HGBuild Fighters

PPGN-001 Gundam Amazing Exia

A love letter to the original Exia dressed up in tournament-final flash, with a chest plate that never quite got the memo.

MechaGrade Score

3.4/5

Exia · 1/144 · 2014

GradeHG

Scale1/144

Released2014

Runnersn/a

Check price on Amazon

Affiliate link. We may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

The verdict

I like this kit more than its joints deserve.

The Amazing Exia leans hard on nostalgia for the 00 Gundam Exia silhouette and mostly earns it with clean molded color and a genuinely fun Trans-Am booster gimmick, but the single-jointed elbows and a chest piece that sways loose the moment you move an arm keep pulling me out of the moment. It is a kit I enjoy owning more than I enjoy posing.

Best for: Gundam 00 fans and Build Fighters completionists who want the nostalgia hit and don't mind a light-articulation HG

The full review

What it is

This is Bandai's HGBF take on Meijin Kawaguchi III's tournament-final Gunpla, basically an Exia in its Sunday best. It carries over the GN Drive core, the twin-blade GN Sword, and adds a removable Trans-Am Booster backpack that splits into handheld GN Blades, which is the single best design idea in the box. Clicking that booster on and off, then converting the blades, is the kind of tactile fun that made me forgive a lot else. The clear green parts on the legs, arms, and shield stand in for stickers, which I appreciate, and the sword blade's clear green plastic catches light nicely on a shelf.

The catch

The single-jointed elbows genuinely limit how much you can do with the arms, there is no double-hinge here, so dynamic sword poses flatten out fast. Worse is the chest armor, it sits loose enough that swinging an arm makes the front chest piece flop or slide out of place, and getting it to sit right again takes fiddling every time. There are visible seam lines on the front and back of the thighs and across the top of the head that need cementing and sanding if you want a clean finish, since this is a straight rehash of the older Exia frame rather than a new tool.

Who it's for

If you already love the Exia line or watched Build Fighters and want Meijin's tournament kit on the shelf, this delivers that specific joy, especially with the booster gimmick doing a lot of heavy lifting. If you're chasing display-ready articulation for dynamic sword poses, look at a Real Grade or Master Grade Exia instead, this HG is built for nostalgia and price point, not for holding a lunge pose. Builders comfortable with basic seam cleanup will get more out of it than those who want an out-of-box clean build.

The build story

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

The build itself is straightforward and solid, this is the same core engineering as earlier HG Exia releases so nothing here surprises you mid-assembly. Gate placement is typical HG-era Bandai, cleanup is easy on most parts, but the thigh and head seams are the two spots worth a pass with cement and sandpaper if you care about a clean finish. Eleven runners and one foil sticker sheet keep the build brisk, this isn't a kit that eats an evening.

The Trans-Am Booster is the real engineering win, it detaches cleanly, converts into two handheld GN Blades, and gives the kit a second silhouette without needing extra parts you'll never use again. Color separation is strong for the price thanks to the clear green plastic doing work that would otherwise be stickers. Where it falls down is posing, the single-jointed elbows and a chest plate with no real retention mean you're fighting the kit a little every time you go for something more dynamic than a standing pose.

Lore & trivia

01The Amazing Exia is piloted by Meijin Kawaguchi III and is built around the GN-001REII Gundam Exia Repair II design from Mobile Suit Gundam 00.
02It first appeared incomplete in the Build Fighters semi-finals with only the GN Sword and GN Shield, then returned finished for the final match with the Trans-Am Booster and GN Blade added.
03The Trans-Am Booster is a detachable backpack unit that uses the GN Drive as its main fuselage and converts into a flight unit, echoing the Trans-Am system's threefold performance boost from the original Exia.
04The kit released in Japan in 2014 as HGBF #016, part of Bandai's High Grade Build Fighters line tied to the Gundam Build Fighters anime.