Usopp’s Early One Piece Era in a 2003 Bandai Shokugan Figure

Usopp One Piece Figure by Bandai Shokugan, 2003

This is a pre-painted plastic figure of Usopp — the Straw Hat crew’s sniper from One Piece — produced by Bandai’s Shokugan division in Japan in 2003. It belongs to what appears to be Bandai’s “Figure Collection” candy-toy line for the series, though the exact series title and volume number can’t be confirmed from available information alone. These figures were sold packaged alongside sweets — typically gum, ramune, or chocolate — through convenience stores and supermarkets across Japan, reaching a broad audience from children to adult collectors.

Usopp in the Early Anime Era

Usopp made his debut in Eiichiro Oda’s manga in chapter 23, collected in volume 3 and published in 1998. He joined the Fuji TV anime adaptation in 1999, and by 2003 One Piece was in its fourth year of broadcast — transitioning from the Arabasta arc into the Skypiea arc, already one of Japan’s most-watched weekly anime and beginning to reach audiences internationally.

Within the Straw Hat crew, Usopp fills the role of sniper and, by his own admission, designated coward. His character arc runs on the gap between the exaggerated tales he tells and the genuine courage he ends up demonstrating: a storyteller who earns his place through ingenuity rather than raw strength. That combination of comic timing and real emotional stakes has made him a consistent fan favorite in Japan and in the international communities that developed as the series expanded globally.

The figure reflects his design from that early period. It shows him with goggles pushed back on his forehead, a dark sleeveless shirt with white stripes, oversized brown shoes, and a blue wristband. His mouth is wide open — teeth and red tongue visible — with his right arm thrust forward in a clenched fist and a green, shovel-like tool held in his left hand. The specific item in his left hand suggests the kind of improvised gear Usopp is known for, though a precise identification from the figure alone isn’t possible. Overall, the design corresponds to Oda’s early character artwork and the animation style of the first few seasons, distinguishing it from the more refined figure work produced later in the franchise’s run.

The Shokugan Tradition Behind the Figure

Shokugan — literally “food play” — is a category of Japanese candy toy: a small collectible packed alongside a piece of candy, sold in boxed assortments at convenience stores, toy shops, and supermarkets. Bandai’s Shokugan division has produced series for dozens of major anime and tokusatsu franchises, and One Piece was among the division’s central licenses through the early-to-mid 2000s. Sets were typically distributed with multiple characters per series, and completing a full lineup was a consistent motivation for collectors.

The period around 2003 was a high point for shokugan in Japan. Character merchandise was proliferating rapidly across every major TV anime, and figures like this one occupied a space between children’s toys and adult display pieces — accessible by price, detailed enough for a shelf. Bandai would later develop more elaborate collectible lines, including the World Collectible Figure series that launched in 2008, making pieces from 2003 part of an earlier, stylistically distinct chapter in One Piece merchandise history. For collectors drawn to the franchise’s formative years, this figure is a material record of the series at the start of its global journey.