There’s a specific breed of Nintendo fan who has been waiting since Ocarina of Time for a Ganondorf figure that actually looks like he could crush Hyrule Castle with his bare hands, and Max Factory’s figma #632 Ganondorf: Tears of the Kingdom Ver. is one of the closest attempts yet. Released under Good Smile Company’s banner in June 2025, this is the figma line’s take on the reborn Demon King as he appears in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom — long flowing crimson hair, ancient Gerudo regalia, and an unmistakable sense of corrupted, coiled power radiating off every inch of the sculpt. For a franchise that’s historically been better served by statues and amiibo than proper articulated action figures, this release feels like a genuine turning point. Here’s the deep dive.
Sculpt
Ganondorf’s Tears of the Kingdom redesign was one of the game’s biggest visual swings — trading his older, more armored Breath of the Wild Calamity Ganon aesthetic for a leaner, more regal ancient-Gerudo-king look, complete with a bare, muscular torso, ornate gold jewelry, and hair that seems to have a life of its own. Max Factory’s sculptors, credited as Asahina Nobuhiko and Poly-Toys with cooperation from Asai Masaki, clearly treated that in-game character model as scripture rather than a loose suggestion. Standing at 190mm (roughly 7.5 inches), the figure commands real shelf presence, and the towering, menacing silhouette that made such an impression in-game translates directly into plastic — this is not a shrunken-down, cutesy interpretation, it’s an intimidating final boss rendered at figma scale.
The costume work is where this figure genuinely earns its geek cred. The teal, gold, and maroon embroidered hip panels pop against the muted charcoal of his baggy trousers, and the gold necklace with its red gemstone centerpiece sits front and center on his chest, flanked by matching gold armor accents at the shoulders and forearms. The filigree detailing continues into the medallion chain, the armband clasps, and the decorative belt piece, all carrying the same ornate scrollwork motif that defines Ganondorf’s entire redesigned look. Even the small gold tassel dangling off the hem of his rear skirt piece made it into the sculpt — the kind of blink-and-you’ll-miss-it touch that separates a good figure from a great one.
What genuinely impressed reviewers, though, is a detail most collectors will never even see: the underside of Ganondorf’s skirt carries a fully detailed interior lining, with the same teal, gold, and red embroidery pattern and bordered trim work found on the visible hip panels. Sculpting and painting an area that’s only visible if you deliberately flip the fabric panel up is the kind of unnecessary-but-appreciated commitment that signals a manufacturer sweating every inch of the source material rather than cutting corners on hidden surfaces.
Paint Applications
Ganondorf’s olive-gray skin tone is applied consistently across the figure and its swappable hands, which is a small but important continuity detail on a figure with this many interchangeable parts — nothing throws off the illusion of a cohesive sculpt like mismatched skin tones between a head, torso, and hands from different production runs. The gold jewelry throughout — crown, necklace, armbands, belt clasps — carries a warm metallic finish that reads as genuinely regal rather than the flat, cheap gold-tone paint that plagues lower-tier figures. The individually sculpted gold rings and bracelet details on each swappable hand are a particularly nice touch that most manufacturers would have skipped in favor of bare, unadorned hand sculpts.
The included weapons show some of the strongest paintwork on the entire release. The Demon King’s Bow combines dark green, red, and black along its curved limbs, capped with gold dragon-head finials that echo the ornate scrollwork found elsewhere on the figure, while a wrapped teal grip section adds welcome texture contrast against the smoother painted surfaces. The Gloom Sword’s scabbard uses a textured gray cloth-wrap finish with orange accent bands and a teal cord wrap at the midsection, tying its color story directly back into Ganondorf’s hip-panel embroidery — a level of cross-accessory color coordination that shows real art direction rather than accessories designed in isolation.
The signature standout, unsurprisingly, is the Gloom effect part: molded in a deep, glossy, translucent red plastic with a genuinely wet, organic look, its tendrils stretch outward as if caught mid-eruption. It’s an ambitious effects piece to attempt in injection-molded plastic, and the execution holds up whether it’s attached to the Gloom Spear or the Demon King’s Bow, splitting into two connectable halves so an arrow can slot directly into its base.
Articulation
As with every release in Max Factory’s figma line, the engineering goal here is maximum pose versatility without visibly compromising the sculpt, and Ganondorf largely delivers on that promise despite an unusually elaborate costume working against him. The rear skirt piece is articulated at the waist connection point, allowing the fabric to move naturally with the legs rather than rigidly restricting hip movement — a detail that shows up clearly in wide-stance and dynamic action poses, where the sculpted panels visibly separate to accommodate broader leg positioning rather than clipping or bunching awkwardly.
The figma joint system keeps the overall range of motion fluid enough for genuinely dynamic combat poses — spear thrusts, overhead sword swings, drawn-bow stances — without the sculpt looking like it’s fighting the engineering at every joint, which is a real accomplishment given how much ornamental geometry (belt pieces, jewelry, layered fabric) is competing for space around the joints. It’s not a flawless silhouette in every extreme pose — heavily bulked-out ornamental figures like this one will always sacrifice a little pure range of motion compared to a slim, unadorned figma — but for a character this visually dense, the trade-off is well managed.
Accessories
This is where the figure goes from “impressive sculpt” to “essential purchase” for series completionists. The box includes three interchangeable face plates — standard, shouting, and a goading/mocking expression — each with wide, expressive detailing and the same swept-back red hair and golden crown base sculpted consistently across all three. The two more aggressive expressions, both featuring bared teeth and furrowed brows, are close enough in design that side-by-side comparison is genuinely worthwhile for anyone deciding which to leave on display.
On the weapons side, Ganondorf ships with the Gloom Sword and matching scabbard (topped with an ornate gold lion-head pommel and guard), the Gloom Spear, the Demon King’s Bow, a translucent red Gloom effect part, and a nocking arrow with a wooden shaft and silver fletching. A clever engineering touch: the spear’s gold finial at the shaft’s base is designed to physically connect with the scabbard, letting collectors recreate the game’s combined “super weapon” configuration rather than just displaying the pieces separately. Multiple sets of interchangeable hands round out the package, each individually sculpted with gold ring and bracelet detailing to match the rest of the figure, giving fine control over exactly how he grips each weapon. A clear figma display stand and support arm are also included, which is functionally necessary here — between the heavy ornamental skirt, the weapon loadout, and the more extreme action poses this figure invites, unsupported balance is not something you’ll want to rely on for anything beyond a simple standing pose.
Packaging
Good Smile opted for a slip-cover box using actual product photography rather than illustrated box art, front and back, giving prospective buyers an accurate look at the figure rather than an idealized painting that might oversell the sculpt. The back panel lays out a seven-photo grid showcasing Ganondorf across his different weapon configurations and face plates, including the Gloom effect part attached to the spear, giving a genuinely useful preview of the figure’s full pose range before the box is even opened. It’s a smart, transparency-forward packaging choice that Zelda collectors shopping online — where in-hand photos can be scarce until reviews start rolling in — will appreciate.
How It Compares
Versus previous Ganondorf figures: Zelda collectors have historically been better served by static PVC statues (like Good Smile’s own Pop Up Parade or First 4 Figures lines) than by properly articulated action figures. This figma release represents a meaningful step up in pose versatility over those largely static alternatives, even if it can’t match a dedicated high-end statue’s raw sculptural drama in a single frozen pose.
Versus the figma Link and Zelda releases in the same line: Max Factory has been steadily building out a proper Tears of the Kingdom figma roster, and Ganondorf slots in as the heavyweight, villain-scaled centerpiece of that lineup — his more elaborate costume and weapon count noticeably outpace the accessory loadouts given to the line’s hero-side releases, appropriately positioning him as the “final boss” showpiece of the collection for anyone building out a full display.
Versus other franchise “final boss” figmas: Compared to other franchises’ major-villain figma releases, Ganondorf’s accessory count and hidden-detail sculpting (that interior skirt lining, for one) put him toward the higher end of ambition for the line, reflecting how much creative real estate Nintendo’s redesign gave the sculptors to work with in the first place.
The in-game flavor text used in some of this figure’s marketing — referencing Ganondorf’s revival and “the birth of his new world” — ties directly back to Tears of the Kingdom‘s prologue sequence, where players witness the Demon King’s resurrection firsthand, making this figure a direct product tie-in to one of the game’s most visually iconic cutscenes. The figure is also explicitly designed to be compatible with a separately sold figma horse accessory, allowing collectors to recreate Ganondorf’s mounted appearances from the game rather than being limited to standing display poses. And true to figma tradition, the entire sculpt was engineered with double duty in mind: beyond pure display, Max Factory markets the figma line as a legitimate posing reference for artists, meaning this particular Ganondorf can pull real workload as an anatomy and costume-folds reference piece for anyone drawing the character, not just a shelf-sitter.
The figma #632 Ganondorf: Tears of the Kingdom Ver. is a genuinely excellent translation of one of modern Nintendo’s most visually striking villain redesigns into an articulated, display-ready format. The sculpt commitment goes well beyond what’s strictly necessary — hidden interior linings, individually detailed accessory hands, cross-accessory color coordination — and the four-weapon loadout with connectable spear-and-scabbard combo weapon gives serious pose variety for a figure in this price bracket. The only real knocks are minor QC reports on tight packaging trays and the inherent range-of-motion trade-offs that come with dressing a figma in this much ornamental fabric and jewelry. For Zelda diehards who have been waiting for the series’ most iconic villain to finally get treatment worthy of his in-game presence, this is close to a must-own, and it’s easily one of the strongest Legend of Zelda collectibles the figma line has produced to date.
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