Final Fantasy Tactics toys of any kind were a laughable pipe dream not so long ago. Today, any Final Fantasy game is ripe for merchandising, but Tactics is a cult favorite from the late 1990s, when only the numbered, high-profile Final Fantasies merited any little plastic commemoration. All was not lost, however, for Tactics came back as a stunning PSP port called The War of the Lions in 2007, and with it came a set of Square-made Trading Arts figures. And now here I am, looking at them.

The line was initially released as individual blind-boxed figures in Japan, but Square Enix later put four of the five characters into a special box set and sold it to North American buyers through its website. It's nicely packaged, with a subdued sepia tone that entirely suits the colors of Final Fantasy Tactics itself. The back shows the characters and their names in both English and katakana, just in case you ever need to say “Ovelia Astkaasa” in phonetic Japanese.

Adapting Akihiko Yoshida's Final Fantasy Tactics designs into toys poses several challenges, such as the matter of the original art not giving anyone a nose. Fortunately, Square didn't recreate that little feature, and the Final Fantasy Tactics figures look slightly more conventional, with small but noticeable nasal definition. Other than that change, they look very much like Yoshida's drawings. I suppose they don't exhibit Yoshida's obsession with defined rear ends, but he didn't really start with that until Vagrant Story.

We begin with Ramza Beoulve, the hero of Final Fantasy Tactics. In a game by Tactics creator Yasumi Matsuno, "hero" typically means "noble-minded guy who ends up hated by nearly everyone and is lucky just to survive his attempt at saving the world." No wonder he isn't smiling. As a toy, Ramza shows off some impressive touches, down to the art on his sword hilt and his cowlick (some anime fans might call it an "ahoge," but some anime fans are terrible people). The costume shows nice color detail as well, even if it still looks like he threw on a castle hallway banner and knit it into a shirt. Hey, that's what Yoshida drew.

In the Tactics world of sprawling political struggles and doomed ambitions, Delita Heiral is Ramza's childhood friend and thematic opposite: a low-born warrior who schemes to take control of a kingdom, doing terrible things for all the right reasons. He's the least impressive figure in the lineup, as Square imitated Yoshida's design a little too closely. Delita's shown standing straight in the artwork, and that doesn't translate well to a toy. While he's as detailed as the rest of the assortment, Delita looks too stiff, like some cheap vending-machine trinket that's supposed to stretch or grow in water or just do something other than stand there.

I've often felt that Agrias Oaks is underrated when it comes to arguments about genuinely dignified women in video games. Throughout Tactics, she's an efficient, proud knight dedicated to guarding a princess, and Agrias is never shown as weak or compromised simply because of her sex. Granted, the game also makes needless references to her "beautiful face" and has the shy engineer Mustadio crush on her, but Agrias survives it with her poise intact. The Agrias figure is another well-made piece. Her outfit isn't as minutely textured as Ramza's or Delita's, but her braid and dotted armor are impressive for toys of this scale. Agrias is also the only figure in the lineup that comes in pieces, as her left hand and its sword detach. Feel free to use her in your Star Wars fan-fiction reenactments.

Completing the four-figure set is Princess Ovelia Astkaasa. Final Fantasy Tactics is very much a retelling of Matsuno's earlier Tactics Ogre, which also features a morally adrift hero and his ruthless friend. Of key importance in Tactics Ogre is the hero's sister Kachua, who vacillates between being a supportive healer and being a moody, insecure pawn of the game's villains. Her character was effectively split by Final Fantasy Tactics: the innocent half became Ramza's sister Alma, and the lonesome, emotionally troubled half became Ovelia, who is similarly the tool of royal conspiracies ("Ovelia" is even a portmanteau of Kachua's real name, Bersalia Overis, and I'm very clever and not a huge nerd for noticing that). Anyway, the Ovelia figure has the simplest pose of all of the Final Fantasy Tactics toys, but it's no less detailed. Her dress and cape have intricate patterns, and she actually has lower legs beneath that dress (and no visible underwear, thank God), even though Square could've easily gone the cheaper route and given her a sold base. All she needs is a dagger to bring about the game's depressing epilogue. No, that's not a spoiler, dammit. Final Fantasy Tactics is twelve years old.

Remember how I said there were originally five figures in this line? Well, Square Enix decided that making them all available in one America-bound set was unfair to the Japanese customers who'd bought the blind-boxed figures, so they dropped one character: the Final Fantasy Tactics version of Final Fantasy XII's Balthier. The same thing happened in several other Square Enix Trading Arts lines, including Valkyrie Profile and Final Fantasy IV, and I think it's rather silly. Most of Square Enix's Western toys don't hit until many months after the Japanese versions come out, and the Japanese figures tend to be cheaper anyway.

It's a shame, because the redesigned Balthier is the best figure in the line. The sculpting is excellent, right down to his belt-bags, and his pose sums up why he's the most popular character from Final Fantasy XII. His face lacks Balthier's wry grin and his proportions are just as oddly exaggerated as the rest of the line, yet he's well worth tracking down to complete this whole set. If you're going to get Final Fantasy Tactics gewgaws, you may as well get them all.

For anyone who likes Final Fantasy Tactics and isn't above buying toys, these figures are perfect. They're well-crafted, accurate tributes to a game that's likely to stay a classic, and they look surprisingly proper on a mantle or living-room bookcase. I doubt we'll see any more Final Fantasy Tactics merchandise in the future, making this package (plus the Balthier figure) all the more appealing to fans of the game. That should account for many of you if there's any justice in this gray little world.

The Final Fantasy Tactics Trading Arts set has vanished from Square Enix's online store, and the Japanese assortments are sitting unsold on eBay at ridiculously inflated prices. Some retailers still stock cases of the figures, although buying them will leave you with a bunch of extra toys to sell off.