HGIBO Julieta's Reginlaze Review

When I first saw the Reginlaze, it was love at first sight. I was always interested in the Graze, but I had never gotten the drive to get it until my hobby shop had the 1/100 for dirt cheap. But the Reginlaze's design appealed to me so much more, and out of all the new IBO kits, I think this one was the one I was most excited for. This review may have been posted a while after it's release, but I had bought this on the day of release, and had a nice build with it. Also, Julieta's a cute little monkey and I love the girl. :3

Box:

Your box is your standard IBO S2 box, you have the name of the MS in the corner, a small picture of Julieta in the corner. For the boxart, you get a nice picture of the Reginlaze in space with explosions and things happen because it's awesome.

Parts:

For parts, you get one Reginlaze Frame runner, one darker grey runner...

...and one multicolored armor runner.

You also get the polycaps.

As well as the sticker sheet.

Manual:

The manual is your average IBO manual, although if you noticed, it's in english! Hoo boy, Bandai has finally noticed their western audiences, and have began putting english in their kits! A very nice thing to have.

We have a colorguide, that is readable!

Feel free to put the image in another tab and read! Info's right here.

I also got this piece of paper which pretty much tells you how to build Gunpla in english, very nice for beginners, and I hope it helps a few people.

Inner Frame:

The inner frame of the Reginlaze is your average IBO inner frame. Nothing extremely special about it, but it does allow for better stability and more reuse of armor parts. The actual Reginlaze frame is very similar to the Graze's, essentially the same thing with different parts, and it shows in articulation too.

Frame Articulation:

Head is on a ball joint with the neck, average good mobility here.

Unlike the Graze, this arm does not swing out that much, so that's a way the new is inferior to the old.

On the other hand, shoulders can go out quite a bit due to the sacrifice, and the arm can swivel at the upper bicep.

Arms swivel at the bicep and bend at about a 135˚ elbow joint, and the wrists can essentially make it a 180˚.

The hand is also engineered in a way where it can move the fist a bit.

Like most IBO suits, this kit can abcruch quite well.

Legs can swivel, and have a good 160˚ double bend.

Completed Product:

The completed kit serves as a very nice representation of the Reginlaze. There is one thing to note though, and that is that the colors are off. The grey is too light and needs to be darker, while the green needs to be less vivid and more pale, those who need absolute anime accuracy must note this, but in my opinion the colors are close enough. There isn't a whole lot of excitement, but then again that's kinda how it should be. Proportions are nice, and I actually prefer the more feminine proportions of the Reginlaze over the Graze, also fits Julieta more due to that.

Articulation:

For articulation differences, due to the large collar, the head articulation is a bit more limited.

What was an awesome upward shoulder movement has been rendered more useless due to the shoulderpad.

Arms bend about 100˚ instead now.

Back thrusters also move a bit.

Sideskirts also restrict a bit of movement. Also ankles on this kit are superb, they are the same as the Graze ankles and can move around very nicely.

Legs still bend 160˚, and it's worthy to note that the Reginlaze's foot designs aren't exactly the most stable in their default mode. The left leg is default, and as you can see, the heel is raised and this leaves balance issues, however you can flip down that heel and it gives the kit a lot more needed balance.

Accessories:

For accessories, the Reginlaze comes with a modest amount of stuff.

First off is the commander's antenna, this is innacurate for Julieta's MS specifically, but then again it's nice to have the option.

Second is the rifle, and it works similar to the Graze rifle. Plugs into the lower wrist, and is stationary.

You can also pull the large barrel off for a smaller one.

But I personally prefer the normal rifle.

The rifle, along with it's ammo packs can also be stored on the side skirts, shoulderpads, as well as the butt.

We also get Julieta's signature weapons, the tonfas, and they are awesome. They can be held backhanded of fronthanded, but tonfas are supposed to be used backhanded. You could use those pivoting fists for more posing, but the shape of the tonfas do limit how much pivoting is done, so there isn't as much of a reason for it anymore sadly.

You can even attach a little wire and have a claw thing shoot out. Like the HGIBO Hugo, this wire is even weaker than normal wires. But while with the Hugo, it's useless due to the grapple hook being a heavy part, the Reginlaze is fine, as the claw is a very tiny and light part, making no issues with mid-air posing.

Finally, the Reginlaze comes with a pair of "gauntlets" that attach to the bottom of the wrists. They're nice to have I suppose, and could almost serve as a small shield.

Gimmicks:

For gimmicks, it doesn't have a lot due to being an HG, but it does have the sensor gimmick that it's predecessor, the Graze is known for. However, the way the gimmick is executed on this kit is not as great as it was on the Graze, and while it does open up, it does not open as far as it shows on the box, so Bandai cheated on us there.

Size Comparison:

Something new that I am surprised that I haven't thought of doing before, here's my first size comparison! I'll be using the regular RX-78-2 for the 1/144 size comparisons, because it's the "average size" and also because he's my personal play thing when i'm bored, due to that i'll always have him on my desk. But who knows, if I have a backlog of unreviewed kits, I might compare them next to each other as well! I don't know who to use for 1/100 size comparisons yet though...

As you can see, the Reginlaze is slightly taller than your standard Gundam. Although, it's actually not as tall as the Graze for some reason.

Verdict:

The new Reginlaze is very similar to the Graze, it's pretty much one if it wasn't an entirely new mold, but engineering-wise, they are essentially identical when it comes to how they work. However, the Reginlaze does have a few gripes that actually make it inferior to it's predecessor, the Graze. For one, there are a few loose parts, the the wrists and sideskirts love to fall off, and it gets annoying sometimes. The eye sensor gimmick doesn't work as well as it was advertised, and the colors are incorrect, but they are just minor gripes in the end. It's still a decent, and not to mention cheap kit from IBO, and if you're interested in the Reginlaze or Julieta, this serves as a good enough representation of them.

Pros:

- Quite good articulation.

- Cheap kit for what you're getting.
- Accessories work well and can do quite a bit.

Cons:

- Few loose parts that could get annoying.
- Colors are not 100% anime accurate, absolute anime purists may have to paint.

- Eye sensor gimmick doesn't work as advertised.