Kit Review

Straight build +
panel lining

Size comparison with a cigarette pack

Upper body close-up

Impressively complex color separation..

Head close-up

The back's color separation is finally complete.. ^^

1/100 Gundam Exia - Legs with fine detail. Look closely and you'll notice the seam lines are almost completely hidden, MG-sty

Legs with fine detail.
Look closely and you'll notice the seam lines are almost completely hidden, MG-style.

The yellow collar(?) is articulated, as expected.

1/100 Gundam Exia - This was a minor issue on the HG too — the round clear parts on the forearms tend to pop out pretty easil

This was a minor issue on the HG too — the round clear parts on the forearms tend to pop out pretty easily.
I'd recommend either gluing around them with cement, or when trimming the clear part gates,
intentionally leaving a little extra so they fit in nice and snug.
(By the way, this gate-leaving trick seems to be necessary for the clear parts on all 00 kits..)

1/100 Gundam Exia - Also, the hip joints at the top of the legs tend to spread apart and get loose pretty easily. Gluing them

Also, the hip joints at the top of the legs tend to spread apart and get loose pretty easily.
Gluing them in place with bond seems like the way to go for durability and joint strength.
Even with snap-fit, there's not much you can do about parts that take a lot of stress.

Exia's weapons loadout is rea~lly generous..

Unarmed body

1/100 Gundam Exia - True to its nickname "Seven Sword," this sword-wielding Gundam comes with a whopping 7 blades..

A.k.a. "Seven Sword"
True to its sword-wielding Gundam reputation, it comes with a whopping 7 blades.. ㅎㄷㄷ..

GN Short Blade / Long Blade with even better color separation

GN Sword

The GN Sword's transformation gimmick has become more refined.
It bends and folds in all sorts of places..

The GN Sword changes grip depending on whether it's being used as a blade or a rifle.

The movement and draw gimmick for the beam daggers mounted on the rear skirt are perfectly reproduced.

Drawing pose for the beam sabers mounted on the rear shoulders.

Nicely done color separation on the shield

Both the GN Short and Long Blades can be mounted on either side of the hip joints.

Full armed mode with the GN Short/Long Blades attached.

1/100 Gundam Exia - Now, about the articulation — it's on a completely different level from older 1/100 kits, practically MG-

Now, about the articulation — it's on a completely different level from older 1/100 kits, practically MG-class.
The skirts do get in the way though.. the thighs struggle to even reach 90 degrees.

1/100 Gundam Exia - But if you spread the legs out slightly to work around it, you can get almost~ a full Strike kneeling pos

But if you spread the legs out slightly to work around it, you can get almost~ a full Strike kneeling pose.

1/100 Gundam Exia - Both the elbows and knees are double-jointed, but the leg double joints are really unique — half the bend

Both the elbows and knees are double-jointed,
but the leg double joints are really unique — half the bend comes from above the knee and the other half from below.

Wow.. is this really the articulation of a 1/100 No Grade kit?

Unfortunately, the shoulder's forward-and-back range of motion feels even more limited than the FG..

Alright, time for some action poses~

Dynamic GN Sword action. Whatever else you might say, this kit really spreads its legs wide.

Action pose using the GN Sword in rifle mode

Even a kneeling pose looks natur~al.

Full armed action

1/100 Gundam Exia - GN Blade draw pose. It barely pulls off the look, but the GN Blade doesn't hold very well and tends to fa

GN Blade draw pose. It barely pulls off the look, but
the GN Blade doesn't hold very well and tends to fall off.

GN Blade action

Drawing the beam dagger from the rear and the beam saber from the back shoulder.

Beam action.

You can attach the compatible parts for Action Base 1.
The stand connector holds on pretty firmly.

Stand on!

Various action poses on the stand

Comparison with the HG Exia.
The HG got a massive upgrade too, but the 1/100 feels like it got even more.

Together with the FG and HG

1/100 Gundam Exia - Comparison with the 1/100 Impulse Gundam body from the previous series, SEED Destiny. When the 1/100 Impu

Comparison with the 1/100 Impulse Gundam body from the previous series, SEED Destiny.
When the 1/100 Impulse came out, it felt like only a slight step up from the Strike,
but the 1/100 Exia feels like a completely different kit altogether.
As you can see from the proportions, the 1/100 Exia is built to nearly MG-level standards.
Small head, long legs, sleek proportions, great color separation — it's basically an MG without the inner frame.

1/100 Gundam Exia - Looking at the leg detail, you can clearly see that the 1/100 Exia is right up there with MG-style constr

Looking at the leg detail, you can clearly see that the 1/100 Exia is right up there with MG-style construction.

Straight build shots. Even straight out of the box, it's plenty colorful~.

It's not like SEED.
It's just not like SEED...

The HG Exia came out with a massive upgrade over its predecessors,
so the 1/100 Exia had a lot of expectations riding on it as well.
And sure enough, just as expected,
the 1/100 Exia has come out close to what you'd call an "MG without the inner frame."

First off, thanks to the thorough color separation that's a hallmark of 1/100 kits,
it's become far more colorful than the HG. Sure, there are a few spots on the GN Sword and some other areas where the color separation feels a bit lacking (almost intentionally so), but at this level, I'd say it's pretty darn nice.

The first thing that really stands out is the proportions. Back in the day, No Grade 1/100 kits were built with a reasonably large head and safe proportions — Bandai's strategy was to clearly differentiate them from the slim, slender MGs. But the 1/100 Exia has been built with proportions that are almost identical to an MG. The MG trademarks are all here: small head, slimmer and longer legs, a leaner body — it's a much more refined look overall.

The exterior armor detail is also nearly on par with MG, with fine molding and detail carved into every section. Honestly, aside from the lack of an inner frame, the exterior alone could pass for an MG without any awkwardness. The legs in particular are designed so that the parts cover up most of the seam lines, MG-style. Old 1/100 kits used to leave seam lines completely exposed for all to see, so this definitely feels like something has changed.

And when you actually build it, you get that satisfying smooth snap-fit feel that's become the norm for recent MGs — it just feels great in your hands. But more than anything, you'll be genuinely surprised by how dramatically the articulation has improved. The arm and leg bends, which used to be capped at around 90 degrees to keep them clearly below MG grade, have all been switched to double joints and now fold almost completely. The one downside is that the front skirt armor keeps getting in the way and popping off, which makes the hip raise angle a bit awkward — but if you spread the legs out a little, you can get some seriously deep kicks, almost like an Ong-Bak knee strike.

That said, the shoulder block movement — which used to swing around as one big chunk, a signature trait of the Exia — has been toned down a bit to better show off the color separation and sculpt. The shoulder's range of motion up, down, forward, and back has actually gotten narrower than even the HG, and even the FG. How it ended up worse than the FG is a bit of a head-scratcher... that's definitely a disappointment.

Overall though, the articulation has reached MG-level territory — something that's simply incomparable to old 1/100 kits. In fact, for wide-legged stances, it actually pulls off more natural and stable poses than many MGs. And Exia's signature Seven Swords are all faithfully included, with the GN Sword and shield gimmicks and color separation even more polished than before.

A few downsides to point out: first, the GN Blade mounted on the side tends to fall off easily because the connection isn't very secure. The joint where it connects to the hip area isn't very sturdy — and honestly, the hip joint itself has some durability issues. It's not loose exactly, but the connector parts linking the legs to the hip joint are weak and tend to spread apart during action poses. You'll want to glue that part down to get stable poses. Since you can still disassemble and re-glue it even after the full build, I'd recommend gluing the round hip joint connector parts one way or another.

Also — the HG had a bit of this too — the round clear parts that attach to the arms and legs don't hold very well. The legs are fine, but the arms are the problem. Just pressing them in isn't enough; they tend to pop out during posing and you'll easily lose them. I've bent down to search for them more times than I'd like to admit...

So either glue those parts down, or when you clip them off the runner and clean up the gate, intentionally leave a tiny bit of the gate so the fit is tighter. If you're worried about glue marks showing, I'd recommend the latter — leave just a little gate nub and press it in. Once it's on, the gate area is barely visible anyway, so it's not a big deal. By the way, this little trick works on all Gundam kits HG grade and above that use clear parts like this.

Also, when you raise the legs up, the front skirt pops off way too easily. This is a common issue with kits that have good articulation, but still — a little more attention to this would've been nice.

The overall joint strength is pretty good and well-balanced, but the ankles feel ever so slightly on the weak side — maybe it inherited that from the SEED MG lineage. If the center of gravity is off, the ankles are the first to give. That said, they're still sturdier than the somewhat flimsy ankles on the MG Strike/Freedom/Justice and similar kits ^^;

As you can see in the photos above, standing it next to the 1/100 Impulse, the gap between them looks like the difference between a No Grade and an MG — it's that dramatic. Even just picking it up, the 1/100 Exia feels noticeably heavier, that's how close it's gotten to MG territory. Looking at the 1/100 Exia — which could easily be titled "MG without the inner frame" — I can't help but wonder: if an MG Exia ever comes out down the line, what on earth are they going to do to top this? They've already upgraded it to such an absurd degree...

In a way, these MG-like 1/100 kits might actually have some advantages over the MG line, which is arguably Bandai's flagship Gunpla series. Recent MGs come with full inner frames as standard, which definitely satisfies the mecha enthusiast's craving... but on the flip side, the frame construction can cause armor parts to fall off easily, and the build process gets complicated and tricky. And after all that effort, there's that hollow feeling when you realize you can't even see the internals once it's all done. For a 1/100 kit that delivers this level of external detail and articulation, it could honestly be the perfect product for builders who aren't that fussed about inner frames — especially since it's cheaper than an MG but looks almost as good as one. (Of course, if an MG Exia ever comes out, we'd have to reassess that gap all over again.)

Since the look is basically on par with an MG, the panel lining took just as long as it would on an MG, and I ended up taking just as many photos too. Anyway, the HG Exia was already pretty impressive, but the 1/100 Exia is a kit good enough to comfortably exceed even those expectations. I'm really curious just how far Bandai is going to take the overall upgrade across their entire lineup.
Personally, I'm especially looking forward to kits like the 1/100 Virtue and Tieren — the ones with those big, imposing backsides. ^^

1/100 Gundam Exia | 2007. 11 | ¥2,300

AIThis page was translated by Claude Sonnet.