Unboxing Kingdom Hearts FiGPiNs; coming December 2018

FiGPiNs embrace larger-than-life entertainment characters that fans love, capture their essence and honors what makes them special. Through unmatched craftsmanship and thoughtfulness in design, from packaging to the digital experience, FiGPiN® provides highly collectible works of art that fans can connect deeply with, at home or on the go.

This is exactly what we found out when unboxing the first line of Kingdom Hearts FiGPiNs our friends at FiGPiN kindly sent us to test out. We are excited to share our first look of them with you.

The Kingdom Hearts FiGPiNs were first announced on September, and are planned to release sometime this month in the United States.

The Sora, King Mickey, Goofy, and Donald FiGPiNs will be sold individually in two packaging formats.

• GameStop, Target, and Best Buy will be selling each of them in a soft plastic case at $9.99.
• Other retailers, including Nerdy Collectibles, Entertainment Earth, BigBadToyStore, and Amazon, will make each of them available in hard polycarbonate case packaging, at prices between $12.99 and $14.99.

The samples we were sent came in the hard case packaging, encased in a clear poly-carbonate display box with a black ABS plastic base. You can watch the full unboxing video below!

I really enjoyed how exquisite and faithful the Kingdom Hearts FiGPiNs looked. The figures of Kingdom Hearts II Sora, King Mickey, Goofy, and Donald, were inspired by their renders from the game which were illustrated in a 2D cell-shaded style. The FiGPins are made with cast zinc alloy inlaid with hard synthetic color enamel and finished with an electroplated nickel coating. The lineart is strong and sometimes used to separate the more shaded areas, and the colors are vibrant and loyal to the original art of the characters. The art style allowed almost no compromise in the details of each design. Also, all FiGPiNs include a laser engraved, alphanumeric serial number on the back, making every single one uniquely yours.

Behind each pin is a holder, a special patented FiGPiN® soft rubber backer. The shape of the backer is such that it can be bent towards the base, allowing the figure to stand up without needing to be anchored to the black platform it comes with. Bending the rubber does not snap or damage it, and this bend also helps one to remove it very easily, unlike conventional pins.

When unboxing the figures, I realized that the black ABS plastic bases were facing the other way, such that the FiGPiN® logo was facing away when you positioned the pin to face you. But I easily changed it as you can detach the base of the platform and turn it around. You can see pictures of the fixed platforms below, with the logo clearly showing under each figure. I'm not sure if they're supposed to be like this, or if this is the wrong way round - but you can choose according to your preference!

I'm personally not a fan of excessive packaging and don't have a collector's mindset, so at first, I chose to display mine without the clear poly-carbonate display box (as you can see in the video). I did this also because I wanted them to be easier to remove in case I wanted to use them as pins. But later, I tried displaying them in the box, and I was delighted to see that they actually looked "museum quality" as they claimed to be! They didn't have that annoying faded plastic look that comes with cheap cases, and really emphasized the quality of the figures. This poly-carbonate box only comes with the hard case packaged products, which are priced a bit higher than the soft cased ones.

Overall, my favorite thing about the Kingdom Hearts FiGPiNs was how creative and versatile they were. They succeeded in bringing the magic and personalities of these Kingdom Hearts II characters to my collection both when I displayed them with the clear case and without.) I didn't want to display the graphic arts cards, but they were too lovely to throw away - so I kept those as bookmarks.)  If I wanted to, I could also display the figures standing on their own, to make the characters look like they were running free on my shelf. And of course, you can also use them as actual pins: at approximately 3" tall (76.2mm) 3/32" thick (2.0mm), they are neither too small nor too big, not too light nor too heavy. They are just the right size and weight for both display and wear! Although I might have gone a bit overboard...

In conclusion, I believe the FiGPiNs in the debuting Kingdom Hearts line are worth their price and space in any Kingdom Hearts fan's collection! Whether you are a serious collector or a casual one, or if you're looking for an accessory to show your passion for the series, the Kingdom Hearts FiGPiNs would definitely earn a place on your Christmas list!

You can view more pictures of the pins, both our own and the official releases, in the gallery albums below.

Online pre-orders for Kingdom Hearts FiGPiNs in soft plastic casing are currently being accepted at GameStop and Best Buy, and will be soon available in Target. You can also inquire in-store to place an order.

Pre-orders for the FiGPiNs in the hard casing are currently available at Entertainment Earth, BigBadToyStore, and Amazon for $14.99 each; at Nerdy Collectibles for $13.99 each.

It is not yet known when they will release worldwide, but as FiGPiN also sell their products overseas, we hope for some good news to come for international fans!

You can keep up to date with the latest from FiGPiN® on their website, Instagram, Facebook , and Twitter!