DONE @p.4 +++ 1:8 Urd (early, from Oh my goddess!/Aa Megamisama!; Volks kit)

[PR19_Kit]

Is it possible to do the opposite and make her look RW!

You mean she ISN'T?   

[Dizzyfugu]

That's actually pretty good.
Is it possible to do the opposite and make her look RW?

Yes, but such results normally are pretty disturbing. I have tried to create a "real" Urd before, and the A.I. gave me a woman with north-african/arabian roots, due to her bronze skin tint. Looked weird, like cosplay, but it's logical. I can try to do a respective stunt with one of my pics, in other cases it was already very effective!

[Dizzyfugu]

BTW, I was able to select and edit some pics of the figure, and here we go with some info about the character as such and its context:


Oh! My Goddess! +++ 1:8 Urd, early (Volks resin/garage kit) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

The manga background:
Oh My Goddess! (Japanese: ああっ女神さまっ, Hepburn: Aa! Megami-sama), or Ah! My Goddess! in some releases, is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Kosuke Fujishima. It was serialized in Kodansha's seinen manga magazine Monthly Afternoon from September 1988 to April 2014, with its chapters collected in 48 tankōbon volumes. The series falls into the "Fantasy Rom-Com" genre and follows college sophomore Keiichi Morisato and the goddess Belldandy who moves in with him in a Buddhist temple. After Belldandy's sisters Urd and Skuld move in with them, they encounter gods, demons and other supernatural entities as Keiichi develops his relationship with Belldandy.


Oh! My Goddess! +++ 1:8 Urd, early (Volks resin/garage kit) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

The Oh My Goddess! universe is fashioned loosely around Celtic/Norse Mythology, even though it play in modern Japan; various names and concepts are recycled for humor. Three worlds exist in the Universe of Oh My Goddess: Heaven (Valhalla), Hell (Niflheim), and Earth. Heaven is the realm of the All Mighty and goddesses, Hell is the realm of Hild and demons, and Earth is the realm of humans. Reality is controlled by an enormous and complex computer system, named Yggdrasil.

Belldandy and her siblings Urd and Skuld are – even though it's IIRC never mentioned – the three Norns, a group of deities in Norse mythology responsible for shaping the course of human destinies. Belldandy (actually Verthandi – but no Japanese could spell this, so her name was changed...) is the Norn of the Present, while Skuld is the Norn of the Future and Urd the Norn of the Past, what is also subtly reflected in their interests and character.


Oh! My Goddess! +++ 1:8 Urd, early (Volks resin/garage kit) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Each goddess (and also demon) is assigned Class, Category, and Restrictions. Class indicates power and skill in performing pure magic. First Class goddesses are held to a stricter standard regarding the prohibition to lie. There are also three categories: Administration, Commercial (Field), and Special Duty. Limited and Unlimited restrictions indicate boundaries on permitted actions. Goddesses also wear power limiters, usually in the form of jewelry. Goddesses may be penalized for dereliction of duty and may have their license suspended for a time. A goddess using her powers during suspension will have her license permanently revoked. Belldandy is a Goddess First Class, Second Category, Unlimited License. Urd and Skuld are Goddesses Second Class, First Category, Limited License.

Oh! My Goddess! +++ 1:8 Urd, early (Volks resin/garage kit) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

The goddesses' purpose is to bring happiness to everyone around them. Toward that end, Heaven has created the Goddess Technical Helpline (also called Goddess Relief Agency), designed to bring happiness to the people of Earth, especially those with great virtue but terrible misfortune. A competing institution named the Earth Assistance Center, also is staffed by goddesses. In most scenarios, a goddess appears before one that the system has deemed worthy and grants him or her one wish. The wish must be approved by the system, after which a contract is created between the human and the goddess and stored on the Yggdrasil system as a file. The wish contract file is protected by a passcode known to the Goddess. As demons work toward the opposite end, the total happiness on Earth must remain in balance. Heaven and Hell strictly abide by an agreement to work through contracts and to prevent bloodshed between them, each god is linked to a demon by a life contract, thus if one of them is killed, the other perishes as well, with their memories of the contract erased to ensure no one knows who is paired with whom.

Oh! My Goddess! +++ 1:8 Urd, early (Volks resin/garage kit) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


Character description:
Urd (ウルド, Urudo, loosely based on the deity Urðr from Norse mythology; her name can be "modernized" as "wyrd" or "weird" in English, in the sense of "fate") is Belldandy's older half-sister and is the second Goddess to appear to Keiichi Morisato. Urd ranks as Goddess second class, management category limited license, similar to her youngest sister Skuld. She is the Norn of the Past and, when the story begins, the Yggdrasil System Administrator and Manager in charge. Though she is much more powerful than her sisters, she has not become a first-class goddess - due to her own decision (probably to retain some freedoms like being able/allowed to lie...). Urd shares a common father with her younger sisters, but has a different mother, the Demon Lord Hild. Because of this, Urd is a hybrid of Goddess and Demon, even though this only becomes apparent and relevant in later manga chapters. Even though Urd is very powerful she has a weakness that she inherited through her demonic lineage: when she hears Austrian polka she fades out and falls unconscious – an Achilles heel that is exploited several times (e.g. by the demon Mara, who has to dance as long as she hears disco music...) to take her out of the way or kidnap her.


Oh! My Goddess! +++ 1:8 Urd, early (Volks resin/garage kit) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Urd fancies herself as a (self-proclaimed!) Goddess of Love, so she comes to Earth to spur Keiichi onward with love potions and well-meaning, but deceitful advice. But as punishment for deserting her post at Yggdrasil and for using her powers on Earth without authorization, The Almighty banishes her from Heaven until further notice. After being allowed to go back, she decides to stay on Earth instead.

Urd appears as a tall and voluptuous woman, probably in her early or mid- twenties, with bronze skin and long, silvery-white (platinum blonde?) hair, both traits which she inherited from her mother, Hild. In the manga, Urd's hair gradually changes from perfectly straight at her introduction, to wavy during and immediately after the Lord of Terror Arc, to becoming intermediately straight but still wavy. Urd's hair initially also sported a notable ahoge, but this is gone by chapter 94, after which Urd's hair further straightens out and remains that way for the rest of the series. She is 5' 6" (165-170cm) tall, making her taller than most other characters in the series (we are talking about Japanese standards, Belldandy is 5' 4"), and her measurements are 90-60-91.


Oh! My Goddess! +++ 1:8 Urd, early (Volks resin/garage kit) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Unlike her younger half-sister Belldandy, Urd is very impulsive, self-centered and headstrong. Belldandy describes Urd as being very passionate about everything she does. Urd is a great believer in the idea that the 'End justifies the Means', although, as Belldandy puts it: "...she gets so wrapped up in the means that she forgets what the end was." She once stole Sleipnir to get a cure for a sick Belldandy but spent so much time in the effort to master riding Sleipnir that it took eight days for her to get to the place where the cure was. Another god had fetched the cure six days earlier. Despite such, she usually means well and will do anything to protect her loved ones, and she is very loyal towards them. Because of her being the oldest, she believes it's also her duty to look after Belldandy and Skuld.

Urd's impulsiveness often makes her act first without fully considering the consequences. She is also a constant meddler, seemingly unable to leave well enough alone. She is also quite short tempered for a goddess and is rather easy to irritate and anger. Urd is also notable for her tendency to lie, something a goddess supposedly can't do (or, more accurately, it is something a goddess shouldn't do, being against the rules – it's one reason for her "Limited License" status). Although she's not a pathological liar, she's more than willing to distort the truth if needed to accomplish an objective. She is also very open (and rather proud) of her sexuality, evidenced by her provocative dress, jibes at the younger Skuld and her slightly comical distress when turned into a child because of energy drainage. Her first appearance to Keiichi Morisato was through a semi-pornographic video (labeled "Sexy Sister"!).


Oh! My Goddess! +++ 1:8 Urd, early (Volks resin/garage kit) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

For a goddess, Urd seems to have an amazing tendency to have her plans backfire, usually a result of her impulsive tendency to use raw power to solve a situation and not think about collateral consequences. Given her power levels this tends to cause explosions. Quite often, something will happen to louse up whatever scheme she's currently cooked up. Examples including: drinking one of her own love potions, trying to help Belldandy bake a cake and blowing up the kitchen, trying to help Keiichi build a motorbike and blowing up the garage, trying to dispel a number of computer "bugs" and blowing up the house, and so on.

One of Urd's most defining traits is her mixed Goddess-Demon ancestry. Because of this unique heritage, Urd is occasionally uncertain of her status within her world, as her Goddess and Demon personalities are always in conflict inside her. It was this inner conflict that allowed the Lord of Terror to eventually overcome Urd's will at one point. Deep in her heart, she truly wishes to be recognized as a Goddess and, in her earlier years, often looked up to Belldandy as a role model. This has led Urd to quietly deny her demonic heritage, much to the consternation of her mother, Hild.


Oh! My Goddess! +++ 1:8 Urd, early (Volks resin/garage kit) - on black by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


Oh! My Goddess! +++ 1:8 Urd, early (Volks resin/garage kit) - on black by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


Oh! My Goddess! +++ 1:8 Urd, early (Volks resin/garage kit) - on black by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

[Wardukw]

She looks wicked cool Thomas mate ,, see i knew she'd look great   

[Dizzyfugu]

Well, I am still in the picture editing phase, but that did not stop me from experimenting with generative A.I. and the material I have so far. And this is one early result - a fake manga cover artwork. 


Oh! My Goddess! +++ 1:8 Urd, early (A.I.-generated manga cover art, based on model pictures) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

In this illustration/drawing style Urd looks the part! More coming soon! 

That's actually pretty good.
Is it possible to do the opposite and make her look RW?

Well, I DID AI experiments in the meantime to (re)create the pics as "real life" version. The results are ...special. And half of the attempts were met with rejections. NSFW? THIS?!? It's a character from a teenager/young adult manga!?
But I might post them, anyway - this is (literally) whifworld. 

Stay tuned.

[Dizzyfugu]

She looks wicked cool Thomas mate ,, see i knew she'd look great   

Thank you, too!

[Dizzyfugu]

On popular demand, two Agenartive A.I. experiments: manga renditions, and interpretations of a "real world" Urd...

Tha manga illus are quite conclusive and "realistic", but there's plenty of visual references which the bot can tap, so it's no surprise that these look pretty good.


Oh, my Goddess +++ Urd (A.I.-generated, based on pictures of 1:8 GK model) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


Oh, my Goddess +++ Urd (A.I.-generated, based on pictures of 1:8 GK model) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


Oh, my Goddess +++ Urd (A.I.-generated, based on pictures of 1:8 GK model) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


Concerning the "real life Urd" experiments, judge for yourself! 


Oh, my Goddess +++ Urd (A.I.-generated, based on pictures of 1:8 GK model) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


Oh, my Goddess +++ Urd (A.I.-generated, based on pictures of 1:8 GK model) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


Oh, my Goddess +++ Urd (A.I.-generated, based on pictures of 1:8 GK model) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

I think the second one is pretty conclusive, even though "she" rather looks like a cosplayer?

[PR19_Kit]

I think the second one is pretty conclusive, even though "she" rather looks like a cosplayer?

And that's wrong because.....................?     

[Dizzyfugu]

It's not "wrong", I just had hoped for a less costume-/DIY-like outfit. 

[Old Wombat]

I prefer the first "realistic" version, she has more of the slight quirky smile of the kit - not so serious. 


The costume looks too velvety, & not as silky as I was imagining.

[Dizzyfugu]

The costume looks too velvety, & not as silky as I was imagining.

My assessment, too - probably because the bot interpreted my request as an Urd cosplay, not like a more professional movie character or costume. But it was already pretty hard to get THIS far, dunno how many attempts to prompt the picture redesign were rejected or met with error messages. And it's just an experiment, "real world" renditions of fictional characters are IMHO frequently rather disappointing.