Review - MG 1/100 GN-001 Gundam Exia + Custom-Painted

Hye, welcome back again to Gunpla Re-BOOT!

Now, I'm gonna do review on MG 1/100 GN-001 Gundam Exia......

I have longed for this MG Exia but don't have opportunity to buy this kit.

Nevertheless, I had bought this MG and custom-painted this model.

Without wasting your time and my time, lets go for the review shall we? 

Boxart

Well, I only have budget just to buy the regular MG not the Ignition Mode Ver. But this boxart look more badass than the Ignition Mode... what an irony...

GN-001 Exia

Overall, Exia has a slim yet muscular body unlike other Gundam especially UC Gundam era. The Exia look good on most angle except front view because the head look weird (that's apply to 00 Gundam and 00 Quanta too)

Articulation

The articulation was good for a high mobility Gundam and all Setsuna's Gundam have this double jointed knee.....

Kneeling position? Not too good since the double jointed knee hindered this kit from doing a kneeling pose very well...

Since Exia don't have side skirt armor, it can do leg split. It also can lift the arms quite well.

The front skirt armor can be lifted up like that to do more dynamic pose on air or on the ground

I don't know what the red thing was but I can say that it was pointless. I don't know whether it was a GN Condenser or just a red thingy without any purpose. (being notified by my friend, its a GN Condenser) Just open the locks and pull out the red thing and replace with with GN Drive.

When you insert the GN Drive, please make sure that u slotted it correctly or you gonna ended up with a stuck GN Drive that was hard to pulled out.

For the MG release, Bandai has creatively design this popped out handle for GN Sword compared to it NG counterpart which require an external parts to hold the GN Drives.

Armaments

The armaments for Gundam Exia. Swords, swords and more swords!!!! LOL

However, I accidentally broke this antenna.... Lucky me, the NG 1/100 have the same identical antenna, only need some trimming on the edge to make it the same as the MG... =D

Completed Model

Isn't this Gundam look awesome? Since I first watched Gundam 00 series, I was awe with the looks of Gundam Exia. It was refreshing, unlike other previous Gundam which all look almost the same. The only rules to make a robot as Gundam was it gonna have a standard red, blue, white and yellow color scheme and it must have a CHIN! LOL. Exia fulfill all of this criteria and pass as a GUNDAM!

I have decided to use LED units which this model required two LED units to flashed up thing. Like usual, even though the LED was darn made by Bandai, the flickering issue still occur..... =_=

GN Swords

The GN Sword wasn't too heavy and the Exia can hold it quite well.. But I must say, the GN Sword only look good on certain poses only....

Exia also can hold GN Sword with this configuration which never seen on the anime except in the manual =3

Setsuna, engaging the enemy!

GN Long and Short Blades

For the GN Long and Short Blade, even though they not look as bad ass as that on MG 00 Seven Sword/G, but for me I don't go for all big and bad ass, I look for practicality. What is the purpose of the equipment if the model can't hold it very well.

GN Beam Daggers and Beam Sabers

While both GN Beam Daggers and Sabers are using the runner from the NG Exia. Talking about convenience. LOL

Comparison between MG and NG Exia

Well, the was many differences between the MG and the NG Exia, however the construction on some parts are almost the same. Nevertheless, the I like the details on MG compared to NG Exia and I'm glad on my decision to buy the MG Version. LOL. MG Exia has shorter and broader GN Sword compared to NG but it works and look good. MG Exia was slightly taller than NG Exia.


Conclusion 

Pros

• Good articulations
• The materials use for GN Strips were nice....
•  GN Sword were not heavy and the Exia can hold it very well
• Good looking on certain poses (?)

Cons

• The ankles weren't good enough.
• The GN Sword peg sometimes popped out from the arm slot.
• The GN Shield sometimes popped out from the arm
• The antenna was easy to break... so  be careful

Verdict

This model kit is a must have since the construction was easy enough to follow but be careful when assembling the arms and legs because they were not identical twins but rather non identical twins.  I must say, after painting this kit, it look awesome! Nevertheless, the kit itself look good with just a plain straight build. I strongly suggest this kit for you.