Unifive Universal Century All Gundam Key Holder (Bandai Museum Limited)

Last year I reviewed some of the Banpresto keyring figures sold under the Unifive All Gundam brand. One of the them was a Bandai Museum limited edition, where I commented on the fact that I expected it to be a different mobile suit. I had only seen it for sale once many years ago and was beginning to think that I had been hallucinating the whole thing. Then suddenly it casually appeared over at Mandarake this winter and so here it is; a confirmation that there are at least two figures (perhaps even more?) in this limited series.


As you can see we are looking at a Full Armor Gundam variation in Char's or rather Casval Rem Deikun's custom colours. This suit is supposedly known as the FA-78/C.A Casval's Full Armor Gundam. Has this thing ever starred in a game or Manga? Very little information can be found about it at the Gundam Wiki or MAHQ, in fact I am not even sure of the official name. Here I simply edited what was written on Bandai's 1/100 Master Grade box cover (which is the only other appearance I am currently aware of).


There is not a whole lot to this figure. It is a solid soft plastic figure attached to a useless metal strap so that you can have it dangle from your phone or school bag. I immediately removed and discarded the strap which is attached through the common technique of a screw driven into the figure's back pack.


The All Gundam figure range may be simplistic but man is it detailed, and the paint applications are very detailed for such a small item. Many of the smaller figures skimp on the paint apps on the flip side but since this figure is designed to dangle freely I guess they felt the need to paint it fully all over. Just look at that hand grasping the dual beam rifle, you have a separately painted handlebar and there is even a piece of pinkish red collar peeking through. The blue speck on the left knee does look like a mistake though and as you can see the paint has been chipped here and there. The legs are a bit bent on this figure and you may want to put it on a base to straighten it out.


Here we have both the RX-78/C.A and the FA-78/C.A from the Bandai Museum set. The two have very similar barcodes which leads me to believe they were released in tandem back in 2004 (4 983164 58874 3 and 4 983164 58875 0 respectively). I wouldn't be surprised if there are indeed more figures in this set, especially if they are repaints from regular retail releases. For some additional context and size comparisons, check out the review of the other figure here.

Unifive Universal Century All Gundam Key Holder (Bandai Museum Limited)

This review is a little follow-up to yesterday's All Gundam Keyholder set which featured various incarnations of the RX-78 as well as the RX-79[G]. This particular item is a variation on one of the figures found in that set, and was made available as a Bandai Museum exclusive item. Just like how some items are sold through the Gundam Café shops today. To quote a few lines from the Wikipedia article on the museum:

 

"The Omocha no Machi Bandai Museum is a museum devoted to Bandai characters located in Mibu, Shimotsuga District, Tochigi, Japan. It opened on July 19, 2003 as the Bandai Museum at Matsudo, Chiba. It was closed on August 31, 2006 and moved to Mibu, Tochigi on April 28, 2007, where it features exhibits on Ultraman, Gundam, Godzilla, Super Sentai, and a Gundam-themed cafe along with various shops attached to the museum."

 

Looking at this particular figure's barcode and ST markings it does not look like it was released at the same time as the retail figures. I don't know if this figure was released in tandem with other figures but I do know that there exists at least one additional Bandai Museum exclusive in this figure line, that one being a Casval Custom version of the Full Armor Gundam which I sadly do not own.

 

The packaging is as you can see rather Spartan; a slip of paper and a crumpled plastic bag. Here is the figure with its metal strap before it being permanently removed.

 

The RX-78/C.A. is a variation of the RX-78 developed by Neo Zeon for the personal use of Casval Rem Deikun, better known as Char Aznable. The suit was featured in Gihren's Greed, one of those turn-based strategy games I never got to play. The figure itself has a nice paint scheme with some really fine markings on the shield, which drastically ups the detail level compared to the basic figure (which carries no text markings). Being a keyring figure, the material is soft, durable and somewhat bendy plastic.

 

There isn't a whole lot to say about the figure really, what you see is what you get. Here it poses next to the original retail version from the Universal Century All Gundam Key Holder set which was also released in 2004.

 

Here is an expanded family view togeter with the RX-78 versions from that retail set. I wouldn't be surprised if there are even more variations released of this figure; a Real Type-colour version would seem quite likely for example.

 

One thing I didn't discuss in detail in the previous review is the actual size of these keyring figures. Here is a comparison shot of some figures in nearby scales. From left to right we see:

- Casval's Gundam in 1:400 scale from the Gundam Collection figure series.

- A unique olive green-themed RX-78 from the Gundam Gsight 1:350 figure collection.

- The dual bazooka wielding figure from this particular review.

- A classic coloured RX-78-2 with weathering from the Strategy of Gundam 1:300 series.

- A non-scale Zaku II from the long-running Gashapon HG figure series, which is somewhere around 1:285.

- Another white RX-78-2 with even more weathering from the Banpresto MTSS 1:250 collection.

- Lastly a 1:220 scale RX-78/C.A. - here from the Bandai Hybrid Mobile Suit Selection series.

I don't have a whole lot more to say about this figure except that it is a great addition to your keyring figure collection, should you happen to stumble on it. I don't know exactly how rare it is, considering that the ordinary retail figures are pretty damn hard to find to begin with. Gashapon second-hand stores are probably your best bet. Good luck with the hunting. :)

MegaHouse Chess Piece Collection : Qubeley Mk-II Set (Bandai Museum Limited Edition)

Welcome to the October One-Off Week here on Gundanium Gateway. This is a little special where we will be looking at seven different products normally not featured on the blog. Some are really proper one-offs while others are coming from sets where it makes little sense to review them all in one go.

So... we're kicking off One-Off Week with a special set from the Bandai Museum shop. These two figures belong to the Megahouse Chess Piece Collection family. This is a line of... well, chess piece-style figurines mounted on tall plastic bases with felt underneath. Mobile Suit Gundam is only one of the various licenses which have been featured by MegaHouse in this series.

This particular item was a Tokyo Bandai Museum G-Base shop exclusive item. Released apparently in 2004 I don't know what the price would have been back then. I found mine at Mandarake for a mere ¥1000. The Chess Piece Collection figures aren't particularly valuable but can be very tricky to find. Used items sold on eBay are often damaged (missing limbs, broken off parts etc.) so it is a buyer beware situation not helped by the poor availability of information about these figures online. Hopefully in the future we can feature them more properly also on the Gundanium Gateway site because their style is quite unique.

While the regular Chess Piece Collection figures are sold in blind boxes this particular set is preloaded with the two Mk-II Qubeleys featured in the Mobile Suit ZZ Gundam television series. Each figure comes in a plastic bag of the same type that would be used in a regular single-figure blind box.

As you can see there is not a whole lot of assembly that needs to be undertaken. Chess Piece Collection figures are normally fully assembled, it is only figures that have difficulty fitting in the boxes that tend to be disassembled and then only slightly. The Qubeleys are manufactured from slightly soft plastic and the funnel bits of completely bendable material to allow them to wrap around the limbs of the mobile suits. The funnel bits are attached to the back skirt which is annoying since I don't really want to display them.

As you can see from these images the two Qubeleys are adorned with a black Queen symbol on the back side of their bases (the Neo Zeon logo sits on front). This arrangement wouldn't be very useful in an actual game of Chess now would it...

Chess Piece Collection bases ususally feature 3D artwork such as battlefield terrain or debris or even effect pieces like thruster jets. These two bases are completely flat because the figures are in space. You can see a couple of painted blotches on there, which is supposed to represent a starry sky. It feels a bit underwhelming.

The bases are made of harder plastic than the figures themselves and come with a nice felt piece underneath.  The height of each base is related to the chess piece rating of the figure, so that Kings have the tallest bases and Pawns the lowest. This can be annoying when you want to display different figures together. Getting the figures off the bases is also rather difficult and is probably best avoided.

Comparisons

The two Qubeley figures are simple colour variations of the standard retail Qubeley, which was released in the fourth Mobile Suit Z Gundam-themed Chess Piece Collection series in Spring of 2004.

While the MegaHouse Chess Piece Collection figures are not to scale, the overall size of these figures would fall somewhere in the 1:300 range. Large mobile suits such as the Qubeley, Messala and The-O are slightly smaller than that. Below you can see the Chess Piece Collection Qubeleys posing with figures from the Gashapon Mecha Selection (also non-scale but usually considered to be around 1:285), Seika Sharpener Collection (1:280) and Assault Kingdom (1:220).

Elpeo Ple's Qubeley Mk-II from Gundam Converge, MegaHouse Chess Piece Collection, Gashapon HG Mecha Selection 5 (ca 1:285) and Mini Figure Selection Plus vol. 2 (1:400).

Ple Two's Qubeley Mk-II posing with its namesake from Assault Kingdom (1:220) and Paptimus' The-O as a pencil sharpener from Seika (1:280).

The mobile suits available in the MegaHouse Chess Piece Collection line usually feature very expressive and dynamic poses and as so are not for everyone. If you are a fan of the style though it would make perfect sense to also pick these two candidates up if you can get them at a fair price. It should also be noted that the Qubeleys are the only two representatives from the ZZ Gundam show (unless you count the mobile suits carried over from Zeta).

Mobile Suits Gundam Ultimate Operation : Bandai Museum Limited Edition RX-78/C.A. Gundam (Casval's Customized)

FW Ultimate Operation - the forever 1/220 underdog - is the precursor to FW Gundam STANDart. The figures in this line are sculpted in what is best described as dynamic poses. You will find very few mobile suits standing around to attention, instead they will usually lean, list, turn or bend as if caught in a moment. Extra articulation points in the arms and torso, as well as replaceable hands give them some additional opportunities too. One of these figures is the highly unusual RX-78/C.A., an alternate timeline Zeonic mobile suit featured in the Gihren's Greed video games, built to resemble and honor the good ol' RX-78-2. Yeah, it is kinda silly even for Gundam but there you go.

This particular RX-78/C.A. figure was specifically created as a promotional item for the Bandai Museum, which at the time of this figure's release would have been located in Matsudo. It was released sometime in 2003 with sales being limited to the museum shop only, in another fine example of Bandai cross-promotional strategy. This was probably a fairly sought after item back in the day although the advent of a booming online trade now also makes this figure available for the gaijin collectors.

I paid the very sizeable sum of $55.00 to obtain this figure back in 2014, showing my noob colours since I later found a second figure in Japan for the rather modest price of ¥1500. A lot of eBay sellers are simply taking the piss, so as with all things Gundam, it is buyer beware. The first figure I got thought was truly in immaculate condition, so much so in fact that I didn't want to spoil the packaging by trying to open it. Well, two years later I am finally able to do just that by grabbing a second figure...

If you are familiar with FW Ultimate Operation figures since before, you will quickly realize that this figure is simply a repaint of the bog standard RX-78-2. Of course the packaging has been modified slightly, and the metal dog tag in the package belongs to none other than Char Aznable himself. These nametags by the way probably require a post of their own since they are quite interesting, but I will leave that for another time. Suffice it to say, that the nametag in this package is not the same as the one I found in the box of my FWUO2 MS-06J Zaku II (Char's Customised) figure and there is a possibility that this tag is unique to this figure although I cannot confirm it right now.

The basic figure has a nice red colour scheme with plenty of weathering, something that adds a lot of personality to the FWUO figures. This particular figure has some issues with a bent leg, which is another fairly common thing affecting thin-legged figures of this line (you never see limping DOMs now do you?). The soft plastic would probably allow for some straightening action through heat application, but I am definitely not going to mess with it.

FWUO RX-78 line-up from left to right: RX-78-2 Gundam (FWUO volume 1, released February 2003), RX-78-2 Gundam Real-Type Colours (FWUO volume 3, September 2003), RX-78-3 G-3 Gundam (also from volume one) and the RX-78/C.A. Additional RX-78 family figures using other sculpts are also available.

When compared to its RX-78 brethren the C.A. does come across as a little Spartan in its look and feel. FWUO figures often sport nice unit insignias or unit recognition numbers, but in this particular case we find very little in the form of such detail.

I wouldn't consider Casval's Gundam a necessity in your FWUO collection, but I'm pretty sure the figure sells itself just by being red anyway. The only factor will probably be your budget versus the asking price. I doubt anyone with matching variables in that equation will be able to stay away... :)