Gunpla Build - High Grade Revive Zeta

I always assumed that the High Grade Revive Zeta was a great build that everybody loved. But no, it’s actually a viper’s nest of controversy!

Okay, so maybe that’s an exaggeration, but still, there is some controversy around it.

About the Model Kit

As a “Revive” kit, this is an update to, and replacement for, the original High Grade Zeta from all the way back in 2003:

It was also the Bandai’s first release in the “Gunpla Evolution Project”. I’ve built some other models that were part of the GEP, but to recap, it was a small run of kits that each tried to do something new and/or technically impressive in order to try and push the state of the art.

Most of these “Evolution Points” (as Bandai called them) are fairly self explanatory: the High Grade Leo had a new, simplified inner frame structure that would eventually be used in future models. The Real Grade Crossbone Gundam crammed an unprecedented level of detail a ¹⁄₁₄₄ scale miniature mobile suit. The Perfect Grade Exia had … really good LED lights or something! The point is that they’re all doing something new or cool.

But what about the Zeta Revive? It’s the one that I’ve always found to be the most dubious. It’s Evolution Point is listed as being “Evolution Point Action”, which Bandai describes as follows:

A 1:144 scale replica of the transformable MS (mobile suit) Zeta Gundam from the Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam television anime series, this release ushers in a new era of Gunpla products created using the latest in design and metal molding technology.

The product’s “Evolution Point” is engineered for action, a specialty of the HG series: it offers optimal proportions in both modes and enables poses true to the TV show while retaining the ability to transform into the jet-like Wave Rider. As such, it achieves a range of action never before possible with previously sold 1:144 scale Zeta Gundam model kits.

I’m not not 100% sure what that is supposed to mean, but I’m going to take a guess. What I think they’re saying is that in earlier High Grades, you could either have a transformation gimmick, or you could have good articulation and poseability, but you couldn’t have both. The Revive Zeta, then is supposed to have solved the problem.

That sounds great and all, but … is it true? And was that even still a problem when the model came out in 2017? Thankfully I have some ways of testing it. Between the ZII and the Zeta Plus, I’ve got two very close analogues to the Zeta to compare with.

Why Is This Model So Controversial?

Basically, a lot of people think it compares unfavorably to the 2003 High Grade. They believe the older model has a much more anime accurate design, whereas the Revive has a slimmer, trimmer look, what many folks call “modern ‘Hero Gundam’ proportions”.

If you want to compare, a builder on Reddit put three HG Zetas side by side. The Revive is on the left, the original 2003 model is in the center, and on the right is a P-Bandai exclusive called the “HG Zeta (UC 0088)” (which according to some quick research is a tweaked, slightly better version of the Revive model):

Looking at this photo, I can see what’s happening here. The 2003 version has that nice downward sloping chest, that rich blue, and the big chunky fists, all trademarks of the original Zeta design (and which many model kits fail to reproduce). It even seems to have more surface detail than the Revive. You can easily make a surface level argument that the 2003 model is more anime accurate, more detailed, and thus the “better” design. It’s certainly the kind of analysis I expect to find on places like Reddit.

But I think there’s a more nuanced and more interesting way of looking at it.

Before we get into that though, let me put my cards on the table. My thinking on the Zeta has evolved some since I built the Ver. Ka two years ago. Back then I was fully on board with the idea that “anime accurate” was better. Nowadays I don’t think it’s that simple.

Zeta and Plato

The Zeta Gundam came about at a time when most people in the anime industry not named Shoji Kawamori were still figuring out how to design mecha with even semi-believable transformation gimmicks. As a result, it doesn’t quite get there. It very much uses animation tricks and visual shortcuts in depicting it’s transformation into Wave Rider mode.

Furthermore, it’s got that sharp, papercraft-esque look that no other mobile suit before or after has ever really tried to capture.

When you combine these two factors, you end up with a mecha that is extremely difficult to translate from a 2d design to a real life 3d model, especially if you want to accommodate the transformation. You pretty much have to make some combination of visual and structural tradeoffs.

I’ve come to think of the Zeta as akin to one of Plato’s forms. There is an ideal Zeta form that’s floating around in another realm, but no 3d manifestation will ever truly replicate it. It’s an impossible target to hit.

If that’s the case, then when we examine a given Zeta model, the question shouldn’t be “is this one sufficiently anime accurate”, but rather “what is this particular model trying to achieve? And does it manage to achieve it?”

With the Ver. Ka, it’s clear to me now that it was trying to be as accurate as it could, while also having a fully working transformation gimmick.

With the 2003 High Grade, I think it was also trying to be a very accurate looking version. But in being so it also faced some tradeoffs. According to my research, it’s articulation is poor, and it can’t even hold some of its weapons and accessories up (most especially the Hyper Mega Launcher). It’s clear that in prioritizing one thing, they de-prioritized another.

And so then what about the Revive? It seems to me that it’s trying to focus on having a good looking transformation, and good poseability and photogeneity. And to do the latter of those two things, the folks at Bandai decided that modern heroic proportions would work to its benefit.

That doesn’t mean you have to like the way it looks, but to call it a failure or a reversion next to the 2003 model is to miss the point entirely.

I Want to Pose This Thing

And this brings us to the main reason I wanted this model. I have two other Zetas on my shelf, one of which literally cannot do action poses, and one of which isn’t really amenable to them.

I wanted a poseable Zeta. Nay, I needed one. I’ve been on this years long journey where I’ve been trying to better understand and appreciate this mobile suit. The Ver. Ka helped me appreciate the design at rest, but I need a version that will help me appreciate it in motion. I’m hoping the Revive will be the key.

About the Model Kit

A few things of note about this model.

First, just like the 2003 version, the Revive comes with the Hyper Mega Launcher. It’s a very ostentatious and crazy weapon, but not exactly one I’d call iconic, which is why most Zeta models don’t come with it. But I’m happy this one does, because I don’t have one yet:

The other very notable thing about this model is that it comes with a lot of color correcting stickers, including a bunch of big red ones to use along all the edges of the flying armor.

If you wanted a reason to slag on this kit, that’s the one you should go for, not the visual design. I tend to try and use stickers whenever possible¹, and even I think that big red wraparound stickers will probably look miserable. That alone means that this isn’t what I’d consider a good model for beginners.

Finishing it Up

This build has actually been done for a while. You already got a sneak peek at it in early August, when I was practicing my photography in low light. Unfortunately it’s been sitting around ever since; I had (have?) big plans for taking a ton of photos of it, and I think I got a bit overwhelmed by my own ambitions.

But I pulled all this stuff out to do the shoot, including other Gunpla, bags of accessories, instruction manuals, etc, and they’ve been lying around on tables in my basement for weeks, and I’d like to put them all away to clean up a bit. I’m going to try and get the photos wrapped up by doing a little bit every day. We’ll see how long it takes to knock them out.

Old Stuff

In doing research for this post, I found a couple of old Zeta models, like this one from the 80’s:

Also, did you know that the first High Grades were made in the early 90’s? At the time, they made just four High Grade kits that represented the state of the art, including this one for the Zeta:

As the decade went on, the High Grade line kinda waxed and waned until the HGUC line arrived in 1999, and it’s been present ever since.