I was never a fan of the Hyaku Shiki before this. Well, at least once in the Super Robot Wars (SRW) 4, this MS has a very good map weapon. Hyaku Shiki kind of being over shadowed by the more popular Z Gundam and the Gundam MKII. This 2.0 kit is the best redemption for this MS.
Why this kit
I was looking to add more colors to my display cabinet. I already had red of Aegis, blue of 00 and strike, green of fenice and awesomeness of unicorn and nu. One of the best gunpla kit of 2015 will make a perfect choice.
Kit Details
The Hyaku Shiki 2.0 kit was released in May 2015, a D0 box kit with 14 runners and 342 parts. You get 1 sheet of stickers and 1 sheet of dry transfer decals . This kit is priced at RM 240. A very huge price tag for a kit with only 3 gold runners.
Build / Difficulty
(Score: +1)
The build for this kit is easy. Being a 2.0 kit, there's a lot of small parts for detailing. Watch out for small parts from especially from the A plate.
But the highlight of the build is the gold parts. You can feel how good the gold is going to look by just opening the box. Almost all gold parts are undercut, which hides away all the nub marks and greatly improves the look.
But there are some really tiny scratch looking lines on the gold parts. I initially thought I accidentally scratched the gold runners but when I searched online, the marks seems consistent and almost everyone who built the Hyaku Shiki 2.0 also mentioned it. In-perfection in the coating process I guess. Not that obvious but once seen, it cannot be unseen.
While building is easy, handling of the gold parts is not. When removing the nubs, take care of the edges. Although it's undercut, mistake is still deadly. When doing the panel lining, do it slowly and hold your grip. If you mess up, it's really hard to clean. And the gold is really sensitive to cleaning agent. I ended up with some surface less gold than others.
Just remember, the more money you spend on a kit, the more time you should spend building it. This one is no exception. Take your time on the gold parts.
I took 3 weeks building this kit. Not my best effort as I kind of rush through the decals. And the panel lining is not as clean as I would have hoped.
Looks / Details
(Score: +2)
The glory of the gold. This kit looks amazing! Some of you may like the original 1.0 chromatic gold look but for me, this shade of gold makes the kit shines brighter. And a lot cleaner look too. P.S. No longer a fingerprint magnet.
And this kit is never short of details. Yes, the gold armor may not cover the whole body of this kit but the exposed parts have excellent details. Take an example of the exposed legs/ankle area. The silver plastic for the piston + silver/red armor lining make up for the non gold area.
Although the gold parts are literally flawless from nubs, the rest aren't that kind. Nub marks are quite bad on the blue torso and red foot. But the gold cleverly takes the attention away. Unless you're eyeing for flaws, the nubs can be forgiven.
Probably another bummer could be the stickers. The stickers doesn't look that good on the gold. The square of the sticker is too g-d d--n obvious on the gold plates. The dry transfer looks top notch good, but the stickers is really a let down.
Accessories
(Score: Neutral)
There's nothing to brag about the accessories department. You get a rather plain looking beam rifle and clay bazooka. There are some color options on these 2 weapons but nothing fancy.
You also get 2 really cool light saber looking beam saber. Possibly the coolest beam saber I have seen so far. But despite that, this kit is kind of thin on the accessories.
Articulation / Pose ability
(Score: +1)
This kit will do what a 2.0 can do. Double bending elbow and knee gives a 180 bend, but agin, another thigh bending kit similar to the 00.
There are lots of other gimmicks that allows additional pose ability e.g. moving the shoulder out of it's socket and move-able hip joints.
All the joints are generally tight and requires some effort to move the limbs into a pose. But some joints feels a bit looser than the rest e.g. waist and shoulder joint.
This kit is a little back heavy, just a little. It has no problem standing on its own without needing a lot of weight compensation. On ground or on air, this kit is very pose-able.
Shelf presence
(Score: +2)
Gold is the attraction magnet. Enough said.
Bonus
(Score: Neutral)
The Hyaku Shiki 2.0 already looks good as it is. Since the Hyaku Shiki does not have commonality with other kits, there's no valuable add on available. Oh, except for the ballute system from the old Hyaku Shiki kit. But trust me, don't. Cause the ballute system is not particularly good looking, and you'll ended up with another yellow shiki which doesn't even look good.
Summary and Rating
(Total Score: +6)
A superb looking kit. Simple but the lack of accessories might be troubling for some fans. This kit appears 10 years after the series protagonist gets his version 2.0. But that 10 years is worth the wait.
A very fun build, very good pose-ability and a simple kit. Drawbacks include requirements for lots of attention to details so definitely not for beginners, and the price tag is very steep for a kit with almost similar contents as the Aile Strike ver RM. The latter cost Rm 100 less.
Gundam: Hyaku Shiki
Code: MSN-00100
Series: Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam, Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ
Pilot: Quattro Bajeena
Faction: Anti Earth Union Group
Weapons: Beam Saber, BR-M-87 Beam Rifle, AE/ZIM.C-BAZ-531300mm Clay Bazooka
Release: May 2015
Box: D0
Runner: 14
Parts: 342
Price: 6800 yen
Pundit: Highly recommended, but for serious and thick pocket collectors only.
Variants
There are 2 entries for the MG Hyaku Shiki before this one. The only one worth to get is the 1.0 if you prefer the chrome gold. Don't spend the money on the ballute system. Use the same money and get MK II ver 2.0 instead.
Dalong's Review
Dalong's Score: 103
Up Next: Zaku II version 2.0
