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Product:  Pintre Collection - Disgaea

Product Type:  Pin Badges

Number of Badges in Range:  12

Manufacturer:  Kotobukiya

Suggested Retail Price (SRP):  ¥367 (approx. £1.70) each

Purchased from:  Gamers, Teramachi-dori, Kyoto

Rarity:  Uncommon

Reviewer:  Rich (Webmaster)

Most UK gamers will be familiar with Disgaea as the critically acclaimed PlayStation 2 RPG series.  However, fewer will be familiar with its recent anime incarnation, and fewer still with the range of merchandise released for the anime in Japan. 

And they are missing out, as these pin badges show.  Kotobukiya have produced 'Pintre' ranges for a diverse selection of anime and games, including Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, Comic Party and, of course, Disgaea.  As with many Japanese collectibles the badges all come in individual sealed packets, so you are not sure which of the range you will get until you open

it.  The range covers several characters from the Disgaea universe, Laharl, Etna, Flonne, Vyers, a Mage, a Ronin, an Archer and of course the bizarre Prinny Squad penguins, and are all secured to clothing (or whatever) by a single straight pin and butterfly clutch.  The pins are quite well made by all accounts.  Each one is around 2-3cm (about 1") in diameter, brightly coloured and made from tough and durable enamel on a metal backing.  Each character is instantly recognisable and look great, but they are also unusual shapes.

You may wonder why I would point this out, but the thing is it does cause a problem.  The badge is in the shape of the character and for several of them their pose leads to thin pieces sticking out that can easily get snagged on clothing.  This leads to three problems if you're wearing the pin badge - firstly it's likely to get turned round, secondly it may get caught on something and come undone, and thirdly it may get caught on something and tear your clothes.  That's not to say that the bits sticking 

out are sharp, but there are more edges to get caught on things.  The other problem is that there is no picture of what the badges look like on the outer packaging, so if you hadn't read this review you'd be taking a bit of a leap of faith if you bought them.  There's also nothing on the outer packaging to say how many badges are in the range and which characters are covered.  However, if you are a Disgaea fan then you probably won't care.

These badges are big, bright and look superb.  The main three characters are present and correct, and it's easy to get addicted to picking up the little packets to see if you'll get another new one.  The best one is probably the Prinny pin, just because it's damn funny, but it's interesting to note that the range includes both normal and 'chibi' (see glossary) version of Laharl, Etna and Flonne.  Needless to say these pins are a must purchase for Disgaea fans, and for anyone else they're well worth picking up.

Extras

Very little, just packaging really.  The pin is attached to a folded piece of card inside the packet which helps protect it.  The card has a diagram showing how to attach the clasp to the pin (just in case you didn't work it out when you detached it in the first place) and also includes a tick list (in Japanese) of the characters in the range.

Ratings

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