Kit Review
Straight build + panel lining + wet decals
Size comparison with a cigarette pack.
Detail shots
Outer armor removed
Internal frame.
Even for a fully transformable unit, it achieves a complete full-body frame.
Frame detail shots
Cockpit hatch open
Weapons loadout
A solid, no-frills beam rifle
Various gimmicks on the beam rifle and how it looks mounted on the forearm
There's a click-lock detent that snaps into place when you extend or retract the barrel.
Shield front and back
The shield's extension/retraction.
The grenade launcher pack that mounts on the forearm has a similar gimmick to before,
but it's gotten a bit wider on the sides.
The beam sabers stowing in the side skirts is the same as before.
Interestingly, two types of hands are included.
One has three individually swappable fingers (left), and the other is just a plain closed fist (right).
Thanks to that, the proportions on the closed fist look really clean.
The fit between the weapon peg holes and the dedicated fingers is incredibly tight,
giving you the strongest grip strength we've seen in the lineup.
A set of non-transforming, non-folding head antennae are also included as extras,
and thanks to these, the upper red section has a noticeably thicker, more solid finish.
Kamille Bidan figure.
Two types of stand joint parts are included.
One is for MS mode and the other is for Waverider mode,
and both lock very securely into the crotch area.
Only one leftover part.
Decent articulation for a transformable unit
The neck extends in a two-stage zigzag for the transformation,
and you can actually use this to get some more dramatic head poses as well.
The waist bends sideways quite a lot, spanning both the upper and lower sections.
This kind of articulation was unthinkable on the Zeta Gundam given its unique waist transformation gimmick,
but the Ver.Ka nails all three — transformation, articulation, and stability.
The forward/backward shoulder swing is gone,
but a new joint that lets you raise the shoulders upward has been added instead.
The elbows also swing slightly side to side, which is a nice help when posing.
Beam rifle firing pose
Grenade launcher attack pose
Beam saber pose
TRANSFORMATION
Extend the neck and tilt the head back,
then push the chest armor forward and lift it up.
Fold the chest armor back behind the body, then retract the extended section.
On the MG Zeta 2.0, the head antennae would always get in the way and make the transformation a real pain,
but thanks to the neck and chest armor extension gimmick here, you can flip it back smoothly without any hassle.
Rotate the cockpit — which faces forward in MS mode — 90 degrees to point toward the nose direction.
Fold the support piece under the neck 90 degrees forward, then lower the head down.
This support piece is used later to lock the shield in place.
Release the locking pin at the bottom of the waist armor and narrow the waist.
On the MG Zeta 2.0, you had to use two connecting pins — top and bottom — to narrow the waist, which was a real hassle.
It often wouldn't close properly and parts would snap, and once closed it was a struggle to open back up.
On the Ver.Ka, only a single upper connecting pin is used and the lower section just clips in lightly,
so narrowing and widening the waist is now a proper, easy improvement.
The waist in its narrowed state.
The Zeta's waist can now be narrowed and widened with ease.
The shoulder transformation method has been redesigned — they now fold up into a sharp point as shown.
On the MG Zeta 2.0, the outer shoulder verniers folded inward,
but they kept collapsing in on themselves even in MS mode, which was pretty annoying.
Shorten the forearm length, then close the pipe again to lock it in place.
The arm section before and after transformation.
It gets shorter and feels more compact overall.
Now bring the compacted arms together toward the center, just like before.
Deploying the precise hip joint gimmick.
The left shows the basic structure in MS mode — pull the crotch armor forward and push it down,
and only the lower section moves downward as shown.
This releases the transformation lock on both hip joints.
In other words, in MS mode the hip transformation gimmick is held firmly in place.
Raise the unlocked hip transformation gimmick 90 degrees, then fold it in two stages of 90 degrees each as shown in the right photo.
At this point you can also fold the front skirts inward into the body.
It's simpler than the old hip plate sliding method, and the joints are very sturdy so there are no stability issues whatsoever.
Now neatly line up the folded arms in a row along the center of the body.
Fully extend the wing hinge,
then slide the wing upward and rotate it 180 degrees.
Deploy the wings that were stored inside in two stages, then fold them down at a 90-degree angle as shown.
It's a much more intuitive and straightforward method compared to the confusing gimmick on the MG Zeta 2.0.
At this point, as the wing extends, insert the locking pin that's now exposed inside into the weapon mounting hole on the forearm.
When inserted properly, the arm and wing press together snugly and lock in place as shown.
The problem is the connection between the wing locking pin and the forearm hole feels a bit iffy and keeps coming loose..
That said, the wing hinge joints themselves are so sturdy that they hold things together well enough on their own.
The completed body and lower wing section after transformation
Fold the middle section of the shield downward as shown.
You can attach it without folding, but when you set it down on the landing gear, the nose will end up pointing upward.
Unfold the stabilizer that was in the center of the back,
then slide the back armor forward in two steps to fully cover the body.
On the MG Zeta 2.0, the upper body armor and the wide back armor just interlocked directly,
but on the Ver.Ka, the back armor size has been reduced and a sliding cover method like the one shown above has been applied instead.
There's a fixing hole on the underside of the blue back armor,
move the rear skirt panel over and plug it into that hole.
The hold on this hole is a little on the weaker side, so you'll need to get the angle just right before pushing it in.
All that's left now is transforming the legs.
The manual has you do it while they're still attached to the body, but it's honestly easier to detach the legs, transform them separately, and then reattach them.
First, slide the knee armor upward, then...
Lift up the verniers section on the back of the calf as shown, then pull out the gimmick parts that were stored in the front and back.
It's a completely different approach from the MG Zeta 2.0, and it's way easier to expose the verniers this way.
Just like before, bend the knee in two steps and fold the ankle, but...
Then bend the knee joint sharply backward one more time and fold it as shown above.
As you can see, the entire calf section folds up flush against the back of the thigh.
The ankle joint can also be tucked further inward as you fold it.
Now press the verniers gimmick parts you pulled out earlier flat against the back of the leg,
then rotate the side skirts forward.
A comparison between not using (top) and using (bottom) the extra knee gimmick added in the Ver.Ka.
Previous Zeta kits only folded the legs to about the level shown at the top,
but the Ver.Ka folds them up so far you almost wonder if that's really okay.
After attaching the legs to the body, position the front skirts so they lock into place as shown above.
Plug in the beam rifle that was folded up at the top, and the main body transformation is complete.
As a bonus, there are also four deployable landing gear gimmicks on the underside.
The Waverider mode set down on its landing gear.
As you can see, the nose and wings aren't in a straight line, which looks a bit awkward.
If you attach the shield without bending it in the middle, instead of the nose pointing upward,
the nose and wings line up straight, and the connection between the blue chest on the top and the back panel also improves.
It looks a little odd when placed on the ground, but when mounted on a stand, the straight-line configuration actually looks more natural.
The tightly packed body gimmicks look great.
Folding the wrists in particular gives the rear a really clean finish.
The underside with the landing gear folded up.
It can be mounted on an Action Base.
(Shown with the shield unfolded so the nose and wings are in a straight line)
Shots of it mounted on the Action Base.
Alongside the MG Zeta Gundam 2.0 released in 2005.
It's a renewal after a whopping 18 years, and the biggest improvements are in the gimmicks and durability rather than the overall appearance.
The shape of the shield and the height at which it's mounted have also changed.
A Waverider comparison.
The overall size feels smaller.
Compared to the wide and slim MG Zeta 2.0, the Ver.Ka shows a noticeably chunkier side profile.
The evolution of the MG Zeta Gundam — 1996, 2005, and 2023.
Alongside the MG ZZ Gundam Ver.Ka (Enhanced Type).
Straight build