HGBuild Fighters

PPGN-001 Gundam Exia Dark Matter

The Exia frame you already know, dressed for a fight it was built to end.

MechaGrade Score

3.4/5

Exia · 1/144 · 2014

GradeHG

Scale1/144

Released2014

Runnersn/a

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The verdict

This is a good HG Exia kit wearing an excellent paint job's worth of potential it does not ship with.

The frame underneath is the same reliable, poseable Exia architecture from the original HG line, so it moves well and holds a sword stance without complaint. The problem is the finish: too much of what makes this variant look dark and dangerous is riding on stickers and bare white plastic instead of molded color, so it needs work to look as good as its box art.

Best for: Exia fans who already like the base HG frame and want a villain recolor to panel-line and paint, not someone hunting a snap-together shelf piece

The full review

What it is

The Exia Dark Matter is Meijin Kawaguchi's HGBF answer kit built for one purpose in the show, ending Sei and Reiji's Build Fighters run, and Bandai leaned into that with a genuinely mean-looking recolor of the Amazing Exia frame. You get the two Dark Matter Blades on the back booster, the Prominence Blade and Brinicle for melee, a Dark Matter Rifle for range, and the same GN Vulcan and beam saber setup fans of the original know. Building it feels familiar in the best way. This is proven Exia engineering, so the shoulders, hips, and knees all click into place with confidence and the swords look right in hand from the first pose you try.

The catch

The finish is where this kit asks more of you than the price tag suggests it should. A lot of the color distinction between the black armor and the dark red and grey accents comes from stickers rather than separately molded parts, and the clear pink GN condenser bits at the elbows, knees, and chest need paint or a topcoat to really pop instead of looking like clear plastic with a sticker behind it. The head is a hybrid Exia/Astraea shape that reads a little busy compared to the cleaner original face. None of this breaks the kit, but out of the box it looks flatter than the artwork promises, and most builders end up reaching for Gundam markers or Mr. Color to get the dramatic look this variant is going for.

Who it's for

Grab this one if you already like the HG Exia frame and want the meaner Build Fighters version to build up your painting or panel-lining skills on, since the swordwork poses and the backpack blade array are genuinely satisfying once the piece is together. Skip it if you want a kit that looks fully realized straight off the runner with zero extra effort, or if you don't already have a soft spot for Exia's proportions, because this is a recolor of a kit you may already own rather than new engineering. Fans finishing out a Build Fighters shelf will get the most value here.

The build story

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

Assembly runs exactly like the HG Exia lineage it comes from, which means clean part fit at the joints and gates placed where cleanup does not fight visible surfaces on the finished model. If you have built any HG-era Exia kit before, this one will not surprise you mechanically, the frame is a known quantity and it goes together fast.

The standout here is the accessory set. Between the Prominence Blade, the Brinicle, the Dark Matter Rifle, and the detachable Dark Matter Blades on the back booster, you get a genuinely full melee-and-ranged loadout for an HG price point, and the articulation is generous enough to actually use all of it in dynamic poses rather than just holding weapons stiffly at the hip.

Lore & trivia

01The Exia Dark Matter is a modified version of the Gundam Amazing Exia, built and piloted by Meijin Kawaguchi with the specific goal of ending Sei Iori and Reiji's run in Gundam Build Fighters.
02The kit's head design blends elements of the original Gundam Exia and the GN-006 Cherudim Gundam's sibling unit Gundam Astraea, giving it a distinct silhouette from the base Exia.
03It carries a full backpack-mounted Dark Matter Booster with two detachable Dark Matter Blades in addition to the Prominence Blade, Brinicle, and Dark Matter Rifle, one of the more heavily armed loadouts in the HGBF Exia family.
04The kit was released in March 2014 as part of the HGBF (High Grade Build Fighters) line, and Bandai later revisited the same suit at MG 1/100 scale.