Model Kit Review: High Grade ZZII (Double Zeta II)

Welcome to yet another gunpla review. On this occasion I am going to review another High Grade model kit from the Gundam Build Fighters Try Island Wars OVA/ extra episode, Minato Sakai’s second master piece ZZII or Double Zeta II. The kit was released together with HG Gyancelot which I have review on the previous entry. The price for the kit is ¥2600 or around Rp340,000 in Indonesia. Let’s just zip zap to the review!

Box & Runners

The kit comes with a slightly larger HG box with the familiar Build Fighters layout and design. 

Nothing too special with the box while the sides of it are filled with the kit’s selling points, including its transformation gimmick.

The kit comes with 13 plastic runners along with a large set of polycaps and a sheet of stickers. Only two or three of the runners were full in term of its size, while the remainders varied though most of them comes with small amount of parts.

The first plate, A1, comes with your typical shade of blue which we often find in gundam type mobile suit but deeper. The runner is solely made for the ZZII, as can be seen from the tag, and the parts that it come with will be making various section of the gunpla, including its torso, waist, leg, shoulder and even the backpack.

The A2-plate is a partial copy of the previous runner. Not much of a difference and the parts will be used to build the waist, leg, shoulder and the backpack yet again.

Next is the B1 plate which comes with the typical grey commonly used in joint and weapon parts for gunpla. The parts included will be making ZZII’s hyper long rifle, leg frame, cannons for the backpack and an extra connector for the transformation later on.

Adding another color to the mix is the C2 runner which comes with pure white commonly found in other gundam-based mobile suit. You will be getting two of this runner and the parts will be making the kit’s arms, legs and feet. The runners are also a hand me down from previously released ZII HGUC model kit so please do expect for some leftovers.

The D plate comes with red which is, again, commonly found in other gundam type mobile suits. The parts will be making the feet and additional details for the kit’s arms, torso and waist. This runner is also a hand me down from the ZII. More leftovers are expected.

Still continuing with the hand me down culture, the F plate is also taken from the ZII. The runner comes in grey in color while the parts are going to be used for several joints for the kit’s legs and arms. There are quite of leftover from the runner including the beam rifle but you have make the trigger or the handle on your own as no extra handle is given.

The G1 is, again, a legacy from the ZII and grey is again appeared to be the main theme. No leftovers even though it was a hand me down and the parts will be used for the transformation and some connection points for the kit’s backpack, arms and waist.

The H1 plate is a new plate for the ZZII while carrying the same white as its predecessors. The parts will be making the kit’s torso, head and parts of the arms.

The H2 brought another color to the mix with its orange-ish yellow color. The runner may look yellow in the picture but it is different the yellow commonly found in gundam type mobile suit. The parts will be making the colar, v-fin and vent details on the kit’s torso and legs.

The red is being brought back by the I1 plate and the parts will be making the kit’s extreme high heels.

The I2 plate is a partial copy of the B1 runner but comes smaller in size. The parts will be making a cannon for the backpack and parts for the kit’s feet.  

  

The last, actual, runner will be the clear pink beam saber runner for, obviously, the kit’s twin short beam sabers. Nothing too special.

A huge runner of polycaps is also included for the kit’s massive body. Nothing too special again except its size which differs from the polycap typically found in HG kits.

A sheet of sticker can also be found and most of the stickers are going to be used to add more details on the vents on the kit’s shoulders, waist and some lens for the kit’s torso, the head—including the eyes—and the weapons.

Last but not the least, the manual is your typical Build Fighters kit manual. Nothing too special besides the extra pages used solely to guide you through the transformation. Some extra brochure and survey are also included...at least in mine. 

Work in Progress

Nothing too difficult in terms of the assembly as the whole but just make sure that you are following every guidance given to minimalize errors like forgetting to put on some parts, etc.

The head was comprised of six parts. Several stickers are going to be used to fill the head camera and the eyes. The eye stickers, weirdly enough, are separated so you may have to take even more caution in actually applying them. The finished product is clearly zeta influenced, even though there are additional flare included like the separation on the mouth piece.

The torso was made from at least 17 parts—I forgot to include two additional parts for the chest on the picture—in addition to three polycaps for the arm connection and waist. Two stickers will also be used to add the two camera on the chest. The color separation is decent enough and you could put some lining on the abdomen area to add some variation.

As many as 12 parts will be making the waist along with a polycap to connect the waist with the leg connector. A sticker will be used to add the vent on the back while additional lining could also be added with some tick marks at the front of the waist.

The arms and shoulders are comprised of 17 parts along with three polycap for the joints in the upper arms, elbows and wrists. Stickers will be used for the vents in the armor pieces on the kit’s shoulders. You may want to glue the wrist connection as it fell off often rather than staying on.

The backpack is built with 23 parts and one polycap too connect the middle piece with the torso—I also forgot to include the backpack connector on the pre-built picture. Two large stickers will be used to cover the binders and two more will be used for the cannons’ lenses. You may want to add some additional details with lining and even coloring some vents in the backpack. 

As many as 22 parts with addition of five polycaps, two in the foot and three in the leg, to connect them all together. Five stickers will be used in each leg to add the details on the knee and the back of the leg. Lining and adding shade to the edges of the legs are recommended as the blue color are starting to get out of hand in this kit.

The long launcher was made only with four parts in total. Nothing too special but make sure that the parts are not bent like mine. You could fix them up by slightly bending the parts or just hope that it will be just fine when you actually put them together.

Nothing too special on the construction of the beam sabers as you will only need to stick the beam into the hilt.

As many as 10 parts will be used to build the base for the transformation including an extra connector for the action base. The end result will clearly differ if you do transform the kit later on, relax.

Parts, Articulations & Gimmicks

After hours of building and adding my own style to the kit...

We are presented with a custom rendition of the ZII and some features of Minato Sakai’s previous influence from Gundam ZZ (Double Zeta) including the binders and bulky shoulder.

At the first I thought that my Gyancelot was big but man…this ZZII towers over in terms of its height. The kit easily beat an 18 meter tall mobile suit like the Gouf R35, or even the Lightning Zeta. It is even able to reach the same height as my MG RX-78-02 Origin torso—or even its head if you count the guns on the ZZII’s backpack. The main body of the kit may be quite slender but the well-packed backpack add enough amount of bulk to the overall visual. However, that doesn’t come cheap as it ended up weighing the kit back and hinder its already bad balance due to its high heels.

 The head could go up for a gaze quite well, down quite well but not so much to the sides due to the high collar and the sharp yet long chin and cheeks.

The shoulder could hardly be moved due to its bulky design but they are separate from the arms so it would not hinder any kind of arm stretch. Arms swivel are there while the elbow could only be bent or just slightly above 90 degree. The hands are attached via ball joints.

There are quite some parts which can move on the ZZII’s backpack. The wings of the binder can be swung around, even though mine was a bit too loose for it to actually stay in a fixed angle. The cannon holders can be move through ball joints but the connection is quite secure so not much of range could be achieved. The center piece could also be swing forward but that will only works if you turn it the other way first while the cannons can only be swung forward. The full burst pose is quite the looker though.

There are some minor crunch that could be achieved by the torso but due to the heavy backpack, the kit tend to bend backward on its own. I advise you to strengthen the connection between the torso and the waist by applying some top coat to the joint if you want to; it won’t hinder the transformation afterward anyway, trust me. 

The skirt armors are quite articulate as well. The front can be moved forward even so slightly while the back ones can be flipped and turned with some nice range. The side ones are attached to the legs via a ball joint so the range is quite decent but it often fell off; typical ball-jointed side skirts problem.

The legs are connected via a universal joint so no movement is actually hindered unless the leg collided with the highly articulated skirt armor pieces. The forward kick is decent while the knee could bend for more than 90 degree at two points of articulation. The feet, however, are quite limited. You can only rotate and swing it lightly and the ankle movement is not that good as well. If it is not clear already, it would be better for you to display the kit on an action base. The kit could stand up well but it will take some patience and luck to achieve.

The launcher can be attached easily to the arms with such a secure connection as well. No weight issue were discovered as of yet but just be cautious for possible issue in the future. The beam saber could be held even easier with no significant issue. Moreover, you could also attach the beam saber effect to the launcher to make it a bayonet for additional play value.

Another feature that this kit has is the transformation into the wave rider mode and I won’t be telling you the details as the manual has it already. The process is quite tedious as we have to technically reassemble the gundam until it was left only with its head and parts of his limbs. The end result, however, looks nice and does not look too forced. This is my first transformable mobile suit and I do like it very much to say the least. An additional adaptor is included to connect the wave rider onto an action base.

Conclusion

The ZZII will only get 7 for its overall ranking. I was going to put the kit on a par with the Gyancelot—as both comes together in terms of its release—but there are some considerations that I have in mind. The overall size and the slender design of the kit is clearly one of its selling point but it becomes a trouble for say people who like to pose their kit quite often as the balance of the kit is not that good for standing without an action base. Even the transformation clearly requires on to buy the base just for the sake of a still display. The articulation of the kit is mediocre at best due to its bulky upper body and, again, balance issue. As it is a transforming gundam, there are some parts that feels rather lose like the armor pieces on the shoulders and future sustainability is on question as well if you do transform the kit back-to-back too often. The blue color may be too strong for some people as well. You could always paint the kit by yourself but for just a quick presentation, the design may become rather too bland as nothing really catches the eyes besides its armaments and height. The Zeta based theme could also become a hit or miss as, even though it is a “gundam”, not every people are fond of the actual aesthetics of the kit.

For the positive points, the end result of the transformation is just one of the better design of a wave rider to date; especially with Scramble Gundam in terms of just the result of the transformation in my opinion. The process is indeed tedious but I think it is worth the result. You may want to consider to buy two of the kit so that you could display it both in gundam and in wave rider. If you do have an action base then this kit will be a lot of fun to play with. Accessories, even though scarce, was sufficient enough to just add enough flare to the kit. The additional gimmick on the backpack is also a nice feature especially for the “full-burst” shot. As the balance issue is resolved by the action base, the decent articulation, especially found on the kit legs, could resulted in some awesome and intimidating poses. The wave rider mode is also a fun feature to pose around with.

That’s it for the review folks! I might come back soon with something a bit different anytime soon but don’t worry, gunpla is still my priority. I do have another kit in my stash, a 2013 HGBF Zaku Amazing, for me to build but it is quite “aged” so I will leave it to you guys whether I should make a review or just build the kit normally. Leave some comment for that and see you on the next one!