Kat and JJ Mercenaries for Hire

Hello!

    It's been a while, I'm currently in the process of photographing some of my already completed figures before I continue to put together more figures, these guys have been waiting for their chance for a really long while now, they've gone through some changes to their gear and clothing during that time but they are now done. So let's start.


Katherine "Kat" Riefkohl
A mercenary since she was 18. Kat grew up in the poor neighborhoods of San Felipe where one of the best schools was owned and operated by the international mercenary company Legion International Contractors, the school was free for all but required high grades in order to continue into their more advanced programs, students could then be selected to be part of Legion in one of it's many different branches from customer service to it's renowned fast response team around the world. As luck would have it Kat would be selected to be part of one of the fast response teams when she turned 18, she would go on to serve for 11 years before LIC destroyed itself due to proof of human trafficking, assassinations, kidnappings and crimes against humanity carried out by some of it's more "Elite" fast response teams. Legion would crumble after the accusations and the different regional HQ's of the fast response teams would either be bought by other companies or go independent. As for the Atlantea office it would be disbanded by it's commander, its members would go on to become independent contractors though forever marked by Legion's technological augments.


Jiro "JJ" Tokuma
Jiro was born in Japan but essentially grew up aboard a corporate cruise owned by the company his father worked for, Takahashi International Manufacturers. The company  was responsible for manufacturing law enforcement and military equipment ranging from footwear to helmets and bulletproof vests, it also manufactured other security related items such as shields, barricades, barriers and most recently light aerial vehicles. Jiro had a more or less normal child hood as growing up on a corporate cruise meant growing up in a well regulated environment, his favorite past time was hanging around the security deck and watching the security personnel train and fire their guns. At 18 Jiro tried to join the internal security force but was denied entry due to this he would leave the cruise and join a private security firm with which he would serve 8 years until he would leave after an attack by an unhinged lunatic who scarred him, angry that the company would also punish him for retaliating he decided to try is luck as a freelancer. Jiro would meet Kat by chance as they both closed in on the same target, since then the two have taken even more jobs together.






The character profiles where inspired by Sarahdactyl's thread Meet the Cast in which they showcased a large number of very interesting characters in a very fun and interesting format. These two guys where completed well over a year or more ago but were always sidelined by other more recent figures that I completed, as part of my dystopic series there's three more figures before I move onto a new project, something more... Greco-Roman but very much fantasy that I've been slowly putting together and trying to get as right as possible, it's been more challenging and thus more interesting and fun. Additionally I've also put together a new cargo area wall as you can see, it's still mostly unfinished but it works for photos. Well that would be all for now, as always stay safe out there and have fun, as for me I return to my lair.

These two are extremely interesting. Jiro’s head is so unique looking. Neat introduction. I like those intro shots for each of them. Awesome stuff.

Fantastic setting! I love the rusty ventilation fan boxes (with bullet holes); everything contributes to create a realistically grungy and bleak images of near-future civil unrest or dystopian chaos.

Very nice additions to your kitbashed collection. Jiro looks great, very interesting appearance. And is Kat partly robotized, having lost her arms in some incident?

That's a beautiful idea to borrow from Sarahdactyl's introductions, haha.

Very interesting lot, unique with the dark cyber eyes and the scars.
Having mercenaries in charge of government and education will never be a good idea, no wonder it backfired.
I find it interesting how Kat is basically stuck with all those Legion augmentations,  forever branding her as an asset of that corrupt and fallen organisation, despite it being her only chance when growing up.  I love the mechanix gloves on top of the cyber robo arms, didn't know there were female mechanix.gloves in 1/6.

And I also wonder about the origin of the robo arms, if she lost them or the Legion just replaced the human arms. But I think the most disturbing would not be being forced to get augments by a sinister company or having lost them before, but voluntarily having your healthy arms removed to become stronger with robotic arms. An interesting meta-human theme explored in the Deus Ex series for example. (Where augmented people are forever dependant on companies producing a drug that prevents the body rejecting the augmentations.)

Jiro looks like he has been through a lot, perfectly caught in that headsculpt. Also like that corporate cruise origin, guess those companies don't like to be stuck in one place.

Also like how international and globalized it feels, not another Jack from New York (nothing against Jacks from New York).

Such a cool pair of cyberpunk mercenaries! Kat's cybernetic eyes are intense, and that's the 1st time I've seen anyone use that Kakihara from Ichi the Killer head! Looks o perfect for Jiro. There's a real gritty feel, both to your story and the look of these characters I really dig.

Stryker2011 wrote:These two are extremely interesting. Jiro’s head is so unique looking. Neat introduction. I like those intro shots for each of them. Awesome stuff.

Thanks Stryker, glad you enjoyed those intro shots, all my thanks to Sarahdactyl however, they inspired me.

davidd wrote:Fantastic setting! I love the rusty ventilation fan boxes (with bullet holes); everything contributes to create a realistically grungy and bleak images of near-future civil unrest or dystopian chaos.

Thanks Davidd, I spent some time on those ventilation fan boxes, perhaps longer than on the wall overall. The bullet holes where simple, specially the ones in the tile.

GubernatorFan wrote:Very nice additions to your kitbashed collection. Jiro looks great, very interesting appearance. And is Kat partly robotized, having lost her arms in some incident?

Thanks Gubernator. I'm glad to see they are nicer than I thought, they where nothing away from being turned into something else. She is indeed partly robotized either out of need due to an accident or because her employer paid her well for it back in the day.

Ovy wrote:That's a beautiful idea to borrow from Sarahdactyl's introductions, haha.

Very interesting lot, unique with the dark cyber eyes and the scars.
Having mercenaries in charge of government and education will never be a good idea, no wonder it backfired.
I find it interesting how Kat is basically stuck with all those Legion augmentations,  forever branding her as an asset of that corrupt and fallen organisation, despite it being her only chance when growing up.  I love the mechanix gloves on top of the cyber robo arms, didn't know there were female mechanix.gloves in 1/6.

And I also wonder about the origin of the robo arms, if she lost them or the Legion just replaced the human arms. But I think the most disturbing would not be being forced to get augments by a sinister company or having lost them before, but voluntarily having your healthy arms removed to become stronger with robotic arms. An interesting meta-human theme explored in the Deus Ex series for example. (Where augmented people are forever dependant on companies producing a drug that prevents the body rejecting the augmentations.)

Jiro looks like he has been through a lot, perfectly caught in that headsculpt. Also like that corporate cruise origin, guess those companies don't like to be stuck in one place.

Also like how international and globalized it feels, not another Jack from New York (nothing against Jacks from New York).

Thanks Ovy, I got those "mechanix" gloves from toyanxiety some time ago, same with Jiro's head. I've always been a huge fan of the Deus Ex universe, it's a very good dystopic future series with a lot of corporate and government shadyness. Most of her augmentation was voluntary due to injuries sustained though more futuristic and less visible things were essentially forced on Legion members. Corporate cruises are less about not being stuck somewhere and more about showcasing how powerful a company is, running them isn't cheap and essentially having a floating office building is considered a power move. Imagine corporate cruise ships as the lifted pick up trucks of the corporate world.  

ReverendSpooky wrote:Such a cool pair of cyberpunk mercenaries!  Kat's cybernetic eyes are intense, and that's the 1st time I've seen anyone use that Kakihara from Ichi the Killer head!  Looks o perfect for Jiro.  There's a real gritty feel, both to your story and the look of these characters I really dig.  

Thanks ReverendSpooky. When I was putting her together I was thinking of ways that an ex-Legion member would have waged psychological warfare in some way and the eyes are probably the best means of that, nothing like staring into black eyes with just a red dot in the middle. I'm glad I got that Ichi headsculpt all that time ago, he looked cool though at the time I was unsure who he was meant to be, took me a while to find out but I feel like it would fit a mercenary quite well (I've yet to see the film).

Quite the duo these two are, very cool designs and gear. Glad you finally got to introduce them, they look so awesome in that gritty diorama (great job on that too!!). I think Rev had a really cool description of one of his characters who had similar eyes, it's a simple but striking effect. I can just imagine these two fitting quite easily in a Ghost in The Shell-type setting. Can't wait to see what kind of adventures they have in the future!

AlKelAstra91 wrote:Quite the duo these two are, very cool designs and gear. Glad you finally got to introduce them, they look so awesome in that gritty diorama (great job on that too!!). I think Rev had a really cool description of one of his characters who had similar eyes, it's a simple but striking effect. I can just imagine these two fitting quite easily in a Ghost in The Shell-type setting. Can't wait to see what kind of adventures they have in the future!

Thanks AlkelAstra, I'm glad the time I've spent so far on the diorama has paid off, glad you liked the duo too. Not sure I'll take more photos of them but I might make a collection of images, a sort of "faces of San Felipe" or something similar to that.