Tomopop Review: Kingdom Hearts Formation Arts Vol. 3

10:00 AM on 06.13.2009   |   Pedro Cortes

Some of my favorite bits of merchandise are Square-Enix's Formation Arts. Especially with their line of Kingdom Hearts characters, the Formation Arts series takes characters both original and stayed and puts them into mini-dioramas featuring locals they appeared in. KH1 Sora was placed atop a roof in Traverse Town while Cloud was perched on a stone, crouched with the Buster Sword lifted and ready to strike.

The third set of the KH Formation Arts was released recently, this time featuring Minnie Mouse, Captain Jack Sparrow, and KH2 Sora. Follow me after the jump to get a peek at these lovelies.

Manufactured by Square-Enix

Released September 2008 (Japan)/Early 2009 (U.S.)

The Japanese release of the Formation Arts series features three additional characters and is packaged as blind-boxes, with black-and-white variants available. The U.S. release cuts it down to three figures, each one placed in an unattractive blister-pack that does little to make the figure look better. However, packaging only matters if you're going to keep the figure in the packaging. For the most part, this is the kind of figure that should be opened and looked at closely.

First up is the Queen of KH universe and a temporary partner for Sora, Minnie Mouse.

Minnie isn't a character that typically interests me, but she has a couple of interesting details here that warrant her place in this set. You can see Chip and Dale swinging next to Minnie, which is a nice bit that adds to the happy Disney nature of the piece. The detail of the castle itself is impressive as well.

For what amounts to a lower-tier figure, the sculpt has very nice detail to it, something that is common with all the figures of this set. Although Minnie isn't the most exciting figure of this set, she won't look bad at all on your shelf next to the other Formation Arts.

Next up is Captain Jack Sparrow, the captain of the Black Pearl and the real reason why Pirates of the Caribbean was the colossal success it was. Unfortunately, S-E wasn't able to get Johnny Depp to do the voice of Sparrow in KH2, so all we got was an uninspired voice actor doing his best impression and kind of failing at it. I say this because the same thing sort of happens when you try to cartoonify Captain Jack.

He doesn't look awful, but there's a certain amount of personality lost in the animated transition. However, this is a complaint with the design itself, not the figure. The figure is excellent, with a lot of small details that keep popping up the more you look at it.

Note the treasure that lies at Jack's feet, as well as the sword at his immediate disposal. If you spin the display around...

There's one bitter skeleton trying to get a swipe at good ol' Jack. Lucky enough, there's a ton of treasure on him, so Jack will live another day.

Jack's set-up is top-heavy, though the balancing is such that he doesn't fall over unless you're molesting him (which I'm sure quite a few fangirls wouldn't mind doing.) Unlike the Kairi figure from the second Formation Arts set, you won't have to worry about slight tremors sending Jack toppling over.

On the subject of top-heavy, the final figure of this set is Sora, only this time in his KH2 outfit. He stands atop a set of monitors with Kingdom Hearts itself floating behind him, located in the final area of the game.

Much like the other figures of this set, the diorama is quite detailed, especially the monitors, gargoyles and moon.

The top of the building including the neon lights are molded nicely. It isn't superbly detailed, but for a figure in this price range it looks great.

Here's a closer shot of the gargoyle, which I really dig for some reason. It didn't need to be in the diorama to evoke the area from KH2, but its inclusion adds a certain moodiness to the whole thing. It pleases me. There's also the heart-shaped moon, which has some nice texture to it.

Overall the whole set up feels solid, unlike the KH1 Sora that was released in the first set.

S-E seems to have learned over time to make their set-ups sturdier. Besides being larger, the parts used for KH2 Sora are heartier, so you won't have a piece falling off or have part of the diorama always on the verge of breaking.

Overall, I recommend these figures to all KH fans. The Sora and Jack Sparrow are my personal favorites, though Minnie isn't a bad figure by any means. Any fan of Disney should appreciated Jack and Minnie.