Something that came out the 80s and lived on into the 90′s was the bare-armed body-building look for ninja, a mutation driven by the painted covers of Ninja Magazine and video game package art. These roided-up shinobi sacrificed protection for an intimidating gun show, and cared not that the well-oiled sheen of those muscles did-in whatever stealth they were hoping to achieve.
And here’s another mutation from the video game world, the French Foreign Legion flapped hood.
Nifty post by Andrew Case over at Dreams of the Red King. A 1989 issue of Nintendo Power magazine — LAME ninja on cover, nice art for interior spreads.
Man, that is such a 1989 ninja suit...
OK people, answer me this: why are so many painted and illustrated ninja from the video game industry sleeveless or shirtless? Cases in point:
Well, maybe they learned it from magazines like these:
I’m not a video game guy in the least, but man do I love the elevated place lady ninja have in that realm. If only movies followed suit more often…
Taki is a twin short-sword wielding kunoichi from Soul Calibur, famed mainly for her ridiculous gravity defying breasts. Seriously, a Russian auto-show model or Tamba Bay strip-club pole dancer would look at this girl and say ‘give me a break honey…’ But, such is the freedom of the pixelated world, and why not cater to your core audience?
Sixth-scale figure specialists Triad Toys have a superb quality 12″ licensed figure of Taki available, and there’s a great review by Michael Crawford via MWC Toys here. I love the 1:6 format, and kitbash stuff as often as my wallet will afford (which is not often). This one’s on my short list.
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