#menpo

[koyoriin]

prowl

https://twitter.com/koyoriin https://patreon.com/koyorin https://instagram.com/koyori_n https://bsky.app/profile/koyorin.bsky.social

[6amsnst]

"Aeon Devourer"

[by13x]

Sentai Robo Menpō Series complete!

🎉

Check out my shop for some toku merch 😊

Thank you!

[whistlingjudge]

Wear both, why not...

[hermholland]

Seriously... these horns are my whole personality right now...

... also I made the mask too, which I'm proud of.

[hawkogurl]

Harry and Harry related concept art: a compilation

[g1-skywarp]

kinda funny how my borg general oc, shogundam, and kingambit all have mustache

[memories-of-ancients]

Toppai kabuto with menpo, Japan, late 16th century

from The Ann and Gabriel Barbier-Mueller Museum

[ross-hollander]

Awful mockup of what I still maintain is an amazing idea: menpo or at least menpo-style 'nose art' on Combine 'mechs.

[chevvy-yates]

[NC_RES]_17112045-NCA arki_portraits_010_DA_KB_WA.file ///core:_arki.file\\\

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⚠️ READ: Please do not repost/reupload any of my art here or to any other platform, or I will be forced to do anything to get it annihilated.

Akki/Arki belongs to @nervouswizardcycle. ♥️

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First picture is the cover artwork for:

///CH01_THE_GOLDEN_DEMON_OF_KABUKI.file\\\ from Cyberpunk 2078 – Pandemonium

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Additional info behind the cut:

Tbh I always didn't like the existing menpo masks of the game as they look weird to me and not 'classic yokai/oni mask' enough. The more happy I was about the 'Yokai International' mod by manavortex. Once I saw them on nexus I knew that this is the point where I could finally vp the starting artwork picture for the story.

There's lot's of textures and brushes added as I knew right from the start (through another vp project I haven't posted yet) that the ingame given effects won't satisfy me so I had to add them in post process.

I've done stuff like that years ago (mostly for work) but have always been too lazy to do it right from the start in vp (plus I was learning how to use my ingame tools first). And tbh I will only do it where I think it is neccessary as it eats a lot of time until my annoying perfectionism is 'okay' with the result.

Spent three evenings/nights (after work) on both pics. Second was faster done as of the existing layers/settings from the first, just tweaking the effects a bit differently. The second pic is only an addition for the normal vp post as I didn't use it for the chapter pdf.

The golden mask is recolorered as it appeared red in the original picture due to me having a red light spawned for a more dangerous feeling. Hair that clipped through the mask needed to be retouched by redrawing it and then it was just basically playing around with effects.

Here's the (already color tweaked with Lightroom) non-effects pics, so you get an idea of what has been added and what has been there already.

I took only two pics – nothing more as it was exactly the poses I wanted to have. I lightened up the 'maw' part of the mask to give a feel of a real maw at first but when you look closer you see Arki's beard and bottom lip. The second pic doesn't focus so much on this as mentioned it got not used as keyvisual for the chapter.

'The Golden Demon' refers more to his golden coat and the golden gloved claw, rather than a golden mask. Yet for the key visual I wanted the mask to appear golden as we do not see his coat and the mask was more important in my opinion.

[peashooter85]

Kabuto with menpo, Japan, Edo Period (1603-1868)

from Czerny's International Auction House

[jamstruck]

Thrust under the menpo.

[itsmarjudgelove]

Suji-bachi kabuto and menpo

Signed by Myōchin Muneaki and dated 1853

Signature: Kaei 6 - Ushidoshi Oshu Nihonmatsu-ju Myōchin Ki (no) Muneaki saku

Made in 1853 by Myōchin Ki Muneaki in Nihonmatsu castle.

The helmet is a 24-plate suji kabuto with five rows of visible rivets. The shape is rather tall (koseizan), and the fittings, such as the visor (mabezashi) and the maedate holder (haraidate), are beautifully crafted. The five-plate shikoro bears on the fukigaeshi a rare kamon (family crest) made of silver maki-e lacquer, depicting the butterfly (hachō) used by the Taira clan in the ancient times and later taken up by a number of families claiming descent from it, most notably the Matsudaira clan, the shogunate family.

The half-moon shaped maedate shows the “ichi” kanji in the center.

The mask is of the ressei type, of excellent workmanship. The shapes of the nose, ears and chin are those typical of the branch operating in the Ki region, where the Myōchin family of armorers settled in the early Edo period and specialised in embossed metalwork (uchidashi).

The inscription is definitely interesting, as it places the helmet inside Nihonmatsu Castle, which was besieged during the Battle of Aizu in 1868, in which Matsudaira Katamori and the forces for imperial restoration clashed. During the siege, 543 samurai loyal to the shogunate died under the modern weapons used by the imperialist daimyo, trained and equipped by Western armies. The presence of the butterfly kamon, used by the Matsudaira, would confirm the use of the helmet by samurai loyal to the shogunate. The armor associated with these events has almost all been lost or destroyed, and to find a helmet in perfect condition that survived the last Japanese civil battles is undoubtedly an extraordinary event.

[by13x]

Sentai Robo Menpō- 10

[epefanio]

Okay fun fact

I tend to give my sound ocs/headcannons summons that aren’t snakes unless they are 100% loyal to Orochimaru

Menpo has ferrets (furred snakes)

My sona has herons (feathered snakes)

Kin would have eels (marine snakes)

I also tend to make Sasuke more scorpion based but that’s a thing for another time…

[slverblood]

With that post finally out, I do keep thinking about why no one remembers Aylin. There's only record of some fabled Nightsong with few having any clue that's a person. Obviously time and active erasure of her legacy by Sharrans would play a role, but I do hc she's both a scourge aasimar and a Sword of the Lady. Both are known to cover their faces. (Scourge aasimar are known to unmask in battle, while the Swords of the Lady stay masked all the time.) The Swords of the Lady may additionally conceal their identities; we don't have enough information to say.

Now Aylin's gear obviously doesn't have a mask. It's also too distinctive to allow for total anonymity. However, I do like the idea that she used to wear a mask. It wasn't part of her helm like we see with Dark Justiciars. Instead, it was more akin to a menpo, covering her face from the nose down. It had no design resembling a mouth. There was simply a continuation of the patterning we see on the helm.

She was rarely out of her armor, and certainly always wore it when acting in an official capacity. I'm going to further headcanon that she never used her name in these instances nor was her name recorded in official record. It was always the Sword of the Moonmaiden or Moon Daughter. Some knew her name and face of course, but they were essentially treated as separate identities. This was key in keeping Selûne's faithful together while the goddess lived as Luna. Frankly, it was dehumanizing, and that was the intention. Aylin was able to totally transform into an embodiment of her Mother's will. She lived not as a person but as a symbol.

This made erasing all trace of Aylin that much easier. No official record bore her name or description. No artwork showed her unmasked likeness. Taking her armor, locking her away, dubbing her the Nightsong, essentially unmade her. Even the Moonmaiden's faithful would theorize she was gathered up to the Moonmaiden's side or that she was an avatar of the goddess all along or any number of other theories that, although probable based on their knowledge, denied her humanity. She had never been a person; she had always been an idea.

It's a deliberate choice then not to call the mask along with her helm after being freed. What once armored her became a century long prison, and she will not return to it willingly. She will fight tooth and nail for personhood. She is the Sword, but she is also Aylin. Reconciling the two will be a new challenge for her.