When the word that the popular RPG makers Squaresoft were teaming up with Disney to make an action RPG, a lot of people were caught off guard by the concept. Now, as the game nears release, people are getting excited about what looks to be shaping up as a nice looking and playing game. N2 Toys (also known as Mirage Toys) has taken this opportunity to make a toy line of figures based on the game.

The lineup will involve a series of two-packs, each with a Disney character and an original Squaresoft character from the game. The series includes: Sora & Jack Skellington, Riku & Captain Hook, Kairi & Maleficent, Goofy & Guardian Armor, Donald Duck & Heartless Soldier, and Pluto & Darkside Heartless. Some of the characters come with weapons (Sora and Riku), while others don't (like Kairi). The figures seem to have a limited amount of poseability, which leaves the series more as collectible than as functional toys.

Each of the figures look accurate to the character models from the game and show a nice level of detail. The Disney characters are extremely dead-on to their cartoon equivalents and fans of any of those characters will want to pick up the figures just to have a nice looking version of their favorite. The Squaresoft-designed characters all look nice and are executed well. Considering that the design of the characters works well with the theme of the game, I think it would have been hard to make bad looking figures.

The only thing I would like to see from this series is maybe another line with some of the guest appearances from the game (Squall, Yuffie, & Peter Pan to name a few). Considering how many Disney and Final Fantasy characters make bit appearances, you could easily get another series that would sell solely on the fanbase of the characters.

The Kingdom Hearts series looks really good, but it's solely for collecting purposes. You could buy these for your kids and they'd have marginal fun with them, but I tend to feel that most people will get these just for display purposes.

- - Kinderfeld