Well, here it is. Barbatos Nemesis.

This is the very first Gunpla kit I built, back in January 2017. At the time I had no idea what a wild ride it’ll take me on. As my first year as Gunpla builder (and scale modeler in general) comes to an end, I couldn’t be happier to close it with a kit that started it all.

Kit Talk

When I first built this FM 1/100 Barbatos Lupus, my entire toolbox was a pair of wire cutters and a big utility knife. Basically the stuff I dug up in the garage. Looking back, I’m amazed my nub removal wasn’t a complete disaster. 

Lupus is a great kit out of the box, and for a while I was quite happy with OOB. As a Gundam fan since childhood, it felt great to have a model of one on my desk. Eventually though, as I learned more about Gunpla, I decided I want more out of it. At the beginning I just wanted to follow the basics I saw in beginner videos. Some panel lining, maybe seam removal and a matte coat. But as the time went on, I started thinking bigger. Some minor mods. Maybe painting. Extending the waist. Building a new sword. You get the idea. 

Barbatos Nemesis

For the most part, I had no plan whatsoever. I just wanted to learn and try out new techniques. Throughout the year I was building up my workshop and my skill set. Still, I couldn’t picture the finished kit in my mind until October-November. It was around that time that I also started creating a back story for Barbatos – Project Nemesis. If you’re into fan fiction, you can find it down below, under the gallery.

I’m sure quite a few mods will go unnoticed. And I’m fine with that. They might not show very well in pictures, but it doesn’t diminish my satisfaction from completing them. My favorite has to be articulating the back skirts. A big gamble which really paid off. 

If you’re interested in seeing (almost) everything I changed, check out the WIP posts.

Barbatos Nemesis – Gallery

Project Nemesis

IBO Spoilers ahead. I highly suggest you watch the show before reading.

Emerging Threat

Over 300 years passed since Calamity War ended. And yet, its threats still linger. Reactivation of Mobile Armor Hashmal on Mars proved it. Although Tekkadan’s Mikazuki Augus defeated it shortly after, the question remained. How many Mobile Armors still lie buried, waiting to rise and wage war on humanity once again? More importantly, how could Gjallarhorn combat such threat? Events on Mars proved current weapon technology was inadequate. While the Gundam units could go head to head with Mobile Armors, disengaging their safety limiters came at great risk to the pilots. More importantly, most of the 72 Gundam Frames remained unaccounted for since the end of Calamity War. A new type of weapon was needed.

R&D

Development of such weapon was entrusted to Gjallarhorn’s Project Nemesis. Originally established by Rustal Elion for the development of Alaya-Vijnana Type E system, as well as ASW-G-XX Gundam Vidar, this secret research division seemed like an obvious choice.

The proposed solution was development of autonomous Mobile Suits, unburdened by the flaws of a human pilot. Due to the ban on artificial intelligence, Gjallarhorn built a secret facility to accommodate the project, deep underneath martian wasteland. Based on the Alaya-Vijnana Type E research, the team developed a new AI to control the Mobile Suits – Nemesis System. Unfortunately, a system this complex required massive amounts of energy to operate. A single Ahab reactor of mass-produced units was not enough. Not without years of optimization.

Only one solution remained – installing the system in a Gundam. After the fall of Tekkadan, Gjallarhorn recovered Barbatos Lupus Rex, the White Devil. Using this machine made the most sense – after all it already defeated a Mobile Armor once. Despite critical damage, research team eventually rebuilt it as ASW-G-08NX Gundam Barbatos Nemesis.

Fatal Error

Fed with Mikazuki Augus’ combat data, the Nemesis System ran combat simulations for months, against all known Mobile Armors. The project progressed fast. The results were astonishing, far beyond expected values. Eventually the prototype was completed and ready for actual combat test. The test parameters received by AI were simple – disable a squad of Graze suits, without endangering their pilots.

Barbatos failed the test.

Mere seconds after activation, machine deactivated all of its safety limiters and went berserk, furiously attacking other Mobile Suits. The Gundam annihilated test team within a minute, no pilot survived. It then proceeded through the research center, destroying everything in its path, before escaping onto the planet’s surface. All attempts at remote shutdown failed. No pursuit team that reported sighting the unit returned.

Investigation of Barbatos’ memory backups eventually revealed additional information within the combat data. As the report said, “unrecoverable audio files, as well as traces of images and patterns vaguely resembling human brain activity”.

Barbatos Nemesis is still unaccounted for.