Kit Review

Straight build

Size comparison with a cigarette pack

Super Robot War 1/144 Exexbein - Detail shots (1/5)

Super Robot War 1/144 Exexbein - Detail shots (2/5)

Super Robot War 1/144 Exexbein - Detail shots (3/5)

Detail shots

The backpack alone, without the shield

The unique verniers on the underside of the backpack

Super Robot War 1/144 Exexbein - The center of the Strike Shield has great color separation, and the T-Link Saber can be stor

The center of the Strike Shield has great color separation,
and the T-Link Saber can be stored inside.

Super Robot War 1/144 Exexbein - The big and awesome Blackhole Buster Cannon (1/3)

The big and awesome Blackhole Buster Cannon

A total of 4 hand parts are included.

Super Robot War 1/144 Exexbein - The 18 T-Link Sliders can be attached and detached from the shoulders, arms, legs, side skir

The 18 T-Link Sliders can be attached and detached from the shoulders, arms, legs, side skirts, and more.

The T-Link Sliders, which function like a kind of fin/bit weapon,
can be deployed as shown.

The base body with the T-Link Sliders removed

The articulation is quite good.

The ankle joints have a zigzag structure, which is pretty unique..

Super Robot War 1/144 Exexbein - The sideways range of motion in particular is something else. Though the joint feel is stiff

The sideways range of motion in particular is something else.
Though the joint feel is stiff and a bit uncomfortable.

Kneeling pose looks natural too!

Unsheathing pose

Super Robot War 1/144 Exexbein - T-Link Saber action pose (1/3)

T-Link Saber action pose

Super Robot War 1/144 Exexbein - Blackhole Buster Cannon firing pose (1/4)

Super Robot War 1/144 Exexbein - Blackhole Buster Cannon firing pose (2/4)

Blackhole Buster Cannon firing pose

Super Robot War 1/144 Exexbein - T-Link Slider deployment pose. Would've been nice if some kind of display stand was included

T-Link Slider deployment pose.
Would've been nice if some kind of display stand was included — a bit of a missed opportunity.

Together with the similarly colored ART-1.

The Super Robot Wars lineup used to feel like it was getting maybe one new kit a year, but new releases have been trickling out more steadily lately. This is the Exexbein, released as the 52nd Super Robot Wars kit. The design is incredibly stylish just to look at, so I think a lot of people will be tempted to pick it up on design alone, even if they're not familiar with Super Robot Wars.

The biggest feature of the Exexbein is the whopping 18 T-Link Sliders, which work kind of like Gundam's funnels or bit weapons — they can be attached and detached across the shoulders, forearms, side skirts, legs, backpack, and more. With so many accessories to plug in, you'd expect some parts to get loose, but thankfully the T-Link Sliders hold on well enough that it's not really a problem.

You can also deploy each T-Link Slider individually, though it's a bit of a shame there's no dedicated stand, so you end up just laying them out on the floor. The yellow ring sections have nice color separation, but the white parts don't, which is also a slight letdown. Even for Kotobukiya, who are pretty good at partial painting on runners, tackling 18×2 = 36 slider parts with partial paint on all of them was probably just too much to ask.

For weapons, you get the Strike Shield, T-Link Saber, and Blackhole Buster Cannon. The T-Link Saber fits neatly inside the Strike Shield, and the grandly named Blackhole Buster Cannon is both large and impressively designed. That said, it's so big that getting the kit to hold it at the right angle is a bit of a hassle.

The articulation also surpasses most Bandai kits, with arms and legs that fold up nicely, plus ankle joint mobility that's almost absurdly good. Joint strength has also reached a mature level at this point — this isn't a kit that feels loose.

That said, there's still a big gap compared to Bandai when it comes to how the joints actually feel to move. They're too stiff and uncomfortable, which makes posing the kit more of a chore than it should be. If I had to describe it in one word, the joints feel "creaky." It's definitely better than being floppy like a wet noodle, but finding the right balance between holding a pose and moving smoothly still seems to be a challenge for them.

Also, Kotobukiya kits from 2010 onward have seen a lot of improvement with snap-fit, so assembly without glue is mostly doable. However, some of the color separation parts don't hold very securely, so a little bit of glue is still needed in the end.

To sum it up, this is a recent release that showcases Kotobukiya's improved engineering, delivering great styling, articulation, joint strength, and weapon functionality — it's a solid mecha kit overall. There are minor gripes with the joint feel and some color separation, but the design is sharp and distinctive in a way you just don't see from Bandai, and despite the steep price, it's a kit I'd recommend giving a shot. :-)

Exexbein | 2014.10 | ¥6,800

AIThis page was translated by Claude Sonnet.