[SCM] Phoenix Ikki, Box Art and Myth Code

Well here it is, the pictures of the packaging for the Saint Cloth Myth of Ikki Final Version. For more pictures of ikki himself, have a look at http://hima-toy.cocolog-nifty.com/blog/2007/03/myth_last_phoen_864b.html. Thanks to lljjgg from the all4seiya forum for providing the link ^^


Now like most Myth Boxes there is what I call a "Myth Code" which can sometimes reveal a future release. It took me a while to work it out this time because the photograph wasn't quite so sharp but from what I can make out, the code transcribes as:

RAIGH TAND ASHADO WWHIC HAPPEAR STARLIT

Or in English:

"Light and a shadow which appear starlit", which to me sounds like the announcement of the future release of Zeta Syd and Zeta Prime Bud, but we'll see ^^. Bear in mind that this might not be a 100% accurate transcription, I'll know for sure when I either get my own order in mid-april or if a higher resolution box picture is published somewhere online.

[SCM-Appendix] More Box Images

Thanks to Sorrento on the all4seiya forum for the images.

Well there doesn't seem to be a Saint Myth Code on them, not that I can see anyway but if one is found, I will post about it here ^^.

[Lost Canvas] Volume 3

The third volume of The Lost Canvas, the story written by Shiori Teshirogi will be released in Japan on the 8th of May 2007 for the price of ¥410 (inc. Tax). Information published by Akita Shoten

No image of the cover is available yet...

[SCM] Age of Myth - Phoenix Ikki Final Version

Last of the 5 Bronze Saints to be released in their final version, Ikki is one of the most expected figurines of this first half of 2007. And once again, Bandai does not fail to deliver a stunning quality in resemblance with the character of the OVAs released this past winter. It is so many miles apart from its previous "V2" version that there is almost no comparison.

This myth also includes a few little extras such as the helmet for the V2 cloth or Pandora's necklace wrapped around his wrist. A little wink from the conceptual team that only those who have read the manga in its entirety will understand.

Here is the "Age of Myth" from Figure OU, featuring Ikki with thanks to Trevor from all4seiya forum for the images ^^

Soon it will be mine, so watch out for a photoshoot featuring the above ;)

[SCM-Appendix] First series packaging

For all collectors, the packaging in which your figures come in is more important than what people think. This is something Bandai seems to understand and consequently they always provide us with great packaging for their products.

Since the Appendix series is a new derivation on the Saint Cloth Myth series, there was some speculation on how the packaging would look like.

Now we know:


I like the "book" format in which those come in and I look forward to receiving those I've ordered...

Thanks Sorrento for the images ;)

[SCM] Myth Cloth Premium, Shun / Hades

After the Grand Pope Shion in November 2005 and Pandora in November 2006, the 2007 Myth Cloth Premium will be Shun possessed by Hades' spirit. The package will include a tunic, a cloak, a necklace, two paldrons, a belt as well as a throne, two faces and two sets of hair.

The original visual only showed the red-haired shun in the early stages of the possession so the dark hair comes as a surprise and already makes this premium a lot more appealing, at least to me.

Here is a visual, kindly provided by Sorrento on the all4seiya forum:


Unfortunately the conditions to acquire this figurine with coupons found in myth boxes is only available to Japan residents but like all premiums, there will be a Hong Kong version. One way or the other, I will probably try to get my hands on it once it comes out in September 2007...

[SCM] Crystal Saint, Figure OU Special Edition

As all the myth cloths that have previously been released have has an "Object" form of some description, the special edition of Crystal Saint will be no exception, this in spite of the fact that there is no official depiction of the Object.

So here is a preview of the conceptual design of the object form, which, funnily enough, does resemble a crystal, or a snow flake:
As a reminder, this figurine is only available via a special coupon in the Figure OU magazine for the price of ¥5,000. There has been no official announcement that it will be available in Hong Kong and right now it is anticipated that this will be a fairly hard figure to get hold of at a decent price for those who have no pre-ordered it with the magazine.

Personally I am not really fussed either way. I find the facial expression a little too unappealing, the hair too "punk-ish" and some parts of the cloth too coarse, not to mention the body suit which looks too dark compared to the anime. All in all, it won't be a figurine I will miss so good luck to those who will chase after it ;)

[SCM] Aries Shion Surplice

Well it's that time of the month, a new Hobby Japan and a new Figure OU are now out. And to kick things off, here is a new visual from Hobby Japan of what the Saint Cloth Myth of Shion Surplice will look like, thanks to Cybergundam:

And here is a similar visual, this time from Figure OU, provided by Sorrento of All4Seiya forum:

And here is a cleaner version of the first image, again provided by Sorrento ^^:

[Saint Seiya Mythology] The 88 Saints of Athena

In an attempt to gather all the information we know about the saints of Athena from the modern era, their rank and their protecting constellation, I am putting together a simple table to summarise what is known from all official sources.

I added a simple colour coding to find a historical review of the constellations:
-> Ptolemy's Constellations.

-> Additions by Johann Bayer (1603).

-> Additions by Jakob Bartsch (1624) & Tycho Brahé (a few years later).

-> Additions by Johannes Hevelius (~1690).

-> Additions by Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille (1763).

Constellation	English name	Name of Saint	Rank
Ursa Major	The Great Bear	Geki	Bronze
Canes Venatici	The Hunting Dogs	Asterion	Silver
Leo Minor	The Little Lion	Ban	Bronze
Ursa Minor	The Little Bear	-	Unknown
Draco	Dragon	Shiryu	Bronze
Cassiopeia	Cassiopeia	-	Unknown
Cepheus	Cepheus	Daidalos (manga) / Albior (Anime)	Silver
Cameleopardalis	The Giraffe	-	Unknown
Lacerta	The Lizard	Misty	Silver
Boötes	The Herdsman	-	Unknown
Corona Borealis	The Northern Crown	-	Unknown
Coma Berenices	The Hair of Berenice	-	Unknown
Leo	The Lion	Aiolia	Gold
Cancer	The Crab	Deathmask	Gold
Sextans	The Sextant	-	Unknown
Virgo	The Virgin	Shaka	Gold
Libra	The Scales	Dohko	Gold
Hydra	The Hydra	Ichi	Bronze
Corvus	The Crow	Jamian	Silver
Crater	The Cup	-	Silver
Lyra	The Lyre	Orphée	Silver
Cygnus	The Swan	Hyoga	Bronze
Aquila	The Eagle	Marine	Silver
Scutum	The Shield	-	Unknown
Sagitta	The Arrow	Tremi (manga) / Ptolemy (anime)	Silver
Vulpecula	The Fox	-	Unknown
Delphinus	The Dolphin	-	Unknown
Equuleus	The Foal	-	Unknown
Hercules	Heracles	Algethi	Silver
Ophiuchus	The Serpent Holder	Shaina	Silver
Serpens	The Snake	-	Unknown
Scorpius	The Scorpion	Milo	Gold
Sagittarius	The Archer	Aiolos	Gold
Corona Australis	The Southern Crown	-	Unknown
Andromeda	Andromeda	Shun	Bronze
Triangulum	The Triangle	Noesis	Silver
Aries	The Ram	Mü	Gold
Perseus	Perseus	Argol	Silver
Pegasus	The Winged Horse	Seiya	Bronze
Pisces	The Fishes	Aphrodite	Gold
Capricornus	The Capricorn	Shura	Gold
Aquarius	The Water Bearer	Camus	Gold
Piscis Australis	The Southern Fish	-	Unknown
Cetus	The Whale	Mozes	Silver
Eridanus	The River	-	Unknown
Fornax	The Furnace	-	Unknown
Orion	The Hunter	-	Unknown
Canis Major	The Great Dog	Sirius	Silver
Canis Minor	The Little Dog	-	Unknown
Monoceros	The Unicorn	Jabu	Bronze
Lepus	The Hare	-	Unknown
Columba	The Dove	-	Unknown
Taurus	The Bull	Aldebaran	Gold
Gemini	The Twins	Saga / Kanon	Gold
Auriga	The Charioteer	Capella	Silver
Lynx	The Lynx	Retsu	Bronze
Carina	The Keel	-	Unknown
Vela	The Sails of Argo	-	Unknown
Pyxis	The Mariner's Compass	-	Unknown
Antlia	The Pump	-	Unknown
Pictor	The Painter	-	Unknown
Volans	The Flying (Fish)	-	Unknown
Puppis	The Poop Deck	-	Unknown
Centaurus	The Centaur	Babel	Silver
Crux Australis	The Southern Cross	-	Unknown
Triangulum Australe	The Southern Triangle	-	Unknown
Circinus	The Compass	-	Unknown
Ara	The Altar	-	Silver
Telescopium	The Telescope	-	Unknown
Norma	The Level	-	Unknown
Lupus	The Wolf	Nachi	Bronze
Grus	The Crane	Yuzuriha (Lost Canvas)	Silver
Phoenix	The Phoenix	Ikki	Bronze
Tucana	The Toucan	-	Unknown
Pavo	The Peacock	Shiva (anime only)	Silver
Indus	The American Indian	-	Unknown
Microscopium	The Microscope	-	Unknown
Sculptor	The Sculptor	-	Unknown
Horologium	The Clock	-	Unknown
Caelum	The Sculptor's Chisel	-	Bronze
Dorado	The Swordfish	-	Unknown
Reticulum	The Reticle	-	Unknown
Hydrus	The Male Hydra	-	Unknown
Mensa	The Table	-	Unknown
Chamaeleon	The Chameleon	June	Bronze
Musca	The Fly	Dio	Silver
Apus	The Bird of Paradise	-	Unknown
Octans	The Octant	-	Unknown

Obviously, not all constellations are known. Many of the ones listed here were added to the sky charts in the 17th and 18th centuries by various scientists and so it is unlikely that those modern constallations would correspond to the protective stars of the ancient Saints of Athena. And while Marco Albiero and other fanartists have tried to imagine what the cloth of the Microscope or the Clock would be, other officially unassigned constellations such as the River or the American Indian are hard to imagine as cloths, nevermind placing them in a context mostly centered around Greek Mythology...

Addendum: After investigating Wikipedia, it turns out there are known constellations which are no longer in use. Let's add this list to this entry and see if we can place a few saints in there:

Antinous	Antinous	-	Unknown
Argo Navis	The Ship Argo	-	Unknown
Cerberus	Cerberus	Dante	Silver
Custos Messium	Keeper of Harvests	-	Unknown
Felis	Cat	-	Unknown
Federici Honores	Frederick's Honours	-	Unknown
Gallus	Rooster	-	Unknown
Globus Aerostaticus	Hot Air Balloon	-	Unknown
Lochium Funis	Log Line	-	Unknown
Machina Electrica	The Electricity Generator	-	Unknown
Malus	Mast	-	Unknown
Mons Maenalus	Mount Mainalo	-	Unknown
Musca Borealis	The Northern Fly	-	Unknown
Noctua	The Owl	-	Unknown
Officina Typographica	The Printshop	-	Unknown
Phoenicopterus	The Flamingo (now Grus)	-	Unknown
Polophylax	Guardian of the Pole	-	Unknown
Psalterium Georgii	George's Psaltery	-	Unknown
Quadrans Muralis	Mural Quandrant	-	Unknown
Ramus Pomifer	Apple-Bearing branch	-	Unknown
Robur Carolinum	Charles' Oak	-	Unknown
Sceptrum Brandenburgicum	Scepter of Brandenburg	-	Unknown
Sceptrum et Manus Iustitiae	Scepter of Hand of Justice	-	Unknown
Solarium	Sundial	-	Unknown
Tarandus vel Rangifer	Reindeer	-	Unknown
Taurus Poniatovii	Poniatowski's Bull	-	Unknown
Telescopium Herschelii	Herschel's Telescope	-	Unknown
Testudo	Tortoise	-	Unknown
Tigris	The River Tigris	-	Unknown
Triangulum Minor	The Lesser Triangle	-	Unknown
Turdus Solitarius	Solitary Thrush	-	Unknown
Vespa	Wasp	-	Unknown

All in all, only one official character fit in the list. Though personally I would think the Owl and The Scepter of the Hand of Justice would make perfect saints. The majority are just silly Victorian inventions to please other people it seems. Ah well...

[Photoshoot] Cloth Up - Bronze Saints

In 2006, Bandai released a new series of Gashapon figurines called "Cloth Up". The principle was to have pre-painted small figurines with detachable cloth / surplice and a semi-articulated body. Of course the range of movements you can give those figurines is very limited but it's better than no movement at all.

Personally, I am very fond of this series and I was sad to see it stop after series 5 was issued in November 2006. It would have been a nice medium to release characters which are so far still unreleased (like specters or silver saints for instance). I personally find these figurines well proportionned, well designed (apart from one or two things, but for the price who can complain?) and quite affordable.

Now since they are mass-produced, a lot of details in the colour of the cloth was left out, so the series I present below had little touches added by me, thanks to a few tips I found on ma-déesse forum. Most noticable are extra touches of colour to give the figure more realism.

Anyway, I present the 5 bronze saints, Seiya, Shiryu, Hyoga, Shun and Ikki, a group picture and a preview of a future photoshoot of the gold saints, Leo Aiolia. Enjoy ^^

[Photoshoot] Dragon Shiryu Final Version

Released in November 2005, the final cloth version of Dragon Shiryu was acclaimed by the fans as a masterpiece of resemblance with the character.

As a figurine, the beauty comes at a cost. It is a very fiddly figurine, in a sense that a lot of little pieces just won't stay in place. The leg articulations are also not particularily smooth and fitting the hands on is always a nightmare. But once correctly in place, what a piece!

This was my first choice of figurine when I started collecting myth cloths and so far it's proven a good choice. So here are a few pictures taken Tuesday night with pretty much the same lighting system as for Hyoga. I must think of an efficient way to provide front lighting that does not come at an awful cost.

And as always, comments and suggestions are welcome ;-)

[Photoshoot] Cygnus Hyoga Final Version

Well, having a whole evening to myself, I set up my wee studio and played around with settings and did a photo shoot session of my myth cloth of Hyoga V3.

Obviously it's still not perfect yet, I think I could use a third frontal light source but for now, I am satisfied enough to present those pictures. so here they are in the order they were taken:

All comments and suggestions are welcome. I'm trying to get better and better at this. Hopefully once I get more time to play around with Image Editing Software, I'll be able to add special effects as well.

We'll see ^^

[SCM] Dubhe Siegfried modifications for European Market

Released in September 2006 in Asia, the first God Warrior, Dubhe Siegfried was released this month in Europe (France and Spain... we can but wish to have UK versions of myth cloths ...) only with a few modifications to comply with some European safety standards.

Here is a comparaison of what we know the changes to be so far:


These changes come as a controversy among the fans who have long debated about the accuracy of the original figurine, not 100% faithful to the original design of the character in the anime (in particular the left pauldron). So far there seems to be a willingness to boycott this European figurine as it clearly damages the beauty of it.

For reference, here is a photograph of my own myth cloth, which I find to be the gem in my collection despite its few shortcomings. The photograph could be a lot better but I am working on improving myself in this domain ^^. Enjoy:

Credits: Thanks to berserk of ma-deesse forum for the images

Edit: While I'm at it, here's how the French box now looks like for Siegfried and presumably all new myth cloths to be released thereafter:

Thanks to Tsume for the picture ^^

[SCM] The planning for 2007 so far

From site to site you may come across various plannings for the release of Saint Cloth Myths (SCM) in 2007. As far as I can tell, so far the only truly official information we can consider to be reliable is this:

• February 2007: Sea Dragon Kanon (out now)
• March 2007 (29th):
  
  
  • Appendix Pegasus Seiya
    
  • Appendix Wyvern Radamanthys
  • Appendix Gemini Saga / Kanon
  • Appendix Virgo Shaka


• March 2007 (31st): Phoenix Ikki Final version
• May 2007: Aries Shion Surplice
• September 2007: Premium Figure Shun / Hades
• November 2007: Figure OU Special Edition Crystal Saint

I shall further add to this planning as more information comes along.

First Post

Hello everyone. I am setting up this brand new blog exclusively to discuss the Saint Seiya news as I come across them.

This blog will be exclusively in English, and I hope it will be useful to the larger SS community out there.

See you shortly with news ;-)