Series: Mobile Suit in Action!! (MSiA)
Title: MS-06S Zaku II Commander Type
Release Date: 04/2001 (US)
Suggested Price: $5.99
No. of Parts: 1 Zaku figure + 4 parts
Plastic colors: red, pinkish red, pink, yellow, black, light gray
Gimmicks: heat hawk, 120mm machine gun, bazooka, Magella Top cannon, U.S. Version has different packaging with custom markings

Introduction

Contributor: Jay Perry
Date: January 20, 2004

The Zaku II was the most heavily produced MS in the One Year War. But a few were modified into a commander type like the one Char Aznable piloted. These Zakus looked identical on the outside except for the addition of an antenna to the regular Zaku II, but in reality its performance was greatly improved from the regular Zaku II.

Head

The head of the Zaku II is really detailed. There are even two panel lines on each side of the head. Articulation on the head is a bit limited though. The head can move 360° horizontally, but has no movement vertically because the head is attached by a peg and socket type connection.

Torso

I personally think the torso on the Zaku II is really neat because of the tubing connecting the front to the back pack on the back, and also because of the Zeon insignia on the right chest. Again, the Zaku's torso can twist 360 ° horizontally and not at all vertically because of a peg and socket stile connection. Also, on the bottom half of the torso where the legs connect there is a little hole for the heat hawk to go into.

Arms

The arms on the Zaku leave something to be desired. Because of the block-like shoulder design the arms can only come outwards from the body about a 5° angle. The elbow area can twist 360° in a circle, and the forearm can move at a 90° angle. The shoulder armors are interesting because they plug into the shoulders via a peg and socket type connection.

Legs

The legs on the Zaku have some articulation problems caused by the skirt armor on the hips and ankles. The upper legs can move at only about a 90° angle but the knees can move at a 90° angle with no problem. Something really cool about the knees is that there is an over and under knee armor. It's surprising the amount of detail they put into the knee armor. There is one big problem with the feet- they have absolutely no articulation whatsoever because the ankle armor gets in the way of them moving.

Weapons and Accessories

The machine gun is very nicely done because it has lots of panel lines on it. The ammo pack on the machine gun is really snug on the barrel and won't come off even if you yank on it. There is only one problem with the machine gun, and that is that its stalk gets in the way when posing it with the MSiA sometimes. The bazooka is really nice except for the fact that there is no way to position the second handle into the left hand. I really like the Magella Top cannon even though the cannon must be held by the left hand, and the right hand is on the trigger handle. The heat hawk is really neat because it can be put on the waist, but there seems to be a problem with this because the heat hawk's peg is too big to fit into the hole on the waist.

Conclusion

Even though this MSiA is really old and has some articulation problems, I have to give credit to Bandai on making a really solid action figure.

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

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