Yeah, I thought I was going to get some photoshoots done this month, but guess what… I didn’t. So what I’ve got, and you know I have to get this one here so my archive isn’t missing a month, is a build review of the RG Exia that I snapped together a few weeks ago. No pose pictures, or at least not yet – you might remember I did the same thing with the RG Unicorn… and also haven’t gotten around to the photoshoot yet.

Anyway, the original plan was for this to be the first time I use waterslides on an RG, but once I started prepping the parts, it became pretty obvious that that wasn’t going to happen. The RG Exia isn’t super complex or anything, but it does have a ton of clear parts with foil stickers under them and these clear sheet strips for the GN power lines, which really makes it impossible to just assemble the limbs and then topcoat them. And frankly, I just still can’t deal with the idea of painting RG parts individually, even if it’s just for a topcoat over waterslides. So I just did my usual thing here, panel lined everything on the sprues, then cut the parts loose and got to building.

Behold the worst box contents shot in the history of RoboShop. Sorry about that, folks, but obviously by the time I noticed that this picture sucks, I kinda couldn’t put the toothpaste back in the tube anymore.

Anyway, nothing too unusual going on here, with two exceptions – there’s a chrome plated sprue for the blades, and inside that little yellow bag is the sheet with the GN power line parts. More on that later.

The build starts with the legs, which, funnily enough, are actually not one piece on the B sprue. As you can see here, the foot comes attached to the lower half, but you actually put together the double-jointed knee from two other parts. It all works just fine and dandy, it’s just odd for a Real Grade, I guess.

The GN power lines are this weird iridescent sheet plastic. To be honest, it doesn’t look that great. In some places, like on the upper thigh, they have a foil sticker under them, but it really just ends up looking like you glued a piece of tinfoil to the kit. I guess this is just an aspect of the Exia’s design that’s difficult to pull off. You know, unless you want to pay three figures for the PG with the LEDs. I hear it looks pretty neat on that one.

The rest of the leg assembly is pretty straightforward. As you’d expect on an RG, there’s a fair number of moving parts, the foot articulation actually works for once, and the green foil sticker with the graphic printed on it actually looks really nice under the clear piece.

The torso is where the Exia’s commitment to the circle as a design element is the most extreme, and I have to admit, I got quite enamored with it when I was putting this section together. The armor pieces layer on top of each other in a way that really creates depth and detail, and there’s a real sense of functionality here where you get the feeling that this part powers the suit. Even though, you know, none of it makes any sense. It just looks convincing if you can suspend your disbelief long enough to believe in teenage boys that can control giant robots with space magic.

The GN drive, of course, plugs into the back. It’s very nicely detailed and has these three clamps that close to… well, look like they hold it. It actually clicks into place securely without them and then won’t really come off anymore, but it looks pretty cool.

The waist section isn’t built separately but attached directly to the torso as you assemble it. No side skirts, just front and back, and I’m happy to report they’re all two pieces each. This shit matters, folks. The beam saber handles, uh… plug into the Exia’s ass cheeks, I guess. Moving along…

Nothing unusual going on with the arms. There’s another clear piece with a sticker underneath, otherwise they’re very simple and don’t do much. I made a really bad mistake here, though.

See, the long GN power line that goes from the shoulder armor to the upper arm is meant to hook on to this peg on the side, and then you secure it with a small armor piece. This works perfectly, but the problem here was that there’s a friggin’ nub mark right on top of that peg, and so I more or less cut it off completely on the other arm. I did leave just enough there so it held the GN power line in place well enough to glue everything together, so it looks fine now, but… well, don’t cut off this peg, folks.

I don’t know why I keep taking the Headless Hessian pic, but here it is. I think it was at this point that I realized the fixed-pose open hands are laughably out of proportion with the rest of the kit. Notice also that I forgot to clean up some of the panel lines on the right arm. Oops.

The head is… urrk. Sure, it looks nice, but this may well have been the most difficult Real Grade head I’ve ever assembled. Those little yellow vent pieces fell out at least half a dozen times before I got them in place, and while you’re trying to prevent that from happening, you’re pressing down on a GN power line piece with one finger, trying to tuck it into the armor part that goes on top of it. And also, these weird little ear pieces have an absolutely massive nub mark on them. Which is actually kind of a running theme for this kit. It’s really well engineered and super solid, especially for an RG, but man, does it have some big, fat nub marks in really conspicuous places.

Anyway, head goes on, suit looks like zis, ja. I tried to do a pose with the open hands, but as you can see, it didn’t work out too well. I trust I’ve said enough times that I’ll always prefer fixed-pose hands like these, and I usually really like open “emote” hands for posing, but the way these bend at the wrist really make them useless, plus, like I said further up, they’re way too big for the kit.

And that’s it for this one, folks. I’ll have to post a second blog for at least the accessories and some pose shots, obviously, because the GN Sword’s kind of a big deal.

In the meantime, do I recommend this kit? If you like the Exia, yeah, absolutely. It’s designed with a lot of attention to detail, it poses well, and it’s one of the RGs that don’t explode when you touch them.