Gunpla Build - High Grade Gundam Barbatos Lupus Rex (Part 1)

The Lupus Rex has one more runner than the Lupus:

Part of the reason is that the mace is so stupidly large that it couldn’t possibly fit on any of the existing runners. Part of the reason is that the model has a bunch of extra parts for the sub arms.

And perhaps most interesting of all, part of the reason is that the Lupus Rex uses some new, alternative parts for its inner frame.

The reason, it seems, is that some of the Lupus Rex’s body parts - the arms in particular - are so much larger than normal that they couldn’t possibly fit onto the standard Gundam Frame.

So yes, it has new frame parts for the arms, but it also has some new ones for the shoulders and chest.

The other thing I noticed is the decal sheet:

It is the largest one we’ve seen so far for any of the Barbatos variants, with several hideously large yellow decals for color correction. A quick perusal of the manual tells me that these yellow decals are specifically for the following areas:

• The tail
• The yellow markings on the shoulders
• The claws on the feet

Which tells us that there are no color correcting decals for the yellow claws on its hands. Which means I’m going to have to bust out the yellow paint.

Whatever. Let’s get on with the build.

Mace

This mace. This f*cking mace …

It’s just too big. This looks like something Bugs Bunny would pull out when escalating a conflict with Daffy Duck.

It’s so big, in fact, that even when its telescoping handle is pushed all the way in, it still dwarfs the original Barbatos mace:

Pull the handle out, and it gets even worse:

It’s so big that it eclipses the original Barbatos itself:

I don’t understand how anyone is meant to take this seriously. It’s too much.

Hands

The Lupus Rex is the only High Grade Barbatos model that comes with a pair of open hands. That’s because of its massive claws. They’re basically weapons on their own, and it would be foolish not to let you put them on display.

Thankfully the paint job came out pretty well. I mixed in a bit of grey paint into the yellow to make it a little thicker and less transparent, and it seems to have helped a lot.

Head

In terms of assembly, this is pretty much identical to the Lupus:

It even looks pretty similar too. It’s basically the Lupus head with a more crown-like V-Fin.

Chest

A few observations about this:

• The Lupus had two big Tekkadan logos on its shoulders, but the Lupus Rex just has this small one on its chest. I think I like this better; the shoulder logos feel a bit too ostentatious
• The chest logo also breaks up the blue chestplate into two sections, which is unique among the Barbatos variants
• To my eye, this seems more similar to the original Barbatos’ chest, in that it seems to leave more of the inner frame exposed.

I like the look of this. It’s certainly the most unique among the three chest designs.

Backpack

This is the bit that broke me.

None of the Barbatos backpacks have been fully color accurate. But at least in the case of the previous two models, all of the parts were molded in their “dominant” color. For example, a part that is mostly grey with a little bit of white was molded in grey (and vice versa).

That’s not the case here. For reasons that are beyond me, Bandai molded the entire backpack for the Lupus Rex entirely in grey plastic:

Now, keep in mind that it’s supposed to look like this:

That’s quite a lot of white that you’re apparently supposed to paint. And you know what? I’m not doing it. Not for a Garbage Time 2023 kit.

My guess is that this was a cost cutting measure. It feels as if Bandai went out of its way to put these Barbatos kits onto as few runners as possible, by cramming as many parts as possible onto each one. Perhaps the kit’s single white runner had no more space for adding the backpack parts, so instead they tossed them onto the new fourth runner, color be dammed (as opposed to tossing in a fifth (small) white runner for the backpack). Put a pin in this for later.

Anyway, the good news is that lots of mobile suits have plain grey backpacks, so it’s not going to look out of place if I leave this one alone.

In terms of the visual design, this backpack is quite a bit different than either of the two previous ones , on account of the giant wheel in the center that moves the tail up and down.

It’s also fatter and shorter, and I don’t think that’s a good look:

The size and shape of the backpack throws off the proportions of the upper torso. Maybe I’ll feel differently when the model is finished, but right here, right now, I think this looks really goofy.

Lower Torso

The front skirts are slightly shorter than the ones on the Lupus, but not nearly as short as the ones on the OG Barbs:

It’s the same story with the side skirts. They’re not nearly as long as the wing-like skirts on the Lupus, but they’re not quite as stubby as on the OG (though in terms of shape, they’re very much like the original Barbs, in that they look a bit like teeth):

Feet

If the claws weren’t yellow, I would have painted them, but in the name of Garbage Time I decided to use the color correcting decals. They don’t look great, but honestly, I don’t really care:

In terms of visual design, it’s basically the same as the Lupus’ feet, but there are a few tweaks. For instance, there’s an additional grey part on the heel. It’s also significantly longer than the Lupus’ foot, with much wider claws. Here’s a comparison shot:

Tail

The tail is a mess of stickers, but I guess they look good enough:

Here it is plugged directly into the back, without the wire:

I really think it ought to be able to move down further, so it’s pointing closer to the ground. As it is, it’s pointing down at a 45 degree angle, and I think it looks weird.

Legs

Like the feet, the legs are extremely similar in construction, and design, and size to the Lupus’:

That being said, they’re not identical. The most obvious difference is this little cutout in the shin, which is supposed to be painted grey:

Then there is the matter of this little area at the top of the leg:

On the Barbatos this is supposed to be colored in. On the Lupus, it’s not supposed to be colored in (take a look at the lineart if you don’t believe me). But on the Lupus Rex, it goes back to being colored in. Why can’t the artists make up their minds?

Shoulders

These are similar to the Lupus, in the sense that each shoulder has an extra layer of colored armor:

This time, however, the armor is blue instead of red. I think I like that better, but we’ll see once the model is complete.

Arms

The arms use almost none of the original inner frame parts, which makes sense once you see how freaking big they are:

Of course, the reason they’re so big in the first place is because of the sub arms, which flip out like a Swiss Army Knife:

In terms of color correction, there’s that little diamond shaped cutout on the sides that can be painted grey. Then there’s the matter of the builtin cannons. There’s no visible barrel or anything to even indicate that there are guns in the first place. All you can do is color in the general area to try and make it look like there’s something there:

Not gonna lie - it’s pretty lame. They could have at least added a little something more there to let you know there’s supposed to be a gun.

Extra Parts

Let’s look at how many extra parts were left over after the build:

As you can see, the Lupus Rex ditches quite a lot of the original inner frame, as well as the original holding hands.

Though now that I’m looking at this photo more closely, I think one of these pieces may not actually be a spare. Let me check the manual:

Yes, one of these pieces is for holstering the mace. I guess it’s a good thing I caught that!

Finished

Here it is, the finished model: