Monday, November 5, 2012

Hot Toys MMS "Appleseed Ex Machina" 1/6 scale Briareos 14-inch pose-able action figure

continued from previous post...

Besides the excellent female form that is Hot Toys MMS (Movie Masterpiece Series) "Appleseed Ex Machina" 1/6 scale Deunan Knute fully pose-able figure, Hot Toys also released her cyborg lover / partner / companion Briareos Hecatonchires in 1/6 scale as well and he is BIG in terms of size, being of the right scale.

I felt in love with Masamune Shirow art in the Appleseed manga series which follows the adventures of ESWAT members Deunan Knute and Briareos Hecatonchires in Olympus. Like much of Masamune's work, Appleseed merges elements of the cyberpunk and mecha genres with a heavy dosage of politics, philosophy, and sociology. The series spans four volumes, released between 1985 and 1989. From 1988 to 1992, Appleseed was published in English by Eclipse Comics, packaged by Studio Proteus which was how I could understand all that was being said in the comic panels ;p


In 1988, the manga was adapted into an OVA with the same name. The OVA was directed by Kazuyoshi Katayama. It was produced by Bandai Visual and licensed by Manga Entertainment. A CGI feature film was released in 2004 titled "Appleseed" and was directed by Shinji Aramaki. The sequel to this film, "Appleseed Ex Machina", was released on October 20, 2007 in Japan with Aramaki again directing and John Woo producing.




Briareos is a trained ESWAT officer, his point man is Deunan. They met in her father's SWAT unit before World War III broke out. Briareos and Deunan are lovers and have been involved since before the war.


Since moving to Olympus with Deunan, they have joined the ESWAT unit (Extra Special Weapons And Tactics). He is named after Briareus the Vigorous, one of the Hecatonchires (hundred-armed giants) of Greek mythology.


Originally an African man from the Mediterranean, Briareos was used as a terrorist by the KGB while still a child. He sought political asylum in the former USA after killing the unit's commander of operations - for which he was put on the international "most wanted" list as an assassin.


After meeting an agent from Special Security Forces, he began operating as a partner with the man's daughter, Deunan Knute. Caught in an explosion, the 31 year old survived only by undergoing a full cyborg body replacement - and has been making modifications ever since.


Briareos is a prime example of the technology of cybernetic implants in Appleseed. Although his body is almost completely artificial, he suffers little loss in humanity. His outer skin is elastic, capable of feeling sensation, and the temperature can be adjusted to the cyborg's preferences.


He has eight eyes mounted on his head, four in his face (The large sensor in the middle is actually his nose) two at the bases of his "rabbit ear" sensors, and two at the tips, which allow him to safely look around corners.


His human brain is augmented by an auxiliary "brain" that acts as an information processor, and is capable of handling information in a conceptual format rather than hard numerical data.


His cybernetics controller, the Hecatonchires system, is named after the same 100 handed giants from Greek mythology. It is capable of controlling dozens of limbs or other cyborg bodies independently from one another, with no additional strain on the user.


In the manga, it is pointed out that a cyborg equipped with the Hecatonchires system is able to fully control an entire aircraft carrier on his own. This ability to process multiple limbs at once is seen in the film when he is seen using one rifle in his Landmate's arms, and another in the control arms.


Hot Toys really did an excellent job with this figure and the craftsmanship plus details on this Briareos Hecatonchires sixth scale figure is just astounding :)


Briareos comes with two PROMETEUS M-08 CYBORG Pistols.


Check out my earlier post HERE to see MORE pictures including the packaging and other accessories, especially the huge ENIGMA M-117 ANTI-MATERIAL RIFLE ;p

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