OLD Z Gundam 1/144 Z Gundam

Release 1985.8

Price ¥500

BANDAI BANDAI Japan product info

OLD 1/144 Z Gundam - Box side view (1/3)

Box side view

Runners

Parts diagram

Manual

Straight build + waterslide decals

Size comparison with a cigarette pack

Comes with 2 beam sabers and one extra right hand.

OLD 1/144 Z Gundam - The shield attaches by inserting a pin into the forearm and twisting to lock it in place, but the fit is

The shield attaches by inserting a pin into the forearm and twisting to lock it in place, but the fit is pretty loose.

The legs aren't great, but the arm articulation is good.

The hip joint does rotate, which gives it a slightly wider range of motion.

Interestingly, there's also a gimmick where the wrist can bend inward.

OLD 1/144 Z Gundam - Beam Rifle Firing Pose (1/3)

Beam rifle firing pose

Beam saber action pose

Together with the 1/144 First Gundam and Mk-II. They keep getting taller and taller.

Together with the HGUC Z Gundam released in 2003.

This is the 1/144 Z Gundam from the old-style Z Gundam series. Despite being the main protagonist unit of the series, it was released as the 13th kit — a bit late to the party. That's probably because Mk-II appears first in the show, with Z Gundam coming later. True to its old-school roots, it's a kit with impressively broad shoulders and a boxy, angular build.

The molded colors are kept to a minimum — just white and blue — but they've done their best to arrange the colors so it comes reasonably close to the original color scheme. The overall color feel is very old-school: charming in a vintage kind of way, or just plain dated depending on how you look at it (...)

Thanks to the polycaps, the joints are solid, but articulation feels quite limited compared to other kits. The leg articulation in particular is really poor, so posing it without any joint modifications is a bit of a struggle. The hip joint does have a wider rotation range than other 1/144 Z kits, and the wrists can bend inward, but neither really makes a huge difference. Since it can't even transform, it would've been nice if they'd designed in a bit more movement — but I suppose the design was just too tricky to handle with the engineering know-how of early Gunpla days.

That said, the proportions and overall sculpt aren't bad at all, so with a decent paint job it should turn into a Z Gundam that feels both vintage and lovely. And being the legendary protagonist unit that it is, that alone makes it worth building at least once for any old-school fan. :-)
[ Updated at 2017.3.3 ]

AIThis page was translated by Claude Sonnet.