Pepsi Japan’s V for Vendetta BE@RBRICK, Explained

V for Vendetta BE@RBRICK 70% Keychain Figure by Medicom Toy for Pepsi NEX

This is a 70% BE@RBRICK keychain figure by Medicom Toy, featuring the masked revolutionary “V” from the film and graphic novel V for Vendetta. At roughly five centimeters — the standard keychain scale in the BE@RBRICK lineup — it wears V’s white Guy Fawkes mask and black costume, with a red circular “V” logo and “FOR VENDETTA” lettering on the chest matching the film’s visual identity. A metal keyring is fitted to the top of the head.

The piece was produced as a promotional novelty for Pepsi NEX, a zero-calorie cola that Pepsi Japan launched in 2005. Pepsi Japan ran several BE@RBRICK collaboration campaigns through the 2000s, distributing keychain-sized figures as purchase bonuses, primarily through convenience store chains. This figure’s character and timing align closely with the Japanese theatrical release of V for Vendetta in March 2006, though the precise campaign year and distribution conditions have not been confirmed from available documentation.

V, the Guy Fawkes Mask, and a Symbol That Crossed Into the Real World

V for Vendetta began as a graphic novel by writer Alan Moore and artist David Lloyd, serialized from 1982 to 1989 through DC Comics’ Vertigo imprint, originally appearing in the British anthology Warrior. The story is set in a dystopian near-future Britain under fascist totalitarian rule, where a masked anarchist known only as V wages a one-man campaign of resistance against the state.

The white mask V wears is based on Guy Fawkes (1570–1606), a participant in England’s Gunpowder Plot of 1605 — a failed attempt to assassinate King James I and destroy the Houses of Parliament. November 5th is still marked in Britain as Guy Fawkes Day. David Lloyd’s stylized rendering of that historical face became the visual heart of the series and its most enduring image.

The 2005 film adaptation, directed by James McTeigue from a screenplay by the Wachowski sisters, brought the story to a global audience — Hugo Weaving voiced V, Natalie Portman starred opposite him. Through the film, the mask reached well beyond comics readership. In the years that followed, the hacktivist collective Anonymous adopted it as their emblem, carrying the image from fiction into live political protest worldwide. That crossover from fictional icon to real-world political symbol is a trajectory that very few designed images ever travel.

BE@RBRICK, Pepsi Japan, and the Collector Pipeline

BE@RBRICK is Medicom Toy’s designer toy line, in continuous production since 2001. Founded in 1996 and based in Nakano, Tokyo, Medicom Toy built the format around a consistent bear-shaped silhouette — blocky, upright, immediately recognizable — while rotating the surface graphics through collaborations with brands, artists, and entertainment properties. The 70% scale sits at around five centimeters and functions as a keychain; the line also runs in 100%, 400%, and 1000% sizes for collectors who display rather than carry.

Corporate promotional tie-ins have been part of BE@RBRICK’s history from early in its run. Pepsi Japan, along with other major brands, used the format to produce purchase incentives with genuine design appeal — objects that felt considered rather than disposable. These campaigns were Japan-domestic by design, distributed through retail and convenience store channels with no planned international rollout. Items from this era reach collectors outside Japan almost entirely through the secondary market, where enthusiasts of BE@RBRICK, V for Vendetta, and Japanese promotional goods form overlapping but distinct communities. The combination of three separate licensing threads — Medicom Toy’s format, Pepsi’s campaign, and the DC Comics and Warner Bros. property — places this piece at an unusual intersection, though the precise licensing structure behind it has not been confirmed in available sources.