Madoka Titus

About

Madoka Titus (Japanese: まどかタイタス)^[1], sometimes called Mado-Tus (まどタス, Madotasu) for short, is a nickname given to a hybrid figurine consisting of the torso and head of Madoka Kaname from Puella Magi Madoka Magica with the arms and legs of HG Gundam AGE-1 Titus^[2] from Gundam AGE, a 2011 television anime series in Gundam franchise. The opposite of Frightened Madoka, this “cute & macho” hybrid character has gained popularity on the Japanese web through parodies and fan art illustrations.

Origin

The concept of Madoka Titus was conceived by dozens of Japanese Twitter users at an offline meet-up for plastic model hobbyists held in Akihabara, Tokyo on November 23rd, 2011. During the meet-up, participants began swapping the arms and legs of their figures with those of Gundam AGE-1 Titus close combat mobile suits. The suits had been mocked for their overly macho and bulky design by Gundam fans (shown below, left). Photos of the hybrid figures created by this limb swap were then uploaded to witter (shown below, center & right) described as “Titus mode.”^[3]

Tutorial

In order to fit the Titus legs to the Madoka figma, a small modification in the waist joint parts is needed. However, no modification needs to change arm parts and leg parts below the knee.

【ニコニコ動画】ゆっくりが作るまどかタイタス

Spread

This idea was soon imported to the /y/ (Alt-Figure) board on Futaba Channel (2chan). On December 2nd, 2011, Futaba user OrshieRinohanna^[4] shared a picture named “The Perfect Madoka Titus” via Twitter depicting a figurine using the faceplate associated with Frightened Madoka paired with the Titus limbs, striking a flexing pose (shown below). As of July 2013, it has been retweeted more than 300 times.

まどかタイタス完全版出来た http://t.co/FLxiZhGC
— オーシー・リノアーナ (@OrshieRinohanna) December 2, 2011

As the photograph seemed to expertly match the color scheme of the two characters, mixing Madoka’s cute, girlish style with the masculine mobile suit. The pairing evoked the moe art style within the Japanese Gundam subculture known as MS Girl^[5], a pervasive trend that began 1980s which depicted young women in mobile suits. Madoka Titus quickly gained many fans among plastic models and figures enthusiasts, leading to an increased demand for the Gundam Titus figma, as reflected in dozens of Amazon reviews.^[7] Additionally, local hobby shops put together flyers (shown below) to advertise the figures needed to recreate the mashup.^[6]

Madoka’s best friend in her series, Homura Akemi, has also been modified with Gundam parts. Her character, Homura Spallow (ほむスパロー, Homu-Spallow), uses limbs from the HG Gundam AGE-1 Spallow (shown below, left).^[8] Other magical girls have also been modified in a similar manner (shown below, right). Parody photos and illustrations for these characters have been shared on Futaba. pixiv^[9], deviantART^[12] and Tumblr.^[13]

In January 2013, the fad caught the attention on Japanese otaku blogs. The same month, Japanese video game news site 4Gamer reported that the well-known voice actor Tomokazu Sugita^[10] from Gintama and The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya had his own Madoka Titus and Homura Spallow in his figure display cabinet.^[11]

Mr. Suguta’s figure display cabinet