Gundam 00 Celestial Being Gundam GN001 Exia

"Exia will eliminate the targets" - Setsuna F. Seiei.
Such is how advance the Gundam is. Give it simple basic instructions and see it go. Wham BAM Boom! and a trial of Mecha parts littering the Exia's path in ruins.
The GN-001 Gundam Exia is a 3rd-Generation Gundam. Exia is designed to be a close quarters combat (CQC) type mobile suit. The unit is the successor to GNY-001 Gundam Astraea and one of the predecessors to GN-000 0 Gundam. Exia is piloted by Setsuna F. Seiei.
I wasn't too keen on Exia originally because I thought it's design has drifted too much from the original. Except for the red "chin", there wasn't very much that suggest it to be a Gundam. I belong to the old skooler. But after watching both seasons of Gundam 00, and building the GN-002 Dynames, I thought Exia is a pretty cool Mobile Suit. Got the Master Grade (MG) 1/100 version (not the Ignition mode model) and build it within a week.

I would rate this build level at 3/5 as it is a pretty straight forward kit to assemble. The only thing that I want to nit pick is how easy parts fell off while posing them. Especially the side hinge for both the sword comes off pretty easily. Some glue fixed the issue while keeping it functional 100%.
Being an MG kit, poseability is one of the main selling point of the kit. I needn't illustrate more since it is easy to just Google "MG Gundam Exia" and a myriad of pictures will be available for browsing at your own leisure.
However, there are a lot going on there in Exia's design that there is actually no need to use the decals to accentuate the details further although I will still be applying the decals sometime later. And I have made an effort to panel lined the parts whenever possible and that helps in adding more dimension to the kit when there is no intention to paint it in the first place. 0.05mm tip marker is godsend for doing this.

Exia is a very nice kit. I wasn't too sold on the "busy" design but with it done up and panel lined properly, I begin to appreciate the lines and the shape. Such a contrast to the plain-Jane AGE-1 Normal.
Exia is the 4th MG and the 5th 1/100 Gunpla kit I've build. Still have Gundam 00 Seven Sword sealed in its plastic bag. And also bought Gundam MG Astray Blue Frame Second Revision and 1/100 NG GN-006 Cherudim just over the weekend. With the recent completion of Exia, I will be reluctant to build Seven Sword since they are about the same design. Next one to build will most likely be Astray, another "design busy" mecha. It looks amazing from the pictures I've seen online and can't wait to have it build up for display.