Kit review: Bandai – HG IBO 1/144 – Sigrún
Among Iron-Blooded Orphans non-Gundam suits, the Valkyrja Frame is one of the most highly regarded designs. Starting with the elegant and fierce Grimgerde, to the chonky and powerful Helmwige Reincar, to the Templar Oltlinde, they carries the name of Odin’s faithful female warriors. And among them is the Sigrún – the 7th of the 9 Valkyries. The Sigrun appeared as a sleek knight ready for some honorable duel – just like the Gyan.
– Info:
Bandai – Sigrun
Series: Gundam IBO
Price: 1,600 yen
Release date: 16 Jun 2022 (re-releasse)
Get yours here.
Bandai – Sigrun
Series: Gundam IBO
Price: 1,600 yen
Release date: 16 Jun 2022 (re-releasse)
Get yours here.
– Design: The Sigrun is really similar to the Grimgerde and Oltlinde. It has a curvy and slim proportion that looks like it can snap in two if you look at it wrong. The head is very Grimgerde-like with a knight helmet. However this suit is more “knightly” than the other Valk Frame due to the leg armor and shoulder armor. The color is reminiscent of the infamous UC duelist Gyan. Even its weapon is similar with a round shield and a rapier. The Sigrun has two boosters attached on the hip that reminds us of the Barbatos or Muv-Luv TSF.
– Build quality: Even though this is modern Bandai, it is also HG IBO – a line with known problems across the series. While this kit doesn’t suffer from the Gundam-frame issues, it suffer from Valkyria’s issue. The chest fitting (especially the back) is a bit fiddly and you’d need to pay extra attention there. The feet and hips might seem a bit loose, but it is easily fixable and it’s not too serious. Overall, the build is quite fine. The Sigrun is a basic-looking kit that refine the simplistic look to create a well-balanced kit, just like the Grimgerde.
– Articulation: One of IBO’s series good parts is virtually unrestricted upper body movement (except the ab-crunch), so you can pretty much get a very dynamic upper body poses for all their kits. For the Sigrun, the lower body is pretty decent except for the hip/thigh section due to the armor getting in the way. However, with some fiddling you can get it to work quite well. And for a knight-themed MS, it can pull off most dueling poses with the rapier. The kit doesn’t have any guns so it’s mostly just the rapier and the shield. The feet pivot has more to be desired due to the small size, but all in all it’s very decent.
– Gimmicks: The Sigrun doesn’t have any unique gimmick like some other IBO kits. The shield has 4 bits it can detach and attach to a bendy wire like in the HG 00. Honestly, if it’s 1 or 2 wires at a time it will look fine. But with 4 wires and how they kinda scrunched up when you pose them, it might look a bit “spaghetti” if you position them all in the same direction.
– Accessories: This kit comes with extremely basic accessories. There’s almost no extra stuff to store:
– 1 x rapier
– 1 x shield
– 2 x weapon-holding hands
– 1 x slanted right hand for the rapier
– 4 x bendable wire
– 1 x rapier
– 1 x shield
– 2 x weapon-holding hands
– 1 x slanted right hand for the rapier
– 4 x bendable wire
–> Overall: This kit is extremely affordable and the design is quite cool. If you enjoy the Grimgerde or more sleek suit of IBO then this kit is highly recommended. The cool poses you can do with the Rapier make it a very suitable display piece along with the Gyan, the 30MM Spinatio Knight etc… Sometimes a basic design with no cumbersome gimmicks really help you refresh your appetite.
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