I did not expect to start this build so soon after the last one, but I’ve been having a rough couple of days, and every fiber of my being told me that this was the best way to let off some steam.
This time around I’ll be taking on the High Grade Wing Gundam Zero. Considering that I just built two Grandaddy Gundams in a row, I guess you can say this is the third time (in a row!) that I’ll be building a kit of something I already have a model of:
About the Mobile Suit
As you might have figured out, Wing Zero comes from the TV show Gundam Wing. Within the show, it originally existed as nothing more than a schematic. It was the first Gundam design ever created by the “Five Doctors”, but they deemed it too powerful and dangerous to build. Instead, they went their separate ways, each one building a different mobile suit that was in some way inspired by Wing Zero. These, of course, became the show’s Five Gundams.
However, at a certain point in the story, Quatre Winner (the pilot of the Sandrock who eventually becomes mentally unstable) finds the schematic, and using his family’s vast wealth, proceeds to then build the Wing Zero for real. Quatre then proceeds to go on a bit of a killing spree with the thing before finally cracking under the pressure. From then on, Wing Zero changes hands quite a few times, as different pilots try and fail to master it. It finally falls into the hands of Heero Yuy, the “main” one of the five Gundam pilots, though by the time this happens the story is almost over.
By far the most unique (and dangerous) feature of the Wing Zero is the Zero System. It is essentially an onboard AI that constantly assesses the battlefield, feeding an overwhelming amount of data directly into the pilot’s brain. This data includes ever shifting statistics and probabilities, including the odds that the pilot is going to die. Most pilots react to the Zero System in two ways – they begin to hallucinate, and they lose the ability to separate friend from foe. In the end, most of the people who use it temporarily go crazy. Even Heero goes nuts under the Zero System (until he magically figures out how to master it, because of course he does).
Its other iconic feature is its Twin Buster rifles. Heero’s original mobile suit, the Wing Gundam, had a single Buster Rifle, which itself was powerful enough to disintegrate mobile suits.
Now imagine making two of those and sticking them together. That’s what the Wing Zero is equipped with. The resulting weapon is powerful enough to destroy a colony with a fully charged shot.
Thoughts on the Design
Throughout Gundam Wing, the five Gundams are feared by all for being extremely powerful, but in my opinion only the Wing Zero actually is. It is the only one that genuinely looks and feels overpowered compared to everything else in the show. Even the Epyon, its arch nemesis, doesn’t feel like it should hold a candle to Wing Zero.
Still, I think there is a mismatch between form and function. Why is it that a mobile suit with such high speed is given an area-clearing weapon that is slow to fire? It’s like strapping a Howitzer onto a Jet Plane - it can go fast, or it can hit something, but it can’t do both at once.
I really feel like the Wing Zero should have taken a page from the Epyon and been equipped with a melee weapon. It makes more sense to me as a mobile suit that moves too fast to hit, that then comes in for the kill. I see the twin buster rifle as being better suited for a big, slow bruiser, something that needs to be protected as it lines up a shot.
Thoughts on the Visual Design
The Wing Zero features the usual Gundam color scheme of red, white, blue, and yellow, but then goes one more step and adds green to the mix.
I’m not an expert in color theory, but something about this looks wrong. Red and yellow work well together, and I suppose yellow and green can too, but throw them all together and they look wrong.
It also doesn’t help that it uses extremely basic shades of each color. I feel like I am looking at a bulletin board in an elementary school.
If some of the tones were different - say, the red was darker, and the yellow was lighter - you might actually have something interesting.
I also dislike the placement of the colors. They feel haphazard. For instance, the legs are almost entirely white, but the shoulders use four colors. The thrusters have a lot of color at the top, but no color on the bottom. And why does the shield look like someone threw a few buckets of paint at the wall?
Looking beyond the colors, the visual design of the Wing Zero feels … stiff. And … busy. It doesn’t feel like it lends itself to dynamic poses, and it waffles between being visually noisy (chest, shoulders, thrusters) and visually basic (legs, rear skirt armor).
Customization
I am going to try to do a slightly custom paint job with this model. I’m not thinking of doing a full overhaul, but I am going to try and eliminate most of, if not all of the green. I want to test my theory that it will look better without it.
I’m also going to try to give it some sort of appropriate melee weapon.
About the Build
I have no idea what to expect. The box looks slightly thicker than usual, which implies more parts than usual, but I guess we’ll have to see.
Comparison to the Master Grade
I am going to some comparisons to the Master Grade Proto Zero, though I should make some clarifications regarding nomenclature. There are two ways to compare these models - first, as a Master Grade and High Grade, and second, as “TV Show Wing Zero” and “Wing Proto Zero”. These are very different kind of comparisons, with their own merits. I intend to do both as I see fit, and I will refer to the two models differently based on which of the two comparisons I am making.
If I am comparing them as MG vs HG, I will refer to them as the MG and the HG respectively. If instead I am comparing them as “TV show version” vs “Proto Zero”, I will refer to them as “OG” vs “Proto Zero”.
Other Thoughts
I don’t like the redesign of the Wing Zero from the Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz sequel film, but credit where it is due - it really fixes the coloring:
This version of the mobile suit is mostly blue, with just the smallest hints of red and yellow for flavor. This is a fairly common paint scheme on Gundams, and it works quite well. You see it on the Victory 2, the Zeta, and to a lesser extent the F91 and the Alex. I prefer clean, simple schemes that focus on a small number of colors over the rainbow mess that is the TV show version of Wing Zero.