Kingdom Hearts fans have been crying out for statues for many years now, but complicated licensing and Square-Enix’s stranglehold on the franchise mostly kept other companies out of the KH merch game until last year. But after releasing their first waves of action figures in the line last year, Diamond Select Toys brought along the first three entries in their Kingdom Hearts Gallery PVC Statues series to this month’s New York Toy Fair!
As I’ve gotten older, I’ve started to appreciate statues more than I do action figures (sacrilege, I know). So even though I’ve loved the Square-Enix Play Arts Kai and Bring Arts Figures released over the years, I’ve secretly been longing for some nice, large Kingdom Hearts statues.
Diamond Select Toys must have read my mind, because in addition to their Minimates, Vinimates and 7” Select figures, they debuted their first trio of Kingdom Hearts PVC statues at Toy Fair this month!
While there were three Kingdom Hearts Gallery statues on display, only two of them were allowed to be photographed at the show. A third statue of Pete was also at the booth, but wasn’t permitted to be photographed just yet. While I’m not sure if Pete has enough appeal to sell well as a $45 Gallery PVC statue, I have to say, though–the prototype of Pete was looking pretty sweet.
What I was able to take pictures of, however, were two-thirds of the dynamic duo from Kingdom Hearts II: Kingdom Hearts Gallery Sora and Goofy statues!
The base for Sora is pretty simplistic (a silver rectangle with some stars on it and Mickey Mouse logos etched in), but the figure itself looked fantastic. It’s a good size, too–much bigger than the Square-Enix Static Arts Gallery figures, such as the Static Arts Riku figure that I reviewed last year.
Meanwhile, DST got a little bit more creative with Goofy’s base: Goofy is standing atop a base that’s designed to look like a really big version of his shield. I really like the colors on this, as well as how Diamond Select has managed to capture Goofy looking about as threatening as the anthropomorphic dog man gets. I approve!
For those who like their unarticulated figures a bit more stylized (and cheaper), DST also had their expanding line of Kingdom Hearts Vinimates on display. The Vinimate figures are much larger than Minimates and retail for about $10 each, but lack articulation.
Vinimates Series 2 (which contains Vinimate Tron Sora, King Mickey and Pete) is already up for order, but we also got a look at placeholder artwork for a later series that features Vinimate Halloween Town Sora, Donald and Goofy figures.
I’m a total mark for Halloween Town merch, so I’ll be anxiously awaiting the arrival of the Nightmare Before Christmas-themed trio of “Nightmare World” Vinimates in Fall 2018.
I’ve also previously posted my discussion of this year’s Kingdom Hearts Select and Minimates figures, for those who are most interested in articulated action figures than static ones. I’ll send out alerts via our Gamer Toy News social media pages on Facebook, Twitter and Instragram once the KH Gallery Statues and Halloween Town Vinimates go up for sale, so stay tuned to those if you don’t want to miss out on getting your orders in early.
What do you think of the debuting value-priced Kingdom Hearts Gallery line of statues, KH fans? Are you planning on scooping up Sora and/or Goofy for yourself? And who out there (besides me) has decided to dive all-in and collect all of the Vinimate Kingdom Hearts figures as well?