I released Barbatrick on September 7, 1999. The name came from the cartoon Barbapapa, though the typeface itself has nothing in common with that imagery. The design was essentially a derivative of Hemi Head with speed lines added. I created those lines by copying and pasting them onto the letterforms, a crude process that gave the font its defining feature but not much refinement.

Barbatrick did find some use, mostly in low-end designs for local events. It was not a polished release; at best, it served as a quick variation on an idea I had already explored elsewhere. I later added accents and adjusted spacing, but I never treated it as a major project.

The font was always free for commercial use, and in August 2020 I placed it in the public domain. Looking back, Barbatrick stands as an example of how reusing ideas without significant development rarely results in a strong design.