Kimi The Builder

My spirit was broken by this…

When I started on this kit, I was optimistic.

but…

Towards the end of it, I was left broken and discouraged.

Oh before I forget, Kimi here and today I will be finally be giving my final thoughts on the MG 1/100 MSA-0011 [Ext] Ex-S Gundam Ver.1.0 (MG).

Usually, at the start of this, I would usually start the review with a history lesson, however, since we have covered this section with the HG version of this kit, we will move on and just continue on with the review.

But if you are still interested in going through the history, well you can go and read the bit here.

Anyways, let’s move on to the review, shall we?

The Review

So far in my journey building gunplas, there are only 2 kits that I’ve owned that I never managed to finish. One is the 2008 HG Kampfer a kit that was so good that I just decided not to finish it because I really don’t want to feel empty after completing it…just like how I treat all the other good awesome books that I refuse to finish, haha.

Another is the 2007 MG Crossbone Gundam Full Cloth, it was probably one of the most frustratingly bad kits that up until today I still can’t bring myself to finish it, because every time I pick it up it literally is made me feel like I want to throw in in the fire and melt the whole kit all down. It was that bad.

You may be wondering why I brought up these two completely different kits up in an unrelated MG review? Well, that is because this MG Ex-S Gundam Ver.1.0 is something that…almost going to be one of those kits that I wasn’t going to finish, but it wasn’t because it was good.

But yet I still somehow managed to pull myself through to finish it up, regardless of what I feel.

but before I cover all the negatives of this kit, I first want to cover the positives. Yes, there are still some good things that I have to say about this MG kit. I would first start by saying that despite what I may say after this, I admit that this kit was still one of those kits that I managed to have fun with. It was as well is a damn good looking kit, one that I feel that would be able to impress anyone that sees it no matter if the person is an avid Gunpla collector/builder or even if the said person is just a normal person.

Although, the looks aren’t the only thing that we think would impress the average onlookers. Because I feel one would as well be taken aback by the MG Ex-S Gundam’s sheer massive size. One that I feel would definitely wow anybody that lays their eyes on it. I admit even I the one that built the darn thing was as well quite taken aback on how glorious it looks. I honestly feel like the combination of both the size and the MG Ex-S Gundam’s awesome look is worth the price of admission.

Well, that is if you are willing to both pay and suffer through it all…that is.

Which brings me finally to the negatives, and trust me when I say this, I don’t enjoy going through this as much as you do reading this. Especially for a kit that looks this gloriously good.

But I really have to be honest here. Because honestly, this kit has alot of issues and one of its biggest issues is that the kit was plagued with alot of bad design choices and as well it may be one of those kits that have one worse material used on a plastic model to date. The plastic components that are used here are so bad, that they might as well just used a thin layer of cloth for the whole thing.

But you must be thinking, “wait for a minute here, bad design? What do you mean bad design?”

Well, one of the reasons for this is because I do feel that Bandai made the kit to be insanely complicated, With 5 separate compartments in one section, it hampers with the sections ability to function as a normal MG kit. Why do they need it to be so overly complicated? Well because one the MG Ex-S Gundam’s main gimmick is for it to be able to transform into the G-Cruiser.

This causes alot of issues when I wanted to put the parts together because it made you constantly worry if you would put too much pressure on the parts will you break the hidden hinges up, which is crucial for the transformation gimmick of this kit or worse still, that you’ll end up breaking the whole kit up.

This normally wasn’t an issue so much with the newer kits and even with some older kits that I’ve worked on. Because most kits that I’ve worked no matter how badly designed  the parts or the joints of the kits were, you are still going to be confident with it because you know that the basic makeup of the plastic material that is used on the kit is going to be the one that would never let you down.

However, not with this particular kit though, because the one thing that I realized as I worked on this kit is that I found that the materials that are used here are quite brittle. To a point that I do not need to put too much stress on the parts for me to see the parts forming stress marks on it.

Not the kind of kit one should be getting if you are one that is prone to make mistakes while building a kit, like seriously don’t. Because you will find that this is one of the most unforgiving kits that you would ever come across ever. Never have I came across a kit that gives you no quarters at making mistakes. Its almost like I’m picking up a plamo version of the Dead Souls game, but instead of losing you in game life here a mistake here would cost you your hard earned cash.

and I learned this the hard way, where one mistake of mine caused the MG Ex-S Gundam waist unit busted. Although it was somewhat fixed now. But it did take me quite a while to work on fixing the busted section up and even it was fixed I still have to make sure that it was working properly to ensure that the section to be working properly.

But that is not all, there is as well is the matter of the MG Ex-S Gundam Ver.1.0’s articulation.

Even though this MG kit had a lot of moveable parts, I was surprised to find that this kit has VERY limited articulation. This is mainly due of the fact that with all the accessories attached, you will find that there isn’t much poses that you would be able to pull off here because all the attached parts interfere with the MG Ex-S Gundams articulation. What’s more, this is the only kit that I worked on that the stand, the part that I thought beforehand is a good additional thing that was included together with the kit. Which turned out to be one of the most important components of the kit.

Why?

Well because without it, you will find that this MG kit is impossible to stand without the support of the stand. The kit was so back heavy that there is no way that you would be able to make it stand without it tumbling over. Plus it wasn’t as well helped with the fact that the joints of the kit weren’t actually designed to sustain its heavy weight.

What baffles me even more here, is the fact that the people that were responsible for this kit knows it too, because the stand was so important to this kit that it was the very first things that you need to work on before you start work on anything, and as soon as you work on the actual kit, you will find that you need to attach the main body to the stand first even BEFORE you start work on the leg units.

But I’m was aware all of the design choices that were made here is done to ensure that the kit is able to transform into the awesome G-Bomber form without needing additional parts to make that happen. Which I do admit that is awesome. But just like I’ve said before, those same design choices are as well the main cause of most of my frustrations that I have with this of this kit.

Seriously I can’t begin to express how disappointed I was with the kit. It was so bad that at some point I just feel like just giving up. Plus with me battling with diarrhea and the constant headaches, just make the whole situation even harder for me to deal with.

but yet I still managed to pull myself through and finish the kit and despite the struggles that I faced there is still some parts here and there that I admit, I did have fun working on.

By now, I know that some of you here might be thinking, “why rag on a very old kit? For something this old this kind of things is quite normal on old kits.”

Well, to be honest, yeah. I wasn’t really expecting much with this kit if I were, to be honest, and yes I admit that I was a bit harsh on it. I blame only myself for setting such high expectations of it. But it is hard to do so when you look at something this good you really can’t help yourself for expecting it to be great.

You as well might be thinking, “Well I’m sure the new version of this addresses most of the issues that are present here.”

Which is what I was thinking as well after I’m done with this kit. I was curious to see what changes that were made to the kit besides the look that might improve upon what I’ve experienced here, so I decided to take a small peek on the newer version’s manual to see what’s new there and what I find is that…

They really didn’t do any changes to the overall build, the only thing that I could see that is different in between the old version and the new is the fact that the newer version has a different color scheme than the original and it comes with a fixed manipulator set, that’s all. So from what I can see there, I can safely assume that all the same problems that I encounter here, I know that I will encounter with the newer version.

and that is not something that I want to put myself through again.

Overall, all I can say here is that this is not a kit that I would recommend anyone to get. Especially to those that are new to the kit. This kit is only made for those that are really looking for a bad time, and as well to those that really If you are stubborn enough to still want to get this kit, well all I can say to you is that, especially to those that are new to the hobby, go and rack up some experience with other MG kit before you start work on this monstrous kit.

Or you will end up like me. Broken and defeated by a plastic kit.

With that ends the review for the MG 1/100 MSA-0011[Ext] Ex-S Gundam Ver.1.0 (MG). What do you think of both the kit and the review for this MG kit? Do you share the same thoughts with us or do you think that this kit could’ve been better?

Definitely one of the most taxing builds that I have to endure this year. Although I was really frustrated with the kit, but it thought me one very important lesson. I thought me to never go into the kit without learning about it first. Especially one that is as massive and expensive as this particular one.

I as well realized that this comes out quite late, that is mostly due with the fact that I was really taking my time with this review. I really wanted to make sure that I really get what I really feel about this out as I wanted. So I do want to take the time to apologize for taking my time with this one.

Anyways, we will be back again this week more Let’s Talk Gunpla Segment on the coming Wednesday and we will be back as well on the coming Sunday with a new unboxing or review! So, do look forward to that!

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We hope by sharing our love and passion for gunplas here, it’ll inspire you to pick up the hobby or reignite your love for gunpla!

Anyways, we shall see all of you again next week, and we hope that you all have an awesome week and weekend ahead! Have an awesome Gunpla building time there as well and until next time!

Ciao!