HGAnno Domini

GN-001 Gundam Exia NAGOYA GRAMPUS Ver.

The 2007 Exia mold back on the pitch in Grampus red, nostalgia with a team scarf on.

MechaGrade Score

3.2/5

Exia · 1/144 · 2020

GradeHG

Scale1/144

Released2020

Runnersn/a

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The verdict

I like this kit for what it honestly is: a beloved, aging HG mold repainted in J.League team colors, not a modern reengineering of Exia.

If you go in expecting 2007-era HG plastic, you will have a good time with it. Go in expecting anything close to a current HG and the 90-degree elbows and sticker-reliant detailing will sting. It is a fun curiosity first and a great Exia second.

Best for: Gunpla collectors or Nagoya Grampus fans who want a novelty display piece and already know the base 2007 HG Exia's quirks

The full review

What it is

This is the original 2007 HG 1/144 Gundam Exia tooling, given a full Nagoya Grampus red and white paint job as part of Bandai's 2020 J.League collaboration wave marking Gunpla's 40th anniversary. Under the team colors it is the same suit that anime fans have built for close to two decades, GN Sword with its gun and blade modes, GN Shield, GN long and short blades, and beam saber. Building it feels like reuniting with an old, slightly stiff friend. The team-color runners are a genuinely fun novelty on the shelf, and popping the GN Sword between its forms still feels satisfying every time.

The catch

The mold shows its age. Elbows only bend to about 90 degrees, which flattens a lot of dynamic poses, and the waist does not bend forward or back at all. Color separation leans hard on stickers rather than molded plastic, and reviewers consistently flag that the green decals for the arm, leg, and head vents barely show through the clear plastic covering them. The beam saber is an unpainted grey stick with no blade effect part, which undercuts the anime look. Small parts like the GN Condenser vent covers and the blue GN Sword handguard are prone to popping loose during posing.

Who it's for

Grab this one if you are a J.League or Nagoya Grampus fan who wants a genuinely different-looking Exia on the shelf, or a Gunpla completionist chasing the sports-collab runs from 2020. It is also a fine, cheap way to experience the OG Exia if you have never built one. Skip it if you want serious articulation for dynamic posing or crisp out-of-box color separation, in which case the RG Exia or a Gundam 00-era MG will serve you far better. Budget in paint or gundam markers if you want the vents to actually read as intended.

The build story

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

The build itself is straightforward and beginner-friendly, three main runners plus a rubber runner for the shoulder connectors, nothing that will trip up a first-timer. Where it gets fiddly is the sticker sheet. The large decal for the GN Shield needs careful placement to sit flush, and several of the smaller vent stickers on the arms, legs, and head sit under a layer of clear plastic that mutes their color once applied.

Where the kit still earns its keep is the GN Sword, which swaps cleanly between its gun and long-blade sword modes and comes with the full complement of GN long and short blades plus a shield, giving you real loadout variety for a budget HG. Six interchangeable hands cover grip and open poses well. The frame holds standing poses fine, it is just the elbow and waist limits that show the kit's 2007 roots the moment you try anything more dynamic.

Lore & trivia

01This colorway comes from a 2020 collaboration between Bandai Spirits and Japan's J.League, which produced team-branded HG kits including Gundam 00-era suits like Exia and 00 Gundam alongside Gundam SEED suits like Strike and Impulse, timed to Gunpla's 40th anniversary year.
02The base HG 1/144 Gundam Exia mold this kit uses dates back to 2007, tied to the original broadcast of Mobile Suit Gundam 00.
03GN-001 Gundam Exia is the signature suit of Setsuna F. Seiei in Mobile Suit Gundam 00, powered by a GN Drive that lets it fight without the series' signature GN Particle supply limitations most other suits face.