TBLeague (Phicen) 1:12 seamless male bodies review (updated)

Update: for a comparison to 1:6 figures, see HERE.

Update: for the female figures T01B and T03B, see HERE.



Introduction
I suppose it was bound to happen sometime. After it introduced us to its twelfth-scale female seamless bodies (pale T01A and suntan T01B), TBLeague (formerly Phicen) has now released two types of twelfth-scale male seamless bodies. I don't collect that much in this scale, and certainly don't have the interest and means to engage as much in customizing in it as in sixth scale, but I picked up a couple of these bodies all the same: as in the case of the female body, I was curious whether TBLeague can match the considerable degree of excellence it had achieved in sixth-scale in figures two times smaller. As before, the result is impressive but the answer is, unsurprisingly, "not quite."



Packaging: 4/4 stars
I for one appreciate compact, safe, and stackable packaging, and that is precisely what we get from TBLeague for their twelfth-scale bodies. Each comes in a clear plastic box filled with a white foam trey containing the body and its spare parts and outfit. Unlike the female figures, the top layer, in this instance needlessly obscuring the "sensitive" areas of the body, is here paper, not foam. But everything is safe and collector-friendly.



Sculpting: 3/4 stars
Sculpting refers to both the head sculpts and the molds of the soft silicone-covered stainless-steel seamless bodies. The fit but relatively slender TM01A ("little bro") stands about 15 cm (5.6 inches) tall, while the fit but bulkier TM02A ("big bro") stands about 16 cm (6.3 inches) tall. The two bodies sport similar but not identical head sculpts that are appropriately sized for their respective body. Some have compared the appearance to a young Sylvester Stallone, but the resemblance is distant enough that this could be mere coincidence. The bodies and heads are sculpted in what appears to be greater detail and realism than the female bodies (T01A and T01B) that preceded them, although the facial features are clean enough to look slightly stylized. It would be perhaps unreasonable to expect better in this scale. The same can be said for the sculpt of the body molds, where the soft material also limits the potential range of detail. Nevertheless, in addition to the various appropriate muscles, you can find plenty of finer veins, and this good level of detail carries over to the harder plastic feet and various hands. Despite all the talk of anatomical correctness, the figures not being sex toys, and prior practice (barring the unfortunate M31), TBLeague omitted to provide the pieces that actually make these bodies male. Whether they would have been particularly useful is beside the point, and their absence impacts both the completeness and the look of the set negatively. For some reason (the sculpt of the feet or is it something in the articulation?) the twelfth-scale figures do not balance as easily and as well as their sixth-scale counterparts.





Paint: 3/4 stars

We need not expect very much from this type of set, going by TBLeague's prior record, apart from consistent paint application and a close (though not always perfect) match between the colors of the silicone body and the harder plastic hands, feet, and (in these sets) head sculpts. The nipples continue to be unpainted, but you can always try to make them a bit more realistic yourself, as desired (oil pastel seems best). The one part or the set where there is anything like a more complex paint job is the head sculpt. It would be unreasonable to expect the degree of realism we find in better sixth-scale head sculpts on a piece in twelfth-scale, and TBLeague's twelfth-scale female body came with a disappointingly bland and anime-like head. With the male bodies we get a little more realism than that. The paint application seems pretty clean -- which is generally a good thing in itself, although in this instance it does not really improve the realism of the appearance. Note, for example, the patterned paint application on the eyebrows -- which is of course far less apparent (if at all) in hand. Some other companies, like Hasbro, have begun to experiment with technology which, while utilizing a less clean paint application, has resulted in some more realistic results, which might have been nice to see here.



Articulation: 3/4 stars
Despite the old assumption that seamless bodies sacrifice articulation, TBLeague's sixth-scale stainless-steel silicone-covered seamless bodies are among the best articulated action figure bodies on the market. In principle, this could and should have been carried over to the twelfth-scale, but it is not. Sixth-scale TBLeague bodies boast 28 points of articulation (which appear to be almost as many as one might possibly need); but their twelfth-scale bodies reduce the articulation to 22 points. For the most part it is not quite clear exactly what is being sacrificed, but one definite omission is the ability of the lower arms to swivel inward (or outward) independently of the upper arms/shoulders. To some degree this can be compensated for there, but it remains a limitation and annoyance that gets in the way of the experience. It might be a one-off thing, but the hip and knee joints on the larger body I received were a little looser than expected. It can still stand and pose, but it is loose enough to make me wonder.



Accessories: 3/4 stars
Technically speaking, the sets don't include any actual accessories like weapons or stands. They do include spare parts, namely three alternative pairs of hands, making a total of four pairs: fists, knife grip, gun grip, and outstretched grasping "I'm gonna get you" hands. What is conspicuous in its absence is a pair of relaxed hands, not to mention bent-toe feet. As noted above, the hands and feet are nicely sculpted and painted to match the silicone body cover very closely.



Outfit: 3/4 stars
The only outfit we get are simple black trunks. These work reasonably well, though they are quite difficult to get on the bigger of the two bodies. Technically, we don't even need that much, so perhaps this merits a better score. Not that I've ever really used them, but sixth-scale TBLeague bodies used to come with wrist and ankle covers (and their twelfth-scale female bodies did too), and that is not carried over to these sets. What makes the issue a bit more important, is that there seems to be a wide range of sizes for twelfth-scale figures, and many of the outfits you might want to put on these bodies will turn out to be too bulky or too tight to look right or to work at all. A somewhat more extensive outfit set might have gone some way to address this problem. Finding footwear that works reasonably well with the foot pegs appears to be biggest challenge in cobbling together some customs, judging by my ad hoc experiments so far.



Fun Factor: 3/4 stars
As impressive and "neat" as the recreation of their sixth-scale bodies in a scale twice as small may be, TBLeague's twelfth-scale bodies do not carry quite the same degree of fun factor. To some extent this is inherent (less articulation, less complete sets, smaller size limiting realism), to some extent it is conditioned by external factors (less in the way of accessories, bar those sourced from certain military and superhero lines of toys and/or collectibles). Some of that might change in the future, as twelfth-scale figures are becoming more and more popular, perhaps in part due to the overpricing of sixth-scale ones. Nevertheless, if you get lucky with matching and reasonably fitting head sculpts and clothes, you can probably get plenty of satisfaction from these figures.



Value: 2/4 stars
Give or take a few US dollars, these sets retail for about $40. That is not exorbitant, especially when compared to high-end Mezco One:12 Collective sets, but of course those sets depict characters from licensed franchises and are loaded with accessories and displays. And $40 is a lot more than what you would pay for other, less high-end but still well-articulated and well-accessoried sets from other licensed franchises, and all that for a base body with great seamless looks but no accessories, or clothing, and some difficulty in adopting the latter from other sets.



Things to watch out for
Not a whole lot. The heads, hands, and feet are relatively easy to attach and remove, and the articulation is generally cooperative -- just don't force anything. Also make sure you don't loose or misplace some of the tiny hands or other pieces, although the compact boxes are probably convenient enough for the purposes of storage. As noted above, these figures do not seem to be quite as stable and balanced as their sixth-scale counterparts, although they are also less likely to damaged from a fall, except perhaps from a very tall shelf on a very hard surface, if even then. On the other hand, the internal stainless steel skeleton is bound to be more delicate and fragile than the larger ones, so proceed with a modicum of caution.



Overall: 3/3 stars
Were it not for a few questionable decisions, these could have been great. As it is, they are just good, even if they benefit from novelty value. To fully capitalize on their potential, you have to get lucky with additional items that fit and work with the twelfth-scale seamless bodies, and that is not quite as easy as one might hope. I don't regret getting them, but I don't think they or any other twelfth-scale figures would replace the sixth-scale versions in possibility and quality anytime soon.



Where to buy
Apart from eBay, the following stores (among others) have them in stock or on pre-order.

Big Bad Toys Store (and for the other body HERE) for $40

Cotswold Collectibles (and for the other body HERE) for $45

Hobby Galaxy for $41

Monkey Depot for $45

Timewalker Toys (and for the other body HERE) for $45



I hope this has been useful. And, as always, what do you think?

Update: for a comparison to 1:6 figures, see HERE.

Update: for the female figures T01B and T03B, see HERE.

#tbleague #phicen #seamless #male #body #twelfth #scale #sixinch

I've been curious about these, so I appreciate the detailed and thorough review. I can understand the annoyance that these did not come with 'man parts', though perhaps it was due more to practicality and a concern that these would very easily get lost. But even so, if people can keep track of hands and feet, you'd think they could keep track of other 'bits' as well.

The articulation issues are also unfortunate, though not unexpected based on what some have observed about the female bodies. 

I'm sort of torn about these -- neither of the body shapes they've gone for really 'do' it for me, with the smaller one being TOO short and the other other being too bulky, especially on the legs. I understand why they did this, because most people who will be using these probably want them for superhero type characters, but still...just a tad frustrating from my personal perspective. 

The heads they come with are indeed nicer than the female one, but all of them are imo a little bit undersized. Either way, when compared to their hands, the male heads especially seem tiny. Or maybe it's just the angle / my eyes?? lol. I feel like it's hard to really have a consistent idea of what is 'in-scale' in 1/12, because all the standard lines in that scale tend to vary wildly from each other. 

Of all the heads you tried on, I like the Thor one best.  

You are right that finding clothing for these is tough, and making it oneself seems like it would be 'easy' enough, but is imo in some ways more difficult than 1/6 stuff due to the tiny size. 

Even more difficult than clothing, however, is decent footwear -- I recently managed to get one of the 1/12 female bodies (mainly as an experiment, to satisfy my curiosity), and while I've sort of figured out her basic outfit, I'm probably going to need to create some boots for her by hand, since there is not much if anything suitable out there. 

These and many other factors contribute to my own hesitancy to get too far into this scale... at least, not yet. Maybe it's just me, but I don't actually find the prices to be all that much more 'affordable' than 1/6. Perhaps it's just because my 1/6 focus is quite narrow, so I'm not actually pre-ordering/collecting all that many boxed figures, and tend to spend the majority of my funds for this hobby on bodies, loose parts, and art supplies. 

Which isn't to say I wont get more of the tbleague in this scale -- if my current experiment works out, I may indeed pick up a few more of the female bodies. But I'm still undecided on these male ones. If an idea of how to use them strikes me, then I might just go for it. Til then, I'll hold back on these ones for a bit.

Thanks for the nice review Too bad I don't have extra funds this month to get this and the vampire girl.

They did NOT include the ding dongs! Whyyyyyy hahah! I never figured out how to stick the ding dongs on the original 1/6 scale versions.

Lmao, 1/12th ding-dongs seems like a gap in the market ... someone’s gotta get on that.

skywalkersaga wrote:I've been curious about these, so I appreciate the detailed and thorough review. I can understand the annoyance that these did not come with 'man parts', though perhaps it was due more to practicality and a concern that these would very easily get lost. But even so, if people can keep track of hands and feet, you'd think they could keep track of other 'bits' as well.

You are welcome, glad you found it thorough. As for the missing part, I just suspect they were too selectively prudish or (more likely) too cheap to supply them -- concern about people losing them hardly seems plausible to me. The 1:12 Era Wolfman (i.e., Wolverine), which is also seamless but super difficult to pose, comes with the respective parts sculpted/molded on, much like a World Box body. And whatever the practicality, you don't want to set up a high standard and then fail to live up to it yourself. Whether we're talking about this, or articulation, or anything else.

skywalkersaga wrote:The articulation issues are also unfortunate, though not unexpected based on what some have observed about the female bodies.

Very true, but one could have hoped for a nice surprise or that TBLeague might correct their mistake. Even the smaller male body is larger than their female one, so if the size of the thing was the reason for providing less articulation, that ought to have helped bringing it back. But they have slipped on the same thing (at least where the lower arm is concerned) even with their petite female 1:6 bodies.

skywalkersaga wrote:I'm sort of torn about these -- neither of the body shapes they've gone for really 'do' it for me, with the smaller one being TOO short and the other other being too bulky, especially on the legs. I understand why they did this, because most people who will be using these probably want them for superhero type characters, but still...just a tad frustrating from my personal perspective.

I don't know exactly what you need them for, but in general, as I said above and as you can see in the photo, even the smaller body is taller than the corresponding 1:12 scale female figure. It is certainly fit, though not bulky, so it might do for a more average character. But again, you know what you need/want better than I do. Obviously.

skywalkersaga wrote:The heads they come with are indeed nicer than the female one, but all of them are imo a little bit undersized. Either way, when compared to their hands, the male heads especially seem tiny. Or maybe it's just the angle / my eyes?? lol. I feel like it's hard to really have a consistent idea of what is 'in-scale' in 1/12, because all the standard lines in that scale tend to vary wildly from each other. Of all the heads you tried on, I like the Thor one best.  

Maybe they are a bit on the small side, especially the one that comes with the smaller body. But as you have pointed out, so much in 1:12 scale is inconsistent from one product or line to the next. The good news is that many of the heads out there would work reasonably well -- as for color match, well that depends; Mezco One:12 Collective in particular tends to be paler and more yellowish.

skywalkersaga wrote:You are right that finding clothing for these is tough, and making it oneself seems like it would be 'easy' enough, but is imo in some ways more difficult than 1/6 stuff due to the tiny size. Even more difficult than clothing, however, is decent footwear -- I recently managed to get one of the 1/12 female bodies (mainly as an experiment, to satisfy my curiosity), and while I've sort of figured out her basic outfit, I'm probably going to need to create some boots for her by hand, since there is not much if anything suitable out there.

Very true -- you need not only to make sure they can be put on the feet and look ok, but you actually need them to fit well enough for the figure to be able to stand. I used footwear from two or three sets, and none of it worked well, though I did manage to pull of a couple of photos. Since 1:12 scale is not something where we have had a ton of female characters (especially ones with alternate footwear/feet), I would imagine it would be even more difficult to get those.

skywalkersaga wrote:These and many other factors contribute to my own hesitancy to get too far into this scale... at least, not yet. Maybe it's just me, but I don't actually find the prices to be all that much more 'affordable' than 1/6. Perhaps it's just because my 1/6 focus is quite narrow, so I'm not actually pre-ordering/collecting all that many boxed figures, and tend to spend the majority of my funds for this hobby on bodies, loose parts, and art supplies. Which isn't to say I wont get more of the tbleague in this scale -- if my current experiment works out, I may indeed pick up a few more of the female bodies. But I'm still undecided on these male ones. If an idea of how to use them strikes me, then I might just go for it. Til then, I'll hold back on these ones for a bit.

Well, I don't work for TBLeague (hard as it is to imagine sometimes ), so obviously it is not my intention to push these on you or anyone else -- just to share what I have found out -- the rest is up to you. I, too, appreciate others' reviews and often make my decisions as to whether to buy something on them.

Adeno wrote:Thanks for the nice review Too bad I don't have extra funds this month to get this and the vampire girl.

They did NOT include the ding dongs! Whyyyyyy hahah! I never figured out how to stick the ding dongs on the original 1/6 scale versions.

Thank you and welcome. They are pretty neat, and I suppose they will be available for awhile, so if you still want them, you could get them later. As for how to attach the parts, they were always too shy to explain. If you want something permanent, remove the protective powder on both at the appropriate spots and use silicone glue. If not, remove the protective powder and press them to each other tightly, and hope for the vacuum and stickiness to provide a reasonably good, if very impermanent, hold.

skywalkersaga wrote:Lmao, 1/12th ding-dongs seems like a gap in the market ... someone’s gotta get on that.

You kid, but I wouldn't be surprised if someone does that. They actually did exactly that when TBLeague "forgot" to include said parts with their unfortunate (for other reasons, too) M31.

Detailed review. I dipped my toe in the 1/12 pool with the first figures from TBL, but that’s as far as my experimenting will go (at least until Mezco finally puts out Bluto to go with Popeye). These are just too small, and the detail lacking, for me to justify the expense.

Stryker2011 wrote:Detailed review. I dipped my toe in the 1/12 pool with the first figures from TBL, but that’s as far as my experimenting will go (at least until Mezco finally puts out Bluto to go with Popeye). These are just too small, and the detail lacking, for me to justify the expense.

Thanks. I agree overall, although some examples can still impress. Apart from maybe half a dozen figures, the only 1:12 scale line I have frequently looked into is the Hasbro Star Wars black series, and even that fairly selectively.

Great review!!! Hope they can nail the headsculpt in future....the faces quality like this right now is not my favorite yet....I rather sticking on 1/6 for now....    

I do consider to get this scale for outdoor shooting, it should be easier to carry and bring more figures with one backpack.... but you did mention the articulation is somehow limited more than 1/6, that hurts my balls...

Yes, ding-dongs missing...I want it even I don't need it...but yeah....they still have a lot of big things to improve...

lawlaw91 wrote:Great review!!! Hope they can nail the headsculpt in future....the faces quality like this right now is not my favorite yet....I rather sticking on 1/6 for now....    

I do consider to get this scale for outdoor shooting, it should be easier to carry and bring more figures with one backpack.... but you did mention the articulation is somehow limited more than 1/6, that hurts my balls...

Yes, ding-dongs missing...I want it even I don't need it...but yeah....they still have a lot of big things to improve...

Thank you, glad you liked it. As far as the head sculpts are concerned, yes, they might be able to improve on them somewhat, but I doubt we'll ever reach the level of detail we get on 1/6 scale in something twice as small. TBLeague (Phicen) has rarely based their sculpts on actual people (some exceptions exist, like Halle Berry and Steve Reeves) even in 1/6 scale. I suspect the more limited availability of 1/12 scale clothes and accessories is also going to hamper this scale from becoming a viable alternative, although recent months have witnessed an increased interest (and, correspondingly, output) in that scale.

GubernatorFan wrote:

lawlaw91 wrote:Great review!!! Hope they can nail the headsculpt in future....the faces quality like this right now is not my favorite yet....I rather sticking on 1/6 for now....    

I do consider to get this scale for outdoor shooting, it should be easier to carry and bring more figures with one backpack.... but you did mention the articulation is somehow limited more than 1/6, that hurts my balls...

Yes, ding-dongs missing...I want it even I don't need it...but yeah....they still have a lot of big things to improve...

Thank you, glad you liked it. As far as the head sculpts are concerned, yes, they might be able to improve on them somewhat, but I doubt we'll ever reach the level of detail we get on 1/6 scale in something twice as small. TBLeague (Phicen) has rarely based their sculpts on actual people (some exceptions exist, like Halle Berry and Steve Reeves) even in 1/6 scale. I suspect the more limited availability of 1/12 scale clothes and accessories is also going to hamper this scale from becoming a viable alternative, although recent months have witnessed an increased interest (and, correspondingly, output) in that scale.

I believe they soon will come out something fancy such as "Nanotech" or super tiny sculpt skill.....TBL is doing more Anime/Drawing style heads, I think they might not go deeper to make realistic faces.....I should wait another third parties to do headsculpts....and outfits too...

lawlaw91 wrote:I believe they soon will come out something fancy such as "Nanotech" or super tiny sculpt skill.....TBL is doing more Anime/Drawing style heads, I think they might not go deeper to make realistic faces.....I should wait another third parties to do headsculpts....and outfits too...

Well, one of your best options for finding 1:12 scale heads and outfit material would be Mezco One:12 Collective, because some or all of their outfits and accessories are removable. When it comes to head sculpts there are quite a few options, especially now that Coo Model (Palm Empire series) and DAM Toys (with modern military figures), among others, are getting into this scale. Great Twins (T-800 terminator) and 12:Era (Wolfman, i.e., Wolverine) also have sets with removable outfits. And some of the lower-end or more mass-produced Hasbro figures have head sculpts that work out very well (for example the Hasbro Infinity War Black Widow head on the TBLeague 1:12 scale female seamless body).

Do keep in mind that even if something is fittable/wearable, it might not work well -- a head might be out of proportion or with different skin tone or shinier than the body, or the shoes might go on but be so loose that the body could not stand and keep its balance in them (I stuffed foamie bits in them to get a better fit, and even so it was a big challenge).

Dang it — I just tried the 1/12 tbleague female body next to a 6 inch male figure , and she’s too tall next to him. ;_;

Gutted, as otherwise my plan was sooo close to working. I’m not even sure that using these tbleague male bodies would help, as she’s still a lil tall next to them. Now I’m wondering if the CooModel 1/12 bodies are any taller.

Are there such things as ankle extenders in this scale?

skywalkersaga wrote:Dang it — I just tried the 1/12 tbleague female body next to a 6 inch male figure , and she’s too tall next to him. ;_;

Gutted, as otherwise my plan was sooo close to working. I’m not even sure that using these tbleague male bodies would help, as she’s still a lil tall next to them. Now I’m wondering if the CooModel 1/12 bodies are any taller.

Are there such things as ankle extenders in this scale?

Hmmm, I suppose you mean she looks relatively tall rather than taller, but it still doesn't work for your purposes. Extenders -- if they exist or when they exist -- might help, if they work with the outfit. Or are you going for beach Anakin and Padme again?

Haha, I guess I’m not too subtle. What can I say, a girl’s gotta have her matching figures in different scales. ;’D

But in all seriousness, I’m open to making other characters with the body, but either way I was hoping to use it alongside the few Black Series figures I have, and I guess if she’s nearly as tall as most of the male characters, that kind of limits which characters she could be used for. Unless I want to just say ‘f*ck it’, and not care about height issues in this case. But I think it would probably bother me ...

skywalkersaga wrote:Haha, I guess I’m not too subtle. What can I say, a girl’s gotta have her matching figures in different scales. ;’D But in all seriousness, I’m open to making other characters with the body, but either way I was hoping to use it alongside the few Black Series figures I have, and I guess if she’s nearly as tall as most of the male characters, that kind of limits which characters she could be used for. Unless I want to just say ‘f*ck it’, and not care about height issues in this case. But I think it would probably bother me ...

Well... she is taller than Black Series Luke...

Ah, so frustrating. Well, it’s not the fault of these 1/12 tbleague bodies, which remain pretty nice products for they are. I really should’ve checked about exact dimensions, first. She just looked so tiny to me in the pics that it didn’t seem like it would be an issue. I guess if I can find a way to make a custom 1/12 Anakin on a taller body, then that would solve the problem.