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Bandai: Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans: Gundam Barbatos.
These new Bandai Gundams caught me off guard as I did not realize they were coming out; A surprise, but a welcome one to be sure. My enjoyment of Gundam goes back to the Gundam Wing days in the late 90’s, but I’m embarrassed to say that it did not keep up with it like I should; I suppose it was just too difficult to track episodes of the show down and they stopped making toys. Fast forward to today where (some) action figures are back on (some) shelves and a few Gundam Series are available on Netflix; it’s a win-win! This particular Gundam is from a series called Iron-Blooded Orphans and trust me when I say this, they are not burying the lead on that title as the series literally follows some extremely tough orphans that were basically slave labourers. I only watched a few episodes to get a feel for the show and to see the suit in action, but I enjoyed what I saw. The animation is almost worth checking out in itself and puts “American” animation to shame… another thing we can thank Adventure Time for I guess.
Pros: My collection is full of Bandai Gundam figures from the height of their North American popularity in the late nineties, so I had a good idea of what to expect from these new Gundam Universe figures and to be honest, they exceeded my expectations. First off, the detail of the figure is awesome and looks as though he was plucked right off my TV. Secondly the accessories work well and include a few extra fists, a sword that can be wielded with both hands, and of course, his oversized mace that initially looks silly, but is in reality, extremely badass. Interestly enough he also comes with a little detachable port that you can use in conjunction with a sold separately stand and while I would have loved an included stand, this is a nice trade off.
Cons: The figure itself is fully articulated and can hold a number of decent poses, but the design does limit some of the poses. He also feels a bit light and dare I say fragile? I was scared to mess around too much for fear of breaking a part off.
