As always, let’s begin with the runners:
There are only three of them, but to be fair, they’re all pretty dense with parts. In fact, the “C” Runner (the one with all the white parts) is so cramped that at times I struggled to find enough space to fit in nippers and make a cut.
In other words, it’s not a ton of parts, but it’s more than you might think.
A few other observations:
- Normally the "A" Runner is considered the "main" runner. It's always the one that has multiple colors of parts on it. But on most (all?) IBO kits, the "A" runner is the one that contains the inner frame. It's a little bit weird, and it took a bit of time to adjust to.
-
There aren't quite as many red, yellow, and blue parts as I expected there to be.
Part of what's going on is that there isn't as much color on any of the Barbatos variants as you might think. It just kind of seems that way due to how bright all three colors are, and because some of the colored sections are fairly large.
Another reason is that some of the color comes in the form of decals (more on that later).
And finally, another reason is that there is a tiny of bit of red that you need to color in yourself. Which brings us to the elephant in the room ...
Decals
Here’s the decal sheet:
A few of them (including, but not limited to, the blue ones) have markings and texture to them. It’d be pretty hard to replicate those patterns with hand painting.
Toss in the fact that this is Garbage Time, and I’m aiming to be lazy, and I intend to use all of these decals.
Now, let’s dive into the build.
Sword Mace
This is made out of just two pieces, and despite being such a simple shape, it’s got quite a lot of detail on it:
Fun fact - when I was trying to sand down the seam lines, I accidentally applied a bunch of torque to the sword, enough to cause the handle to start separating from the blade. A few drops of super glue later, and everything is mostly back to normal (though I don’t think the blade is perfectly straight anymore).
Head
With the OG Barbatos, the inner frame of the head is largely exposed, which informs its construction. Specifically, you start by assembling the inner frame “shell”, and then attaching armor on top of it:
With the Barbatos Lupus, the inner frame is almost entirely covered up, so there is no need for any actual inner frame parts. Instead you have a bunch of smaller parts that all fit together:
And here it is all assembled:
I’m not entirely sure I like this head design. I think the V-Fin is too large, as is the red chin. From a certain angle, the chin almost starts to look like a big red tongue that’s strafed by a pair of white fans on each side. Which, to be fair, may be intentional, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it.
Upper Torso
On a certain level, the torso isn’t that much changed from the original Barbatos. They’re roughly the same in terms of complexity, but there’s a huge difference in terms of aesthetics.
The original Barbs looks like it has an ill fitting vest strapped across its chest, thus leaving most of its frame exposed:
Meanwhile, the Lupus’ armor is slightly bigger and more form fitting:
It covers up much more of the inner frame - or maybe it just feels like it does. Either way, the difference is striking.
Backpack
At first, I thought to myself “this is exactly the same as the original backpack”. But then I compared the two, and it turns out I’m entirely wrong. Here is the original backpack:
And here is the Lupus’:
True, they share the same basic concept - you have a thruster in the center flanked by two hardpoints that can carry weapons. But it’s striking just how much bigger the Lupus’ backpack is.
Not only does the increased size make the mobile suit look faster and more capable, but it also ensures that more of the inner frame is covered up from the rear:
In terms of color correction, I used the included grey color correcting decals on the sides, and then both the top of the thrusters, as well as the two connection points. It was pretty easy, especially compared to the previous backpack.
Lower Torso
We’re starting to see a pattern here. Almost everything on the Lupus is the “same” as on the OG Barbatos, only bigger/longer/meatier. That’s also true of the Lower Torso. It’s the same shape, only longer:
To compare, here is the tiny, booty short-esque torso of the original Barbs:
And here is the longer, fan-shaped version on the Lupus:
One thing I appreciate is how there’s nothing on the back that needs to be color corrected, which cannot be said of the original.
Side Skirts
This is one thing that Barabatos Lupus has that the original doesn’t - long stabilizer units in lieu of traditional side skirts.
This is very much a “thing” with IBO mobile suits; the Gundam Astaroth has very similar stabilizers, as does the Schwalbe Graze.
Each one has two color correcting decals on the top and bottom. They look surprisingly nice:
I’ve seen some fans argue that these skirts are a bit too long, and I won’t say I necessarily disagree, but in the end I think they do add a lot to the overall look.
Legs
The front armor is wider and bulkier on the Lupus, but by and large they’re pretty similar:
Feet
The feet are also pretty similar, right down to needing the same kind of color correction around the toes.
Shoulders
The shoulders (and arms) are arguably the least similar parts of the two mobile suits. On the original Barbatos, they’re made of a single part, but on the Lupus they’re made of two sections:
Side note - these required a bit of color correction, namely the yellow marks in the front and back.
Arms
The arms of the original Barbatos are short, very angular, and require a bit of color correction:
Meanwhile, the arms of the Lupus are longer and more rounded. And while they don’t require color correction, they do require lots of panel lining:
You might be wondering how the arms can be longer when they using the same inner frame. The answer is that there is an extender piece you attach to the original inner frame.
Hands
Unlike the original Barbs, the Lupus comes with two pairs of hands. They’re all closed fists, but on one pair the fists are set at an angle, to make certain poses easier to do.
It should be noted that in the show, the Lupus has small, white claws on the tips of its fingers. If the kit contained any open palm hands, I might have painted those claws white. But on these closed fist hands, it just didn’t seem worth doing.
Finished
And here it is, the Barbatos Lupus:
And here it is next to its predecessor:
I’ll probably have more to say about these two in comparison to each other, for now I’ll just say that I wasn’t expecting the Lupus to be so much taller.
Color Correction - A Comparison
Before we wrap up this post, let’s answering a lingering question - which of these two models requires more color correction?
It’s a bit tricky to answer. I didn’t use all of the decals on the original Barbatos, whereas I did use them all on Lupus. Furthermore, I did a whole bunch of optional color correction on Barbatos, including painting all of its exposed cables and pistons (on the Lupus, I just applied a bit of weathering compound). Purely based on what I did, it’s not a fair comparison.
That being said, if I were to step back and assess the two models based solely on what you need to do to make them color accurate - while factoring in all the decals - I still think the original Barbatos requires more work.
Remember, all of these sections need to be painted (except for the one spot on the thruster where there’s a decal):
And that’s not including the yellow on the shoulders:
Nor does include a few other spots on the lower torso.
Now, unless I missed something (which is entirely possible!), the only painting needed on the Lupus is a little bit on its backpack, and a little bit on its feet. Assuming you use the decals, everything else should be accurate. Overall, it’s a fairly painless build in comparison.
And that’s a good thing, and not just because it’s Garbage Time and I was feeling lazy. Call me spoiled, but I don’t expect modern High Grades to require quite so much color correction anymore. The Lupus was much more in line with what I expect from a build of this vintage.