Give Me The Power Of...Kingdom Hearts!

Last week through the offices of my good friend at Z's Toys I got the three new Kingdom Hearts action figures by Square Enix. They cost $26.95 each. I was particularly relieved to get them as they had been out for some weeks and our local Hastings (which I fear gets the sweepings from more central stores) had no sign of ever getting them. Perhaps it had something to do with their difficulty shifting three Aeriths from Square Enix about a year ago. Anyway, before I get on to descriptions of the individual figures, perhaps I should give a short account of the game to place them in context.

Kingdom Hearts begins in the Destiny Islands, where the young boy Sora and his friends Riku and Kairi dream about leaving their home and seeing far lands. This dream is fulfilled in a dark way when their world is destroyed and they are separated, and flung into different worlds. Sora gains the mysterious weapon called the Keyblade, and joined by a wizard and warrior (Donald and Goofy--yes, that Donald and Goofy-- who are seeking King Mickey--yes, that Mickey-- who has gone to discover why the worlds are being destroyed) he seeks his friends through many worlds, most of them themed from Disney movies. A group of Disney villains, led by the evil fairy Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty, are creating hordes of Heartless, monsters created from the darkness in peoples hearts. In Kingdom Hearts II, our heroes are opposed by Organization XIII, a group of black-clad Nobodies (Nobodies are created when a particularly strong person becomes a Heartless) who wish to gain the power of Kingdom Hearts themselves to regain their reality. Now we have enough to go along on.

The Sora figure is of Sora as he appears in the first Kingdom Hearts (he grows older as the games progress). It is six inches high, and comes with Keyblade and a spare pair of hands. This is actually the third Sora figure I've got; the first was by Mirage Toys, and was posed in a perpetual crouch. The second was by Square Enix and was of Sora as he appeared in Kingdom Hearts II. This one is by far the best.

The Riku figure is as he appears in Kingdom Hearts. It is seven inches tall. He comes with the bat-wing blade supplied by Maleficent while he was under her influence, and a spare pair of hands.

The King Mickey figure is as he appears in Kingdom Hearts II, disguised in black Organization XIII robes. It is four inches tall. He comes with his own version of a Keyblade, which is silver where Sora's is gold, and gold where Sora's is silver. He comes with a spare pair of hands.

You know all of these Square Enix figures come with spare hands, that you can pop on and off; these are usually weapon holding hands and posing hands. I have yet to have the nerve to try to remove any. I just know that even if I succeed they'll always be loose, or I'll be afraid all the time that they'll fall off.