Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Kotobukiya's Phoenix (Bishōjo style)

Hello Everybody!

How are you all doing? Hope all's well as we trudge along each day and always know that we'll find warmth in moments of geekdom :) I've also heard JQ's been bitten by the Games Workshop bug and is working to expand on 2 more armies...I won't be a spoiler and I leave it to him to reveal the juicy details.

Today, I will be going into the world of Marvel Comics by featuring a Kotobukiya 1/7 sculpt of Phoenix, or Jean Gray of the X-Men, a prominent mutant capable of telekinetic and telepathic abilities...and also one of the (many) hosts of the supernatural Phoenix Force. This time the shots are done against a black background, ala "fashion photoshoot".

Pheonix standing on top of a flame base.

Marvel and Kotobukiya (and I think DC too) have an agreement to make sculpts of well-known female characters in the Bishōjo style ("pretty young girl"), with some examples like Rouge, Emma Frost and Psylocke. I really liked the arty design of Phoenix and the series in general, unlike other female figures I've seen before that were obviously slutty and show tons of skin.

View from the top to show some of the detail, such as the sculpting of her fingers.

The Phoenix figure was designed by Shunya Yamashita, a designer known for working on Final Fantasy X and for illustrations of female characters. You can view some of his work from his website. I really liked the sculpt for the graceful posing and nice details such as Pheonix's hair and cloth sash. Cost was about 50 USD, not too bad for such a figure.

Close up shot of Phoenix...seems like she was intentionally sculpted for photoshoots.

Man, looking back I really miss watching cartoons from the '80s and '90s...they were awesome. X-Men (the Animated Series) had really great plots running even in a cartoon for kids, I really loved the animation and felt involved with the characters (eg. Phoenix's self-sacrifice to save the others, or the time-traveling escapades of Cable). Even for a cartoon for kids, it had intricate plot lines and mature themes running throughout the show.

A common view every Saturday morning...the X-Men title screen!

Well, thanks to the internet and Marvel (and broadband), we now have access to a wide-range of cartoon episodes from their website and even the entire X-Men animated series from the '90s! So if you'd like to relive old memories, do take a look and watch some good ol' comic tv series action!

6 comments:

  1. Ahhh X-men.. Those were the days indeed josh.. LOVED IT!

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  2. That is a sweet Bishouju Figure!

    Really great piece of sculpt.

    I like the photo shot though I do recommend increase lighting to showcase the details of the figure.

    Nice nonetheless!

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  3. That is one pretty fine sculpt there.
    A refreshing alternative sculpt to what X-men in anime would look like. AWESOME NONETHELESS!

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  4. Love the X-men but yeah.. I prefer classic Jean Grey's Uniform rather than her Phoenix outfit.

    It is a great sculpture though.

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  5. Its been too long since I have come back to this blog.

    Great Bishouju Figure. Of which, Shunya is pretty renowned in doing this anime figures.

    Quite a great buy at 50 USD. If you keep it long enough, I am sure it could really sell at a higher value.

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  6. Marvelous Figure. Really making the Phoenix look sexy and cutesy at the same time.. A blend of east meets west with Anime and the Classic Cartoons of the Western World.

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