1/100 Gundam Exia [Review]

Today we review the 1/100 scale Gundam Exia from the Gundam 00 line. The Exia belongs to Setsuna F. Seiei, the lead character in the anime. It is mainly a melee fighter, and boasts seven close range sword weapons. The model itself resembles its anime counterpart very closely, and is capable of taking nearly all the poses it takes in the anime. More on that later...

The plastic pieces are molded in almost all the necessary colors. That includes white, yellow, red, blue, dark gray, and clear. Yeah, clear is not a color, whatever. The light blue/gray parts on its thighs and the middle of its shins are actually rubber pieces that fit into an area left open for the rubber piece. Dark stickers go on the round sides of the knee and a clear piece fits over it to give it that glass orb look. The same applies for the center chest piece and the sides of the head. Basically, almost every color and detail is covered without the use of paint. The yellow on the sides of the head is left blank for you to paint with a fine point, but that shouldn't be too hard. As usual, the eyes are stickers.

They sure went all out with the details on the back. The entire body has plenty of panel lines for you to detail it, but the separately colored pieces give it a really nice, fuller look already. The GN drive on its back has a shiny sticker with lines going vertically, and it wraps around the GN drive to give it that spinning engine look.

True to its title of the Seven Swords, it comes with all 7 blade weapons. It comes with the GN Blade attached to the small shield, which folds up to reveal the beam gun under the blade. The blade and the gun holds up to be in the position of a hand held sword instead of a blade pointing forward. I don't recall the Exia ever holding up the sword like this in the anime, but its been awhile since I've watched the series so whatever. Anyway, it also comes with the two GN swords, which comes in two sizes and attaches to the waist. The swords are totally white, so they really lack that metallic look. You can do some paneling to at least make it look interesting.

Now here is my only gripe with this model. I don't know if its bad molding with my particular kit, but it is designed badly anyway. The two swords rest on small round attachers that are located on the very top of the Exia's thighs/hips. Not only do these attachers have trouble staying on the hips, but the swords themselves rest on the attachers via a puny piece of plastic that sticks into an equally puny hole on the sides of the swords. When trying to pose the model, any of these four things will have trouble staying on. It has caused me so much stress. Anyway, it also comes with two long beam sabers, pink as usual. The last two weapons are its short beam daggers, which aren't too interesting. Besides its swords, it also comes with the large shield, which is nicely detailed.

Articulation for this model is very good. It's flexible enough to do a near-full split. The leg itself is double jointed; it bends at the knee and right below. The joints are very sturdy so the poses hold well. The foot folds between the front and the heel. The thigh is actually not connected by a ball joint on the pelvis, it attaches to the peg coming out directly down from the round hip parts, so the leg can actually turn 360 degrees horizontally. The arms are similar, they turn at the elbow and have another joint below the elbow.

The Exia and this new line of Gundam 00 1/100 models really display how far the no grade 1/100 models come in terms of quality. When compared to older 1/100 models like the 1/100 God Gundam, the Exia almost seems like an older master grade. The paneling, colors, sturdiness, and attention to detail really show off its higher quality. The joints are nicely reinforced and bend all around so it can take all kinds of poses without hinder. The proportions are almost right. The legs seem a bit thicker than normal, but its tolerable. Anyway, this is quality no-grade at its best.