FG Exia Part 4 [Final]

5 weeks versus 5 minutes
Really, the time used to assemble the model is totally disproportional to the time taken to paint it ^^;

But I must say I'm very pleased with the result. All the effort in painting, waiting and repainting really paid off after I see the result. Also, since most of the paint job is done on white parts, I can conclude that it wasn't as hard as BB Senshi Sangokuden Koumei ReGZ. I believe I didn't complain too much on the painting needed for this FG Exia in my previous reviews, not as much as Koumei ReGZ that is. ^^;



All 51 parts including the polycaps. I believe one could finish building it within 5 minutes or so. ^^ I took longer time for that, because I took some time arranging the parts, taking photos and playing with each completed components before putting everything together.

I took as much time I wanted to enjoy the process, as I did with all my models :)


For the arm, the elbow can only bend for 90 degrees, but the biggest letdown is the hand being molded together with the forearm. As you'll see later on, there are really very few things Exia can do with such design ^^;



The leg is not so bad, with double ball-type joint for the ankle and pelvis, it has relatively wider articulation range as compared to the arm unit.

I also find that the polycap for the ankle to be very strong, I had to force it into the joints of the leg and foot with a bit of strength. As a result, the joint is quite stiff, that's a good thing for the model, as stiff joints can help it to sustain its action pose. But for a very light model with very few components, such strong joint is not exactly necessary anyway.

Not to mention this FG Exia can't perform many action poses to sustain in the first place XD



The body unit has the most number of colors painted. Yellow, red, white, gray, metallic green and light blue, very colorful ^^

The shoulder joint is an unbelievably awesome design.


Three sets of movement for each joint: apart from the two ball-type joints to the body and upper arm respectively, it also has an arc-type joint in the middle of the polycap, allowing the shoulder block to move separately from arm.

The design allows Exia to show himself stretching and flexing the shoulders ^^

The waist is molded together with the torso, so no waist-turning for FG Exia ^^;


At least the pelvis joint is design to be rotatable, a feature used in many HG kits. Also has an insertion point for Action Display Base 2.

For the head, it's one color away from being the most colorful component for this kit, but because it doesn't need white paint, it lost to the body unit. XD

But squeezing so many colors on such these few tiny parts was quite an amazing experience for me ^^;


And now, putting everything together:






Comparison with the straight assembled version from Part 1.


Closer examination and you can see the rather ugly layered red paiting for the front skirt armor. T_T It's the result of uneven color mixing of the red Gundam Marker - darker and thicker paint accumulating on certain spots while the more 'watery' mix dries up faster, resulting in that glossy surface for that particular part. The waist of Exia is also painted with the same marker, but with the right mix, the color looks just right.


Very nice articulation range for the shoulders - not enough to compensate the lack of joint for the arms though ^^;


Movement of the upper arm and the thigh is limited by the shoulder and skirt armor respectively, to add on to the number of limitation for Exia ^^;


Overall average articulation design for an FG kit, definitely won't be enough for those who demand action and playability.





Still quite fun to play with actually, challenging yourself to think of how much you can ask him to do given the limitations here and there ^^
I would recommend this kit to folks who are just starting on this hobby. The cost is low (500 Yen), the parts are easy to remove and assemble, and if you're thinking of painting it, getting yourself a set of Gundam Marker Gundam Double O Vol. 1 set will give you all the colors needed. And if you're not planning to paint it at all, foil stickers are included nonetheless. Limited in articulation, but it's still much better than the 1/144 scale SEED and SEED Destiny collection kits, which has non-movable knee and elbow joints.

It probably doesn't have much charm left with the subsequent releases of its HG, 1/60, 1/100 versions, and then the improved HG of 00 Gundam. But it's still a great addition to my collection. ^^

All reviews on FG Exia:
- Part 1: Just the beginning
- Part 2: Love the helmet ^^
- Part 3: Saving the best to the last
- Part 4 [Final]: 5 weeks versus 5 minutes

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FG Exia