Kit Review: HGIBO 1/144 - Gundam Gusion Rebake

Akihiro Altland, Gundam Gusion Rebake, Let’s do this!

-The Gundam Gusion Rebake first Debut in Episode 17 in Mobile suit Gundam Iron Blooded Orphans. Gundam Gusion rebake was developed from the Gundam Gusion operated by the Brewers. It is seen fighting along side the Barbatos and Ryusei Go 2 in episode 17. The mobile suit showed tremendous performance in the show despite being a scrap mobile suit. The Gundam Gusion Rebake can be compared to a G23 engine which uses an amalgamation of parts to boost performance.

– Info:
Kit: HG 1/144 Gundam Gusion Rebake
Series: Gundam IBO
Price: 1,200 yen
Release date: Jan 2016

– Design: The Gundam Gusion Rebake is the “upgrade” of the Gundam Gusion used by the Brewers in Season one of Gundam IBO. The Gusion Rebake’s design can be summed up as a scrap mobile suit. It’s compiled of different parts from the Barbatos, Graze, and the old Gusion and honestly it works and looks the part perfectly. It definitely nails the scrap look thanks to it’s use of color which is a nice cream color when seen from the naked eye. It’s a very odd color choice but welcome nonetheless. Other design attributes are just straight up stolen from the Barbatos like the waist armor, lower shins, upper arms, and chest just remolded differently. This is also true for the back skirt shield which was the back armor plate for the old gusion and the backpack binder which was the lower legs for the old Gusion.

– Build quality: Like any other IBO kits (if you’ve built any) this is a standard build and nothing special or unique compared to the other gundam frames. Some notable factors are the shoulders doesn’t use a full inner frame, the lower arm is different, and the upper legs also uses a different inner frame piece. If you’ve never built a HG Gundam Frame the best way to explain is it’s simple and fast. Like any other gundam frames it has its own problem. Now, looseness on a kit varies from copies due to mold degredation so your kit might be looser compared to others.

Best advice is having a super glue in hand to tighten suspecting loose joints. Unfortunately, as cool as the design is it suffers a lot from quality due to stickers the Gundam Gusion uses 2 stickers that covers the whole face the ends up looking really bad. The head is not the only problem every single part of the kit needs a sticker or some type of paint to make it look presentable as much as possible. Some may stray away from this kit because of the stickers…

– Articulation: The Kit has basic articulation and can get most poses that you want. It has a double ball joint for neck and a hinge and bottom ball joint for the waist that gives it decent forward and backwards, sidewards movement, and a rotation. The arms can go up pass 90 degrees thanks to the upwards polycap, it has a bicep rotation and single jointed elbow that goes past 90 degrees and the usual ball jointed hands.

The Hips has the forward and backward movement for the leg connections instead of the up and down found in some kits. The front hip skirts move up and down and the side skirts move up and down with a rotation while the back skirt is stationary. The legs can move forward past 90 degrees thanks to the hip legs connections being able to move forwards and backwards and the legs can move sideward up to 90 degreed but very little on the backwards kick department.

The legs also has a double jointed knee. The ankles are on ball joints so they have rotation and forwards and backwards the ankle pivot is also amazing giving it a 90-degree bend. The feet have a joint that can only point downward. The binders can move up and down, forward and backwards and the side thrusters can move up and down. The sub-arms can move in and out, has bicep rotation, single jointed elbows that goes pass 90 degrees and ball jointed hands. Overall, the articulation is serviceable like any other kit from the IBO line..

But! This kit has one trick up it’s sleeve that may want you to consider adding it in your collection.

– Gimmick: This segways us to the gimmicks of the kit. Let’s start with boring ones first. The kit includes a second head for aiming mode which covers the whole face and gives it a mono eye look. This improves the aiming capabilities of the Gusion Rebake. It’s definitely an odd look making it look like a giraffe but also gives the illusion like the old Gusion to make it not look like the conventional Gundam.

Next gimmick is the Back skirt armor being able to be used as a defensive shield. The shield also houses different holes to place the shield adapter but can be also used for storing other weapons to your liking.

The last and best gimmick would be the sub arms on the backpack boosters. It uses the old graze arms but colored cream like the main MS itself. It is the same look as the old graze arms but it uses entirely new parts so don’t be fooled. This is the sole reason to get this kit the endless amounts of variations and weapons to use is just amazing. The kit itself is worth it for this gimmick alone. Simple yes, but it is damn affective in posing, customs, and playability.

– Accessories:
x1 Aiming mode head

x1 back skirt shield

x1 long range rifle

Absolutely simple kit, Bandai really wanted to make us buy the IBO option packs to utilize all the capabilities of this guy. Thankfully, the option packs are also very affordable. Giving him an extra melee weapon and guns will add a lot to the kit’s value.

Overall: The kit overall is really nice, yes, the sticker may be a problem and the looseness will be a problem as well but loose parts can be fixed really easily. However, the color accuracy might bother you or it won’t but for the price of entry, it is very affordable. For the price you do get a very well-articulated kit with decent amounts of accessories and has a really fun gimmick with the sub-arm. Yes, you do need more weapons to fully utilize it but using them as extra arms for fist doesn’t sound so bad too. Spending an extra buck or two won’t break the bank for more weapons and much better playability.

In conclusion, for 1,200 yen I think you’re still getting your moneys worth for the gimmicks alone and other unique parts such as the extra head the shield, rifles, and the sub-arms the kit also has really nice articulation so that’s always a plus.

Gallery:

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