I'm not normally a fan of "Gundam with extra stuff strapped to it" as a visual aesthetic, but the Avalanche Exia Dash manages to ride the same visual line as the V2 Assault Burster and Alex: bulk out the frame evenly and keep it clean. Unfortunately, that concept/box art is probably the best part of the kit. I can't identify what it was, but building the Exia part of the kit was an absolute slog. Just a miserable experience somehow, and I think half of it was the shoulders and the goofy lower-backpack. I don't know what I'm doing wrong but they absolutely refused to attach to the frame and stay on. The Avalanche parts look good, but they go together and fit onto the kit like you're building half a HG kit and kinda awkwardly draping it on a MG kit. Very bizarre. The regular MG Exia probably poses fine, but the extra Avalanche stuff is just too much weight for basically any of the joints, and trying to pose any part of the model instantly makes random parts fall off. Again, not sure what I'm doing wrong, but the MG V2 Ver. Ka poses more easily than this. Overall, an aesthetically pleasing yet cumbersome and confusing kit. If anyone has input on how to stiffen the joints and get the shoulders to work please let me know!

I love how the 00 mobile suits look, so I was excited for this kit. However, I had quite a bit of trouble with it. The Avalanche armor likes to come off or be loose, the clear ribbons for the shoulders were a pain, and the hands can't seem to hold any of the GN blades. It does need the base included to stay standing as well, but that's more tolerable.

I've done 8 MGs, and this is the first one to disappoint me. Don't get me wrong - it has a lot going for it on paper: great shelf presence due to the bulkiness of the design; lots of gimmicks - including the iridescent/holographic ribbons distributed throughout the suit; and comes with a action base! I really enjoyed making the weapons for this kit - they were simple, look deadly (the sword/knife are very sharp!), and have some excellent color separation. However, there are lots of loose parts (leg, back skirt, heel armor, chest vent armor), which makes posing the MS an adventure every time. I ended up gluing some pieces together. I also really dislike the fact that it does not peg to the included stand - it's the saddle type of attachment to the bottom of the pants. IMO this limits the types of poses you can do with the unit, although you may not want to put it into anything extreme, as it may just blow up on you. The MS is currently in a weird saddle position on the action base because I'm scared to touch it - kind of offsets the whole "shelf presence" thing.