From now on, rearranging things slightly so i'm going to be using the box section to talk about the boxart of the kit as opposed to the backstory/personal thoughts, since people wanted the picture of the finished product. I had to brainstorm a few ideas on what to do with those requests, and here's the outcome.
This is the final kit I had received after my fifteenth birthday, it's been a long/tiring run and with school out now, i'm going to be a lot more busy. But if you want more reviews don't worry, I have a total of 2 kits to review after this one, so you can look forward to those. This guy was was given to me by my mom's workmate, who knew I liked Gundam, so he picked up a random one. It was actually one I had debated getting as it was usually quite expensive for me in the stores ($21), but it seems the decision was made for me. Not complaining though! Free kits are always something that could help me relax after a horrible day of life.
Box:
The boxart for the kit looks great, it depicts a weathered Barbatos 6th form in a heated battle with the wrench mace slung over it's shoulder while firing his autocannons. Mace-chan is in the background with pics of Mikazuki at the bottom. Barbatos's stance is quite similar to the 4th form boxart, just like the HG's.
Parts:
To start us off, we have 5 grey runners, 2 which are one large runner cut in half...
...2 identical white runners...
...2 multicolored runners...
...a small green runner, a blueish light grey runner....
...1 dark grey runner and 1 blueish dark grey runner to top it off.
You also get the polycap sheet.
Plus the stickers. (Gold ones have been used)
Manual:
The manual is an average manual. Inside you get the instructions, part count, painted product shots, and the all useful color guide.
Inner Frame:
It's your average IBO inner frame. Very simple and is only really there for structural stability. You get a few copper stickers for it, but that's it. It's a very simple build and while it's a lot more sturdy than MG frames, doesn't contain as much gimmicks as one. If you didn't know, the eyes on the kit are a separate green part instead of a foil sticker, this makes the eyes look a lot more prominent and better overall, Bandai should really start doing this with the rest of their kits. The v-fin of the frame is actually a part that you take off when putting on the armor, and is really only there for the inner frame if you want to display it as such. An unnecessary but neat inclusion by Bandai, I guess it's supposed to help market the whole "Gundam Frame" idea.
Frame Articulation:
Head can move around on a ball joint, although it doesn't look up that much, this is as far up the head can go.
His shoulders move up very freely, and the shoulderpads do not hinder movement at all.
Arm is on a swivel and the elbow bend is a 180˚ double joint, one joint bends less while the other bends more to compensate.
Waist movement is very nice, it even has two working pistons that move alongwith it. Sadly, these are the only moving parts on the entire kit.
His waist can go back a bit and ab crunch a lot.
His thighs can move out perfectly, while his feet are on a movable swivel joint for pivots. He can do uncomfortable splits with ease.
His legs can swivel and bend about 160˚. The hinderance is due to design, not lack of articulation.
His feet can also move out easily too.
They even have a toe joint.
Completed Product:
(My god he's hard to see)
Finished product gets high marks when it comes to looks. It hits all necessary colors be it by using the inner frame or stickers. The Tekkadan logo on the other hand comes with a grey outline which isn't supposed to be there, I would've preferred a white outline instead like the HG did. That's the only gripe with the kit though, and besides that, it has perfect looks. The HG misses out a lot on the finer details (toes, facevents, chest etc.)
Articulation
(For this review I decided to only note the differences in articulation compared to the frame, every point that is not mentioned here is identical to that of the frame.)
His arms are a bit hindered by those giant shoulderpads, but they do move out quite a lot, so it really isn't that big of an issue.
His elbow is minorly limited by armor, but due the bulky shoulderpads negate it anyway.
He doesn't have much of an ab crunch anymore due to the exterior white armor.
His feet pivots are slightly limited by the leg/ankle armor as well.
Legs are still at about 160˚, but are slightly more limited
Finally, the toe is also a bit limited due to the armor.
Accessories:
This guy comes with a massive amount of stuff, quite nice if I do say so myself.
First are his pair of open hands, they do their job well and i'm glad we at least get more hands in the 1/100 NG line, we've really been seeing a lack of hands recently.
Unlike the HG, you get Mace-Chan with the 6th form instead of the 4th form. Probably because Bandai wanted to sell this kit easier, but it's still cool that we get it somehow.
It pegs into the hand quite easily, but the kit will have problems holding it due to the weight.
The shoulders and wrists are on polycaps which make the arm loose when holding, but you can pose with it if you're creative.
It is possible with a bit of experimenting though.
The mace also has a pile driver mechanism to "shoot" a spike from the tip of the mace for piercing attacks.
Simply push in the handle, and it pops out.
You can extend it even further for stabbing poses, I like it.
My favorite weapon of the Barbatos is the Wrench Mace, sure it's no mace-chan, and it doesn't even look like a real mace. But I love the thought of smashing people with a giant head and crushing them with the hidden chainsaw.
You can open the mace by sliding up the "upper jaw" and revealing the chainsaw spikes.
When opened, it can flip up for crushing poses.
The mace has two tabs, both on different handles. This thing is very hard to hold alone.
You also get a few parts for the backpack for weapon storage.
These two connector pieces will be required for weapon storage.
You just pop them into the holes.
After that, put his maces onto them.
You can also use these parts to make them move a bit. Note that one extension piece is longer than the other.
This serves no true purpose with this kit as the gimmick is meant for the 4th form, but it's a neat trick.
The connectors also look a lot better when the extended side parts are used.
The Barbatos comes equipped with a pair of autocannons on the arms. These aren't ideal for long range sniping, but in close combat, these are your preferred guns.
I prefer having these on, they look cool and don't fall off that much as the alternative.
If the autocannons aren't your taste, you can switch them for some mortars, which were the weapon I had equipped for the majority of the pictures in this review.
Just take off the autocannons, and plug the mortars into their sockets.
The one at the front flips out for shooting, and the other is just there for the looks. It's also worth to note the one at the back falls out a bit easily.
He also comes with the 4th form shoulderpads and side skirts. This is so you can downgrade the 6th form into the 5th form Ground Type. Now, I have no idea why the 5th form Ground Type wasn't called the 6th form instead, but it is. :P
You start by first removing the 6th form shoulderpads, and replacing it with the 4th form Barbatos shoulderpads.
You then take off the waist boosters, and put the regular side skirts in their place.
Finally, you pop off the extra chest armor to reveal the normal Barbatos chest.
The 5th form Ground Type looks really good, and is probably my favorite Barbatos form. I actually prefer the high heel feet of the 5th form Ground Type over the regular ones because they just give the Barbatos a more royal presence, and it looks a lot less rough compared to the regular feet. Although I find it curious how these are the feet are the the Ground Type feet as heels aren't exactly the most ideal foot choice for stability under gravity.
He's quite similar to the Barbatos 4th form in design. The only real differences are the feet and arms. Both which I think are improvements over the regular design. Especially since the arms are now equipped with two choices of ranged weaponry.
I really love these maces, a shame he can't hold many poses with them.
She also comes with the 5th form parts save for the waist thrusters. It does come with all the parts for the regular feet, however you'll need a certain polycap in order for it to work. If you buy a Graze, they do leave out the polycap in the build, so you can use it for this. My advice would be to get the 1/100 Schwalbe Graze, as it doesn't just come with the extra polycaps, but also comes with the waist thrusters to make the 5th form.
Normally, to turn the 6th form into the 5th form, you must first downgrade it to the 5th form Ground Type. After that, attach the reactive armor onto the chest.
You then switch out the high heels for the normal feet.
After that, plug the waist thrusters of the 1/100 Schwalbe Graze onto this grey connector piece.
The 5th form definitely looks different, probably the most unique out of all the Barbatos forms due to it's reactive armor. This form is solely meant for space use, hence the 5th form Ground Type exists, so technically this is the 5th form Space Type? Anyways, due to using the Schwalbe Graze's hip thrusters, you'll need to paint them for anime accuracy. But what if you want two anime accurate hip thrusters for both the 5th form and the Schwable? Well, that's another way Bandai gets you to buy more kits, because you'll have to buy another Schwable just for the hip thrusters.
Since i'm not planning on displaying it in it's 5th form though, I don't mind the color innaccuracies as much, i'm getting the P-Bandai HG complete set anyways. The parts still do the job though.
You also get most of the arm pieces for the 4th form's arms. The only piece that's missing is a dark blue elbow part that wasn't included. It's understandable why Bandai didn't include it, because if they did, they could create the 4th form entirely with this kit, and there wouldn't be much of a reason to buy the normal 1/100 Barbatos. It's a shame, but understandable.
Gimmicks:
The giant thruster on his backpack can move up.
I guess his waist pistons also deserve another mention.
Verdict:
The 1/100 IBO NG's have always been known as the best NG's to ever hit the market. They've got simple, sturdy builds yet include inner frames, a few gimmicks, and nice articulation all at 1/100 scale. The 1/100 Barbatos is no exception to this. It's got very few flaws, the only ones that bother me are the large sticker sheet and the loose joints, which really don't help as his weapons are really heavy. However, the kit's positives far outweigh the negatives.
It's got a very simple build, but you could get a bit burned out when you get to the numerous accessories and extra parts. It's got a relatively simple build, having you build the inner frame first before slapping on the armor, and you shouldn't encounter any real difficulty during it. OOB, the kit hits all the right marks, and is vastly superior to the HG in terms of looks, it doesn't miss any color apps and that's something that really drives me to appreciate it. It comes with a huge array of accessories as well, you get two held weapons, two choices of arm cannons, and the parts to either build this in the 6th form and 5th form Ground Type. You can even use the extra arm pieces and the 5th form parts to make your own unique and custom Barbatos if you like, which could be a really good reason to pick this guy up! I can recommend this to anyone, literally anyone! Fans of the show, the MS, beginners getting into the hobby, collectors of protag suits, people who need extra armor parts for a diorama, and people who want to have a nice unique MS with tones of extra accessories and bonuses to mess around with. This kit is simply a great all rounder, you can almost never go wrong with the 1/100 Barbatos 6th form.
Pros:
- Looks great OOB and hits all colors apps despite having a simple and welcoming build. (!)
- Tones of accessories and extras. Great for customising and making a unique Barbatos. (!)
- Can be built as the 6th form or the 5th form Ground Type OOB.
- Quick and easy to build.
- Pretty good articulation, frame articulation is pretty fantastic.
Cons:
-Some joints are very loose due to polycaps, does not help when posing with his giant weapons. (!)
-Stickers are a bit numerous.
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