OLD Z Gundam 1/144 GM II

Release 1985.8

Price ¥400

BANDAI BANDAI Japan product info

Box side view

Runners

Parts diagram

Manual

Straight build + waterslide decals

Size comparison with a cigarette pack

Includes 2 beam sabers and 1 right hand.

The limb articulation is absolutely terrible ;;

At least there's a forearm rotation gimmick in there.

Stiff shooting pose

Still just barely manages a two-handed shooting pose.

Beam saber pose

With the 1/144 Gundam Mk-II.

With the 1/144 GM.

With the HGUC GM II released in 2011.

This kit is the GM II released in the old Zeta Gundam series 1/144 scale lineup. Unlike the original First Gundam era kits, polycaps were introduced here which changed the overall construction, but it's a kit that oddly doesn't feel all that different from the old First Gundam 1/144 GM. Looking at the exterior, the molding is a bit sharper and the design has been updated, but it doesn't really feel like a major upgrade at first glance.

The articulation even feels worse, if anything — the knees don't bend as far as they did on the First Gundam 1/144 GM. It really makes you wonder what the point of using polycaps was, because aside from improved joint strength, they're doing absolutely nothing for articulation.

At least the proportions feel a step up from the First Gundam 1/144 GM, so with some cleanup and a paint job it could look pretty decent. Either way, for a brand-new-tooled Zeta Gundam 1/144 kit, the quality gap from the First Gundam era kits is surprisingly small — it feels like a kit that exists mainly just to say that a GM II was made. :-)
[ Updated at 2017.3.4 ]

AIThis page was translated by Claude Sonnet.