Time for another one of my online purchases to get reviewed/recommended.
So sometime ago, I bought a set of
Kamen Rider Ryuki keychains (I think Banpresto) from
sonkirihayameni off eBay. Admittedly, the price of the keychains was $18, but that was for a set of 5, and fan stuff like this is generally in the $3 range per piece anyway. So roughly what I'd pay if they were available in a store in America. The shipping price--and from Japan, mind you--was $8.80, which is pretty damn reasonable in my mind, especially with how quickly I ended up getting it (no Canadian mail strikes this time!)
As for the keychains themselves, they're in a chibi style, which makes some of them (Magnugiga) much cuter than they ought to be.
Here is a lineup of four of them on my bookshelf: Ryuki, Knight, Zolda, and Magnugiga (in the background, Kero from
Cardcaptor Sakura and you can also see the leg of my Den-O Liner Form from
this purchase). The fifth keychain is Dragreder, which can't stand up on its own because it's a serpentine dragon.
Now, apologies for the quality of the rest of these images; my camera's on the old side and zoom didn't do this justice in the least. Being our title character,
Ryuki is the first up. He's completely armored with the Drag Saber (Sword Vent) and Guard Vent shields on his arms. Next comes the second main character,
Knight, with his Dark Visor sword. The chibi style shows off something that doesn't show up too well in the series itself--that Knight actually does have blue eyes on his mask; it's only in specific lighting that you can really see it, so I kind of like that they added it. Next is
Zolda, carrying his Magna Visor. Believe it or not, I think this is actually the most show-accurate of the keychains, if only because his design is so sci-fi that it doesn't easily translate to super-deformed.
The next two are both Contract Monsters. Magnugiga looks weirdly cute. No, really,
look at it. I think it's because it got compressed a bit in chibi form. As an added note, you can see a face more easily in this design than in the series. The rest of his body is pretty indistinct, if only because his design has more guns than your average Republican would deem necessary. And lastly is
Dragreder, which I added to my keys due to the not-standing-up part. Plus, it's the easiest one to put on my keys and not have to explain what it is. People might ask questions about the Kamen Riders and whatever the hell Magnugiga is supposed to be, but a red dragon? Doesn't draw much attention other than "Aww, cute!" Because like Magnugiga, it ended up oddly on the cute side once it got shrunken down. Though I think the pose has a lot to do with that.
In short, good quality keychains and good customer service from this guy. Do recommend.