Finishing our conversation on the 1st quarter retail release announcements of 2020

HELLO! We are back!

In today’s 160th edition of Let’s Talk Gunpla segment, we will continue our conversation on the rest of the recent retail announcements that we didn’t manage to cover in the last week’s segment. Yes, the retail side still has alot of pretty interesting HG kits that we are quite interested to talk about, and hopefully, we would be able to cover all of them today.

So we can move on to talk about, that one single P-Bandai release announcement that was made recently.

So without further ado, let us get into it, shall we?

SD Gundam Cross Silhouette ASW-G-08 Gundam Barbatos Lupus Rex

Release Date: 2020/04

Estimated price: JPY 1,190* (MYR RM 44.04* / USD $ 10.81* / EUR € 9.71*)

*The price is subject to change, depending on the situation

If there is one kit from the IBO series that we here feel that would make for a perfect first representative for the SDCS series, the Barbatos Lupus Rex might be the one that constantly came to mind. Why? Well, the reason being for this is quite simple because out of all the variants of the Barbatos that we have seen throughout the anime, the Lupus Rex version is probably the one that we all here feel is the most complete version of the Barbatos that we have seen yet to date.

Not to mention too it is probably the one that has the most badass name and as well the most badass look of all the variants.

So yeah, we are quite happy to see Bandai decided to start this line-up with the Lupus Rex Variant as the IBO’s representative of the series as an SDCS kit, instead of giving us another ‘normal’ Barbatos SD kit.

Although, after taking a closer look at the SDCS Barbatos Lupus Rex we do admit that this might be the first time in many years lurking the interwebs looking at gunpla that we saw an SDCS kit that even in its goofy SD mode still manages to look really intimidating. This is something that we here do find it to be quite impressive, which as well propels us to want to get this version so we could make do with posing them in both SD and CS mode.

One would be wondering, why is this possible. Well, one doesn’t need to wonder too much and just take a look at these.

Yes, the way the eyes look makes a huge difference here. But that is not the only thing which makes this to be an interesting purchase, there is as well the fact that we can see the insane detail seen on the SDCS Barbatos Lupus Rex’s parts that we are quite honestly impressed by.

This is without a doubt an SDCS kit which is quite hard to ignore, and quite frankly we wouldn’t mind be getting this and another so I could pose both version, the CS mode and its SD mode in the awesome berserk mode side by side so I could really highlight the awesomeness of the Lupus Rex variant of the Barbatos.

HG 1/144 ASW-G-35 Gundam Marchosias (HGIBO)

Release Date: 2020/03

Estimated price: JPY 1,870* (MYR RM 69.37* / USD $ 17.02* / EUR € 15.28*)

*The price is subject to change, depending on the situation

This is another IBO kit that we are REALLY looking forward to, but unlike the SDCS Barbatos Lupus Rex, the Marchosias is something that we have been hearing and seeing lots of during the large portion of last year.

Strangely enough, when we first saw this kit and how loose Bandai was with keeping this one a secret we were quite worried that this might still get that ‘last-minute” P-Bandai treatment. Even when they assured us during the reveal back in last year’s Next Gunpla showcase expo, we still here was still worried that Bandai might still pull this one off from us and handed it over to P-Bandai.

So imagine the kind of relief we all here felt when we finally see the official confirmation of the HG Marchosias finally safely made to retail.

One would wonder why that we are so afraid that this would be converted into P-Bandai you may ask? Well, that is because this kit has checks all the criteria which would enable it to become one. An IBO kit which was based on a spin-off mobile game (which is still under development) one could look at it and think that it is a perfect kit for P-Bandai to exploit.

But regardless we are quite glad to see that that is not the case here.

Which is great too, since we all here think that the HGIBO Gundam Marchosias is quite a looker. It is hard for us to imagine people giving this one a pass since, well…just look at it.

As we took a closer look at it, one cannot help but feel like the Gundam Marchosias gets alot of inspiration (in terms of design that is) from both the looks of the Barbatos’s many forms and as well some elements of the bael. But even with that said, we all here can clearly see that almost everything here that was used on the HGIBO Marchosias was designed specifically for it.

The only thing that we can see here, which may share the same traits as all the other ‘Gundam frames” variant is its inner frame. Eventhough it might not be 100% the same as what you would get with either the Barbatos or the Bael but we do have a feeling that you will find parts here and there which you will be familiar with.

This is definitely the kit that we are really looking forward to seeing more of and possibly buying it on the day of release. The only thing that is missing now……is the actual game.

Hopefully, we would be getting a proper game, instead of another free to play nonsense.

HG 1/144 Unnamed Villain Core Gundam (HGBD: R)

Release Date: 2020/04

Estimated price: JPY 1,275* (MYR RM 47.30* / USD $ 11.61* / EUR € 10.42*)

*The price is subject to change, depending on the situation

The Gundam Build Divers series is an interesting one. Mainly because we do think that this was really one of those anime that ends quite unexpectedly which as well had very interesting twists towards the end.

This is why we all here decided today to start off watching the Gundam Build Divers anime.

Which brings us here, to this yet unnamed HGBD: R Villain Core Gundam. It has been quite a while since we here seen an anime series that introduced the antagonist machine first before the protagonist’s machine. Which does help to raise the interest that we may have with the series. Because as soon as we all saw it, we do wonder why they decided to announce 2 antagonists MS? Did something happen to the Main Characters MS?

Regardless of our thoughts over the matter, we all here do think that the Unnamed HGBD: R Villain Core Gundam does look quite dope, in both modes. The normal conventional MS look and the very unconventional look of its ‘core’ mode. In its normal mode, we all here do think that Bandai did a pretty good job designing the parts for this unnamed HG Evil Core Gundam, from its Sinanju inspired bottom part section of the leg unit for this unnamed HG Evil Core Gundam, and all the way to its badass purple color scheme overall.

Even in its ‘core’ mode, the kit still manages to look damn good. This is something that we all here admit to be quite strange, because even though there are some parts here and there that we do think still look goofy but the fact that they decided to use a different set of head, does help to change to reduce the goofiness overall. It is as well quite interesting to see that the parts are interchangeable in between the core and this. Admittedly we are starting to have very interesting ideas on interchanging the parts to see what crazy variants of the Evil Core Gundam that we could create using all the existing parts of all the other known variants of the Core Gundam.

This is really something that we all here are really looking forward to having our mitts on.

With that concludes today’s 160th edition of our Let’s Talk Gunpla segment! What do you think of these awesome Retail release announcements? Are you looking forward to all of these awesome Retail HG kits? Finally, we have covered all the Retail’s side gunpla release announcements, which frees us to have a discussion on coming Friday on the P-Bandai’s side.

Although they might not have announced as much as with what we are seeing with the retail side, but they manage to have something that we all here find to be quite an interesting thing to have a conversation about.

Anyways, we will be back again with more Let’s Talk Gunpla segment this week on this coming Friday and the following week as well! Kimi will be back again this Monday with a new Unboxing or a Review or another WIP blog post. So do look forward to that!

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We hope by sharing our love and passion for gunplas here, it’ll inspire you to pick up the hobby or reignite your love for gunpla!

Anyways, we shall see all of you again on Friday, and we hope that you all have an awesome day and week ahead! Oh as well please do have an awesome Gunpla building time there as well and until next time!

Ciao!