Random Funkos: Ni No Kuni Trio

My name is Jean-Paul and I have way too many Funko Pops. While hardcore "collectors" will argue that one can never have too many of any given collectible, I am confident that I indeed do. Just ask my wife. But that self-knowledge has yet to stop me from picking up random plastic figures that I come across.

A personal "first": individual plastic baggie 

around Tani's ponytail possibly to deter 

rubbing against the "buddy" while shipping?

For example, the trio of Ni No Kuni: Revenant Kingdom Funko Pops I recently acquired via post-holiday discount table at my local gaming shop. While visiting the store with my brother, who lives out of country, I came across these three anime characters with whom I had zero prior knowledge of them or the fantasy world from which they came. I simply liked their design, so I took them home on a lark, a decision that was aided by my brother kindly "donating" a portion of the gift certificate for the store my wife and I had gifted him the previous day to the cause. The reduced pricing, roughly 60% off retail, only increased the appeal of an impulse buy...

The initial aesthetic appeal of Tani, Evan and Roland was based solely on the Miyazaki vibe they elicited. In fact, it occurred to me that Tani might be the closest we get to a Princess Mononoke figure given the war paint and animal skin attire. A quick check of Wikipedia confirmed that I wasn't that far off.

Apparently, Ni No Kuni is a series of role-playing games set in a fantasy realm with characters that employ magical abilities during gameplay. The smaller characters that came with each Pop, dubbed “Higgedlies” on the packaging, are familiars that can be tamed for suitability during battle. The animated sequences and artwork for the games were both inspired by Studio Ghibli's other productions. Not surprisingly, "[T]he character development was intended to make children empathize with the characters and for adults to relive their adolescence." It is probably too late in a post about toys to be embarrassed about that fact that I first saw Princess Mononoke in theaters during its initial U.S. when I was in my late twenties.

In all likelihood I will never have the opportunity to experience the rpgs and videogames that spawned these beautifully designed characters, I will continue to appreciate both their Funko Pop translations as these three take their places on my rotating wall of figures.