With the advent of the SEED Freedom movie comes the merchandise. The current Shokugan and Gashapon lines are slowly seeing more and more of the suits creep in (there is a decided lack of mass-production suits however... booo) and there are tons of acrylic standees of the new character designs in various poses. I try to collect the latter mind you, but they are usually very popular. Things are moving a bit slower in the character figurine department, gone are the days of 2005 when there were small SEED Destiny figure collections anywhere you looked. The market isn't totally barren though, and Banpresto has turned their recent prize item range towards the Cosmic Era with this first launch of three of its most well known characters.
While I used to do these reviews one figure at a time these three items appeared around the same time around late February or early March 2024. Unlike the earlier Universal Century and Witch of Mercury figures the packaging has been standardized and is not nearly as interesting as the lived-in environments that were used as backdrops for the previous lines.
The figures come in their usual compartmentalized plastic bags protected in a semi-cylinder cardboard cover. Athrun is getting a little assembly instruction because you need to line up both his arm and waist so take it slow when snapping him together. We also recognize the clear blue circular bases with dedicated peg holes for the characters feet, which normally have differently sized pegs attached to them. My main complaint about these figures is that the bases are too big to create any interesting dioramas, but you could always remove these pegs and create your own smaller custom bases. If you do, consider something heavy as the figures have a fair bit of weight to them due to their size, somewhere around 20 centimetres.
Kira Yamato
Let's start things off with Kira. It has been 20 years since we saw him in Destiny. I haven't yet watched Freedom so I don't have or want any insights into the storyline just yet but suffice to say he is wearing a white coat uniform of COMPASS a peacekeeping organization of sort, a natural progression from the Three Ships Alliance I would imagine. The uniform itself seems to be a riff on the Z.A.F.T. commander dress uniform worn by Yzak Joule for most of Destiny, perhaps the two organizations are somehow related formally or informally. I think the expression (what expression?) and pose of these figure is really bland but the sculpt and paintwork is up to the standard I've come to expect from this Banpresto range. Personally I would have loved smaller figures with a broader range of characters but the Banpresto range is a good budget option if you would like to have some characters on display from the movie. Expect to pay around ¥1000 for these figures (except for Lacus who of course tends to cost more) now that they are still abundant on the secondary market.
Athrun Zala
Things get a bit more interesting with the sculpt used for the always brooding Athrun Zala. Here we actually have an expression and a dramatic gust of wind(?) catching the tail of his long coat. The tie is also a bit ruffled but that hair remains suspiciously fixed in place... what gel are you using, Athrun? Has he put his flight helmet on the shelf and gone strictly into business now? It will be interesting to see what he has been up to in the last 20 years. I like how the character designs look more mature now but they are all suspiciously good at keeping their weight, he is thin as a stick. :) I'd also really like to know what's up with that light brown sleeve design, is it part of the coat because it sure isn't the sleeve of his shirt.
Lacus Clyne
Lastly we have Captain Lacus clearly reprising her roles from both SEED and Destiny with another fancy dress uniform. I have to say this looks like a really lazy rehash on the SEED Destiny captain uniform, the costume designers really phoned in a lot of the Freedom outfits. It gets even worse when we look at the red coats worn by the COMPASS pilots, twenty years wasn't enough for the producers to come up with something fresh? I could go on a real tangent here and moan about the lack of creativity also in the mobile suit designs but I'll spare your peace of mind. The figure itself is quite neat but the least interesting of the three because it just looks like something you have had sitting on your shelf for the past 20 years already.
Conclusion
If you've read the previous reviews of the recent Banpresto character figure lines you can simply copy-paste my impressions in here. While I do prefer the old and smaller Emotive Figure and Destiny Heroines series the current Banpresto figures are well-sculpted and attractively painted models and the best-priced option on the market. The figures are easy to store disassembled in their compact boxes when not in use and their likeness tends to be just as good (if not better) than ten to twenty times more expensive offerings from the premium brands out there.
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