[Toy Review] BALTHIER - Final Fantasy XII Play Arts Kai

The cool and self-proclaimed leading man and a fan favorite, Ffamran Mied Bunansa, A.K.A. Balthier from Final Fantasy XII, is here! I also like to call him the "Han Solo" of Final Fantasy. I got his Play Arts Kai action figure as a gift. You gotta have this guy if you have his Viera partner, Fran. Because the two Sky Pirates are inseparable.

"You know what they say about the leading man?

He never dies."
~ Balthier ~

PACKAGING

Box front

The box is coffin-type and I like the design and colors of the box. The front shows a large promo shot of the Balthier figure with the FFXII logo and other usual logos.

Box back

The back shows more product shots of the figure and some texts in Japanese and English.

Front cover opened

Open the front cover to view the figure and its accessories. You can also read some info about Balthier on the left hand side of the box.

Out and ready to do some Sky Pirating.

Packaging includes:
- Balthier figure

- Betelgeuse (gun)

- Right gun holding hand

- Left gesture hand

- L/R open hands

- Display stand (with instructions)

THE FIGURE

Viewing Balthier on 4 sides.

Balthier might have a simple design but his action figure looks really good. Overall, the figure is highly detailed and painted nicely.

Handsome face.

Balthier's face is based on the CG cutscenes, not the in-game model. He got a very accurate, good-looking face with nice paint application and shadings. The face is kinda glossy though. The hair is sculpted and painted pretty well.

Right ear

Both ears have similar set of gold and silver earrings.

Left ear

Each ear have three earrings and are painted well.

Balthier's clothes

Balthier is wearing a white long sleeve clothes and a brown, leathery "armor" on top. The brown armor is highly detailed with engravings. This part is painted shaded really well.

Balthier's back.

The back is also detailed. The white shirt underneath have nice shadings and it got lots of wrinkles for detail.

Long sleeves

The sleeves of the white shirt have lots of wrinkles. There are gray shadings around them and the cuffs have brown paint that looks like mud. I think that brown paint should be yellow.

That elbow... eww.

The elbows doesn't look good when you bend them. They expose a huge cavity around the elbow ball-hinges.

Blings for Balthier.

Both hands look good. The left hand have couple of rings on the middle and ring finger. The left wrist have some bracelets sculpted on they're nicely painted too.

Dual belts front

Balthier have two belts crossed together. They're made of soft plastic and looks good with lots of sculpted tiny details.

Dual belts back

 The buckles on the belts are colored like bronze.

Right pouch

Balthier have two black pouches hanging on left and right side of the belts. They're also detailed.

Left pouch

The two pouches are mirrored to each other. The two pouches looks like gun holsters but I think they're item or bullet pouches for Balthier.

Balthier's fancy pants.

Balthier's black pants, just like his belts and leather armor, are very detailed and textured.

He wears sandals.

Balthier wears a pair of black and leathery sandals. In my opinion, these footwear doesn't fit on his Sky Pirate job, boots look better. Anyway, the sandals look good and detailed.

Bottom of the sandals.

The sandals have little details underneath.

ACCESSORIES

Balthier have very few accessories. He only got a gun and a total of four extra hands.

Balthier's accessories

That's very few for the price point. He should have more accessories like another gun for variety or some small trinkets items nethicites or one of the Cache of Glabados' auracite.

Betelgeuse (left side)

Balthier can wield a number of guns (or not depending on the job you chose for him in the game). His canon job is Machinist. Anyway this Balthier figure have the Betelgeuse gun. This gun is present in his promotional artwork and renders.

Betelgeuse (right side)

The gun is really detailed. It got some brown and metallic silver parts. There are some shadings and dry bushing techniques applied on the gun.

Extra hands

The four extra hands looks good. They're painted and shaded well, just like the default fists. The extra left hands have those rings.

Display Stand

This is the display stand. It needs assembly. You can also see the instructions for the figure and the stand printed on its cardboard packaging. 

ARTICULATIONS

Combing the sides of his hair.

This Balthier figure is pretty slim. So I'm hoping the articulations of this figure are really good.

Suggesting something.

The head is on a double ball peg and can turn around without any problems. Looking up is surprisingly limited. The hair at the back of his head is hard and limits the up motion. Looking down is good enough. The head can also tilt side to side well. The neck is on a double ball peg and helps the head move around more.

Checking out his gun.

Both arms have ball-hinges for articulation. The shoulder ball-hinges moves really well, it makes both arms raise 90 degrees to the side. But they have a hard time crossing the chest even though the chest part is made of soft plastic. The arms can also swivel on the ball-hinge.

Taunting

Both arms have bicep swivel but it's a little hard to move them. The elbows are on a ball-hinge and can bend more than 90 degrees. You can also swivel the forearms and bicep using the ball-hinge.

Casually pointing a gun.

The wrists are on a small ball-hinge and they move well but a little limited because of the sleeve's cuffs.

Turn around shot.

Upper torso articulation is good. It can turn and lean side to side pretty well. Leaning forward and back is good too but the bottom area of the chest might get snagged at the lower torso's upper area if you lean it forward or back too much.

Quick draw shot.

The waist's (lower torso) movement range is really good. It can turn and lean side to side well. Forward and back leaning is really good. The lower torso, like the upper torso (chest) is made of soft flexible plastic.

Relaxed gun grip.

Both legs can go forward a little than 90 degrees, maybe more if you force the joints a few clicks. Balthier can't do the splits but he can kick high. The belts and pouches are made of soft flexible plastic but hinders the movement of both legs a bit. The legs can twist on the joints and they also have thigh swivel and doesn't ruin the look of the legs when you swivel them.

Shooting targets below.

The knees are double-hinged and have a nice bend. The knees looks good too when you bend them.

Crouch pose.

The ankles are ball-hinges. They point up and down, turn side to side and pivot really well.

SCALING

Time to compare PAK Balthier height with other PAK figures in my collection.

FFXII PAK Collection complete!

It's a little disappointing that Balthier is a little taller than Fran (FFXII). Fran should be taller. Balthier and Gabranth (FFXII) looks like they have the same height

Balthier with two FFVII leading men of their own game.

Balthier is taller than Cloud (FFVII:AC) based on eye level. Vincent (DoC:FFVII), a fellow gunner, is a little taller than Balthier.

Balthier with a hero and a former hero turned villain.

Balthier and Zack (CC:FFVII) have the same height and Sephiroth (FFVII:AC) is the tallest in the picture.

Balthier with the rest of the FFVII party.

Barret (FFVII:AC) is the tallest in the picture. Tifa (FFVII:AC), Aerith (CC:FFVII) and Cid (FFVII:AC) are shorter than Balthier.

Balthier with the cast of FFXV.

Balthier and Noctis (FFXV) have the same height while Cindy (FFXV), Aranea (FFXV) and Lunafreya (FFXV) are shorter.

Balthier with the Dissidia NT team.

Balthier is the tallest in this picture with Terra (Dissidia), Squall (Dissidia) and Lightning (Dissidia). Balthier and Squall look awkward to look at based on their height.

Balthier with the KH kids and the siblings from FFXIII

This is a more awkward picture because of height/scale inconsistencies. Balthier is the tallest compared to Sora (KH3D), Riku (KH2), Lightning (LR:FFXIII) and Serah (FFXIII).

Balthier with the Variant versions of Batman and Catwoman.

Batman (Variant) is taller while Catwoman (Variant) is a little shorter than Balthier. This is a good scale comparison

Balthier with the Variant twin tail girls.

Another good scale comparison. Balthier is taller than Harley Quinn (Variant) and Hatsune Miku (Variant).

Balthier with random characters.

Lara Croft (RotTR) is a little shorter than Balthier. Raiden (MGR) is taller while Deunan Knute (Appleseed Alpha) and Harley Quinn (B:AK) are both shorter than Balthier. Deunan is super short!

QUALITY ISSUES

I didn't find any broken parts and major paint problems on the PAK Balthier that I got. But I heard that some Balthier figures have bad paint job especially on the brown parts of the white shirt. I still have a complaint though, the cuffs on Balthier's shirt looks like it's dipped in mud and not properly washed.

CONCLUSION

This Balthier Play Arts Kai action figure is really good. The figure is looks accurate to the source material and got nice sculpt and detail. The paint job is good too with really minor problems. The articulation works really well and he's highly poseable. Accessory count is a let down though. The price of this figure is a little cheaper than the upcoming new PAK figures. I got this figure as a gift and this one is difficult to find these days that's why I'm happy and lucky to have this. Balthier completes my Final Fantasy XII PAK collection. I definitely recommend this if you collect PAK figures, especially from the Final Fantasy series. I wish they make more like Vaan, Penelo, Ashe and Basch. Heck I also want Vayne and the rest of the Judges to be made as a PAK action figure.

Cheers and Happy Collecting!