Just Like a Gunpla! The Colorful and Eye-Catching Hobby Hi-Zack from "Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack"

The theatrical film "Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack" is a work wrapped in one of the series' heaviest atmospheres. The human-scale crisis of Axis falling, the final battle between Amuro and Char—amid such a tense narrative, there was a mobile suit that oddly caught the eye.

That was the Hobby Hi-Zack piloted by Gyunei Guss (CV: Kōichi Yamadera). Adorned in vivid tricolor, its appearance looked less like something on a battlefield and more like a completed Gunpla display model. Many viewers likely felt it was "cute" upon first viewing.

The Hobby Hi-Zack has the backstory of being a Hi-Zack mass-production mobile suit jointly developed by the Earth Federation Forces and Anaheim Electronics, which was later decommissioned and sold to civilians. It was used for sports or personal hobbies—in other words, a "mobile suit that had once stepped down from war."

The Hobby Hi-Zack appears immediately after the secret meeting between Char and Adenauer Paraya in Londenion. Inside the nature-rich colony, Amuro Ray, Quess Paraya, and Hathaway Noah were driving when they accidentally ran into Char.

Amuro chases the fleeing Char, which escalates into a physical scuffle, but Quess, sympathizing with Char's words, seizes the gun and runs off with him. It was Gyunei Guss piloting the Hobby Hi-Zack who rushed to Char's aid in this predicament.