Sunday 22 November 2015

Bandai to release life-like posable plastic figures

I missed this back in October but the possibilities are endless!  Sadly, offering to review the figures will get the usual no response.  So I'm just alerting you to what Scott Wilson wrote last month! And there are more images at Rocketnews24: http://en.rocketnews24.com/2015/10/31/bandai-to-release-life-like-posable-plastic-figures-to-help-you-draw-realistic-epic-poses/


Bandai to release life-like posable plastic figures to help you draw “realistic” epic poses


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It seems like Bandai really wants us to get better at drawing.

First they released the totally awesome and totally-not-just-for-kids Magic Illustrator, and now they’ve announced that they will be selling life-like posable figures for all of your human-sketching needs.

And what’s more, these figures come with dozens of sweet accessories, making it easier than ever to draw a someone wielding a sword, a deadly cellphone, or their own awesome lightning fists. Ready to never again lose friends by asking them to hold a pose while you carefully draw it? Then read on!


Now for those of you who haven’t done much life-drawing before, you may wonder: why would you need plastic models? Can’t you just draw without them?

And the answer to that is a resounding… well, er, uh, kind of. Some great artists can rattle off drawings of people no problem. But for the rest of us, it helps to have a model to work off, especially if you’re drawing something that doesn’t typically happen in everyday life.



The posable figures themselves are being produced by S. H. Figuarts, a maker of high-quality Japanese plastic figures. They come in two varieties, male and female, appropriately named “Body-kun” and “Body-chan.”


What sets these figures apart from other posable art models before is that these ones are built to only bend in natural human ways. This means you can’t accidentally put the figure into an unnatural pose, which could potentially mess up your sketch. And since they bend in over 30 places, you can get a lot more detail than from other similar products.

The figures also come with a variety of accessories and interchangeable parts, making it much easier to see what certain hand positions look like when interacting with objects.
▼ You typically don’t live very long after you see someone pose with a gun or sword like that, so naturally they’re pretty hard to sketch.
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And the possibilities don’t end there. Here’s what people all over the internet have been doing to show off the unlimited potential of working with Body-kun and Body-chan:


▼ “Hey Body-kun? Whatcha thinkin’ ’bout?”
▼ “Was it me growing wings an ascending to a higher plane? Because that’s what I was thinking about.”
▼ This battle is really heating up. If no one stops these two then they’re going to…

If you think Body-kun and Body-chan would make good additions to your artistic arsenal, then be sure to check back in April 2016 when they’re officially released. The models range in price from 4,320 yen to 6,480 yen (US$36 to $54) depending on how many accessories it comes with.

But come on, let’s be real, are you going to really be happy saving a few bucks if it means missing out on that sweet sword and posable clear plastic stand? The awesomeness basically pays for itself.

Source: Tamashii Web via Inside Games
Featured/top image: Tamashii Web, Twitter/@hobby_maniax (Edited by RocketNews24)
Insert images: Tamashii Web

6 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. They might be OK if combined with a decent écorché model as are available in the same unpainted grey. My first impression was that the female version's head was slightly too big in proportion. Perhaps it's down to the head shape. I would need to see more photos to check this out. On first impression the male looks alright.

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  3. I can't find a problem with the head. I'm guessing they must have scanned in a human figure because the Japanese are very good at that sort of technology. Just today I saw women (it applies to me, too) I counted five different head sizes. If you think about it then someone using this as a drawing aid will need, in their art, to add hair so the head ought to them look less "large".

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    1. You're right. it was just my first impression.

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  4. They look cool I might ask Santa for one of the for my Christmas.

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