[Toy Review] ZACK FAIR - Crisis Core: FFVII Play Arts Kai

Look, it's Zack Fair! The lively and energetic main protagonist of Crisis Core Final Fantasy VII who is a SOLDIER 1st Class from Gongaga that became a fugitive experiment test subject that's on a run with his friend, Cloud who's suffering from Mako poisoning... What, spoiler much? Anyway, I got his Play Arts Kai action figure and it's looking really good already, so let's start the review.

"Embrace your dreams. If you want to be a hero,

you need to have dreams."

~ Zack Fair ~

PACKAGING

Front and back of the box

The design of Zack's box is simple and looks similar to the FFXV PAK boxes. The front shows a large product shot of Zack on a very bright background with some feathers. The back shows more poses of the figure.

Front cover opened.

Open the front cover to view the figure with its accessories through the viewing window. There's a large product shot of the figure on the left hand side and you can also read some tidbits about Zack and the game.

Out and ready to do some side missions.

Packaging includes: Zack figure, Buster Sword, Sword mounting peg, L/R gripping hands, L/R open hands, Display stand

THE FIGURE

The reason why I still don't have a Cloud FFVII Remake PAK because of Zack and to me it's awkward to have two almost similar looking characters design wise that both have Buster Swords.

Viewing Zack on four sides.

Zack's looking cool on all angles and this figure is kinda lighter than other PAK figures. The toy's proportions looks great.

Yep, that's Zack, alright.

Headsculpt looks good and accurate. Zack's face have sculpted cross-shaped scar on his left cheek. It needs more black or hair sculpt on the sides, because there's a very noticeable "bald" area at the back of the jaw when you look on the sides of Zack's head. His blue eyes looks good too, I can't see some Mako green color on those eyes though.

Zack have long spiky hair

The black spiky hair looks good and can use an additional thinner bangs for accuracy. The lower back part of the hair is articulated, by the way.

Standard issue SOLDIER 1st Class uniform

Zack's SOLDIER 1st Class uniform looks simple. The details of the turtle necked top are great, it really looks knitted.

Zack's back

The back features a buckle (or stud) where Zack mounts the Buster Sword. it's removable and can be swapped with the peg accessory.

SOLDIER belt
It looks like a wrestling championship belt too.

The straps and belts around Zack are brown. The "ab belt" have a huge SOLDIER emblem. There are two additional belts underneath with silver buckles. This is a separate single floating piece

Shoulder guard

The uniform have shoulder guards for both arms. They're made of soft flexible plastic and got scratches for detail. This figure's shoulder guards are an improvement over PAK Sephiroth's shoulder guards that won't go back to its original shape after holding a pose for so long (both arms raised for his fighting stance).

Zack's python "are" sick!

The buffed arms looks good, nice skin tone and shadings. Both hands have black gloves that are detailed.

SOLDIER pants

Zack's baggy pants have a rough texture and have a lot of wrinkles and small stitches for detail.

SOLDIER boots

The brown boots have a unique design. Just like Cloud's SOLDIER uniform, it's zipped and have nice details. The ankle ball-hinge color doesn't match the color of the boots.

The bottom of the boots.

The outsoles of the boots are treaded.

ACCESSORIES

Zack only have standard accessories. He got his Buster Sword and a small separate peg accessory. He also got two pairs of open and gripping hands.

That's all of 'em...

SQEX should have included an additional interchangeable head (younger face, different hairstyle), his standard issue SOLDIER sword and his Panasonic P900iV phone with an extra gripping hand for it... yeah, I'm a geek sometimes.

The Buster Sword

The Buster Sword have been redesigned for Advent Children and got its backstory in Crisis Core. This sword is pretty light, even lighter than Cloud's Fusion Sword.

Buster Sword up close

The sword is very detailed, the blunt side of the blade have stylish lines. The Materia slots are also detailed. The gold hilt of the sword have wing-like sculpts, I don't like the shadings on this part, they look like stains or rust. The only bland part of the sword is the grip.

The sword peg accessory

This is the tiny peg accessory for mounting the Buster Sword on Zack's back and it got some detail.

[left] No peg

[right] peg attached on back

The default peg is hard to remove. I have to use a thin object just to remove the peg. Be careful not to loose these tiny things. I won't remove this sword peg on Zack's back in case that I want to mount the Buster Sword.

Extra hands

The pair of gripping hands are for holding the sword one or two handed, plus they hold the sword in an angle. The open pair of hands are for other poses and gestures.

Display stand

I won't be using this display stand. Huh, SQEX haven't been redesigning their PAK stands for a long time now... I think it's about time to change and improve them.

ARTICULATIONS

Yo!

This Zack PAK figure have surprisingly great articulation, let's check it out.

He wants that wing too.

Zack's head can rotate 360 degrees. Zack can look up really high thanks to the articulated hair, no problems when looking down too. The head can also tilt for a bit of attitude. The hidden neck articulation can move surprisingly well even if it's inside Zack's turtle-necked top.

[left] Buster Sword on Zack's back

[right] Drawing the sword or doing Cloud's pose

Chest can twist, turn and lean without issues. Its click-hinge works as an ab-crunch, no huge gaps present when using this articulation. The waist can move just fine even with the huge SOLDIER belt around it.

Doing the serious (but not really) look.

 Arms can raise forward and sidewards really well, the shoulder guards doesn't hinder their movement that much.

Zack's doing his honor ritual

Bicep swivel works fine, the elbow and wrist ball-hinges does a good job on moving the forearms and hands.

Pointing the Buster Sword at you.

The legs can go forward high enough and can go back a little bit. They can raise high to the side, Zack can pull some high kicks.

Defensive stance

The legs can also twist on the joints and also have a thigh swivel that looks ugly when used.

Overhead attack

The double-hinged knees looks good when they're straight, but looks ugly when bent because of the huge cavities/gaps, but they got nice range of movement.

Crouching and looking handsome.

The ankle ball-hinges makes the feet point up/down without any problems. They can turn and pivot too and the feet have toe hinges.

Superhero landing!

SCALING

I'm anxious to see how the height of this Zack figure compare with the rest of my PAK figures, espicially FFVII:AC figures. Come on Zack, you're a tall guy, don't be short.

Time Paradox!

I watched some Crisis Core cutscenes where Zack is standing next or close to Cloud. The height comparison is almost correct. Cloud (FFVII:AC) is a tiny bit shorter than Zack while Sephiroth (FFVII:AC) and Barret (FFVII:AC) are taller. Tifa (FFVII:AC) is made a little taller but she's still shorter than Zack.

Zack can blend in with the FFXV people

Noctis (FFXV) is shorter than Zack based on eye level. The girls: Luna (FFXV), Cindy (FFXV) and Aranea (FFXV) are shorter.

Tallest to shortest.

Fran (FFXII) and Gabranth (FFXII) are taller, that's good. Lightning (LR:FFXIII) and Serah (FFXIII) are shorter.

Zack with Lightning, Hatsune Miku, Catwoman and Diablos.

The legs of Catwoman (Variant) aren't straight but if it does, she's the same height as Zack. Hatsune Miku (Variant), Lightning (Dissidia) and Diablos Armor (MH4) are shorter.

With random characters

Raiden (MGR) is taller and Lara Croft (RotTR) is a bit shorter than Zack. Harley Quinn (B:AK) and Leon S. Kennedy (RE6) are both shorter.

Zack with Keyblade weilders and a Lalafel sultana

Zack is taller than the the Keyblade boys: Sora (KH3D) and Riku (KH2). I just included Nanamo (FFXIV) for fun.

QUALITY ISSUES

Gold paint smudge!

There's a paint issue found on the Buster Sword. It got an obvious smudged gold paint on the grip of the sword. The right leg joint have extra plastic around it, still it works fine but might cause some issues in the future.

CONCLUSION

This Play Arts Kai action figure of Zack is great when it comes to joint design and presentation. I never expected that its articulation works really well despite the design of the character that potentially might have parts that will limit the movement of its joints. In short, this figure is highly poseable. Paintwork and overall look is really good and the figure's height is a hit or miss. The accessory count is pretty standard and can use more. This Zack figure will look great on any PAK collection especially if you collect FFVII figures.

Here's a photo edit that I made for Zack... SPOILER ALERT!

Against the Shin-ra army

Cheers and Happy Collecting!