Introduction:
There are probably a lot of few people who have looked in
my blog and noticed the banner saying “Bandai reviews”, yet there were no
single reviews for any MG or even HG kits. First I made the banner because I
have high hopes that I will be able to review the three kits I got from last
year (2016) even though I am quite busy with some of my work. I know it is
taking so long before I can post them but I also can’t pass the opportunities
my friend is giving me in building some of his other kits. And there are a lot
of Bandai kits that were put on my side to be built.
I was very thankful when he said that he doesn’t have
enough time to build some of his Bandai IBO kits because I now have the chance
to put some Bandai articles here. I am not saying he should stop building the
kits and just continue sending them on my side. Mind you that I want him to
build the kits he bought because he is the owner; therefore he has every right
to build it. Well, he did build a few of them but time and other secular work
is taking a huge toll on him so the kits were sitting as “backlogs”. I just
told him any Bandai kit would be fine and I get 6 HG IBO kits, a 1/100 HG kit,
and a single HG bootleg kit.
Again, please ignore my typos and just try to figure out
the sentence or phrase. I will correct them when I get the chance. But please
do correct me if I have used any wrong information or terminologies. I will
gladly accept them and edit my article.
UPDATE (2017-07-30): I would like to apologize that my shoulder on the right side is upside down. :v . And thanks to a certain colleague for telling me this. LOL xD
UPDATE (2017-07-30): I would like to apologize that my shoulder on the right side is upside down. :v . And thanks to a certain colleague for telling me this. LOL xD
Unboxing:
It’s been a while since my last HG (Try Burning Gundam) so
it was kind of new again to see a small box. I am not familiar with this series
where the Astaroth is the protagonist if I’m correct.
You get two (2) plastic bags inside the box and there
were 3 sprues per bag. I am not being biased, but Bandai did a great job iun
packing more than 2 sprues or runners. I checked them and each parts are packed
in a way the parts won’t scratch one another. But they could have at least used
3 plastic bags with 2 sprues each.
Unlike the other HG kits I have built before, the
construction manual doesn’t feature the built or painted model in front.
And on the back side, you will see the built model with
some of its features.
The construction manual isn’t the same with the 1/100
ones and you get a long paper folded in several pages.
Sprues:
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Do check the Sprue E because mine has a bad quality. It has a rough feel when you cut the nubs.
The color of the foil stickers gave me a hint what pen to
use for this model. I’m sure the quality of the stickers is good but I doubt
they will look good when applied on the parts. They often tear from time to
time and peel off because dust sticks on the edges.
Body Unit:
So these are the parts for the body and I kind of
overlooked this pink part for the chest.
Not bad for parts separation here and the most unique
thing about the models from IBO series is that they have a simple inner frame.
I mean, Bandai could have used different parts to build it even easier but they
gave the builders and collectors a simple Inner Frame. And with this, you can
now create simple mods by using other outer armor parts and weapons from other
HG 1/144 IBO kits.
Anyways, the body was a very smooth build. It was already
expected from Bandai to have a smooth snap fitting. There were no seam lines and
detailing is really sharp. The half of the body is articulated and you can tilt
it front or back to a small degree.
Head Unit:
And here are the parts for the head. You also get a
simple base head inner frame here but I am not sure if the other IBO kits use
the same head inner frame structure.
This model needs two foil markings on the v-fin but I
don’t think these markings will stick for a long time. I will use my metallic
red here instead.
There were no snap fitting issues here and everything
fits perfectly. I used some silver, metallic red and angelic purple to add some
extra color.
It’s not visible in the front view but I added some
metallic red for the eye sensors.
Arm Unit:
I only built the right arm’s inner frame and the left one
is in the Exploded View. The parts were good and I really love how sharp the
detailing is.
Both arms were a smooth build and there were no issues to
bother with. The left arm doesn’t have any outer armor and it’s like a
half-complete mobile suit with scrap parts from Astaroth.
I used the stickers for the spike shield just to add
color. I like how Bandai designed this to add some guides for the stickers. I
mean usually, you have to align or pick a good position where to place them.
The back side of the parts are “notched” so you can place the markings without
any errors (unless you have a shaky hand like I do :v )
Articulation is good but range of movement isn’t that
satisfactory. The arms can only bend to a limited degree because of the design.
But the good side is that the shoulder armors feature good movement angles.
Wait, is it me or the model is really similar to the Zaku
2.0 Black Tristar? (O_O) I mean seriously, the design of the guard on the
right, the rounded shoulder for the left and color really resembles one the
Zaku 2.0 Black Tristars. Maybe it’s just a coincidence but you could use that
idea for paintjobs.
Leg Unit:
The legs feature different outer armor parts which makes
Vual Gundam unique. They have the same inner frame but only one of them has a
thruster on the back of the leg.
There were no snap fitting issues here as expected from
Bandai but the parts were prone to nub marks or stress marks. The gates for the
black parts here in the legs were big so there’s a tendency to get stress marks
if you recklessly pull them out from the runners.
Range of movement here may look limited but it already
gives a decent bend.
The front feet can be folded like so in the image.
Waist Unit:
The parts for the waist were below average but feature a
basic inner frame structure.
I check this front piece part C2 and it seems it can
hold the front skirts (C1) even if they are cut in half. So I did cut the front skirt
in half. Of course, you must carefully cut them and avoid damaging the ball
joints. Doing this will enable you to add some extra articulation and only one
side will lift up if you move any of the legs.
Again, there are no issues here in the waist and everything fits perfectly.
Backpack Unit:
The backpack unit is really simple and doesn’t feature
any color or gimmicks.
It was another smooth build so that’s fine I guess.
You can lift the backpack because of this brown part
attached to it.
Weapons:
Mining Hammer:
Very straightforward with no other separated parts.
It was a smooth build but they were quite prone to stress
marks and nub marks. I am not sure if this was the blade but mine was still
new. :/
This mace comes with a small peg that you can attach to
the side skirt and acts a holster.
Glaive:
You get another weapon called the Glaive . Just cut it out
of the sprue and that’s it.
Round Shield:
Aside from the spike shield on Vual's right arm, there is also another shield for the left arm. The shield is kind of similar to Shenlong but this one
features simpler detailing and panel lines.
Completed Model:
Articulation Test:
Well, I should have removed the shield when doing the
articulation test. Vual looks funny here because I tried balancing the weight
from the two shields. LOL xD
I would like to apologize if I don’t have any decent
shots here. Something came up so I had to finish the kit quickly.
Plastic Quality: 8/10
Black parts are quite rough or “chalky” when cutting them
but I don’t think it’s a common issue on all IBO kits. This could be an
isolated case for Vual models only. I am not sure if that was from my side because
the X-Acto blade I am using is still fresh or new. The parts from the Sprue G
are also the same with the black parts. I checked the manual and the plastic
are all ABS so yeah; this might be an isolated case.
Other than that, plastic quality here is really good. You
can’t complain to Bandai when it comes to plastic quality although other
bootleg brands are crawling in this issue little by little.
I am just giving it an eight because of the problem I
experienced with the black parts. If everything was fine, I would definitely
give it a nine. On my side, it’s a nine when it comes to Bandai’s plastic
quality.
Assembly: 9/10
I remember that I still had problems fitting some of the
parts for my MG Zeta 2.0 but that was an old kit. The HG IBO series are new and
every part or piece fits perfectly. If I don’t need to review this kit, I might
have finished within a day. Removing the parts isn’t easy though as if Bandai
made it to stay like that once both pieces are attached or connected to one
another.
But the handguards or the armor on the back of the hands
pops off because it can’t hold the weapon. This issue only happens if you try
to lift or hold the weapon with a single arm. The right shoulder also tends to
fall downwards (not disconnected from the body) because of the weight of the
weapon.
Detailing: 9/10
Compared to Dragon Momoko, they just making the kit look
good because of extra panel lines, raised parts, etc. But Bandai gives it a
sharper detail while maintaining simplicity and originality of the model.
That’s one feat other bootleg kits can’t copy. The detailing in the plastic is
really great and My silver pen doesn’t spread even if you touch it with a
sweaty finger. The lines were deep enough for the ink and there were no
flashes. I checked every part from inner frame to the last outer armor part and
there were none.
I would like to add the foil stickers here. It’s been a
while since I last used a Bandai foil sticker and the cut for each marking were
precise. I guess the thing left here is to place them correctly. Of course, the
model on the box and construction manual are already painted, so do not worry
if there are seams on surface when you apply the foil stickers.
Articulation: 8/10
Because of the simple Inner Frame structure, the model’s
movement range is extended compared to the other HG kits. I am not fond of the
ball-joint design for the arms but it does give you a good range in movement.
The legs are using a a polycap-based male-female peg
instead of the common ball-joints. This gives you a good bend or even a split.
The body also uses a ball-joint design but it’s not much of a problem as long
as it holds the upper body firmly. You can title the upper body a bit for
posing purposes.
Gimmicks: 3/10
Generally, HG 1/144 kits have few gimmicks to feature and
they were meant as collectible yet articulated figures of your favorite series.
Vual doesn’t have any remarkable gimmicks to feature aside from the backpack
that you can lift up. :v
The HG IBO kits does feature a unique way of changing the
armor and switch it with parts from other models and this may counted as a good
gimmick, but I am featuring gimmicks that are solely seen for the specific kit
[Vual]. So I have no choice but to put a very poor rating here because I can’t
find any. If you think I have missed something, do share it on the comments and
let me know what you think.
Weapons: 5/10
I am not familiar with the series nor does the model so I
can’t say that Vual features good set of weapons or it have a small amount of
firepower. But having a guard on the shoulder and a round shield to protect the
unarmored left arm is good design seeing it only uses a melee weapon.
Extras: 4/10
The extra parts to build the feet in black colors and the
different fixed hands were the biggest pointers here. The face or head parts
were design for Astaroth origin and I don’t think you can use it here. Other
than that, you don’t have any parts or items for Vual.
Patience 3:/10
Like I said, if I were to build this kit without any
reviewing stuff to do, I can finish the kit within a day or at least 3 hours
max. The model from head to weaponry gives you a smooth build without the
bothersome issues.
Overall: 8/10
I would definitely recommend this kit for beginners and
other collectors focused on the IBO series. I love the Inner Frame they are
giving for the IBO kits and this gives you more options for painting and
“modding”. There were no big issues when
it comes to snap fitting so this is a really good kit. I am expecting the same
great experience with the other IBO kits I have here.
I don’t have much to say about this kit because there’s a
lot of a positive factor when compared to the negative ones. And other brands
don’t have any IBO kits to compete against Bandai. If Daban Model would copy
any kits from the IBO line, I would suggest to go for Bandai just to avoid any
possible issues and errors.
I had fun with it and I hope I get to build a 1/100 FM
when the time comes. :)
So that’s all I have to say for this kit. Leave any
comments if I missed something and don’t forget to check out my friend’s
commissioned projects in our page in Facebook – Click Here