Finally picked up one of these, and suffice to say it truly is as good as people say. My only gripes involve the hands and pipes, which are a pain to deal with. The hands struggle to hold many of the weapons as securely as you'd like, and the pointer finger loves to rotate in weird angles you'd never think of. The pipes, on the other hand, are an absolute nightmare to assemble and you're better off clipping them apart and pushing out the rubberized plastic instead of trying to pull them through the runner onto the tube. Even with pliers, my hands were in pain afterwards. Otherwise, the final product is amazing and almost everything you'd want out of a zaku master grade. All it really lacks visually is surface detail, and the high mobility Zakus partially rectify that (so long as you can find them).

✓ Recommends this product

This is a decently solid older master grade with some good accessories. However, I wouldn't recommend this as a first master grade (which, for me, it was), as the rubber tubes on the arms and shoulder assembly in general are finicky, easy to mess up, and unforgiving to separate. The ankles loosen rather quickly as well which is something to keep in mind when posing- over time, it will fall over if not posed properly. Mine fell from where I had put it after finishing the build and the fragile upper arm assembly broke entirely, but I won't dock points for that. Now I have it posed getting sliced through by my Zeta Ver.Ka, which the broken arm is perfect for portraying.

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Objectively, this is a poorly designed kit from today’s standpoint. However, I’ve seen worse- it’s honestly fine, just don’t expect any crazy poses or out of box color accuracy. Be patient and use a full-size screwdriver for the screws and you should be fine. They’re honestly not that bad to deal with from my experience. To be truthful, I bought this thing for the accessories above anything else. The bazookas are a bit small, but everything else is solid.

✓ Recommends this product

Let me be fair with this kit and open with my praises- It comes with a ton of accessories, a ton of shelf presence, and is perhaps one of the coolest-looking Zaku kits ever released. That said, it is NOT a flawless kit, and has its own share of issues that hold it back a bit. Firstly, the kit is an archetypical hand grenade, though the inner frame itself is solid- nudging, posing and moving it around results in verniers popping off of the backpack and the red parts of the skirt armor falling off. Secondly, the monopose hands are not great, and struggle holding on to the beam bazooka, which is rather difficult to get into a good pose with as even pointing downwards it enjoys leaning forward awkwardly. Most of these problems are superficial, though, and can be remedied. Just know what you're getting into.

✓ Recommends this product

... because otherwise you're dealing with a LOT of finicky color-correcting stickers. This is quite a large high grade and lends itself well to customization, and the posability is unexpectedly really good. As other reviews have stated, the legs are a bit wobbly, but it stands fine. The backpack fold-down gimmick, wired arms, and optional GM-style head are very nice, but I wouldn't recommend buying this if you're expecting a quick, good-looking straight build.

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Out of all the old master grades I have built, I've got to say this one has held up the best. Despite being made in 2003, the molds are sharp and the nub marks aren't as bad as you might expect. My only gripe is that the torso vents are a pain to fit in- I recommend using tweezers to fit the bits in place. The build is very fast, only about three hours of total build time. This is partly due to the lack of accessories and the kit not trying to be overly detailed on the inner frame, but that's just how amphibious MS are.

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If so, you'll love this kit. I will say the inner frame is a bit barebones, but it is solid as a brick and I'm not a stickler for nice looking inner frames, so it gets a pass (No polycaps, either!). The star of the show here (apart from the awesome beam cannon which is longer than the suit is tall) is the surface detailing, which is an absolute blast to panel line. I'm tempted to say it took me longer to panel line the kit than it did to build it, but I doubt that's true. Sure felt like it though! The kit poses well too, the only thing I'll dock is that the hands like to pop off. I think new and old builders alike have something to enjoy here, and it makes a good step up for those more used to building high grades.

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I had thought initially the bad rep this kit has was overblown and that I would grow to like it more, but no such luck-- this thing is flimsy, and while I didn't have the trouble with the elbow assembly like others have described I can definitively say that this kit's ankles are absolutely awful. The feet love to pop off, and the polycaps in the ankles have actually cracked, which I have not had as an issue with any of the other dozen or so polycap using master grades I have built. The hands, too, are fragile, and while I had no issues with the MG Dom 1.5's perfect grade style hands, I can say that this kit's are some of the most infuriating I have ever worked with. The middle fingers are dedicated to popping out upon even the slightest nudge, and the problem only gets worse the more times you have to pop them back in. I've stopped touching the hands entirely out of fear that I might have to glue the middle fingers in place. The skirt armor is very difficult to position, tending to sag towards the ground as they are too loose to resist Earth's gravity. The accessories are fine, but aren't much new- they mostly consist of parts from the 2.0, with only a couple of new parts. TL/DR: Buy the Origin master grade or even the 2.0 if you want a good 1/100 Gundam.

Seeing as this kit uses an inner frame derived from the Zaku 2.0, it's bound to be pretty good. The only thing holding it back for me posing-wise was the ankle joint, which is a given due to the large shin armor. This thing is surprisingly solid for its size. I personally believe this one-ups the Zaku 2.0 molding-wise, seeing as the kit has a lot more surface detailing in comparison to the Zaku, which looks quite plain. The accessories are on point, if a bit simple, but they accomplish their purpose well enough. The Beam Naginata is an easy favorite, as is the shield. The car is a fun bonus, too- it's a good show of scale on how large MSs are, not to mention its relevance to recreating scenes from 0079. Overall, I'd recommend this kit to anyone, whether they be a Zeon fan or want an imposing opponent to their RX-78. The build isn't too finicky, and the kit has a lot of panel-lining potential.

✓ Recommends this product

Only if I'm really trying to stretch them far. Usually its not a problem. I'd recommend tightening the joint if it's an issue for you