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.
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