Thursday, February 23, 2012

New Grody Shogun figures

Grody Shogun takes us deeper into the very deep waters of Japanese culture with a new series of round figures. Just as Oji-san and Karakuri were inspired by elements of Japanese history and folklore, so are these new, as yet unnamed creations.

First, here are a look at some of the sculpts:
One of the sources of inspiration was the kokeshi (小芥子), a traditional Japanese doll made of wood, with a round head and no arms or legs. Here are some examples:

Another point of departure was the Jizo (地蔵) or Jizō Bosatsu (Jizo Bodhisattva), a very popular Japanese deity often represented as a stone idol. The statues are found everywhere in Japan, often draped in red clothing and hats. Here are some:
Luke created his figures starting with a long indented slab of Fondo (a sculpting material):
The resulting elements are stackable like so:
No word yet on when we'll see the first of these in sofubi. Hopefully soon. I think these would be very cool surrounding a clan of Ojis and En-men.

7 comments:

David said...

Oh yes! I've been thinking about these guys since the Twitter tease a couple of months ago - Grodyhenge, here we come!

Anonymous said...

not trying to hate or anything at all- i respect what grody shogun is doing and achieving... but these just look like piles of shit. honestly. just some scraped wax and some blobby wax. i dont even see any connection with the folklore. oh well. to each his own.

john said...

maybe give them the benefit of the doubt since this could be a really early stage?

andy b said...

That's also my way of thinking, John.

Anonymous said...

These look like final wax, not early stages. I hope they give these the axe before it's too late. They look terrible, sofubi collectors want cool beautiful toys, not rough lumps of nothing.

David said...

I like to think that most of you will be eating those words come production - painted up or just in interesting vinyl colors I'm certain that these will look amazing alongside Luke's more "traditional" toys. I'm excited for these in the same way I would be if Buta were to release some buildings or huts. These "rough lumps of nothing" are just the thing to make a truly Grody environment at home.

Anonymous said...

I doubt it, I enjoyed Luke's airbrushed figures, but his new experimental paints have been...not so appealing. I don't think any color will make me appreciate these. I have no interest in creating a Grody environment. I just want quality, thoughtful, well designed toys, and these don't cut it. Glad you enjoy them, you'll have no competition from me. I'll just stick to the Monsters.

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