Saturday, August 11, 2012

Incoming: BBK Journey To The West 1/6th scale Zhu Bajie / 西遊記-豬八戒 or Pigsy 12-inch Figure

From a green skin rampaging monster (see previous post) to this!

Zhu Bajie, also named Zhu Wuneng, is one of the three helpers of Xuanzang in the classic Chinese novel Journey to the West. He is called "Pigsy" or "Pig" in many English versions of the story. Zhu Bajie is a complex and developed character in the novel. He looks like a terrible monster, part human and part pig, who often gets himself and his companions into trouble through his laziness, gluttony, and propensity for lusting after pretty women. He is jealous of Sun Wukong and always tries to bring him down.

Inflames Toys had announced their upcoming release of a 1/6th scale 齊天大圣 The monkey king limited edition 12-inch collectible figure in June (posted HERE) and now BBK is coming up with a Journey To The West 1/6th scale ZHU BA JIE 12-inch figure? Are they in cahoots or at loggerheads I wonder? While InFlames monkey king figure is very detailed with lots of layered 1/6th scale clothing and armor, BBK's Zhu Bajie.


His Buddhist name "Zhu Wuneng", given by Bodhisattva Guanyin, means "pig (reincarnated) who is aware of ability," or "pig who rises to power", a reference to the fact that he values himself so much as to forget his own grisly appearance. Xuanzang gave him the nickname Bājiè which means "eight restraints, or eight commandments" to remind him of his Buddhist diet.




In the original Chinese novel, he is often called dāizi (呆子), meaning "idiot". Sun Wukong, Xuanzang and even the author consistently refers to him as "the idiot" over the course of the story. Bodhisattvas and other heavenly beings usually refer to him as "Heavenly Tumbleweed", his former name when he was a heavenly marshal. He wields a jiǔchǐ-dīngpá, a nine-tooth (jiǔchǐ) iron muck-rake (dīngpá) from Heaven that weighs roughly 5,048 kilos (or roughly 11,129 pounds).


The nine-toothed rake (Traditional Chinese: 九齒釘耙; Simplified Chinese: 九齿钉耙; pinyin: jiǔchǐdīngpá; literally Nine-Tooth Spike-Rake) is the primary weapon of Zhu Bajie. During their journey, he atrocious kills many demons by his rake usually with nine blood-spurting holes on their head.


This is mostly for fans of Chinese Mythology. BBK is known more for character figures and has never released any military related figures except maybe for their first release which was supposedly Osama Bin Laden.





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