Banpresto Ichiban Kuji : Red Comet C-Prize - Gaw Measuring Tape

I have seen discussions pop up about this figure from time to time so I figured I'd throw in an improvised quick review of one of the goofy but surprisingly good items that can be found in the prize pool from the Japanese Ichiban Kuji lottery phenomenon. These are lucky draw-style events for which you purchase a number of participation tickets. Items are usually categorized in different classes with A-level prizes being the most extravagant.

Garma Zabi adding some confusion to the packaging.

The Zeonic Gaw Assault Carrier which has been unfortunate enough to be converted into a measuring tape(!) hails from one such series of Red Comet-themed items and appeared in 2008. The Gaw figure belongs to the C-bracket and is the only item in this category that I am aware of. We took a brief look at another figure from this set a while ago, a Z'Gok doubling as a memo stand. That figure was a class E prize from the same set.

Ichiban Kuji items are usually on the cheaper end of the quality range and can be a good way of picking up budget figures from your favourite anime such as Macross, KanColle or Evangelion. You can check out  Banpresto's page on Ichiban Kuji here. While box sizes and shapes and articles inside vary wildly within a set the easiest way to identify which Kuji items belong together is by finding the five digit code printed on the box, a feature common on most modern Banpresto items. The Gaw belongs to set 63507.

The figure comes in a really oversized box which is great for keeping it safe in transit and bad for everything else. On one end of the scale we have super economic and compact packaging with figures like Converge and Mobile Suit Ensemble and at the other end we typically find figures from Banpresto and MegaHouse.

As you can see from the overview the figure has a clean and polished look about wit some decent painted detail although you'd most likely want to work it over with some panel lining to bring out the detail. The green Komusai type shuttle docked in the rear hangar is of course the tail end of the measuring tape which extends about a meter.

If you don't mind the wildly different scales the Gaw figure displays rather well with the 1:400 Gundam Collection Gashapon range. As such it can easily be worked as a gaming piece. When you consider that the Gaw normally carries eight Dopp Fighters, up to three mobile suits in the front hangar and half a dozen vehicles in the rear hangar you realize it would be enormous in 1:400 scale...

If we compare the Banpresto Gaw figure to the old Bandai 1:1200 model kit we can see that it is significantly larger. You can see some of the companion Zaku mobile suits in the bottom left corner of the box.

Here the Ichiban Kuji Gaw sits on top of the Toys Dream Project limited edition Medea and Gaw box set from 2005. As you can see the two are almost the same size but the older figure has more detail and of course no measuring tape gimmick. The Ichiban Kuji figure is a very affordable option though; you can typically pick them up for about ¥1500 to ¥1800 while I had to cough up ¥6000 for the box set.