anyway, even as far back as the original, non transforming Zeta MSiA, people have been trying to do Zeta Zaku customs. Even with the Zaku Second Version it was a difficult task since it lacked the normal neck joint. So one way or another it had always been a matter of a rather invasive procedure to graft a Zaku head to a Zeta body.

In seeming response, the third version of the Zeta Gundam includes a Zaku head. Interestingly, this is not an existing Zaku head sculpt. Similar in shape to the original Zaku II MSiA's head, it's a little larger, and some details are different. It's also not a sneak preview of the EMIA Zaku II head, since the monoeye is static. So best as I can tell, Bandai made a completely unique Zaku II head for this figure.

Naturally articulation for this head is dramatically reduced since it's a much larger piece than the normal Zeta head, but it can do surprisingly well regardless. It's a neat extra detail to have included, though I don't expect to use it much since it seems like more of an amusing novelty than anything else. It does look a bit silly, afterall.

-Wave Rider adaptor

This is also a completely new piece, and is actually a bit smaller than what the Second Version used. The best details are the Zeta hands molded into it to make the Wave Rider appear just a little more authentic. The piece does its job and serves its purpose just fine.

-Stand

This is mostly the same as what came with the Asshimar, except the top piece is different. This can be disassembled into four pieces, though there's not really any point in taking apart more than the two main pieces for storage.

The hold is... wobbly, but functional. It works okay, but I'm thinking that doing something like balancing the Hyaku Shiki on the top of the Zeta won't turn out especially well.

Even though it could attach better, I'm glad this was included. Stands have been something I've wanted for a long time for transformable designs, and I'm glad to see they're starting to be considered by Bandai as well. It's my hope that if all transforming MSiAs from this point can't come with their own stands, that they can at least be made to be compatible with the two stands that are already available.


Accessories get 8/10


Closing Remarks

Just about anything that was wrong with the Second Version has been fixed in this release. With most or all of the figure being new and legitimately improved, I believe that we may finally have the long anticipated "Third Version" MSiA. I was apprehensive for a great while when I first read of this being made, since it seemed very much that the EMIA line was going to be cheaped out by making minor changes to existing Second Versions and slapping a coat of paint on them.

I can say only that I am overjoyed to be proven wrong in that view. If you bought the Second Version and were disappointed by its failings, look no further. This is your answer, and it's a figure that you simply need to own. It's so far the most expensive Extended MSiA, and it does lack the Hyper Mega Launcher, but there are just too many positive factors for it to be weighed down on minor complaints.

I am very comfortable in calling this a new standard for MSiA - the high point all others should strive to meet. For such a figure, no rating but State Of The Art can adequately sum up this figure.

-ExVeeBrawn, The Zeta Project II