Gundam Model Kits

This head is like most other Master Grade kits, it comes with two halves of the head, separate faceplate and eyes and the V-Fin is separate too. The V-Fin is nicely designed with polycap-like material, which can open and close like the real thing. The head sits on a ball joint which slides into the torso for the transformation, which is fine, but it gets irritating when you have to keep pulling it back into the locking position after re-posing.

Torso

This is the most complicated part of the kit. It has lots of little mechanisms to make the transformation work; while this is good in theory it makes for a very poor kit, as parts easily become floppy and unstable. The most notable part that goes floppy right away are the wing binders on the back where they attach to the body, meaning they have a tendency to spin in their polycaps. Overall, the transformation mechanism works fine but it's a fiddly process which will eventually weaken a lot of the joints on the kit and make them floppy.

Arms

These arms seemed fine at first, but after being on my shelf a while they've gone entirely flaccid. They can't hold a damn thing and they just flop about, meaning it's impossible to hold the weapons without supporting them in some way. I suspect this problem may be to do with the polycaps so I might in the future be dissecting them to replace the polycaps and stiffen them up. The hands have a weird design, the thumb joint is a normal ball joint affair but the fingers are attached with a strange system whereby there is a separate little ball joint piece which attaches to the hand and then the fingers are hinged off of this part.

Legs

The legs on this guy are a bit of a pain also. They are fairly sturdy in themselves and give a decent range of motion, but there's a transformation mechanism in the leg which slides the feet up and down for Waverider mode, but it's entirely too loose meaning every time you repose the model you are likely to move them out of their normal position and the feet retract partially into the legs, making it quite frustrating when dealing with some of the other problems at the same time.

Weapons and Accessories

All the weapons are of very nice quality. I like the fact that the makers made both the Hyper Mega Launcher and the beam rifle so that the barrels can retract for the transformation, which is true to the show. The grenade packs go on the outside of the arms in a polycap slot which can also accommodate the shield, which is a darn shame considering the arms are so floppy. Waverider mode, although a very nice addition, creates more problems than is worth the gimmick of it and repeated use wears out joints quite quickly, meaning you can't change between it and mobile suit mode willy nilly if you want your Zeta to be able to make any half decent poses.

Conclusion

I have been told by odd people that they've had no problems with their Zeta Master Grades, but I've heard more bad than good about it. I gather that it may have something to do with the manufacturing tolerances of the kit, that said I do love the Zeta but this kit just doesn't do it justice, so unless you're a diehard fan of the design like me it's not worth getting. (Overall Rating: 1.5 out of 5 stars)

Contributor: Elliott "Hiddenpower" Solomon

General and Technical Data
Series: Master Grade (MG) 1/100 Release Date: 04/1996
Price: ¥ 2500