[Toy Review] Kairi Kingdom Hearts 2 Play Arts

I went to the mall to sell some Pokemon cards then go home... well that's the original plan... but in some sort of impulse, me and my friend went to another adventure to find action figures. During our search, my friend stumbled upon this authentic Kairi figure. I don't want to spend cash at that time, but I can't let this one pass... This Kairi figure is now RARE and the market is plagued with bootlegged Play Arts/Kingdom Hearts figures then my friend is like a devil that tempted me to buy this figure and he knows my whole collection checklist... Darn it! But that's OK, I thought she's going to be expensive but I got her in mint condition and for a very LOW price. For its rarity, I'll say that this is a steal.

PACKAGING

Front and back side of the packaging. The box is really old, worn out and full of dust.

The packaging is window-type. Front shows the Kingdom Hearts 2 logo, some warning and the figure itself plus the little sticker at the bottom that advertises the Kingdom Hearts manga. Left and right side of the box only shows Kairi's photo. Back side shows Kairi's prototype figure photo and the characters in this Play Arts set and some other text details. And uuhhm... there's a small text there that proudly mentions Kairi's only accessory (except for the extra hands), her BAG.

What's in the box

Packaging includes: Kairi figure, bag accessory, closed left hand, bag holding right hand, and bag holding lose right hand and a slip of paper that is also known as the manual. No stand/base

THE FIGURE

There are no KH1 and KH2 pink clothes version of Kairi's figure. I don't know why Square-Enix decided to make this school girl version of Kairi. She only wore this during the early parts of the game where she found that bottle at the beach together with Selphie. This version qualify as a limited edition figure like Sora's other forms.

Front, back, left side, right side

5 Angles of Kairi's head/face

Anyway, the sculpt and details of this cute figure is very accurate to its game counterpart and it looked like she used the Dark Corridor to jump off from the TV's screen to the real world. Her head and face is perfectly sculpted. Kairi's face shows her kind nature with that gentle smile. The hair is soft so that her head can move a little easier

Kairi's school uniform

Kairi's whole uniform is made of soft rubbery plastic, you can see some small folds and wrinkles. It also gives the impression that her uniform is tight or fit, this shows her body curvature. Her "plaid"-like skirt and necktie is painted very well and it doesn't have any paint bleeds. I don't see any problems to the skin paint app. Few paint problems are present on this figure, there are some small chipped paint that only appears when you scratch it with sand paper.

And uhh, for you perverts out there, I didn't take any pics under her skirt, all I can say is that her panties are sculpted well too.

Arm, leg and back of leg shots (Click image to zoom)

Her sculpted folded sleeves counts as an articulation point and looks fragile, but we'll talk about articulations later, The front of her leg is almost perfect, but its back side is an awkward sight with that bulge at the back of her knee. The basic paint app on the socks is very good..

That's big!

Her shoes looks like a real school girl's pair of shoes, it looks leathery, shiny and it's big! Because of this, she can stand very well without a display stand. The shoes is painted very well, but under the left shoe, there are paint splatters, it's like she stepped on a shoe polish or black paint, well it's not noticeable if she's just standing.

ACCESSORIES

Kairi only comes with a bag and 3 extra hands. This makes her a little boring compared to other figures. You can still have fun playing with this figure along with other figures. Her bag can also be used by other figures plus her hands can hold some accessories that can fit to her hands.

That's it?

2 Extra right hands can hold the bag, while the extra closed left hand just gives a gesture.

Kairi loves her bag so much, she endorses it to you guys

The nicest pose I made for this Kairi figure, so far

Yes, she can also use the Keyblade, I'm talking about the game's story!
And I borrowed that Keyblade accessory from my friend's Roxas figure

This is what I meant when saying that she can hold some other accessories. :D

ARTICULATIONS, POSING AND SCALING

Kairi has over 20 points of articulation. Does that mean she can pose well? Sadly, the answer is no. This action figure is kinda doll-like and its design limits some joint movement. She can't raise and rotate her arms 360 degrees because of the articulated sleeve design. Her hands is not ball jointed, they can only swivel. Her legs cant move back because of her *ahem* panties. Fortunately, even with this limitations, she can pull off some poses.

[Left] Normal stance

[Right] Walking blissfully

[Left] Kairi performing Tai Chi Quan

[Right] Waiting for the bus

 With the help of her figure friends, Kairi can unleash her action figure potential!

Kadaj: "OW! Hey! What was that for?"

Sephiroth: "YOINK! Oooh, what's in this bag?"
Kairi: "Sephiroth, you big meanie! I want my bag back!"

As you can see, Kairi is small, and she is the smallest in my collection so far. She is still at scale with the Final Fantasy Play Arts and various Play Arts Kai figures minus the MGS, DMC, RE5 and Assassins Creed figures.

CONCLUSION

With all its articulation limitaitons and some minor paint problems, the figure's cuteness is its saving grace and I'm still happy and very lucky to have this rare figure. Kairi and Lightning gives color to my collection filled with figures wearing black. Hmmmm, I can say that this is a Fan Service Action Figure. Anyway, she's a great addition to your collection. Now I want a Sora and Riku figure! LOL!

As usual, I made a special action figure photo edits, it's a 4-panel comic!

Kadaj is socially awkward
and uhh...

And here's an even more special photo :D [Added: 10-20-13]

Waiting on the beach for the boy she can't remember

Beach scene reenacted :D

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Cheers!