J.T Studio—1/6 Journey To The West

[InebriatedGnome]

I came across Taiwan-based artist Jei Tseng's work a few days ago via Facebook. Jei's designs left me really impressed and I was surprised to find no threads on English-language toy forums covering his art. Let's fix that


JT Studio: Journey To The West



JT's first designs are riffs on the main characters from Journey To The West, a classic Chinese novel written in the 16th century. I've seen other 1/6-scale figures of these characters, but all of them aim more for realism and intricacy than the bold, stylised ideas on show in JT's work. Look below for his interpretations of Sha Wujing (called 'Sandy' in the first English translation of the novel), and of course the Monkey King.







The headsculpts really stand out, echoing the stylised and angular faces of Kenny Wong and Michael Lau's work but with added edge and a little grime. I do not yet own any of these, but the few people I have talked to on Facebook all agree that the sculpts, paint and finishing on these figures is excellent. That said, I'm not expecting the same quality as big companies like ThreeA—Jei sculpts and paints everything himself, and each design is released in a limited run of 300 figures. Each figure sells for $199 on JT Studio's website, with free worldwide shipping. Monkey King released in December 2014 and is long sold-out, but Sha Monk and Pigsy are still available.

Judging by the photos on JT Studio's Facebook page, articulation seems very solid as well, with the clothes allowing for a lot of mobility. I had a chat with Jei before buying Pigsy a few days ago, and he informed me that the body he uses is similar to the TTM18 from Hot Toys. The body is made of Hei-Cast plastic—if you can tell me what that is, please do because I have no idea myself, but Jei said it is 'like ABS'. Each figure's hands and shoes are made of an elastic material.

If you'd like to see these on video, check out Jacky Chang's YouTube channel for an unboxing of each figure. Note that all the videos are in Chinese (I don't know enough Chinese to be more specific than that), so the videos will probably just be visual resources for most of you. If anybody would like to be super-cool and translate them, feel free to post your transcripts here.

All in all I find these figures really appealing, and thought a thread on the Sideshow forums would help give Jei some more exposure. If you have any experience with or opinions on these figures, please share your feelings in this thread.

All images are property of Jei Tseng, hosted at https://www.jtstudio.com.tw/

 

[hoodonit00]

Damn I wish this stylized phase would just go away.

 

[InebriatedGnome]

Why's that? It's not as if the style is ruining any other company's products. Artists either use the look or they don't—and in the toy world, most of them don't.

Besides, we've had 'urban vinyl' in this style since at least 2001; if this is all a phase, it's certainly a long one.

 

[Hellion]

I like the stylized looks, its not like the 1/6 market is flooded with it. Most companies go for the realistic look so its not like your forced to deal with a style your not a fan of.

 

[BACON!]

Damn I wish this stylized phase would just go away.

It's much more than a phase; urban vinyl has been around much, much longer than any of the lifelike sculpts that are gaining traction now. Personally, I think it is cool, and I like to mix up my displays with some hyper-realistic figures and others that are less tied to realism

Really digging Pigsy. Reminds me of the old BrothersWorker figures

 

[fosing]

i like that shamonk.
close resemblance to gorilaz's murdoc.

 

[InebriatedGnome]

It's much more than a phase; urban vinyl has been around much, much longer than any of the lifelike sculpts that are gaining traction now. Personally, I think it is cool, and I like to mix up my displays with some hyper-realistic figures and others that are less tied to realism

Really digging Pigsy. Reminds me of the old BrothersWorker figures

Yo, I thought that as soon as I saw him! Similar to the more whimsy Brothersworkers but perhaps a little darker. Pigsy is definitely my favourite right now (which is odd because other figures of the guy are generally just intended to be humorous). That said, Jei is also working on a second version of Monkey King which is looking very cool so far.

I know that dropping $200 on a figure with no reviews or coverage is a tall order for anybody, so I'm taking the plunge first and should have a proper review for Pigsy and Sha Monk up in the next month. Stay tuned