Seika Sharpener Collection EX : Aile Strike/Strike Rouge (Gundam Ace Magazine)

Back in the dark Pre-Internet era when I was a youngling yet to develop my Newtype potential and become a hoarder of Mobile Suit Gundam related junk I was often found with a pencil in my hand. The pencil was the ultimate tool to take the step into space and countless intergalactic adventures and horrible encounters were found at the spot where the pencil connects to paper. Towards the end of the 20th century the mechanical pencil had pretty much replaced them in everyday use. The sharpener business can't exactly be blooming in the 21st Century. Yet here I am with a large collection of pencil sharpeners that will never get to chew on even a single old pencil... Perhaps this is why Seika worked so hard at pumping out sharpener figures to stay relevant? We've seen several sets of Mobile Suit Gundam sharpener figures as well as other licensed products such as SDF Macross and Evangelion and who knows what else.

The product we are examining today comes from the Seika EX line of extra fancy sharpener figures which are larger than the original series. The EX sharpener figures are declared as 1:280 and there are a couple of sets with figures from Mobile Suit Z Gundam as well as Mobile Suit Gundam SEED. While none of these figures are particularly valuable they are tricky to come by since cheap junk like this doesn't always suit itself well for international trade. I found mine at Mandarake (of course...) and paid ¥1200 for the box.

This particular box is a special for the Gundam Ace magazine and although I don't know the details it most likely came as a freebee with one of their issues during 2004. The box can be seen to refer to SEED Part 2 which is a 12-piece set of EX Sharpeners which these two figures probably are intended to promote. I do actually have a box of figures from that set which I haven't opened up yet, I'll probably get around to reviewing those in the future.

One interesting aspect is that the Aile Strike is not included in that figure set but the Strike Rouge is, it is possible that it exists as a secret colour variation though I suppose. The set does feature two "Impossible to Find Items!". How reassuring...

The Gundam Ace figures come in a compact cardboard box and each is contained within a separate box inside it. The delicate fins of the Aile Striker backpack are made of soft and bendy plastic to keep them safe from breaking, but as you can guess this makes them prime candidates for warping. Even though the Striker packages came with extra cardboard wrapping to protect their shapes the way they came out of the box (as seen below) means you can look forward to lots of trouble trying to bend them into their proper shape again.

Except for the backpacks, the Strike and the Strike Rouge figures are really sharp and on point. They have very detailed paint applications even besting those of Gundam STANDart and come with panel lining and some washes out of the box. Awesome!

The one thing I do not appreciate about these figures is the gigantic footprint they leave. While it makes them very stable and allows for some decorative mini-scenery around them I still wish they were smaller. The pencil sharpener itself is as you can see very content with a much smaller base.

Just look at these unit markings, absolutely amazing. I can't think of anything in this scale that can best these two figures.

To get a feel for the Seika EX figure size here the Aile Strike poses with some members of its family. We have a Sword Striker from STANDart on the left (1:220 scale), the compact Perfect Strike from Gundam Converge (center) and the Launcher Strike from Gashapon HG MS. The latter Gashapon series is often said to be around 1:285 scale but the individual figures vary wildly as all figures tend to be about the same height.

I like both the older Seika Sharpener figures which are somewhere around 1:400 in size and the larger EX line. I am slowly working on expanding my EX collection as best I can so that it can be featured in more detail here on the blog. Below you can see the two Strikes with a representative from the Zeta Gundam set and the SEED Part 2 set.