When Dad grabbed the Nicanas Tassu head from the fodder bag, he knew instantly that he wanted to paint the head to make the action figure resemble Pai Mei known for his appearances in Shaw Brothers movie classics Executioners from Shaolin, Clan of the White Lotus, as well as Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill series to give the figure the "White Brow" look. Dad's a huge kung fu fanatic and I think he tries to slip in his influences whenever he can when he makes me a new custom. He said that when he made this action figure he was also influenced by a lone Ronin samurai that you'd find in an Akira Kurosawa movie or Kihachi Okamoto's The Sword of Doom. He was also greatly inspired by Jeff Bridges' character Rooster Cogburn in the Coen brothers new western True Grit. He said the whole time he made this custom he kept thinking about what true grit really means over and over like a mantra.
Every bounty hunter had a mentor. Yojimbo Barnes was Embo's. Barnes found the orphaned Kyuzo on his travels through Phatrong and raised him as a son. Barnes says Embo survived his training that he affectionately refers to as his baptism by fire. Yojimbo can still be found collecting bounties well into his old age. Regardless of the fact that he has a worthy successor. I guess that's what it means to have true grit.
YOJIMBO BARNES
Dad loves his old man belly from the Wilrow Hood action figure.
