Atlus is continuing to create new “game characters collections” via MegaHouse.  The next title to have its characters forever immortalized in adorable phone strap figures is Persona 2.  This is especially relevant with the release of Persona 2 Innocent Sin scheduled for early next month.

There are 8 characters in total (1 of which is secret).  They include (from left to right):

• Jun Kurosu
• Ekichi Mishina
• Lisa Silverman
• Tatsuya Suou
• Trish
• Maya Amano
• Yukino Mayuzumi

I am a huge fan of these little figures, mostly because they are relatively affordable and cute.  However, they aren’t very durable: the body of my Aegis figure broke off from her head recently.  Now I just have a robot head chained to my PSP Go since I am too lazy to track down a glue strong enough to re-adhere it.

For the Persona 2 set, a box of 9 blind boxes can be pre-ordered at Ami-ami for around $42.00 USD.  As shipping goes by weight, you can hopefully get away without paying too much.  You can check out more detailed images of each figure here.  According to MegaHouse, this set is scheduled to be released sometime in November, giving you plenty of time to start Persona 2 Innocent Sin and learn who all these  characters actually are.

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Wow, it’s been a while since there was a toy I felt compelled to write about! This set of 6 mini strap figures comes from MegaHouse, the same team which brought us the equally exaggerated Persona and Etrian Odyssey III figures.

The most recent collection is made in honor of Vanillaware, one of the greatest developers and designers of the past few generations.  The top three figures are from Princess Crown, a game which sadly has yet to grace the West.  The bottom three may be more recognizable: Gwendolyn, Velvet, and Mercedes from Odin Sphere.

After having recently acquired Aegis from the Persona set, I can confirm that I love MegaHouse’s Game Characters Collection.  They somehow pack a lot of quality into such a cute and tiny size.  Any fan of Odin Sphere who is interested can buy a box of 12 random blind boxes over at Ami Ami for 4,300 yen, or around $53 USD.

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Megahouse, the same team behind those adorable Persona 3 & 4 mini-figures have made a similar collection featuring characters from Etrian Odyssey III. The set consists of the 10 figures shown above as well as two secrets. The jobs included are as follows:

• Princess
• Zodiac
• Monk
• Warrior
• Shinobi

Each of the aforementioned jobs comes in two different colors, so if you suspected you were seeing double don’t worry. Here is another pic if you are interested.  You can pre-order a box of 12 blind boxes from Ami Ami for 3,640.

At first I was pretty excited to see some Etrian Odyssey merchandise since it’s been a while.  Sadly I think these figures kind of do a disservice to the great design of each job’s outfit.  After they are so exaggerated you’re pretty much just left with a head and a bunch of colored blurs.  Generally I am happier with smaller figures but in this case I would have preferred larger figures like those released for the second game.  Maybe the problem is just that the images don’t do justice to the details, either way I will wait until I can see more.

Speaking of seeing more, someone on the Atlus forum was nice enough to post detailed images of the set of Persona 3 & 4 mini-figures including the secret characters!  Here are the two secrets along with a link to the gallery:

SOURCE

I didn’t realize these figures are actually made to be attached to a cell phone.  I was hoping they came with a stand or some way to display them.  Still, by the looks of the gallery this set is very nicely detailed and designed – a Persona fan’s mini-dream.

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I am not entirely sure when, but recently the official Japanese Square Enix online shop updated its layout and introduced some new items. Among them is the first set of Final Fantasy XIII trading arts figures which includes:

• Lightning
• Hope
• Sazh
• Serah
• Colonel Nabaat

Each figure is about 4-5 inches tall and one order of 6 random boxes will run you 6,000 yen, or around $60 USD.  If you take a look at the close-up photos of the figures linked above you can see that they are extremely detailed.  My only complaint is that the transparency of each character’s hair is not captured very well.  Using a solid paint with a bit of shine to it just doesn’t get the same result.  Still, not a bad set, and much more affordable than going after all the Play Arts figures, depending on how lucky you are (or aren’t)!  I wonder who will be in the next set?

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Despite your feelings of Final Fantasy XIII as a game, you have to admit it had some great character design.  Lightning is just plain awesome, and who at this point doesn’t know about afro-chocobos?  Still, I never thought in a million years that the Kingdom Hearts Avatar Mascot series I write about so frequently would ever choose the characters from Final Fantasy XIII for their next series.

The character included in this set are:

• Lightning
• Serah
• Vanille
• Sazh
• Snow

The estimated release of this set is late October but you can pre-order each for just shy of $10 USD on Ami Ami.

They are certainly cuter than these rather frightening King Mickey from the last volume which I never got around to writing about — you’re welcome.  That can’t be unseen by the way.  So which figure(s) will you be ordering?  In addition to Mickey or course.

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The second volume of Dissidia Final Fantasy figures have been revealed on Square Enix’s official Japanese online shop.  The second set nearly completes the side of Cosmos (with the exception of Shantotto and the Onion Knight — but who wants figures of them?), and for the first time immortalizes a character from the side of Chaos.  The characters in the set are (from left to right):

• Cecil — Final Fantasy IV
• Terra — Final Fantasy VI
• Bartz — Final Fantasy V
• Firion — Final Fantasy II
• Sephiroth — Final Fantasy VII

As with the last set, these will only be available in a set of 6 “blind boxes”, meaning you could end up with 6 Sephiroths, or no Sephiroths at all.  The price per box of 6 will be 5,280 yen or around $60 USD.

If I had my pick of the bunch I would want Terra.  Final Fantasy VI was historic and as far as I know this is the only figure from that title.  I also like her design and welcome a female Final Fantasy figure to my repertoire.  Still, I am sure initially the Sephiroth figure will sell for the highest.  Once the dust settles after the initial release you can probably expect to pay 10-15$ per figure.

As with the last set, the figures look great and their low price individually means even a struggling hobo like myself can dream of picking one up down the road.

**UPDATE**

These figures are available for pre-order at Play-Asia.com for $9.90 each blind box.

Megahouse has teamed up with Atlus to produce this box-set of figures from Personas 3 and 4.  Each figure stands at about 33 mm or a little over one inch tall.  I am not sure if they come with a stand, but most exaggerated figures tend to include some kind of stand — those bulbous heads really lower the center of gravity.

The set comes complete with 12 figures (no random boxes or gachapon to deal with) which includes the 10 pictured above and two secret figures.  The characters above are:

• Persona 3’s protagonist
• Aegis
• Aegis (school uniform)
• Orpheus
• Izanagi
• Persona 4’s protagonist
• Naoto
• Rise
• Kuma
• Kuma (shadow)

Mini figures seem to be the trend these days and I have to say that I approve.  Not only are smaller figures easier to dust and move around, but they are also cheaper!  This set is going for $44.99 on Kidnemo, which isn’t too far from its 4,788 yen pricetag.  The price is slightly cheaper on Amiami, but the shipping will vary, so I would say try both.  The set will be available late September at Ami Ami or October at Kidnemo but both have pre-orders are available now.

I wonder if you can take the glasses off the Persona 4 characters?  I wonder who the secret characters are?  Considering there are less Persona 3 characters, I would guess they would be from P3.  Maybe Mitsuru?  Yukari?  Akihiko?  Another persona perhaps?  I can’t wait to find out!

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I have written at length about the awesome key-chains based on the Kingdom Hearts Mobile designs.  I absolutely love the exaggerated features and simplified shapes.  Why, if one didn’t know better from looking at the awesome designs, they may think that Kingdom Hearts wasn’t a sinking ship of a franchise!

Anyway, Square must have recognized the disproportionate demand for the key-chains as a lucrative money vacuum, so they have announced a line of figures using the same design.  Damn you for your cleverness, Square.  Despite having already purchased the key-chain of Cloud, and having been too afraid to open the packaging for fear of blemishes, I will now have to purchase this set too.

This is only the first volume and it includes the following cast of charcters:

• Cloud
• Axel
• Tifa
• Riku
• Sora

If you peruse my past OMG Toys posts, you’ll notice that there was a second volume of the key-chains that this set is based of of, totaling in 10 characters.  Tifa was not one of them meaning she may have bumped somebody off the list.  Here are the yet unrepresented/potential characters:

• Squall
• Vivi
• Sephiroth
• Sora (Halloween Town version)
• Kairi
• Roxas

Who do you hope makes the cut?

If you are already foaming at the mouth and fumbling for your wallet, you’re in luck.  Kidnemo will be already accepting pre-orders next Wednesday with an estimated September 30th release date.  The price for 9 RANDOM boxes is $74.99.  This is a bit higher than the going price in yen, which translates to approximately $60 USD, but still pretty reasonable I suppose considering shipping.  Honestly, the random box thing doesn’t bother me too much since I like all the characters, but I really only want Cloud.  Everything after that is just gravy.

Square Enix and Metal Gear Solid — I guess it was only a matter of time until the two giants met in some way. Thankfully, rather than some video game abomination, their union comes in the form of an impressive action figure inspired by the upcoming PSP title, Peace Walker.

The figure of Snake/Big Boss features similar joint construction seen in the Play-Arts line of Final Fantasy XIII figures, but there is less flesh coloring, so it looks more natural.  A number of fabric accents on the outfit also serve to give another dimension to Snake’s sneaking suit. Judging by the photos of the figure, it appears to include both a shield and a silenced pistol.

The figures should be available late June or July depending on what site you’re looking at.  Both AmiAmi and KidNemo have the figures available for pre-order.  AmiAmi of course has the more competative price (~$40 USD), but more expensive shipping.  I mainly mention them on the off chance anyone plans to buy other figures from them, in which case group shipping may be the most cost-effective option.  KidNemo has the figure for a bit more ($54.99 USD), but their shipping is much more reasonable within the states.

Personally, I think this is the most impressive Metal Gear figure to date, with not much in the way of competition.  If you’re a fan, you should probably sell off all the lame Snake figures you have and upgrade.

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I really feel bad constantly writing about such expensive shit.  I know times are tough, especially with a long year of must-own games stretching out in front of us…  But this Odin figure may be the last piece of Final Fantasy XIII memorabilia this year, with an estimated release of sometime in July.  By that time, most of you will have already bought the game and decided if it’s uber-lame or not.  Anyway, the going price on Amiami is 15,550 yen which is a discounted price believe it or not.  That translates to roughly $170 USD.

Surprisingly enough, I was able to find the figure on Kidnemo for $159.99 which is less than the price in Japan — that is a rarity.

In addition to being able to transform between Odin and Odin’s gestalt mode, the blades can be used by the Play Arts Lightning figure.  How is that for cohesion?  I assume she can also ride on the gestalt horsey but since I don’t know the joint capabilities of these figures it’s hard to say for sure.  A better question may be can Lightning even stand while holding those blades?

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