Evangelion Clear Playing Cards + Rubber Bracelet Double Review
As many Eva fans already know, the Evangelion franchise is a merchandising giant. No matter what it is, you can probably buy an official Eva version of it, even if it's just had the NERV logo slapped on it somewhere. (I'll leave discussion of the alternating coolness and utter incomprehensibility of Eva merchandise for another entry.)
I picked up this set of playing cards completely on a whim, since they were only 1400 yen (and my rationale of "BECAUSE EVA" was not countered by anything this time.) Because there's a minimum shipping weight, I decided to add a couple other small items to round out the order. I grabbed a pack of my favorite Tamiya Epoxy Putty and also a REALLY cool rubber bracelet.
It's not apparent in the product picture on Hobby Search, but you can see in this shot of it on my wrist that the black designs are actually raised in relief from the red background.
The packaging is neat too, very bold with the use of negative space. Definitely a great buy at only 400 yen. The only problem with it is how soft the rubber is--while that does make it comfortable to wear, that probably means it can rip easily as well. I'll have to be careful when wearing it.
But seriously, I can't say enough about how pleased I am at all the new merch that the Rebuild of Evangelion is bringing in. My wallet might disagree.
Anyhow, on to the cards. I didn't actually own a set of playing cards before these, and they are actually entirely plastic rather than plastic-coated-paper like standard cards. They are, of course, usable for card games. When I played strip poker in high school I used to be all right at it but I'm sure I can't play it that well now.
See the tiny holographic sticker? Well, you can't see it too well because taking pictures of holographic things is hard. But you can KIND OF see it. You need never worry about whether your Eva merchandise is official if it's sealed. Just look for a sticker like this (the color is sometimes blue and sometimes red) and you know for certain it is authentic. I wish more franchises had this; I know Type-Moon does this too but I'm not sure of other series that have their own designated marker.
Rather than being in a flimsy paper box the cards are in a hard plastic case with a paper slipcover. The design catches the eye immediately with its bold black and red contrast. The plastic box itself locks closed and I don't think there's much chance of it coming open when you don't want it to.
Inside the box, the cards were shrinkwrapped to protect them. The set contains 54 cards (standard 52 deck plus 2 Jokers.)
I immediately noticed how thin they are. They're probably only 2/3 as thick as normal plastic-coated-paper cards so they are a bit delicate-feeling.
Also, they are the SLIPPERIEST THINGS IN THE WORLD. I can't tell you how many times I almost dropped them while I was in the process of taking pictures. I don't think I'll be using them to play games with because I would drop them all over the table constantly--I had to hold the cards with both hands any time I had more than one, or they slid all over each other and flew out of my hand. And forget setting down a stack unless it's in the plastic box--they immediately slid around and spread all over the desk. I would honestly say that their slipperiness is their biggest downside, it makes them annoying to handle.
I tried to get a nice spread out shot but they went everywhere instead.
That said, they are gorgeous cards and I love the bold simplicity of their design. I found it hard to get good pictures of them because they are so glossy.
Spades and clubs are white, and hearts and diamonds are red. Spades are the SEELE sigil, hearts are Sachiel/general Angel face motif, clubs are NERV logo, and diamonds are Eva Unit-01's face. The back of each card matches the image on the paper sleeve.
For all the suits, the Jack is Eva Unit-00, Queen is Eva Unit-02, and King is Eva Unit-01. The two Joker cards are white and use the image of Zeruel.
I don't usually pick up much extra goods because they tend to be expensive and not necessarily worth it but I seriously can't get over how cool these are. They're still available (on backorder) at Hobby Search if you'd like to pick up a set for yourself http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10207344 . It took about a week for Hobby Search to process my order so you can probably expect a similar wait time but the cards are definitely worth it.
I picked up this set of playing cards completely on a whim, since they were only 1400 yen (and my rationale of "BECAUSE EVA" was not countered by anything this time.) Because there's a minimum shipping weight, I decided to add a couple other small items to round out the order. I grabbed a pack of my favorite Tamiya Epoxy Putty and also a REALLY cool rubber bracelet.
It's not apparent in the product picture on Hobby Search, but you can see in this shot of it on my wrist that the black designs are actually raised in relief from the red background.
The packaging is neat too, very bold with the use of negative space. Definitely a great buy at only 400 yen. The only problem with it is how soft the rubber is--while that does make it comfortable to wear, that probably means it can rip easily as well. I'll have to be careful when wearing it.
But seriously, I can't say enough about how pleased I am at all the new merch that the Rebuild of Evangelion is bringing in. My wallet might disagree.
Anyhow, on to the cards. I didn't actually own a set of playing cards before these, and they are actually entirely plastic rather than plastic-coated-paper like standard cards. They are, of course, usable for card games. When I played strip poker in high school I used to be all right at it but I'm sure I can't play it that well now.
See the tiny holographic sticker? Well, you can't see it too well because taking pictures of holographic things is hard. But you can KIND OF see it. You need never worry about whether your Eva merchandise is official if it's sealed. Just look for a sticker like this (the color is sometimes blue and sometimes red) and you know for certain it is authentic. I wish more franchises had this; I know Type-Moon does this too but I'm not sure of other series that have their own designated marker.
Rather than being in a flimsy paper box the cards are in a hard plastic case with a paper slipcover. The design catches the eye immediately with its bold black and red contrast. The plastic box itself locks closed and I don't think there's much chance of it coming open when you don't want it to.
Inside the box, the cards were shrinkwrapped to protect them. The set contains 54 cards (standard 52 deck plus 2 Jokers.)
I immediately noticed how thin they are. They're probably only 2/3 as thick as normal plastic-coated-paper cards so they are a bit delicate-feeling.
Also, they are the SLIPPERIEST THINGS IN THE WORLD. I can't tell you how many times I almost dropped them while I was in the process of taking pictures. I don't think I'll be using them to play games with because I would drop them all over the table constantly--I had to hold the cards with both hands any time I had more than one, or they slid all over each other and flew out of my hand. And forget setting down a stack unless it's in the plastic box--they immediately slid around and spread all over the desk. I would honestly say that their slipperiness is their biggest downside, it makes them annoying to handle.
I tried to get a nice spread out shot but they went everywhere instead.
That said, they are gorgeous cards and I love the bold simplicity of their design. I found it hard to get good pictures of them because they are so glossy.
Spades and clubs are white, and hearts and diamonds are red. Spades are the SEELE sigil, hearts are Sachiel/general Angel face motif, clubs are NERV logo, and diamonds are Eva Unit-01's face. The back of each card matches the image on the paper sleeve.
For all the suits, the Jack is Eva Unit-00, Queen is Eva Unit-02, and King is Eva Unit-01. The two Joker cards are white and use the image of Zeruel.
I don't usually pick up much extra goods because they tend to be expensive and not necessarily worth it but I seriously can't get over how cool these are. They're still available (on backorder) at Hobby Search if you'd like to pick up a set for yourself http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10207344 . It took about a week for Hobby Search to process my order so you can probably expect a similar wait time but the cards are definitely worth it.