Kit Review

Straight build + Stickers

Size comparison with a cigarette pack

HG Gundam Barbatos Lupus - Detail shots (1/4)

HG Gundam Barbatos Lupus - Detail shots (2/4)

Detail shots

The shoulder markings are cleanly color-separated too.

HG Gundam Barbatos Lupus - Just like the original Barbatos, you can open the backpack and attach the sub-arms. Though this ki

Just like the original Barbatos, you can open the backpack and attach the sub-arms.
Though this kit doesn't come with any weapons that actually make use of them.

Two hand types are included, differing only in wrist angle.

HG Gundam Barbatos Lupus - The action base peg hole is pretty deep, so you'll need a separate peg extension part to mount it

The action base peg hole is pretty deep, so you'll need a separate peg extension part to mount it on a stand.

Only 2 leftover parts.

Maybe it's the bulky armor shape, but the articulation is a bit worse than you'd expect.

HG Gundam Barbatos Lupus - Aerial action pose (1/3)

Aerial action pose

HG Gundam Barbatos Lupus - Action pose 1 (1/3)

Action pose 1

HG Gundam Barbatos Lupus - Action pose 2 (1/3)

Action pose 2

HG Gundam Barbatos Lupus - Action pose 3 (1/3)

Action pose 3

Together with the existing HG Gundam Barbatos Form 4 and Form 6 kits.

Gundam Barbatos Lupus, which appears in the second season of Iron-Blooded Orphans, has been released as an HG kit. As you can tell just from the design, it's a modified version of the original Barbatos. "Lupus" means wolf in Latin, and while the English pronunciation would be "Loopus," this kit uses the Japanese pronunciation "Lupus" (since Japanese doesn't have a proper "uh" vowel sound). Either way, neither pronunciation is quite the original, and "Lupus" sounds a bit odd to say — so quite a few people just call it "Lupus," and since Bandai Korea also officially spells it that way, I'll be going with "Lupus" for convenience.

The frame reuses Gundam Frame Runner #4 from the previous HG Gundam Astaroth Origin kit as-is, while all the outer armor consists of brand-new parts. Size-wise, it's closer to the taller Form 6 than the standard Form 4 Barbatos — you can definitely feel that it's been scaled up overall.

Since the frame is similar to the previous kits, the joint strength characteristics are about the same — solid and reliable. But with the larger outer armor panels, the articulation feels a little more restricted compared to the standard Barbatos. It can still pull off some pretty decent poses, but there's something about the joints that just makes posing feel a bit more fiddly.

Weapons-wise, you only get one Sword Mace, along with two hand types with different wrist angles. Like the original Barbatos, you can open the backpack cover and attach the sub-arms — but since this kit only comes with the Sword Mace, there's not much use for them right now. On the armor side, the cleanly color-separated shoulder markings are a nice highlight.

This kit feels like yet another form of Barbatos, and since the design concept is so similar, it doesn't feel dramatically different from what we've seen before. That said, it's noticeably bigger and more elaborate than the standard Barbatos Form 4, yet it's only ¥1000 — so the value for money feels surprisingly good. Either way, true to the HG Barbatos lineup, it's the kind of kit that delivers great quality without any stress — a little slice of happiness for around 10,000 won. :-)

HG Gundam Barbatos Lupus | 2016.10 | ¥1,300

AIThis page was translated by Claude Sonnet.