Gunpla Review: 1/144 HG IBO Gundam Kimaris

Happy New Year! 2016 was quite a year and it went much faster than I expected. Do I feel my life went somewhere? Not really.... Existential crisis aside, taking it easy at the start of the year with a simple kit review. A rather dated (as of this post) 1/144 Gundam Kimaris.

Stop playing X-com and do something productive!

Gundam Kimaris. 1st time I saw this I was pretty impressed on how it looks like because this is the 1st suit to embody the Knight theme of the suits. But when the Trooper popped up, I immediately preferred the Trooper over this one. The fact that the suit was constantly losing didn't help the case.

Aesthetics

The kit itself represents the suit design pretty well. The suit design itself is pretty simple anyway so that's not a hard goal to achieve.

There's definitely a medieval vibe, yet somehow looking at the individual components, none really scream out knight. I can't explain it. Maybe medieval isn't the word...

He's literally lost for words describing this kit

Color-wise, it's a pretty simple color scheme. Note that I did top coat this, sanded down most of the nubs and filled in the panel lines. I also painted the exposed piping on the abdomen. There are only 3 main colors, all in varying shades of purple. You get stickers for the eyes and head cameras, the purple on the forehead, the teal triangles on the shoulders, the purple triangles on the skirt, and the black bits on the leg thrusters.

What sets this apart (as with the other Gundam IBO kits) is the amount of surface details it has. Fill in the panel lines and the kit will definitely pop. The kit (and the suit) itself is pretty bland so do panel line it. I especially love the details on the back skirt.

pictured: Not the back skirt

The kit itself is pretty solid, except for one thing. The spine tends to be loose as it constantly pops out of the clip despite it being sandwiched by 2 parts. It results on the top half to be floppy if handled aggressively.

Also there are some pretty huge nubs on this kit. Not so bad on the white bits, but the purple bit's are annoying. Be extra careful when cutting parts of the runners.

If the Trooper hadn't come out, then I'd say it looks good, but I just love the way the Trooper looks, especially that head sculpt. I still am undecided on whether to get the 1/144 or the 1/100 version of the Trooper. Also this Kimaris is incomplete out of the box. You'll need to purchase a separate weapon set to get the booster to complete the look. Another reason I'd recommend the Trooper.

Articulation

If you've owned a HG IBO Gundam frame kit, then it's going to be pretty much the same.

Head has good range. The collar is small enough to not get in the way of head articulation.

The arms are pretty standard as well. The shoulder armor does get in the way of articulation, but it does have enough joints to sort of get out of the way. The side binders are articulated.

As mentioned, there is an ab crunch but the clip holding it easily pops out so do be wary on that. The waist itself is one a rather tight ball joint. The design also means the skirts doesn't get too much in the way of articulation.

The upper section of the legs again is well articulated.

The Achilles Heel of the kit... is the heel (hehe). The bulky leg armor tends to get in the way of articulation. Especially the heel part of the armor, so wide legged stance is a bit limited, unless you pose it a certain way. It does have the full range of ankle articulation under all that armor.

Still not enough to kneel properly. Seems none can beat the Grimgerde in that regards.

Dynamic land poses is not the kit's strong suit, primarily because it's a space suit. And the legs have a special feature warranting the leg design. Still, overall it's very well articulated. A trait it shares on common with all IBO HG kits so far that I own.

Weapons and Extras

We mentioned that the legs has a special feature. The reason it's bulky is that it houses 2 thrusters that can swivel down for it's high speed poking action. To access it, you'll need to open up the shins to expose the inner frame and swivel the thrusters down. Then you flip the toes down.

Too bad you need the backpack (sold separately) to complete the look. There are some pegs which clamps down the shin armor so they won't flop about when closed.

Also built in are the slash disk launchers. I find it easier to remove the shoulder armor since you can push them out from beneath. Also the slash disks just sits inside, and you'll need something thin and flat to poke it out.

As for handheld weapons, you get a folding knife and the Gungnir lance.

The knife can fold in half and store from behind.

The lance itself consists of several pieces construction-wise and is quite a bit heavy. Also has the same features as the GN-XIII's  as it has some guns near the base. It has a peg to hold the lance securely. 

Also unlike the knife, there are no storage options for the lance. Unfortunately, you cannot complete the jousting motif with out a shield, and by design the space Kimaris does not have one.

Drinking game: Missing booster and Trooper is better

It's pretty decent overall but incomplete. I like the lance and the knife. The slash disks, not so much. Also the fact that the booster is sold separately kind of prevents if from being the full Kimaris experience. The Trooper has more weapons, and does not require you to track and buy a separate booster unit. It's horse mode looks better than the booster mode too. It also has a shield, so the overall jousting theme is carried better by the trooper over the normal Kimaris.

Size Comparison and Other Comparison

The Kimaris's height is just a shade taller because of it's pointy helmet. The bulky armor does give it some heft and mass visually.

Next to his frenemy Grimgerde.

Next to the guy who calls him Gali-gali. Just goes to show you how much taller the Lupus is.

Summary

The kit itself is pretty good on it's own. It has a big weapon, nice articulation, and it does not really require painting to make the kit look screen accurate as the stickers are small. It requires no parts swapping for the legs and the slash disk gimmick. 2 things going against it: the lack of the booster unit and the existence of the Trooper. So if I'm championing the Trooper, then why do I own the normal Kimaris? Simple... it was a gift :D Still, will you feel bad buying this kit? No as it still has enough features for the price and it still looks good with minimal work. I'd still go with the Trooper.

Good:

- as with all IBO kits, pretty good articulation.

- Minimal detaining needed to make it show accurate. Sticker sheet is properly small.

- The lance design is nice and no parts swapping for the leg transformation gimmick

Bad:

- Trooper exists

- Separate booster unit

- that ab crunch that pops out more often than needed

drunk yet?