Tag Archives: tbleague

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 detatched 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.

Sep 18 2020

Sinful Suzi Sixth-Scale Figure by Phicen/TBLeague

TBLeague and I have a great relationship. They keep making Sixth-Scale figures based on sexy independent comic characters and I keep buying them! They released quite a bit of characters licensed from the likes of Brian Pulido’s Chaos! (now Coffin) Comics as well as Zenescope, and now they’re turning their attention to the work of Joseph Michael Linsner. He’s probably best known for Dawn, and Yes! TBLeague has released a figure of her as well, but today we’re having a look at Sinful Suzi, who first appeared seven years ago in Image Comics’ Sin Boldly!

TBLeague continues to offer some of the better packaging I’ve seen in the Sixth-Scale market. While even the big boys like Hot Toys tend to cheap out with flimsy window boxes these days, TBL is giving us sturdy shoebox-style packaging with tri-fold covers that secure with magnets and inside the figure is nestled in a foam cutout with the head packaged off of the figure. The front panel of the box has some colorful artwork by Linsner and the side and back panels have pictures of the actual figure. In this case you also get a separate parcel of Styrofoam, bundled inside the shipping box, with the diorama base. TBL usually does this with Deluxe versions of their figures, but I think this was the only version of Suzi available. The figure comes with the body wrapped in plastic, and I had to take her boots and sleeves off to carefully slice it all away and remove it. I do recommend leaving the wrap around her ankle joints, as it fills in the joint and makes it look more natural under the boot.

Obviously, Suzi is built on Phicen’s incredible super-flexible seamless body, consisting of a stainless steel skeleton wrapped in a fleshy rubber coating. The only visible jointing on the body is at the wrists, ankles, and neck, and all but the last are concealed by the outfit. Suzi’s body features a chalky white complexion, very similar to the one they used for Lady Death. Even with well over a dozen of these figures on my shelf, I still marvel at how well these bodies work, and I’ve yet to have one tear or break down on me. Fingers crossed!

Sinful Suzi’s outfit is pretty standard seductress leather demon attire. She’s got thigh high boots, which feature sculpting on the toes to resemble hooves, and I think that’s a great little touch. These are also painted with a bit of electric blue coloring. Her arms have sleeves that run up to her biceps, which have hand extensions. I think these are supposed to hook through one of her fingers on her relaxed hands, but the hole is so small it doesn’t work so well. The rest of her outfit is supposed to be a leather one-piece, and here’s where things disappoint. The top of the outfit is made of cloth, rather than the whole thing made of the faux-leather, although it hooks onto a leather piece that goes around her neck. It looks OK, I guess, but the disparity in material kind of stands out to me. it just feels like corners were cut.

The head sculpt, on the other hand? Well, no corners were cut here, as it looks simply (or is that sinfully?) fabulous! The paintwork on her eyes and lips is exceptionally well done. The eyes are almost cat like with narrow pupils, and she has some hot orange coloring between the tops of her eyes and her immaculate eyebrows. The lips are a deep crimson with a glossy wet finish. The features are soft and beautiful, and they gave her a fairly neutral expression, which is fine as it works for a myriad of poses. I wouldn’t have minded something with a smirk. It’s a shame that TBLeague never offers multiple portraits with their figures, although that would really jack up the price, I’m sure. Suzi’s demon horns are sculpted as part of the head and they look pretty natural jutting up from above her forehead. The electric blue hair really makes the whole portrait pop, although it can be a bit of a pill to get under control. I haven’t broken out the gel yet, but I may eventually as there are quite a few misbehaving strands. I do love how it’s parted to partially cover one horn and fully expose the other.

The seamless body boasts something like 28 points of articulation, and thanks to her skimpy and completely non-restrictive outfit, Suzi is a lot of fun to pose. As always, these figures articulate in remarkably realistic ways and I’m always impressed by some of the more subtle movements available, particularly in the torso, shoulders, and neck. The skin is pretty resilient, and while it’s always a good idea to show a modicum of care to prevent tearing, truth be told, both the skin and skeleton can handle some pretty wide ranges of motion. I think the biggest no-no is posing the arms straight up, as it will really stress the skin under the arm, but beyond that, she’s just all sorts of fun! I should also note that her balance is amazing. I will often edit out stands in some of my dramatic poses, but I didn’t have to do that once for this review. Impressive, considering she’s wearing high heels!

Suzi comes up pretty light in the accessories department, but she does come with three sets of hands, and her trademark trident. Honestly, I can’t really think of anything else they could have included with her, so I can’t really complain. Well, one nitpick is that her accessory holding hands are a bit loose with her trident. I’m sure TBLeague just used remolds of existing hands, hence the problem. Truth be told, she can still hold the trident fairly well, but it will slip every now and again. The trident itself isn’t all that exciting. It’s just a thin piece of plastic, but she would certainly be incomplete without it!

And then there’s the base, and it is a very cool piece! This diorama style base features a suburban hellscape with the red brick steps to a front porch and a sculpted doormat that says Sinful Suzi Welcome to HELL! Awesome! There are a couple tiny horns protruding from the back corners and there’s a peg where you can attach a demon skull onto the bottom step. In the past, these diorama bases often came with no way to secure the figure to it, making them awesome showpieces, but a pretty risky way to display your $150 figures. Sadly, as a result, most of my bases are packed away in storage. For the last couple releases I’ve purchased, TBL has been remedying that by adding a support stand that screws into the base, and I couldn’t be happier. In this case, the support is on a bendable rod with a ratcheting clip to gently grab the figure and it works great!

And since the skull is removable, it makes for a cool extra accessory. The sculpting and paint on this piece are both excellent. IT’s got little fangs and demon horns, and it looks like someone bashed in the back of his head when he was alive.

Oh yeah, if you turn the base around you’ve got this nasty bastard peering out at you from behind a sewer grate. This is such a wonderfully ridiculous extra bit of detail on a part of the base that you are probably never going to see. I really appreciate that kind of work!

All in all, I think Suzi turned out pretty well, even if I do wish her outfit had been made out of all of the same material. There’s nothing terribly crazy or new here when it comes to TBLeague’s releases, and I’ll bet this was a pretty quick-and-easy figure for them to produce. But that being said, she looks great and she’s tons of fun to play around with. The bundled base also goes a long way to drive up the figure’s value, as it was included without adding anything to the price point (about $159) of TBL’s regular releases. As a character, she’s probably a deep cut, even for a lot of comic fans, but given Suzi’s pinup qualities, I’m not sure you really need to be familiar with the comics to appreciate this figure. And she sure looks right at home on the shelf and hanging out with the likes of Purgatori, Vampirella, and Lady Death.

Aug 7 2020

Court of the Dead: Kier (First Sword of Death) Sixth-Scale Figure by Phicen/TBLeague

If you were poking around here yesterday, you may have caught an unfinished preview of today’s review, because I had it scheduled for the wrong day and it published before I completed it. So, here’s the real deal with the rest of the pictures and a nice edit to fix all my drunken typos. Enjoy!  

TBLeague has made a nice niche for themselves creating sixth-scale figures based on indie comic characters, as well as some really cool original concept figures. But never did I expect them to ink a deal with Sideshow Collectibles to create sixth-scale figures based on The Court of the Dead. I mean, that’s crazy. Sideshow makes sixth-scale figures. Why wouldn’t they make these themselves? Well, to be honest, I’m glad it went down this way. The designs work well with the Phicen Seamless Body and the retail cost is most certainly a good bit cheaper than if Sideshow had done them. Today I’m checking out the first release in this line. It’s the Bane of Heaven… Kier!

Here’s a quick look at the packaging, which includes a sturdy box with a tri-fold magnet lid. There is some work to be done before Kier is ready for display. It mostly involves putting on her armor pieces, so let me get her set up and we’ll have a look! But before getting to the goodies, how about some of that backstory? The Court of the Dead is the brainchild of artist Tom Gilliland and initially presented by Sideshow as a series of Premium Format statues. I have to respect the confidence it takes to do a wholly original line of PF Statues. These statues are expensive and they take up a lot of display space. I feel like a lot of people who invest in these pieces do so because of their fondness for a specific character. But Sidshow went in guns blazing by creating a universe and character backstories, and it must have paid off because they’ve released a lot of product in this line. Personally, I loved the designs, but couldn’t commit to the flagship statues. Nonetheless, when TBLeague announced the figures, I was immediately on board.

Outcast from the Heavens and raised by Death, Kier is the Valkyrie of the Dead and also known as Death’s First Sword. Oh yeah… and she is absolutely stunning. Built on one of the large busted Phicen Seamless Bodies, Kier features a rather distinctive blue-gray colored skin with blood stains on her forearms and lower legs. These stains start out with ragged red streaks and get darker until becoming black on her saturated hands and feet. Her armor pieces consist of grieves for her lower legs, a sleeve for her right forearm, pauldrons on her shoulders, and a breastplate. Meanwhile her lower modesty is covered by a sash that hangs down from a belt. Each of the armor pieces are intricately sculpted with some cool Giger-esque patterns and painted to look like ancient bronze. I particularly dig the curved blade protruding from her armor sleeve. The shoulder pieces are attached by clear rubber bands, which make them a pain in the ass to get on, but once they are they seem to stay attached by magic. She also has rather ornate wrist and bicep cuffs on her left arm.

Also part of her armor is the gorget she wears around her neck. It’s a cool piece, but it doesn’t fit as flush against her skin as I would like. Some of this is caused by the cape that ties around her neck and runs out under the gorget. Her cape is made from a heavy fabric with a brown exterior that looks to be spattered with mud. The interior has some sewn patterns that invoke themes of blood and bone. There’s a wire running through the bottom edge of the cape so that it can be shaped into different positions.

Her head sculpt is rather attractive for a Valkyrie of the Dead. The facial features are soft and smooth, but still very well defined. She bares a rather stern and determined expression, which I suppose fits an undead harvester of souls. The paint used for the eyes is much simpler than we usually get, but that’s probably because they weren’t going for that traditional spark of life that we usually get. These are just little gray pools. The eyebrows are sharp and crisp as are the gray lines that spill from her bottom lip and follow down her chin. I’m particularly impressed by the sculpting of the hairline as it looks extraordinarily realistic. This is the first TBLeague figure I’ve seen with sculpted hair, instead of their traditionally rooted coifs, and I have to say they did a damn fine job on it. The texture of the hair is very sharp as are the braids that protrude down her back, each one sculpted with ornamental hair ties painted silver.

And while it’s a shame to cover up that pretty face, Kier comes with a mask, which is perhaps best characterized in her own words, “I have two faces, that which I was given and that which I made. My true face is the one I carved with my own two hands… And if you see it, chances are you’re on your last rattle.” And it does indeed cut a fearsome visage. The mask is brilliantly held on by magnets, which make it so easy to put on and take off without fear of rubbing paint or scratching the plastic of Kier’s pretty face. The mask itself features a realistic bone finish with the Spirit Faction symbol carved into the forehead, two gnarled horns rising from the top… well, make that one and a half, and the jaw bones hanging down from the sides like a pair of grizzly earrings. The mask is formed to fit Kier’s face, perfectly lining up with her eyes and nose.

In addition to a number of different sets of hands, and an extra set of feet, Kier comes with a skull partially engulfed in translucent mystical energy. Maybe one of the souls she is harvesting? This is a horrifically realistic sculpt, all brown and gnarled and with the jawbone missing. The translucent blue plastic swirls off of it to the side and has a beautiful glow when presented in the right lighting. The top of the skull is sculpted with five finger holes, which can be used in conjunction with one of Kier’s graspy hands to make it look like she’s poked her fingers directly into the bone.

Next up, Kier has her impressive two-handed sword. I’ll confess I was a little surprised to find the blade was made of plastic, since a lot of TBLeague’s figures come with metal bladed weapons, but given the extreme length of it, they probably made the right choice from a standpoint of weight and balance. Regardless, the hilt is intricately sculpted with a bird carving as the pommel and a gnarled tangle for a crossguard. The hilt is finished with the same rich patina as Kier’s armor.

Finally, this figure comes with a diorama style base, which is akin to the ones that come with TBLeague’s Deluxe figures. It consists of a circular pedestal with jagged slate pouring up from it. The pedestal is adorned with skulls and skull medallions, and there are more skulls and bones strewn around the rocky terrain, giving you a little slice of the dark dimension on which to display the figure. And if you’ve read any of my Deluxe TBLeague reviews, you probably know what’s coming next. Yeah, there is unfortunately no way to secure the figure to the stand. No pegs or peg holes in her feet, no magnets, and no post to secure her to. Now, I had absolutely no problem getting her to stand on the display in a variety of different poses, but there’s just no way I’m going to display her like that all the time and run the risk of an inevitable shelf dive. As a result, the stand makes for some good photo ops, but it’s not something I’m going to use to display her regularly, and that’s a shame because they did put some nice work into this piece.

Kier set me back about $170, which is right in line with TBLeague’s Deluxe figures, and I have to say that’s a hell of a value. Doubly so when you can rarely ever touch a Hot Toys or Sideshow figure for under $225 these days. And most of those don’t come with big diorama-style display bases. TBLeague did an amazing job owning this design and she is going to look fantastic displayed alongside some of my other TBLeague horror gals, like Vampirella, Purgatori, and Lady Death. Not to mention I’ve already had the second of TBLeague’s Court of the Dead figures arrive, so I hope to be checking her out in a few weeks.

Feb 12 2020

Anck Su Namun (Princess of Egypt) Sixth-Scale Figure by Phicen/TBLeague 

I rarely make New Year’s Resolutions, but I am going to do my best to make 2020 the year I (try really hard to) get caught up on my Sixth-Scale figure reviews. Sure I could say that about Mythic Legions or Marvel Legends, but this category actually seems doable. I have a few Hot Toys on my shelf still waiting their turn, a bunch on pre-order, but right now I’m most hopelessly behind on my TBLeague figures. A big part of the problem is that these are more affordable than Hot Toys and the sense of quality and value I get from these releases continues to be through the roof so I’ve been buying quite a few of them. And despite a common concern, I have yet to have any of the silicone bodies tear or break down on me so there’s been nothing to discourage me from keeping at it. At least not yet. And with that preamble out of the way, let’s check out Anck Su Namun, The Princess of Egypt!

TBLeague butters its bread by securing the largely overlooked (and conveniently inexpensive) licenses from a number of indie comic companies as well as the occasional concept figure. I would have guessed this one was a concept figure, if not for the ARH Comix. ARH published the wonderful Arhian The Headhuntress and one of my favorite comics of all time Arkhalla Queen of Vampires. But in this case I’ve never seen or heard about ARH publishing a comic with Anck. Was it her own book? Was she a supporting character in another? Even ARH’s website, which admittedly doesn’t seem to have been updated in over a year, holds no answers. But it doesn’t matter, I’m content calling her a concept version of a historical figure. Whatever the case, I happen to have a thing for Ancient Egypt and scantily clad ladies and this figure covers both of those areas of interest quite nicely. As always, the box is very high quality cardboard with a tri-fold lid that secures to the sides with magnets. The figure and accessories rest in a series of foam trays. The illustrations on the box let photos of the figure do the talking, and overall the presentation here never fails to impress me, especially considering the flimsy window boxes and sleeves that Hot Toys has been using lately. Happily there isn’t a lot of set up required here, so let’s get the Princess out of her sarcophagus and check her out!

Now this is a Dynasty that I can get behind, and I sure don’t need any comic book tie-in to sell me on Anck because she’s a real knock out. Her outfit consists of a black cloth skirt, which is made from a light, stretchy material, and totally form fitting. There aren’t any slits up the sides so this skirt does tend to impede the range of motion in her hips. I can still get some fairly wide stances out of her, and she can sit just fine, but anything too extreme isn’t possible. On the upside, it really shows off her nice backside! Above the skirt she has a sculpted plastic belt and sash, all fashioned as one piece and painted gold with some black and silver trim. I’ve got to say the gold and silver paint they used on all of the costume pieces is so sumptuous! The belt itself has a weave pattern sculpted into it, while the sash has some raised hieroglyphs. There’s also a scarab disc in the center of her waist where the belt meets the sash. The sash hangs on her hips and stays put most of the time, but will occasionally ride up when I’m posing her.

Traveling further up to her chest, I have absolutely no idea what to call this bra-rig-thing. It’s basically a black leather strap that goes under her chest with two other straps rising up with the Ancient Egyptian equivalent of pasties. This costume piece ties behind her back and it holds on amazingly well. In reality I can’t see this thing working, but here it’s almost like magic! The cross strap features a sculpted gold bird and scarab motif, while the pasties are sculpted to look like intricately detailed gold coins. Anck is also big on the accessorizing, and these points of flair include  golden anklets and wrist bracers, both sets of which are designed to conceal the seams on her wrists and ankles, two gold armbands with sculpted white birds, and she even has a removable ring on her left hand! Speaking of hands, she comes with a bunch of them, from gesturing hands to grippy ones designed to hold her weapons. She also comes with two pairs of feet, one set is flat for standing and the other with arches for when she’s sitting.

The portrait is very good and shows that TBLeauge is always working on upping their head-sculpts. The eyes are quite stunning with a nice level of realism to the paint and the Egyptian-style mascara is crisp and precise. The paint on the lips is also superb with just enough gloss to give them that slightly wet look. And still, the real showpiece here is her hair. She has a fairly typical coif of straight black hair, but layered on top of that is a cobra-headed headdress, which sports two braids coming down the front and ending in gold rings. Down the back is a full brace of braids all ending in golden rods. This ensemble is actually pegged straight into the top of the head and it looks fabulous! And like the rest of her body, Anck’s pretty neck is adorned with even more finery. She has a wide, segmented black and gold colar with a bird sculpted on the front. Above that she has a necklace of gold and silver beads, and above that she has a wide golden choker.

As always, the articulation on the Phicen Seamless Bodies goes above and beyond in replicating the movements of the human body. The silicone skin has a warm and even tone and feels eerily real, while the stainless steel skeleton beneath it offers up silky smooth movement and plenty of hidden surprises. TBLeague has started including instruction sheets with these figures showing you what the safe and acceptable movements are, and I find that they tend to be a little conservative in limiting what they allow. The truth is that if you’re careful these bodies are capable of a lot of extreme movements. On the flipside, it’s not a good idea to leave these figures in those kinds of poses for too long, so I tend to go with very traditional museum-style displays unless I’m planning on changing them up every couple of weeks or so. At the risk of jinxing myself, I’ve yet to have any of these bodies tear on me or degrade, and that’s with about 20 of them in my collection, the oldest being from several years ago. And with the body and costume covered, let’s move on to her accessories.

For starters, she comes with this wicked sickle-bladed sword. At first I thought it was going to be a repack of one that came with a previous release, but it’s completely new. The blade has a mirror finish and the sculpted grip features a gold painted guard and a scarab sculpted onto the pommel. She can comfortably wield it in either or both hands.

Next up, she has a dagger, which features a simple black grip and also a mirror finish on the blade. She doesn’t come with a sheath or scabbard for these blades, but the dagger looks pretty good tucked into her sash. I just have to remember to be careful tucking it in there because Phicen skin and sharp pointy things don’t usually get along too well.

And finally, Anck comes with a pair of Sai, which is a really weird pair of weapons to include with an Egyptian Princess, but she still looks bad ass when wielding them. Still, I doubt these are going to spend a lot of time out of the box. I’d rather go with the more-Egyptian themed weapons. And while that wraps up Anck’s weapons, we still have a display base and decorative piece to look at.

The display base is a raised circular platform sculpted to look like an ancient pillar. There are hieroglyphs sculpted into the sides and golden discs with raised scarabs encircling the base. It’s a fantastic looking piece and these always makes me wonder how TBLeague can throw in extras like this, while still keeping the costs well under $200. The only downside of these bases is that there’s no way to secure the figure, which makes me unlikely to ever display her standing on it for fear of her taking a shelf dive. I suppose you can use a stand and put it on top of it, but that tends to look unsightly. She does, however, look pretty fine sitting on it.

And finally Anck comes with a golden cat sculpture, which is both beautiful and quite hefty. Again, how do they pack this much stuff in while not approaching the prices of many other Sixth-Scale figures out there? I don’t know, but I’m not about to question it.

Anck Su Namun is yet another fantastic figure from TBLeague. The detail and craftsmanship on the costume and accessories just goes to show how much these guys care about producing visually stunning figures that pair so well with the Phicen bodies. What’s more she’s been so much fun to play around with. When I first started dabbling around with this line, I was so apprehensive about handling them, but the more experience I get, the more I realize that these figures have a lot to offer so long as you show a modicum of care when handling them. The Egyptian Princess set me back about $160 and while she’s still hanging around at some retailers, she’s also starting to creep up in price at places like Ebay. I’m happy to add her to my collection, and I was even happier to see that TBLeague followed her up with a Cleopatra figure. Hopefully I’ll get a chance to show her off here soon.

Jan 3 2020

Cowgirl Sixth-Scale Figure by Phicen/TB League

It’s a brand new year, and boy am I ready for that! One of my many little resolutions for 2020 around these parts is to start digging into my Sixth-Scale figures and get caught up before all the pre-orders that were delayed last year start piling up in about a month. Yeah, that’s like a year’s worth of Hot Toys that all got bumped. So, this week I had a perusal through a stack of boxes looking for something to open and review, and I decided to go with one of TB League’s (formerly Phicen) offerings. This little lady was released last year and marries two of my favorite things… Lovely Phicen figures and The Old West! Giddyup, Cowgirls!

Yee-Haw! Here’s the part of the review where I gush over TBL’s packaging and lament that we don’t get the same quality out of Hot Toys’ more expensive figures. Seriously, the presentation is really solid with a durable cardboard shoebox and an illustrated tri-fold magnetic cover. Ok, so the artwork here isn’t anything special, but these boxes feel so much better than the flimsy window boxes that Hot Toys has been using for a lot of their releases these days. Remove the top and you get your figure and all her accessories nestled in a foam tray. And as with all TB League releases, this lovely cowpoke’s head comes separate from her body. It’s creepy, but I think they do that so it can be wrapped in plastic better. TBL is known for mining their source material from Indie (read cheaper to acquire) licenses, but this little lady is one of their concept figures, or at least I’m 99.9% sure she isn’t based on any specific license or property. But hey, if there’s a comic somewhere with Cowgirl in it, I’ll jump on board. There’s a little bit of set up required here, but nothing too bad, so let’s check her out and see how The West was fun.

Cowgirl is the result of a painstakingly researched pursuit of authenticity. The creators of this figure really wanted to capture all the historical details of your average late 19th Century hawt blonde gunfighter absolutely perfectly, and it shows! From the leather studded top that does little more than hold her large doggies in place to the leather panties that protects her modesty south of the border, she looks like she jumped straight out of the history books! Yeah, I’m funning with ya, but if you weren’t expecting something like this outfit out of a TBL female gunfighter, than you need to revisit some of my other reviews and acquaint yourself with the copious T&A of their previous releases. Apart from her skimpy top and bottom, Cowgirl sports a pair of long black leather leggings with knee-pads and some nice fringe coming off the sides. Each of these leggings hooks to her panties similar to a garderbelt. The outfit is rounded out by a dual-holstered gunbelt, a pair of boots, complete with spurs, fingerless gloves sculpted onto the hands, and a felt fedora to top off her pretty head.

And speaking of pretty heads, TBL has been getting better and better with their portraits, and I have to say I like this one very much. She sure is purdy and the rooted blonde hair falls naturally about her head. The paint quality on the eyes and lips are both quite lifelike, even if the eyebrows and overall skin texture don’t quite meet that uncanny realism we see in those top-tier Sixth-Scale figure producers. There isn’t a lot of expressiveness in the face to support some of the more action-packed poses, but I still like what we got here a lot, it’s quality work. Indeed, I have a feeling that the customizing community of Phicen collectors will be happy to add this head to their collection. The hat holds it’s shape well and fits her head nicely. It stays on quite well too. I’m always happy to see an actual felt hat in this scale, rather than a plastic one.

The skimpy outfit does it’s job in allowing the Seamless Phicen Body to strut it’s stuff. I’ve lost track of what body type they’re up to, and to be honest I could never really keep them straight anyway. Suffice it to say the soft plastic skin surrounds a stainless steel skeleton that offers what is probably the most realistic human articulation available in the action figure market today. And without actually seeing where all those joints are, it’s fun to discover all the crazy little nuances that are locked away in her articulation. Likewise, this is an extremely well balanced figure (insert joke about her being top-heavy here), and I found her able to hold her own without needing a stand. Which is good, because she doesn’t come with one. Not that I would trust her to stand on the shelf for long periods of time without one. Thankfully inexpensive stands for figures in this scale can be had pretty easily.

And as great as the body is, that’s not to say the craftsmanship and detail in the outfit take a backseat. The stitching and studs on the leather (well, leather-like substance) look great, along with a little bit of weathering, and that big red stone in the middle. And while my Cowgirl does suffer the occasional nip-slip when posing, the top piece of her wardrobe does a good job at rustling those doggies. The gunbelt features a silver painted buckle and a string of sculpted cartridges running around its length. The holsters fit the guns very well, although they tend to slide to the front from time to time. Another thing to watch for when posing Cowgirl are the clips for her leggings. These will sometimes come un-clipped with leg movement and have to be re-clipped. Finally, the sculpted boots include some lovely decorative work around the tops, silver studs across the fronts, silver medallions on the sides, and working spurs!

Moving on to accessories, and here’s where the figure takes a couple of hits, and I’m talking about her shootin’ irons. Make no mistake, these are incredibly detailed revolvers with silver finish and brown painted grips. The detail and level of articulation on these are quite impressive. The hammers can be cocked back, the chambers spin, and they can even flip out for loading or be removed from the guns entirely. What’s my gripe? Well, they’re obviously modern pistols and not age-appropriate single-actions. It really feels like the folks at TBL just re-purposed some guns from another figure set. And I get it, I don’t really know the intent behind this character. Taking the outfit into consideration, maybe she isn’t supposed to be from the past. Maybe she’s some kind of sexy cowboy-themed bounty hunter or vigilante, and if so that’s fair enough. But, I’ll still be looking for some more authentic pistols for her online. Naturally, Cowgirl comes with a pair of trigger finger hands and these work very well with the pistols.

And as impressive as the articulation on these guns is, it may be a little too much. The action on these is extremely delicate and the chambers are held in only by friction, so it’s not uncommon for the chamber and the retaining pin to fall out when I’m posing the figure. Indeed, one of them even disappeared somewhere on the floor of my studio while I was taking pictures for  this review. The hunt for it continues. It’s a race against time to find the little shiny things before my cats do. But all the more reason for me to hunt down some new guns for her.

Fortunately, she does come with a rifle that better suits her presumed time period, and that’s this beautiful lever-action. Now, I’m a real sucker for lever actions. I own four of the real deals, so this accessory is near and dear to my heart, even if it doesn’t seem to be based on any specific firearm that I can recall. The sculpted detail here is just packed with character, from the wood-grain patterns in the stock and forearm to the screws, barrel bands, and bolts holding the receiver together. Even the coloring is beautiful, with a lush brown for the wooden pieces and a convincing gun metal gray for the rest. This accessory features no articulation, and considering the troubles I had with the pistols, maybe that’s for the best. I sling or maybe even a scabbard to carry it on her back would have been cool, but either way it’s plenty cool.

You do get a few other extras in the box, the first of which is a rope, which while simple enough doesn’t go unappreciated. I’ve even tied mine into a noose for he to hold.

The final accessory is a combat knife and sheath, but it suffers the same issue as the guns. With it’s black segmented grip and sawback edge, It looks like a modern survival knife and not something someone would be carrying around in The Old West. I would have loved to have seen a beefy Bowie knife included here or maybe a Civil War era sword-bayonet, but no such luck. Hey, extras are always nice, but I doubt I’m going to display this piece with her. Nonetheless, she does come with a tight grip right hand that holds it very well.

Most of the TBL figures I’ve purchased lately have been Deluxes, which means they often come with elaborate bases or some kind of set piece prop, but Cowgirl bucks that trend. The plus side of that is she was a little cheaper, around $149 if I remember correctly. The downside is, I think they could have done something cool like a saloon door or a wagon wheel or something to display her with. As she stands, I think she’s a pretty cool figure. I love the outrageous costume, the portrait is great, and I don’t think I’ll ever stop being impressed by Phicen’s seamless bodies. My biggest gripes here come in the accessories, and maybe that’s more my personal preference. A couple of single action six-shooters and a big Bowie knife would have been perfect for her, but maybe I’ll be able to supply those things somewhere down the road. As it is, she’s certainly a nice break from the fantasy and medieval style warrior women we’ve been seeing from TBL lately. Not that there’s anything wrong with those, but Cowgirl adds a little spicy variety to my shelf.