Kimi The Builder

Rebuilt of Zaku

HELLO! We are back!

In today’s 583rd edition of our Let’s Talk Gunpla segment, we’ll discuss P-Bandai’s recent Gunpla release announcements. Since there is little new Gunpla news to discuss, we decided to split the discussion about the two P-Bandai release announcements into two parts. Also, it would be nice to take it easy before next week. Why? Well, Bandai plans to drop the new Gunpla release announcement at their upcoming New Hobby Info mini-event next week.

So today, we cover one release and continue with another blog post this coming Saturday.

So, without further ado. Let us get into it, shall we?

HG 1/144 MS-06F Zaku II F Type LeSean’s Custom & MS-06F Zaku II F Type LeSean’s Custom (Rebuild) (HGRFV)

Release Date: January, 2025

Estimated price: JPY 6,050 (MYR 170.54* / USD 39.17* / EUR 36.51*)

*The price is subject to change, depending on the situation

Not long after its reveal at the 62nd All Japan Model & Hobby Show, we weren’t surprised to see them announce this kit so soon. The two HGRFV LeShawn Zaku II variants looked polished when we saw them, and it is clear to us that we will see P-Bandai announce this kit before the end of the year.

And true enough, they did.

We were surprised that they decided to combine these two versions in one set. Typically, P-Bandai would release one version at a time and milk the heck of everyone. But this time, they decided to release both as a set.

It’s not that we’re complaining because we prefer that they do this, but, oddly, P-Bandai decided to do this.

It shouldn’t be surprising since the series hasn’t done well on Netflix. Seeing how they decided not to continue their working relationship with Netflix for the upcoming Live-Action movie, we recon they also wanted to shy away from releasing new kits related to the series (and Netflix) as soon as possible.

Anyway, let’s move on and discuss our thoughts on this upcoming HGRFV kit. So, what are we getting in this set?

Well, to start, it is clear that we’d be getting two kits, so there is no need to worry about getting two kits to create two different versions.  

Also, from what we can gather from looking at both the standard and rebuilt versions of the HGRFV LaShawn’s Zaku II F Type’s promotional materials, we can see that P-Bandai reused the HGRFV Solari’s Zaku II F Type template, which means they reused the same HG inner frame and articulation system.

But its armor set is what distinguishes the standard version from the Rebuild version. While the standard armor set looks clean, neat, and closer to Solari’s version, the Rebuild looks more like it came out from beyond the Thunderdome.

And we love how the makeshift shield for the Rebuild version looked like something born from World War 2.  

However, despite looking badass, we can imagine that most of these might need paintwork. We are sure the standard armor set might not need it, but looking at how the rebuilt armor set looked, we wouldn’t be surprised if some sections of the armor require paintwork since we have seen the P-Bandai do the same thing to the damaged armor set for the HGCDI Doan’s Zaku II.

We wonder why they couldn’t just do what other plamo companies are doing and include pre-colored parts, but then again, these kits are cheaper than Koto or other Japanese kits, so yeah.

Even with that said, we might still be interested in getting this since you get two kits together in one set. Admittedly, we might have to brush up our painting skills if we’re considering doing LeShawn’s Rebuild Zaku II version justice.

This concludes the 583rd edition of the Let’s Talk Gunpla segment. This is one of the two sets of HGRFV kits that P-Bandai announced. We will continue this discussion this Saturday; we are looking forward to discussing the other HGRFV kits and seeing all the awesome upcoming kits next week.

Anyhow.

We’ll return in the upcoming segment next Saturday (hopefully) with a new blog post! So do look forward to that!

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We shall see all of you again soon, and we hope all of you here have a splendid day and week ahead! Oh, before we go, please have an excellent time building your awesome gunplas there and until next time.

Ciao!