08.19.07
Bandai 1st Mission Gashapon
Review: Gashapon in Old-School Form
Packaging & Extras: (3.5/5)
Gashapon is the term used to describe toys sold through vending machines and this Bandai 1st Mission series really lives up to the name coming packaged in giant toy capsules rather than boxes. Inside each capsule is a pamphlet advertising all of the toys in the series and one of the toys partially disassembled in a plastic baggy. You’re not going to get any extras here which is a bit of a shame since many of these toys are fairly fixed-pose so another limb in a different pose could have been a big help.
Charm & Collectibility: (2.5/5)
This first series is fairly hard to come by but that seems to be simply a product of its age and original limited production volume rather than any sense of overwhelming demand. Bandai’s later missions seemed to consistently improve upon the recipe seen here so it seems now the only people hunting this mission down are true completists. The pictures below show the scale of the Bandai product and compare it to Kaiyodo’s toys (right VF-1S is Bandai, middle destroid is Bandai).
Sculpt, Detail, and Paint: (6/10)
These toys don’t have the excellent paint jobs of Kaiyodo’s efforts as the pictures above pretty clearly demonstrate. There really isn’t much detail here but the scale is absolutely tiny. Still, having reviewed the Charaworks 1/144 recently I think Bandai sure took the easy route here producing some rather bland pieces.
Design: (5/10)
Okay, there’s pretty much nothing clever about the design of any of these pieces. Unlike Kaiyodo’s toys, these toys aren’t poseable and they don’t have trap doors that reveal hidden missiles. No, what you get here are toys that aren’t very sturdy and are only suitable for putting on a shelf and forgetting. Saddest of all must be Hikaru’s fighter which doesn’t come with a stand of any sort so you’re kind of limited in what can be done with it. Don’t expect landing gears you can plug in or anything like that. Since these toys are so small pretty much all the points I’m giving them here are sympathy points.
Durability & Build: (5/10)
Since these toys are made of a rubbery plastic you don’t really have to worry about breaking them. Unlike Kaiyodo’s pieces, you also don’t have to worry about the joints becoming hopelessly stuck only to completely break should you ever try to move them. What are greater concerns here are limbs that will plop off due to poor fit (they’re not broken though, you just plug the joint back in) or, the bane of the gashapon world, the likelihood that some of the parts will warp. As you can see in all the pictures of Hikaru’s VF-1J in Gerwalk mode, the wings got hammered sitting in their dispenser ball and are now curved in perpetuity. Later Bandai missions felt like they were made of more quality materials.
Articulation: (3/10)
Really, just don’t expect to move these toys at all. The joints present are really only here so that you can manipulate the center of gravity and get the toy to stand on its own. Some very minor tweaks can be done to make a somewhat varied pose but nothing like later missions allowed for.
Total Score: (25/50)
As a dirt cheap gashapon for an office decoration, these toys might satisfy. As a pricey collector’s piece for the diehard completist they just don’t make any sense at the prices you’ll have to pay (but hey, you’re a completist, that’s not going to stop you). Clearly Bandai had some learning to do and their later missions show that they paid some attention. With the third mission typically selling for less than this mission and having something like twice the pieces I’d say the third mission would be a much smarter buy.
