Kit Review

Straight build + Stickers + Panel lining

Size comparison with a cigarette pack

Upper body front and back

Head

Legs

Nice seals all over the body.

HGUC Zaku II : Shin Matsunaga - Just like the Black Tri-Stars unit, the angle of the hand gripping the Zaku machine gun looks

Just like the Black Tri-Stars unit,
the angle of the hand gripping the Zaku machine gun looks really~ awkward.

The weapon loadout is identical to the Black Tri-Stars unit.

Leftover parts

HGUC Zaku II : Shin Matsunaga - Machine gun firing pose (1/3)

Machine gun firing pose

HGUC Zaku II : Shin Matsunaga - Poses using the weapon mounting parts (1/3)

Poses using the weapon mounting parts

HGUC Zaku II : Shin Matsunaga - Bazooka + heat hawk action pose (1/3)

Bazooka + heat hawk action pose

HGUC Zaku II : Shin Matsunaga - Machine gun + bazooka action pose (1/4)

HGUC Zaku II : Shin Matsunaga - Machine gun + bazooka action pose (2/4)

Machine gun + bazooka action pose

HGUC Zaku II : Shin Matsunaga - Together with the HGUC Zaku II High Mobility Type Black Tri-Stars. Apart from the shoulder pa

Together with the HGUC Zaku II High Mobility Type Black Tri-Stars.
Apart from the shoulder parts, all the same parts are used.

Together with the MG Zaku II v2.0 Shin Matsunaga.

Straight build

The second variation of the high-quality HGUC High Mobility Zaku II is the Shin Matsunaga. It's a rare Zeon unit done up entirely in white, and aside from a slight difference in the shoulder markings, it shares 95% of its parts with the Black Tri-Stars unit. And the weapon loadout beyond the main body is 100% identical to the Black Tri-Stars unit.

The HGUC High Mobility Zaku was designed from the very start with the Black Tri-Stars → Shin Matsunaga → Johnny Ridden variation lineup in mind, so it's impressive how well the parts breakdown works on the Shin Matsunaga as well. Honestly, for an all-white unit like the Shin Matsunaga, there are plenty of parts that didn't really need to be split up — you can tell some of them were divided more than necessary just to accommodate the other variations. But since everything snaps together so cleanly, it's still a really satisfying build. ^^

As you'd expect from a modern HGUC Zaku, it's a high-quality kit with a smooth, satisfying build feel, sturdy joints, and impressive detail packed into a small frame — but just like the Black Tri-Stars unit, the articulation isn't great, so the range of poses you can pull off is somewhat limited. The oddly restricted hip and ankle joints still make it hard to get a wide-legged action stance, which is a shame, and the awkward angle of the hand gripping the Zaku machine gun is another minor letdown.

The wolf seals on the spike armor and shield are rendered at MG-level quality, so even a straight build with just the seals applied doesn't look bad at all... but given the all-white color scheme, it does feel a bit bare without at least some panel lining. Maybe that's why the Black Tri-Stars unit seems to have a bit more of an edge to it in a straight build.

Either way, it came out clean and exactly at the quality level you'd expect, and it's a must-have for any Zaku fan. It was a great kit that just makes you look forward to the Johnny Ridden version still to come. :-)

HGUC Zaku II : Shin Matsunaga | 2013.3 | ¥1,600

AIThis page was translated by Claude Sonnet.