HGPost Disaster

ASW-G-08 Gundam Barbatos [Recirculation Color/Neon Blue]

The cheapest great HG in the line, now glowing electric blue under a black light.

MechaGrade Score

3.8/5

Barbatos · 1/144 · 2022

GradeHG

Scale1/144

Released2022

Runnersn/a

Check price on Amazon

Affiliate link. We may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

The verdict

This is the same excellent budget HG Barbatos from 2015, just recast in a neon blue and black plastic that genuinely changes how the kit feels on a shelf.

The frame, the articulation, the part count, all of it is unchanged and still holds up nine years later. What's different is the mood: this colorway leans into the Recirculation Color program's recycled-plastic gimmick and comes out looking sharper for it, especially the chest and thigh accents that pop under any kind of UV or black light.

Best for: IBO fans and colorway collectors who already know they like the base Barbatos sculpt and want a striking display-only variant

The full review

What it is

At its core this is the original HGIBO 001 Gundam Barbatos, one of the cheapest, most efficient HG kits Bandai has ever put out, now molded in a recycled-plastic black and neon blue scheme instead of the usual matte grays and reds. The frame underneath is the same IBO inner-frame engineering that made this kit a sleeper hit in 2015, and it still builds in an afternoon with zero fuss. What changes is the finished look. The neon blue on the vents, chest, and thigh armor reads as genuinely striking in person, and it catches light in a way the standard release never did. For a kit this cheap and this old, it still feels like a fresh object.

The catch

This is a straight recolor, not a re-engineered kit, so every limitation of the 2015 original is still here. The included foil stickers are still fiddly and a little irritating to apply cleanly, especially the small chest and head details, and the polycap joints will loosen over years of repeated posing the way any budget-era HG polycap does. It was also a limited Gundam Base exclusive release, so secondary market pricing runs well above the original's famously cheap price point, and colorway purity depends entirely on liking neon blue and black together. If you want the classic red and gray Barbatos, this isn't it.

Who it's for

Buy this if you already love the standard HG Barbatos and want a second copy that looks different enough to justify shelf space, or if the neon blue and black recycled-plastic aesthetic appeals to you as its own thing. It is also a reasonable pickup for IBO completionists chasing Gundam Base exclusives. Skip it if you're a first-time builder looking for value, since the standard-color HG Barbatos does everything this kit does for a fraction of the resale price, and skip it if you specifically want the anime-accurate red and gray look for a diorama or Lupus conversion project.

What works

Same excellent IBO inner-frame articulation as the original: double-jointed arms and legs with real 180-degree bend at the elbows and knees
Neon blue and black recycled-plastic colorway has real shelf presence and stands out from every other Barbatos on a display case
Quick, satisfying build with no real difficulty spikes, true to the original kit's beginner-friendly reputation

Worth knowing

Foil stickers are still fussy to apply straight, same complaint builders had about the 2015 release
Limited Gundam Base exclusive means aftermarket prices run well above what the original budget kit sold for
No engineering upgrades over the nine-year-old original, so it doesn't fix the era's simpler hand and waist joints

Sold? Grab it.

Check price on Amazon

Affiliate link. We may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.

The build story

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

The build itself is unchanged from the original 2015 HGIBO release: six runners, one polycap set, and a foil sticker sheet, all snapping together in an afternoon with minimal gate cleanup. Nub placement is forgiving and the parts fit snugly without the looseness some later budget HGs picked up. The main extra step is deciding how carefully to apply the foil stickers, since they're the one part of the kit that still asks for patience.

What sold this kit originally, and still sells it here, is the frame. The double-jointed arms and legs give real 180-degree bends, the ankles swivel to keep the feet flat through a wide range of poses, and the shoulders swing forward enough for proper two-handed weapon poses. Molded color separation on this recolor is genuinely strong: the neon blue callouts on the chest vents and thighs read cleanly without needing paint, which is more than a lot of HGs from this era can say.

Lore & trivia

01The original HGIBO Gundam Barbatos launched in 2015 as one of the cheapest kits Bandai ever released at roughly 1,000 yen, and its inner-frame engineering is widely credited with resetting expectations for what an entry HG could do.
02This Recirculation Color, Neon Blue release used the Gunpla Recycling Project's Eco-Pla process, mixing recycled plastic with bright colorant, and was sold as a limited item through Gundam Base Tokyo, Gundam Base Fukuoka, and Gundam Side-F.
03Barbatos is the mobile suit at the center of Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans, piloted by Mikazuki Augus and rebuilt across multiple in-story forms over the series.
04The kit includes parts for both the 1st Form and 4th Form configurations from the anime, letting builders display either version from the same box.