Gozen

This is the second white-haired samurai this year, after my entry on Bio-Cup's "numbers" category, The Kami of Five Elements. The name derives from a real-world female samurai, and there are of course apparently dozens of similar anime etc. characters with the same basic idea (and often less comprehensive armour). I though white, flowing hair gave a nice contrast to traditional but not exactly accurate samurai gear, and in contrast to the smaller samurai in Bio-Cup entry, I wanted to build it in bigger scale to allow more details (I call this rock'n'roll scale). I chose this distinquished colour scheme on the very beginning.

I wanted to use balloon panes as a hair. This isn't the first for no means, and thus I wanted to try something new with them. I first tried several ponytail designs, but they didn't fly. The second version was a sort of mohakw I turned 90 degrees to create a striking silhouette. I've got no idea how it would work in real life, but that doesn't probably matter that much. The hair pin was a very late addition stuck there when the model was complete. 

There is a certain logic behind the armour: Dark green for plate armour, black for small armour plates and leather and red for softer parts plus armour highlights. The skirt uses 1x4 double curved slopes from The Starry Night's frame. I wanted to keep is somewhat short to allow decent amount of movement to the legs and also to show their ornamented kneecaps. The printed Ninjago tile was a late addition, and the pearl gold leaves continued the motif of the gauntlets and sword crossguards.In general, I wanted to use the pearl gold pieces to create outstanding details telling of the handicraft and tradition weaved into the armour-making. The character is a work of fantasy, but it roots back to the tradition.

When it comes to the swords, Gozen has two scabbards - Samurais had the special permit to carry two blades. I really like what a long scabbard doed to a figure's silhouette and balance, and the hilts and crossguards offer a position for interesting detail. However, there has been a slight pacifistic motive in my build during the last few years, and I did not explicitly want to include sort of weapon-posing... so Gozen keeps her blades sheathed, and I didn't have to find out how to connect a katana blade to that 2-stud wide crossguards. The longer katana scabbard is actually recycled from the Samurai of the Garden, who neither had a blade - as neither did the samurai from the Bio-Cup entry.

This was not the last MOC I made this year, but this nonetheless felt like the final piece of 2022. It was very much a free build during a year full of contest entries, New Elementary models and slow modular house process. Here I just wanted to make a thing that is cool and nice to me personally - to capture the samurai aesthetics I love without worrying about accuracy or anything else. I am very happy with the outcome, and thus this makes a excellent ending of 2022 on this blog. More creations next year!

Peaceful Christmas and hopeful new year!

-Eero.