Kodansha Mook SD Gundam Full Color Official Collection Book

I recently came across a multiple volume book series covering the various small SD Gundam figure lines and this naturally raised my interest. With these items on order I figured it was a good time to go back and look at the probably best source book on the topic that precedes them, namely the fine Kodansha volume on display here. The "Official Collection Book" suffers from the same problem as the first (and so far only?) guide to Gundam Converge in that it was released before the figure series concluded, so it is by no means a complete guide but more of a what we did up until now" kind of thing (which is arguably really stupid from a collector's point of view).


This tome details figures released in the original SD Gundam Full Color series. Besides information on some of the DX series you will not get any information about later sets such as Full Color Custom, Impact or the like, but there is a bit of extra information regarding novelty or one-off items that were released on the side. Then there is the fact that the book comes loaded with a little mini-diorama and a unique SD Full Color figure to make things more interesting. You can see the figure on the dust jacket here, the PF-78-1 Perfect Gundam from the Plamo-Kyoshiro manga, and it is the only appearance of this mobile suit in the line. Unfortunately there is no way of getting to the figure without damaging the cover so I will not be showing it off in the review until I will source a secondary item.


The actual book cover front and back, showing off the ISBN and barcodes. Price is sometimes seen printed directly on the cover of a Japanese item and here it appears to have been 1200 yen, presumably with tax on top. I have two volumes in my collection, one book only which sold for ¥600 in 2017 and a complete item with secondary diorama (more on that in a minute) which set me back ¥4000 in 2021.


Front, spine and back showing off the mini-diorama included with the book. The dimensions of the book itself is on par with other Japanese hobby magazine-size publications that you may be familiar with. It is also very heavy being printed on high quality glossy paper. These things can cost quite a bit to ship.


Lets flip through the pages to get a feel for what is in the book. As you can see from the opening index we will be covering four stages (or figure sets) on each spread so the book will not be diving deep into the history of every figure or something like that.


This is what a typical page-spread will look like. On the left side you have four chronologically arranged SD Full Color sets with the barest of information, but at least we have the month of release on there. There is no detailed picture of the mini-booklets but a very tiny image of the Gashapon machine cardboard artwork, something that will indeed be corrected in the more recent books that are out. On the right side we have short discussions and tidbits about various topics that may or may not be directly associated with the figures on the left side.


Extra information about a miniature White Base hangar bay cardboard mini-diorama seen during the Solomon campaign.


Here we see the figures of Stage 10 on the left, one of two re-issue sets (together with Stage 17) where the figures have been given awkward "Version 1.1" designations. So far I have not been able to tell these reissues apart from the original releases. I am actually keeping a Stage 17 set in packaging hoping to accumulate more of the early sets sold as full sets so that I can do a closer inspection but my instinct tells me the differences are probably miniscule to non-existent, more akin to production variation or imperfections.


Seen here are Stages 13-16 when the series had begun branching off from Mobile Suit Gundam U.C.0079 into other eras such as ZZ Gundam and Char's Counterattack seen here.


There are several neat little mini-dioramas sprinkled across the pages of the book. Here Dozle Zabi is making life miserable for the Earth Federation battleship contingent and a poor GM doing its best Mu La Flaga impersonation attempt.


How many miles to the battlefield? A rough day for the Earth Federation as the Cyclops team raids their arctic facility in search of the Gundam NT-1 Alex prototype.


Both the Leo and the Serpent made it into SD Gundam Full Color but they are quite difficult to find. They got a new lease on life in the recent Gashapon Senshi Forte series. Wouldn't it be cool to see them in the Mobility Joint series?


Another neat photography trick where the artist has the benefit of manipulating scale. The White Base figure has suddenly grown enormous (and looks much better than the actual oversized White Base plaything (that usually sells for over 10 000 yen these days).


Here the book discusses how different figures can be paired with other figures than originally intended with. I covered something similar in my own review of the Burstliner and the Zeon Skiure (which is not posted yet).


Around Stage 30 the SD Gundam Full Color series was halfway through its lifetime and the figures are designed with even more playability and compatibility in mind, as well as generally featuring more articulation. The size had also begun to shrink a little bit compared to the early figures that are often quite massive in comparison.


Did you know that the Death Army's Gundam Head figure is designed to be modular? Well, good luck finding a couple of them, last time I encountered one was in 2019...


In my review of Stage 35 I bemoaned the fact that the Gundam didn't fit inside the Gunperry cargo container. Of course it didn't occur to me that I was intended to take its arms off first. Yeah, that seems really convenient in an air-drop operation. :)


Close-up of the miniature image of the stage artwork displayed on the Gashapon machines. I actually collect these suckers too, but they are very infrequent on secondary market and go quickly so you have to be on your toes.


Size-comparison with the Gashapon machine display artwork for Stage 28. I really like the design of these and they sometimes also give little hints of play features or contain mini-dioramas of their own.


Here we see some articles discussing parts-swapping for various flying mobile armour as well as the now very expensive oversize White Base plaything which comes with miniature character figurines of the same type as seen in the SD Gundam Full Color DX series. I actually only want the thing for those miniatures but so far I have not been able to stomach the price. Out of the ordinary-figures or toys outside of the main SD Gundam Full Color range are only presented in this blurb-style fashion throughout the book.


Close-up of the Adzam Leader drone-thingy which paralyzed the Gundam in a disruptive electronic field. I'm still trying to understand what they used for that display, the Adzam appears to sit on some kind of plastic cylinder and is that half a Gashapon-ball which encapsulates the Gundam under the Adzam Leader?


With the advent of Mobile Suit Gundam SEED in late 2002 the Full Color series became very much focused on following the two Cosmic Era-animes. The later sets are heavily loaded with SEED figures and this also carried over into the SD Gundam Full Color Custom range, in my opinion the very best source for mobile suits from SEED and SEED Destiny.


This article describes how the Zaku II and Magella Tanks from STAGE 41 are intended to be compatible. I didn't even know this was a thing, since I am still missing that elusive booklet. Later Full Color figure sets are very difficult to source compared to the earlier releases.


Here is another neat little feature from STAGE 44. The Hyaku-Shiki can transform into the abused torso seen floating through space in the rather emotional ending of Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam.


Another nice display based on The Sea Dyed Red episode from the original SEED series. I do not recall seeing that art in the miniature-booklet, perhaps it was used on the Gashapon machine card-back.


This blurb discusses the three clear plastic versions of the White Base crew. Each of these was released in a little carboard box containing miniature diorama of the same type as seen in this book and was released as a promo item with the Kodansha Comic BomBom hobby magazine in early 2004. Three more figures of this type appeared in mid 2005, featuring the Force Impulse Gundam, Freedom Gundam and Destiny Gundam from SEED Destiny (which is a bit of an odd trio if you ask me).


Hell, yes! The O.M.N.I. boosted man trio giving the Orb Union capital city of Olofat a piece of their twisted minds. Absolute peak moment of the Mobile Suit Gundam SEED show right there.


More weird promo items that I am not familiar with, nor have I ever seen other images of them. The Musai appeared as an oversize plaything and here there seems to be a clear plastic variant of it. We also have this cool concept of a Space Colony storage can which could do dual duty as a scenery item on a battleboard or diorama.


The Gashapon SD Full Color series continued to produce a total of 63 stages and this book as you can see was released while sets 53 and 54 were still in development. This is a frustrating element of this type of publications and the best solution is typically to either release volumes as the series keeps growing or just wait until the damn thing is finished (something not very hard to do these days as both Bandai and consumers seem to abandon new figure lines after only a year or two).


There are two oversized Full Color DX figure sets, each coming with their own pilot figurine. Of the two, the second set is the hardest to obtain and I have seen some sellers on eBay trying to literally take the p-ss to reflect this. Don't fall for this type of flipping, SD figures can be sourced at moderate prices from Japan but it will take time and patience instead.


This page describes how you can create your own war-ravaged city mini-diorama from the book's back cover. The Perfect Gundam is hidden in a compartment underneath one of the buildings and so I regrettably cannot show it off at the moment as I do not wish to damage my only pristine copy of the book.


Here the publishers go the extra mile with some hobby projects to expand upon the city diorama with some cool buildings. The book closes out with some blurbs about what I assume are the writers and/or design team, I haven't really been bothered trying to machine translate anything so far. All in all this should give you an idea of what is on offer here; it is a cool item to go with your SD Full Color figure collection but there are better source books out there and I hope to revisit them in the future after I had a chance to look through them. You only really need this book if you want to get your hands on that Perfect Gundam figure.

Banpresto Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Figure Keyholder 1

Japan sure loves its keyring figures. If the idea of making a cool looking miniature and then drilling a deep hole into its skull and inserting a metal ring attached to a piece of paper or string seems idiotic to you, you are certainly not alone. Still, the keyring figure section often supports many interesting figures and when you start digging into it you will find many unusual mobile suit choices only present there. Today's item though is on the more common side of things, but let's see what Banpresto has to offer with its SEED Figure Keyholder range. The series has popped up on the blog before, this time we are looking at the first set in this range that was released in 2002 (presumably near the end of the year considering the television series premiered in October).


There are five main sets of SEED keyring figures, each containing five different figures, as well as a larger "special assortment" set which is a best-of kind of thing that recycles the figures for one more go at the store pegs. Each figure comes with this booklet which illustrates the full set but surprisingly does not name them on the card. You often also get a small customer registration leaflet folded and chucked inside this thicker cardboard card (not seen here).


Keyring figures are typically sold in specialty shops where the figures are wrapped in plastic and hung from pegs like action figures, so unlike most Gashapon you are actually seeing what you are getting. On the picture you can see how each figure has a metal screw inserted into the top of the head, these can normally be gently unscrewed but will leave an ugly mark about 1mm thick. Serious collectors hunting for specific figures may find it worth their time to pad these holes with green stuff and paint it over. From here on in the review the screws will have been removed so say sayonara to them and let's go.



GAT-X105 Strike Gundam


This set contains all of the five mobile suits from the covert G-Project launched by the Earth Alliance and Orb in the Heliopolis colony. The first entry is of course the Strike Gundam, seen here in its most basic configuration armed with a beam rifle and a shield. The posing of keyring figures are almost always completely static as is the case with the figures in this series. When you compare these figures to similar sized Gashapon they will often sport a much better and more detailed paint scheme. Given that their size is similar to some of Bandai's SD Gashapon series they can do a good job as stand-in rank-fillers in a collection of Gashapon NEXT, DASH or even Senshi Forte figures.


Comparison with some of the other Strike variants from the SEED Keyring family; the Aile Strike and Launcher Strike Gundam, both from volume 2. Other variants also exist such as the Sword Strike Gundam and a Phase Shift down version of the Strike.






GAT-X303 Aegis Gundam


Look at the vibrant colours of the Aegis - this is a 20-year old figure holding its own very well compared to modern-era Gashapon and Shokugan. Granted, production costs have risen - especially when it comes to painting - but these things are very well executed indeed. I especially enjoy the thin black lines in the faces of these figures, precision Converge can only dream about today, even in its CORE premium segment.


Comparison with the Phase Shift Armor-down variant of the same figure, which was released in SEED Figure Keyholder 5 in 2003. The latter looks a bit weathered, probably due to the fact of it having survived on the secondary market for so long.






GAT-X103 Buster Gundam


Next up is the Buster with a rather short looking Hyper Impulse sniper rifle (and I do prefer it rather than the exaggeratedly long weapons we have seen in the Converge-range lately). The detail in its face looks like a great warpaint, good colour separation also on the weapon itself. Except for the Strike and the Aegis, the rest of the G-Project Gundams do not get Phase Shift Down variants in this figure series which is a bit unfortunate.






GAT-X102 Duel Gundam


The Duel is next, and the figure shows one of the disadvantages with several keyring figures, namely that they are designed to dangle from a bag and not stand on your desk. In the case of the Duel this can be easily solved with a small base but there are figures out there with legs hanging freely as if floating in space, such figures require a bit more attention to function properly on your display shelf.


The Duel Gundam returns already in SEED Figure Keyholder 2 wearing its additional Assault Shroud armour. The attention to detail in the colouring is really pleasing to the eye. The sculpt detail in the weapons is also impressive. Keyring figures are typically made of soft but sturdy plastic and in the cases where it does get bent this can be a bit hard to rectify. We can see a bit of this bending on the V-fin of this figure.






GAT-X207 Blitz Gundam


The last mobile suit in the set is the Blitz and it really stands out with its wasp-like yellow and black armour but also note all the little colour tweaks in the grays and violets here, what a lovely figure design! There are no variant figures of the Blitz in this series, I would be very curious to see what Banpresto's take on a semi-transparent figure in clear plastic would have looked like.





Conclusion

Keyring figures aren't for everyone but if you are a fan there is much to enjoy about the Banpresto SEED and later SEED Destiny keyring figure sets. Unfortunately they are rather tricky to come by, the occasional figure can sit on a peg in a second hand shop here and there but the best is probably finding a complete set for sale on e.g. Mandarake. The figures are not expensive and should cost more than a couple of hundred yen.