Yeah, mentioning it only in whispers.

In the beginning it was emphasised that Barbatos' holding room was a restricted area. That's why I thought it was a secret, like a wild card for the group.

I'm also under the impression that it wasn't fully combat ready either.

Oh yeah, the thing is incomplete.

Does Barbatos have a beam rifle? Because I see the hammer as his only weapon shown.

It does not seem like it has any long range weapons at the current moment. It may need to scavenge a weapon.

Do beam rifles even exist? The Graze seems to be using solid rounds.

Good point! Beam anything does not look like it exists in this timeline.

One of the weapon sets shows he has a rifle of some sort:

http://www.gundammodelkits.com/wp-co...-image-101.jpg

It looks like a scavenged Rifle from the mobile worker but I could be wrong.

I think that IBO might just have on of the best first episodes I've seen in Gundam. The art is great, the mecha deigns are awesome (I love those tanks make up the primary force instead of it being all MS), the characters seem likable, and the story has a lot of potential. I am now very eager to see this show through to the end. And I have an overwhelming urge to army-build Mobile Workers.

Forgive my ignorance, but what is IBO?