HG IBO 1/144 Gundam Dantalion Review

Dantalion might be the last, I thought. But when I heard of Astaroth Rinascimento's release.... I've changed my mind. Anyways welcome to the long-awaited review for the long-awaited HGIBO that had became a hot topic in my community... The Gundam Dantalion!

Dantalion is the 71st Gundam Frame built on the Calamity War, and won the Calamity War Championship belt due to its astounding records in battles against mobile armors. From high mobility to supermachine strength, Dantalion can be said as the ultimate Gundam Frame.

Dantalion comes with a surprising number of runners for its bulk. Six runners, a set of polycaps, and a sticker sheet.

And since my Dantalion is one of the many 1st releases, it comes with a Try Age card which I can't play here. But ah well, another one to the collection.

Front&Rear View

It's also the skinniest Gundam Frame throughout the line. Its forearms are slimmer than the original Barbatos. And you can also see that this kit had a great parts separation for a HG IBO.The elbow and knee joints are new, too. I like those joint designs more than the original, as they add up for variations and a new look.

It's also really funny that Dantalion has no rear skirt armors.. but instead had its partial frame exposed as the rear skirt.. because if you have a 1/100 Gundam Frame you can see that part is how the butt frame looks like.

And I'm really liking the skull head design as well. It's made of multiple white parts that cover the head frame! Although the face is a bit derpy if you look it from certain angles.

The gray pieces on the shoulders and thighs are all parts. The blues on the torso and wrist cuffs were all parts. The white cheeks were supposed to be yellow, and uses stickers. But I gave up on that, because it'll suck.

Stickers used were the orange yellows on the knees and front skirt, and the blues on the front skirt.


New Articulations

And this is why I love Dantalion. It's got real double joints! They won't go really far, though. But they will help a lot for the Half Cowl T equipping.

Accessories

For accessories, you get the Bayonet Rifle, a stand for the T-Booster, and the T-Booster itself which I'll get into later and show you how it works.

The bayonet rifle requires you to attach the gun handle to the rifle for the gun mode. Not a big deal for me. And this really suits Dantalion's image pretty well, as a skinny Gundam carrying large weapons.

It can also be used as a long rifle, and it had no problem holding such weapon with just one hand.

Same goes for its sword mode, where you had to remove the gun handle. Whoever said you can't display this amazing Gundam in its naked form with the bayonet sword? You totally can! And it looks f***ing amazing!

Size comparison of the bayonet sword. A pretty tall weapon.
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The Main Event.... T-Booster

If Lafter was still using the Hyakuri, she'll just cry seeing this beefy piece of equipment. This is the T-Booster, a giant thruster capable of sending the Gundam in long distances. It's equivalent to a Kutan's travelling power.

And what an amazing engineering. The mechancal fingers act as some sort of thruster fins, and they didn't look so bad.

Included is also a stand that will be crucial in holding the massive backpack together once it's attached to the Gundam. You can adjust its height at 4 different points.

And that's how Dantalion will look like with the T-Booster equipped. It will surely outrun even the highly mobile Bael in terms of speed...

How the stand works is their pegs plug into those slots on the grey part.And it just stands.


Half-Cowl T

To transform the T-Booster into the Half-Cowl T, you have to press the large arms so that they will fit into the shoulders (as you can see earlier the T-Booster configuration had its large thruster arms expanded)  raise its arms, fold the forearms in, remove the top portion of the large arms, and feed the arms to the lower portion, and re-attach the top portion.

It'll then look something like this. Better than parts swapping because the actual arms do lock the Half Cowl T in place.

Extend the Hulk arms to reveal the joints. Extend the large manipulators also.

And there you have it, the Half Cowl T! What can I say, it looks freaking amazing and savage! With more punching energy than Full City, it's sure to bring doom for the mobile armors.

The red bits on each large arms were stickers, while the grey armor are parts. Those black thruster wells were stickers too.

Articulations wise, there's double joints for the elbow, arms can be raised and the shoulder armor flaps do move, and manipulators can turn around as well as swing up and down.

The fingers are even articulated! You can also cut the fingers and separate them to allow individual movement, if you wish.

And finally there's this piece for the bayonet sword. This allows the Half Cowl T's fingers to hold the sword with stability.

It goes into the palm like so...

... and now it can safely hold the massive bayonet sword without worrying it to wiggle around. Technically you can ignore that piece and have Dantalion hold it straight away, but chances are high that it'll fall.

Action

Pros:

-Articulations are almost on par with Gundam Flauros
-Great additions
-New elbow&knee joint designs
-A real transforming T-Booster/Half Cowl T

Cons:

-Nothing really, aside from the fact that it may be too skinny for some people
-B-Booster/Half-Cowl B has to wait


Verdict

For a HG IBO kit, Dantalion is sure packed with great gimmicks and design. It's the most humanoid Gundam out of the many Gundams present in the anime and manga, too. It may be too skinny for some people, but not for me. I like the idea of a skinny Gundam Frame.

The T-Booster/Half Cowl T is a great addition, too. Not only it can fully transform, it had nice articulations and moving fingers. Not to mention for a HG IBO it had a great parts separation. If Bandai would release the B-Booster/Half Cowl B, I'll be most amused.

Anyways, to the common question, do you wanna buy this or not? And the answer is yes. GO FREAKING BUY IT!!! JUST DO IT!!! I recommend this for everyone, because for such bulkiness, it's another easy and simple assembly! And so worth the wait since the day it's first teased as an actual HG.


I think that's all for the review of Gundam Dantalion, and I'll see you next time...




BUT WAIT!!!

-to be continued?