Final Fantasy XIV has had its share of controversy over the quality of some of its merchandise, especially the figures, but a newly released piece of Honkai: Star Rail merch may have pushed fans over the edge. On Wednesday, Feb. 28, FFXIV community member and Fashion Report hero Kaiyako went viral after posting a comparison between the $85 Emet-Selch figure and a newly released 1/10 scale figure of Tingyun from Honkai: Star Rail, whose release price at the time of writing is cn¥199, or around $28.
The post quickly went viral with over 166,000 views, hundreds of reposts, and thousands of likes. Some fans quickly piled on Square Enix’s history of questionable quality regarding figures, while others leaped to the defense of Emet-Selch.
Other posts pointed out that the price is low for the Tingyun figure. The original Chinese sites list the price at cn¥199, but almost all preorders and prices for sellers that ship to the US list the price closer to $80-$100, with some even higher. The price will likely increase with the added shipping costs, although the same goes for the Emet-Selch figure, whose shipping can sometimes add another $40.
There’s also the issue that these are promotional images and might not represent the final product. As is unfortunately often the case as a consumer, what you see is not always what you get, and figures are often the biggest culprits of this. While the Tingyun figure does look incredible, especially compared to the Emet-Selch preview, whether the figure arrives in the same condition remains to be seen.
The reaction to the comparison again highlights a point of contention for FFXIV fans. In their opinion, Square Enix is making the FFXIV figures too expensive. The recently announced Hydaelyn and Zodiark Meister Quality figure received this criticism, and after the controversy of the Omega Meister Quality figure, it’s perhaps to be expected.
Want more Final Fantasy XIV news? Try our new Discord webhook, delivering the latest news straight to your Discord servers. Learn more about how to link it here, or go straight to the signup page here.
