Cy Girls

CY GIRLS (also known as CY Girls or Cy Girls, and as COOL GIRL in Japan) is an action figure series by Takara Tomy and Blue Box Toys under the brand bbi collectible (an official bootleg), featuring an elite unit of female crimefighters, combining the elements of both a doll and an action figure. A Cy Girls video game adaptation (known as Cool Girl in Japan) was developed and published by Konami for the PlayStation 2 in 2004.

Action figures

The original variation of the dolls (ver. 1.5) features 16 points of articulation (joints) that allows the arms and legs to move out to the sides into a spread position, with movable shoulders, elbows, thighs, knees, ankles, wrists and a neck, featuring interchangeable hands, a detailed nude torso, and pivoting ankles. These dolls are featured in Action Girls: 12" Female Action Figure Guide Book ISBN 4-89425-368-2.

In Cy Girls' fictional futuristic universe, the Cardinal-Garrison paramilitary group is an elite all-woman team comprises experts in various fields chosen from around the world. It is a secret global fighting organization established to combat criminal conspiracy and activity, rumoured to have come into existence during World War II. Their vehicles and other equipment witnessed at the scene of the incidents in which they went into action bore the Cardinal-Garrison 'CG' logo, and since the existence of Cardinal-Garrison was unknown, the group became known as the "Cy Girls".

The CG characters series includes the following characters:

• CG-01 Sky aka Ice (also in the versions CG-EX1 Special Branch aka Ice Black Unit, CG-1 PS2 Ice, PS2 SE Box Ice and Cardinal Garrison Ver.)
• CG-02 Jet aka Raven (also in the version CG-EX2 Law Enforcement (aka Raven Police coat))
• CG-03 Kat aka Ash (also in the versions CG-EX3 Martial Arts (aka Ash Wild Wamp) and Alternative Ash)
• CG-04 Blaze aka Flame
• CG-05 A.J.McLeod aka Lightning
• CG-06 Shadow aka Aska (sometimes referred to as "Asuka") (also in the versions CG-06 PS2 Aska and Aska Non Adopted Design Ver.)
• CG-07 Nikki aka Harley (also in the version Alternative Harley)
• CG-08 Ebony aka Coffy
• CG-09 Aurora aka Artemis
• CG-10 Destiny aka P.A.S.
• CG-11 Revenger aka Ray
• CG-12 Electra aka Ruby (also in the version Alternative Ruby)
• CG-0 Silver
• X-Borg X01 Colossus
• X-Borg X02 Spectre
• X-Borg X03 Fireblade
• XX-01 Bloody Rose aka Xixox (also in the version ComicCon Xixox)

In addition to the Cool/Cy Girls line, Takara and BBI released figures available under the Cool Girl brand name with the same trademark logo. This line includes the following licensed ("tribute") characters:

• Akiko Fuji and Annu Yuri from Ultraman
• Anna Ishikawa from SHI
• Asuka Langley, Misato Katsuragi and Ritsuko Akagi from Neon Genesis Evangelion
• Batman and Catwoman (also Comic Ver.) from Batman Returns / DC Comics
• Beka Valentine from Andromeda
• Casshern, Casshern Sin Project and Kamiko Aso "Luna" from C A S S H E R N
• Deunan Knute from Appleseed
• Doronjo from Yatterman
• Honey Kisaragi (CG-SP1 Cutei Honey, Ex and Alternative versions) from Cutie Honey
• Joanna Dark (Black Suit and Armor Suit versions) from Perfect Dark
• Jun (CG-SP2 G3 Jun Gatchaman Princess, Jun G3 Alternative and Dark Jun G3 versions) from Science Ninja Team Gatchaman
• Kai Tetsuro, Kouchi Todome, Midori Washio and Souchiro Toribe from Kerberos Panzer Cop
• Mai Shiranui from The King of Fighters
• Motoko Kusanagi (Ninja Suit Ver. and Op.ver.) from Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex

The second type of Cy Girls figures is known as the Perfect Body Female. These dolls molds were not based on the ones produced by Takara Tomy and instead they were manufactured and produced independently by Blue Box Toys, featuring 26 points of articulation based on the basic design of the Ultimate Soldier. This double-jointed feature on the knees and elbows enables them to be posed in the lotus position and any other conceivable position the human body is capable of. There are two interchangeable busts of medium and large sizes with nipples molded on them (the large bust was discontinued and replaced with a much smaller one that was almost flat chested), pivoting ankles and interchangeable hands, designed to hold any weapons or accessory. The products are packaged in a transparent box with a silver painted plastic strip covering the extra bust and the doll is dressed in a grey work-out sports bra with matching shorts.

Video game

Cy Girls
The American cover of the game
Developer(s)	Konami
Publisher(s)	Konami
Platforms	PlayStation 2
Release date(s)
Genre(s)	Action-adventure game Third-person shooter
Mode(s)	Single player

Plot

CY Girls the game tells a spy-fi story of CG-1 Ice (voiced by Michelle Ruff), the genius hacker and firearms expert on the mission to destroy an information file in the highly secure corporate building in Buenos Aires (where she is navigated by her partner Sancho), and CG-6 Aska (voiced by Mari Iijima), a master female ninja with astonishing athletic ability attempting to avenge the death of her father in a secret village in Japan (where she is navigated by her brother Kogetsu).

While only Ice and Aska are made available as player characters, other CG member also appear in the game. Aska is also a hidden character in the 2003 video game DreamMix TV World Fighters for PlayStation 2 and Nintendo GameCube.

Gameplay

A gameplay screenshot with Aska

Gameplay for CY Girls combines puzzle-solving with two distinctly different combat styles: ninja-oriented melee combat and stealth for Aska, and firearms combat for Ice. Essentially, the game was two different games depending on the character choice, as the game was released as a 2-disc package, containing Aska's data on one disc and Ice's data on the other. After completing the main story on a disc, additional characters from the story were unlocked, as well as an 'Extra Mode', where players could choose any combination of weapons, any unlocked character, or any outfit.

In addition, all unlocked characters had the ability to 'dive' into the world of cyberspace (referred to in game as Cyber Dimension, or Cy-D). Within Cy-D, standard moves were disabled, forcing all characters to resort to using punches and kicks to defeat enemies within the domain. In addition, players would have a maximum of 10 minutes within Cy-D before reaching game over (explained in-game as being the amount of time the character could remain within Cy-D without suffering a complete mental breakdown.)

Reception

The game received the Metacritic score of 53 ("mixed or average reviews"), based on 28 critic reviews, and the user score of 8.3. Cy Girls also received the 55.42% score based on 35 reviews on GameRankings.

Ice and Aska were featured in play's girls of gaming special in 2003. GamesRadar included it on their lists of "the most clueless box blurbs in history" in 2007 and top shower scenes in games in 2008. In 2009, GamesRadar counted Cy Girls among the games "with untapped franchise potential," commenting that the game "failed in many ways, with half-formed ideas and shoddy level design that had the player incessantly backtracking through levels."

External links

• CY Girls product line on the bbi collective website
• (Japanese) Official CG website by Takara
• The Cy Girl/Cool Girl Collector's Guide to Ebay

Video game

• Official website
• Konami's Cy Girls Insider (also about the figures)
• Cy Girls at MobyGames
• Cool Girl at the Internet Movie Database
• Cy Girls at Giant Bomb

• Play magazine presents: girls of gaming #1.
• The Top 7... shower scenes: We rate gaming’s finest showers as the girls turn up the heat, GamesRadar UK, July 7, 2008.
• 123 games with untapped franchise potential, GamesRadar US, April 30, 2009.