Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

One of the most popular themes in Chinese Martial Arts stories is the existence of a romantic narrative beneath the Martial Arts spectacle. Growing up, I spent most of my afternoons watching Taped Chinese Martial Arts TV Series with my grandmother. Flying sequences and dazzling sword fights (which were staples to Chinese Movies/Shows before Bruce Lee started to make Martial Arts movies real rather than make believe) were almost on every episode, scenes which draws us kids to watch the shows. It was the romantic angle and the drama on the other hand which draws our grandmother and aunties to watch the series. These type of shows were not yet known to the western world, until Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon captured the American audience. As expected, this movie directed by Ang Lee (Known for his Dramatic Movies) and with fight scenes choreographed by Yuen Wo Ping (a well known Chinese Martial Arts Choreographer) would show the many scenes of my childhood. With an all-star cast assembled composed of well known International Chinese Actors, the movie would prove to be a huge hit in Western Countries and all over the world. So it came natural when I stumbled upon a set of Art Asylum's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon Action Figures, that I had to give in to the urge to purchase the set. This toy line is composed of four action figures. In this entry, I'm going to make a brief review as well as give a little background information on each one of them.

Chow Yun Fat as Master Li Mu Bai

First stop is the movie's main protagonist Master Li Mu Bai (played by chinese action/drama star Chow Yun Fat). He is an accomplished Wudang swordsman whose master was killed by a mysterious assassin named Jade Fox. He also had an unspoken feelings for his good friend Yu Shu Lien. He was set to retire and had arranged for his sword The Green Destiny to be given to their friend Sir Te only to have it stolen by a masked thief. This would set the tone of the story as Mu Bai and Shu Lien seeks to recover the stolen sword. He would later die in Shu Lien's arms (but not before finally revealing his feelings for her) after being wounded by a poisonous dart courtesy of Jade Fox (who was mortally wounded by Mu Bai). This figure was carefully made to look like Chow Yun Fat, comes with a sword (the Green Destiny) and offers articulation on the neck, arms, wrists, hips, knees, and ankle. While the figure looks good with the poses that you could made out of it, the hard plastics used for his robe proved to be too much an obstacle that it renders the lower body's articulation close to useless. But despite the limitations, you could still do some pretty cool action poses with it.

Michelle Yeoh as Yu Shu Lien

The second figure is Yu Shu Lien (played by Martial Arts star Michelle Yeoh). She is the good friend of Mu Bai who was tasked to help him deliver the sword to their friend Sir Te. She and Mu Bai had mutual feelings for each other but wasn't able to acknowledge or act upon them. She was also the object of Jen Yu's envy as she had a warrior lifestyle as opposed to Jen Yu's aristocratic boring lifestyle. During their search for the stolen sword, it was discovered that Jen Yu was actually the thief who stole The Green Destiny. Shu Lien would later engage Jen Yu in a duel after a heated argument. But with Jen wielding The Green Destiny, Shu Lien would prove to be no match for her. This figure has an uncanny resemblance to Michelle Yeoh (the actress portraying the character) and proves to be a better figure than Mu Bai because it features a rubber like suit that accommodates the points of articulation that this figure has. It has articulation on the neck, arms, elbow, wrists, hips, knees, ankle, and also comes with a sword. The only negative about the rubber like suit is that overtime it cracks and leads to damage.

Zhang Ziyi as Jen Yu

The third figure is Jen Yu (played by rising star Zhang Ziyi). The daughter of a governor. She was the person who stole the sword from Mu Bai and Shu Lien out of her dreams of becoming an adventurer with a warrior lifestyle. She was later traced with the sword where Mu Bai and Shu Lien discovered that Jade Fox posed as Jen's governess for years. She learned Martial Arts and Sword fighting under the tutelage of Jade Fox, but hid from her mentor about her studying of the Wudan manual. She was the object of Jade Fox's scorn because Jade Fox would later found out that Jen had already surpassed her in Martial Arts skills. It was also revealed that once upon a time, Jen was kidnapped by a bandit named Lo. Both would later fall in love but had to part ways after Lo convinced Jen to return to her family. But not before telling about the legend of a man who jumped off a cliff to make his wishes come true but did not die because his heart was pure. Jen was also on her way of becoming a bride to a fix marriage. But Lo returned and tried to convince her to leave with him.

Variant Version of Jen Yu

Jen Yu was defeated by Mu Bai in a fight as Mu Bai tried to save Shu Lien from her. She was saved by Jade fox and later would be drugged by her as Jade Fox was scheming to kill her out of her anger of Jen's learning of the Wudan manual without telling her. She would be saved by Mu Bai and Shu Lien but couldn't make it on time to save Mu Bai from the poisonous dart after concocting an antidote to save Mu Bai's life. She would later return to the Wudang mountain and spent one last night with Lo. The next morning she stands on a mountain balcony (in an echo of the legend Lo told her) and asks Lo to make a wish. Lo would then wish for them to be together. After hearing the wish, Jen jumps off the balcony and into the clouds. This ends the movie. This figure has Zhang Ziyi's face sculpt detail. But it's too bad that we never had the version where Jen's hair was not covered by the hood. Both figure comes with a sword and a sheath and has the same articulation on the neck, arms, elbows, wrists, hips, knees, and ankle. The only difference is that the other one has a removable mask while the other one doesn't.

The last figure is Lo (played by Chang Chen). Lo was a bandit who once kidnapped Jen Yu and became her lover. He would later convince Jen to return to her family but came back years after into Jen's life after learning that Jen was going to be involved in a fix marriage. He is responsible for telling Jen about the legend of a man who jumped off a cliff to make his wishes come true but did not die because his heart was pure. This Lo figure has the least number of articulation among the others released in this toy line. The figure comes with a sword and has articulation on the neck, arms, elbow, wrist, and ankle.  The legs are pre-posed as it is.













So this wraps up my entry for today. I really enjoy looking at these figures (along with my Bruce Lee collections) because it reminds me of my Chinese heritage. Will be leaving behind a few action shots of this group below...

Jen Yu v.s. Lo

Shu Lien v.s. Jen Yu