[Toy Review] Riku Kingdom Hearts 2 Play Arts Kai

SQEX took a very long time to make Riku a Kingdom Hearts 2 action figure. I've been waiting for this since the old Play Arts times but that didn't happen. Now that the latest Play Arts Kai action figure of Riku is here, it makes me so happy to have it on my mitts. I bought this one quick because I got left out when Riku's KH3D version got sold out and still can't find one even today. Riku is my favorite character in the Kingdom Hearts series, but as always, I will give a fair review on his action figure.

"I told you... I never wanted to be found... not like this..."

~ Riku ~

PACKAGING

[left] Frontside packaging (it's design is just like the game's opening menu)

[right] Backside box  (huh, we still haven't seen Riku's Station of Awakening yet) 

Riku is my first KH2 PAK figure and the third one to be released. The coffin-type box looks similar to the opening main menu of the game, but in Riku's case it's set in the middle of night and day. Front shows Riku's main promo image and the logos of KH2, PAK, SQEX and Disney. The back shows more product shots of the toy.

Opened front cover

Open the front cover to see the actual figure and its accessories. You can also read stuff about the game and Riku.

He finally got out from his cardboard prison

Packaging includes: Riku (KH2) figure, Way to Dawn (Keyblade), Right gripping hand, L/R fists, Display stand (instructions on the cardboard blister pack)

THE FIGURE

At first glance, this Riku figure looks great but something's a little off with the toy, more on that later.

Viewing Riku on 4 angles

I tested this toy for quality. The toy passes the sturdiness test. The paint job looks great, but it got few minor paint chips and slacks.

Hey look, it's Shiki Misaki's knight.

Riku's face sculpt is accurate and matches KH's art style and CG models. It's like he used the dark corridor jump off the game to our world. The face is painted well and its shadings isn't an overkill.

I guess he was too busy between the three games that his hair grew that long.

Riku's long hair is sculpted nicely and it's soft, but not soft enough (see ARTICULATIONS section). The hair have bluish to light purple shadings.

Now that's feasible to wear

Riku wears his normal get-up near the end of the game. He mostly wears the Organization Coat. Riku's design is simplier than Sora's because it lacks extra straps/pockets/zippers. His white/yellow opened outer vest is soft and have linings and zipper. The black inner zipped vest is softer and detailed with wrinkles and zipper. Riku have a nice six-pack abs when you look underneath the black zipped vest, a little something for Riku's female fans.

Riku's arms look less buffed here.

Riku's arms is semi-buffed and his hands are huge. Both have nice skin paint job and less shadings applied. The right arm doesn't have anything on it.

Everybody's guessing he wears that because his left wrist is injured.
Remember his fight with Roxas?

The left wrist and hand have a white cloth sculpted, it makes the left wrist ball-hinge stand out, they should have sculpted a bit more cloth to hide the ball-hinge a bit. Both hands looks good.

Baggy pants

Riku's pants is baggy making the legs' sculpt thicker. The pants have a stud belt, large pockets, some linings and wrinkles for detail. The knee parts looks great.

If you point a light there, you can see the leg joint in that gap.

The crotch piece is really small, so small that you can see the joints that connects the legs. The detail and paint job on the stud belt is really good.

His cool shoes are threaded

The pair of shoes Riku's wearing looks like it's made by Adidas. The shoes looks great and large but not overly large like Sora and Roxas'.

ACCESSORIES

Riku PAK is around the same price as Hatsune Miku V-PAK. Just like Miku, Riku disappointed me when it comes to accessory quantity. He only got his own Keyblade, a couple of fists, and a hand to hold the Keyblade. The Riku KH3D version have 3 Keyblades, why his KH2 version have less?

Pretty standard stuff

Yes, we all know in KH2 that Riku is not playable (not until the final boss) and he can't equip other Keyblades so he got few stuff on his action figure. If you ask me, SQEX should have added some Dark Firaga balls or a Dark Shield effect. They also could have added an alternative head with shorter hair like in KH3D.

Way to Dawn Keyblade

A closer look on Riku's Keyblade. This weapon is cool just like its owner.

It looks a bit shorter that I remember in the game but the Way to Dawn Keyblade looks great, very detailed, just look at the sculpt. The overall paintjob/shadings on this Keyblade is great.

The Keyblade's Keychain. It resembles the Heartless emblem minus the "X"

The Keyblade's keychain looks good. The whole chain is sculpted and made of soft plastic, not actual chains.

Good thing Riku can fight without using his Keyblade. Those fists can be useful

The right hand is for holding the Keyblade and other Keyblades (see ARTICULATIONS section), thankfully.

Keyblade summoned.

The Way to Dawn Keyblade is surprisingly light, the hand can hold it up well without flopping down.

Riku's fighting stance in KH2, a bit different than his older stance.

The default open left hand is for gestures and to complete Riku's fighting stance. The default open right hand can be used to make Riku pose like he's opening a Dark Corridor or casting a Dark Shield/Dark Firaga.

Doing a back fist attack.
I remember he knocked out Xion by a single back fist counter attack.

The extra left/right hands are just fists. All hands looks nicely sculpted and painted/shaded. The left fist have the part of the wrist cloth sculpted for character design consistency.

The Display Stand

 Riku will do well with the Display Stand that I will not use.

ARTICULATIONS, POSING AND SCALING

"Come with me and see the other worlds."

Riku can pull acrobatic and awesome-looking quick attacks using his Keyblade. PAK's joints really does a great job on making this Riku action figure pose really well.

[left] Back-handed sword grip

[right] "Huh, I can't cast the Dark Corridor anymore..."

It's hard for Riku to look around because of his long hair even if it's soft. The hair also forces the head to look down when looking left/right. The neck is also articulated for better head movement.

[left] Casting Dark Firaga

[right] Winding up for an attack

The chest articulation is hidden underneath the inner black zipped top. And wow, the chest moves really well. The waist moves really well too but over-posing the waist will reveal gaps around the crotch piece.

Locking or unlocking keyholes

The shoulders are ball-hinged, Riku can hold his fighting stance well with his right arm raised. It's also possible for Riku to hold the Keyblade with both hands because the chest part is soft making it easier for both arms to cross the chest.

Melee and magic attack combination pose

No bicep swivel, but the shoulder and elbow ball-hinges can do the bicep swivel job. The ball-hinges on the elbows and wrist doesn't have any movement problems.

[left] Sitting down

[right] Casting Dark Corridor or Dark Shield

The thick-sculpted legs have good range of movement with few restrictions. The legs can raise really high forward, so it's posible for Riku to sit down. The legs can twist and move to the back a little.

[left] Weilding the Sweet Dreams Keyblade (from Sora KH3D PAK)

[right] Ultima Weapon equipped (from Sora KH3D PAK)

The double-hinged knees looks fine when the legs are posed straight. They look odd when totally folded.

Dual-wield mode!
No, he's not really holding the Ultima Weapon, it rests on his thumbs.

The bottom part of the pants are soft separate pieces (like FFVII:AC Cloud), but the ball-hinged ankles have limited movement when pointing up. The shoes have hybrid toe hinges/swivel joints, that's nice.

Blog Owner's Note: I'm still doing my action figure scaling comparison in my room, because it's tiring to bring all these figures to my new workplace/office downstairs. In case you are wondering I work at home doing my graphic art/design business, pretty cool, huh? :D

Riku is taller than the other kids around his age, he even looks like an adult. I expected that he's taller than the younger or some female PAK characters and have almost the same height as few adult male characters... Well I'm mostly disappointed, here's why.

The Colorful Crew

This Riku is a KH2 PAK figure, comparing him next to a shorter/younger looking version of Sora (KH3D) the scaling is correct. He's shorter than Lightning (LR:FFXIII) and Serah (FFXIII) is shorter, a little off but still looks fine.

Riku is the shortest here, I guess he still needs a lot more growing to do.

This is where his scaling goes off. Riku is the shortest when he's with the FFVII:AC group: Cloud, Tifa and Barret. He should have been a bit shorter than Cloud and almost the same height as Tifa.

Riku with people from different worlds.
Imagine if he really did travel to the world of MGS, Batman and Resident Evil :D

Riku with the rest of non-SQEX characters. Raiden (MGR) is way taller than Riku. Harley Quinn (B:AK) is a bit taller. Wow, Leon (RE6) is taller than Riku too!

Riku with Miku and Catwoman

Finally, Riku with the V-PAK characters designed by Nomura. Catwoman (V-PAK) is taller and Hatsune Miku (V-PAK) is half a head taller than Riku (they're both 16 BTW) *facepalm*, their situation must be reversed.

As you can see Riku's scaling is inconsistent. But even though it's disappointing, it's still passable because he's not awkwardly short like Serah (FFXIII).

QUALITY ISSUES

This Riku PAK action figure that I got is not broken. The only issues are minor like few chipped paint located on the vest's collar and on one leg.

CONCLUSION

Well I'm glad that I got another male character that I wanted. This Riku PAK figure is sturdy, highly poseable and looks awesome. But he did make me facepalm (to the point that my hand might stick on my face forever) because of his inconsistent scaling, lack of accessories and the crotch piece is too small. He's unreasonably expensive for a unsuspectingly short figure with few stuff. SQEX, you're lucky that Riku is my favorite character in KH series, but overpricing your PAK figures must stop. Anyways KH/FF fans don't let this Riku KH2 PAK slip away, because he's cool... Well if you excuse me, I'm going to start hunting for KH2 PAK Sora and Roxas now... Can somebody help me find a cheaper one? ("._.)

This is a quick edit of Riku fighting near the end of the game.

The battle with Armored Xemnas in The World That Never Was.

Cheers and Happy Collecting!