Tomopop Review: Chrono Trigger Formation Arts

3:00 PM on 08.14.2010   |   Colette Bennett

Some collectible announcements garner more excitement than others, but I can tell you that Square Enix's Chrono Trigger Formation Arts series met with a pretty strong response when we saw the colored versions for the first time at Toy Fair, and we've been waiting to get our hands on them ever since.

You can either buy these blind boxed or in a four piece set, and this review is of the latter. We figured some of you do not want to take chances on which figures you end up with, and neither did we, but keep in mind if you have your heart set on getting just one as well, there is a way to do so.

Anyway, enough of that — follow me past the jump for pictures and more!

The Chrono Trigger Formation Arts come in a fairly nice window box. It's nothing to write home about like Momohime's box was, but I do dig the little time wheels design along the windowed part. Any fans of the game will be ecstatic to see this anyway, I'm sure.

The interesting thing about these figures was trying to find the right angle to shoot them from. Each is no more than three inches in height, but is like a tiny diorama with so much action going on inside! I whipped out my trusty macro lens for the job, of course, but I found I had to try to capture different views on each piece so you can really understand what makes these so great. Each has a really nice weight as well, light, but still substantial enough as not to feel cheaply made.

Oh, hey Magus. What's up? One thing worth noting about these figures is the crazy level of attention to detail, especially in the faces (which are teeny!). The eyes definitely look great, and I think Magus has just the right scowl here.

More great detail work in the face here, although Crono appears to be suffering from the same weird texture hair disease that all Square Enix figures seem to be afflicted with. The good news there is, these are so small, you're never going to notice unless you're super zoomed in like this or you have a penchant for examining your figures with a magnifying glass on a regular basis.

This was the figure in the set I was most excited to get my hands on. Lucca and Robo are my two favorite characters from the game, and I love the idea that they got their own diorama in this set. Let's get a look at it from the back.

Squee! I could just hug them both. If they were real, that is. Why haven't I ever cosplayed Lucca? She's nerdy and likes to fix things, just like me. I need to get on that.

The attention to detail is maintained in the faces with this piece. Great work from Square here. I feel sure that the creators of these toys knew what a rabid fanbase the game has and worked extra hard to ensure this level of quality.

FROG! It sounds stupid but I wanted to hug him as soon as I saw this. FROG IS NOT REAL, COLETTE. *pats self on head*

Crono is such a badass.  I think this might be my favorite pose of his out of the four pieces in the set. I think the only bad thing about these figures is deciding how to display them where you can get the best angles, because there are SO MANY good angles. Even the back angles are cool.

See what I mean?

This last piece is the only one that I think has a bit of humor. I think it's Ayla's face; she looks genuinely kind of puzzled that she's being swept away by Robo. In the meantime, Crono is all about it (clearly, he's the adventurous type).

The detail of her little boots kills me. And check out the back side of this sucker:

Really good. I hope you have a pedestal in your house for these guys so your friends can catch all the angles when they ooh and aah over your Chrono Trigger collection.

Crono, always ready to kick ass. I'm still amazed by the detail here, even though we've seen it consistently across all four of these figures.

A better look at Ayla's perplexed expression. "How did I get into this, again?"

Simply put, you'd be crazy not to add these pieces to your collection. If you somehow missed the Chrono Trigger madness because it came out before your time or you never got around to it, fine, but if you're a fan these are just a great deal for the price and are incredibly high quality.

Preorders are open for the boxed set through Big Bad Toy Store ($29.99, October release date). It's also worth noting that the fifth in the blind box set, Marle and Crono sitting under a tree, is not present in this set, but you can find it over at Toyslogic and HLJ. These are the blond boxed ones so you will need to pick up a case to get that extra figure. Kind of a bummer, but if you're a completionist, you'll want to try for it.

[Thanks to Square Enix for the review sample]