Let’s take a look at another LIMITED ITEM from the Gundam Base Tour:
This is a the Gundam Hajiroboshi, from the mobile game Iron Blooded Orphans: Urdr Hunt. More specifically, it is a special version that is covered in a metallic coating (AKA the “Iron Blooded Coating” as Bandai likes to call it).
I’m curious to see how this coating looks in person, so let’s dive in and find out.
About Urdr Hunt
Urdr Hunt is a Japan-exclusive mobile game that, as far as I can tell, has a full story and a ton of new animation. I’m not quite sure if it’s a full TV show’s worth, but it seems quite substantial nonetheless.
Why this was relegated to a mobile game - a now-defunct mobile game at that - and why it was never released internationally is beyond me. Suffice to say that the game gave rise to quite a few new mobile suits, including the Hajiroboshi.
High Grade IBO - A Long Lineage
Bandai actually released quite a few High Grade kits based on Urdr Hunt's new mobile suits. As a result, Bandai was still releasing new (non P-Bandai) IBO High Grades as recently as 2022. That means the High Grade IBO line lasted from 2015 - 2022. Seven years is quite a long time for a non-HGUC line of High Grades.About Hajiroboshi
As the story goes, during the events of the Calamity War, 72 poweful Gundam Frames were built in order to fight back against the Mobile Armors. One of those 72 Gundams was named Marchosias:
At some point after the war, Marchosias was stripped of all of its weapons and armor, refit with modern equipment, and renamed Hajiroboshi (the Japanese word for “Venus”):
It then remained in storage on the Radonitsa Colony that hovers over the surface of Venus, under the ownership of the Afam Equipment Company, who are essentially the colony’s maintainers. It then remained stored away until the events of Urdr Hunt, during which the heir to the Afam Company takes control to use it to save his colony.
Unknown Unknowns
It turns out that Urdr Hunt has a ton of story content, including quite a lot of new animated footage. What's more, as of this writing all of it is on Youtube with English subtitles.That being said, I haven't watched much of it, so I'm not sure how much of Hajiroboshi we actually get to see in action. Nor do I know whether or not the footage goes into any of the MS' history - such as why it was stripped down to its frame, why it was refitted with new parts, or how it got to Venus in the first place.
Not that any of that information is strictly necessary, but I'm still curious.
Weapons and Stuff
Hajiroboshi has three main armaments. The first is the “Smart Mace”, which is essentially a smaller, lighter weight, and (in my opinion) less ridiculous version of Gundam Barbatos’ giant mace.
The second is a small, short range rifle. Again, this feels like a less ridiculous (and more versatile) version of Barbatos’ Smooth Bore Gun.
Lastly, it has a “Crab Shield”. While technically defensive equipment, it has two claws and a freaking drill, which it can use to break through any mobile suit it manages to clamp down on.
Whether you’re looking on Gundam Wiki, MAHQ, or the kit’s instruction manual, everyone emphasizes how Hajiroboshi’s weapons are meant to be lightweight and easy to use, and that the mobile suit itself is also designed to be very fast (see the giant thrusters coming off of its backside).
Less Powerful?
One other notable thing about this mobile suit is that unlike many other Gundam Frames, Hajiroboshi lacks the Alaya-Vijnana_System. Whether or not that makes it less powerful than its brethren is up for debate. Like it comes down to the skills of the respective pilots.About the Visual Design
Is it fair to call this a Main Character Mobile Suit? I mean, it’s not the MCMS of Iron Blooded Orphans - that of course would be Barbatos - but it’s at least a secondary one.
And I think it’s status as a secondary MCMS is what makes it such a good design, because it’s free of some of the constraints that (in my opinion) made Barbatos such a poor design.
At the same time, it also like an attempt at redo of Barbatos.
Let me explain. By being the primary MCMS, Barbs had to use the classic Gundam color scheme, because that’s tradition (a tradition that I’m growing more and more tired of with every passing year). This despite the fact that a Blue/Yellow/Red isn’t really befitting of a skeletal/demonic bringer of death.
Then there’s the simple fact that Barbs looks like it should have gone through a few more revisions. It’s got a giant mace, but scrawny arms. It’s got big bulbous shoulders, despite the fact that the rest of the body is extremely slim and angular. It feels like they tossed together a whole bunch of different aesthetics without bothering to ask whether they all work together to create a cohesive whole.
Or to put it another way, it feels like it was designed by committed, with bits and pieces intended to appeal to multiple (very) specific demographics as possible.
On the other hand, because Hajiroboshi is a secondary protagonist for a mobile game, it has more freedom to do something different. The most notable change is that it uses most, but not all of the traditional Gundam colors, as it completely ditches blue. Furthermore, instead of being white or even grey, the main armor is actually an extremely light purple.
I suppose that for all intents and purposes it’s the same as grey, but I still think it leads to a slightly different vibe than what you normally get from a Gundam (which is why I think Sunrise should break free from tradition more often).
I also love that the V-Fin (if you want to call it that) is actually a trident, and that it’s so big that it largely obscures the eyes. Again, it’s such a different look than what we typically get for a Gundam, and dareisay it does a better job of selling this thing as some sort of demonic warrior.
In terms of its silhouette, Hajiroboshi feels an awful lot like Barbatos. The legs, skirt armor, and arms are extremely similar, and to a lesser extent so is the chest. But it does a lot of little things differently that add up to some major improvements.
- The arms are still scrawny, but it’s weapons are smaller, which means neither the arms nor the weapons feel out of place
- The legs are still fairly thin and slight, but the addition of thrusters on the ankles help sell the idea that it’s small, but fast
- Technically Barbatos has thrusters by its knees, but I’d argue that it’s not immediately obvious that they’re even thrusters, which dampens their impact
- The massive jets coming off of its backside further sell its speed. Barbatos is always portrayed as being able to move in fast to score kills, but it’s never obvious where all this speed is coming from. With Hajiroboshi it’s exceedingly obvious
- The shoulder armor is somewhat rounded like on Barbatos, but it also has a few more straight edges and hard angles that make it blend in better with the rest of the body
- Hajiroboshi is not bulky, but it feels more … filled out than Barbatos, and I think it’s a better look. I know Barbatos is going for the whole “incomplete/skeletal” look, but I feel like Astaroth does a much better job with that concept
So yeah, I think Haji is a better attempt at all the things Barbatos was striving for, and I think it’s a shame that it’s relegated to a Japan-only mobile game.
About the Build
Here are the things I know about this kit:
- It uses a Gundam-type inner frame, which means it’s probably going to be loose and janky and will fall apart
- Unlike all three Barbatos models, this one doesn’t seem to be lacking any of its key weapons and accessories.
Here are the things I don’t know:
- How the special metal coating is going to affect the need for color correction and panel lining.
That leaves me feeling very curious about this build. We’ll see soon how it all plays out.