Even in their new adorable forms, the video game stars still represent a mysterious and potential challenge.
It’s practically impossible to describe the Dark Souls video game franchise without using certain adjectives. “Hard” and “merciless” pop up pretty every time, as well as “rewarding” or “aggravating,” depending on the speaker’s taste for unabashedly difficult game design.
But maybe it’s time to add “cute” as well.
Tokyo-based figure maker Emon Toys has just unveiled its set of Dark Souls Deformed Figures, which takes a selection of characters from FromSoftware’s dark fantasy series and gives them the super-deformed treatment.
Among the armored warriors getting cherubic makeovers are a number of fan favorites, starting with the incandescently aspiring Solaire of Astora, striking the “praise the sun” pose.
Somewhat less inclined to engage in jolly cooperation is Knight Artorias.
The Abysswalker bravely set out on his quest alone, as it was too dangerous for any other knights to tread where he was going, but he broke his arm, lost his sanity, and never returned home.
Also part of the set is another knight who served the same lord as Artorias, Dragon Slayer Ornstein.
Part of one of the most challenging and memorable boss fights in modern gaming history, this cute figure gives fans the rare opportunity to gaze upon the speedy and aggressive Ornstein for more than half a second without having his spear thrust through their face.
Next we come to Dark Souls’ protagonist, the Chosen Undead.
While the game offers extensive cosmetic customization options for the player character, in official artwork the Chosen Undead is depicted wearing the Elite Knight armor set, just like his figure is.
So far, all of these characters have hailed from the original Dark Souls. The next figure, though, switches things up.
While there are many Fire Keepers to be found throughout the series, this particular maiden serves that role in Dark Souls III, the series finale.
The presence of a Dark Souls III character actually creates a bit of doubt as to the identity of the sixth and final figure.
Just like the series has more than one Fire Keeper, is also has more than one character who wanders about in a suit of oniony plate armor.
The first you encounter, in the initial Dark Souls, is Siegmeyer of Catarina, but the silvery shine of this figure’s armor makes it look a little more like that of his daughter, Sieglinde, who shows up later in the same game. But if the Dark Souls III Fire Keeper is here, there’s a chance this could also be Siegward of Catarina, ostensibly a distant descendent of Siegmeyer or Sieglinde, who offers his sword in aid of the player at various points of Dark Souls III.
Each figure is 11 centimeters (4.3 inches) tall, and they’re being offered as a set of six for 11,800 yen (US$108). Emon Toys has also designated them as “Volume 1,” implying that other super-deformed Dark Souls figures may be in the works, but for now pre-orders for this set have already started here on Amazon.
However, the shipping date is a bit of a mystery, as Amazon lists a scheduled “on-sale” (i.e. no longer pre-order) date of December 31, 2021, while Emon Toys’ official website gives the figures’ on-sale timing as “late December 2022.”
But hey, it’s Dark Souls. You didn’t really expect anything other than cryptic guidance and a potentially brutal test of your resolve, did you?
Source: Emon Toys via Hachima Kiko
Images: Emon Toys
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Follow Casey on Twitter, where he’s already assuming that Sif and Fume Knight will be included in Volume 2.