How Pepsi Japan Turned Superman into a BE@RBRICK

Superman Returns × Pepsi NEX BE@RBRICK 70% Promo Keychain

The BE@RBRICK Format and What 70% Means

Medicom Toy launched the BE@RBRICK line in 2001 as a bear-shaped articulated figure built on a fixed silhouette — rounded bear head, jointed shoulders, wrists, and waist — where the painted or printed surface becomes the canvas for whatever IP it represents. Sizes follow the label’s own scale: 100% stands approximately 7 cm tall, which places a 70% figure at around 5 cm, compact enough to carry daily. A metal key ring at the top of the head puts this release firmly in keychain territory, designed to be worn rather than shelved. The figure maps Superman’s classic costume onto the bear form: blue torso, red lower half and boots, S-shield on the chest, with the standard expressionless bear face — character likenesses are not part of the BE@RBRICK formula.

Superman Returns and Where It Sits in the DC Franchise

The 2006 film Superman Returns was directed by Bryan Singer and starred Brandon Routh. Rather than a reboot, it positioned itself as a direct continuation of the Christopher Reeve era (1978–1987), carrying forward the tone and visual language Richard Donner established — including a costume that stayed close to the original design, adjusted only with a slightly darker color palette. The character himself goes back to 1938, created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster for DC Comics; the blue-and-red suit and the S-shield rank among the most widely recognized images in popular culture.

Superman Returns grossed approximately $391 million worldwide, but fell short of the studio’s expectations once production and marketing costs were factored in. No sequel followed, and DC moved into a separate continuity with Man of Steel in 2013. That makes Superman Returns a standalone entry — and every piece of merchandise tied to Brandon Routh’s version of the character belongs to one film and one film only, which gives this era of Superman goods a specificity that dedicated collectors notice.

Pepsi NEX, Japan’s Promo Culture, and the Collectors It Reaches

This BE@RBRICK was produced as a promotional item for Pepsi NEX, a zero-calorie cola line marketed in Japan by Suntory Foods. Pepsi Japan ran several BE@RBRICK-based campaigns through the 2000s, pairing major film releases with limited-run figures distributed as campaign prizes or store giveaways. The specific redemption method for this piece isn’t confirmed from available listing information, but it clearly bypassed standard retail channels — it was a campaign exclusive, never a shelf product.

That distribution history is now a defining part of what it is. Promotional pieces like this circulated only within a specific time and place, and they exist in the secondary market today precisely because they were never meant to be widely stockpiled. This figure sits at the intersection of four distinct collecting interests: DC and Superman merchandise, Medicom Toy’s BE@RBRICK catalog, film-tied promotional goods, and Japanese beverage novelties. Each of those categories has its own dedicated following, and this piece draws from all of them at once. Produced around 2006, it is now roughly twenty years old — enough time for a promotional giveaway to cross fully into vintage territory.