figma started as an answer to a question Max Factory kept circling: could an anime character figure move like a real action figure without losing the likeness? The line arrived in February 2008 with Yuki Nagato in her school uniform, and the pitch was right there in the catchphrase, roughly "moves well, looks good." Behind it were Masaki Asai and MAX Watanabe, who built figma partly as a counter to Kaiyodo's Revoltech, chasing the same articulation but a different feel, with joints tuned to slide smoothly and then hold a pose rather than click into notches.

The details are what collectors remember: interchangeable faces and hands, soft-material clothing that bends out of the joints' way, a posable stand for midair poses, even a little zippered bag to keep loose parts together. Max Factory plans and sculpts the figures; Good Smile Company sells and distributes them, and the two are close enough that figma and Nendoroid are often designed to play together. The line cleared a million figures shipped inside its first ten months and has kept a steady cadence ever since, mostly anime and game characters with the occasional real-world guest.