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Tweak says, "You'll see me in your dreams."

icon_uk (icon_uk) wrote in scans_daily,
@ 2009-03-24 23:24:00

Entry tags:

char: cypher/doug ramsey, char: poison ivy/pamela isley, char: robin/nightwing/dick grayson, char: warlock, creator: masami kurumada, in-joke: bondage, title: saint seiya

Continuing my "Reprints from the old S_D, just for the heck of it"
To prove that my life does not revolve completely around finding new images of Dick Grayson in assorted bondage peril*, I present this manga selection for you...

I've always been a sucker for Masami Kurumada's "Saint Seiya" series from the 1980's.

Predating Ronin Warriors, and Sailor Moon, it has a neat concept combining some of my favourite things; astronomy (and astrology), mythology, a terrific soundtrack and a fabulous line in action figures (Which thanks to geeks growing up, have been being released in new ranges even now)

For those unfamiliar with the concept, essentially the Greek goddess Athena is periodically reincarnated into the world to help defend Mankind from the less pleasant Gods who also reincarnate at various times; Poseidon, Eris, Hades and even Odin (sort of, his warriors are tricked into attacking by Poseidon)

Serving her are the Saints of Athena, who each wear armour patterned after a constellation. The 12 Gold Saints of the Zodiac, 24 Silver Saints, and 48 Bronze Saints (and 4 unrevealed, possibly elemental Saints).

Our hero is Seiya, the lowly Bronze Pegasus Saint, and one of the few to believe that the young girl Saori Kido is really Athena. There are forces in the Greek Sanctuary of Athena which would find it inconvenient if this turned out to be true, but that's a long story.

He is accompanied by four other Bronze Saints, who are looked down upon by all other Saints (for starters they are Bronze Saints, and secondly, they are mostly Japanese, which is unheard of for Saints); Shiryu, Hyoga, Shun and Ikki. One of the most fun elements was the transformation of the armour (always called "Cloths" for Athena's Saints), and the manga went out of it's way to try and work through the logic of the armour folding up, hinging and rearranging....

Pegasus Seiya

Draco Shiryu

Cygnus Hyoga

Andromeda Shun, and yes, Shun here is a boy

Phoenix Ikki, Shuns big brother and the major bad ass of the base team.

Libra Dohko - I'm only posting one Gold Saint, and that's only because I'm a Libra, and I like the design of the armour

Silver Saint Ophichius Shaina (Minor trivia, Ophichius has moved over the centuries and is now in the plane of the ecliptic, so should really be included in the zodiac, but try telling an astrologer that)

Chameleonis June (The use for the eyepieces was perhaps inevitable)

Later in the series we meet some of Poseidon's General's who each wear their own armours, the Mariner Scales

Thetis the Mermaid

Sorento the Siren (It's nice that they actually remembered that in the original Greek myths, the Siren's weren't mermaids, they were bird like creatures.

Io of Scylla - One of the neater designs, and Scylla is composed of six different beasts; bat, wasp, wolf, serpent, eagle and bear

* Oh, okay, you twisted my arm! :) And these are the other reasons for re-posting this particular post....

These are my latest sketchcards, courtesy of a British based Japanese artist who specialises in manga art.. Her name is Sanna U, and whilst she often makes cards available on e-bay (Id kame-urashima) she very, very rarely takes customer commissions. So when I saw she had an auction up for just that, to celebrate her first batch of personal sketchcards I couldn't resist....

I managed to indulge most of my likes in short order... I asked for Warlock and Cypher, and then had the notion that since Warlock often formed armour around Doug, why not go for something a little different from their usual Macross/Robotech style armour and assume that Doug (Who I can easily imagine being an anime fan would have read or seen Saint Seiya at some point) and Warlock obliging.

It's not patterned after any extant Cloth, but I think it's rather cute!

My second card is... something else! :) I asked for "Robin... in some form of restraint, possibly with a slightly distressed costume". To say I could hear the "SQUEEEE!" in her reply when I asked for it is an understatement, and boy howdy did she put her heart and soul into THIS piece. Remember that the original for this is sketchcard sized

So I got not only a beautifully entangled Robin (Sanna U actually apologised for not putting a gag in, I told her not to worry, as I don't think Robin would be making coherent sounds at this point anyway) but also Ivy AND Batman blowing a head-gasket in the background. Even a Teen Wonder can only resist someone like Ivy (and all those twining and probing vines) for so long

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sailorlibra
2009-03-24 08:28 pm UTC (link)

Libra Dohko - I'm only posting one Gold Saint, and that's only because I'm a Libra, and I like the design of the armour

While I hate to hate on Libras, that is possibly the least functional thing to transform into ever. At least most of the other characters have legs and arms--though Andromeda seems to be lacking legs also, something I don't remember from the myth. Of course, none of the outfits seem particularly functional, so that may be a moot point.

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	icon_uk 2009-03-24 08:39 pm UTC (link)
	I think you're getting it the wrong way round; the armours "at rest" state is in the representational form of the constellation or mythical beast. It only becomes functional when it breaks apart and forms around the saint when they wish to fight. When it's in it's representational form it's like a statue or icon, it has no ability to influence things. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	ulf_boehnke 2009-03-25 05:05 am UTC (link)
	I admit I thought they were some kind of Transformers at first, too. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	icon_uk 2009-03-25 05:16 am UTC (link)
	I should perhaps have posted this link to show how they work! (And Shun has never looked more like a girl than in this clip!) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GK-ufuPbaNI (Reply to this) (Parent)

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