A LESSON ON CREATIVE DARING STATUE POSING

I don’t know who the character Hatsune Miku is. Apparently she’s a singer, a popstar of something along these lines. I don’t know if she is from an anime or manga. Yes, she is Japanese. And yes I bought a figure of her. Not, of course, because I’m a fan of Miku but for the incredible pose of the statue. She is “performing” some kind of contorting dance, that resembles something tribal, primal, with her curling fingers like she is in some kind of trance. Yes it is a static statue but oh, with so much movement you almost can imagine her performing the strange dance. Did I mention the two pigtails with extremely long hair, also full of movement? Yes from the point of the finger to the point of the hair this figure is all movement. And I don’t know how the Japanese does this, the anatomy is perfect, even though in a Japanese proportionality way (in this case no so distorted as is common on anime figures, but very near real human proportions). There’s nothing out of place as it happens with almost every Sideshow figure, per example, every time they try a more creative pose. I don’t know who was the daring Japanese that allowed a figure in such strange pose go into production but I owe him/her thanks because it is simply the best more daring pose I’ve seen in a figure so far in my life. A true lesson that thinking out of the box can yield astonishing results. That’s why I’m so excited about the new Deadpool PF from Sideshow. From the early preview, besides the extremely detailed outfit and overall model, was the daring and full of movement pose that caught my eye. And (again) from this early half body image preview it looks like that this time anatomy proportionality is ok. Which makes me very happy and gives me faith that Sideshow will invest in more inventive poses for their new statues. Miku dancing figure showed that you can achieve stunning results when you move away from the formulaic an expected path and goes to new unexpected ventures. A lesson other studios, not only Sideshow could take advantage of. To be honest I don’t think Sideshow is the worst case, they occasionally try something new and they always try to give movement to its creations. To me the worst case is Prime 1 Studios. Every male character they launch appears to be in the same position or with little to no movement whatsoever. I know it sells because it seems so very cool Batman all erect standing in such imposing and static pose. But, come one, it’s time to shake thinks a bit, make him jump, crouch, run at least (all this poses have been explored by Sideshow I have to admit) but I think is too much for Prime 1 guys. And they’re Japanese, the same land that conjured dancing Miku. Such an irony. Or should I say agony? Well, Prime 1 doesn’t bother me too much; I don’t like their bulky modelling style and I don’t have the bucks to pay or space to display so gigantic pieces.

My point with the dancing Miku post in short is: don’t be afraid to dare. Be it on the poses, the expressions, the materials, I don’t know. Don’t be afraid of doing differently. Miku figure went sold out in less than a week on Tokyo Otaku Mode where I've ordered her. People like different approaches, things out of ordinary, things extraordinary. Go after this. And you’re going very well.


Addendum: I've researched a little bit further and the Hatsune figure dancing is based on the art of a famous Asiatic artist named mebae (hence the name of the figure being Hatsune Miku: mebae Ver.). Here are what I believe to be the base illustration for the figure. That's a good reason for such a daring pose: a daring concept artist that wanted to do something different with the character he was maybe commissioned to illustrate. And then again congratulations to Max Factory for embracing the concept so faithfully. On a side note this figure has been restocked on Tokio Otaku Mode in case you got interested on her.