DONE @p.4 +++ 1:8 Kotone Suzunami (NGE Battlefields; Max Factory kit conversion)

Dizzyfugu · December 08, 2025, 12:15:55 AM

As an early warning: There will be a LOT of visual artwork - in four stages, including some experiments beyond the model itself. Coming soon...

Dizzyfugu · December 10, 2025, 12:24:32 AM

Hmm, apparently some posts for/from this project got lost during the last day's gateway problem, so I'll try to re-post them.

As a preface and warning, there is a lot of content - beyond "classic" scenic shots of the model statue I have also experimented with generative AI to enhance those pics or use them as basis for ...artistic explorations, and these will be added in a total of four "stages".

We'll start (again) with Stage 1/4, the core pics (as usual, these were taken "as is" with some editing, e .g. to make the base disappear, but otherwise W.Y.S.I.W.Y.G.) and canonical background info about the character:

Neon Genesis Evangelion (Battlefields) +++ 1:8 Kotone Suzunami / 涼波コトネ (Max Factory/PLAMAX kit conversion) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Character history:
Kotone grew up in an orphanage, often looking after children younger than her. As a result of never having her parents in her life, she is easily made to feel unwanted. It is unknown what happened to her parents, but Kotone believes that they are still alive.
She initially transferred to Tokyo-3 while NERV was scouting her out as a pilot candidate, being appointed to the role officially after she started attending school.

She attends Class 2-A of the Tokyo-3 First Municipal Junior High School, with fellow Evangelion pilots Shinji Ikari, Asuka Shikinami Langley, Rei Ayanami and later Kaworu Nagisa, who she also trains under. Shortly after her arrival at NERV, Gendo Ikari entrusts her with additional surveillance work, which involves her monitoring, and reporting to him, on the daily lives of the other pilots. Her pilot's work soon becomes a cover for her "real role". Kotone demonstrates significant problems with her synchronization rate that prevent her from being appointed as a pilot in actual battle.

Neon Genesis Evangelion (Battlefields) +++ 1:8 Kotone Suzunami / 涼波コトネ (Max Factory/PLAMAX kit conversion) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Neon Genesis Evangelion (Battlefields) +++ 1:8 Kotone Suzunami / 涼波コトネ (Max Factory/PLAMAX kit conversion) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Neon Genesis Evangelion (Battlefields) +++ 1:8 Kotone Suzunami / 涼波コトネ (Max Factory/PLAMAX kit conversion) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Neon Genesis Evangelion (Battlefields) +++ 1:8 Kotone Suzunami / 涼波コトネ (Max Factory/PLAMAX kit conversion) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

In her spare time, she creates videos to post online, which usually involve her singing and performing original dance choreography. Her popularity in this sphere of content creation has earned her the title of an "internet idol", which she is sometimes referred to as by the other students, even before her introduction in Season 2. She believes that continuing to make videos may lead to her parents finding them and getting into contact with her. This hobby proves to be a security risk as far as NERV is concerned, and following her accounts being brought to the attention of Gendo, her channel is altered without her knowledge to restrict viewership to a pre-approved group. Kotone notices the stagnation in her viewership and becomes distraught, as she fears it may mean her parents will never come across her videos, but advice sought from Hitomi Amagi and Kaworu eventually convinces her that her motivation to create should come from within instead.

In "Case:02" of the game, a separate timeline set 14 years in the future, around the same time as "Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo", she lives at the NERV base with the other pilots and Hitomi. She arrived there sometime prior to Shinji's retrieval operation. She finds life at NERV to be draining, with most of her days consisting only of training and little else. She is asked by Gendo to monitor the other pilots in this timeline as well.

Neon Genesis Evangelion (Battlefields) +++ 1:8 Kotone Suzunami / 涼波コトネ (Max Factory/PLAMAX kit conversion) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Neon Genesis Evangelion (Battlefields) +++ 1:8 Kotone Suzunami / 涼波コトネ (Max Factory/PLAMAX kit conversion) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Neon Genesis Evangelion (Battlefields) +++ 1:8 Kotone Suzunami / 涼波コトネ (Max Factory/PLAMAX kit conversion) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Neon Genesis Evangelion (Battlefields) +++ 1:8 Kotone Suzunami / 涼波コトネ (Max Factory/PLAMAX kit conversion) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

In "Case:03", yet another universe set in the 3.0 timeline, she and Hitomi instead reside on the AAA Wunder. Little information on Kotone's history is presented in "Case:02", however, in "Case:03", she tells Hitomi about how she was separated from her parents as a young child after the Near Third Impact and grew up in a surviving village without them. Her desire to become a pilot was motivated by hearing stories about EVA pilots being able to roam the core-ized Earth without restriction.

She struggles with poor performance in her training sessions and considers becoming an operator instead of a pilot. This version of Kotone grew up in a world with little in the way of animal life and finds herself fascinated with the photos of animal families in pre-Third Impact encyclopedias kept in the Wunder's library. She's still a video creator in both "Case:02" and "Case:03", though in these timelines she records snippets of her daily life in the form of vlogs, rather than dance videos.

Neon Genesis Evangelion (Battlefields) +++ 1:8 Kotone Suzunami / 涼波コトネ (Max Factory/PLAMAX kit conversion) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Neon Genesis Evangelion (Battlefields) +++ 1:8 Kotone Suzunami / 涼波コトネ (Max Factory/PLAMAX kit conversion) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Neon Genesis Evangelion (Battlefields) +++ 1:8 Kotone Suzunami / 涼波コトネ (Max Factory/PLAMAX kit conversion) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Character description:
Kotone's official character profile describes her as being "bright and happy", her positive personality having attracted a large amount of attention to the videos she posts online. The children at her orphanage also considered her to be like a big sister to them. She's moderately extroverted; while she is generally very friendly, open to expressing her feelings and can border on excitement at times, she mostly keeps herself company and her affability gives way to a defeated mentality whenever something goes wrong.
She puts forth a ton of effort in her work, not just in her video making, but her classwork and training as an Eva pilot as well. She stays determined during her training, despite her synchronization rate being slow to improve, a problem that is related to her hobbies as a video creator being her main priority, rather than piloting. Kotone is also rather naïve, seemingly unaware of both the nature of her monitoring work, and the NERV staff tampering with her online presence.

Despite her outgoing and dedicated demeanor, she's quite shy and avoidant when it comes to her daily life at NERV and struggles with overworking herself. She regularly loses sleep trying to balance training with homework and her personal life and goes through significant bouts of low self-esteem whenever she fails at something. She tends to become fixated on seeing through many different ideas and interests, and will latch on to any encouragement she's given, even when others disapprove.
Kotone is good at cooking; there was an episode where they made chocolates with female pilots on Valentine's Day and distributed them to male pilots.

Neon Genesis Evangelion (Battlefields) +++ 1:8 Kotone Suzunami / 涼波コトネ (Max Factory/PLAMAX kit conversion) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Neon Genesis Evangelion (Battlefields) +++ 1:8 Kotone Suzunami / 涼波コトネ (Max Factory/PLAMAX kit conversion) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Neon Genesis Evangelion (Battlefields) +++ 1:8 Kotone Suzunami / 涼波コトネ (Max Factory/PLAMAX kit conversion) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Neon Genesis Evangelion (Battlefields) +++ 1:8 Kotone Suzunami / 涼波コトネ (Max Factory/PLAMAX kit conversion) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Within the game's context Kotone (琴音) is around 14 years old (born June 3, 2001) and (only) 5' 3" tall. Her name literally means "Sound of the koto", a Japanese plucked half-tube zither instrument, and the national instrument of Japan. It is known for its clear and melodious sound. This name evokes images of music, harmony, and beauty and is often associated with grace and a gentle personality. It might hint at her media activities, and also at her responsiveness and empathy towards others.
"Suzunami" is the name of the Yūgumo-class destroyer of the Japanese Imperial Navy, a code surname in a similar fashion to the other EVA pilots who are also named after battleships.

Despite being the same age and in the same class as them (except for Mari), Kotone refers to all other Evangelion pilots with the "-senpai" honorific, normally reserved for students in higher grade levels. She does this to indicate her respect for them as her senior pilots. There are two people who call Kotone unusual: Mari Makinami Illustrious and Asuka Langley Shikinami, respectively. Mari calls her "Junior", and Asuka calls her "Kazamidori", a chicken-shaped weathervane on top of a roof, probably because of Kotone's unusual hairstyle (If you paraphrase, it's about "chicken hair"... ).

Neon Genesis Evangelion (Battlefields) +++ 1:8 Kotone Suzunami / 涼波コトネ (Max Factory/PLAMAX kit conversion) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Neon Genesis Evangelion (Battlefields) +++ 1:8 Kotone Suzunami / 涼波コトネ (Max Factory/PLAMAX kit conversion) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Neon Genesis Evangelion (Battlefields) +++ 1:8 Kotone Suzunami / 涼波コトネ (Max Factory/PLAMAX kit conversion) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Neon Genesis Evangelion (Battlefields) +++ 1:8 Kotone Suzunami / 涼波コトネ (Max Factory/PLAMAX kit conversion) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Old Wombat · December 10, 2025, 12:43:19 AM

Great job on the figure, Dizzy! Excellent result!

The pictures are good, too, but the one with the pushbikes is somewhat out of scale.

Wardukw · December 10, 2025, 12:53:43 AM

Stunning work Thomas mate ,, damn dude you are bloody good at this stuff ,, she looks amazing

Also ,,man she's tall

Dizzyfugu · December 10, 2025, 01:14:48 AM

Quote from: Wardukw on December 10, 2025, 12:53:43 AMStunning work Thomas mate ,, damn dude you are bloody good at this stuff ,, she looks amazing
Also ,,man she's tall

Well, she's rather slender - and the body of the figure actually belongs to a slightly older teenager, in the game context from where Kotone comes Rei Ayanami is ~17 years old, and Kotone is actually quite short (just 5'3"), so that the model is just a compromise. She should look less "mature", but changing THAT would have been prohibitively complex!

Dizzyfugu · December 10, 2025, 01:24:53 AM

Another "re-post", after the content disappeared - here comes "Stage 2/4". These are AI-enhanced model shots, e. g. with virtual backgrounds/environments or extended pictures, but still quite close to the original shots.

Neon Genesis Evangelion (Battlefields) +++ 1:8 Kotone Suzunami / 涼波コトネ (Max Factory/PLAMAX kit conversion/AI-generated) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

zenrat · December 10, 2025, 01:53:44 AM

Great work Dizz. She looks like she came out of the box like that.

Dizzyfugu · December 10, 2025, 02:28:39 AM

And now we start to enter "weird" territory. Stage 3/4 explores the question how the model shots would look like with Kotone Suzunami in an anime-esque style, recreating her as she (more or less) appears in the NGE Battlefields game. Again, this is based on my model shots, but the AI recreated the model as an anime character - and I personally like this variant a lot, even though it leads away from the model as such. Kind of "full circle" exploration, or does it count as dojinshi artwork?

Neon Genesis Evangelion (Battlefields) +++ 1:8 Kotone Suzunami / 涼波コトネ (Max Factory/PLAMAX kit conversion/AI-generated) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Neon Genesis Evangelion (Battlefields) +++ 1:8 Kotone Suzunami / 涼波コトネ (Max Factory/PLAMAX kit conversion/AI-generated) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

But we are still not finished yet, there's even more to explore!

NARSES2 · December 10, 2025, 05:28:16 AM

Tremendous work Dizzy

Dizzyfugu · December 10, 2025, 05:47:47 AM

Well, the last series is rather AI work, not me, even though the prompts took a while to make sense and represent what I wanted!

Dizzyfugu · December 10, 2025, 05:58:32 AM

However, there is still Stage 4/4 left - an attempt to drive the concept of a virtual animation character further and visualize how that person could look like in real life? Now things became ...strange, but also very interesting because it's funny how the AI interpreted the transfer from a model/animation character into the real world, much like cosplaying.

The result was twofold: one direction was more "illustrative":

Neon Genesis Evangelion (Battlefields) +++ 1:8 Kotone Suzunami / 涼波コトネ (Max Factory/PLAMAX kit conversion/AI-generated) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Neon Genesis Evangelion (Battlefields) +++ 1:8 Kotone Suzunami / 涼波コトネ (Max Factory/PLAMAX kit conversion/AI-generated) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

...and then there was what I'd call the "realism route":

Neon Genesis Evangelion (Battlefields) +++ 1:8 Kotone Suzunami / 涼波コトネ (Max Factory/PLAMAX kit conversion/AI-generated) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Neon Genesis Evangelion (Battlefields) +++ 1:8 Kotone Suzunami / 涼波コトネ (Max Factory/PLAMAX kit conversion/AI-generated) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Well, and two pics of these pics/renditions really look like a cosplay version of Kotone Suzunami!

Neon Genesis Evangelion (Battlefields) +++ 1:8 Kotone Suzunami / 涼波コトネ (Max Factory/PLAMAX kit conversion/AI-generated) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Neon Genesis Evangelion (Battlefields) +++ 1:8 Kotone Suzunami / 涼波コトネ (Max Factory/PLAMAX kit conversion/AI-generated) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Everything still based on the model pics! But a bit scary, too!

Steel Penguin · December 10, 2025, 09:53:06 AM

yowzers!
that really is an interesting series of pics, from straight and the AI mod on the backgrounds, through the last 2 which if i didnt know would really through me for a loop

both for the model and the post production work.

NARSES2 · December 11, 2025, 12:59:01 AM

That is stunning

The last couple of shots are so realistic it's rediculous

Dizzyfugu · December 11, 2025, 01:16:14 AM

Yes, it's scary what AI is (already) capable of!

And I agree - the last two pics/shots could really be a teenage girl cosplaying Kotone.

zenrat · December 11, 2025, 03:07:28 AM

Did you tell the AI to adjust her proportions (leg length vs height for example) to something more real than anime or did it do that on its own?