Hate to say it but… I’m absolutely clueless about anything related to the Advance of Zeta stuff ahaha. I just know that the Hazel is one of the boxiest MS I’ve ever seen and it has been on my to-get list for awhile… just didn’t bother to because I didn’t know a single thing about it. Wait wait… isn’t this thing actually a GM?!
The Hazel II was one of three models given to me by a fellow comrade. Since I didn’t assemble this, I can’t really say if it was difficult or not ^^;. I can tell you that it comes with six runners and the level of assembly is that of 1/100 and almost borderline early MG. There are many little pieces to fill in the little details! Funny how it doesn’t come with any regular fist hands so the Gundam either has to be holding a gun or the beam saber with the right, and the only left hand is open. While you might think that the giant tail binder might make it backheavy but the model can surprisingly hold it up well. It does tend to tilt back if touched with the tail binder all the way up but that’s physics.
Two heads. I like how he painted the sensors with metallic green as opposed to using foil stickers :D. The water slide decals add a nice touch of class to the model as well.
The finer details of this model is where the original modeler and I differ. The original modeler did a nice job of adding color accents to thrusters, pipes, cables, bolts, markers, and all the little things whereas Iwould’ve left it as is ^^;. I see we agree on the same “screw foil stickers” policy and paint in what we could to avoid using it. The biggest difference is the way we do panel lines. I make sure mine is thin and light whereas his is a little thicker (but nowhere near dalong thick). I also must say…the use of semi-gloss on the Gundam and matte on the white backpack gives it a rather nice feel and look; shiny where it should be and matte where appropriate.
Weapons
Beam Rifle
This is one funny looking beam rifle but unique nonetheless. I wasn’t digging how easy the hand can pop open when I twist the wrist.
GM Rifle and Booster Shield
The GM rifle looks like it just goes pew pew pew. Not very badass for this Gundam. The shield looks pretty awesome though ^^.
Beam Saber (my favorite shot ^^)
Nice of Bandai to include a real beam for the beam saber as opposed to a plastic toothpick. The peg on the beam saber looks like it can break very easily though if shoved in incorrectly. I really hate how the hand holds the beam saber; why the hell is the thumb sticking up on it? I know this is the case for like…almost all 1/144 models.
Summary
This is certainly a fun little kit. It looks great (well proportioned), feels sturdy and has great articulation despite the clunky and boxy looks, though the ankle can use a few more degrees of vertical rotation. The weapons aren’t all that fun either and the beam rifle hand is a bit on the loose side. With some finer attention to detail, this model can pretty much be a miniature MG. Can’t really complain or nitpick much about this simple kit that cost under $20.
ガンプラ命 
I still have an Advance Hazel in it’s box partially primed… Man seeing this makes me want to finish it, but there are soooo may parts… >_>
Wow, the guy did a pretty awesome job with this model.. If I wouldn’t have known that this was a 1/144 then I could’ve mistaken this for an MG.
I built this one with my sister so I skimped out on detailing it, but man the hands SUUUUCK!! I don’t know what Bandai was thinking using these stupidly loose hand designs for the entire Hazel line. I’m glad all my other HG’s don’t use them.
Cool, first seen it at Gundam mk-II manual under title A.O.Z. And i’m wondering whats that for a long time. Hehe
Yeah you’re right, almost all of aoz ms is an upgraded version of original zeta ms. Like this hazel is from GM, schrum (sorry if im wrong) diaz is from rick diaz. And hrairoo from gaplant.
Hope they will release the MG, whoops xD
Schrum Dias was actually used in ZZ, the original Rick Dias was an AEUG ms, this upgraded design was somehow adopted into Haman Kahn’s Neo Zeon forces and I recently rewatched ZZ and saw it there, but they didn’t really explain it’s presence in the eps I saw
Actually, the A.O.Z. mecha are the prototypes of the Zeta MS. The are upgraded versions of the 0083 MS and the series is meant to bridge the gap between Stardust Memories and the beginning of Zeta. It chronicles the rise of the Titans.
Well done kit. Notice that all the HG kits with the hand and entire saber molded as one part also have the thumb sticking out (eg. HG Aile Strike Gundam). I’d say holding the beam saber with the thumb sticking out is actually a standard way of doing so. In practice, the thumb sticking out increases the firmness of the hand grip to reduce the saber bending back when one strikes his target. If you do not stick your thumb out, your palm absorbs some of the force on impact, making the blow softer. :)
Ops, sorry i’m wrong. :p
by the way, what are the titans? what’s that group? sorry im so ignorant. XD
@Ercjohn
The Titans are the antagonist in Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam.. Or to put it simply the group that is against the main character.
I don’t know Hazel was a GM too until you mentioned it and I go check. One thing I’m not sure though, is that, there are 2 shields for this “Gundam”?
I agree with Evolution on the thumb thing. I mean, isn’t it common that thumbs stick out insteat of in? In this way, there is more space to hold the weapons too.
If you read the gundam wikia entry on the Hazel MS it was based on a GM II with a lot of upgrade performance parts, kinda like a modded Honda Civic, but the engineers stuck a gundam style head for psychological purposes since it had a fearsome reputation, but it’s kind of fake barging, which is why it’s never officially designated as a Gundam
thanks a lot mkuain. i thought they were the antagonist and it was confirmed. their mobile suits look really evil in a way and both the mk 2 and hazel share the same body structure to that of gm quel. was that quel? XD
Actually titans is on earth side, so its supposed to be the good guy. But their way is hated by aeug.yeah gm quale is mk-ii prototype.Hope im right this time. Hehe :D
so that was quel. i forgot its name. but hazel, mk 2 and quel look so much alike i cant distinguish them 1 by 1. >.<
Good looking kit indeed. I built up the regular TR-1 Hazel custom about a year ago, these guys are definitely mini-MG kits. A lot of parts for a HGUC kit, that’s for sure. Great review.
– Jason
Wow I love hazels and this one doesn’t disappoint, and another thing I love is gundams in Titans colors ^^ sorry to hear that the weapons and hands were a bit of a disappointment tho.
The guy did a good job on it but maybe could have painted the thrusters a little better,don’t mind me ^^ Good pics too Z
Piece :D
I think the original modeler should be the one to reply to some of the comments xD. The titans are a corrupt division(?) of the Feddies whose original purpose was to hunt down remaining Zeon remnants (which they failed at). Really just a bunch of arrogant bastards with the likes of Bask Ohm and Jerid the Jobber. Main reason why I don’t like having any Titans mobile suit >_>
Hey Z, I have the Gm Quel and it uses the pretty much the same frame and hands as the Hazel. My hands are terrible as they cannot hold the Gm Rifle and always break off as soon as the weapon is on. I’m wondering how did you get yours to hold the rifle(bullpup rifle) so well like that?
I guess mine just isn’t as bad? Though I did note that it was still easy to pop off when moved. This is why I hate HG hands… they usually tend to do this. The same goes for the 00 hands.
And I thought it was the MK-2……
I don’t know if someone already answered this, but to address the “advance of Z thing..” and the “Is this a GM that the article wrote about in the first paragraph:
Advance of Z is the Titan development of new mobile suits that was intended to replace the aged RX-78. As someone commented, it is not unlike the MKII, which is basically the product of the research that was derived from the Advance of Z project. Prior to this was the Anaheim Electronic project of the GP series that brought us the GP-01/fb, GP02 and the GP03. The Titans or the elite EFSF group that became corrupt and full of themselves were looking to have mobile suits that would give them a Gundam. The result initially was the RX-178 Gundam MKII, which had three units. AEUG stole one and repainted it and made it look like Gundam. Piloted by Camille Bidan, who eventually designed and piloted the Gundam or MSZ-006.
In other words, it is what the Gundam folks and Bandai does best, build a storyline around kits and toys they want us to buy.