Gunpla Build - Real Grade Gundam Exia (Part 1)

The RG Exia is fairly old for a Real Grade, old enough that it still features the prebuilt inner frame that was once the trademark gimmick of the product line:

This means that the Exia is likely to suffer from a phenomenon popularly known as Early Real Grade Syndrome. Essentially, the frame gets loose and floppy over time, and since the joints are pre-assembled (and rather intricately at that), there’s no easy way to take them apart to tighten them up. Once it starts getting floppy, there’s not much you can do about it other than try and prop it up and hope for the best.

In addition to the frame, we get the usual collection of Real Grade runners, including some in multiple shades of white and grey. We also get this very special one with metallic looking sword parts:

I’ve never seen Gunpla parts with this kind of finish before. I have to imagine that it isn’t cheap, but considering this is the Exia (whose physical swords are so iconic) - and considering it is a Real Grade (which tend to be treated as primo models) - it makes sense to see them here. My only question is whether or not this metallic coating is liable to peel off over time.

Now for the thing in the yellow bag. It looks like a decal sheet …

… but it isn’t. These are actually thin, flexible strips of plastic. I believe these are use to represent the shiny, transparent cables that run along the body to bring GN Particles to the limbs. I’m curious to see exactly how they are attached to the model.

Suffice to say that the Exia has some pretty special and/or unique components. Now let’s get on with it, starting with the weapons.

Beam Sabers

Unlike the beam sabers on a lot of Real Grades, these ones are not made out of multiple parts. This is not a judgment, but simply an observation (to be honest, considering how small beam sabers are at ¹⁄₁₄₄ scale, making them out of multiple pieces rarely makes a notable difference).

In terms of visual design, these sabers are a bit unorthodox. In most Gundam series, beam sabers are straight ripoffs of lightsabers. The handle is some sort of cylinder, and the beam is shaped like a narrow cone.

Here, the handles are rectangular at the top, and curve down at the bottom. They remind me of the design of the Exia itself, combining curves and straight lines in an elegant way.

Meanwhile, the beam blades are not cylindrical, but instead are flat and triangular in shape:

They look a lot more like actual sword blades, which makes sense for this melee oriented mobile suit.

Before we move on - you may be asking yourself why there are six handles when the Exia only has four beam sabers. The reason is that two of them (the ones with pegs jutting out) are for equipping in the hands, while the other four are for equipping on the body (I believe this practice was fairly common on the older Real Grades, though I can’t be bothered to look it up).

GN Long/Short Blades

Here we get to use two of those special shiny metal parts. But first, we need to build the handles:

These are fairly complex, multi-piece affairs. I went a bit overboard with the detailing, and once again, I don’t think any of it was necessary. They would have looked just fine if they were plain:

I don’t like the look of these swords. Both the blades and the handles are much too wide, and the handles are also too chunky. Their design lacks the same sense of elegance seen elsewhere in the mobile suit.

I also don’t like how bad the decals look:

Shield

Where do I even start with this thing?

I am going to post the entirety of the description of this shield from the Gundam Wiki, so that it is preserved for posterity in case the content is ever changed:

Mounted on the left forearm, it is a shield specifically designed for Exia. The GN Shield is made of E-Carbon and can deploy a GN Field on its surface to achieve high defensive capabilities. As long as the GN Shield receives energy from Exia, it cannot be destroyed by conventional weapons. However, it can still be overwhelmed by powerful GN Particle-based beam weaponry. Since the Gundams starting with Exia have body armor with similar defensive capability, a shield may seem unnecessary at first glance.

However, through the movement of the left arm, the mounted GN Shield can be used to absorb the shock of an attack. To maintain Exia's range of articulations, the GN Shield is usually kept at a compact size; it can expand its size and defensive area when needed through the sliding of the shield's blue parts outward. However, the expanded state has lower physical defensive capabilities, resulting in the need to enhance the GN Field, increasing the consumption of GN Particles. Since the GN Shield may be a hindrance when dual wielding weapons in close combat, the Exia can be launched without it.

So basically it isn’t necessary, but it kind of is? And it’s liable to hog energy and otherwise be a burden? It seems like it isn’t worth the trouble, especially when it already (kinda) has a shield built into its GN Sword If I had to come up with an explanation, I guess it is useful to have dedicated defensive gear so that the right arm doesn’t have to alternate between attacking and defending.

In terms of complexity, there’s not much more going on here compared to your typical High Grade shield:

The expansion gimmick is dead simple. There are two sets of notches on the top of the shield. You simply plug the blue pieces into one of the two sets depending on if you want it wide or not:

Not only is it simple, but it’s also pretty janky. As you can see, the wide notch is not very deep. I can easily see the blue pieces falling off during poses.

Plus it doesn’t even look all that wide:

Visually, I think it’s funny that even the shield looks like some sort of blade. You could easily stab someone with this thing.

Detailing ... or Lack Thereof

The shield is supposed to have two decals, but I decided they didn't look very good:

Part of the problem is that I got the sticky side dirty with weathering compound. But even if that didn't happen, I still don't think they'd look good going down the creased center of the shield.

So far we're 3-for-3 for accessories that look better without decals or detailing. I've never seen anything like this before.

GN Sword

Finally, the pièce de résistance:

This is the Exia’s main weapon, and dareisay it is one of the more iconic weapons used by a Gundam (at least I think so).

I did a whole bunch of cool detailing, but alas, most of it can’t be seen (this is literally the only accessory that looks good with some detailing):

I have a whole bunch of remarks about this weapon.

• I love the parts layering going on in the "shield" section. It is only three pieces, but it looks so much more complicated than that.
• I love how the blade itself is matte in the center, with a shiny metallic edge:

  

• For some reason I was expecting this accessory to be a little more … solid? I’m not sure why, but I expected there to be a lot of plastic backing both the shield and the blade. Instead, the two sections are very loosely connected via a single hinge joint (while it plugs into the Exia's arm via a very shallow connector, seen in the foreground of this photo: I'm really worried that this is going to a very fragile accessory.
• The gun in the handle is shaped like a gun, and it does have an actual muzzle at the end, though it's short and small a bit hard to immediately notice: I think I may doctor this up with a little bit of weathering compound.
• When you want to deploy the blade, you just kind of swing it forward: If you wanted to, you could also swing the handle out, but then it would be gripped like a regular sword, rather than an arm mounted one. I feel like the design should be different - for instance, that blue piece should act as a locking mechanism of some sort, to keep the blade in place.

Conclusion

The Exia may have seven swords and a shield, but something about this weapon set feels off. It (mostly) looks great, but most of the parts also feel quite fragile. I don’t feel like I can trust any of them when taking action shots, but I guess we’ll have to wait and see just how bad that ends up being. For now, I’ll appreciate how pretty they look, and hope for the best down the line.