Good afternoon everyone!
It's December! Wow, 2017 went by so fast.... Anyway, here I am with another gunpla review!
It's about time I got a kit from the IBO line. I love the show and the MS designs but I keep holding them off because a Master Grade might appear out of nowhere.
They do have the Full Mechanics 1/100 line but it's still not a Master Grade. It looks good but it still feels like a high end HG kit to me.
Anyway, another reason I keep brushing off IBO kits is because of how sticker heavy the kits are. It's nice that the kits are cheap but with a low price point means less colored parts.
Most of the HG kits look amazing and has awesome poseability but the usage of large foil stickers to cover big pieces is just a no no for me.
I can paint but I need motivation hahaha!
Also, this MS got my attention because of its asymmetrical design and weapons.
Let's get it on!
Box art:
I always thought the pilot was Hush since they have the same hair color haha! After researching, this MS is actually from a side story manga called "Gekko". The pilots name is Argie Mirage and has a complexity of Shinn Asuka from Destiny, minus the psychotic tendencies.
His family was killed when a certain MS attacked their civilian aircraft while evacuating. Read the manga to know which MS it is. From my Shinn Asuka reference, you can get an idea who it is.
Anyway, he has prosthetic right arm which he uses to connect to the Astaroth. It's not the same as the Alaya-Vijnana system but it does the job.
Also, it's a fairly small kit, like a basic MS assembly.
Manual;
The usual info you get, character backstory, affiliations and history. Last page shows the MS gimmicks and accessories.
Runner count is very low but still amazes me how they integrated a full frame.
Contents:
Very simple color separation. The color for the inner frame is like a dark brown shade but in the pics it loos like gun metal. All the armor pieces are in one runner, goes to show how sleek this MS is. The inner frame uses 3 runners which is a lot for an HG kit.
There's also one leftover piece in the A2 runner, I still don't any idea what that is for.
Sticker Heavy... Good thing I really love this kit so I painted the missing details haha!
Since this kit has an Inner Frame, I'll assemble that first :D
They also included this short guide on how to assemble gunpla. When did they start giving these out? First time I encountered this haha! But it's nice of them to give the builders ideas and to encourage them to enhance the kit.
Inner Frame assembly:
Torso:
IBO kits really are unique. All the Gundams in the show has the same frame so most kits would be familiar if you build one already.
Starting to love that midsection. If the pipings can only move haha!
Head:
Waist:
Same with the HGUC RX-78-2 Revive, the joints for the legs is placed inside the waist inner frame to avoid accidental removals when posing.
Leg:
This part really feels like an MG assembly. The feet assembly reminds me of the Gundam 00.
Arms:
Nice, a full inner frame. All those pieces made it look complicated but its not.
Details:
The overall look is amazing. It really looks like a skeleton and those pseudo pipings makes the kit look more mechanical.
Weathering:
First time I weathered the inner frame and I'm not disappointed haha! The subtle dry brushing enhances the overall visual appeal of the kit. I know IBO is a heavy action oriented show hence my decision for weathering this kit.
Now that's done, let's armor him up!
Let's start at the bottom because that's where everything starts.
Feet:
Very basic, I painted the black and gray parts but they do give you stickers for those.
Leg:
Right leg has a different knee piece and thigh part but still the same assembly for both legs. Did a bit of painting again. The gray vents and black parts on the thighs are all painted.
Waist and side skirts:
This is where most of the work is. It comes in all white and the only stickers they give you is the green piece for the front vents? not sure what it is exactly haha!
Did a lot of mixing trials just to get that certain shade and I managed to get it somehow.
Torso:
It's mainly for the front torso. Simple but it shows all the mechanical aspects of the MS which is cool.
Arms:
Both arms have the same assembly despite their armor differences. Also, if you buy another Astaroth, you can get assemble it with both arms legs of the same color.
I jut noticed that the arms and legs can be placed in both sides.
Head:
I didn't notice that there's another layer for the inner frame and didn't include it in the earlier assembly. One of the most amazing Gundam heads despite lacking the usual yellow color. Reminds of the RX-78-2 but with a more aggressive approach.
I painted the red on the head piece and the gray bits on the cheeks.
Complete MS:
Painting those small details really is really worth it because the kit looks more realistic and lively this way. Just put a little bit of effort and the kit would look awesome!
A bit of info, this is not the MS original look, google Astaroth Origin if you wanna know what it originally looks like when it was discovered.
This is one of the 72 Gundam frames used in the calamity war. Its current owner is the Warren family. Due to financial problems, they were forced to sell it part by part just to get by. In the manga, The pilot Argie and current owner, Volco, are helping one another to get the Astaroth back to its original state.
As I said earlier, I will weather this kit so let's get to it!
Weathering:
I try to make it as subtle as possible because overdoing it will just ruin the visual appeal. Just the usual dry brushing and soot and sand smudges with a bit of rust.
Closer look:
I think it went well haha! I'm really switching to enamel paints now for weathering. I used to apply tamiya acrylics but the consistency of the paint is hard to manage and most people really suggested using enamels.
I should've listened to them a long time ago haha! Anyway, since most IBO suits are always in heavy combat, I tried my best to get that effect in my weathering.
Articulation:
The arms have a lot of range thanks to the ball joints and shoulders being able to move upwards to give the arm more reach. The elbows are also tight which is good for holding positions. The hands can come out a bit and can rotate in place.
The knees can't bend too far because of those large leg thrusters at the back but the thighs can move a lot. Thanks to peg joints and swivel rotation, the legs can be positioned in a variety of ways.
You might think the side skirts are too big and might get in the way but they don't. They don't hamper the legs movement at all which is good for dynamic poses. They use a peg connection and they can move in and out from the connector.
The side skirts thruster flaps can move up and down as well. The feet has a nice pivot and the toes can bend downwards.
Torso can move this much and rotate since it's on a ball joint.
Head can move up and down this much. The neck itself can move up and down as well to add more movement.
It's a solid kit overall, you just need to get to used to all those moving parts when posing.
Accessories:
Backpack:
Very simple assembly. The manual said it can be used to connect other parts from other suits in the IBO line.That peg is mainly used for storing the Demolition knife.
Arm Sub:
First time I saw something like this in a Gundam. Apparently, it's made from a Hyakuren side skirt armor. Volco fitted the Gundam with various parts just to get it running again.
Rifle:
Your basic rifle that uses normal bullets.
Knife:
It's a uhh... Knife. Looks like a combat knife based on the design. You need to paint the blade silver if you want it to look accurate. You'll see in the posing pics. In the manga, it can be stored in one of the side skirts but I'm not surprised if they omitted that function since it's a small kit.
Demolition Knife:
The other bigger knife. Despite the name, it doesn't really explode. It can also be folded to be stored or used for heavy attacks. The main handle can be hidden while the support handle can pivot in and out.
It can nicely mount on the backpack and has certain ranges of rotating movements to get angled poses.
Aside from the rifle, I only weathered the Demo. Knife and Sub knuckle because he uses those often. For the knife, I just painted the blade chrome silver too look realistic.
Poses:
I just did the box art pose and the ones in the manual. To be honest, the Demo. Knife is hard to pose because of it size, it's hard to hold it one hand and the sub knuckle is mainly for props and added effect.
It's nice that it has a support handle for added stability and posing. Then again, it is a big weapons so the"Heavy" effect is definitely there.
The sub knuckle really looks badass in all of the poses. The weathering also added a lot of visual appeal. It was already an amazing kit if you do a straight build with painted details but if you have the time, weathering would make it look cooler but depends on your preference.
Comparisons:
Here he is next to my other recent build the HGUC 1/144 RX-78-2 Revive version. I was surprised that he was taller haha!
You can really tell that these 2 are from different universes.
Anyway, you can check out the Revive kit review here:
A kit to remind him how small he is. The Unicorn Gundam definitely towers over him and his bulk might not even be enough to go head to head with the Unicorn Gundam.
HGUC 1/144 Unicorn Gundam (Destroy mode) review here:
Conclusion:
Details 10/10:
For a simple assembly, this kit has lot of mechanical detail not just the inner frame but in the armor pieces as well. Some armor pieces have tiny rivets and marks in them and that's cool because it won't look blocky and cartoony.
For the inner frame, I love how they managed to intergrate it in smaller scales and it's not even an RG kit. When you complete the inner frame assembly, it looks like an RG frame but it's not.
The illusion is amazing thanks to all those pipings and mechanical details throughout the body.
For an asymmetrical design, the body still manages to look balanced and proportion.
Articulation 9/10:
It's decent for the most part, my only concern are the ball joints for the arms since those can get loose overtime depends on how rough you are with your kits (sounds kinky lol)
Despite the large side skirts, the lower body moves freely and can do dynamic poses quite easily. For the arms, they're very poseable as well, you only need to angle and position them properly to utilize the Demolition knife.
Torso is on a ball joint which is good for doing dynamic poses just be careful because the mid section is thin AF.
Accessories 9/10:
I love the accessories, it's pretty much the main reason why I bought this kit haha! Buster sword.. How can you pass that up? and that sub knuckle looks badass too.
My only complain is that they didn't include the Anti-Material Rifle which he uses a lot in the first few chapters of the manga. You can only get it if you buy the add on kit which is included in a Gundam hobby Magazine.
It's a hassle to go through just for one weapon. But hey, if you got the money and time, hunt away!
As I said earlier, the Demo. Knife is heavy especially when folded out. It looks cool but you need to be patient with it to pose it properly. Good thing it has a support handle so it can prop up nicely. Also, the handle fits perfectly into the hands and once in place, it's a solid connection.
Don't be fooled by sub knuckle, that thing is mainly for visual appeal haha!
Inclusion of the rifle and knife is nice also for more poseability options. I know it has grenades as well but I don't mind if they're not included.
Parts 10/10:
Color separation is average. Main colors are there and the rest of the details can be achieved by using stickers (which I don't like.) or paint them (it's more worth it if you paint them, they'll last longer and blends well with the kit.)
I only used the eye and those tiny marks on the torso because why not. Assembly is very well thought off, there's not much seam lines which is always a good thing to lessen your work to make it awesome.
I love how the leg armors are just the front and back and the side pieces hold them together. It makes the assembly more solid and less prone to part separations.
Also, if you buy another Astaroth, I believe you can assemble the kit with symmetrical designs because the arms and legs can be placed in either side and the sub knuckle can also be assembled the other way around if want it for both hands.
Since majority of the IBO gundams have the same frame, you can interchange parts as well. I think they heavily promote that since in the show, the group scavenge parts to repair the damaged Gundams.
Verdict 9/10:
This is my first IBO kit and it really exceeded my expectations. As I said earlier, I used to refrain from buying IBO kits because of the heavy sticker dependency. Some kits look awesome OOTB but some just look dreadful because of how big the foil stickers are to compensate missing colors.
Guison Rebake Full city is one example... That MS is bad ass in the show and seeing it in model kit for is awesome! But when I saw the assembly, I just said "oh no..."
Also, the show focuses on a group that uses anything to get by, Bandai also started releasing optional parts/sets which includes optional hands, weapons and even mobile workers.
It's a nice strategy but annoying at the same time. If you buy an MS, you expect to have the weapons it uses to be included.
That's why I the Astaroth got my attention, most details can be painted easily and you get a lot of accessories for a cheap price. Despite the lacking of the aforementioned rifle, I still enjoyed building the kit and I honestly felt that I got more than what I payed for.
It's an overall nice building experience if you can manage to get the poseabiltiy of the demo. knife to work for you. I wish they give this kit the MG treatment. He can honestly steal the Barbatos spotlight if promoted properly.
I hope the mange gets an anime version as well because it's hard to appreciate the fights in still black and white shots haha!
Anyway, that's my take on the kit, leave a comment to give your thoughts or share the review to show to others who are interested in this kit!
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Stay tuned for more reviews and updates!
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