KotobukiyaHi everyone! It’s Kurosu!
Spring is finally coming around here in Tokyo, and the sakura have come and gone here. As we say goodbye to winter, we also say a temporary goodbye to some great anime this past season. One had great fanfare and was a personal favorite of mine—TRIGUN STAMPEDE. I am a big fan of the animation studio, and think they produce solid series with unique 3DCG animation. But enough about what I like, let’s get into what you like!
We were incredibly happy to see everyone’s reaction to our sculpt of ARTFX J Vash the Stampede TRIGUN STAMPEDE Ver. that some people were able to check out in person at Kotobukiya Collection a few months ago!
We have previously given inside looks on various lines we have, and now it’s our ARTFX J series’ turn! Luckily, I was able to interview both the product planner and the sculptor of this piece this time around, so keep reading for some fun behind-the-scenes and awesome details behind the making of this product. I think you’ll be just as excited over these incredible sculpt details as I was!
And, if you’re already sold on this product and don’t even need me to give you these juicy details, you can pre-order him right now right here! As always, we recommend you support your local distributor and check our official shop list for a distributor near you. Please note it may take some time for pages to go up so there may be a delay as everyone works to open these pre-orders for you!
Now, let’s get straight into it, starting with an introduction!
Feared as "The Humanoid Typhoon," the legendary gunman with a bounty of $$6,000,000 joins Kotobukiya’s ARTFX J lineup! Vash the Stampede from the anime TRIGUN STAMPEDE comes to life gripping his gun, staring down its barrel right into his enemy’s eyes.
The sculptor has spared no expense in order to meticulously create this elaborate piece, which includes various must-see features, such as his billowing and vividly colored coat, his cybernetic arm that strikes the perfect balance between robotics and elegance, his faithfully recreated gun, and even the base, designed with Jeneora Rock in mind, a town that stands on the vast desert!
And here’s where we get deeper into it all!
Firstly, Kikaku N, the product planner, explained to me the license choice. Why did we choose TRIGUN STAMPEDE? The answer in this case is quite simple, and is really thanks to the support we received from fans in the past. As some of you may know, we previously released a figure from TRIGUN, and it was well received among collectors and fans. There were a lot of comments, both in Japan and overseas complimenting the figure and how well it turned out, and our team was overjoyed to hear that it was a success among the community. Following that, when we heard there would be a new anime, we thought that people would be looking forward to this Vash too, and thus the natural process to start making a figure began!
All projects require a lot of cooperation among different teams, from product planning, to sculpting, to even sales teams, and more. In this case, the incredible passion of our sculptor Hattori, who has been a longtime fan of the series was not to be missed. Who could be more perfect from the sculpting team to head this project than the most passionate fan in the company himself? Kikaku N made sure to consult extensively with him as posing and concepts were being decided.
While this pose may remind you of an incredibly impressive scene from the first episode, this sculpt was prepared way before the anime was released! The sculpt for this figure project began in fall of 2022, and around then, all we had to work with was documents and reference materials sent by the licensor. It was a huge collaborative project to reference previous anime series, the original manga, various illustrations, and reference materials to pull together an idea for what kind of pose and sculpt should be made. Hattori and Kikaku N knew that breaking new ground was not going to stop them from making the best piece right from the beginning.
Various posing proposals were made after looking through a vast amount of reference materials, but in the end, I think most people can agree that Vash holding his gun is one of the coolest poses, and our team came to the same conclusion. While true behind-the-scenes photos will remain confidential and there were some very close seconds, you’ll have to trust me on it! This pose was already decided in August and sculpting had already started, which was around the time the PV had just come out! The road to securing a license and making a figure is a very long one…
Who would have known at that point that this pose would become reminiscent of that gorgeous scene in episode 1? Hattori, as the huge fan that he is, was overjoyed when he watched the first episode of TRIGUN STAMPEDE and saw it all play out. He even said, with a laugh, that it was basically a miracle! It is always admittedly a bit of a struggle bring to life something that doesn’t actually exist in the world yet, and I think our team did an amazing job here in predicting one of the most famous scenes.
Of course, Vash himself has great composition and is amazing to look at (this coming from me, as I have gazed at him a little too many times for a little too long on my breaks near the sculptors’ desks in the office), but there are some interesting stories behind some of the details sculpted into this figure that Hattori and Kikaku N would like to bring to your attention. If you get this piece, I recommend checking these out up close!
Firstly is the detail in Vash’s cybernetic arm. While this connects with the posing choice, Hattori purposely tried to choose a pose where you could easily see the details in his arm’s unique design. In the paint master, the product will also utilize some clear parts, so that it will give off the transparent feeling that you see in the anime. Kikaku N also mentioned that along with the use of clear parts, there is a pearl finish that has been specifically added so that we can recreate the slight translucence and shine that his arm has in the series. With this kind of posing, Hattori was also able to flex his sculpting skills in order to delicately create the expression in the hands and each individual part of his cybernetic arm. I recommend looking at it up to close to really see each fine detail—these two overlooked nothing in order to recreate everything as it was in the series!
Another important part of this figure is in its base. When we first received the reference materials, we used that to build the base which has a bridge that you see on the right, which was actually not there in the beginning! In fact, we didn’t know there would a bridge in that area at all! When more of the animation was released, we noticed that the town had that bridge, and Hattori painstakingly removed his work there and replaced it accordingly in order to make this backdrop of Jeneora Rock as accurate as possible.
And the moon! Isn’t incorporating a beautiful moon in a figure one of the most romantic things a sculptor can do? This was something Hattori had always wanted to sculpt, and after seeing more of the animation get released, he saw the moons become a big part of the settings and backdrop in the anime. As another last minute edit, he went back and made sure all of the moons were added into the sculpt of the base. He would love for you to take a close look at the moon to see the details, as he carefully studied it in order to properly reflect the textures and craters when sculpting it out.
Finally, the combination of the movement that Vash showcases in the figure and Jeneora Rock behind him makes for a stunning composition. Hattori specified that he utilized forced perspective, applying very slight curves to the sculpt of the town. Kikaku N also mentions that in the early stages of production, they had more depth in the front and back, but as a result, if viewed from any angle besides the front, it caused a lengthening effect that wasn’t ideal in the overall look of the figure. In the end, they chose to narrow the width of the front and back a bit so that the 3D effect could really be shown, and also provide various exciting angles to view and display Vash. And of course, not just the sculpt, but the painted finish really brings out the atmosphere of a slightly desolate town, struggling to survive, which brings home the final touch to this piece.
A particularly striking angle comes out when you view this figure from Vash’s feet, which really makes it all comes together. Imagine this: the impact of Vash’s bullet in the critical moment causes wind to blow his jacket up, and the movement of his outfit as it billows out from the pressure perfectly shows off the lines of his body. Finally, with his jacket blown backwards, what is revealed in the distance is the beloved town that he was so determined to protect.
Kikaku N is especially focused on Vash’s body lines in this moment of action. She very carefully oversaw the feeling of movement in the figure, not just from the perspective of the scene itself, but also to give it a unique, Vash-like feel. In the final product, she was satisfied with result, as the dynamism seems natural to both the character and the action going on around him, and she particularly likes the fact that it looks like Vash will spring to life at any moment as the scene unfolds.
For fans of the series as a whole, we got a lot of comments at the Kotobukiya Collection that this version of Vash still retains a very “Nightow” aura. I think that some are curious as to why we decided to have Vash’s eyes partially covered with his glasses. Apart from this being part of the setting, Hattori felt strongly that obscuring the face was a stylistic feature distinct to Yasuhiro Nightow, which is a trait that is very different from the general direction of most figures. He was confident that fans of Yasuhiro Nightow would understand this essential feature in the figure.
But what if you want to clearly see Vash’s beautiful eyes? Worry not, because these glasses are of course removable! In fact, you get two whole pairs of glasses in this product! It seems that during the release of our very first Vash figure, we received a lot of feedback from users who requested an extra pair to be included just in case the glasses were lost or damaged. To accommodate those requests, we included two pairs just in case!
It has been 10 years since our last figure of Vash, and so much has changed in the figure world since then. As the technology back in the day wasn’t available, many figures were truly sculpted from zero, and all edits also had to be painstakingly revised by hand. Now, we are able to digitally sculpt, which allows us to explore more options that used to not be available in the past.
While our present time has progressed forward, this figure is a representation of the younger Vash, who has less experience and has yet to fully come into himself. We hope you’ll see these two figures we have made and view them as the same character in different points in his life.
Before I ramble more than I should, I’d like to finish off with some final comments from our team, and Hattori, who had the opportunity to head the sculpt on both this current figure and the one from 10 years ago.
As a fan, he truly loves Nightow’s work, and his incredible dedication to bringing his characters to life is something I respect. He mentioned that if he had an infinite amount of time and resources to work on a figure of Vash, it would never be released into the world because he would constantly be changing and improving it. He laughed jokingly as he said it, but his eyes were absolutely serious.
At a certain point in time, given work and production schedules, he needed to put everything down and consider it finished, but his passion as a fan will always continue. He was extremely moved when he saw the reactions to his sculpt online, both in Japan and overseas, and was honored to hear that people think the sculpt embodies Vash and has been well received.
Finally, for those who have yet to watch the series, he encourages everyone to go watch it! He loves the Vash in episode 12—I won’t provide any spoilers just in case, but he says he is extremely cool. He emphasized it—EXTREMELY COOL.
That’s it for today! Thank you all for reading and we hope you enjoyed this in-depth look into ARTFX J Vash the Stampede TRIGUN STAMPEDE Ver.! It would make the team here happy if the passion put into this project was conveyed to everyone reading this, so I hope I was able to bring these feelings to you.
If perhaps you’d like to see this product with your very own eyes, in your very own hands, you can buy him here! We recommend you support your local distributor by pre-ordering this product, and note that pre-orders are the main method we use to gauge interest to consider continuing lines or not, as well as which areas have the most demand based on orders from our regional distributors. You can check our shop list for more information! Please note the availability of products may vary, and there may be a delay as our partners work to get the pre-order pages up.
See you next time!
Spring is finally coming around here in Tokyo, and the sakura have come and gone here. As we say goodbye to winter, we also say a temporary goodbye to some great anime this past season. One had great fanfare and was a personal favorite of mine—TRIGUN STAMPEDE. I am a big fan of the animation studio, and think they produce solid series with unique 3DCG animation. But enough about what I like, let’s get into what you like!
We were incredibly happy to see everyone’s reaction to our sculpt of ARTFX J Vash the Stampede TRIGUN STAMPEDE Ver. that some people were able to check out in person at Kotobukiya Collection a few months ago!
We have previously given inside looks on various lines we have, and now it’s our ARTFX J series’ turn! Luckily, I was able to interview both the product planner and the sculptor of this piece this time around, so keep reading for some fun behind-the-scenes and awesome details behind the making of this product. I think you’ll be just as excited over these incredible sculpt details as I was!
And, if you’re already sold on this product and don’t even need me to give you these juicy details, you can pre-order him right now right here! As always, we recommend you support your local distributor and check our official shop list for a distributor near you. Please note it may take some time for pages to go up so there may be a delay as everyone works to open these pre-orders for you!
Now, let’s get straight into it, starting with an introduction!
Feared as "The Humanoid Typhoon," the legendary gunman with a bounty of $$6,000,000 joins Kotobukiya’s ARTFX J lineup! Vash the Stampede from the anime TRIGUN STAMPEDE comes to life gripping his gun, staring down its barrel right into his enemy’s eyes.
The sculptor has spared no expense in order to meticulously create this elaborate piece, which includes various must-see features, such as his billowing and vividly colored coat, his cybernetic arm that strikes the perfect balance between robotics and elegance, his faithfully recreated gun, and even the base, designed with Jeneora Rock in mind, a town that stands on the vast desert!
And here’s where we get deeper into it all!
Firstly, Kikaku N, the product planner, explained to me the license choice. Why did we choose TRIGUN STAMPEDE? The answer in this case is quite simple, and is really thanks to the support we received from fans in the past. As some of you may know, we previously released a figure from TRIGUN, and it was well received among collectors and fans. There were a lot of comments, both in Japan and overseas complimenting the figure and how well it turned out, and our team was overjoyed to hear that it was a success among the community. Following that, when we heard there would be a new anime, we thought that people would be looking forward to this Vash too, and thus the natural process to start making a figure began!
All projects require a lot of cooperation among different teams, from product planning, to sculpting, to even sales teams, and more. In this case, the incredible passion of our sculptor Hattori, who has been a longtime fan of the series was not to be missed. Who could be more perfect from the sculpting team to head this project than the most passionate fan in the company himself? Kikaku N made sure to consult extensively with him as posing and concepts were being decided.
While this pose may remind you of an incredibly impressive scene from the first episode, this sculpt was prepared way before the anime was released! The sculpt for this figure project began in fall of 2022, and around then, all we had to work with was documents and reference materials sent by the licensor. It was a huge collaborative project to reference previous anime series, the original manga, various illustrations, and reference materials to pull together an idea for what kind of pose and sculpt should be made. Hattori and Kikaku N knew that breaking new ground was not going to stop them from making the best piece right from the beginning.
Various posing proposals were made after looking through a vast amount of reference materials, but in the end, I think most people can agree that Vash holding his gun is one of the coolest poses, and our team came to the same conclusion. While true behind-the-scenes photos will remain confidential and there were some very close seconds, you’ll have to trust me on it! This pose was already decided in August and sculpting had already started, which was around the time the PV had just come out! The road to securing a license and making a figure is a very long one…
Who would have known at that point that this pose would become reminiscent of that gorgeous scene in episode 1? Hattori, as the huge fan that he is, was overjoyed when he watched the first episode of TRIGUN STAMPEDE and saw it all play out. He even said, with a laugh, that it was basically a miracle! It is always admittedly a bit of a struggle bring to life something that doesn’t actually exist in the world yet, and I think our team did an amazing job here in predicting one of the most famous scenes.
Of course, Vash himself has great composition and is amazing to look at (this coming from me, as I have gazed at him a little too many times for a little too long on my breaks near the sculptors’ desks in the office), but there are some interesting stories behind some of the details sculpted into this figure that Hattori and Kikaku N would like to bring to your attention. If you get this piece, I recommend checking these out up close!
Firstly is the detail in Vash’s cybernetic arm. While this connects with the posing choice, Hattori purposely tried to choose a pose where you could easily see the details in his arm’s unique design. In the paint master, the product will also utilize some clear parts, so that it will give off the transparent feeling that you see in the anime. Kikaku N also mentioned that along with the use of clear parts, there is a pearl finish that has been specifically added so that we can recreate the slight translucence and shine that his arm has in the series. With this kind of posing, Hattori was also able to flex his sculpting skills in order to delicately create the expression in the hands and each individual part of his cybernetic arm. I recommend looking at it up to close to really see each fine detail—these two overlooked nothing in order to recreate everything as it was in the series!
Another important part of this figure is in its base. When we first received the reference materials, we used that to build the base which has a bridge that you see on the right, which was actually not there in the beginning! In fact, we didn’t know there would a bridge in that area at all! When more of the animation was released, we noticed that the town had that bridge, and Hattori painstakingly removed his work there and replaced it accordingly in order to make this backdrop of Jeneora Rock as accurate as possible.
And the moon! Isn’t incorporating a beautiful moon in a figure one of the most romantic things a sculptor can do? This was something Hattori had always wanted to sculpt, and after seeing more of the animation get released, he saw the moons become a big part of the settings and backdrop in the anime. As another last minute edit, he went back and made sure all of the moons were added into the sculpt of the base. He would love for you to take a close look at the moon to see the details, as he carefully studied it in order to properly reflect the textures and craters when sculpting it out.
Finally, the combination of the movement that Vash showcases in the figure and Jeneora Rock behind him makes for a stunning composition. Hattori specified that he utilized forced perspective, applying very slight curves to the sculpt of the town. Kikaku N also mentions that in the early stages of production, they had more depth in the front and back, but as a result, if viewed from any angle besides the front, it caused a lengthening effect that wasn’t ideal in the overall look of the figure. In the end, they chose to narrow the width of the front and back a bit so that the 3D effect could really be shown, and also provide various exciting angles to view and display Vash. And of course, not just the sculpt, but the painted finish really brings out the atmosphere of a slightly desolate town, struggling to survive, which brings home the final touch to this piece.
A particularly striking angle comes out when you view this figure from Vash’s feet, which really makes it all comes together. Imagine this: the impact of Vash’s bullet in the critical moment causes wind to blow his jacket up, and the movement of his outfit as it billows out from the pressure perfectly shows off the lines of his body. Finally, with his jacket blown backwards, what is revealed in the distance is the beloved town that he was so determined to protect.
Kikaku N is especially focused on Vash’s body lines in this moment of action. She very carefully oversaw the feeling of movement in the figure, not just from the perspective of the scene itself, but also to give it a unique, Vash-like feel. In the final product, she was satisfied with result, as the dynamism seems natural to both the character and the action going on around him, and she particularly likes the fact that it looks like Vash will spring to life at any moment as the scene unfolds.
For fans of the series as a whole, we got a lot of comments at the Kotobukiya Collection that this version of Vash still retains a very “Nightow” aura. I think that some are curious as to why we decided to have Vash’s eyes partially covered with his glasses. Apart from this being part of the setting, Hattori felt strongly that obscuring the face was a stylistic feature distinct to Yasuhiro Nightow, which is a trait that is very different from the general direction of most figures. He was confident that fans of Yasuhiro Nightow would understand this essential feature in the figure.
But what if you want to clearly see Vash’s beautiful eyes? Worry not, because these glasses are of course removable! In fact, you get two whole pairs of glasses in this product! It seems that during the release of our very first Vash figure, we received a lot of feedback from users who requested an extra pair to be included just in case the glasses were lost or damaged. To accommodate those requests, we included two pairs just in case!
It has been 10 years since our last figure of Vash, and so much has changed in the figure world since then. As the technology back in the day wasn’t available, many figures were truly sculpted from zero, and all edits also had to be painstakingly revised by hand. Now, we are able to digitally sculpt, which allows us to explore more options that used to not be available in the past.
While our present time has progressed forward, this figure is a representation of the younger Vash, who has less experience and has yet to fully come into himself. We hope you’ll see these two figures we have made and view them as the same character in different points in his life.
Before I ramble more than I should, I’d like to finish off with some final comments from our team, and Hattori, who had the opportunity to head the sculpt on both this current figure and the one from 10 years ago.
As a fan, he truly loves Nightow’s work, and his incredible dedication to bringing his characters to life is something I respect. He mentioned that if he had an infinite amount of time and resources to work on a figure of Vash, it would never be released into the world because he would constantly be changing and improving it. He laughed jokingly as he said it, but his eyes were absolutely serious.
At a certain point in time, given work and production schedules, he needed to put everything down and consider it finished, but his passion as a fan will always continue. He was extremely moved when he saw the reactions to his sculpt online, both in Japan and overseas, and was honored to hear that people think the sculpt embodies Vash and has been well received.
Finally, for those who have yet to watch the series, he encourages everyone to go watch it! He loves the Vash in episode 12—I won’t provide any spoilers just in case, but he says he is extremely cool. He emphasized it—EXTREMELY COOL.
That’s it for today! Thank you all for reading and we hope you enjoyed this in-depth look into ARTFX J Vash the Stampede TRIGUN STAMPEDE Ver.! It would make the team here happy if the passion put into this project was conveyed to everyone reading this, so I hope I was able to bring these feelings to you.
If perhaps you’d like to see this product with your very own eyes, in your very own hands, you can buy him here! We recommend you support your local distributor by pre-ordering this product, and note that pre-orders are the main method we use to gauge interest to consider continuing lines or not, as well as which areas have the most demand based on orders from our regional distributors. You can check our shop list for more information! Please note the availability of products may vary, and there may be a delay as our partners work to get the pre-order pages up.
See you next time!
Comments25
Hope there is a chance to make Trigun Stampede Wolfwood figure, thank you for the backstage story
Although I am more of a fan of the OG Trigun series + Badlands movie though.
Its like same realm as liking the 90's HxH vs the 2011 remake.
I hope Kotobukiya considers making an episode 12 version of Vash and a Trigun Stampede version of Wolfwood and Knives!
Beautiful moons, I love this base.
Kudos/Congratulations to everyone who worked on this figure. The result is amazing !