The start of a new Gundam series is always exciting. Not only is it a brand new show, Bandai often uses the start of a new line to test new techniques and ways of constructing model kits.

So when the Barbatos was first revealed, its very unconventional design excited me. Then when it came to light that the HG would have an inner frame, and be only 1000 yen (about $8.15 at the time of writing), I had to have this kit.

The boxart is certainly eyecatching, bright and white where HG boxes are usually much darker gold-and-black-background fare. A solidly-lined rendering of the Barbatos, mace guiding the eye up to the series logo, which is minimal indeed, then down to Mikazuki’s face, to the suit’s name, up through the leg and sword back to the main chunk of body for a second look. Excellent design!

The plate count is quite low, with only one large plate, halved, one medium plate, three small plates, a small polycap sheet, and a medium sheet of stickers I’ll be mostly ignoring. There’s also an advertisement for the SD EX-Standard Aile Strike. Nice try, Bandai… maybe if I want to practice filling gaps and have a wealth of time to paint.

The build concept for the inner frame is quite cool. It has elements of an RG/MG build, sans sliding joints and details are present that aren’t simply molding to hold the armor on. I highlighted the pipes, pistons, and joint centers with chrome silver while constructing it. Note that the grey details on the face, the old man beard and whiskers, will need to be painted on. I also brushed in a slightly different grey with more blue for the center of the Ahab Reactors from which the Barbatos derives its fearsome power, very similar to the 00’s Twin Drive System. For the record, this design means that Mika is sitting directly between two miniature nuclear reactors!

The complete inner frame! There’s a little bit of cheating going on, the ankles are polycaps that are only plugged into the back. It stands, barely, but is not at all stable. Also, excuse the weird blue hue, it was raining that day.

The detail in the sculpt is awesome. The spine and knees have cool pistons sculpted on, and cabling running down to the waist. The 1/100 NG and the newly-revealed Hi-Res Barbatos models have even more cables hanging down, but it’s nice that the HG goes this far.

The first form of the Barbatos! It’s quite a cool design, sleek in a way few Gundams are. The armor around the chest and waist help fill out the incredibly slim waist area. The unadorned shoulders also contribute much to its unique look. The red “power symbols” on the chest and knees have chunky stickers out of the box, I instead dropped chrome and clear red into the grooves.

The way the mace attaches to the backpack… must be some heavy strain on that tiny waist! That backpack will also need some painting, all the plastic back there is white. The black on the calves is provided by stickers, as well as the black and red on the minimal side skirts. I painted the areas instead.

The white spot dead-center on the backpack is also provided by a sticker. This I actually used, as it’s on a smooth flat surface, unobtrusive, and the white paint I have bubbles oddly. The dark parts on the rear skirts will need to be painted.

“Form 1” of the Barbatos has no shoulder armor, and also has what appears to be a left arm borrowed from another mobile suit. The unique arm is all white plastic, and the armor rear and outside of it is cast in the same dark plastic as the inner frame. I painted the hexagonal buckler a bluer light gray, with a beaten texture to suggest use, and added gray touches to the wrist, forearm vent, and upper arm detail.

The single-jointed elbow bends a respectable 120-or-so degrees. The hips can’t bend much further up than 45 degrees thanks to the front skirts, but that combined with the double-jointed knee can point the leg straight backward for dynamic posing. The ankles are on a swivel, able to rotate as much as the Exia back in the day. The hinge connecting the front foot to the ankle is a bit weak, though, and more extreme poses will have the Barbatos toppling forward. What happens on a stand?

Nice! That huge mace, notably, is light enough that it won’t drag the arms down in most poses. Two-handed poses are solid, extreme one-handed poses may not fare as well.

This release of the Barbatos also includes the parts to construct “Form 4,” with new shoulder armor, matching arms, and a pretty cool-looking katana. No beam sabers? On a Gundam? The Barbatos is different indeed.

I added gloss black to the blade’s edge, just to break up the single-piece weapon a bit. The rounded shoulders give the Barbatos a rather different feel, much more samurai, or perhaps a football player.

The shoulder armor is cast entirely white. Like the knees, shiny pink stickers are provided for the “power symbols,” but the yellow on the vents you will have to add yourself.

And with Form 4 built, how well can it mimic that pretty box art?

Not bad at all! Though those foot hinges collapsed just a few seconds after I took this pic.

Tonight I’ll post part 2, with a quick look at the rifle included in Option Set 1, and draw my full verdict.