1184 - HGUC Zeta Gundam [Gunpla Evolution Project] (OOB Review)

[@MahoganyBlack]

If there was one reason why I love the zeta Gundam is because its flight mode makes it look like an actual jet/plane. I really hate it when there are kits with flight modes and it's literally just the model laying on it belly or back with a shield over its head (like the wing and scramble Gundams). It just looks silly. Zeta all day er' day 👍

[@Apharmed]

Mahogany Black Zeta Gundam Master Race!!

[@tetsujin_144]

Zeta's got the best transformation in Gundam - but it still doesn't look like an actual flying machine when it's transformed. I mean, look at the variable fighters in Macross: those *really do* look like aircraft in their flight mode. Zeta does a pretty good job of hiding its robot-ness in wave rider mode but it's still more like "generic pointy winged machine with crooked-folded robot legs sticking out the back" than "aircraft".

[@lambda494]

I used to love Wing Gundam until I met Zeta. I still like Wing, but it seems to be a watered down version of Zeta honestly, see also Taurus suits.

[@account6555]

what about the abulhool line from 00? from abulhool to harute?

[@doctorx0079]

@@lambda494 Wing is basically Saint Seiya, plus an incoherent ripoff of Zeta.

[@gabdlc_]

I like how the hyper mega launcher covers the title/name in the thumbnail because it's massive.

[@ZakuAurelius]

Anon Zero ;D

[@DZMaven]

I agree. Keeping this as a parts former was the right decision. This looks to have the best articulation of a Zeta kit I've seen. Very nice shoulder articulation. Shame about the ugly stickers on the back. Definitely an eyesore.

[@edwarktwelve6257]

9:23 When Zeta is in MS form and jumps the small winglets do deploy, they are supposed to do that.

[@saturnight.3026]

I'm in the the process of building it right now, my very first build! Great review, thanks for showing everything you can do with it.

[@ZakuAurelius]

Thanks!

[@ecko_lmtd]

my first Zeta is 2.0 and boy it is amazing kit. many years later i buy RG and i regret it. this HG looks like 2.0 and the anime. hope can buy it soon

[@catpeople79]

as someone who has built two RG zetas (and broken one) and loves their MG 2.0 zeta, i'm very okay with the HG transformation being partsforming. the transformation really makes the front hipskirt area on the MG way looser than i'd like them to be.

[@patadeurso]

At least they nailed the evolution of stickers.

[@srntnjl523]

This, and the RG, could use another revive version. As for the HG, it could adapt a similar transformation mechanism used on the HG AGE-2 to minimize the parts-forming... not to mention that backpack.

[@Erdrick68]

I have this kit, I like that its a parts swapper, makes it so much more stable. I'm going to repaint it to match the White Unicorn type and get the water slides from Samueldecal.

[@kazuki199407]

i have been waiting for this review. thanks for your hard work on providing good reviews.

[@ZakuAurelius]

Kazuki Souji you're very welcome!

[@sofiaciel7599]

The manual does in fact list that the blue parts of Zeta's body have a hint of purple inside the recommended color guide! for the record, it's 70% indy blue (bright blue) + 20% white + 10% purple.

[@maxaryan100]

For the record, all gundam manuals use mr.hobby paints aka GSI Creos. Which are difficult to obtain and hard to find without buying online (which is more expensive, especially spray cans) unless you live in Japan or near a lucky hobby store. They are also laquer based which means extremely poisonous and cancerous. This also means you need a good respirator and spray booth. So to most people the color guide is useless and a waste of time.

[@dol_mel7487]

Ben Dover Thanks for already known information that the guy never asked

[@sofiaciel7599]

I'm aware of that--in fact, in older kits, they gave the codes for GSI's Mr.Gundam Color paints as well--though I was under the impression you could still use the guides as a decent enough estimate for other paint brands, whether they're acrylic, enamel, or lacquer. Obviously there will be some variations in terms of how light or dark some of these colors will be with say, Tamiya, or Vallejo, or Testor's. But, if you're trying to mix, you can at least get an indication of what you should add to the base color, I guess

[@ZakuAurelius]

Michael L. Ah ha! I hadn't checked that, but thanks for the confirmation.

[@kblanko5]

I got sad when i saw the stickers...i would pay an extra $5 for extra parts

[@maxaryan100]

Paint.

[@softg3849]

Kevin Blanco/Graypanda1300 paint

[@PixelGod240]

Kevin Blanco/Graypanda1300 Look at it this way...... If you airbrush you have customs made masking sheets! ;) I never hear anyone bring that up!

[@tetsujin_144]

It's already an 1800 yen kit. You can't raise the price of it _too much_ more or else it ceases to be an attractive deal compared to the Real Grade kit.

[@yousafmehmet]

5 bucks lmao. They’d charge you at least extra 15

[@pyrosinugami]

@ZakuAurelius the blue parts near the wrist contain more grenades that in the 2.0 mg are revealable

[@ZakuAurelius]

pyrosinugami yep! No such detail in these but honestly no one really ever sees that so it's all good.

[@SirSaberDelux]

I own the RG Zeta. Yes it is a mess, it's flimsy, fragile and can't do many poses and you can only keep it in MS mode or WaveRider mode, transforming it more than once comes at the risk of busting parts. (I personally bought 2, MS in a pose with the WR beside it) and building it was really challenging. But. The architecture is amazing, just thinking about how they pulled it off in 1/144! and it's visually a treat for the eyes. RG Zeta is a figure to show not pose and Im perfectly fine with that. Also RG doesn't have those ugly red stickers, sadly it doesn't have the mega beam launcher either :/

[@mr.eternel583]

"it's visually a treat for the eyes" i agree. and its photogenic too :))

[@doctorx0079]

Okay, so there are reasons to have the RG, but only after you already got the HG Evo and the MG 2.0.

[@TildAbuse]

There's a quick, easy mod i figured out for those parts on the shoulders. Take them apart, cut very tiny pieces of thin receipt paper and line the inside of the joints with it, then put everything back together. The paper will create enough friction so that casual contact doesn't push those bits in, but they can still move with minimal effort. As for the review, there's one thing I wish it had addressed - the side to side head rotation. When i built my Zeta, I was appalled at how little clearance the neck collar and shape of the head left for side to side poses. I had to extensively modify both just to get basic posability out of a so-called "evolution" kit. Did anybody else have this problem with theirs or is mine just some kind of mutant? Still, while that was extremely disappointing it wasn't a deal breaker. All things considered, I'm going to call this the best Zeta Gundam kit I've ever built........ although I gotta admit, the old SD had the most satisfying transformation XD

[@tetsujin_144]

To me one of the really interesting (and almost perplexing) decisions they made with this kit was to include the arms in the Wave Rider mode. This decision resulted (for instance) in the inclusion of that joint in the shoulder armor that makes the thruster easily knocked out of position, as well as some cut-outs in the upper surface of the wings to accommodate the arms in Wave Rider mode. In a sense, there's no need for all of that. The old HGUC Zeta simply left the arms behind when transforming to Wave Rider. They didn't go with "perfect transformation" for this release, but they accepted some (potentially unfavorable) design decisions in order to, what, make this kit look more consistent with the transforming kits? Make the proportions in the two modes more consistent, and thus more believeable? I don't see the choice as a particularly good or bad thing, but it strikes me as an _unusual_ choice, and that's kind of interesting.

[@ORLY911]

I just finished the kit today, its amazingly good except the stickers, the one on the shield is UBER bad. One thing I don't understand, they used stickers for the yellow vents in the shoulders and the little yellow in the leg, why? The Hyaku Shiki Revives internal red vents on the shoulders was all parts, why didn't they do the same here? It really confuses me.

[@ORLY911]

i guess maybe they felt it was either make it stickers or take out the hyper mega launcher. Figured people would want more accessories, maybe? All i can think of.

[@daws761]

Brian J. Cheng Bandai probably doesn't want this to be the "perfect zeta in 1/144 scale" because otherwise it would lower the sales of the rg

[@edweefication]

it's for their paint's sale though....

[@lexicon2883]

I wish you made a comparison and put an old version next to it because it didn't feel like it evolve. I might be wrong, I can't wait to see and know what will evolve in a RG kit

[@steffy2]

Propably our good old grandaddy xD because we really need more, hope there ll be a 5.0 Coming out this yeah XD (jk. Im fine with all of the rx 78 mgs as they all have a unique style but for now I think its enought ) hope for some good old plain gm

[@ZakuAurelius]

Bexerl well I don't have the original HG kit. If you want to see what that kit is like check dealing.net. I'm not too familiar with it, but I'd bet this is a great improvement.

[@lexicon2883]

ZakuAurelius fair enough I thought you had the previous kits. That link you gave me, it led me to mental illnesses. 😅😂

[@account6555]

+CraziePeerson yeah. its dalong.net im gonna guess autocorrect

[@xenowreborn]

13:59 This is the Ultimate angle to Lay out a certain gundam Idea (for me atleast)

[@WAMoralesIgnacio]

Does it work with the lightning packs from build fighters?

[@yakitori3626]

i totally agree with that shoulder joint, i've always thought that it resembles the MG

[@unliblades20]

Hi zakuaurelius. Did it age well or is it loose now?

[@DragoonMS]

So this is the third Zeta that I've built (the other two being the MG 2.0 & the PG). I actually like this one a lot. The partsforming is a bit of a letdown from the full transformation of the bigger kits - especially considering that the *ungraded* 1/144s of Wing Gundam, Wing Gundam ZERO, & Gundam Epyon were perfectly transformable with the minimal required partsforming (ditto for the ol' skool HG Zetaplus C1 kit that needed glue in a couple spots!!). But, the stability can't be beaten at all. The stickers don't bother me too much (though it definitely reeks of the ungraded kit style than anything High Grade), but they could've been better. I hope that someday, they bring about both the C1 & A1 variants of the Zetaplus in HGUC!!

[@michaelarcher1577]

They already have given us the HGUC Zeta Plus C1 as seen in Gundam Sentinel. TOO BAD IT'S P-BANDAI.

[@GameAndMusicNerd]

I found posing this thing to be an absolute pain in the behind! if the weird-angled chest joint gets detached, youhave to take off the wings and everything just to put it back together!

[@tedhodge4830]

This kit has been a huge headache for me, to the point where I'll honestly say it's the worst high grade that I own. For one thing, I've had to re-tighten the joints (first with ample amounts of nail polish, then super glue) on the hips about 5 times, then I had the issue with the ball joint on the shoulders being outrageously tight to the point where it stressed the plastic joint, then I had the plastic joint for the shoulder pop-out hinge get stressed, then I had to spend a significant amount of time shaving down the front ankle flaps to allow it to have some decent range of motion, then I had to shave down the yellow collar and bottom of the head to allow the head to move more than 2 degrees side to side without looking straight down first. I also had the joy of trying in vain to find a single hand part with a ball joint that fits the socket on either side, up to buying the Bandai HD hands set and finding that the large ball joint still didn't fit even after applying a layer of primer to tighten the joint. Finally, I had to peel all the horrible peeling stickers off the wing binders and re-apply red paint along the trim, and white paint to correct the thruster vents at the top of the binders. This is certainly the worst revive kit that I own, and honestly the worst high grade that I've had to deal with. This is at once the most ambitious revive and the most poorly designed. There's a reason that I pre-ordered the Ver Ka kit the instant that it was announced, and it's because I just got done building this kit and was profoundly annoyed. A huge disappointment after building my HGUC revive Hyaku Shiki, which for all the jokes about curry paste, is still solid and a wonderful HG. This one's half-baked and needs another revive, starting with reinforcing the shoulder joints and reverting the collar design to the original high grade. A simple ball joint in polycap hinge as per the HG revive RX-78 would have sufficed.

[@RileyZilla1001]

The complex shoulders on mine are severely warped. I miss polycaps. 😔

[@housequay]

I'm currently confused about which Wing Gundam Zero EW Ver. to get. Should I get the RG or MG? It's a really nice looking Gundam design (despite not being on the screen) and I've heard that the decals are good on both of them. Maybe you could put this into a series where you compare each variation of a model in short 5 minute videos! Weigh up price, detailing, articulation etc. Anyway, good video, thanks!

[@othi-k2k]

Planning to getting this and painting it in some unorthodox/unusual colours Perhaps black/purple/orange?

[@steffy2]

Purple is great but make it orange, green with some purple accents xD

[@theofficialavenger]

I'm surprised how much this kit has sold me on the HG Barzam, I usually don't like Zeta MSes.

[@SuperRobotNichole]

When you're doing the small stickers for the cameras and such, how do you do it? I've been working with tweezers, and finding it really tricky to get the stickers in place.

[@Arikrog92]

Dominik Badawi I'm usually use a hobby knife to apply tiny stickers. Try it!

[@kingscarletbuilds]

Dominik Badawi I use angled tweezers and a hobby knife

[@ZakuAurelius]

Dominik Badawi move it from the sticker sheet to the kit with tweezers. Form it down with a toothpick.

[@jeffwey999]

for ms mode, is this better or the lighting zeta?

[@ZakuAurelius]

jeffwey999 that depends which design you like more!

[@PANAGIOTISAMPATZIS]

This looks much better than the RG. The waist part of the RG is horrifying...

[@mlspdennis1750]

how about the pg? is it easy to transform?

[@ZakuAurelius]

Song Dennis no idea, but I imagine it's not fun.

[@DragoonMS]

The Perfect Grade *IS NOT* fun at all, in terms of building it. The transformation isn't too terrible, but I definitely had a less stable end result than the MG 2.0 one. Gotta be careful folding in the V-Fin, though: the plastic of it is TRASH for a PG kit, and it WILL snap if you're careless!! Despite that, it's definitely my favorite iteration of the Zeta. This, however, definitely bumps out MG 2.0 as my second favorite, though...

[@jonspectre1103]

hey Zack do you think we'll get p-bandai variants of the new zeta? the grey wolf is one of my favorite designs but I've held off on the mg because of the price tag 😕 any advice?

[@ZakuAurelius]

Jon Yusko well who knows! The Red or Grey Zeta would be quite a few new parts so it's hard to say. Considering those are very obscure and already have MG releases, I would count on them getting HG forms as well but who knows. Probably what we'll get is a white/pink Amuro version (plus the usual clear and/or metallic expo exclusives)

[@rhen4short]

What's the best red Tamiya paint to use for the wings?

[@Mythicalmage]

The Waverider looks good at least, but imo the MS mode is kinda lacking.

[@ZakuAurelius]

Rob Wilson it's very basic, but it's a fantastic representation of the Zeta, basically.

[@KathyXie]

Can the Hyper Mega Launcher be used on the RG?

[@doctorx0079]

What kind of Action Base is that and what rotating base?

[@trunkvd1628]

I'm not really sure about this one, I like the Lighting Z design more than this.....but the wave rider mode and the mega launcher are nice....

[@ZeeBeeZB]

arg the Canadian dollar is now worth 73 cents USD importing is gonna be a pain :(

[@SoloStreamArchive]

Ngl. The only part of the kit I don't like is how are the arms are connected to the torso. Mine were too tight of a connection and ended up snapping the joint in the torso

[@rareegg1201]

Should I get this or the MG 2.0? The Articulation here is way better and it can hold the giant blue gun thingy well. But people keep saying that the MG 2.0 is better. So what should I get?

[@ZakuAurelius]

This is really nice, though obviously won't have the color separation or details of the MG. This one is cheaper though. pros and cons

[@rareegg1201]

ZakuAurelius Which do you prefer?

[@misslet4613]

One question will a zaku head fit on it.....

[@supercell615]

Do you know if it's possible to give this kit the wings and weapons of the RG Zeta?

[@dol_mel7487]

supercell615 with a lot of modding yes

[@jaketheberge1970]

How many zeta kits have the mega launcher with them? Its what caught my eye about this kit (I have yet to watch zeta. Good thing Gundam Info is uploading episodes of it) although I like the Zeta's overall design, which is good since there are so many versions of it both in series and model form.

[@dol_mel7487]

Jake Theberge very few honestly

[@ahedasukks]

This version, HGUC and MG version 2.0.

[@fantastiCkiLler92]

I have 3 RG zeta (regular, EXPO color clear ver & White Unicorn) and...yeah, it is a real mess TBH. It looks really good but it just waaay to flimsy and frustrating to pose it...transformation is a real pain too. It just not fun.....

[@ZakuAurelius]

叶川ヒロ that's all I've usually heard. I have one P-Bandai white Unicorn version still unbuilt and I'm actually considering selling it.

[@fantastiCkiLler92]

Why not give it a try and experience it? :P

[@Gooey27]

I have a question about Gundam markers, I colored the red parts using the basic red marker and the first few parts somehow got a perfect flat red color but the next ones had the usual problem where the ink just gets itself messed up. Did anyone else experience this and is there a solution for a perfect flat color?

[@ZakuAurelius]

My advice to you, just don't use Gundam markers! Lol. Or if you really want to, then just empty some paint in a tray and use a brush.

[@Gooey27]

ZakuAurelius Imma try the brush on a canvas kit and see if it makes a difference.

[@Gooey27]

ZakuAurelius Yep using the brush is so much better. I only have these markers for now at least they're usable.

[@Erdrick68]

Using the markers as is can be really good for SOME part. I found that the head of the marker is great for things like vents (might work well on the red parts of the Zeta backpack wings because they should cover in a single stroke), but yeah, gundam metallic marker, plus micro paint brush makes detail painting really easy, especially because they don't need primer. Also the metallic markers look better than the bottle metallic paint I have.

[@MortimersCookies]

i hope they make justice to go along with the revive freedom

[@noelko7565]

you can used lightling zeta gundam gun

[@GameAndMusicNerd]

I just bought this kit

[@GameAndMusicNerd]

I hate the orange part on top of the body. that part severely limits the head movement on my kit

[@GameAndMusicNerd]

and u don't really need to use the eye sticker on this kit because the visor is already a transparent green

[@doctorx0079]

What stand is that?

[@glados4313]

This or hg unicorn gundam?

[@ZakuAurelius]

Objectively this is better

[@glados4313]

@@ZakuAurelius thanks a lot aperture science will be gratefull

[@matthewphilip2609]

@@glados4313 the cake is a lie

[@FroskWasTaken]

I really want a zeta kit (preferably a parts-former like this, rather than the rg) but the sheer amount of stickers on the is saddening. I'm actually really worried about those yellow ones on the little flap on the shoulder armour, they look like they could peel off easily if you accidentally push it in/out to many times.

[@EKOddLink]

Only problems that I see that worry me are that SO much of the red is stickers, mostly on the wings. Like why? The kit is so good in many other ways, but they had to make most of, if not all of the wings red parts stickers

[@jakobmontano823]

I heard there is a p-bandi version with red plastic wings and slightly different proportions

[@TheKusa5]

Really was not happy with this kit, when I was finished with this Zeta, the legs were extremely loose, I just perma transformed it into the wave rider so I would have a way to display it.

[@TanukiTussle]

Is that space behind the red cockpit cover canonical? I know it's a minor thing, but it bothers me >_

[@biyromo6423]

The official art and anime both show the exposed grey.

[@TanukiTussle]

Yeah, that sucks.

[@Malaboermaters]

From what I can seeeeee from a short glimpse of the inner body, I am going to assume that it contains a skeleton?

[@ZakuAurelius]

Jansen Valenzuela not really. If you've built the Seed Revive kits it's sort of similar.

[@Malaboermaters]

Huh. That's a bit disappointing. I was hoping that they would incorporate the technologies they developed for the IBO in this new iteration. So that's a bit of a downer.

[@tyehowling8134]

just want a zeta ver ka and ill be happy

[@xenowreborn]

*IF* I painted this...I'd paint the blue white, the white can also be white, the black...you guessed it Blue , but then I'd change the red to purple(kinda like Amuro Ray's) and then the vent's can remain the same, but then I'd give the shield a custom logo (and those wondering about Amuro's zeta, The link is here) gundam.fandom.com/wiki/MSZ-006-3A_Zeta_Gundam_3A_Type

[@joadarium9605]

At least this one isn’t an absolute wobbly hand grenade like the RG Zeta so this one’s definitely my best bet for a almost perfect 1/144 Zeta Gundam lmfaoo

[@earllawrenced.marquez1223]

they should make a qan t out of this line

[@kidrobot.]

anyone here have the revised p bandai version? i want to know if it's worth $30

[@goos4711]

Looking forward to the Evolution line. Bandai has been listening as of late, so I'm excited to what's going to be announced.

[@Ray199149]

buy two of them then you can have both mobile suit and waverider mode display at the same time lol.

[@MrAtMoriarty]

I know it's just marketing but the new line name is unfortunate. Evolution just sounds like these kits should be the next big thing but this one seems just like a Revive.

[@hawthehaw]

I may just buy this so that my RG can have hyper mega launcher.

[@dthanos4903]

JedstaR or buy the system weapon that has the hyper mega launcher. it'd grey though

[@steffy2]

PROMINENCE 32 or he gets this kit, Has a beautyful but fragile Kit with a hyper mega super Duper launcher and a nice Zeta he can actually Pose and to an extent play with :D

[@ZakuAurelius]

PROMINENCE 32 considering this kit only costs a little more than the System Weapon set, and while the SW options are nice, I'd still recommend getting this kit. That way you've got a full Zeta to do stuff with as well, just without the Hyper Mega Launcher.

[@onguyenkinh2325]

really satisfy build, f*ck those red stickers though

[@stefilordofsmugness4108]

Dont really like the ab design on this one, also for someone who doesnt paint but had to, the wents and glider parts were horrible, kinda like the OG better.

[@TheOwnerX5X]

my want for a solid figure is outweighed by my hatred for the that fucking core brick """transformation""" system

[@tetsujin_144]

...Get the RG then, or the MG, or the PG. The thing is, though, transforming kits are almost always a bad idea. The Zetas are no exception. Small wonder, really, that most cases of transformation in the Gundam franchise have devolved into Wing Gundam-style "flip over and put a shield on your head" deals.