1/144 HGUC Zeong (MSN-02)

This is the one that I nicknamed as "the big duck" and for sure this model have the best fingers in HGUC series - at least amongst those that I've seen so far.

This is no other than the MSN-02 Zeong, the last mobile suit piloted by the great Char Aznable in the final battle of the first Gundam anime (Mobile Suit Gundam / One Year War)

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From Mecha HQ;

Unlike previous mobile armors such as the MAN-08 Elmeth, the MSN-02 Zeong was a true mobile suit, built especially for use by Newtype pilots. Developed late in the One Year War, the first Zeong prototype unit was still under construction at the Principality of Zeon's A Bao A Qu asteroid base when Kycilia Zabi ordered pilot Char Aznable to sortie with it in a last-ditch effort to stop the invading Earth Federation Forces. Although only "eighty percent complete," the Zeong was actually at one hundred percent combat capacity, not needing its cosmetic "legs" for a space battle.

The Zeong was quite unique in many respects. It was the only mobile suit at the time to have a psycommu system, allowing its Newtype pilot to effectively use its remote-controlled, wire-connected arms, each of which mounted five beam guns in the hands' fingers. Additional beam guns were mounted in the torso, and a powerful beam gun was also mounted in the head. Another unusual aspect of the Zeong was its cockpit, which was placed in the head instead of the traditional torso location (a fact that RX-78-2 Gundam pilot Amuro Ray found out the hard way). In the event of major damage to the body, the Zeong's head could also be separated from the body to continue operating and fighting independently.

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I personally believe that if and only if Principality of Zeon made this mobile suit (together with the Gelgoog as well) and pass it to Char Aznable much earlier, they could easily win the war and eradicate RX-78-2 Gundam together with many of the Earth Federation forces.... if and only if...I really hate those fat generals and politician of "renpou" (Earth Federation).

Sieg Zeon, Sieg Zeon, Sieg Zeon...

Also another problem that lingering the Zeon force is the internal conflicts amongst some of their "big guns" - by that I mean their military and political leaders.

Char Aznable is busy leading the Zeon force trying to destroy the RX-78-2 Gundam but at the same time he also have another personal goal of his own - that is to kill those Zabi family who are responsible in "eliminating" his father.

During the final battle at A Baoa Qu (if you already watched the anime that is) you can see how Char Aznable kills the last of the "reigning monarch" of Zeon, Kycilia Zabi, by firing a bazooka through the window of the Chimera, the flagship of Kycilia Zabi.

That shows how determined Char was... even in the midst of the busy battle, he never forget about his personal goal.

In the modern Gundam Seed Char Aznable is represented by Raww Le Klueze... blonde and wearing mask - typical tradition of Gundam bad guy.

In my opinion though, Char Aznable has more charisma and still a well mannered guy if compared to Raww Le Klueze but nonetheless I have to admit that the "evilness" of Raww Le Klueze does make him as one of the greatest bad guy in Gundam anime and for that reason I personally admire Raww Le Klueze and his bad ass looking Providence Gundam.

So let's get started....

It took some 6 hours to work on this unit. It is not a difficult kits by any means, it's just that I take the extra effort adding the decals using the Zeon water slide decals that I have... along the way some error and minor adjustment of position is needed and thus the reason why it took me that long to finish it.

In fact many more can be done but I think for now, I'm happy with this straight out of the box assembly work.

This is how it look like after all the decals....


And this is how it suppose to be without those extra decals work... Bandai only give you 1 sticker for the mono eye and nothing more...


And this is how the face suppose to be...


But I made a bold decision to somehow do some minor changes and make it look like this... just like the Zaku...


So let's do the usual 360...









The stand is nice and it is rightly so that Bandai must provide it...


This how it look like down there.... as I said earlier many more can be done with this kit... things like painting those pipes down there to add more realism on it... unfortunately I am not skill full enough to do that and I don't have the relevant tools anyway...


Articulation and action pose... unfortunately not much this kit can do anyway... the head of coz can turn left and right, the shoulder part can move without any restrictions what so ever, just like any other HGUC kits and the arms have decent articulation...


But interestingly, those fingers... both on the left and right hands, each of them can move... look at this universal "friendship" gesture....


Earth Federation force... this is for you... "Friendship" sign...


And to all Zeonist... peace to you all....


Shooting the 10 beam guns on the hand's fingers...



And this the only other "gimmick" you can do with this kit...




Comparison with 1/144 HG RX-78-2 Gundam (Ver. G30th) - as you can see the Zeong even without the so called cosmetic legs is pretty big already if compared to the Gundam (the same case in the anime)... I guess the MG 1/100 Zeong is as gigantic as MG 1/100 Sazabi but mayeb I'm wrong as I don't have both of the MG mentioned.


I did this just to imagine how tall it would be if Zeong have legs... I use the 1/100 HG Duel Gundam legs for this test... still can help this Zeong standing but obviously it looks funny...


A couple of photos with all the One Year War MS that I have in my collections now... still missing the old Zaku I (MS-05) and of coz the Gelgoog.



Overall this is a pretty easy kit to work with, I would say it's quite fun coz most of the parts are quite big... anyway all Zeon kit's is always more fun to work with than those Gundam kits.

If you are a big fan of the classic, you should get this for sure but I know most of you out there, specially the new and the young ones are all a big fan of the modern Seed/Destiny (in fact me also the same) and of coz Gundam 00 serie. Nothing wrong with that, it's a matter of personal taste. After all Bandai need the young generations so that they can still continue making money in the long run.

For 1,800 yen (about SGD 28.00) we in Shewsbury Land are very happy with this "big duck" and we are happy to recommended this model to you.

Banzai Bandai... Sieg Zeon...

Comments

  1. there's a toyshop within Soon Lee KB (pandan branch) that actually sell old gundam mass production guntanks and some of it minor character's robots (the ones that always got blown up) when i saw the content, It was all in the same color! Definitely a skill 9-10 gundam makers can paint that

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  2. No love for the Hyaku Shiki?

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  3. If you want to recreate the Perfect Zeong's legs, I suggest that you use 1/100 Dom or Rick Dom. Maybe Rick Dias and many other bulky legged 1/100.

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  4. It's your business but you ruined the look of the suit by removing the cross piece in front of the mono-eye..and the studs on the gyan look pretty gay...

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