Seika is one of those large corporations that seem to produce a little bit of everything. If you visit their corporate website it looks just as bland and uninteresting as the rest of them; a cavalcade of buzzwords and image bank material, visit at your own risk. In its more inspired moments however it does produce toys, or at least it did. You'll mainly find various types of IP-related stickers, books, or similar knick-knacks. Among the highlights of its contributions to the Mobile Suit Gundam-themed toy landscape the large Toy Book series springs to mind as well as a bazillion of various pencil sharpener figurines. The EX line upped that game but only saw a few releases themed around Zeta Gundam, SEED and SEED Destiny. Today we are examining the first SEED Destiny batch of sharpener figures released somewhere around 2004-2005.
Here is a quick walkaround of the standardized box because yes, these things are packaged randomly. Ex figures typically come in larger boxes holding 6-12 individual figures or similar. I don't have enough data to speak on the figure distribution among these boxes and I have never even seen an image of one for this particular set.
These figures belong to a previous era, when the world was at peace and third world labour was still cheap. This allowed us to enjoy cheap figurines packaged in lavish full-colour boxes and a rather redundant mini-booklet thrown in for good measure! Nowadays, black and white packaging is everywhere and we don't always get printed assembly instructions with the larger figures either. The early 2000s is a bit of a golden age for mini-figure collection.
Each individual figure comes wrapped in a plastic bag and occasionally has some additional cardboard wrapping around the thinner parts to protect them from bending out of shape. The material is a mix between soft PVC and a somewhat harder ABS-PVC blend.
The main gimmick of these figures is of course that they are pencil sharpeners. Underneath each figure a simple sharpener has been glued into place. That's why we have the hole in the side of one of the six edges and why we have the large and unwieldy bases on these things in the first place. Come on kids, surely you know what a pencil is? Right?
ZGMF-X56S/α Force Impulse Gundam
This set is pretty much dedicated to showing off the various Silhouette Packs that apply to the Impulse Gundam, a popular theme for miniatures around this time. The Aile Stri... I mean the Force Silhouette is basically a copy of the Strike Gundam atmospheric flight pack and is seen here in action as the figure hovers slightly above the ground. The figure is attached directly to the base and you are not meant to try to remove it from the base itself. Similarly there is no articulation present, think of this as a soft plastic statue with a decent ability to not bend out of shape. Both the sculpting and paint applications are as you can see really nice for such a small figure. I should point out that the Force Impulse also returns in the second set of SEED Destiny figures in a more traditional standing pose. I didn't have it out of packaging at time for this review but will revisit this entry to add a comparison photo eventually.
ZGMF-X56S/β Sword Impulse Gundam
Next up is the Sword Impulse silhouette close range combat variant, a daring design for a such small PVC figure. The (very nicely painted) blades are protected by cardboard wrapping and came out of the box in pristine condition, don't throw these away and keep them around for future storage. I am not a huge fan of this pose as it feels a bit unnatural and not to mention it will encroach on the space of figures you chose to place next to it. Still, this is my favourite variant of the Impulse Gundam and this figure does do it justice.
ZGMF-X56S/γ Blast Impulse Gundam
The Blast Impulse is the Launcher Strike look-alike for the Impulse and comes in a bit of an awkward pose here. Look at the beautiful detail and paintwork, notice the detail around the launcher handles and the various exhausts at the back. Even the little backpack peering out beneath the large fans is heavily detailed. Seika figures sometimes have a bit of a weathered finish with slight colour variations in the main body paintwork, you can see the shifting tone of greyish white on the legs here for example. It is a pity that we can't get small, pre-painted figures such as these anymore.
ZGMF-1000 ZAKU Warrior
The last design in the set is my personal pick. and one I would have loved to get multiples of but Seika Sharpener figures is only something you will come across happenstance and these larger EX figures are even rarer. This mass production-type figure is the only one in the set to come in a classic standing pose and stands out a bit from the others in this way. Again beautiful colouring and detail work all around including the spare ammo drum attached to the backside of its shield.
ZGMF-1000 ZAKU Warrior (Lunamaria Hawke Custom)
Don't look so sad, Shinn. Yeah, I know why you are disappointed, that secret fifth figure is indeed impossible to find - I have never even seen it on a photo. On the odd chance that I were to stumble on it somewhere in the future I'll come back and update this post. For now I just decided to upload a review with the basic range covered because otherwise it may never come up at all. I suppose I should confirm that I actually do not know that the secret figure will be Lunamaria's red variant but it is just something that I take for granted. The same pattern shows up in the SEDD Destiny 02 set by the way, where the basic set includes a green Gunner ZAKU Warrior and a secret red variant for Lunamaria's personal use (and that figure I have actually seen).
Conclusion
Should you go after the Seika EX sharpener figures? While there are a few really unique looking sculpts in this range they are unfortunately very hard to find, among the rarest of the rare small figures I would say. Still, they do show up at places like Mandarake from time to time and are generally not expensive, but you'll just have a miserable time trying to actively find them. I have resigned myself to picking Seikas up whenever I happen to stumble on them myself.
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