Kannon’s articulation is made primarily out of revolver joints on his head, neck, shoulders, elbows, wrists, chest, waist, hips, knees, and ankles. His halo and front two legs of his robes are also attached with revolver joints, while the back piece of fabric is a simple swivel joint. This allows him a fantastic amount of articulation, although the pants can get in the way and hinder the more extreme leg poses.
Most of Kannon’s accessories are comprised of six pairs of alternate hands. Two of them are for holding, one is sculpted grasping a rosary, and the other three are in various Buddhist hand gestures, or Mudra.
The one accessory that he does come with is a vase with a lotus blossom, which symbolizes the growth of the soul towards enlightenment. This is also why Kannon’s figure comes with a base that’s a blooming lotus flower.
If you’ve been following my reviews of this line, then you really know what to expect. But I’m still always delighted when I receive one of these figures. Not only are they pretty unique in the action figure world, but they also introduce me to new aspects of Buddhist culture and mythology.
-Vault
Dang nifty figure, great review, and sweet pics. Thanks for sharing!
The extra-long arms are for more hugs!
lol, thanks Beedo!
cool figure.
always nice to see a good random review breaking away from the usual spandex and barbarian reviews.
Thanks, Brain!
These look great Vault! Thanks for bringing them to our attention, what’s the best place to get these from? I really like them
Thanks, Sunny!
I usually order them from Amiami.com, but you can also get them a HLJ.com and other various Japanese retailers. If you don’t mind waiting, and want a little lower price, check out Mandarake.
Thanks for that!
Thanks for the review! These are awesome! (My wife was born buddhist in china).
My only crack is that Kannon is, uh, supposed to be a girl? I get confused. “Kannon” is originally the Indian male Bodhisattva “Avalokiteshvara”. Buddhism traveled from India into China, and through some confusion with how Avalokiteshvara and the Sea Goddess Kwan-Yin were both rendered in white robes in paintings and both represented mercy, the two entities merged, ending with the “Buddhist Goddess” Kwan-Yin (Kannon in Japanese). But, whether Kannon is uniformly considered a goddess in Japan, I guess I must say “obviously not”.
Ah, whoops! You already knew about the woman transformation (had skimmed the pics, not read the reviews). But, the text is mistaken about Kannon becoming woman primarily because mercy is associated with woman. Kannon (Guan-yin) was an actual sea goddess in China with strong popularity in the south. It’s a lot like how Saint Nicholas the Catholic Bishop became associated with Odin, Sleipnir, and gift giving in Northern Europe.
PS. I think “Ju-ichi Ka-men Kannon” means Kannon with the Eleven Faces. Ju-ichi = 11, I’d have to look up “kamen” but “men” (like “menpo” armored face mask) is from the chinese loanword for face, “mian”.
PPS. Ignore my bluster. I’m excited by your review and this detailed Buddhist toyline that I’d never seen before!
one of these days, i’d love to see the display shelf where these all dwell, cuz that’s got to look cool as balls together. is there a display/dio theme set up for them? i hope so. if not, get on that STAT cuz these figs should have a divine setup.
I have also started collecting these action figures and I LOVE them.
I went and saw the Great Buddha in the sea in China when I was a guest at Miss World and I saw these additional figures and thought they’d make amazing action figures…and BOOM…5 years later we have a cool collection…
I’d love them to do Hindu Gods like Shiva, Brahma, Vishnu, Ganesh, Indra, Agni, Kama Deva, Durga, Korravai (who is effectively EXACTLY the South Indian Goddess of victory in warfare in looks from Kali in Sinbad) Kali, Uma, Lakshmi, Garuda, Hanuman etc
Fudo Myouou and Gunrari Myouou, the two most recent figures, are two of the Five Wisdom Kings (Vidyaraja). I speculate that the next three figures will be the other three wisdom kings:
1) Gozanze
2) Daitoku
3) Kongo-Yasha
http://www.onmarkproductions.com/html/myo-o.shtml
Though I share Celsius’s interest. For my part, I would rather have had the female version of Kannon (Guanyin).