Blade & Soul - Cutting Edge (Jin Outfit) Mod

The past three days marks a very hectic beginning of a week, and not only that, but it is also marks the entrance into a new year for all Chinese, because it is the Lunar New Year. For the past two and a half days, the streets seem so much quieter compared to the normal bustling view of the city. That is probably because it is that once in a year holiday for people, of Chinese descendent, to get together as a family; much like what the Christmas holidays, at the end of each year, meant for people from Western culture.

I remember writing some stuff, in the Yun Balrok Raiment post, about the five elements and twelve pillars, and how ancient Chinese civilization uses them to characterize each year. The past year of the Lunar calendar is characterized as the Earth Dog, which is related to earth related disaster. Just before entering the new year, two major quakes rocked Britain and Mexico in the beginning of 2018. And throughout 2018, the Earth had actually experience 14,500+ earthquakes (which is not exactly alarming); with a sinking volcano, in Indonesia, that triggers a tsunami wave which swept away countless lives in the silence of the night without warning. 😢

Hopefully, those who lost their love ones, in 2018, can overcome their sadness and carry on strongly, and may the deceased rest in peace. 😢

But on the other hand, it makes me wonder: should a disaster, like that of the sinking volcano, be counted as an earth disaster or water disaster? That is too much for my tiny brain so I guess I will just leave that out and get back to our discussion on the outfit today, which is the Jin Cutting Edge.

The reason why I mentioned the disasters above is probably because I cannot shake the feeling that there is a link between the Cutting Edge and a post apocalypse world - a world that Battle Angel Alita lives in. If you have seen the Cutting Edge outfit and knows about the upcoming movie, you can probably understand the connection.

The Cutting Edge outfit is a full metallic armored outfit, in which only the head is human flesh.That is very much like Alita's and some other cyborg's body, in the movie. But what intrigues me more is why the outfit is called "Cutting Edge" when there is nothing that is razor sharp on the outfit? Maybe because it looks like an armor made with cutting edge technology? The reason I find more satisfying is that it relates to the primary weapon (a blade) that Alita wields. Not mentioning the timing for the release of the outfit which coincides with the release date of the movie? I find that there is too much of a coincidence. 😅

You can check the side notes at the end of this post for more information about the manga if you are interested.

All NA players will probably know what the outfit looks like since it is an anniversary event outfit given free per account or can be exchanged with NPC Poharan at Jadestone village, using anniversary event tokens. But if you have not seen it before, check below for the original version.

Front View - Original Outfit

A full metallic armor at first glance.

Front Close-up View - Original Outfit

A more flexible and tight-fitting layer can be found on the arms, thighs and lower legs.

Rear View - Original Outfit

Rear Close-up View - Original Outfit

Side View - Original Outfit

Side Close-up View - Original Outfit

By the way, if you do not know what Alita looks like, take a look at the poster from Foxmovies.com below.

Battle Angel Alita Movie Poster from Foxmovies.com

In the poster above, Alita can be seen wearing an outer latex layer over her full cybernetic body. She also has another more awesome looking body known as "Raging Warrior" (my own direct translation from the Japanese manga since I have not watch the movie yet). If you are wondering is there any similarity between the cybernetic bodies in the movie and the Cutting Edge, well... we can probably get to see her full naked body in the movie... Err... that sounds wrong but I guess you guys know what I mean. 😅

As the images containing the original outfit has shown, there are some parts that are tightly wrapped around skin layer on the full metallic body. As such, I wanted to see if I can modify those areas to skin layer. 

Front Close-up View - Modified Outfit

In the overall front view, we can see almost the entire mod, which are the skin layers.

Front Close-up View - Modified Outfit

I also modified the tummy area to skin layer because it is actually a flat and smooth area without protrusion or uneven surface.

Rear View - Modified Outfit

Part of the butt area, joining the thighs, has also been modified to skin layer.

Rear Close-up View - Modified Outfit

Unfortunately, I can't mess around with the 'panty' part of the outfit because it is a separate layer which is considerably protruding above the skin layer at the butt cheek.

Side View - Modified Outfit

Side Close-up View - Modified Outfit

Not much changes can be seen from the side view because the outfit is heavily armored on the sides. 😅

Overall, this mod is quite a difficult one for me because the edges are mostly aligned differently from other outfits. As such, I need to paint the skin layers from scratch and I guess you can see that the coloring is not that nice at certain areas.

Another issue is that the texture of this Jin outfit is shared to all the other races, including Lyn. So you can imagine my surprise when I log in and find the Gon, Yun and Lyn's Cutting Edge all messed up. 😖  Thus, if you choose to use this mod, you would have to endure the messed up outfits of Gon, Yun and Lyn. 😰

This is the first time I have seen the same textures being used for all four races and I am not sure whether the same mod can be made for Yun and Gon, seeing how the color does not correct itself for the different races. 😟 

Anyway, you can check the video below to take a better look at the mod outfit.

Side Notes:

Battle Angel Alita is an adaption of the Japanese manga "Gunnm" created by Yukito Kishiro in 1990. The story surrounds the protagonist Alita (originally named "Gally") in a post apocalyptic world almost destroyed by science gone wrong. The world is eventually split into a floating Utopia - Tiphares and earth dwellings.

The story begins with an exile scientist from Tiphares, named Ido, who accidentally stumbled on the remains (head and shoulder portion) of Alita. With his extensive knowledge and experience from the technologically advanced Tiphares, Ido rebuilt Alita and named her after his deceased cat, since she has lost all her memories.

In time, Alita recalls her formidable fighting ability - the long lost martial arts of Panzer Kunst (or Lost Martial Arts of Mars), which allows cyborgs to execute martial arts-like skill. She eventually joins Ido as a hunter to put down cybernetic criminals and starts her memory recovery through the execution of her skills.

Through her adventures, she came in contact with the remnants (the "Raging Warrior" body) of a great war which she might have taken part in. The "Raging Warrior" is something like a living metal organism much like the Transformers, but without a brain. It can alter and adapt itself through the will of the person who commands/wears it. But it is also a dangerous artefact that has been sealed for the sake of mankind.

Much like Ghost In The Shell, the manga explores the meaning of being human and the soul, in a world where every parts of the physical body can be cybernetically modified. Taking philosophical ideas even further as shown later in the manga, Alita met a crazily ambitious nanotechnological doctor who wishes to use his knowledge to explore the possibility of conquering "karma" - a Hindu/Buddihism concept. Simply put, karma has the loose meaning of "We will reap what we sow" or "Whatever we do will come back to haunt us".