With all the recent 30th Anniversary shenanigans going on related to Gundam Wing I had a dig into my own archive and figured this little keyring set should be a suitable tip of the hat to the series. Like many in the west, Wing was indeed my introduction to the Mobile Suit Gundam phenomenon but I don't feel any reason to ever revisit it. I remember being impressed by the nuanced take on Zechs's personality and its many interesting suit designs but it quickly started to grate on me - endless legions of Leos or Aries gunned down with little effort in most every episode, having to listen to a whole troop of emo-kids, weird plot devices like Lady Une becoming a saint. Anyhow...
This being typical Banpresto keyring figures you are looking at figures sold from pegs in stores that tend to have a multitude of different characters and intellectual properties to choose from. Not every set of figures is wrapped in plastic but these ones are. Each figure is attached by screw - typically through the head - to a keyring which is in turn tied down to the product card using plastic wire. This particular set of figures was released all the way back in 1998. While Endless Waltz originally aired in the first half of 1997 a compilation movie premiered in Japan on August 1, 1998. I think it is safe to assume that these figures were released quite close to the cinema premiere as well.
The folded card is typical for a Banpresto keyring figure, you see the front- and back sides on display there. Other sets feature larger sheets that are folded in two places. There is normally also a little folded up paper inside which you could send in to the company to give away your personal data and sign up for some spam. Notice the five-digit product code which is part of the barcode and the easiest way to quickly identify Banpresto figure sets.
XXXG-00W0 Gundam Wing Zero (EW)
This set consists of figures of three mobile suits and their respective pilots. We'll start with the suits and in this case the angelic-style Wing Zero. All the figures in this set have the cartoon style eyes you normally see the various SD Knight Gundam universes. This strikes me as a bit of an odd choice when considering the inclusion of pilot figurines; it would have made much more sense to it for a strict mobile suit figurine range. Anyway, there is not a whole lot to say about these figures; they are usually well painted and sturdy, made from soft PVC so there tends to be slight bending of parts here and there.
Since this figure is intended to dangle from a bag the buster rifles the designers have allowed both the wings and the two buster rifles to dangle down a bit below the feet which means the figure will not be able to stand properly on a flat surface. You could remedy this by attaching it to a small base of some kind if you like me don't want to keep it on the ring.
Below you can see a size comparison with the Heero figure from this set as well as a comparison with the alternate colour version figure from the companion Endless Waltz 2 keyring set.
XXXG-01H2 Heavyarms Kai (EW)
Next up we have everyone's favourite green Heavyarms which is very nicely painted both front and back. It does have the toon-eyes but at least not a clown mask like on the Converge figure. Again the cannon barrels are extending below the feet and so you will have to prop him up on something or place the figure very close to the ledge to let the Gatlings dangle freely. If you squint a bit you can see the Banpresto markings on the back of its head.
Below we have a comparison with the similarly sized Heavyarms EW from SD Gundam Full Color Stage 22 which was released a couple of years later in January 2021. The SD figure has the classic machine-type face and also has its various missile battery ports opened up. While I prefer the design of the SD figure the keyring figure has it squarely beat in the painting department.
XXXG-01SR2 Sandrock Kai (EW)
The last mobile suit in this set is the Sandrock Kai wrapped up in its anti-beam cloak and sporting a pair of heat shotels which would be pretty useless in a firefight. I have mentioned it already but the paintjob on these keyring figures is really vibrant, you even have colour separation of grey and black on the feet that you can barely make out. Unlike the other figures in this set it is the only one of the lot that will be standing on a flat surface without any issue, both feet firmly planted on the ground.
The comparison photo below shows the Sandrock Kai without its cloak as seen in SD Gundam Full Color Stage 24 which was released in April 2001. There is no corresponding SD-figure wearing the anti-beam cloak so this will be your only option if you want one.
Heero Yuy
We'll continue to look at the pilot figures next. There are a couple of sets where Banpresto made keyring pilot figures to go with the mobile suits but they are few and far between. Characters also follow the SD character philosophy with a large head and a small body. This works well for mobile suits with big feet but pretty bad for characters since the feet will usually be very small. All three characters in this set can stand up unaided if the surface is not leaning but the smallest disturbance will cause them to topple. I bet there are some figures out there where the legs might not be entirely strait which would have a much harder time to stand up at all.
As you can see from this image next to a 1/220 Wing from STANDart I've chosen to glue my pilot figures onto clear bases. This makes handling them a breeze and doesn't detract that much. One thing you will see more clearly from above are of course the holes drilled into their heads where they keyring was attached by means of screw. If I was really bothered about it I'd consider filling up such holes with green stuff and painting it over.
Trowa Barton
Barton is up next and he is wearing probably the worst uniform to ever graze the entire Gundam franchise; the boy scout-style Mariemaia Army shirt and shorts. The hairstyle gave the designers a bit of a headache and it had to be molded into two different parts with a really jarring gap on the side there. Also notice the clown mask in his right hand. It is not exactly a winner this figure, let's move on...
Quatre Raberba Winner
If you found the Quatre figure in a random collection somewhere you might be hard pressed to guess which franchise it belongs to. I have to say the character likeness is pretty good though, probably the best of the three. Still, you could easily use this figure for a stand-in in your accounting department role-playing game.
Conclusion
Well, there you have it. I think the keyring figures are quite neat, it is always fun to have some pilots in miniature form and they pose well together. You will have to deal with the issues that come with most keyring sculpts - figures aren't designed to stand upright and so may have issues related to that. You will most likely want to do something about the holes drilled into their heads as well. If you can stomach these traits they are a fun and cheap little extension to your SD figure collection. Availability is of course secondary market only, and even there you should expect to go months or perhaps even years without spotting one. If you do manage to find them the prices should be quite affordable. I purchased these back in 2019 for about ¥300-¥400 each and prices shouldn't have climbed that much since then. A review of volume two will be coming up next.
