HGAnno Domini

GN-001 Gundam Exia

The kit that put Celestial Being's melee ace on your shelf for the price of a couple of lunches.

MechaGrade Score

3.4/5

Exia · 1/144 · 2007

GradeHG

Scale1/144

Released2007

Runnersn/a

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The verdict

This is a genuinely fun weekend build that shows its age the moment you try to pose it.

Exia snaps together fast, balances well with its full arsenal in hand, and looks unmistakably like the character on the box. But the waist doesn't bend, the elbows stop short, and a surprising number of stickers do work the plastic should be doing. For 2007, it earned its reputation. In 2026, it's a nostalgia buy more than a technical showcase.

Best for: Gundam 00 fans who want Exia on the shelf cheap, and beginners who don't mind stickers over paint

The full review

What it is

Exia is the melee specialist of Celestial Being's four-Gundam lineup, and this HG gives it a stance that sells that role the second you slide the GN Sword into its hand. It's a small kit, around 12cm, but Bandai packed it with gear: GN Sword, GN Beam Dagger pair, a shield, and enough grip points that it holds a two-handed sword pose without tipping. Assembly is quick, the gray inner-thigh and shoulder plastic gives it a bit of visual depth even before paint, and there's a rubber runner for the shoulder power-connector nubs that's a nice touch for a budget kit. I had it built in under an hour and was posing it inside two.

The catch

The waist is a straight 360 degree swivel with no forward or backward bend, so dynamic lunging poses are basically off the table. The elbows and knees are serviceable but stop earlier than you'd want, and the rear skirt armor is fixed, which caps how far the legs swing back. Bandai leaned on a real sticker sheet to hit the anime's color scheme, especially on the GN Sword blade, where the gray detailing is molded white and needs a sticker or paint to read right. There's no clear or light-up GN Drive part either, so the signature green glow is left entirely to your imagination.

Who it's for

If you're building out a 00 cast on a budget or just want Exia's silhouette on the shelf without committing to the RG or MG price and difficulty jump, this HG delivers exactly that for about the cost of a couple of lunches. Skip it if articulation and screen-accurate color separation out of the box matter to you; the RG solves both of those problems in the same 1/144 footprint for more money and more fiddly small parts. As a first Gunpla or a cheap custom-build donor kit, though, it's an easy recommend.

The build story

What the build is actually like, and the engineering worth knowing about.

Three main runners plus a small rubber sprue for the shoulder connector pegs and polycaps make this a short, low-stress build. Gate placement is unremarkable but nothing chews up visible surfaces, and the plastic feels a step above cheaper HGs of the same era, especially in the gray frame accents peeking through the white armor.

The design leans entirely on its accessory count for value. Two GN Beam Dagger holsters, a stowable shield, and the signature GN Sword cover most of Exia's iconic poses, and the peg-and-socket shoulder joints let the arms swing wide enough to actually use them. Color separation on the body is decent for the price point, but the sword blade and a few panel details fall back on stickers rather than molded plastic.

Lore & trivia

01Exia is piloted by Setsuna F. Seiei, one of Celestial Being's four Gundam Meisters in Mobile Suit Gundam 00.
02It's powered by a GN Drive, one of only four true GN Drives in the series at the time, giving it a near-limitless output compared to standard GN Tau Drive units.
03Exia is built as Celestial Being's dedicated melee unit, favoring the GN Sword and GN Beam Daggers over ranged weapons.
04The kit was originally released in October 2007 alongside the start of Gundam 00's first season, as part of Bandai's HG00 line.