So there’s a HGUC Zaku Kai now…

I just found out last night that Bandai is finally releasing a HGUC Zaku Kai. This is exciting news but of course it’s a little scary, too, ’cause I don’t know what this will ultimately mean for my Zaku project, if I might lose my motivation or something as a result of this… But in any case it’s exciting news, and based on the initial prototype pics I think they’ve got a pretty good sculpt. Based on lineart for the new kit that’s been published, it looks like Katoki did this one – the lineart appears to be a refined version of the old MG Zaku Kai lineart draft… For comparison I’ve posed my Blender model in roughly the same pose, to see how the two designs differ.

My model clearly has a lot more bulk to it, and a lot more emphasis on the appearance of bulk in areas like the legs. By comparison the HGUC model has much straighter lower legs, somewhat similar in form to the MG Zaku v2.0. Proportionally the HGUC chest is smaller and narrower, the head may be larger, etc. Looking at my design in comparison with the HGUC – I’d say that that’s a very unflattering angle for my chest block design. I would almost consider redesigning my chest block again, maybe slim it down a bit. I’ll give it some thought anyway…

Compared to the old 1:144 kit, the new HGUC is much less squat, the head is closer to the proper size, and the backpack is much improved. Overall the proportions are a lot more palatable than the old kit.

Overall my reaction right now is that I want to see more of the new kit. I think it may be too soon to judge the new kit decisively. The new kit is in some ways a bit “watered down”, particularly in the legs and the chest – but it’s a look that works pretty well. The one area that really concerns me is the lower legs – I think they look reasonable but I’m not entirely sure they look reasonable enough. The head bothers me a bit – it’s too large compared to the chest block… I want to get a better look at the skirt armor, too – to me, the skirt armor is one of the most attractive things about this design, so I’m eager to see in greater detail how Bandai interpreted it.

As 0080 HGUCs go I think this one is pretty good – most of the 0080 Zeon HGUCs had a tendency to shy away from the bulkiness of the original designs – I guess this one is no exception – but I think this one may be good enough to OOB (oversized hands notwithstanding) – and as HGUCs go it seems like a winner. It’s like the HGUC Alex or HGUC Zeta – not perfect kits by any means, but great examples of just how good the HGUC line can be…