MOC: Princess Kushana

 Here's the second character on my Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind series. This is Kushana, the princess of Torukmenia. My MOC is based solely on the manga, as she is entirely different character on the movie adaption (and has a golden armor, orange hair and white cape). In the comic Kushana is definitely one of the best characters, being a great example of Miyazaki's character that is neither entirely good or bad; Though she's a bit more on the protagonist side, at least in the last volumes.

I built Kushana before Yupa and she took a lot more time. I tried to build her a few months ago, using 1x1 plates with tooth as the scale main, but that turned out impossible. Now some weeks ago I though that cheese slopes could do the same trick easily, and I had hundreds of them in light bley from LUGBULK. The scale mail consist of simple SNOT. The upper torso area was more challenging, with the half-circle shaped chest plate and the neck guard. I reworked the shoulders a few times.

 The limbs came out rather nicely. The are full clad in plate armor, so they look rather natural. The boat stud joints are quite stiff but allow some movement. The posing is based on the cover art of issue 3 (see below), a gorgeous watercolor by the master himself. I tried to make the flag pole, but abandoned it due technical difficulties and ended up with a different posture with the sword. This one is a bit more realistic.

The head was challenging, as they usually are, but 2x2 curved slope with some cheese slopes worked rather nicely. 1x4 double curved slopes (wonderful pieces) made a nice headress. The hair is dark tan to work with the tan skin; Kushana cut her braids upon witnessing her soldiers dying.

The cape was a nightmare. Kushana needed a flowing cape like in the reference material. I wasn't sure about the color, as the manga is in black and white, but the cover art it looked dark red or dark purple. I don't have much purple so I went for the dark red, which is definitely one of the best LEGO colors. I had some dark red wedge plates, but arranging them correctly and in the correct layers wasn't easy; I had to build it two or three times. Those 4x18 or something wedges added some bulk and shape to it, and they are such stupid pieces anyway that I'm glad to have them on a MOC somewhere rather than consuming space on their box...

I also built a small deserted base, as Kushana's legs are not very stable and the cape deems some balancing.
-Eero

Volume 3 cover art by Hayao Miyazaki, scan by minitokyo.net