Review: Final Fantasy Trading Arts Kai wave 1

OH LOOK IT’S OCTOBER! THIS MEANS NEW YORK COMIC CON IS IN LESS THAN 2 WEEKS, AND WE ARE SOLD OUT OF TICKETS. ALL OF THEM. THEY ARE NO MORE! Don’t fret though if you didn’t but them, I won’t be shutting up about what I did at this year’s con until November, so you’ll have that to look forward to (please be gentle with the eventual jealously punches). In addition to the biggest (and in my opinion, one of the best shows on the East Coast) conventions, we also have a plethora of new collectible hitting the shelves every week, as the holidays are approaching and there’s money to be made. Expect a lot of new Marvel toys to be looked at during the next couple of weeks (which okay, nothing new in term of my toy reviews, amirite?).

We’ll start off by taking a look at Yuna, the sole female figurine in this wave (although that will change in the future based on preview images, with Lighting Tifa and depending on your stance on the character, Tidus, all on the way). She’s the best example on how detailed this line can get, as the paintjob on her kimono from Final Fantasy X is pretty detailed/great, given her scale. Her variant body/face is the her FFX-2 Gunner outfit, which is the only figure that requires a seperate hairstyle. So technically, you’re getting 2 figures for the price of one with Yuna, without a price increase! The 3rd face in the set is the blank variant, and she comes with variant hands, her summoning staff, and like all the other figures, a based/stand combo and a bunch of word ballons with what I imagine is actual dialogue from the games. I dunno, I don’t speak Japanese, and I’m fairly certain Google will help you translate them  more than I will.

Next up is arguable the face of the Final Fantasy franchise if you under 30, Cloud Strife, rocking the design he had in the Advent Children movie. Personally, I would had preferred if  at least one of his bodies had the original FFVII design, but hey, I’m sure Square will do so later down the line (Clever!). Cloud’s kind of limited in terms of accessories when compared to the other figures in the lines, but hey, he does come with a sign that’s completely in English. That’s got to count for something right? Aside with a variant hand that comes with his massive Swiss Army knife of a sword, Cloud comes with a 2nd bottle missing his giantnormus sleeve riding his bike (I think it was called Fenrir.). It’s a cute spin on the character, and I’m sure it will sell well for Squenix.

Wrapping up the wave is my personal favorite figure and is the one I mentioned last week- Final Fantasy 8’s Squall Leonhart. Squall only has 1 set of hair, and the same face/stands/base combo the others have, but is packing a ton of accessories! He has a varaint set of hands, a varaint Gunblade, his formal SeeD uniform (Swanky) body and 2 well-known creature mascots from the game in the form of PuPu (hehehehe) and Cactuar (not as silly of a name, but still cute as a button!).  They even have their own stands, so they can hang out on Squall’s base as well. My only beef with this figure is that the fur on Squall’s leather jacket kind of blocks off the hole in his back, making it hard to slide his peg into him.

At $20 a pop, it’s hard not to like these figurines if you’re a Final Fantasy fan. They’re a 1/3 of the price for the standard Play Arts Kai, and a huge step up from the previous Trading Arts figures. We have all 3 figures in stock now, so come by the store of the website if you want them for your collection!