The ZII is finished and ready to take flight:
As I alluded to at the end of the build post, the lineart for the ZII looks weirdly squished and compressed:
It gives the impression that it’s short and wide, rather than long and lanky like the original Zeta.
But one look at this Gunpla and you can tell that that’s not true at all:
Indeed, the High Grade ZII manages to at once both look very different and very similar to the original Zeta at the same time.
You can see it best in the side by side comparison:
Yes, the ZII is much more blue, and it’s got more spiky bits. But the overall shape of every major body part is pretty much the same. It’s a unique take that also doesn’t deviate too far from its sibling, which - from both a design and artistic standpoint - seems easier said than done.
But while it may be a looker, it’s not always the easiest to pose. The Mega Beam Rifle in particular is very unwieldy. This here is basically the only angle it can hold it comfortably:
Which means this is your only real firing pose:
And while it’s not an action pose perse, you can always try and recreate the eyecatch from ZZ Gundam:
Things are a lot easier with the “standard” sized Beam Rifle (I put standard in quotes because it is still an extremely long rifle):
And unlike the Zeta Ver Ka, you can stick a beam effect part in the barrel to make it a beam saber:
One thing I’ll say in this model’s favor is that it doesn’t really suffer from having no shield. Sometimes that’s because it looks perfectly good with a clenched fist:
But also, because it has no shield, it feels perfectly natural for the ZII to just dual wield:
In fact, I’d say it’s a rare example of a mobile suit that looks great dual wielding beam sabers:
The Clay Bazookas are a different matter entirely:
I’m not sure if they’re supposed to actually be wielded, or if they’re just meant to stay mounted on the backpack. I say this because they don’t really rest naturally or comfortably on the shoulders:
Which, to be fair, is understandable, considering the Clay Bazooka was never originally designed for the ZII.
And hey, even if they don’t fit well, it’s akimbo Clay Bazookas. That’s got a baked in level of cool no matter what.
Transformation Gimmick
As you might imagine, being a High Grade Gunpla, the ZII’s transformation gimmick is a “partsformation”. Some people don’t like this approach versus a traditional, builtin transformation, but in my experience it really depends on how it is implemented. In the case of the ZII, I like what they did.
Basically, the Flight Mode is built around this special chassis:
Maybe it’s just me, but I think it looks a bit like a truncated version of the fuselage used for the Core Gundam’s Support Mecha (which would make sense if you think about it, since they’re both aircraft):
In order to complete the Flight Mode, we have to pick off most of the body parts from the finished mobile suit, and attach them to this chassis (with a little bit of bending and twisting of the parts to get them into place).
Just like the original Zeta, the arms are tucked in near the back, with the chest in front, and the legs on the outside. So even if the literal transformation process here is different, the parts all go in pretty much the same places:
When we’re done, this is all that’s left of the original model. It’s almost (but not quite) picked entirely clean:
Meanwhile, now we have this screamin’ demon:
Granted, it’s not exactly the same as the Zeta. It’s got more guns for one, and it lacks the Zeta’s wings running along its underside. But even with that being said, I still think it looks cool in its own way:
I mean, there are a lot of different kinds of transforming mobile suits, but just how many of them are going to come flying towards you with this much firepower.
I’d also say it’s overkill. Almost
I’ve got two more observations. First, because this is a partsformation, everything fits snugly into place, which cannot be said of the Zeta Ver Ka (all of its bits and baubles tend to move around while in Wave Rider mode, which makes it a lot harder to photograph)
Second, if we flip the model upside down, we see that is has a special mounting bracket that fits into place underneath the Mega Beam Rifle, locking it into place:
It’s a smart way of killing two birds with one stone.
Conclusion
After finishing this Gunpla, I’d say I’m 3⁄3 for builds so far this year. This was just another slam dunk, and while it took a bit more effort than the last two did, I think the final result is as good, if not even better.
Truly, I’m impressed by just how good this is for a High Grade. It looks like a dream, it has a ton of accessories, and the transformation gimmick is spot on. And that’s to say nothing of the fact that this is a pretty fun take on the Zeta concept. My only regret is that I didn’t build it sooner!