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A very Happy Halloween to everyone! Our last Kotobukiya Horror Bishoujo to round out this spooktacular October is Pennywise from Stephen King’s It.
Illustrator Shunya Yamashita’s take on the 2017 version of this eldritch abomination is by far the cutest, if not floofiest, of the Horror Bishoujo figures we’ve highlighted. (°◡°♡).:｡
This is one evil shapeshifter we just might fall prey to...partly because this figure immediately reminded us of a certain Animal Crossing character… ( ﾟｰﾟ)
Oh, if only Pennywise preferred sweets to feasting on children.
Sure, Pennywise and Merengue’s actual designs don’t have much in common, but the vibe is there. For all the ruffles Pennywise’s most recent reincarnation has, we never thought the phrase “high fashion cream puff goth” would ever apply to any version of this character. And yet, here we are. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
At least it’s not a repeat of the Nendoroid version. Good Smile did him dirtier than the sewers he runs around in.
Weirdly enough, their poofy bloomers and thigh highs help counterbalance the "standard anime girl" posing of Pennywise's legs as they extend one of their ever-enticing balloons to some poor kid. (Fun fact: The balloon's string is thankfully made of metal according to Kotobukiya’s blog post about the figure!)
We have nothing but respect for Pennywise's...very strong forehead that rivals the size of their appetite, but the bangs and tiny twin tails were a smart move for a bishoujo figure. ｍ（＿ ＿；；ｍ
The mascara, eyeliner, and touch of blush are also doing a lot of heavy lifting in terms of translating Pennywise’s garish face paint into a look that makes the figure look either sickly sweet or sinister depending on what angle you're looking from.
One of the biggest things that stands out to us (no, it's not the giant bow) is the lack of bloodstains on Pennywise's costume. However, while the Leatherface and Michael Myers figures go ham on making the gore look as painterly as possible, Pennywise seems to be leaning particularly hard into that couture clown look.
How so? Maybe it's too much of a stretch, but the dainty gradient on the bow looks like it was dyed by the bloody waters running beneath the town of Derry. ♡＾▽＾♡
“You’ll float too!”
All right. All right, all right, all right. This base. Can we talk about it. Please.
This is one of those instances where Kotobukiya didn't have to, but wow, did they deliver. We wish more sculptors treated bases as an extension of figures like Yoshiki Fujimoto did here; the cherry red water (or is it just blood at this point?) and Georgie's paper sailboat really draw us into Pennywise's world and make all of the reds of this mostly monochromatic costume really pop.
Kotobukiya's blog post even reveals some less obvious details:
“The beautiful ripples are highlighted with the addition of silver paint on the back of the base made of clear parts to create an even deeper and more suspicious shine.
The way the ripples have been sculpted to spread after each footstep creates a further sense of movement…!”
We shouldn't be shocked at this point, but we didn’t expect a hyperfeminine version of a mostly faithful recreation (in comparison to other figures in the figure series) to work so well. Kotobukiya's bishoujo-ified Pennywise is way less frightening than prior versions, but they're still a creepy clown when it comes down to it. (;´Д｀)
Anyone who can turn a clown into a beautiful lady is amazing in our book; if you feel the same, Pennywise just released in time for Halloween and is available on Solaris Japan now~
We hope you enjoyed reading our thoughts on some figures from Kotobukiya's Horror Bishoujo lineup and your Halloween is filled with nothing but treats! We'll see you in our next post! o(^▽^)o
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