Thoughts on Shaolin Monks?

Pheasant or old Daofei "hair" might work as well. And you can always use those models as Zhanying/Guilang proxies or something...

 

Pheasant would probably be best.

 

I'd argue the old Daofei or old Crane braids are better, the newer style braids are more obvious cyber-chains so to speak.

 

I do know a person with some sculpting skill so I may start there. But thanks for the ideas guys!

 

Good luck with that, it might actually look great!