New Body Review: Maha 1/6 scale modular body (updated with comparison photos)

Over the last months, I've accumulated a queue of things to review, including new or newish bodies. After a slow start, my last review got quite a good feedback, so I'm encouraged to review again. So, do share your thoughts.

We've been encountering these listings for a while, but it was only relatively recently that I saw one in stock for a version I was willing to try out. I got it at Big Bad Toy Store for $35. It is Version C.

The disassembled (or unassembled) body comes very compactly packed inside a square metal box about 11.5 x 5.5 cm in size.



I'm not sure why, but that strikes me as very neat. Although, it can look like a lot of severed body parts in a cooler...



The larger pieces are bagged individually, smaller ones are grouped.



Here is everything that comes in the box, unbagged. Note that the stand has a magnet on the base, which allows it to attach pretty securely to most metal surfaces, including the box inside which the product arrived. There are four interchangeable pairs of hands (fist, knife grip, gun grip, and relaxed), two interchangeble neck pegs, a pair of ankle extenders, an alternative lower neck adapter, and things that I cannot identify. Everything is a single color, not too shiny, and the match between the different plastic materials is excellent. I imagine one is meant to paint in any desired features, like the eyes, brows, lips, etc.



Note that it is possible to take things apart even more -- for example to separate the lower from the upper arm, as I discovered when pulling it off the body during a costume change. There are no instructions, but putting it all together is quite intuitive and not difficult. Remember to press the larger pegs on the upper legs and arms into the corresponding parts of the torso until they pop. I would say it was a fun experience to assemble the body, perhaps bringing back fond memories of Bandai models and Lego sets.



The body is slim and perhaps intended as average, and looks pretty good to me overall, for a harder-plastic body with visible joints. The upper torso is a softer plastic shell, and the hands are relatively soft too, allowing for easier placement of items in them. I'm not sure it comes across in the photos, but despite the relatively simple and somewhat stylized design (only the lower arms have a significant attempt at greater realistic detail like the veins), the production quality is flawless throughout.



As a very basic test, the assembled body has no problem sitting even on the high ledge of the upright box.



Here is a minimal dress up, with one of those DAM Russian striped wifebeaters, shorts that would never fit on a seamless body, and some strange Chinese sandals that matched in color -- the feet have separate big toes, allowing them to fit without modification. An outfit like this allows a relatively unimpeded range of motion, but of course allows us to see far too many joints.



The double-jointed elbows and knees work very well, the ankle articulation is virtually unrestricted, the wrists allow a decent amount of movement. Because of the design of the waist, one is restricted to raising the upper leg forward and up to 90 degrees to the torso. Despite two articulation points for it, the torso's crunch is somewhat limited.



That said, the movement is reasonably smooth, while the body holds its poses and achieves balance pretty easily. Which is as it should be. It is not as flexible as TBLeague (and some Jiaou) seamless bodies, but it would make do for most things.



As a visible-jointed body, this is of course best covered up as much as possible. I tried it with a recent partly reconstituted outfit from DiD's WWII US Air Force Pilot Rafe set. While some of the items are a bit oversized (especially the cap, which was intended for a head with molded hair), the body works reasonably well in it. Of course, tighter clothes would work even better on this relatively slender and not overly tall body. The feet might be too wide for some of the footwear intended to accommodate a sixth-scale foot and might need to be swapped with alternatives (here I used shoes from somewhere else instead of the DiD boots).



Some comparison photos added below. I'm no longer positive there are multiple neck pegs, as the longer pieces have ball joints that won't fit the provided neck. Perhaps they can be used with a different product's neck, if they are neck pegs at all. The figure's height (29 cm as I assembled it) can be increased by interposing the ankle extenders between the lower leg and the feet (which would add 1 cm, producing a height of 30 cm).







The Maha modular body is fun to put together and use, and compares reasonably well to other bodies of this type. At $35, it is not particularly expensive, and the quality of what you get -- even if you have to (or get to) put it together yourself -- seems very high, I would say probably superior to most. Then again, it is not aiming at visual realism, unless covered up by clothing and equipment. Overall, I'm pretty happy with it. I won't be army building with it, necessarily, but I already ordered one more, in a different color.

As always, what do you think?

Previous reviews on this site include:

White Men Can Jump! (Enterbay's Luka Dončić)

Hot Toys Star Wars Cobb Vanth Review

Hot Toys Star Wars Luke Skywalker Bespin Review and Fun

Hot Toys Star Wars Return of the Jedi Scout Trooper and Speeder Bike

Hot Toys Star Wars Rogue One Assault Tank Commander

Hot Toys Star Wars Rogue One Director Krennic

Hasbro Star Wars Jabba's Court

Homelander on a Budget (review of Toys Works' The Republican and comparisons to the others)

TBLeague Female Seamles Bodies S24A-S27B

Jiaou Doll Male Bodies

Kamisoul MAF Extreme Seamless Body with Jiaou and TBleague comparison

World Box AT030 Body

Six New-ish Bodies comparison

HH Model & Haoyu Toys Dragon Banner Bearer

Premier Toys PT0001 Wasteland Gladiator

Toys Headquarters Vol 003 Fighter

TBLeague Ramesses the Great

Figure Masters Vamp Lou

LDDoll Seamless Figure Body

John Constantine (Thunder Toys Hell Detective)

SooSoo Toys Frozen Man

SooSoo Toys Mr Butcher

Sideshow and Hot Toys Star Wars Scout Troopers (comparison)

Thunder Toys Hell Detective

Hot Toys Star Wars Emperor Palpatine

TBLeague Barbarian Soul

Hot Toys Star Wars Return of the Jedi Stormtrooper

ADD Toys War Wolves Back (muscle version)

World Box AT027 body

Hot Toys Star Wars Solo Mudtrooper

Sideshow Star Wars TIE Fighter Pilot

Woo Toys WO-004 Fat Thor

HH HY Rome Infantry

HH HY Rome Centurion

Mr Toys Barbarian Set B (He-Man)

Mr Toys Barbarian Set B (Conan the Barbarian)

Dragon and TBLeague Alexander the Great (comparison)

Kautic Plastik Roman Infantry 2019

JX Toys Peggy Carter

TBLeague 1:12 seamless male bodies

Hasbro Star Wars Rogue One Imperial Combat Assault Tank

Hasbro Star Wars imperials 2019

Hasbro Star Wars Jabba's Tatooine Skiff

CC Toys Unexplored Nate (summer version)

Jiaou Doll Boss Chair

Hot Toys Star Wars Solo Patrol Trooper

China Toys Teutonic Knight

Star Ace 300 Queen Gorgo

Black Box Toys Spectre Girl (Madeleine Swann)

Hot Toys Star Wars Royal Guard

VS Toys Bathroom

Coomodel Vikings Vanquisher Viking Ship

Coomodel Vikings Vanquisher Valhalla (double set)

TBLeague M36 body

Chinese wooden chairs and table sets A and B

HY Toys Armchair

TBLeague M35 body

Sideshow Jack Burton

Disney Star Wars Director Orson Krennic

TBLeague Spartan Goddess of War

AR Toys Hellman

Dragon Men in Black 3 Agent K 1969


#review #maha #body #male

Looks like ab crunch is a problem area for many jointed bodies.
Non-superhero proportions make it quite useful though.
The head is supposed to be painted, I guess, but it looks quite complete in that headgear on the last photos.

Is this comparable in height to most make figures? It looks a bit taller, which could be a good thing for some things.

Thanks for the review, Gub! I love that $35 price tag though! It looks like a great option overall!

Stryker2012 wrote:Is this comparable in height to most make figures? It looks a bit taller, which could be a good thing for some things.

I’m curious as well. Kinda wanting a “mini me” at least in practice, but I don’t find much that would work for me in either build or height (mostly because they are as clear as mud with height with head vs without. Or I’m just dumb lol).

Visisonor wrote:Looks like ab crunch is a problem area for many jointed bodies.
Non-superhero proportions make it quite useful though.
The head is supposed to be painted, I guess, but it looks quite complete in that headgear on the last photos.

I feel the same way. As to the head, well, it is even wearing sunglasses and that big military cap, I suppose that was as close to complete it would be if unpainted.

Stryker2012 wrote:Is this comparable in height to most make figures? It looks a bit taller, which could be a good thing for some things.

At 29 cm tall, it is about 11.4 inches. This is possibly just a little shorter than some bodies, at least those who are exactly 12 inches tall. But this is without shoes or hair, so it would stand taller. Note also the extra ankle extenders, which can make it a little taller if needed (I haven't experimented with them, but I expect them to work more reasonably than the TBLeague ones which are bloody murder). Also, I have the feeling the neck is a tad short or the head sits on it that way -- there is a longer neck peg provided that one can use and perhaps fix that. Overall, the body's slender proportions might give the impressions of a taller build. I will try to snap a couple of comparison photos for you.

MeMyself&I wrote:Thanks for the review, Gub! I love that $35 price tag though! It looks like a great option overall!

It is a pretty good price, although you might be able to find the DiD bodies for about $20 (as it was at the time I reviewed them). And that was very nicely articulated and also not too bulky. Here the quality is superb, and it really was fun putting it together.

While I'm known to not care much for openly jointed bodies this does look good! I immediately noticed that the parts look very well made. Overall it looks like a great offering!

Somehow the head reminds me of “the engineer” from prometheus

This is really neat, thank you for taking the time to review it!

I actually quite like that unpainted head, would get it just for that!

Thanks for the extra info, Ian. I might grab a couple to put under the bootleg ROTJ Royal Guard costume sets.

The articulation is quite good.

I wonder if the neck joint will accept other brand heads.

Diana wrote:While I'm known to not care much for openly jointed bodies this does look good! I immediately noticed that the parts look very well made. Overall it looks like a great offering!

Thank you, Diana, I thought so too. Like you, I prioritize seamless bodies (whether clothed or not -- since openly jointed bodies need to be covered up pretty much always), but I liked it too. I admit part of it was the fun of putting it together, but I think it is a viable hard plastic openly jointed body anyway.

madnug wrote:Somehow the head reminds me of “the engineer” from prometheus

Thanks for commenting, and you are not alone. I was thinking the same thing. Of course, the "Engineers" would have to be oversized.

skywalkersaga wrote:This is really neat, thank you for taking the time to review it!

I actually quite like that unpainted head, would get it just for that!

Thank you very much Sky, I'm glad you liked it. You have three different options -- color-wise -- to choose from, A, B, and C. This was C, B was sold out where I looked, and I'm expecting A.

Stryker2012 wrote:Thanks for the extra info, Ian. I might grab a couple to put under the bootleg ROTJ Royal Guard costume sets.

You are very welcome, Mark. I added comparison photos above, both as I assembled it and with the ankle extenders, which raised the height to 30 cm. Since you mentioned this project of yours and I have one of those sets, I ran a test and will post more photos of that (have a chore to run before it starts deluging again). Short story: it works, you might need to find a way to increase the size of the ball joint at the top of the neck (use another or add layers of electrical tape?) or line the hole in the helmeted head with something.

cdn_rhino wrote:The articulation is quite good.

I wonder if the neck joint will accept other brand heads.

Thank you, I thought so too (the new DiD body does have some advantages, and might be less expensive, but I love this anyway). The neck joint might or might not work without adjustments for other heads. The ball joint itself was a bit too small to make a secure fit with the ROTJ Imperial royal guard head I am discussing with Mark -- but one could conceivably find a different ball joint to use (if it works with this neck) or line the ball joint or the receiving hole in the head with something to produce a tighter fit. The set also comes with its own neck connectors, which provide some additional possibilities -- including the use of heads with integral molded necks.

Excellent news, Ian. I’ll have to grab a couple now for sure.

Stryker2012 wrote:Excellent news, Ian. I’ll have to grab a couple now for sure.

I think they will work well. Take a look, I posted my test run HERE.

Well, I've never seen a body arrive in such a small package before . As an everyday figure he looks great, but imo, a little on the skinny side. However, dressing him with clothes layers would no doubt solve that problem. Do they so larger built versions? Great review though Thanks for posting, Ian .

Thanks for the review! Looks pretty good for the price point and the articulation looks great.

BAMComix wrote:Well, I've never seen a body arrive in such a small package before . As an everyday figure he looks great, but imo, a little on the skinny side. However, dressing him with clothes layers would no doubt solve  that problem. Do they so larger built versions? Great review though Thanks for posting, Ian .

Thank you very much, Dal. I'm glad you liked it. Yes, he is skinny, but that can make him easier to clothe, to a point. I think they should have allowed for a longer neck, as once you build up the layers, he starts looking rather short-necked. But otherwise very happy with the figure. For the original new product announcement with a review of features and a peak at some apparent future releases (?), see HERE. The Maha body is also referenced in relation to this, this, and this.

csyeung wrote:Thanks for the review! Looks pretty good for the price point and the articulation looks great.

Thank you very much, Craig, glad you liked it.

Decent-looking body! I like that it requires putting it together, almost like a model kit.

This looks to be a good base body for figures that are completely covered, e.g. clonetroopers, etc. Good for army building.

Zes wrote:Decent-looking body! I like that it requires putting it together, almost like a model kit.

This looks to be a good base body for figures that are completely covered, e.g. clonetroopers, etc. Good for army building.

I feel the same way. And openly admit my enjoyment of it is enhanced by the fun (and it is fun, not a chore) of putting it together.

Thanks for the link, Ian

BAMComix wrote:Thanks for the link, Ian

You're very welcome!

I like the shape of the body, which will fill clothing that much easier without the need to add padding.
I'd usually add padding on my military / tactical type builds so the rigs and harnesses fit better but it looks like with this, the need for that will be minimal.

The cutout at the shoulders for the neck adapter looks small'ish which may limit the degree of tilt but that can be easily modded.

Thanks for the review G.

Allotropos wrote:I like the shape of the body, which will fill clothing that much easier without the need to add padding.
I'd usually add padding on my military / tactical type builds so the rigs and harnesses fit better but it looks like with this, the need for that will be minimal.

The cutout at the shoulders for the neck adapter looks small'ish which may limit the degree of tilt but that can be easily modded.

Thanks for the review G.

You are welcome and thank you for commenting. I have the same feeling about the body as you. Although it is not really meant to be shown uncovered, it has a reasonably plausible and natural silhouette and shape, which ought to be helpful in such instances as you describe. When I did the royal guard kitbash test, I had difficulty getting the padding on, but decided I didn't need it anyway, given the body's shape. And I think I was right. The cutout for the neck adapter is a little small, indeed, but seems to work ok. I suppose one could enlarge it if needed.