Kingdom Hearts III Bring Arts Shadow Set

        In hindsight, there was no resistance possible I suppose.  Not that there was much to begin with.  I didn't really know if I'd take the pre-order plunge when the set was announced, since I wasn't familiar with the smaller 1/12-ish scale Bring Arts line (I prefer 1/6-ish scale Play Arts Kai, remember), and I really didn't know if I wanted two of them because of that... but here we are and clearly none of that mattered much.
        As a side note, this took about a week and a half longer than usual due to winter weather.  I guess it's tradition to a point.

        It's hilarious to me that I had to get the lighting just right to be able to see even this much inside the box.  They aren't perfectly matte black, but even as a very dark gray, the plastic covering the front made it almost impossible to actually see anything past their eyes.  Of course I enjoyed that a lot.

        Pre-production shots!  I'll point out why in a minute.  There are a bunch of words and some warnings not to hurt myself.  Luckily I escaped unscathed this time around.

        But, uh.  Could not help but very much notice that this brand new product was covered in what I'll go ahead and assume is production dust on their faces and eyes.  A little hilarious, a tiny bit concerning, but it cleaned right up with a slightly moistened paper towel so whatever I guess.

        They are free.  And wow the accessories!  That were on... slightly easier to manage pin boards, but those got annoying to me so everything got dumped into a tiny resealable bag because that's the same thing I did with all of my other figures.  So many expressive parts!  Antennae and hands a-plenty!

        And they can hold... small/thin things, apparently.  I will not complain about this.  Also the "closed grasping hand" just looks like an accusing finger, but I can also work with that just fine.

        So, these eyes.  Definitely a little different than the pre-production shots.  I am very familiar with lucite "glowing" beads, or a very specific plastic bead that reflects light in a particular way so that it appears to glow.  While the back of the box images could certainly have been altered afterward, it looks like these eyes are a slightly different build.  Not wholly rounded, for whatever reason, but definitely with a rounded reflective center.  ...Keep in mind I'm not complaining about this, it was just an interesting thing I noticed.
 

        A closer look at some of the joints.  We've got a little bit of everything here for movement's sake, nothing too tight or sliding too easily.  I did, uh... accidentally pop off a leg or two.  This isn't too unusual for me with builds like this, and the leg joint pops right back on, but it was a little more funny because they have... er... "soft plastic underwear".  It's not supposed to be underwear, it's that lower abdominal panel that hides the actual hip joint connections, but it sure does look like underwear when you're trying to move it aside enough to pop a leg back on.
 

        Sadly they made sure that you can't swap antennae and hands, they're just not the same size peg.  But on that subject, the tiny sizes of the pegs and joints are absolutely terrifying.  It might be quality plastic, but it's still plastic, and I imagine wear is going to hit relatively early and very hard.  We'll see, though.
        Some "production fuzz" is still visible, tiny plastic burrs or connection points to molds, but everything works and fits and if I were really bothered I'm sure I could file things down.  I'm not.

        Double ass shot!  Sort of.
        Unfortunately, all of my other Kingdom Hearts figures are still packed up in their moving boxes.  No Soras, no Riku, no Cloud, no Axel, no Sephiroth.  But...

        Yes, that will do nicely.  ...Sorry Tron.
        Overall I'm pretty impressed with what they managed to do with such small figures.  The design was simple on one hand, sure, but the detailing of the smallest parts seemed anything but.  Nothing feels flimsy, and even if I keep accidentally popping things out of place when I try to see how far their range of motion goes, it pops right back in and moves fine again afterward.  By design.  Square-Enix figures have come an awfully long way.
        Can't say I'm super interested in more from the Bring Arts line even if they are all beautiful figures.  But these were... not as easy to dismiss.  ...And no I don't know what I'll make their collars out of yet.