A few months after the PG RX-78 was released, just like what happened with the MG line, the PG Zaku II followed. And of course, the green mass production type came out first.
First of all, it's clearly a high-quality kit that has most of the hallmarks of the PG line — fully articulated fingers, solid moving joints, excellent articulation, a full-body inner frame, LED lighting, hatch opens, and so on. That said, the star of the show has always been the Gundam, not the Zaku. (Unless the show gets renamed "Mobile Suit Zaku" ^^;) Looking at the kit purely on its own merits, it's without a doubt the best Zaku kit ever made up to that point — but stack it up against other PGs and you start to notice it falls a little short in various areas.
First, the articulation... True to PG form, despite the Zaku's relatively chunky proportions, the limbs bend over 150 degrees — but it still falls short compared to other Gundam-type PGs that can fold nearly 180 degrees. The feet and ankles in particular are pretty stubby and blunt, so they're quite limited in range. Up to this point, you can kind of forgive it given the design...
As for the inner frame — it's all there throughout the body, but compared to the RX-78 it feels a bit rough overall. The upper torso looks pretty decent, but the arms and legs honestly feel a little plain. On top of that, the number of hatch-open areas feels noticeably fewer than the RX-78. The arms only open up a small cover at the elbow, and the legs just have one big hatch at the back — sure, the knee and foot areas shift open slightly too, but it really feels like with a bit more effort they could've made the hatch-open sections a lot more impressive. Makes you wonder if the design was a bit rushed.
Also, the spring suspension in the ankles — a common feature on most PG Gundams — is absent on the PG Zaku. That means there's no shock-absorber effect where pressing down on the leg causes the ankle to compress and spring back. On the flip side, those suspension PGs tend to have ankles that wobble a bit front-to-back, whereas the PG Zaku uses only stiff polycaps with no spring suspension, so the ankles hold their position much better. As a result, for its size and weight, it actually stands the most upright and sturdy of any PG. Everything's a trade-off, I suppose.
Anyway, in terms of articulation, the inner frame, hatch opens, and overall construction, there's just this vague feeling that a little less care went into it compared to the RX-78. Flip that around and you could say more care went into the RX-78 instead. Maybe that's only natural, but it still leaves you feeling a bit let down by comparison. Hmm.
The mono-eye is interesting — unlike other PGs that use a single button cell battery, this one connects two button cells in series, which means the light output is noticeably brighter than other PGs. The mono-eye movement system is pretty much the same as the MG version.
The most noteworthy part of the PG Zaku is probably the cockpit. The double cockpit hatch — faithful to the design specs — is well executed: in addition to the main chest cover that opens up entirely, there's also a small door on the lower right that opens separately. The pilot's cockpit slides left and right accordingly, and the inside of the chest hatch even has what looks like control sticks modeled in. Easily the most fun part. ^^
Along with that, the power pipes — one of the Zaku's most iconic features — are worth paying attention to. It's a step up from the MG's method of threading beads onto a rubber tube. The way it works: you fix one end of a spring with a screw, then thread the pipe beads onto it — at which point the spring is too short. So you stretch the spring by hand, thread all the power pipe beads onto it, then screw down the other end to lock it in place. What does this do? The power pipes themselves have a nice taut springiness to them as they move. It's a really satisfying and clever construction method. (See theleg section review for reference.)
Oddly enough though, while the power pipes on the legs and body go together without issue, the ones on the head are a bit problematic. The spring end is supposed to be secured with a small screw, but the screw is so small it just strips and spins freely. That means it can't even hold the spring in place, let alone keep it taut. So in my case I had no choice but to improvise — I bent one strand at the end of the spring and placed it behind the screw head, then tightened the screw so that instead of the threads gripping the spring (which doesn't work since the spring is too thick for the threads), the looped end of the spring catches behind the screw head and holds it in place. (That explanation got complicated -_-;) Anyway, this issue apparently happened on both the mass production type and the Char's Custom, so it looks like either a design mistake or a parts spec that went a bit sideways.
The weapons are pretty bare-bones — just the basics, similar to the RX-78 — and the various weapons unique to the mass production type are left out. They were sold separately as a custom set later on, of course... The molded colors overall aren't particularly off-putting and seem about right.
One advantage the PG Zaku II has over other PG kits is probably that it "stands up straight and solid." A lot of other PG Gundams have issues like springy ankle suspension, slightly weak waist joints, or upper body armor that doesn't lock in place very securely. The joints themselves aren't necessarily bad, but since so much force is put on each joint just to support a large, heavy body, getting a stable pose can be a real challenge. The PG Zaku's joints are nicely stiff all around, and the ankle joints in particular are on the sturdy side, so it can stand up nice and straight without any fuss.
Anyway, one way or another... to wrap things up with a final verdict on this kit...
Looking at the Zaku II as a mobile suit on its own merits, there's no doubt it's a well-crafted kit with outstanding detail, articulation, and an inner frame that's every bit worthy of the PG line.
The issue is that compared to the very high quality of other PG Gundams, it does give off a feeling like maybe a little less care was put into it.
It's a pretty contradictory conclusion, but honestly, if you build it yourself, you can't help but feel exactly this way. -_-
So it's probably ended up being the least popular kit among the PG lineup...
If you're a fan of the Zaku II, it's obviously a must-have, but if you're new to PG kits, it unfortunately gets pushed aside in favor of the RX-78 and becomes hard to recommend. That said, a PG is still a PG. (A contradictory conclusion right to the very end...! T_T)
PG Zaku II | 1999.3 | ¥12,000
AIThis page was translated by Claude Sonnet.
