Name of Series:

Kingdom Hearts Formation Arts Vol. 2

 Manufacturer:

Date of release (estimated):

April 2006

Price (singly in ¥):

850 ¥

Sculptor:

No. of Pieces in the series:

Secret (SP)/Chase:

Variants:

Size:

Around 14 - 18 cm

Other Remarks:

The 2nd volume of the immensely popular Formation Arts of Kingdom Hearts surely had fans and collectors anticipating the actual release at the edge of their seats since it was previewed in a game convention months before. It seems like collectors are not deterred by that high cost tagged on this series and some even was oblivious enough to get a complete monotone set as well. This set is bound for unprecedented success with the inclusion of the Kingdom Hearts version of Cloud of FFVII.

Cloud Strife

The piece that got the toy scene buzzing is none other than Cloud in his famous Kingdom Heart form with a single devil-like black wing on his left shoulder and a robotic left hand (i.e. Vincent Valentine style). Here we have Cloud perching dangerously on some debris with his huge blade scarcely wrapped up by strips of cloth. Cloud face is nicely concealed under the rustic-looking scarf which leads to a tattered cape on his back. The paintjob is wonderful but the sculpt needs some rectifications with his wing constantly drops off from his shoulder blade. Other than that, this piece is a gem!

Kairi

The heroine of the game taking sometime off to relax under the shade of a coconut tree, in a supposedly tropical island like paradise somewhere in the game. Kairi herself looks pretty out of proportion, perhaps due to the pose she adopted here. The face is pretty nicely done but it just seems like the head is a wee bit too big for her small frame. The most appealing part about this piece is the backdrop of tropical coconut tree with ferns and creepers and some white flower which i have completely no idea of its species. The wooden platform is really nice too with a gorgeous water surface as the base connected to the chesspiece.

Goofy

Like Donald Duck in Part 1, Goofy is another representative of Disney that is a faithful companion to Sora. Much like Donald & Sora in the previous volume, Goofy here is perching on top of a roof, taking a good view of something supposedly far away. But then we are talking about Goofy here, so nothing is certain. Though I am no big fan of our bumbling dog friend, I must say this piece has the most stable sculpt of all., at least parts are no falling out easily. The features I like form this piece include Goofy's white gloves, the shiny shield with the silhouette of Mickey Mouse as well as the Tinkerbell wind vane.

Oogie Boogie

It's really obvious now that the Japanese had a huge thing for Nightmare Before X'mas to have Oogie Boogie whom I felt had bit role even in the film here as one of the villain pieces. By sheer design, this piece perhaps is the best with the sculptor introducing you to Oogie's twisted world with a large industrial blade with a skeleton remains of a past victim. Then you have a poker card of a king which will charge at you with his sword, a cage with green goo, and some bats down at the base guardding some dice with a skull embedded. Really morbid stuff here. But the problem lies in the sculpt with the blade and card tends to fall off easily and the piping has much difficulty to fix on the correct location.

Ansen

A villain many people especially fans of the game are very interested in. I believe Ansen is the main bad guy much like Sephiroth of FFVII who people love to hate. We have a majestic looking Ansen situated just in front of a black devil-like apparition. Ansen's design is really stunning with visually pleasing  attire such as the exquisite trench-coat and royalty-inspired attire. The eyes of Ansen is not done nicely but the silver mane is superb. A lot of attention would be drawn to the devil at the rear of Ansen with its naked physique well illustrated here and palms outstretch to give an intimidating aura to this piece. The crystal which Ansen is stepping on is impeccably painted. The main problem is once again the sculpt with the parts having problem to be rigged together soundly. The whole piece also has problem sticking nicely to the chess piece well at least in my case as well as experienced by other collectors from the same batch.

Jafar

Jafar, the snot from Aladdin is the final piece in this set. A vignette showing an arrogant-looking Jafar holding his prized possession of the magical lamp which he most probably had robbed from Aladdin much to the annoyance of the blue Genie he is stepping on, very much unwilling to pledge allegiance to such crooked master. Nothing special about Jafar but I really like his pet parrot, perching on the lamp as well as the sulking Genie at the rear of the base. The base made up of all the treasure Jafar has amassed including pots of gold coins, an Arabian sword as well as a dagger is quite interesting. The dagger would be the only part that has problem pegging securely to the base, otherwise not much sculpting problem with this piece.