HGUniversal Century

RX-160 Byarlant

A Titans black sheep that turns out to be one of the most satisfying oddballs in the HGUC lineup.

MechaGrade Score

3.9/5

Byarlant · 1/144 · 2018

GradeHG

Scale1/144

Released2018

Runnersn/a

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The verdict

I went in expecting a forgettable side-suit and came out genuinely fond of this kit.

The Byarlant is a big, brick-shouldered HG that punches well above its part count, with real shoulder engineering and joints that actually hold a pose instead of drooping the second you let go. It is not clean out of the box, the seamlines are real, but the build itself is fun in a way a lot of same-era HGs are not.

Best for: UC lore fans and HG builders who want a big, sturdy suit with more posing range than its price tag suggests

The full review

What it is

This is Bandai's HG take on the RX-160 Byarlant, the disgraced Titans project that later gets rebuilt into the Byarlant Custom seen in Gundam Unicorn. It is a big kit for the grade, standing around 170mm, and it comes across as a proper mobile suit rather than a filler release. I liked how deliberate the shoulder assembly feels, both ends move independently and the arms swing forward and back off the shoulder block on their own hinge, which is more mechanical thinking than I expect from an HG at this price. The propellant tanks on the back open and close, and it ships with a pair of beam sabers so you are not stuck posing an unarmed suit on the shelf.

The catch

The seamlines are the honest complaint here. They run down the arms, across the shoulders, along the thighs, and onto the back fins, more of them than you typically see on a recent HG, so if you care about a clean silhouette you are looking at some filling and sanding or just making peace with it. The head's range is also limited by the shape of the helmet itself, so you will not get dramatic head tilts no matter how good the neck joint is. And because the suit is broad and a little unconventionally proportioned, some poses that look natural on a humanoid Gundam feel a bit wonky here until you find the right angle.

Who it's for

If you like Universal Century suits with actual design history behind them, or you just want a big, confident-looking HG that will hold a dynamic pose on a shelf without a support stand, this is worth the money. It also rewards people who do not mind a little seam cleanup for a kit that outperforms its price everywhere else. Skip it if you want a pristine out-of-box finish with zero panel work, or if you are only interested in mainline Gundam-type suits and have no room for a Titans oddity in the collection. For most UC fans though, this is a fun, low-risk build.

The build story

What the build is actually like, and the engineering worth knowing about.

The kit comes on 11 runners molded in 7 colors, which keeps color separation solid without leaning hard on stickers. Gate placement is typical HG-era Bandai, nothing brutal, but the parts that make up the shoulders and thruster tanks have enough seams that you will notice them if you look for them. None of it fights you during assembly, it just is not a snap-together clean job.

The engineering is the real story. The neck is a hinge-and-ball combo that rotates and tilts even if the helmet limits how far it can go, the shoulders move on two separate points so the arms can swing forward and back independently of the shoulder block itself, hips lift the legs to roughly parallel with the ground, and knees bend to about 120 degrees. Combined with joints that genuinely hold their position, it is a kit that poses more like an MG than its price suggests.

Lore & trivia

01The RX-160 Byarlant was a Titans project built around independent atmospheric flight without a sub-flight system or transformation gimmick, an unusual design goal for its era.
02After the Titans were disbanded following the Gryps War in UC 0088, the Earth Federation Forces shelved surviving Byarlant units rather than associate with a Titans-developed machine.
03Those mothballed units were later pulled out of storage and rebuilt into the RX-160S Byarlant Custom at Torrington Base, the suit piloted by Robin Diez in Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn.
04This HG release came out in July 2018 as HGUC number 214.