Alright so I built the Barbatos MG and I gotta say this thing sucks [for what I was hoping for]. I really like the details, the actual pistons, the solidity and just about everything else that every reviewer has mentioned, but two major points make it suck to me:
1. These wrists are crap. They're solid, sure, but you have an awkward angle of movement because they aren't simple ball-joints. It's a just a hinge that turns at certain angles.
[Edit: I mean that the wrist has a peg that sticks into the arm which can turn 360 in a circle but the connection point to the hand is a straight forward-back hinge with only one side extension (which hyper extends to the outside of the hand, as seen below), so when you're moving the hand you end up straining the hinge instead of the actual spinning wrist joint in the arm. I might be explaining it retarded but the point is they had to fix what wasn't broken just to make the Barbatos kit special. I keep thinking it's gonna break because I can never get used to it compared to a simple ball joint and hinge.]
2. The hands are complete ass. They work very well for their weaponry (the mace spear is a but wonky but the thumb helps). You see, unlike making typical Gundam hands but sharp they opted to make a strange deep rigged semicircle in the palms. The grooves of the palms cling to the grooves of the sword hilt perfectly but they don't stick into the shaft of the mace spear, instead forcing you to rely on just pushing it into the semicircle and hoping for the best. As I said, it works fine enough, but I've repeatedly had the fingers pop off on me because I wanted to move it in a certain way but the wrists are retarded and the shaft isn't really gripped at all.
TL;DR It's everything you'd expect but it's designed uniquely, so uniquely that I can't imagine kitbashing this. I had wanted to buy some M.S.G Kotobukiya weapons and extra arms, but the wrist holes are too specific for these hands and the Barbatos hands can't really hold any other weapons but their own. At best you can swap out the legs for another kit's legs. The head connection is specific, the arms are attached via a secure joint with pistons, so removing them is a no-go, and the holes for the backpack aren't common 3mm so you can't attach anything else in there easily.
If you buy the Barbatos you're only buying the Barbatos. There is no future for modifications with this thing, not without some really creative reworking. Overall the thing just bugs me with its unique mechanics because I feel like I'm gonna break something or loosen something. It's a rigid build but the design of it is as unorthodox as I've ever experienced.
Final note: The parts separation makes this a massive pain in the ass to recolor. It's doable but the white pieces are so layered that you're better off leaving it as-is once it's built. It's fine since the white plastic doesn't look plastic but has a sort of light, smooth matte texture to it, and after a little panel lining it looks great. Here's the inside of the cockpit, too:
It's so claustrophobic compared to the Wing Zero but I guess that's the IBO design. I do like the little locking mechanism in there, though.
Also the C joints for the pauldrons and front half of the feet are objectively terrible. The shoulder armor and foot on the left side of my kit are loose as hell and needed some glue to tighten up because the plastic is so flimsy it stretches and strains when putting the joint together. The ankle and shoulder is fine, though.
So yeah, I always take a critical stab at these things. If you're still interested despite what I said then go for it. The sale is still going on Amazon right now. It's not what I was hoping for but it's not garbage. Just remember: consult a video build once you start the chest. Don't rage like me.
www.hlj.com
