As you might guess, the first pair of skins is Takeshi, and the second pair a front and back view of the Dylan skin. If you’re familiar with the previous two releases (or with my review of same), it will look like the bodies are following the same template. This is misleading, however; while in broad outline Takeshi’s body is modelled on Tristan’s and Dylan’s on Xavier’s, sachi has carried out innumerable tweaks on both bodies. On top of that, the skin tones are completely redone for each skin. One area where particular attention has been paid is the collar and pectoral area of each skin, providing a bit more variety in those areas where a fair amount of variation can be found in the real world. The abs are excellent, as you can see, with the Dylan abdominals being particularly impressive.

I’ve already remarked about the subtle musculature of the arms—note the tricep and bicep shading squeezed into the small area that the arm textures allow—and I see I’ve forgotten to take off the underwear to show the same quality of texture shading on his backside; suffice to say, these guys worked those glutes.

As always, four skin tones and four facial hair options are available, with the facial hairs being unique to each model of skin; all of these are displayed below, from tone one to tone four. Bald and painted hair are include with the purchase. The Takeshi skin has a wonderfully Asian appearance, particularly with the rendering of the epicanthic fold that gives the particular almond shape often seen among ethnic Asians. What particularly struck me about Takeshi’s face was the marvellous lighting used to bring out his features, with a distinct highlighting on the upper half of the face giving way to something a bit darker at the cheeks. It gives quite the sense of three-dimensionality.

The face is also quite adaptable for different shapes. What you see below is a custom shape I made, actually inspired somewhat by an actor who happens to be the skin’s namesake, Takeshi Kaneshiro (seen in the sumptuous House of Flying Daggers, among other films). It suited him well. The hair of the goatee is given a good amount of texture, just as the hair on the head is; no matte blacks that look so unrealistic here.

As I’ve mentioned in the past, unlike many residents, I don’t tend to stick to just one shape—I have different shapes and looks for different fictional characters created from my roleplaying days. Though the new Evolution skins have been amazingly good, none of them quite fit any of my established characters to displace whatever skin I had on hand…. until now, that is. Dylan fits almost to a T my image of one of those characters, and with some fiddling of his shape I must say I think it came out quite well. Shown from lightest to darkest once more, the beard, goatee, and chin beard options are all nicely executed; the goatee, in particular, stands out with that “musketeer” look that I’ve always thought rather rakish. It’s actually rather difficult to get a good mustache on a good skin, but Dylan serves that up perfectly.

For anyone who’s a fan of the David skin from Adam n Eve’s previous line, definitely give Dylan a look, as I’m told that it’s a much more detailed re-working of some of the same source elements.