A new figurine captures the "indifferent yet ruthless personality" of Cowboy Bebop's iconic villain Vicious, while also hiding a deadly surprise.
First 4 Figures' Vicious statue by Sideshow stands 22" tall and 10" wide. It features the leader of the Red Dragon Crime Syndicate with a calm expression upon his face and a casual posture, his dramatic pet bird perched on his left shoulder and a knife hidden behind his back. According to the description, "being the cunning man that he is, he's secretly holding a knife behind his back so that he could strike at any given moment without his enemies expecting it."
The Vicious figurine is part of a collection of Cowboy Bebop statues created by First 4 Figures in collaboration with Sideshow. There is also a Faye Valentine figure that sees the con artist with a heart of gold posing in the Bebop's lounge area with a gun in one hand, and another of Edward Wong Hau Pepelu Trivruski IV (also known as Ed) and Ein the corgi jamming out together.
Created and animated by studio Sunrise (Tiger & Bunny), the Cowboy Bebop anime originally ran from April to June 1998, producing 26 episodes worth of content. The story is set in the year 2071 and follows the bounty hunting crew of the titular spaceship. It incorporates elements of genres like science fiction, film noir and westerns, and explores themes of existential ennui, the inability to escape the past and loneliness.
Cowboy Bebop was directed by Shinichirō Watanabe (Blade Runner: Black Lotus) with Keiko Nobumoto (Samurai Champloo) writing the story, Toshihiro Kawamoto (Wolf's Rain) designing the characters and Yoko Kanno (Porco Rosso) composing the series' beloved music. It stars Kōichi Yamadera (Neon Genesis Evangelion) as Spike Spiegel, Unshō Ishizuka (Banana Fish) as Jet Black, Megumi Hayashibara (Shaman King) as Faye, Aoi Tada (Digimon Tamers) as Ed and Norio Wakamoto (Yu Yu Hakusho) as Vicious.
There is a lot more Cowboy Bebop merchandise for anime fans to spend their hard-earned wulongs on than just First 4 Figures' statues. Toy manufacture Megahouse recently re-released one of its classic figure sets that features a cigarette-smoking Spike and sunglass-wearing Faye striking dynamic poses. Similarly, The Good Smile Company made its detailed replica of Spike's Swordfish II spaceship available for purchase once again.
The Vicious figure retails for $440 and is currently available for preorder with an expected shipping range of January to March 2023. Cowboy Bebop is available to stream on Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, Funimation and Crunchyroll.
Source: Sideshow
