You probably figured out by now that I'm an Asian brother right? Ever since I got into customizing figures, Yang Guo is the one "dream" project I have always, always, wanted to do. Yang Guo is the main character in part two of Louis Cha's "The Condor Heroes" trilogy entitled "The Return of the Condor Heroes." The Condor Heroes trilogy is a series of kung-fu novels that is so long it spans about fifteen volumes and separated into three different stories all linked by generations.
When the first television series came out back in the early eighties, it was like watching "Star Wars." I absolutely loved Yang Guo's character. He was semi-evil and semi-good, but the thing I loved most is that he kicks much ass with just one arm. The trilogy is like the Lord of the Rings of China. The content in the stories is just sooo good no one can ever really do justice to Louis Cha's novels.
About the figure, I used a Dragon Mark headsculpt and body. Yang Guo looked like a pretty boy in all of the films - the original portrayed by Andy Lau and then the remake with Louis Koo. So, the Dragon Mark head presented a rather good opportunity. Yang Guo also marked my second real hair figure (after Master Wong). His sword did present a bit of a challenge. According to the novel, Yang Guo's sword weighed 75 lbs. and it was made of steel that was "unknown to man." The swords that were portrayed by the TV series come quite close to what you see now - the blade and hilt were both very large, which made it more believable that it actually weighs 75 lbs. Right.
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The blade was taken from Marvel's Blade II figure. I broke off the blade and sculpted the handle out of Sculpey clay. The hilt was wrapped with black wire and repainted. The blade was then repainted with black and silver to match the sword used in the film. I kept Blade's original sword sheath because (as you can see from the pictures) it looks cool as hell. His arm and sword straps were custom made from real leather. I added eyelets to make it look a little more presentable than the ones in the film. The outfit is from Dragon's "Hero" movie figures. I just used the white coat and modified it so his right arm sleeve is much shorter. Yang Guo's left arm is chopped off in the novel so I took a ball peen hammer and . . . oh, the things I do in the name of "authenticity." The pants and boots are sewn by hand. His mask is molded out of sheetmetal.
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