Hello, Digifans! It’s review time and in this post, I’ll be reviewing some good ol’ tags and crests that are on the market! I’ll be talking about a lot of sets today; some I own, some I don’t, some are fan made and some are official. So it’s going to be a pretty long post, but I’ll try to cover everything as best as I can to help people find the perfect set for them! Of course, these are my personal opinions, and I welcome anyone who owns any of these to give me their own opinions on the products or even tell me about a set I might have forgotten.
Set #1: Official Bandai 1999
Link to product: N/A
Let’s talk about the very first set of crests that was released in 1999 by Bandai. This set is, to put it bluntly, pretty ugly. First, let’s talk about the packaging. It’s very basic and looks like most packaging from it’s time, which is a plastic case with a printed cardboard back and that is the worst kind of packaging ever created and I hate it with a passion. The only good thing about this packaging is that you can clearly see the item in it.
The tag is very basic, there’s a lot of details missing on it and it obviously looks like cheap gold and looks like it would wear off quickly like most cheap brass accessories. It does light up, and let’s be honest, that’s the only big difference between the official sets made by Bandai and most fan made sets. The crest themselves are oddly shaped and the emblem is black, which makes them look pretty cheap and not that pretty. The colors of most of them are pretty off too. Hikari’s crest is a little too dark and looks like Sora’s and Jyou’s crest is light blue instead of gray.
Overall, this set is a big let down, but also a product of its time. Considering it was released in 1999, it’s not that bad, but clearly not the best set out there. When it comes to prices, well, it’s what you’d expect with any official Digimon Bandai merchandise: it’s expensive. It’s very hard to find it under $90 USD with shipping and I’ve never seen it show up on Japanese resell websites. So I’d say unless you are a hardcore collector, this set isn’t worth your money.
Set #2: Official Bandai 2015
Link to product: N/A
Now, this is the real deal. Like the title says, this set was released in 2015, in the wake of the millions of Digimon Adventure Tri. promotions. I bought mine used for $100 USD on a facebook group, which is why I don’t have the original box, but to me it didn’t really matter because the box isn’t the best thing about this product; from the many pictures online, it’s just a regular plastic case and doesn’t have much detail on it, so the actual tag and crest is where it’s at. I do, however, have the little tag pin that came with it and made it this little display box and I think it looks much better like this than in its plastic prison (or so I like to tell myself).
Now the tag is what you’d expect it to be, but it’s very thick. That’s because you can put a battery in it that allows it to light up when you press the button at the front, just like for the 1999 set. The tag is quite light, mostly because it’s made of plastic, but all the details are there and it’s pretty nice overall. The crests are exactly like in the anime and look really nice. The only bad thing I can say about it is that when the crest is in the tag, the emblem is a little hard to see, but since it lights up, that solves the problem temporarily since it doesn’t stay lit. Another nitpick I have with both Bandai sets is that they only include the original 8 and not the 3 crests that were introduced in 02 (kindness, miracles, and destiny). Overall this is a wonderful product, but sadly it can be quite expensive, so if you can find it for under 200$ I recommend buying it. It’s not impossible to find at a reasonable price, you just have to be patient.
Set #3: Limited P’Parco Keychain
Link to product: N/A
These keychains were released many times during the lifespan of Digimon Adventure Tri. and were specific to the P’Parco pop-up shop. I have the pleasure of owning two of these. They were sold ¥ 980 JPY each, I paid approximately $17 USD for one and ¥ 3,500 JPY (around $30 USD) for the other. As you can see, the prices of these keychains vary greatly. As a set, I never saw them under $100 USD and for that price, you might as well buy the official Bandai set instead.
The product itself is very nice. The tags have all the details, the crests are all accurate and the emblems are visible. Plus, there is digicode around the hoop and a small digivice attached to it. It looks amazing! However, it is super heavy. You wouldn’t expect these to be as heavy as they are. So heavy I can’t even imagine carrying one them around as an actual keychain.
Overall, these are very nice and if you want one or two specific crests, anything under $30 USD is fair, otherwise, you would be overpaying.
Set #4: Toei Metal Charm
Product link: N/A
I don’t have any of these since I already have the ones above, so I’m basing myself on outside sources. These looks very basic compared to the previous ones I just talked about. They are somewhat of a cheaper version, more simple in the details and without any of the extras. They were sold for ¥ 500 JPY each and a box cost ¥ 4,000 JPY, which is pretty reasonable. They could be found on the Toei online store as well as animate stores and at the DAFES2016 event. They were made to be used as charms, and so are much smaller and probably a lot lighter than their keychain counterpart.
They don’t look as fancy as the previous one, which can be explained by the fact they wanted to make them cheaper. They still look pretty nice. The picture isn’t really doing them justice at all. The tag has all the details, and I believe the gold is durable. The crests are all accurate color wise and the emblems look good. If you can find a full set with a price between ¥ 4,000 JPY and ¥ 7,000 JPY, I’d say go for it! And if you only want one or two crests, between ¥ 500 JPY and ¥ 1,500 JPY is also good. I don’t see them often on the market, but when they do they’re usually not much more expensive than this.
~My Tumblr Back-Up And Stuffs~ 