HGBuild Fighters

PPGN-001 Gundam Exia Dark Matter [Trans-Am Mode]

The same menacing Exia variant, dipped in glittering Trans-Am purple.

MechaGrade Score

3.5/5

Exia · 1/144 · 2014

GradeHG

Scale1/144

Released2014

Runnersn/a

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The verdict

This is a recolor kit done right, not a lazy one.

Bandai took the standard Exia Dark Matter mold and reworked every runner in a glittery maroon-purple resin with clear blue accents standing in for the usual clear parts, and the combination actually looks like the suit mid Trans-Am activation rather than a reskin. I built mine expecting a gimmick and came away liking it more than I expected for an HG that snaps together in an afternoon. It will not challenge an MG for engineering, but as a display piece of a genuinely cool antagonist suit it earns its spot on the shelf.

Best for: Build Fighters fans and Exia collectors who want the Trans-Am color state without hunting down a painted custom

The full review

What it is

This kit is the C3 2014 Hobby Fair exclusive recolor of the HGBF Exia Dark Matter, the suit Meijin Kawaguchi piloted to try to end Sei and Reiji's run at the World Tournament. The gimmick is that every runner comes pre-molded in the glittery purple-maroon shade the suit wears when Trans-Am is active, and the clear parts are swapped from the usual tint to a cooler clear blue that plays nicely against that palette. Assembly is fast and satisfying in the way good HGs usually are: snap the frame together, clip the armor over it, and the color separation is already sitting there waiting on you. I had it built in well under an hour and it looked show accurate the moment the last part clicked in.

The catch

It is still an HG in a line built for speed and price, so do not expect MG-grade panel lines or a locked-tight frame. The trans-am plastic has a glossy finish that shows nub marks and seam lines more readily than a matte color would, and I had to lean on the included glittery stickers to cover a couple of spots I would rather have painted. Those stickers are on a chrome-style backing and look great fresh out of the sheet, but they are stickers, so expect eventual lifting at the edges with handling. Articulation is HG-standard: a double ball-joint neck, elbows that bend to roughly 90 degrees, and a 360-degree waist, which is fine for a few dynamic poses but not for a full action pose set.

Who it's for

Grab this one if you already love the Exia Dark Matter design and want the Trans-Am color state on your shelf without breaking out an airbrush, or if you collect Build Fighters exclusives and recolors. If your priority is engineering depth, tight articulation, or maximum posability, this is not that kit, look at the MG Exia Dark Matter instead. But as a weekend build that rewards you with a genuinely striking finished model for HG money and HG effort, it delivers more than its price band suggests it should.

The build story

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

The build itself is quick and low friction, which is the point of the HGBF line. Parts clip together cleanly, the frame goes together before the armor shell in the usual HG fashion, and nothing fought me during assembly. The main thing to watch is gate placement on the glossier trans-am runners, since nub scars are more visible on that finish than on a flat color, so a hobby knife and a little patience up front pays off more here than on a standard matte HG.

The best engineering touch is how the kit handles its accessory load: the Dark Matter Booster clips on and off the back cleanly, and the two Dark Matter Blades detach from the booster to work as separate handheld weapons, alongside the Prominence Blade, Brinicle, and Dark Matter Rifle. That gives you a real armory to pose with rather than a single stock weapon, and the arm-mounted GN Vulcans doubling as beam saber housings is a nice bit of in-world design carried through into the plastic.

Lore & trivia

01The Gundam Exia Dark Matter is a customized, corrupted version of Gundam Amazing Exia, built specifically to defeat Reiji and Sei Iori at the Gundam Build Fighters World Tournament finals.
02This Trans-Am Mode version was a C3 x Hobby Fair 2014 exclusive release, using the same molds as the standard HGBF Exia Dark Matter but recast entirely in Trans-Am-state colors.
03The suit's name references dark matter, the hypothetical astronomical matter believed to make up much of the universe's missing mass, fitting its role as a shadowy foil to the heroic Exia line.
04The kit is piloted in-story by Meijin Kawaguchi, the legendary Gunpla Battle champion who mentors and later opposes the series' young protagonists.