1/100 Gundam Exia Roll Out Colour

Gundam Exia, ready to roll out!

Note: This review is on a sugumi (simply assembled) with some simple touchups.


The 1/100 Gundam Exia Roll Out Colour is a limited version of the normal Gundam Exia model, which has a grey and white colour scheme rather than the typical protagonist Gundam colours (i.e. blue + red + yellow + white).


There are some personal frustrations with this model (not the quality but its distribution). As it's an event limited model one cannot see it in shops usually, and I got this in a shop in Japan that focuses on resold limited goods and costs me a lot. Only to find out that the ACGHK2009 convention was selling them at regular prices a month later -_-


Image from Random Curiosity

First appeared as a 1/144 scale limited yet simple First Grade kit with preorder for the Gundam 00 NDS game as well as an alternative colour scheme as a hidden unlockable feature in the game, Exia does appear in this colour scheme very briefly in the anime as a flashback (last episode of the first season, to be precise).


Ah sugar even with my lowly digital camera the macro shot picks up the dust I don't normally see -_- But I like those little stickers and the colourless "lens" things.


The engine and power source of Exia - the GN Drive. It creates and emits GN particles, which are used for flying, weapons, and even cloaking (self concealment from enemy's sight).

The green part is supposed to be a ring sticker but I've decided to paint it green with my Gundam marker pen to make it look like that the drive is active. Same being done to the centre of the torso.


Exia's equipment excluding the 4 beam sabres/daggers on the Gundam itself. All close combat oriented.


Exia equipped with the GN Sword as well as the GN Shield.


Exia flying. Yes, for those who haven't watch the series, that's how it flies. No need for wings or stabilisers etc and it will just fly by emitting those particles from the drive.


Shooting with Exia's only primary range weapon; its GN Rifle, or rather I'd call it GN Pew Pew Gun. Not only does it sound like one, the pilot Setsuna rarely hits anything with it anyway ^^;


Action pose with its signature GN Sword. The blade itself was just one single piece of plastic in dark grey, so I tried 'blinging' up the edge. Looks pretty nice to me now~ ^^

Will mention what I've used for blinging near the end.


The "I will chop ya" pose


Exia has beam sabres at the back of each shoulder. Found its placement a little odd when I first watched the series but well at least it can still grab one out when needed.


Posing with the beam sabres.


It also has two GN Daggers stored at the back, which look exactly the same as the beam sabres. My guess is that they're pretty much the same thing except they can behave differently depending on the length of the desired beam?


House of flying GN Daggers


Exia has slots in its arms so it can attach weapons securely in addition to just holding them in the hands. Here, this beam rifle from my Gundam Astraea (which was reviewed sometime last year) is compatible with Exia, and I'm sure that there are more weapons from other Gundams in the series that are compatible with Exia too.


The last two weapons - GN Long Sword and GN Short Sword. Other than the different lengths the two swords are pretty much identical.


Exia is not supposed to have these two swords here as they were still being developed at the time of its rollout. It received them sometime in the series and it was pretty early on too.


The swords can be stored on each side of the hip, but the parts for storing them is unbelievably loose, and I'm just lucky that this one is holding just long enough for me to take this picture. Well it makes sense for leaving them out as they're still under development when it's rolled out ^^;


Gundam Astraea and Exia standing side by side. With Astraea being Exia's prototype, one can see some similarities between the two, like the legs, arms, and the torso.


The back view look less similar, but it's good to see the differences and similarities between the two.


As for what I've used to bling up the GN Sword (as well as the hasty works on the other swords), I've used a cheap nail varnish bought from a cosmetic chain store to do the job (with the help from my sister). Didn't have any masking tape to mask off unwanted areas, so clear sticky tapes did the work just find with a bit of care on cutting it out with a small pocket knife. That's how much I don't bother spending on proper art equipments as a casual person ^^;


While grey may seem like a dull colour, ironically I find it a refreshing change to the typical blue and red colours, and it makes the Gundam *seem* more realistic. Personally I like this colour scheme more, and that's why I've bought one despite the unecessary cost. For those who prefer Master Grade models, there's one coming out sometime in the future, which will be a Bandai Hobby Shop limited item - release date & price TBA.

Youtube vlogger Prime92 has made a review of this Exia too (she's a big fan of Exia, just like Ngee Khiong ^^):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62MxzbHRiCY


On a final note, there are two different box arts for this particular limited model. One is just plain text saying it's an event limited, while the other is a monochrome version of the normal box art. The latter seems a bit more common and was seen available even in online shops before. Not sure about it now though. Despite that it's still worth getting if you like this sort of colour (well that's why I got myself a MG G-3 OYW version as well, which as similar colour scheme)!