Man, does it seem like it's taking forever for the North American release of Advent Children. For those not in the know, Square-Enix has made an animated movie as a sequel to their classic videogame Final Fantasy VII which is supposedly going to be released in late April. To tide fans over, Square-Enix and Kotobukiya have put together a fine line of figured based on the film, featuring some of the main characters and monsters.

First and foremost are the three figures of Sephiroth, Vincent Valentine and Tifa. Each of these figures are excellently modeled with a ton of articulation points. I will have to say how impressed I am with the balance of detail and articulation found in these figures. Most of the competitors don't bother to make their figures as interactive; instead sticking with making them look pretty. Each of the figures come with the character's weapons of choice and is packaged in a nice little display box.

While the three character figures are nice, the real "big item" of the series is the boxed set of Cloud Strife and his Fenrir Motorcycle. Much like the other figures, Cloud comes with a ton of articulation points and his famous Buster Sword. The Fenrir motorcycle is scaled well and has a rediculous amount of detail to it. Placing Cloud on the bike presents a nice display piece.

While I haven't seen them yet in North America, there are also additional collectibles available for import. Of these is Advent Children's version of Bahamut, known as Bahamut-Sin, which is well crafted and looks to capture the look of the movie well. The other creature I've managed to locate is the Shadow Creeper, a demonic canine/wolf like create which also looks pretty interesting. Also available is a replica of the Sierra Aircraft.

From a fan's standpoint, this series is pretty unresistable. Except for the fact that just about every piece in this series is pricy, the whole series looks to be well worth the effort to find. If you are big into Final Fantasy VII, then be sure to hunt these down.

- - Vane