Zakus may technically be mass production mobile suits, but compared to the GMs and other Feddie suits, Zaku model kits tend to come with a hearty arsenal. You’ll usually get a Heat Hawk, a Machine gun, and a bazooka at minimum (though some of the Zaku I’s from the Origin line swapped the bazooka for a shield).
In some cases - such as the Zaku II C6 - you’ll get even more, such as an anti-ship rifle and missile packs.
The Revive Zaku comes with the three standard weapons, which is to be expected. But are they well done? Let’s investigate.
Heat Hawk
The Heat Hawk is, on a certain level, the most disappointing of the bunch. The piece itself looks fine. The problem is one of quantity, rather than quality. The kit only comes with one Heat Hawk, but quite a few of my older Zeon model kits came with two - one regular, and one “inactive”, with a retracted blade:
The Real Grade, on the other hand, uses a different (and much more clever approach) - it comes with only one axe, but it has a detachable blade, so you can put it in either form you’d like. You can see it pictured below on the far left:
The Revive Zaku is the only Zeon model kit I own that has one, and only one Heat Hawk, without an extra blade or anything. I admit that this is a very minor omission, but after building four Zeon-type models with two Heat Hawks, you start to expect them to all be like that. What’s more, I cannot for the life of me figure out why they don’t use a detachable blade for all Heat Hawks. It’s a simple solution, and it even uses less plastic.
In any case, the model’s solitary axe does make up for this disappointment by virtue of looking really good:
So good, in fact, that it’s the only Heat Hawk in my collection that looks identical to the Real Grade’s:
Bazooka
The bazooka is made out of a decent number of very detailed parts.
And the result looks quite excellent. The front handle moves. The scope moves. Even the trigger grip moves:
In fact, just like the Heat Hawk, this bazooka is nearly identical to its Real Grade counterpart:
There are a few cosmetic differences, and the Real Grade does use two tones of grey, but still - I’ve never seen High Grade weapons even come close to matching the level of detail and design of the RG line. Yet these ones don’t just come close - they catch up.
Interestingly, the bazooka looks quite different than the one used the Origin models:
The Origin one is much larger, and has room for an ammo clip. I think I like it better, though I knew going in that there was no chance I’d be getting anything but the classic design.
Machine Gun
I think the classic Zaku machine gun is one of the most iconic weapons in all of Gundam. And yet despite owning multiple Zaku models (and Zaku-like models), only my Real Grade actually comes with the OG gun. That’s because the Zaku II C6 from the Origin line comes with this older, belt fed model:
Meanwhile the Bugu (which is technically not a Zaku) comes with this boxy monstrosity:
And the Zaku I Sniper comes with this compact little number:
Two of the three of these weapons are legitimately interesting, so I guess it is better to have them than to have instead gotten two or three duplicates of the OG machine gun. But I’ve always wanted just one more, both to have as a spare, and because I keep the current one equipped on the Real Grade Zaku at all times (and I don’t like having to touch it when I can avoid it).
Thankfully, the Revive came through for me:
And would you believe me a third time if I told you it looked like its Real Grade counterpart?
Scopes
You will notice that the scopes on both the bazooka and machine gun are green. I painted them myself, as the model does not come with decals for any of the weapons.Color me impressed folks. The Revive Gundam’s arsenal matches the Real Grade’s (almost) pound for pound. It’s nice to know that they went the extra mile.
Other Thoughts
Here is how the machine gun compares to the C6’s belt fed variant:
They don’t look all that different overall, but the one big difference - the lack of an ammo drum up top - really does make all the difference. Without it, the C6 gun looks a bit naked and weird.
Conclusion
That about does it. Just like with the Revive Gundam, I’m going to split the finale up into two parts - one going over the articulation, and one going over action shots (and some comparisons to the other Zakus).