Kai and Koa Bundles - Skimpiest Figure Bundles yet?
Cybersox
Posts: 9,053
in The Commons
Seriously DAZ? Two new FIgure bundles with a (non-sale) price of a hundred dollars each, and there are only four items in there besides the figures, and in each bundle one of those items is a Tattoo set? Yes, things are expensive on Hawaii but Kai doesn't even come with a real pair of shoes, just flip-flops and anklebands.
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I'm wondering about their skin, which looks drier than previous 9 Core Figure skins. Maybe Kai lost all of his shoes when Lahaina was firebombed.
Vicky 9 and Micky 9 have 5 items too. Lycan has 6 but one is the HD Addon included by default with Kai and Koa. Some older characters bundles may have 6 of them but 5 seems to be the norm overall.
I was confused when I saw the name. The only time I've come across 'Koa' was in relation to a brand - 'Kampsites of America'. Pretty generic campsite facilities & adequate quality for a higher than average price. To see it applied to a human figure seemed a non-sequitur.
Do you get dry skin from being in the sea & surfing a lot? The waters around the UK aren't warm enough for me to find out, so maybe it's actually added realism for the characters.
Regards,
Richard
I had the same thought, too. But then I noted it's termed a 'Character' bundle, not a 'Starter' or 'Pro' bundle. And let's face it, how long before new products plummet in price in one sale or another - as long as you're prepared to play the waiting game?
Koa is also a Hawai'ian tree commonly made into acoustic guitars and ukuleles. No idea if it's common as a name.
The recent G9 core figures have all been released as a "character bundle" with 5-6 items and an "add-on bundle". Several older G9 figures have also been repackaged in the same way.
So my guess would be that it will be how future core figures will be packaged from now on.
I don't know if it's common but it is definitely used as a name in Hawaii. It means "warrior" or something like that, beside refering to the tree (source = one of my fellow engineering school students who was named Koa).
Yeah I would have liked to see a makeup system pkus a coupl more outfits for Kai. BUT the bundle is baseline less than normal ones released lately so I guess it works out.
Maybe we'll get an add-on bundle for them later?
With Koa HD, what is that long hair product that is used on him?
I like the base characters a lot, but to me, the bundles are too lackluster for paying $29 each (assuming I put in an addon item at $5), even if I use my $6 coupon and some leftover tokens to bring them down a little more. And if I go just for the base characters, they're $25 each which would make the bundles look like an offer... if the bundles had that perceived value to me. They didn't. Into the wishlist they go, I suppose.
Can't be sure, but looks a bit like Lindsay hair: https://www.daz3d.com/dforce-wet-style-curly-hair-for-genesis-8-and-9
Sorry, I prefer Kalea 7 & Kimo 7. Although I might pick up the Tropical Harmony & Samoan outfits in the future.
Lycan 9 is still the front runner for my free Premier bundle, if only because I don't have something similar already. If I were Daz, I'd make all character bundles over a year old eligible. But I am not a marketing expert & I don't play one on TV.
Money being saved for December.
I like both characters a lot. The add-ons in the Character Bundle are nice and match the characters; overall it's a round trip through the Pacific region: Samoan (Koa) and Hawaiian (Kai) clothing, tattoos that can't be localised more precisely, New Zealand rugby outfits.
I used my bundle coupon on Koa and got the Kai bundle with 8 tokens, the $10 premier coupon and an add-on for $11.47. That's ok for me.
Gotta say, I am getting a bit unsure why those chracters are priced at $49.99 when they look worse than many regular PA characters. The bundles sure aren't helping things.
I hope there is another premier release this month otherwise my free character bundle coupon will go to waste.
Koa's Anatomical Elements shader does not match his skin tone (the actual texture is fine, as I was able to use Dain 9's shader with Koa's textures), and the normal map just looks like 3D noise, as though he is carved from stone. Not sure I am keeping this bundle, though I have wanted someone like this for a long time.
I fixed your comment ;)
Good point ;)
I think what's included is fair for the $18 and about on par with what one got in the past for the $18 core character base bundles. I like both but I'm going to choose these subscription bundles on the last day of every month. Who, knows, maybe more toon bundles could be coming. A new iteration of Thanksgiving, Christmas, or New Year's themes.
Koa wood is absolutely beautiful, and is made into maaany many many many things.
Our wedding rings are made with inlaid koa wood.
Very attractive characters, especially Kai.
Thanks for mentioning the Premier Character Bundle coupon - I haven't been able to use one yet (I own WAYYYY too much stuff already, apparently) but using it on Kai makes me feel like I am actually getting some benefit from going Premiere. Thanks for the reminder!
Honestly, a lot of the promo images show how bad Kai's SSS seems to be, people's hands and noses don't light up like that. The bundle also seems kinda meh. Still, if there isn't anything better to use the premier bundle coupon next month I'll probably get her and hope the SSS issue is just bad settings and not bad textures.
The SSS was my concern too. Keen to see some user renders of both characters,as the scuplt looks very attractive and they're different from figures I already have. If they pose well I could probably swap out the mats to something more to my taste.
(Very handsome!)
My biggest complaint is that Koa seems to have a noisemap instead of a proper normal map, because his skin looks unnaturally bumpy in ways that don't appear to correspond to muscles, veins or anything else that's supposed to be under human skin.
Fairly common in my opinion. I know 4 dudes, had 2 students and a cousin named Koa. Also have many friends and relatives with Koa in their names ex. another cousin Kekoa, and my nephew Makoa.
This is a first go at Kalei Kai. I like her, but this was a quick first render. I have some more creative ideas. I used Linday Classic Wet Hair (of course) for G8F and simultaneously "Actual Wet Hair for G3F" and some Photoshoppery.
(Edited by mod to remove offiste link)
I really like these characters and will get them at some point in the future. The bundles aren't bad either, with a consistent theme based around the character. Less certain that marketing a Samoan character under a Hawaiian holiday orange banner makes sense - perhaps a Pacific holiday would've been better?
I'm not entirely sold on their materials from the promos. They look fantastic in parts, but there also look to be weaknesses in some areas and renders at a distance look like they're from a previous generation. Like another poster above, I'd be interested in seeing renders with different materials/settings.
I don't know who normally does the Daz original character line, but these two characters are very much in the style of Emrys, along with the skin setup and high translucency. It's probably a buyout made into a themed bundle.
Yeah, my guess would be Emrys & Jenny Morris.