There's liking Final Fantasy, and then there's liking Final Fantasy enough to buy a nearly $12,000 Final Fantasy statue. It's a staggering amount of money for a videogame collectible, but Square Enix apparently believes at least 600 Final Fantasy fans have that kind of cash to burn, based on its newly unveiled statue based on FF6.
Square did pick one of the most memorable images from across the history of its series for this figurine. It depicts FF6 hero Terra Branford riding atop a hulking Magitek Armor mech, recreated in 3D to closely resemble Yoshitaka Amano's concept art. It's the latest entry in Square Enix's "Masterline" collectibles series, and by far the most expensive: an earlier Final Fantasy 9 statue was less than $1,000, while this Nier Automata statue now looks downright affordable at only $2,850. This one goes for 1,4585,000 yen, or about $11,600. Tax is, fortunately, included.
Tera's Magitek statue does look like an absolute unit, though, and the video above shows just how much detailed work went into it. It's set to become available starting in July 2023, which is quite a wait. The statue appears to come with several bonus moogles that can be placed as you see fit. Judging by the price, I'd say each moogle is probably worth at least $1,000.
My favorite reaction to Square Enix's announcement of the Tera statue came from series creator Hironobu Sakaguchi, who seemed pretty shocked by the price.
これは、ないな。FANTASIANのジオラマ制作費用からしてもｗちょっとヤバいのでは？だいじょうぶスクエニ？ https://t.co/QFtEoHVpl3April 24, 2022
Twitter's built-in translation of "Isn't it a little dangerous? Is it okay Square Enix?" is probably a bit off, but Sakaguchi also clearly points out that it's expensive even compared to the dioramas his studio created for Fantasian. And those got turned into an entire videogame!
Isn't it a little dangerous, Square Enix?
