Gundam Barbatos & Long Distance Transport Booster Kutan Type-III

Review by JoshB

The ASW-G-08 Gundam Barbatos comes from the series Mobile Suit Gundam IRON-BLOODED ORPHANS. This kit here shows the Barbatos equipped with it's Long Distance Transport Booster Kutan Type-III. Those looking for a detailed synopsis of the mech and its show can look elsewhere. I only watched a few episodes and I was only half paying attention the subtitles. But I do like the look of this particular Gundam, and since I haven't built a kit in forever, I thought I would give it a shot.

ASW-G-08 Gundam Barbatos arrives courtesy of Bluefin Distribution, and is available from retailers such as as Entertainment Earth and Amazon.

This is a HG model kit, and as such, is 1/144 scale. The completed Gundam is about 6" tall, but the addition of the transport booster brings this in at over a foot long, which explains the size of the box.

I built this kit straight out of the box, with no paint, glue or custom parts. This is what it pretty much looks like if you have no gunpla skills whatsoever. I think this is good though, because not everyone has the skills to do the painting and the sanding and all that other crap. Sometimes you just want to build a robot, and it's a testament to Bandai's engineering that a shlub like me can make this look good.

The build for this took me about 4 hours, but your time may vary. Parts are on colored sprues and includes a few decal sheets and instructions. I didn't take any pictures of the build, becuase A) as a HG kit there's no cool internal skeleton to view and B) it's boring.

Barbatos

The assembled Gundam is a fully articulated figure, albeit a slightly fragile one. Parts are molded in color and a few details are enhanced by the included stickers.

The back has a moveable booster and two connection points for the weaponry.

Articulation is great due to the polycap and ball joint construction. Most of the joint work is pretty standard, but the feet have an interesting ring that allows the ankle to swivel.

The figure is a little light with the weaponry, with a couple swords and a giant mace.

To get the hands to hold the weapons, you have to disassemble the hands. Only one set of hands are included.

As cool as the Barbatos is, he's only a small part of the kit. The bulk of the kit belongs to the Long Distance Transport Booster Kutan Type-III, which from here on in we'll just shorten to Kutan.

The Kutan ship consists of a core body with multiple attachments that form the "arms" and engines. It has a stand with an included adapter that lets you adjust the angle of display.

There are numerous sticker details on the transport ship, but most are near to the color of the plastic so the details is subtle. When there is no Gundam inside, all the parts can lock together to make a stable ship mode.

The boosters on the back are removable, and only consist of three pieces each. They are keyed so they clip in a certain position, and despite the size, don't weight down the ship.

The top circular panel can be removed and replaced with a set of two 300mm smoothbore guns, which can rotate.

To host the Gundam, the "claws" can open like mechanical fingers to create a space for the Barbatos. There are numerous points of articulation here, including the individual claw fingers on each arm.

Barbatos fits in and secures via a hole in the crotch. Once the panels are closed around the figure, you can barely see it.

The Barbatos and Kutan have another mode in which the mech uses the ship as a sort of battle armor. To achieve this you need to remove the boosters and the cockpit. A connector piece is added that secures to the back of the Barbatos (sans backpack). While this does work, I found that one of the panels on the Kutan could use a bit more space as the pressure against the figure causes it to pop off.

This is the fierce battle mode that sold me on this design. You don't want to stare down the barrel of these guns.

The triangular side arms bend out for a more dynamic pose. One thing that I disiked is that it appears that the Barbatos is supposed to grab something when the arm claws surround the hands, but no handle or connection is provided.

Finally, the Barbatos can use the smoothbore guns that attach to a variant backpack piece. He can also be equipped with a variant left arm that features a molded-on shield.

There is a bit more to this kit, but due to a tactical error on my part, I cannot show it to you. See, this kit provides extra parts so that the Kutan ship can be used with other mechs from Iron Blooded Orphans. However, I sent the other kits to Rob, and thus, cannot show their connection. Rest assured, it looks cool in the instructions.

ASW-G-08 Gundam Barbatos arrives courtesy of Bluefin Distribution, and is available from retailers such as as Entertainment Earth and Amazon.