Iron-Blooded Orphans Urðr Hunt: HG Gundam Asmoday Review

By Rose

It's Suletta Sunday once again, which arbitrarily means it's time to take another peek into Rose's Robot Room. It's been a while! Pretend it hasn't! I've decided to take a dive into the Iron-Blooded Orphans spinoff line, Urðr Hunt, starting with the HG Gundam Asmoday. The IBO line has been a mixed bag so far, some incredible designs marred by loose joints and an over-reliance on stickers. The Asmoday, unfortunately, is no different. Let's take a look.

The first thing you'll note out of the box is that the Asmoday has a somewhat unique color scheme, mostly a simple gray but the accents are where the real fun is. That green really pops. As an HG build, it's pretty simple to get started, and the head and torso come together pretty easily with some really neat details. The head in particular is impressively (and deceptively) complex, with a pretty unique design. The eye stickers are - as usual - a pain, but the shiny vent stickers for the torso go on without much issue.

The arms are also no problem, and they've got these huge tonfa-like attachments on the back which add to the Asmoday's silhouette and give it some of IBO's trademark bulk. The massive clown shoes are next, and I love these things. Like the Lupus Rex before it, the Asmoday has some BOOTS. The feet actually have a really neat gimmick with fold-out claws, lending to Asmoday's catlike appearance.

My main problems with this build came in the legs and waist area. The legs have some horrendous stickers, much like the Lupus Rex, and for me were a bit of a struggle to put together. The real travesty, though, is the loose ball joint in the waist. This thing cannot hold itself up to save its life. In the end I coated the ball joint in a clear nail polish which seems to have tightened it up enough, but be warned if you like to keep these things as-is straight out of the box. Aside from the stickers, though, the legs do have these really cool green vents which do a lot for the overall look and feel of the kit

As for weapons, the Asmoday comes with an extender for the tonfas, a pretty standard rifle, and a blade. The rifle can latch onto the back of the waist pretty cleanly.

The finished kit out of the box...

And with a little bit of panel lining to make the details pop a little:

Overall I do like the HG Gundam Asmoday. It's got a really cool design, and I love the little gimmicks like the cat claws, the (unmovable) grenades on the waist, those sick green vents, and the snap-holster for the rifle on the back. I just wish this kit (and every other IBO kit) had tighter joints and less stickers. If you like to keep things vanilla and want a perfect kit right out of the box, this one isn't for you unless you really love the design. But if you're willing to do a few minor tweaks then I think the HG Gundam Asmoday could be a great addition to your collection!