Finally got to build another kit again, and what better off for my first kit of 2017 to be one of the kits I got from 2016's Secret Santa. I feel happy having this.
When participating in the 2016 r/Gunpla Secret Santa, I probably got the best gifter on the entire sub. u/evildave_666 decided to be the best guy in the world and get me 5 exclusive Gunpla kits, 3 which are expo exclusives, and 2 which are 7-11 exclusives. This is the Injection Gold Barbatos, and while usually I hate this type of gold like all people do, I have no problem with the exlcusive ones. Reason for that is I only mind this type of gold when it's meant to be actual gold. If it's something like a novelty item or exclusive, i'm fine with it. It reminds me of caramel, amber or mustard, and is a nice novelty item.
Like most other HGIBO kits, this guy has an inner frame. He's a Gundam, so he uses the Gundam frame. So like most other Gundam frames, posing him as a frame is annoying due to how the polycaps that attach the feet do not fit securely without the armor, meaning the feet will fall apart constantly. Still, it's nice to have even though this pose took a lot longer needed to be.
If it wasn't clear, this kit is just the HGIBO Barbatos in injection gold colors. Thus, everything about this kit is pretty much identical to the regular one save for the extra decals and colors. The grey used is a little different from the typical grey, and has some sort of sparkle in it regular plastic doesn't. I've also painted the trims on the 4th form shoulderpads with some gold Gundam Marker. Since this kit is a non-canon exclusive recolor, I do not mind color inaccuracies here, but know the standard HGIBO Barbatos has quite a large amount of color apps that are missing.
Just like the regular Barbatos, this kit has good overall articulation, with the design and concepts of trhe MS being what limits it. You can display this kit in as the 1st and 4th Forms, the kit is in the 4th form for the majority of the review, but the first image is in the 1st form, simply remove the shoulders and replace the left arm with the more crude arm. It's impossible to get a 2nd and 3rd form in the same gold injection as there is no Graze or Schwalbe Gold Injection kits as of now and I doubt there ever will be.
Verdict:
I might get a lot of hate for saying this, but I think the HGIBO line is a bit overrated, specifically the HGIBO Barbatos. Don't get me wrong, it's a great line and has some new, unique engineering, but it certainly isn't the best HG's out there and it's far from perfect, same can be said with the HG Barbatos. My main flaws with the IBO line is mainly from the colors, due to their simplicity and cheap prices, more colorful MS usually means they use more stickers, and sometimes still have minor missing color applications. These two issues are something the HGIBO Barbatos suffers from, especially with the color applications, you'll need to get some paint for the HGIBO Barbatos if you want it to be completely anime accurate.
That being said, despite my problems, I do like the IBO line. While they don't usually have the 170-180˚ joints I like, they're pretty good HG kits for their price. Due to the re-use of inner frames, Bandai uses less effort in designing the kits and thus can make kits cheaper for us, which is okay in my book. As for the Gold Injection Ver., the missing color apps don't bother me on this one, like I said, it's a gold recolor exclusive and has no real or anime counterpart, meaning the kit is all that is. So i'm fine with the many missing color apps, the kit itself is pretty good and it's a very nice novelty kit to have. If you can somehow find and get one of these exclusive kits, definitely give it a shot.
Pros:
- Good articulation overall while not amazing.
- Exclusive limited edition, nice novelty item.
- Has the Gundam Inner Frame.
- Comes with 2 forms to display it as.
Cons:
- Quite a bit of stickers are used, and they are not fun to apply. (!)
- Lame gold might turn people off.
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