MGBuild Divers

Gundam Ex Impulse

An old MG frame gets a genuinely clever aerial makeover, and it flies.

MechaGrade Score

3.9/5

Gundam Ex Impulse · 1/100 · 2022

GradeMG

Scale1/100

Released2022

Runnersn/a

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The verdict

This is the Impulse Gundam MG frame put through a redesign that actually earns its own name.

I went in expecting a reskin and came out with a kit that has its own silhouette, its own gimmick, and its own reason to sit on the shelf next to the original. The molded color separation across the armor is the real headline here, not the transformation gimmick. It is not a perfect kit, and the price and availability will annoy people, but as a build it delivers more than I expected from a suit most fans had never heard of before this line.

Best for: SEED Destiny fans and MG collectors who want a fresh take on the Impulse frame without picking up a paintbrush

The full review

What it is

The Ex Impulse takes the familiar Impulse Gundam base, the one Shinn Asuka piloted in SEED Destiny, and rebuilds it as Manfred von Sakazaki's personal aerial combat unit. Bandai leaned into the new modeling parts around the head, shoulders, waist, and legs, and the kit reads as noticeably busier and more angular than the original Impulse without losing the shape that makes it recognizable. Building it, I liked how much of the color separation comes straight off the runners. White, grey, red, and yellow are all molded in, so you get a kit that looks finished without touching a brush, and the panel lines and surface notches give you plenty to pick out later if you want to go further.

The catch

This is a P-Bandai exclusive, which means it comes and goes in stock and typically sits in the 80 to 90 dollar range, higher than a standard retail MG. The frame underneath is the same Impulse-era architecture, which is all-ABS rather than the mixed PS/ABS builds Bandai favors now, and ABS has a reputation in this community for going brittle or yellowing over years of shelf life, especially on white parts. It is not a fragile build day one, but it is a consideration if you care about long-term display. The kit also leans on water transfer decals for the Blue Sky Brigade unit markings, so if you skip those the finished model reads a bit plainer than the box art promises.

Who it's for

If you already like the Impulse silhouette and want a version with more presence and a legitimate flight-mode gimmick, this is worth chasing down even at P-Bandai prices. It is a good pickup for builders comfortable with an older ABS frame and who do not mind applying water slide decals for the full look. I would steer newer builders toward a standard-release MG first, since this one asks you to hunt for stock and pay a premium for a suit outside the mainline shows. For anyone who already owns the original MG Impulse and wants a sibling with its own identity, this earns its spot.

The build story

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

The assembly itself is standard MG-grade work, more parts and more clipping than an HG but nothing that trips up someone who has built a Master Grade before. The armor panels have real notches and surface detail worth taking your time on, and builders who have gone through the Impulse frame more than once note it goes together cleaner than they remembered, ABS reputation aside. Watch your small clear runners during the head assembly, the canopy piece is easy to lose track of on the workbench.

The engineering payoff is the transformation gimmick. Swapping the Ex Silhouette wing configuration between the high-speed cruising form and the high-maneuverability form changes the kit's whole profile, and it is built into the frame rather than bolted on as an afterthought. Articulation follows typical Impulse-lineage MG ranges, good shoulder and hip movement, and the frame holds poses well once assembled. Between the beam rifle, its detachable blade, the beam saber, and the shield, you get enough loadout variety to pose it as a straight gunfighter or lean into the aerial ace identity the character is built around.

Lore & trivia

01The Ex Impulse is Manfred von Sakazaki's personal mobile suit and the base of Force Sokyu Ryodan (the Blue Sky Brigade), a unit built around high-speed aerial combat inside the Gundam Battle Nexus setting.
02It is built from the Impulse Gundam originally piloted by Shinn Asuka in Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny, redesigned with new modeling parts for the Gundam Build Divers Genius Head Line project.
03Its dedicated weapon is the Adler Zwei, a custom large beam rifle that can also emit a beam saber, and the Ex Silhouette wing gimmick swaps between a cruising form and a maneuvering form.
04The kit was released in August 2022 as a Premium Bandai exclusive, the second mobile suit from the Genius Head Line project to get a Gunpla kit.