Regular visitors will probably get tired of hearing this, but 2024 is going to be a year for unfinished business on FFZ. I’m looking to catch up on my backlog, especially areas that were neglected last year. And boy do I have a backlog of figures from TBLeague! I only reviewed one TBLeague figure last year and that was way back in February when I checked out their Ramses The Great. I’ve been really obsessed with their Egyptian themed figures, but today I’m going to venture back into their fantasy based offerings with the Elf Archer!

As always, these figures come in a shoebox style package with a trifold cover that is secured to the sides by magnets. The art is very minimalist, showing just her crown on the front and arrows on the side panels. It’s very pleasing to the eye and mysterious, not to mention a bold move to not picture the figure on the front. The figure and accessories inside are nestled in black foam and when you open the box you are immediately enveloped in a soothing aroma of tea. No, seriously! This figure was available in two versions, white and black, which only refers to the coloring of the outfit. Many times TBLeague will use these variants to change up the accessories, head sculpt, or hair color, but that isn’t the case here. The Elf Archer requires quite a bit of set up to get her kitted out, including attaching her plastic armor pieces, so let’s get her ready and have a look!

This is definitely one of the most complex outfits I’ve seen from TBLeague in a while. It’s also the one of the more modest outfits, as TBLeague often likes to show off lots of synthetic skin on these seamless bodies. In this case, she’s nearly covered from head to toe, so you have to settle for a flash of thigh under all those layers. The costume is extremely regal and consists of a white, long sleeve top with a combination bodice on top and tailcoat below the waist. I may not know what to call it, but it looks great! The outer garment has some beautiful gold leaf patterns and a wire running through the edges to allow for some dynamic posing. There’s a bit of green cloth trim around her waist, and under that she has a short green skirt with a pointy-leaf motif. The plastic armor pieces include high-heeled armored boots, with lacy leggings peeking out the tops, armored bracers on her forearms, elbow pieces, and shoulder pieces. There’s a green leather-like shoulder strap and a soft green cloth mantle surrounding her neck. The tailoring here is immaculate and everything fits the figure beautifully. It certainly gives her a majestic look, and despite all the layers nothing really gets in the way. I do, however, have two minor issues with it. The gem under her chest tends to get askew pretty easy, as you’ll see in some of the pictures where I neglected to straighten it. Second, there is some color transfer from the green shoulder strap to the white fabric under her arm. Granted, I’ve had this figure on display for about a year now and that sort of thing is inevitable. It might be a reason to consider favoring the black version of the costume, but I like the coloring on this one a lot better, so I’m happy to live with it.

The portrait is quite nice, with a some absolutely wonderful paint. Her eyes are shiny and reflective, and her lips are painted with a high gloss to give them a moist sheen. You also get some excellent rosy pigmentation in her cheeks. Her pointed ears are directed more outwards than upwards, which is rather evocative to an anime-style elf. The blonde hair is quite voluminous and can be a bit of a chore to tame. It’s rooted to allow it to part on each side of her face and in front of her ears while the rest cascades down her back and includes two sets of braids. Like the outfit, there is some seriously cool complexity in this coif. I’m sure a little styling gel would help, but I’m not going to start styling dolly hair. Gotta draw that line somewhere! Her outfit includes a soft plastic crown that fits around her head. It has a nature motif that’s evocative of antlers and tree branches. She also has a rather large pendant that hangs around her neck.

As always, the Phicen seamless body is built on a steel skeleton with some very realistic articulation hidden inside. There is virtually no restriction from the costume itself, making her lots of fun to play with and that’s certainly not always the case with some other companies’ sixth-scale offerings. She’s also an incredibly well balanced figure and I was impressed at how easily it was to get her to stand on those high-heeled boots without any assisted support. She comes with three sets of hands, which include relaxed, gesturing, and accessory gripping and these are all easy to swap out thanks to the steel ball joints in the skeleton’s wrists.

Elf Archer also includes an optional hood, which snaps onto the green mantle, includes adorable little slits for her ears to pass through, and two long flaps that hang down her back. As much as i dig the crown, this hood is going to be my preferred look for her on the shelf, as I think it suits her role as an archer and gives her a bit of a Robin Hood vibe. It’s kind of a shame to cover up those braids, but at the same time, the hood helps keep the rest of that hair in check.

Her accessories include a bow, a quiver, and five arrows. The quiver is plastic and hooks onto the shoulder strap behind her back and can hold the arrows by simply sliding them in there. The recurve bow has a sculpted wrapped grip in the center and an actual string. She can hold it with either her left or right hand, depending on which shoulder you have the quiver slung over.

The arrows are all identical with some pretty vicious looking heads and sculpted plastic fletching on the backs. The tips have some nice gradient paint going from silver to black and the fletching is painted green with a little wash to bring out the detail. Her gesturing hands can do a pretty good job of knocking the arrow by placing the shaft between her fingers, and even her grippy hand has a gap between the fingers to keep the arrow in place. Between the hand design and the articulation, the only thing that keeps her from doing a full draw is the tension on the string, which I don’t want to pull too far as it may snap.

I picked up the Elf Archer for $189 and I’m certainly satisfied with that, especially considering how hard it is to find any Sixth-Scale figures under two hundred these days. The only real downside with this figure is the lack of stand. TBLeague is wildly inconsistent on this point, including lavish diorama bases with some figures while completely ignoring others. Still, as the price of these continue to creep up to that $200 mark, I think it’s about time they start throwing in a generic figure stand as the absolute minimum. I also would have liked to get some kind of blade with her, either a dagger or a short sword. My guess is that a lot of the cost for extras went into the complexity of her outfit and all those extra armor bits, and that’s cool. As she stands, she’s quite an exquisite figure and one that I’m happy to have in my collection. She’s a huge step up from the last fantasy-themed TBLeague figure I looked at. This white version seemed to perform better at retail, as she is sold out at all the regular places I could think to look, but the black version is still available at many of those.