Kit Review

Straight build

Size comparison with a cigarette pack

Upper body close-up

Head section.
If you look closely, the eyes are painted.

Arm section

Linebarrel Vardant - Legs/feet section (1/3)

Legs/feet section

Linebarrel Vardant - The blue binders on the back. They're called blue binders, but... with no color separation, they ended u

The blue binders on the back.
They're called blue binders, but... with no color separation, they ended up just being black binders;

Back and tail section excluding the binders

Posed on the stand.

Linebarrel Vardant - Just like with Linebarrel, when displaying it floating, you need to detach the heel and reattach it fold

Just like with Linebarrel, when displaying it floating, you need to detach the heel and reattach it folded in.
Compared to Linebarrel or Arma, the heel piece's connection is a bit weaker,
so when you fold the heel in for storage, it tends to fall off pretty easily..

Linebarrel Vardant - The articulation is pretty decent. The shoulder range of motion looks a bit limited, but it handles a go

The articulation is pretty decent.
The shoulder range of motion looks a bit limited, but it handles a good variety of poses without much trouble.

Linebarrel Vardant - Vardant comes with a total of 3 sets of hands — a flat open hand, a hand for gripping a blade, and a han

Vardant comes with a total of 3 sets of hands —
a flat open hand, a hand for gripping a blade, and a hand for slipping two blades between the fingers.

The blade-gripping hand looks like this... but the grip is a bit weak so it falls off easily;

Linebarrel Vardant - Vardant's signature blade-holding(?) style. Two blades are slipped between the fingers and used as weapo

Vardant's signature blade-holding(?) style.
Two blades are slipped between the fingers and used as weapons.

Linebarrel Vardant - If you look closely, you can see how the two blades slot in like that — the connection is solid so they

If you look closely, you can see how the two blades slot in like that —
the connection is solid so they don't fall off easily.

Action pose

Linebarrel Vardant - To set up the blue binder open mode, you need to remove the binder mount on the back and separate each p

To set up the blue binder open mode, you need to remove the binder mount on the back and separate each piece individually like shown.

The outer sections of the blue binders have no color separation, so they just ended up as black binders.

Linebarrel Vardant - To set up the binder open mode, you need to attach the two extra parts on the right end to the inside of

To set up the binder open mode, you need to attach the two extra parts on the right end to the inside of the binders.

Linebarrel Vardant - If you look closely at the parts added to the inside of the binders, you can see that each one has two b

If you look closely at the parts added to the inside of the binders, you can see that each one has two blades attached.

Linebarrel Vardant - You need to swap out the back mounting piece depending on whether you're in storage mode (left) or open

You need to swap out the back mounting piece depending on whether you're in storage mode (left) or open mode (right).

To get the binder open mode set up, you have to link everything together in a chain like that.

Blue binder open!
Looks incredibly powerful!

Viewed from above, you can see how it curls forward in a rounded shape like that.

The blue binders themselves lock in solidly, so they hold their angles really well.

An almost unsettling number of blades packed inside the binders...

The display effect is amazing.

Blue binder open action pose

Together with Linebarrel.
Linebarrel is still the biggest of the bunch.

Linebarrel Vardant - Together with Linebarrel and Arma Idaten. The Linebarrel series does a great job of keeping its own uniq

Together with Linebarrel and Arma Idaten.
The Linebarrel series does a great job of keeping its own unique design concept throughout.

Vardant — the machine piloted by JUDA's ace Moritsugu from Iron Man: Linebarrel — has been released. In the series, this unit radiates a charisma and presence that's every bit a match for Linebarrel itself.

The overall kit construction and quality are similar to Linebarrel. The range of articulation is comparable, and the joint layout is nearly identical. The unit is smaller than Linebarrel in terms of lore, but it has more bulk than the Arma. The joints are generally solid like Linebarrel's and hold their positions well, though overall it feels just a touch less tight than Linebarrel. The shoulder articulation and stability in particular are noticeably better on Linebarrel.

One issue is that the folding heel gimmick — a signature feature of the Linebarrel series — has a somewhat weak connection on this kit. The heel holds fine when extended, but when folded in, it comes off too easily. Since there's a real risk of accidentally losing the piece during storage, it's something to watch out for.

The highlight of Vardant is definitely the blue binder open mode on the back, which is recreated through a parts-swapping and parts-adding approach. When set up in open mode, the additional locking parts do their job really well, holding everything together very firmly. Given how much volume the open mode adds, solid stability is crucial — and thankfully, it holds its angles without any wobble whatsoever. ^^

Vardant's signature between-the-fingers blade gimmick is nicely recreated, and the head section — which looked like it might be a tricky color combination — actually has pretty good color separation. Overall, I'll be honest, it feels like a slight step down in quality compared to Linebarrel, but the sheer impact of the binder open mode more than makes up for it, and I think it's a pretty worthwhile kit. :-)

Linebarrel Vardant | 2008. 12 | ¥4,200

AIThis page was translated by Claude Sonnet.