Banpresto Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Figure Keyholder 1

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.

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.

Banpresto Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Figure Keyholder 5

SEED volume five is the last in a series of Banpresto keyring figure series dedicated to Mobile Suit Gundam SEED although there are also a couple of spin-off sets that followed. Each standard volume contains five figures and mainly focuses on the centerpiece Gundams of the show.


Being keyring figures they are pre-ruined at the factory by having a screw inserted into their skull. The metal ring is then attached to a folded info-card using plastic coated straps. This is the last you will see of these in the review as I always get rid of them.


This set appeared in 2003 and has the Banpresto short code [31777]. I purchased the full set at Mandarake for ¥1500, so the figures aren't very expensive in Japan but appear to be quite popular as they typically sell out quickly.



ZGMF-X10A Freedom Gundam w/METEOR


The Freedom Gundam appears twice in this keyring series. In this second variant it has been shrunk down and geared up with the METEOR weapons platform. This makes the figure very back-heavy and since it was not designed to stand up on its own you will have to prop it up either like I did here or attach it to some kind of base. As you can see, the paint scheme is quite ambitious with a lot of detail. The figures are made of softer plastic and so will typically be slightly deformed.


The scale of the keyring figures in this set is all over the place. The two METEOR equipped Gundams are the tiniest and slot in somewhere in size between the classic SD Full Color era figures (left) and the first modern era Gashapon Warrior NEXT family (right).



ZGMF-X09A Justice Gundam w/METEOR


We have a METEOR-equipped Justice in the set as well, you can find a pair of basic Freedom and Justice figure in volume four. The face paint of the figures in this set is especially good and the Justice really looks like it means business.





GAT-X303 Aegis Gundam (Phase Shift Down)


The Aegis is usually an overlooked suit but someone on the Banpresto design team must have a soft spot for it because this is its third appearance in the series. After an initial release in volume one it returned in volume three wielding two of its beam sabers. Here it is back with the original beam rifle + shield configuration but in the colourless Phase Shift down mode after its energy reserves have been depleted. I don't get why Phase Shift Down is not more common for SEED figures, the gray colour schemes are usually quite good looking, as can be seen here.


Largest of this lot, the Aegis figure is almost big enough to play with the suits from the Gashapon Senshi Forte range.



MBF-M1 M1 Astray


On the topic of rarely seen suits, no SEED suit is more overlooked than the mass production type Astray. I have a really soft spot for this mobile suit although this keyring variant feels a bit anemic. I prefer SD figures to be a bit sturdier looking than this one, but the colouring and attention to detail is great. Trying to army build this figure is doomed to fail, since they are really scarce.


The Astray is about the right size for the Gashapon Warrior NEXT range. Interestingly, as far as I know neither the Strike Rouge or the Akatsuki made it into the keyring series, leaving it all alone to fend for the sovereignty of the Orb Union.



GAT-X370 Raider Gundam


The last figure completes the O.M.N.I.'s second generation trio, the Forbidden and Calamity having been released in volume four. The Raider is about the same scale as the METEOR equipped Gundams making it rather tiny when placed next to the other keyring figures, which is a bit sad. Note that the right wing is a loose component and is a candidate for disappearing. I have brought one such figure home before only to discover it was missing one of its wings.



Conclusion

I really like Banpresto keyring figures of all types and sizes. They are usually painted to a good standard and are made of soft and durable plastic. The SEED Keyholder range is also great for filling gaps in Gashapon NEXT and DASH collections, with several interesting suit types. The main drawback is that they are quite hard to come by.

Banpresto Keyring Figure Zeon's Victory

Let's burn through another keyring figure set. This particular set was manufactured by and sold under the Banpresto name in 2002. I am a bit surprised at the many types of keyring figures there are out there. Sometimes I get the feeling that every set was dreamed up at the spot with no regard to previous releases but that is of course not true.

 

I picked up a full set of these from Mandarake last year which cost an impressive ¥2000 which is quite a lot for an old keyring set - I guess the Char Aznable name continues to sell. Interestingly I picked up a few singles of these earlier costing only ¥200 so I was definitely paying for the service of a complete set there. These days I rarely buy single figures preferring instead to wait for full sets to become available, since it gets a bit frustrating hunting for and keeping track of the missing pieces.

 

Oh, my. Yeah, that title there looks like it might be a tad bit too spicy for the Google bots so I am just going to refrain from typing it out here. Another interesting quirk is how the line-up photo does not sync up with the names in the list so I will just go through these figures in the order I damn well please.

And here we have the full available details. Notice the Banpresto shorthand code 71935 which is part of the full barcode and the easiest way to identify figures from this set, as long as you have the packaging left that is.

 

As you can see the main gimmick of this set is that the two figures share the same keyring. I can think of one similar set where this was implemented, themed around Mobile Suit Z Gundam female pilots. There are also the smaller Unifive double type keyholder figure packs which contain figures much smaller than these.

 

Ramba Ral and MS-07B Gouf

 

Lt. Ral comes equipped with a Zeon helmet and a submachine gun which looks suspiciously like a Thompson M1A1. The plastic is as you can see bendy but still rather rigid. The Blue Giant's Gouf has a nice red glowing Heat Sword that he drags after him in this super deformed rendition and it also forces the right foot up from the ground. A nice transparent base plate should do the trick here.

 

 

M'Quve and YMS-15 Gyan

 

I really like this figure of M'Quve. As far as I know he has never made it into a real figure, not even a garage kit. Both he and Kycilia Zabi are seriously overdue for some more love from MegaHouse at this point. His Gyan figure has a head that is a bit big for my taste and an action pose which makes it impossible to display without the aid of some custom contraption. Nevertheless I quite like it. Some green stuff and a base of some kind should do it justice.

 

 

Char Aznable and RX-78-2 Gundam

 

Man, that Char figure looks dismayed. But hold on one second. What the hell is going on here? Banpresto, you just had to squeeze a Gundam into this set, didn't you? Rather weak if you ask me, considering how popular Char's Custom Zaku II is after all. As evident from this figure, it has exactly zero chance of standing up without some sort of support or custom base but I do think it looks kinda cool in this pose. The paintwork is exemplary as well.

Anavel Gato and MS-14A Gelgoog

Ace pilot Anavel Gato is up next, with his custom painted MS-14A Gelgoog. Gato himself has some really nice paintwork and the Gelgoog isn't bad either. I do question the beam saber though, because surely it would have been even more awesome with a dual-bladed Beam Naginata in that hand. This figure will also need some type of custom base work if you hope to display it.

 

 

Gihren Zabi with a Principality of Zeon Crest

Okay so no mobile suit for Gihren of course, but the crest works fine. Especially so if you were to have it in your actual keyring I suppose. I know I keep harping on about it but do you know anyone who actually puts these figures in their keyring? I can imagine them dangling from the side of a school bag though. The crest could also work really nice as an objective marker in a tabletop wargame, especially if you had a number of them.

 

 

Size comparisons

The mobile suit figures in this set are generally quite large and not really suitable for display with the traditional SD Full Color figures even the larger ones are dwarfed in comparison as seen here.

 

The Gashapon Warrior NEXT series is closer in size but on the other hand has a different aestetic, forgoing the gigantic heads from the earlier figure sets and so aren't an ideal match either.

 

Banpresto has a couple of these mixed mobile suit and pilot keyring sets but none of them are really to scale. Here Gato poses with Milliardo Peacecraft and Loran/Rolan Cehack from two other keyring sets. All the character figures in this set can stand up unaided but will benefit from a base of some sorts since they are very top heavy.

 

 

Conclusion

 

Overall I enjoy this set for the Zeon character figurines, which could easily find use as custom board or war games. The mobile suits in this set can easily be sourced elsewhere and so are of lesser importance although it is always nice with some dynamic poses to liven up things a bit.