Reviewed by TR13
Finally getting round to reviewing this RG kit; this is
to be my first RG kit that I have ever built. As you may know, I primarily work
on MG's since this is the grade I am most comfortable in building, re-modding
and painting. Always wanted to experience the RG line and who knew it would be
Exia right? Was pretty hyped when this was announced since I am a big fan of
00; I have a few MG's lying around as backlog namely, EXIA and 7S so I figured
that I build the RG first to get a feel on certain aspects of the grade.
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HG Vs RG
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Parts
First things first, the parts; my god the parts are tiny and
not just tiny, they are very tiny! I know from experience that a few MG's have
tiny parts but seeing the RG runners, it's on a whole different level of tiny.
This is again, one of the main reasons as to why I only build MG's due to its
size, I have quite large hands and I really struggled snapping some of the
parts together as I could not properly hold them in place; one particular area
is the head unit, it took me a whole 5 minutes to set the face mask in place.
Frame
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| Pretty Awesome IF |
It's all new to me, to have an already built frame is pretty
cool; saves time and all you need to do is simply cut them out, very convenient
for straight builds. However, this presents a new challenge on how to paint
them; conventional lacquer paints does not quite cut it with this so called
"original" frame. For one, it is made out of the same material as the
polycaps; rubbery and quite fragile. Saying that, you really need to move them
with extra care as too much pressure will simply break it. Before I embark on the mods for a particular
project; I always study the kit itself first to plan my paint detail but with
this kit, since the frame is already built, it makes the task a lot more
challenging since it will require a lot of masking and paint being scratched is
almost unavoidable.
Armour Details
 |
| Needs more details IMO |
I was a bit disappointed actually on how this particular RG
kit lacks details compared to its other counterpart kits; just look at the GP01
and GP01FB; both look stunning even without paint; add a little panel line wash
and
the richness in details comes out automatically. With this, it's simply
lacking; I expected more but it is what it is.
Weapons
 |
| Love the shine on the Sword |
Probably the best feature on this kit, love the redesigned
GN sword and those chrome parts are simply a thing of beauty; it's really shiny
too which is definitely a bonus. Simplicity over complexity it is awesome
indeed.
Build
Build wise, this kit is OK; as I mentioned earlier, I
struggled building some areas due to the size of the parts which some are
almost microscopic. The one area I got really confused is when I assembled the
lower legs, specifically the shin area. The GN power line is made out of a
holographic'ish material that kinda reflects light and gives this very unique
sheen, it's very cool but on the shin area; since the shin part bends and the
GN power line does not, it's very awkward to look at as it does not fully set
on the shin itself and you see this big gap when looking at the kit sideways.
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| MG'Fied Tech |
Another area is the side skirts or rather the rounded parts
where the GN Daggers are mounted; to put it simply, there are holes on the
daggers itself and all you have to do is simply plug the GN Daggers on the male
connector to mount. As the male connector is octagonal in shape, this makes it
very difficult to swivel and as a result, when your posing the kit, it really
does gets in the way and thus restricting the articulation.
Articulation
 |
| Articulation is quite restricted here |
Not as good as I thought it would be, since the frontal and
back skirts are in 2 parts, this made it bulky and gave it little room to move.
As a result, the legs are again restricted and it can no longer lift the legs forward
to its original range of motion due to the skirt being in the way of the main armour.
To summarise it all; it's a kit that almost delivers but
then not quite enough. It has all the potential of being great only to be
restricted by the redesign itself. Exia to me is an acrobatic Gundam,
performing crazy moves to destroy its enemies; this RG is far from its anime
counterpart due to its very restricted articulation. However, being it a Real
Grade, I love the proportions and the more refined look compared to the HG. I
am in-love with the weapon details as well as the armour separations that this
kit has offered. With that said, my experience with this kit definitely opened
up my eyes and broadened my Gunpla horizon. I still urge you to buy this kit to experience it for yourself. Final Score - 5/10
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