Tag Archives: phicen

Nov 1 2024

Sariah (Goddess of War) Sixth-Scale Figure by Phicen/TBLeague

Halloween may be behind us, but since October was a dicey month, I plan on peppering November with more spooky stuff. I’m not sure if today’s review totally fits that category, but we will be plunging into the Depths of Hell, and that’s pretty scary! It’s crazy to think that I only reviewed one TBLeague figure so far this year, and only one the previous year. I have a bunch of these waiting their turn in the spotlight and some have been waiting for a long while. Currently, I’m starting to pack some things up in anticipation of moving to another State early next year and that means I’d like to give more of these ladies some love before they get sealed away in boxes for three or four months. And today is Sariah’s turn! A lot of TBLeague’s recent figures have been original designs, but Sariah hails from ARH Comics, Undying Queen series. This is not my first figure from this comic, as Arkhalla, Queen of the Vampires was an early Phicen purchase for me back in the day. Cruel and merciless, Sariah is not only The Goddess of War, but also the commander of Hell’s armies in The Lands Below. Let’s check her out!

TBLeague hasn’t changed their packaging much over the years, and that’s a good thing because they do a nice job with it. The heavy-duty box has a tri-fold cover that secures to the sides with magnets and has some gorgeous shots of the figure on the front and side panels. Inside, the figure is nestled in a foam tray with the head detached and the accessories spread out around her. These figures also give off a strong fragrance of tea when you first open them, which I always thought was pretty cool. Like many TBLeague figures, Sariah does require some of her armor to be attached, which can sometimes be a chore, but in this case it wasn’t too bad.

Here she is all set up, and I have to say this is the type of outfit design that really compliments the Phicen seamless body the best, as it shows a fair bit of skin. Her skimpy armor consists of a plastic breast plate, painted red with a gold border, upswept breast cups and a rather jagged cut window to show off her belly button. Below that is a red furry diaper-thong and a black belt with bronze ornamental medallions. She has tall, high-heeled boots, again red with gold accents, which end in skulls for knee guards. Her arms are adorned with red and gold bracers on her forearms, bronze bicep bands, and skulls for shoulder armor. The ensemble is finished off with a red and gold gorget to protect her throat, and a red and gold cape. The cape is crafted from some pretty nice material and has an elaborate decorative pattern. It’s narrow and not at all cumbersome, but I do wish they had given the edges some wires to allow it to be posed. Wired capes are fairly common in more recent TBLeague releases, but it’s not really something they were doing back in the day.

Both the design and execution of the armor is fantastic. The crimson and gold deco pops nicely and while it is mostly plastic, the use of fur and cloth adds that bit of needed variety. The boots are split with the usual ball joints in the ankles to help with those action stances, and the bracers help conceal the wrist joints, so other than the seam around the neck, all the rest of the steel skeleton’s articulation points are locked inside that silicone body. I know some people remain skeptical about the durability of these bodies, but I’ve had Sariah here on display for years. There haven’t been any problems, and she’s one that I love to take off the shelf and play around with now and then. I will, however, point out that this costume is prone to a wardrobe malfunction in the form of frequent nip slips, but since they aren’t painted, it’s not always obvious when it happens!

The portrait includes a really cool headpiece, which is not so much a helmet as it is a sort of a tiara with horns and cheek guards. This piece is made of a slightly flexible plastic, which simply fits onto the head and hugs the sides to remain in place. The red and gold deco matches the rest of the armor and the giant demonic horns make quite an intimidating statement.

Of course, the headpiece is removable, but I’m likely to always display it on the figure, as I’m not a big fan of the way they handled her hairline, with part of it painted onto the head and leading into the rooted hair. It’s not a great look and also not a technique that they’ve used for a while. Otherwise, the portrait is beautiful with very pretty features and a rosy complexion in the cheeks. There’s a spark of life in those eyes and the lips are perfectly painted with a red glossy finish. The hair is swept back where it cascades down her back and includes a partial ponytail as well and the style compliments the headpiece very well.

In terms of accessories, Sariah isn’t over burdened with extras, but she does have the essentials: Mainly her sword and shield and a couple of pairs of hands. The sword is a rather unique design with the hilt keeping the red and gold deco going and featuring a demon skull in the center of the short down-turned crossguard. The blade is painted bright silver and has a double edged and has a cut-out channel in the middle. Sometimes you get diecast blades with these figures, but in this case it’s plastic. The shield is circular with a larger version of the demon skull from the sword as its central boss. There’s a segmented almost spiral pattern with two circlets of studs. I love this design and the super sharp sculpt. The reverse side has a grab bar and an elastic strap for her arm, which is super easy to work with.

While accessories may be light, Sariah makes up for it with her throne and base. Sometimes, TBLeague likes to get freaky by bundling in these big diorama style display bases, and I sure do love it when they do! As is often the case, it’s packaged in a styrofoam brick in the shipping box, rather than in the actual figure box itself. The vaguely throne-shaped pile of skulls is absolutely gorgeous in a grizzly sort of way with a thin sculpted cushion for Sariah’s shapely, rotund caboose to sit on. I really dig the back of the throne, which has three skulls still wearing some rather unusual helmets. Very cool!

The throne is also removable from the base and you can use it as a dais to display the figure standing, but there is no support rod to keep her upright. Still, she can stand really well and I have had her displayed on it for long stretches without her toppling.

Even if you aren’t a fan or familiar with the comic, Sariah fits in perfectly with TBLeague’s original design releases as just a beautiful fantasy warrior woman in a set of bitchin demon armor. The seamless body is as impressive as ever and the sculpt and paint on her costume seals the deal perfectly. The only nitpick I have is that I wish she came with a scabbard so she could wear her sword on her belt. But even if the accessory assortment seems light, the elaborate base and throne more than make up for it by adding a ton of value to the package. Indeed, at $169 when I bought her, this still seems like an amazing deal when a lot of bare bones Sixth-Scale figures were selling for more.

Jan 10 2024

Elf Archer (White Version) Sixth-Scale Figure by Phicen/TBLeague

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.

Feb 8 2023

Ramses The Great (Black Version) Sixth-Scale Figure by Phicen/TBLeague

Some of you may know that I have been hooked on TBLeague’s series of Egyptian themed sixth-scale figures. It felt like this line began as a few isolated one-off releases, but it’s grown to include a series of beautiful ladies, as well as both mythological and historical figures. And as much as I love this series, I was planning on just sticking to the ladies. If I’m being honest, that’s always been what has drawn me to TBL’s figures in general. But, an online retailer put Ramses up for sale at 50% off, and I couldn’t resist giving him a go! This figure was offered in three different armor variants. This one is the Black version, while the other options were Blue or Gold. And to be fair, even if all three were on sale, I think this is the one I would have gone for anyway.

As usual, the figure comes in a shoebox style package with a trifold lid that secures to each side with magnets. The box is made of heavy stock and the figure comes laid out in black foam that smells like lemony ice tea. Seriously! TBL usually adorns the front of these black boxes with a symbolic rendering that’s related to the character, but in this case we get a really lame cartoony portrait of Ramses, and I don’t like it at all. I mean, what the hell were they going for here, I just don’t know. Fortunately, the back panel has a great picture of the figure itself. As with most TBLeague figures, there’s a little bit of set up involved, so let me get that out of the way and we’ll have an audience with Ramses The Great!

And great he is, indeed! But before getting to the aesthetics… the first thing I noticed about this figure was the extreme heft. It’s my first male example of the Phicen seamless body, and it is one meaty slab of silicone! Ramses sports an impressive physique and looks absolutely smashing in his regal armor. The cuirass is cast in black plastic and adorned with crisscrossing gold bird wings front and back, along with a plastic belt and sash, all over a delicate black cloth tunic. And boy is that tunic a magnet for cat hair, as you can probably see in some of the pictures! The leather segmented shoulder armor is comprised of one piece that goes over his neck and secures via straps under each arm and around his biceps. Attaching these straps is the most challenging part of the set up, as those clips are tiny and it’s tough to get the loop through them. On top of the leather shoulders sits a plastic gorget with intricate sculpted patterns, all beautifully painted. The grieves and arm bracers are slightly pliable plastic sleeves, which slide on, and he has decorative bicep cuffs on each arm as well. Finally, there’s a thin leather belt that fastens around his waist with loops to hold his weapons. I’ll circle back to those in a bit.

I think the costume looks outstanding, with my only gripe being the jumble of lacing that holds the cuirass on and gathers below his left armpit. It is, however, easily fixed, as a lot of this extra sting can be trimmed and the knot tightened up. The sword belt is a great addition, as a few of my fantasy figures from TBL have come with swords in scabbards but no way to secure them to the figure, so that is much appreciated. Ramses doesn’t show as much skin as most of the ladies, but his exposed elbows and knees do showcase the seamless body quite nicely, while the grieves and arm bracers do their part to obscure the jointing in the wrists and ankles. The skirt does a bit to inhibit the hip articulation, but otherwise the excellent articulation of the figure’s steel skeleton can be taken advantage of to the fullest!

TBL did a wonderful job with this portrait, and I think in terms of realism it exceeds many of TBL’s female portraits. Not that those aren’t impressive, but they do tend to still have something of a doll like quality about them, which isn’t the case here. Ramses sports a prominent brow and nose and an intensive gaze worthy of a Pharaoh. The skin tone is smooth and even, with a bit of flush to his cheeks. This is a fantastic head sculpt with the paint to back it up! The paint and texturing on the lips is impressive, and while the eyes don’t quite have that spark of life we get with Hot Toys figures, they’re still pretty good.

The headpiece is patterned with a sea of concentric circles and a cobra protruding from the front. There’s a bit of a blue and gold gradiant to the helmet, with some gold trim. It’s cast in a slightly pliable plastic and is removable.

In terms of weaponry, Ramses comes with both a dagger and a sword. The dagger hangs off his right hip in an ornate plastic sheath. The hilt looks a bit more Roman to me than Egyptian, but either way it’s beautifully sculpted and features a leaf-shaped blade with a dark iron finish to the plastic blade. Yeah… TBL sometimes uses diecast metal for their sword and dagger blades, but that seems to be a thing of the past. I’m really OK with that, as the heavier blades sometimes take their toll on the figures’ joints.

The sword has a blade similar to the dagger, with a leaf shape and a somewhat dark finish. The guard almost resembles a heart and has some nice sculpted scrollwork patterns, a ribbed grip with painted gold bands and a flattened pommel. The scabbard is plastic, mostly textured black but does have gold painted fixtures. You get a pair of hands perfect for holding either of these weapons, as well as a pair of fists and a pair of relaxed hands.

In addition to the cutlery, Ramses also comes with a very long spear with a pointed tip and bottom, and boy both of these are damn sharp! The shaft has a sculpted woodgrain pattern and there are painted gold rings at the base of the blade and top of the end cap.

And last but not least, you get a round shield. This piece has some great texturing on the outside surface that looks like it’s been covered in stretched leather, as well as some raised gold floral patterns. The interior has an elastic arm strap and a grab bar to secure it to the figure and the system works quite well.

Ramses also comes with a figure stand, which is packaged separately from the box in a Styrofoam brick. It’s a round base with dark, rocky terrain and a bendy post attached to a claw that grabs the figure around the waist. It’s a great looking stand, but it doesn’t feel like it was really intended for this figure. The dark rocks don’t strike me as very Egyptian themed and the claw feels like it was made for one of the female figures, as it’s a pretty snug fit around Ramses waist. I’ll never complain about getting a figure stand, especially one that looks as good as this one, but I may end up handing this one off to one of my other fantasy themed TBL figures, where it will be more appropriate.

Ramses originally sold for $179, and I was thrilled to get him for half that. This is an absolutely striking figure to behold and he’ll look great among my bevy of TBL’s Egyptian ladies… many of which I still need to get around to featuring here. Sure, the overall design needs to be taken with a grain of salt in regards to its historical accuracy and I still consider this Egyptian line to be fantasy concept figures. The Egyptian flavor is certainly there, even if it’s something more akin to Hollywood History rather than being totally accurate. I believe TBL is currently offering an Egyptian throne accessory, and I may splurge for that to give this Pharaoh a place to sit!

Dec 16 2022

Aset the Egyptian Goddess of Magic (Black Version) Sixth-Scale Figure by Phicen/TBLeague

As usual, I’m way behind on my TBLeague reviews. I added quite a few of these figures to my collection in 2022, and I only got around to checking out three or four of those here. So, with only a couple of weeks worth of reviews left for the year, I thought I’d squeeze at least one more in before the end! Today, I thought we’d check out another one of TBLeague’s Egyptian themed figures, which seem to be pretty successful for them, because they’ve expanded this line quite a bit over the last couple of years.

As always, the figure comes in a heavy duty shoebox style package. None of that flimsy Hot Toys paper-board here! The top of the box is a tri-fold cover that connects to the sides with magnets, and offers only a symbol on the front panel as a tease. The back panel does, however, have a picture of the figure. Inside, Aset comes nestled in a black foam tray with her head detached and a bunch of accessories spread around her. I picked this one up on the second hand market, and it was missing a couple of the less important accessories, like The Ankh, but it seemed like a good exchange for the discount I got on her. This figure was available in two variants, either Black or White, which denotes the coloring of the costume, and a few minor style changes. There’s a little bit of set up required for her costume, so give me a minute to do that and we’ll get her ready to go!

And here is Aset in all her Egyptian splendor! TBLeague went with one of their more reasonably busted bodies for this figure, and I think it works pretty well. I also like the tanned skin tone. Her costume consists of a sculpted plastic top with shoulders, a plastic belt, along with a cloth skirt. The outfit’s deco is on the darker side, with an emphasis on weathered bronze over bright and shiny gold, but there is a bit of blue and white mixed in there. She has ornamental bicep cuffs and wrist bracers, each with some flashy red gems in them. Her high strap sandals are made from two pieces, the sandaled feet and the straps which slide onto her lower legs. These fit a bit loose, but that’s really the only gripe I have about the costume, which otherwise fits perfectly. The plastic belt can ride up a bit in wider stances and action poses, but that’s to be expected. The top is laced on with string, and there’s quite an excess, so some may want to do some clipping, but I usually leave it be. The costume is clearly designed to showcase the seamless body, and it looks great!

I really dig the head sculpt here, and I always like to point out how TBLeague has come a long way with their portraits. They don’t really do expressive faces, but they sure know how to do pretty ones. The skin is warm and soft, and the paintwork on the lips and eyes is impeccable. Aset features some relatively short black hair, which isn’t too bad to keep under control. She also features an absolutely epic headdress, which includes a bird on the front with wings forming a crown-like tiara. There’s a ring of cobras, a giant red stone at the top, and a flurry of sculpted feathers wraps around the sides and back of her head. The headdress is cast in a softer plastic so it can go on and off the head without fear of rubbing or scratching.

There’s one more costume piece, and that’s her cloak. This ties on with strings, and has a strong wire running through the edges to allow it to be posed with the figure. It’s black on the outside with some fur trim up at the top. The inside has a some red at the top, black in the middle, and a gold crescent running along the bottom and some gold geometric linework radiating from the top to the bottom. This is a beautiful garment, but I think I prefer the figure without it. It’s also incompatible with her wings. Yes, wings. We’ll get to those in a bit.

You get three sets of hands with Aset. Two are variations of relaxed hands, and one pair is designed to hold her accessories. Swapping hands for the first time on these figures is always a crapshoot. Sometimes they can be stubborn and if you aren’t careful you can pull the metal connector out of the wrists socket, but in the case of Aset, they seem to swap out pretty easily. All of the hands are sculpted with an array of gold rings on the fingers and red paint on her long fingernails. You only get the one pair of feet, but they are also nicely painted with red nail polish.

As for accessories, Aset comes with a rather vicious looking curved sword. It has a bird-themed hilt and even some bronze feathers on the back of the lower part of the blade. The blade itself has a painted finish, which is pretty convincing as metal. There’s a bit of a weathered patina to it, but it can still shine in direct light. Back in the day, TBLeague used to do diecast metal for their blades, and while they still do every now and then, this one is plastic and I’m fine with that. It looks every bit as good and doesn’t have the extra weight to stress the figure’s arm joints.

Aset also comes with this rather tall scepter with a sort of fan or floral motif at the top. It’s a pretty basic piece, but she looks great holding it, and I feel it’s a little more in character than the sword. And that brings us to her rather majestic set of wings!

These beauties peg directly into the figure’s back, and boy do they look great! The connecting points do not have hinges, but you can angle them up or down a bit because the pegs swivel. It’s a pretty strong connection and despite their impressive wingspan, they stay in place without drooping. The wings are cast in a fairly lightweight plastic, that still manages to hold the detail of all the individual feathers. I’ll note that the original figure came with a backplate that can be used to cover up the peg holes when the wings are not in use. This is one of the pieces my discounted figure was missing. It isn’t a big deal to me, as I plan on always displaying her with the wings, but even if I didn’t, the cloak does the job of covering the peg holes just fine.

Lastly, you get a pretty good sized base to display her on. This elongated pedestal has some ornate sculpted designs on the sides and top. It also has a flexible wire post to support the figure in standing poses by securing the figure around the waist. One of my biggest criticisms of TBLeague in the past has been their habit of including beautiful bases, but no way to secure the figure to it. It’s nice to see they’ve been addressing this issue with some recent releases.

Aset was originally released at around $190, but I got mine for $150 because she was an opened box and missing the Ankh and backplate, and I considered that a steal. Even at the original price, there’s plenty of value here, and had the opened box opportunity not presented itself, I would have definitely bought her new. With TBLeague seemingly focusing more on original concept figures over licensed characters, this Egyptian line has been a real treat. The mix of Egyptian iconography, beautiful ladies, and fantasy element works so well, and I hope they keep it going. I still have a handful of these figures to check out, and while I doubt I’ll get to any before the end of the year, I’m going to make a resolution to get caught up!

Jun 17 2022

Vampire Slayer (Red Version) Sixth-Scale Figure by Phicen/TBLeague

As I mentioned last week, I am really far behind on my TBLeague figure reviews, and I’m going to try to work them into the regular rotation every couple of weeks so I can get through the backlog. Today, I’m checking out a fairly recent release, The Vampire Slayer! This vamp-vexing femme fatale is another one of TBL’s original concept figure, so there’s no licensed property here to be familiar with. And I’ll say right out of the gate, I think they made some strange choices when putting this figure together. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves… to the packaged shot!

The artwork on the front panel here is absolutely killer. It would probably be enough to make me buy this figure even without seeing what’s inside. And I kind of wish I could stand behind that excuse. As usual, the figure comes in a high quality shoebox-type package with a tri-fold top that secures on the sides via magnets. Inside, the head comes detached and wrapped in plastic, with everything nestled in in a cozy foam bed, and the whole shebang smells like tea when you open it! It always makes me want to mix up some Lipton’s iced tea! Included in the outer mailer box, but separate from the actual figure box, is a styrofoam brick that houses a diorama-style figure stand. Let’s get her all set up and check her out!

OK, I am so conflicted on this figure that I don’t even know where to begin. She looks cool enough, but nothing about her invokes the idea of being a Vampire Slayer. Unlike the Saintess Knight that we looked at last time, this figure makes good use of a costume designed to show off some of that seamless body. She dons a plastic one-piece black cuirass with some lovely gold trim, a jewel betwixt her ample bosoms, and a skull warning you off of her groinular region. She has a pair of fishnet stockings, with plastic bands about thigh high, and these have some very cool skull motifs facing outward, where they also secure her red leather, high heel boots. Capping this all off is a red leather duster, which is actually in two pieces. There’s a half-jacket, which ends just below her chest, and the rest hooks on to cascade down the back of her legs to the ground. The jacket has a gold design on the back, and a very high collar with some more gold decorations. In theory, I like everything here well enough, but the figure is susceptible to a lot of wardrobe malfunctions.

For starters, the bottom half of the jacket is attached by placing two metal hooks through two very tiny stitches on the back of the jacket. It’s pretty easy to get it attached, but it does not want to stay put. Posing the figure, or just handling her, will usually cause the hooks to come out. You could display her without it for a bit of a cheeky look, but to keep it on her, I’m going to have to try crimping the hooks with a pair of pliers. There are other little issues with the costume as well, like the way the thigh rings tend to slip down past the tops of the stockings. And if you put her in any action poses, the boot tops don’t like to cooperate with leg bends, and wind up looking all messed up. Finally, the plastic fixtures on the front of her boots do not sit flush with her lower legs, but rather stick out a bit.

The head sculpt is nice. Sure, it’s the usual blank expression that we get with these figures, but the paint is absolutely fantastic. The eyes have a little spark of life to them and the lips are painted impeccably. She’s got short blonde hair, which can be a little difficult to keep under control, so I may wind up taking a spritz of hair spray to her. The plastic collar does tend to ride up a lot, and doesn’t sit flush on her skin. Also, that jacket’s high collar must really wreak havoc on her peripheral vision. If vamps come up from the side, she’s probably going to be surprised!

The Vamp Slayer comes with only two accessories, and neither seem like they would be very useful for actually slaying vamps. The first is this little curved dagger that comes in a plastic sheath. It’s a fantastic little accessory, but there’s nowhere I can find to attach the sheath, so she can’t really wear it, unless you rig something up like a belt.

Her main weapon is like a medieval morning star, with the spikes running all the way down to the handle. Like the dagger, I think this weapon looks great, but it doesn’t seem like something a Vampire Slayer should be carrying around. Where are the stakes? The holy water? A crossbow? Even a sword with a crucifix as a hilt? I haven’t seen either of these weapons packed in with previous TBL releases, but it sure feels like something they had lying around and decided to toss into the box when designing this figure.

While the accessories are a bit light, TBL did not skimp on the base. It’s a large rock formation overhanging a lake or river, all presented on a pedestal with a golden decorative ring around it. One of my frequent gripes about TBL’s diorama bases is that they often have no way of securing the figure to them, but they’ve been rectifying that lately by including a bendable post that screws into the base and grabs the figure around the waist. But once again, nothing about this base invokes the whole Vampire Slayer vibe, and I’m tempted to give it to one of my TBL figures that didn’t come with one. Still, it is very nice!

It’s hard to know exactly why I pre-ordered this figure. It’s nice and all, but everything about the design feels half-baked. It’s like they designed her, didn’t know what to call her, so just went with Vampire Slayer, tossed in some unrelated weapons, and kicked her out the door. My guess is that she went up for pre-order at a time when I was flush with cash, and more than a little inebriated, because it’s rare for me to buy a higher end figure that I’m not absolutely in love with. And it’s safe to say I was never in love with this one. I may consider selling her off, but more likely, she’ll go back in the box to be reassessed later, while her base and weapons get parted off to one of my other figures. This figure was also released in a white version, which gave her a white cuirass, black coat and boots, and a brunette head sculpt. Overall, I dig this one more, but that’s still not saying all that much.

May 27 2022

Saintess Knight (Silver Version) Sixth-Scale Figure by Phicen/TBLeague

My backlog of TBLeague’s figures is pretty big right now. It’s so big, that I’m cutting myself off of buying any more until I can get caught up. There’s another reason for me to slow down with these too, but I’ll come back to that at the end, when we talk price. The last time I checked out one of TBLeague’s seamless sixth-scale figures was back in December of last year with the Knight of Fire, so I’m long overdue!

Saintess Knight is another one of TBLeague’s original concept figures, and they seem to be doing fewer and fewer licensed releases. And that makes sense, because they’re quite good at designing some compelling characters, and it also saves them having to pay out licensing fees for someone else’s intellectual property. As was the case with the Knight of Fire, The Saintess Knight is available in three different versions: Silver, Black, or Gold. Once again, I went with the silver one, which may or may not have been a good idea. I don’t have anything new to say about the packaging. She comes in a very durable box with a tri-fold top that secures to the sides with magnets. There’s some artwork on the front, and a shot of the figure on the back, and as always the interior of the box smells like tea. No, really. It smells like tea!

You never really know how involved the setup with these figures is going to be. Sometimes it’s a frustrating and time-consuming affair, but here it wasn’t so bad. She comes out of the box headless, with the body wearing her white, long-sleeved arming doublet, white trousers, a leather-like outer skirt, and a faux chain-mail inner skirt, and finally her cuirass and armored boot-feet. That leaves her shoulders, leg armor pieces, and forearm armor to put on. In the past, TBLeague has relied on elastic straps with TINY clasps to secure the shoulders, but here they used sculpted plastic for the straps on all the armor pieces, and boy was that a great improvement. Not only is it easier to get these pieces on, but I’m not worried about snapping or stretching the elastic in the process. Hopefully, they will never EVER go back to the elastic straps.

If you are familiar with TBLeague’s figures, one of the things you may notice first about the Saintess Knight is that she shows virtually no skin. And yes, these figures usually show a lot of skin, so you can appreciate and marvel at the seamless body. This may turn some people off, because truth be told, this figure could have been executed with a regular jointed body, and you wouldn’t know the difference. It does, however, still benefit from the uncanny articulation provided by the stainless steel skeleton underneath. Either way, the figure does look very good. The armor pieces are cast in a soft, pliable plastic, but the paint is pretty convincing as forged steel. Indeed, the paint on these pieces is quite exceptional, and even the fabric “chainmail” looks quite good. I do, however, have a couple of nitpicks. Firstly, the strings that secure the front and back pieces of the cuirass is a little messy. It can be knotted and the excess cut off, but I haven’t made that decision yet. Secondly, the white arming doublet tends to pick up some soiling from the armor pieces. It’s not a devastating flaw to me, but had I known that I probably would have chosen the Gold or Black Versions, as they have darker undersuits.

The helmet is quite a thing of beauty, and is based off of what I believe to be a 15th Century Armet. It’s silver with reinforced golden bands, which matches the beautiful raised scrollwork you can see on the cuirass and shoulders. There are narrow slits for the eyes, and some additional vertical slits to provide ventilation. What I really dig about this helmet is the way it opens up.

Not only does the visor lift up, but the lower guard hinges open as well, both of which is necessary to place it onto the figure’s head. Underneath, you get a pretty standard, but beautiful, head sculpt with a very neutral expression. The paintwork for the eyes and lips is both precise and clean, and looks absolutely fantastic. The only sticking point here is getting as much of the hair into the helmet as possible. She has a fairly short blonde coif, but I think they could have made it even a bit shorter to help keep it under control while the helmet goes over it. Like the armor, the helmet is cast in pliable plastic, which makes it a bit easier to get onto the head without fear of breaking it. Let’s check out some accessories!

First off, she comes with a gorgeous single-handed sword and scabbard. And they even addressed one of my previous nitpicks on another figure, by giving her a belt loop to secure the scabbard to her. Yes, that seemed like a pretty big oversight on some previous figures, but it goes to show that TBLeague is always looking for improvements. The white loop fits snugly around the scabbard near the throat and holds it in place perfectly. She also comes with hands designed to hold the sword, in addition to her fists and relaxed hands. I’m also happy to report that swapping the hands on this figure was easy, which is not always the case.

The sword is made entirely of plastic, which is fine. I think the days of getting die-cast blades out of TBLeague are gone. Nonetheless, this is a beautiful piece, with raised decorations on the blade, a gold crossguard, and a gold scent-stopper pommel. The turned grip is silver, and while I called it a single-handed sword earlier, I suppose this could count as a hand-and-a-half, adding a little more versatility to its handling.

Next up, you get a round shield, done up in the same silver and gold deco as the armor. This is a pretty simple concave disk with an elastic strap and a grab bar on the inside. The outer surface is etched with a woodgrain pattern, a reinforced gold decoration, and a rather large boss in the center. All in all it’s a nice piece, and worth noting that the shield design changes depending on which version of the figure you bought.

Finally, the Saintess Knight comes with a gigantic Great Sword., which is just a hair shorter than the figure itself. It’s a pretty generic style sword with a wide crossguard and a ridiculously long grip. It’s hard to imagine her wielding this with any success in battle, but it’s a cool looking piece nonetheless, and it makes for a nice bonus accessory.

As a figure that doesn’t show a lot of skin, the Saintess Knight may not be every Phicen fan’s cup of tea. As I mentioned earlier, there’s nothing here that couldn’t have been done with a regular jointed figure. With that having been said, I think she turned out great, and I really dig the armored female warriors that TBLeague has been putting out. The only real sticking point with me here is the price. One of the appealing thing about TBL’s releases has been the value, as most of the figures have been releasing around the $159 price point. Saintess Knight, however jumped to $209, and that seems like a big jump, considering she doesn’t even come with a base or figure stand. Indeed, I’m racking my brain as to what made me pre-order this figure at that price point. It’s quite possible booze was involved, and I could have certainly done worse, but if this is a sign of things to come, I’m going to be a lot more selective about which TBLeague figures I pick up.

Dec 17 2021

Knight of Fire (Silver Version) Sixth-Scale Figure by Phicen/TBLeague

More and more of my Sixth-Scale budget has been going to TBLeague releases these days. They continue to offer some amazing stuff at a decent value, while moving away from the indie licensed stuff in favor of their original concept figures. And it doesn’t hurt that most of these are sword-wielding hot babes! Today I’m having a look at one of three versions of The Knight of Fire! There’s a lot I like about this figure, and a few things I don’t, so let’s dig right in and check her out!

I already have the box in storage, but here’s some promotional art! TBLeague has recently learned the lucrative art of offering variants of their original concept figures. These entail doing different decos for a figure’s costume, usually different head sculpts and hair colors, and a slight variation on their accessories. It’s a smart move to make the cost of each figure go a little further, and it can make choosing which one to get a little difficult. And sometimes, I can’t choose and just get them all, but I’ll save that for another time. The Knight of Fire came in Silver Armor, which we’re looking at today, as well as Black and Gold. Who are the Knights of Fire? Well, that’s up to you to decide!

Here she is all set up, and getting her ready for display was no small feat! The armor for her arms, legs, and shoulders, all had to be put on with varying degrees of difficulty. The gorget and cape also had to be attached, and what you can’t see is a shoulder harness, which holds some of these pieces in place, that had to be fitted to her as well. I guess my middle-aged fingers just aren’t all that good with teeny-tiny clasps these days. Still, a lot of patience and a few colorful metaphors got me through it. And overall, I think it was well worth it! TBLeague is usually content with letting these ladies go bare under the armor, as it shows off the lovely Phicen seamless body, but in this case, our fiery knight is wearing a body stocking, and here is something that I’m not entirely convinced was a great idea. Don’t get me wrong, I respect the craftsmanship that went into creating what is essentially a super fine fishnet suit, but it hangs a bit loose in some areas, and there are heavy seams on the insides of her legs. I find myself thinking that the figure would look better without it. Then again, it is rather distinctive, so I guess my final opinion is still undecided.

The armor is absolutely gorgeous. TBLeague sculpts each individual piece out of plastic, which isn’t so heavy that it weighs the figure down, but not so light that it’s delicate. Oh some of the straps can be pretty delicate, but not the plastic itself! Her silver cuirass is sculpted to look like it’s made from many interlocking plates, each with a silver sheen and golden borders. Hip armor hang down from each side via laces, and a faux chain sash protects the treasure betwixt her legs. The forearm pieces feature hooked spikes, while the leg armor has silver skull ornaments protecting her knees. The epic shoulders remind me of a horned beetle, and feature some satanic looking ram skulls. The cape reaches down to the backs of her knees, with a black back and an illustrated flame in the lining. There’s a wire running through it to help it stay put in some dynamic poses.

Most of the pictures I shot have Ms. Fire Knight wearing her helmet, but it is removable. Our Silver Knight features short blonde hair and a very pretty face. TBL is getting quite good at painting lifelike eyes, while also doing sharp operations for the eyebrows and lips. Even the skin tone has come a long way since their earlier figures. As for the helmet, it accessorizes nicely with her armor, carrying over the silver plates and gold borders. You also get some red jewels, and an impressive set of horns. The plastic used for the helmet feels a bit softer than the rest of the armor, but it holds its shape perfectly and has a very snug fit. The hardest thing when putting it on is getting it on without her hair getting pushed in front of her face. At the same time, taking the helmet off does a number on her coif, so be prepared to style it, if you take the helmet off a lot.

The Silver Knight of Fire comes with two weapons and some extra hands. You may note that I have not changed the hands for any pictures, and that’s because they were a real bitch to get off the first time, and I didn’t want to end up pulling the ball joints out of the wrist sockets. Every now and then this is a problem with TBL’s figures. I haven’t encountered it in quite a while, but here’s proof that it does turn up from time to time. Her sword comes with a plastic scabbard, which is a nice bonus, but there’s really no way to get her to wear it, unless you fashion a custom belt or hang it from a string. Still, the texturing on it is gorgeous and it fits the blade perfectly. The sword has an extended grip for single or double-handed use. The blade is made of plastic, which I only point out because sometimes TBL ponies up for some diecast metal blades, but not here.

Her other weapon is her trident, which comes on a very long shaft and has sculpted grips in two places. The three blades are heavily stylized, and there’s an ornamental ring below it with a red stone that matches the ones on her helmet.

I like this figure enough to consider grabbing the Gold Version, but the body suit still gives me pause. Yes, the mesh suit is totally removable, but I’d say that it would be easier to cut it off the figure, rather than deal with taking all the armor off, and I just can’t bring myself to do that. A sword belt would have also gone a long way to justify the inclusion of the scabbard. Still, I really love everything else about the figure, particularly the armor design, which is something TBL just keeps excelling at. She’s an eye-catching figure and one worth considering.

Oct 18 2021

Vampirella One-Twelfth Scale Figure by Phicen/TBLeague

The FFZ Horror Train continues to chug along to its final destination… Halloween 2021! A while ago I took a look at TBLeague’s Sixth-Scale Vampirella, and today I’m having my first look at the same figure only now in 1/12 Scale! How do they shrink those beautiful figures down to this size? Let’s find out…

The figure comes in a plastic case, and while I think it may have had an illustrated sleeve over it, mine didn’t come with one, which is probably why I got such a good deal on it. At least there are illustrations on the sides. The figure lies inside this plastic coffin, nestled between foam trays. These roughly 6-inch figures still utilize stainless steel skeletons with silicone seamless bodies grafted on top of them. The idea is you get all the benefits of the larger seamless figures, only in a much smaller package. I’ll admit, I’m a bit skeptical, so let’s see what she’s all about. As with the full size TBLeague figures, Vampirella comes with her head detached. You also have to put on her wrist cuffs, as well as a bicep and thigh cuff. I put both on her right side, but I may move one of these to the left to balance her out more. Once that’s all done, she’s ready to go!

And I have to say, Wow! She really does look like the folks at TBLeague hired a witch doctor to shrink down the original figure. And I’m not just saying that to keep the Halloween mood alive! The only visible seams on the figure are in the wrists and the neck, and the wrist cuffs do a pretty good job of concealing the seams where the hands attach. At least most of the time. The thigh and bicep cuff stay put due to friction. The body’s realism is just as impressive as it is in the larger figures. I particularly love the look of the knees and the abs… Yes, I like the other areas too! The articulation also feels almost exactly the same as the larger figure, with all those extra subtle points that you just can’t get in a regular jointed figure. And the balance! Even with her high heels, I did not have to use a figure stand or any kind of support for any of the poses I put her in.

Of course, Vampirella’s revealing outfit was practically designed to show off the seamless body, as it doesn’t leave a lot for the imagination. The red one-piece is made of a thin vinyl-like material, which I think works better than the cloth they used for the original Sixth-Scale figure. It stays in place most of the time, but every now and then I had to deal with a nip slip. The high-heeled boots connect to the ankles like feet and make for a snug fit all the way up to just below her knees. These have a glossy black finish and are neatly stitched up the backs. The collar is plastic, which I think was a great decision for this scale. I don’t think the same cloth collar that the bigger figure had would hold its shape in this size. She has a golden Drakulon bat symbol emblazoned right in front of her Halloween Hoo-Hoo!

The portrait takes a bit of a hit in this scale, but I still think it’s got a lot going for it. The paint for the eyes and lips is impeccable, and the even included the golden hoop earrings. The hair is still rooted, and it can get a bit wild. I will likely take some hair gel to mine at some point to keep it flatter and more under control. Really, my only issue with this head is the blank expression makes it look rather doll like. This was a factor in their early Sixth-Scale figures, and they’ve gotten a lot better, so I expect to see improvements in this scale as well. A second, more expressive, portrait would have been nice, especially with her showing some fangs, but this isn’t something TBLeague does with their bigger figures, so no real reason to expect it here.

Vampirella comes with an optional cape, which is pretty easy to attach. You just pop the head, pop the collar, put the neck hole of the cape on, and replace the collar and head. I’m pretty amazed at how well they pulled off the cape at this scale. It’s very soft and has some nice weight to it, so it falls about the figure naturally. That’s no small feat with a 6-inch figure, which is probably why so many companies go with sculpted plastic capes for their figures. The exterior of the garment is black and it has a red inner lining with black borders. The stitching here is excellent and it looks great on her. My only concern with the cape is the red dye imprinting on the figure’s skin if left on for too long. OK, let’s see what else she comes with!

I should note that all of this figure’s accessories are smaller versions of what came with the Sixth-Scale figure, so there are no surprises here, and that she also comes with the same three sets of hands: Relaxed, Graspy, and Accessory Holding. The hands are very easy to swap, and they all have meticulously painted fingernails. So first off, you get her little bat friend, no doubt the Drakulon equivalent of a parakeet! This is a beautiful sculpt for such a tiny plastic critter. It has a ring down by its feet, which you can slip onto one of the fingers of her relaxed hands and have it perch there.

Next up, you get a nasty old rotting skull. I seem to recall the skull that came with the larger figure had fangs, whereas this one does not. Like the bat, it’s a fantastic sculpt for its size, and the paintwork on it is equally impressive. It has holes sculpted in the top of it, so she can hold it from the top with her graspy hands, which works a lot better than I expected it too.

The final accessory is this beautiful little dagger. Once again, the detail on such a small accessory is quite impressive, as is the paintwork. The grip is segmented, the pommel is painted silver, and there’s a tiny metallic green stone in the middle of the guard. The blade has a nice finish, and features a bit of a jagged profile. It’s got a nice point to it, so a modicum of care is recommended when handling it around the figure’s silicone skin. You don’t want any accidents!

In addition to all the accessories, Vamps comes with a display base, hidden away in the box under all that foam. This is a heavy piece and feels like polystone. The muddy ground has a slot to attach the grave marker, which is inscribed DEAD IN TOMBSTONE, which makes me think there were some English translation issues going on there. There are some bones scattered about the ground, as well as a pile of skulls. There no stand or foot pegs to attach the figure to the base, which is a common complaint when TBLeague includes these awesome bases. In this case, however, there’s a narrow space just in front of the skull pile where you can insert one of Vampirella’s feet and it will hold it pretty well. I’m not sure if that was intended, but it works great! She can also sit on the skulls and contemplate the meaning of the grave stone.

When all is said and done this figure is amazing! She’s great all on her own, but when I consider her as a miniature version of the larger figure, she becomes all the more impressive. And being half the size of the Sixth-Scale figures, she clocks in at about half the price, well actually a little less. I paid almost $70 for this little lady, and I seem to recall the bigger version setting me back $150. And so, as my first foray into TBLeague’s 1/12 Scale figures, Vampirella has won me over! That doesn’t mean I’m going to start collecting a bunch of these, as they are all smaller versions of the Sixth-Scale figures that I prefer. Still, I have since picked up a couple more in this scale, and it’s possible one more might make her way onto the schedule for Halloween Horror Month.

Jul 23 2021

Fighter Woman Sixth-Scale Figure by Phicen/TBLeague


I’ve had an uncanny amount of ambition lately to start rolling through my tremendous backlog of Sixth-Scale figures. A lot of that backlog includes TBLeague’s work, so I thought I’d dig deep and have a look at one of their lovely ladies from a few years back. It’s Fighter Woman!

If the name doesn’t give it away, Fighter Woman is one of TBLeague’s original concept releases. They’ve been doing more and more of these and fewer and fewer of the licensed ones. I don’t know if they ran out of indie comic properties to mine, or maybe they just realized that there was more profit in doing their own thing and not having to pay license fees for other people’s characters. Whatever the case, their original figures tend to be pretty amazing, so I’m fine with that. Fighter Woman comes in a heavy duty box with a tri-fold cover that connects to the sides with magnets. There’s a fair bit of prep work to get her gear and armor on, so let me get to it and we’ll have a look. And in the interest of brevity, let’s just call her Fi from now on!

And all that set-up is worthwhile, because Fi is quite breathtaking! She’s got a whole Battle Princess with an Eastern flavor thing going on, and I’m not sure where to begin. Her highly decorated armor consists of a sumptuous gold and deep maroon motif. The boots have sculpted laces with golden accents, the grieves have some intricate scrollwork patterned plates on the front with textured, simulated leather wrapping around her calves. The grieves terminate just above her knees, where they are fitted with some metallic purple stones. Her forearm bracers and bicep bands are matched to her grieves, with some extended points, which would make for some particularly nasty elbow smashes.

An intricate armored belt hangs on her hips, with a bejeweled fixture in the center, making up what looks like a dagger pointing down away from her exposed belly button. Hey, there’s no vital organs in that midriff area, right? At least part of her upper body is encased in a tight fitting breastplate, which inverts the color balance of the rest of her armor in favor of more of that deep maroon and reserving the gold to just the trim. Another purple jewel is placed in the center, and I dig how the top of the piece flares up on the outer edge of each of her breasts. Two pieces of shoulder armor, held on by elastic straps, complete Fi’s armor ensemble, and these were the most time-consuming pieces to get on.

The final element to Fi’s costume is the long crimson skirt, or half-cape, with two rows of some rather ostentatious gold fringe. The fact that this costume is so gorgeous, makes up for the fact that it’s not in the least bit tactically sound. But that’s to be expected in the realm of female fantasy warriors, and doubly so when they’re based off of one these lovely Phicen seamless bodies. What’s the point with going seamless if you aren’t going to show it off, right? And besides looking dead sexy, there’s nothing here to restrict the incredible articulation that you get when you take a stainless steel skeleton and wrap it in fleshy silicone.

Despite being a somewhat older figure, TBLeague was still making huge strides in their head game when Fi was released. There’s a nice spark of life in the eyes, thanks to some incredible paintwork. The lips and eyebrows are nice and sharp too. The skin tone is soft and realistic and it’s a good match for the silicone used for the body. Fi is sporting rooted red hair, which isn’t too difficult to keep under control. She has a necklace made out of several gold rings with a purple stone pendant to match the ornamental stones in her armor, as well as some more purple stones in her earrings. The final touch is a rather ornate tiara that fits snug around her head.

Fi comes with two fantasty-style weapons, the first of which is a double-bladed implement of death. Yeah, I don’t know what to call this thing, but it’s basically two curved blades connected with a central grip. The blades are silver with a bit of a wavy flame motif going on, while the grip connecting them is gold. The blades are plastic, but still pretty sturdy and this is a pretty fun weapon to pose her with. I can picture her pulling off some rather picturesque dance-like moves while swinging this around at her foes!

The other weapon is a rather beefy falchion, and boy do I dig this piece of cutlery! The blade has a nice satin finish with an exaggerated clipped point and a poetic curve to the edge. The hilt features something like a pistol grip, which is delightfully unusual, there’s a reinforced section where the blade meets the hilt, and a backstrap, all of which is finished off in more of that sumptuous gold. The grip allows for both single or double-handed use, and to be honest, either way looks pretty good. Like the previous weapon, the blade is plastic, and while I do miss the days when Phicen employed metal in their blades, this thing would be way too heavy for her to hold if it wasn’t cast in plastic.

It’s sometimes the case that people buy these boxed figures with hopes of re-purposing the body, so I should caution buyers that the cape does have a habit of staining her lovely skin, up near the hips. Fabric dye transferring color is just one of those things you have to accept when dealing with these silicone bodies. In this case, it’s only an issue if you plan on re-dressing the body in something, well let’s say less modest. On the other hand, the staining is completely obscured by the skirt, so if you plan on keeping her in her armor, there’s no need to worry!

About the only gripe I have here is that TBLeague is still inconsistent with whether or not they include a stand with their figures, and Fighter Woman here didn’t come with one. Sure, she stands just fine on her own, but who wants to risk a shelf-dive on a $160 figure? Not me! Luckily, I have a decent supply of generic sixth-scale stands. Beyond that, it was love at first sight for me and Fighter Woman, and this is just one of those figures that proves TBLeague doesn’t need to lay out money for licensing fees. They’re obviously quite adept at cooking up their own designs. The sculpted armor pieces look phenomenal and the gold and maroon deco makes this figure really pop on the shelf.

Oct 29 2020

Imperial Guardian Sixth-Scale Figure by TBLeague/Phicen

I’m a day late today, but this week has been kicking my ass at work and that’s going to be a running theme as we get deeper into Q4. I’m going to do my best to stay committed to three reviews a week, but I may be shuffling them around a bit as to when they actually go live. So let’s get to it with another look at a TBLeague sixth-scale figure! Yes, folks, TBLeague is continuing to stoke their furnaces with my hard-earned dollars with a seemingly never ending stream of their boxed figure releases. This time I’m opening up one of their more recent concept figures, The Imperial Guardian! What Empire is this battle maiden guarding? I guess that’s up to you, but I have a feeling she’s going to look great doing it.

The packaging and presentation is pretty typical fare for TBLeague these days. The open shoebox is made of sturdy cardboard and features a tri-fold cover which connects to the sides with magnets. From an artistic standpoint, it’s not one of their flashier boxes, but as always it relies entirely on pictures of the figure to do the talking. A good number of TBL’s releases these days are based on indie comic characters, but as I mentioned above, this one is a purely a concept figure with no fiction (at least none that I’m aware of) to back it up. A little blurb about this original character on the back of the box would have been welcome, but judging by the poor quality translation in the care and instruction manual, I can understand why they didn’t. Inside the figure comes nestled in foam with her head, armor pieces, and accessories positioned around the body. A second foam tray under that holds her rather long spear. Let’s get her all set up and check her out.

There’s a lot to love here, but I think what attracted me to this figure the most is the bit of Jean D’Arc vibe I’m getting off of her. TBLeague’s concept figures tend to flirt with the historical, but in the end they do their own thing. Fair warning, this figure requires a bit of work to get her ready for display, as the only armor she’s wearing when she comes out of the box is her chest piece and corset. Everything else has to be put on, and while most of it is pretty straightforward, it took me a while to get the armored skirt on and laced up. There’s a lot of excess string, but I will likely wind up trimming that down. Possibly one of the most notable things about this figure is the fact that she isn’t showing much skin. Indeed, you get a glimpse of thigh between her skirt and leg armor, but that’s it. It’s unusual for a TBLeague release to be covering so much, since these are built around the seamless body and the outfits are usually skimpy to show off that seamless bod. So, where TBL usually uses it to great effect, in this case, she could have easily gotten away with a regular jointed body as the outfit covers almost everything. As a result, collectors who are into this line for the skin and more outlandish costumes, may be a little tepid on this release.

But that’s not to say this isn’t an absolutely fantastic looking figure. The Guardian is wearing a red long-sleeved top and pleated skirt with the armor worn on top of that. The individual armor pieces are all cast in plastic, but the sculpt and paint make them totally convincing as actual metal armor. Heck, removing these pieces from the tray, I was tricked into expecting them to have a lot more weight than they do. Each of these pieces is painted with a weathered copper finish. There are sculpted rivets and some interlocking plates, as well as some general pitting. The armor corset is softer and more flexible to allow her freedom of movement in that region. She has leather-like bracers on her forearms under the armor pieces there and stockings, which extend up past her grieves and can be seen behind the knee armor. The straps and buckles on her chest armor are sculpted, but the others are all working buckles and straps that actually hold on the armor pieces. I dig the combination of the copper armor with the red skirt, as well as the bits of red cloth that show between the armor pieces. She also has a decorative pair of red cords that run from her right shoulder and across her chest.

The head sculpt features very short rooted hair, which stays in place and looks fantastic. I actually thought this head was recycled from their Zenescope Mercy Dante figure, and while they are indeed quite similar (and the hair is nearly identical), this one is still entirely new. I’m pretty sure I say this every time, but when it comes to portraits, TBL has really upped their game in the last few years. The paint is superb and realistic. The eyes have that spark of life, which is often elusive to all sixth-scale figure producers except Hot Toys. The paint used for the lips is a deep glossy red, and the skin tone is a little pale, but quite lifelike with a rosy hue to the cheeks.

While it’s a shame to cover up that beautiful portrait, the final piece to the armor is a tight fitting and fully enclosed helmet with an adjustable visor. Getting the helmet onto her noggin is a scary prospect, as it is extremely tight fitting, and I worry about messing up the hair or scratching the paint on her head. The ears in particular make it tough to get on, but with a little partience and care I was able to do it. Although I will probably need to use a pencil to tuck the hair on the right side of her face into the helmet the rest of the way, I could probably leave it as is and it will still look fine. The helmet shares the same coppery metal finish as the rest of the armor and features a hinged visor and a hinged face plate, each of which are independent of each other. There’s also a bright red plume that spills out the back like a long ponytail, which looks quite striking.

Closing the visor reveals a pretty non-nonsense helmet design. If you look closely, you can see that the visor doesn’t really line up with her eyes. If I take another crack at adjusting it, I might be able to fix this, but I really don’t want to rub it on the head any more than I am doing, so I will likely leave it like this. Take away the studio lights, and you can’t really see in there well enough to know that it’s not aligned with her eyes anyway. Since I don’t want to be putting the helmet on and removing it a lot, I will likely display this figure with the helmet on and the visor up, as that gives me the best of both worlds. Because the armor pieces took up most of the room in the tray, there are sadly not a lot of other accessories included with this figure. You do get three pairs of hands, which include fists, accessory holding hands, and relaxed hands, and these are all very nice sculpts with some detailed work on the armor. The only other accessory included is her long spear. Nope, you don’t even get a stand, so I had to dig into my box of generic sixth-scale figure stands.

The spear is a nice enough piece, and it even includes a grizzly coat of blood on the tip, showing that the Imperial Guard is not a ceremonial position, but a skilled warrior. I really like the design of the blade, as it’s practically a short sword mounted on a pole. The shaft is smooth and it terminates in a pointed cap that looks like it could do some damage as well. The spear works well in her accessory hands, and she looks great holding it! Still, I really feel like this figure needed a sword and scabbard. Sure, I could borrow one from another figure, but I’d rather not deprive one of my other TBL ladies of their weapons. I also think a red ribbon, streamer, or standard is called for on the spear. Heck, I could probably fix that myself, even with my non-existent DIY skills.

 

As a basic figure, the Imperial Guardian set me back about $160 and she is indeed a very beautiful figure for that price. TBL has managed to keep the cost of their figures locked in for a while now, and I maintain that these offerings continue to be among the best value in the sixth-scale market these days. Everything that’s here is expertly crafted and looks absolutely amazing, but to be honest, I felt like the accessories needed to be padded out a bit more to make this figure feel complete. This would have been an excellent opportunity for TBL to offer a Deluxe version (as they frequently do) with maybe a sword, scabbard, and shield, or perhaps just a sword and some kind of battle standard. As it is, I think the extra armor pieces just took up most of the budget. Still, a great figure with some opportunities to bulk her out if you’re game for a little sixth-scale accessory hunting on Ebay.