Funko Pop - Final Fantasy
The Final Fantasy franchise has given birth to a variety of different merchandise and toys. Many Final Fantasy and game figure fans are waiting on the release of a Funko Pop series lineup.
Funko Pop
Funko is a leading company in the vinyl and bobblehead figurine industry in America. Funko originally manufactured electronic items such as USB drives, lamps, and headphones. It was founded in the year 1998 by Mike Becker in Snohomish, Washington. The project was originally conceived as a way to make nostalgic, small, collectible toys. Becker wanted to find a piggy bank that used the Big Boy restaurant mascot but was unable to acquire one. He ended up licensing the rights from a Big Boy franchise to create his own coin banks. However, the coin banks failed to sell and the company filed for bankruptcy. Funko remained in business and was able to license its rights to BobbleHeads for Austin Powers, which was ultimately successful. Funko went on to sell Grinch, Tony the Tiger, and Cheerios mascots and Becker sold the company to Briany Mariotti in 2005. Funko then began selling their signature Pop! Vinyl line of figurines.
Pop! Vinyl
Pop! Vinyl’s are decorated bobble heads that are influenced by a Japanese-style known as Chibi (meaning small or tiny). The figurines that were manufactured from Pop! Vinyl are distinctly noticeable with large heads, small bodies, and big monotone colored eyes that sit far apart on the character's face. Most standard Pop! Vinyl brand figurines are known to be missing a mouth and eyebrows. The figurines are categorized in the following categories: Pop! Movies, Pop! Television, Disney Pop!, Star Wars Pop!, Marvel Pop!, Pop! Heroes, and Game of Thrones Pop! The Pop! Vinyl brand produced a number of characters from popular culture, including video games, anime, movies, and television and has gained in popularity over the years. The company Funko, Inc. has partnered with various high profile companies in recent years such as Marvel, StarKist. Co., Warner Bros., Kentucky Fried Chicken, and Microsoft. These figurines usually run at an affordable price of starting at $5, if previously owned, all the way up to $2,000 (US dollars) depending on the antiquity and condition of the item. Such as world renowned figurine collector, Aaron White, purchasing a Fantastic Four model of Dr. Doom for $2,000.
Final Fantasy Funko Pop
Currently there is no agreement or partnership between the Funko Pop brand and Square Enix. The same is true for Final Fantasy Nendoroid. However, Square Enix’s own version of Funko! Pop figures, called Chibi or Figurines, are widely available on the Square Enix official website and other Japanese retailers. Below is a description of the various Final Fantasy figures that Square Enix offers, and, with many figures, their chibi, or “Funko Pop” counterpart is available. The most popular Funko Pop-style figurines are of the characters Cloud and Sepiroth.
Final Fantasy Figures
Final Fantasy Figures refer to the various action figures, figurines, dolls, and other physical representations of characters and beings from the popular role playing game Final Fantasy, are one category of various merchandise. Many of the game series most popular characters, such as Cloud Strife, Squall Leonhart, Tidus, Noctis Lucis Caelum and many others, have been recreated as figures, which are available to purchase through various ecommerce websites and figure shops worldwide. The Square Enix official website has a number of Final Fantasy Plush products that have been released as well, such as Moogle Plush and also Chocobo Plush. As well as the official website of Square Enix, the Solaris Japan site offers a variety of popular figures from the game series as well. The prices of the figures vary widely, with some new and limited edition figures costing more than $200 USD and, on the low end, used or cheap figures sell for around $10 USD.
A Popular Figure: Cloud Strife
Final Fantasy VII Cloud Strife’s main facial characteristics and the colors of his clothing were designed to match Tetsuya Nomura’s illustration. He is depicted with a pauldron on his left shoulder and the armour on his hips allow for him to rotate into various different poses. Fine detail is included on his Buster Sword and cape. His cape is able to be replaced with a wing and like Cloud, four interchangeable hands are included with the figure. The figure, if combined with Sephiroth, would surely evoke imagery of the world of Final Fantasy VII.
Zidane Tribal and Princess Garnet Figure
Another popular figure on the square enix website is one of Zidane tribal, the main characters from Final Fantasy IX, and Princess Garnet, another character from the game. The characters come in fine detail and replicate their appearance in game, and are even able to be made to appear caressing one another. They both come with a number of accessories, as well:
Zidane comes with three (3) weapons: Daggers, Mage Mashers, and Ultima Weapon, two (2) interchangeable face parts, and eight (8) hands.
Garnet comes with two (2) weapons: Healing Rod and Tiger Racket, one (1) interchangeable face part, two (2) long-hair pieces, three (3) short-hair pieces, and five (5) hands.