Hello!
New Sci Fi Month has begun! High resolution turntables here.
So this month's main lineup is Section 9 from Ghost in the Shell. Now the franchise has apparently been adapted into multiple timelines, movies and TV series so I'm not going to reference a specific one. But broadly speaking, Section 9 (or Public Security Section 9) is established as a counter-terrorist network and anti-crime unit operating under the Japanese National Public Safety Commission.
As far as I can tell, there are always a couple of primary members. But we're going with the cast that was depicted from Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex and their uniforms are from the game First Assault Online.
Now where to begin? I basically started off with the two members who were standing closest to Makoto in the concept art. First there's Batou, who is described as the lead investigator and former military ranger with a vast expertise in tactics and combat. He is also said to be informally 3rd in command alongside Ishikawa.
Saito is Section 9's primary tactical sniper, formerly a mercenary in the South America. He possesses a long-range cybernetic eye called a Hawkeye that can be used for extreme accuracy by making use of satellite linked imaging data. I'm not really familiar with these characters and am only going with what I've read in the wiki. But hopefully they turned out how fans imagined them from the series.
I've already done Matoko's outfit from First Assault Online a few years ago. So this month, I decided to give her a bit of a face touchup and her outfit from the Solid State Society movie which I think is perfect for bike riding. Speaking of which, this month Matoko gets her own bike as that was part of the suggestion that won the poll.
While I was looking around for a suitable style motorcycle, I discovered some interesting overlap between different franchises. Originally I was looking at the Honda's NM4 and the bike from Ghost in the Shell Arise. But that led me to a something interesting in Cyberpunk 2077. Apparently there is a model manufactured by Yaiba called the Kusanagi CT-3X. This is a direct Easter Egg to Ghost in the Shell, naming the bike after Matoko Kusanagi. The Kusanagi also takes some inspiration from Shotaro Kaneda's motorcycle from Akira.
Anyways, after going down this rabbit hole and comparing the looks, I decided the Kusanagi CT-3X looks coolest so I went with that. Also, I think it's funny that Matoko gets to ride her Easter Egg. 😄
Next up is Godzilla Minus One! Phew, the King of the Monsters is going to be a doozy. 😅 I might need to push back my plans for the Super Mutants but we'll see how it goes. In the meantime, I'll also try to get a few more Section 9 members included in the next update. Stay tuned!