TBLeague / Phicen M35 updated (photo heavy)

I just had to try this before putting the body away.

WOW . . . that's a lot to unpack.

I don't know, but I have this sudden craving for a foot long or maybe a kielbasa.

I really need to get some M35s, but my only caveat is . . . a bigger/longer junk was a missed opportunity.

Thanks, DFC! And LOL. I am not sure why you keep supposing that M35 is in any way insufficiently provided for.

Don’t they shrink with steroid abuse? Or is that a myth?

LOL @Stryker. Interesting point. And, one might add, they are said to not always be proportional to the rest of the body's size and proportions.

GubernatorFan wrote:they are said to not always be proportional to the rest of the body's size and proportions.

That’s what she said.

Don’t they shrink with steroid abuse? Or is that a myth? Razz

well' the testicles do shrink due to the testosterone level being far beyond normal. no need for the body to produce its own
tiny amount in comparison. the rest stays the same though, even benefits from the testosterone if you catch my meaning. plus once you're off the cicle and the natural production switches back on, they grow back to normal size, while you lose a lot of expensive muscle mass..... never heard a big guy complaining about tiny balls instead of tiny *insert muscular body part here* though, so guess whats more important

Tjolnir wrote:

Don’t they shrink with steroid abuse? Or is that a myth? Razz

well' the testicles do shrink due to the testosterone level being far beyond normal. no need for the body to produce its own
tiny amount in comparison. the rest stays the same though, even benefits from the testosterone of you catch my meaning. plus once you're off the cicle and the natural production switches back on, they grow back to normal size, while you lose a lot of expensive muscle mass..... never heard a big guy complaining about tiny balls instead of tiny *insert muscular body part here* though, so guess whats more important

--

GOLLY!

The things you learn in 1:6 discussion groups!

I was going to say the same thing, DFC... Thanks for clearing this up, Tjolnir, slightly disconcerting as it might be.

"The things you learn in 1:6 discussion groups"

well we want to display our figures as accurate as possible after all, don´t we


the figure is a no brainer for me, as soon as my wallet is ready for it of course.

next i hope for an accurate 1/6 markus rühl

Tjolnir wrote:next i hope for an accurate 1/6 markus rühl

So, shorter, bumpier, and veinier?
If you are looking to make Markus in particular or some other current bodybuilder, that would make good sense indeed. I get these (theoretically) for ancient warriors and the like, so I actually appreciate that they are not super muscled or veiny (though M35 certainly steps into that category). In fact, I am looking forward to a revisited M33 (with a greater unaided height -- no silly hard plastic ankle additions), and of course (is this ever going to happen) different skin tones. Similarly with the female bodies, though there at least they seem to be doing some petites already.

Hopefully it's just a matter of time before we get something other than pale and suntan. I mean, at the very least, TBL could do a Grace Jones "wannabe", which would still fall within their niche of near-naked hot women.

Stryker2011 wrote:Hopefully it's just a matter of time before we get something other than pale and suntan. I mean, at the very least, TBL could do a Grace Jones "wannabe", which would still fall within their niche of near-naked hot women.

I agree completely, but I am afraid we'd have to wait for a boxed set. Now that I'm experimenting with painting the seamless bodies with oil pastels, I picked up a couple of black heads to try to match. But when I was looking at the offerings, they were all male. The only 1/6 scale female black head sculpt (unless you count the old, rare, and quite light-skinned Phicen Halle Berry -- and I am not counting Barbies) is the Threezero Michonne, with the problematic hair. Since I am not at all attached to that character or show, I wasn't ready to go for that (and in fact don't recall coming across it). My point is that, apart from TBLeague's other priorities, at present there don't seem to be many (not to say any) female black head sculpts out there that could be matched with any potential female black seamless bodies (and, besides, the range of skin tones is quite large and matching may be a big problem even if there were some). That's why, at least at the beginning, it would have to be a boxed set, with a matching head and all.

Actually if you just look under "1/6 female head sculpts", I've seen two AA female heads that look to be custom made; they aren't all that inexpensive, and you have to go through page after page of the usual suspects to find them, but they are out there. But as you said, without a body to match them to, it seemed rather odd that someone would offer them. I guess if you wanted a jointed body, painting those isn't all that complicated (I've done the exposed parts of a jointed body with no problems).

Stryker2011 wrote:Actually if you just look under "1/6 female head sculpts", I've seen two AA female heads that look to be custom made; they aren't all that inexpensive, and you have to go through page after page of the usual suspects to find them, but they are out there.

Do you mean the Mia and Jonae custom head sculpts? Not really ready to buy them, least of all at those prices.

Fantastic review GF. All of your points and rankings are spot on. I like how you docked TBL over the nipples. Really, how difficult would that be for them to do?

If I had to pick anything, my fave thing about M35 is the slightly lighter colour. It just looks so much better than the others in a line up, and its muscular and vascular definition are easier to notice and appreciate.

I've had a few 'bounce back' issues with the silicone when posing. For instance when curling the arms up into a bicep display, the forearms tend to pop back down due to all that silicone. Pretty minor issue really.

I wonder what M36 will be.

So, shorter, bumpier, and veinier?

there you go, now i learned something new =) never checked his height, but yeah he seems only 1,78m, roughly 5´8" in height.

rather thought of a fist of the north star raider build with his physique in mind, you know the kind where humungus from mad max still looks to "skinny"  

still a bit on the post apocalyptic vibe right now.

MarkEl wrote:Fantastic review GF.  All of your points and rankings are spot on.  I like how you docked TBL over the nipples.  ... I've had a few 'bounce back' issues with the silicone when posing.  For instance when curling the arms up into a bicep display, the forearms tend to pop back down due to all that silicone.  Pretty minor issue really.

Thank you very much MarkEl! And I agree. As I wrote in the review, arguably a real person can only flex so far if they have muscle mass this bulky.

Tjolnir wrote:There you go, now i learned something new =) never checked his height, but yeah he seems only 1,78m, roughly 5´8" in height. Rather thought of a fist of the north star raider build with his physique in mind, you know the kind where humungus from mad max still looks to "skinny"  

I had to look it up too -- the name rang a bell but I didn't remember any details. There is something to be said for super musculature, although there you might as well have a significantly larger size (like for a Hulk). My personal priority is (generally) more realistic (therefore more average to ideal) people.

Paint matching and first examples of imperfection

I was asked about the paint I used to match the skin tone of the M35 body in the cases where I customized. So here is a mini presentation.

I use Vallejo acrylic paints when I can. My first attempts (over a year ago) ended up either too pinkish or too yellowish. This time around I mixed Cork Brown with smaller amounts of Dark Vermillion and Iraqui Sand.



Phicen's male suntan is in fact pretty tan (unlike the female versions, especially the "new"). Depending on the amount of the paints you mix, you will end up with a color close to, slightly darker than, or slightly lighter than the actual skin tone of the body (this can also depend on the light you use; my task lights tend to exaggerate color differences). I tried it out a few times, and at least some of my results were spot on. Then I ruined everything by applying Vallejo's matte varnish, which was not nearly matte enough. Then I repainted everything. With the multiple layers of paint (I was too lazy to remove them and start from scratch), the surface remained soft enough to be easily scratched when accidentally hit or scraped by other hard objects. So more repainting was required. Unable to match the previous coat perfectly, I had to repaint the whole head rather than just the damaged areas. And now I have to be more careful. With so many layers of brushed-on paint, the head acquired more texture which is (or at least I am telling myself it is) a good thing, considering the much shinier smoother surface I had started with. Call it weathered or aged or realistic.



Finally, I've encountered the first minor quality problems with this body. Both are hopefully going to be rare. In one instance, the hole on one of the feet is apparently slightly enlarged (possibly damaged) and the foot comes off the ankle peg far too easily. That can possibly be repaired by applying some coating of clear parts cement (I learned that trick from DFC) or other glue to tighten the fit; at any rate I have permanently relegated one of the M35 bodies to my custom Conan, and can borrow the feet he's not using.

In the other instance, I discovered a tiny hole just above the right elbow on one of the M35 bodies. I don't know when or how that appeared. The natural suspicion is that the skeleton poked the hole from the inside, although I don't think the male stainless steel skeletons have a sharp enough part right there, and can't really feel it by touch. I am not going to worry about it, since my experience flaying a Phicen/TBLeague silicone seamless body confirmed that these are quite resilient and even if we encounter tears, they are probably not going to open up much by themselves.



Hope this is informative.

Damn man, that's a hell of a review. I loved all the pics. Not only were they a ton of fun, but really show off the versatility of this body. And seeing it side by side, you really do show the difference from the M34. I think I need to swap my Conan out to the M35, and then the old M34 will go to a custom Thor I want to do. And I'll definitely need one of these for a truly hulking wastelander.

ReverendSpooky wrote:Damn man, that's a hell of a review.  I loved all the pics.  Not only were they a ton of fun, but really show off the versatility of this body.  And seeing it side by side, you really do show the difference from the M34.  I think I need to swap my Conan out to the M35, and then the old M34 will go to a custom Thor I want to do.  And I'll definitely need one of these for a truly hulking wastelander.  

Thank you very much, ReverendSpooky! Glad you liked it. Conan does look better with an M35 (though technically M34 wasn't under-muscled for him), but why doesn't Thor deserve one too (I assume you saw my Set 6 of the first posting above). Without being completely perfect, these super flexible seamless bodies are pretty damn awesome.

I used the 34 for my Conan because I knew the pants would have been difficult/impossible to get on the 35 (mine should be here tomorrow), and the 34 looks perfect with just the upper half exposed. The 35 is going full nude (junk and all) for Lady Death’s plaything.

Stryker2011 wrote:The 35 is going full nude (junk and all) for Lady Death’s plaything.

--

I salute the M35.

Given Lady Death is a personification of "death", etc.

I suspect the M35 will go down rigid and stiff while he expires while turning rigid and stiff and with a smile on his face.

Stryker, don't you know better than riling up DFC?
I wish I could report to you on how the Conan pants fit on M35 (if at all), but I did not attempt this look. The one photo above that looks like he is wearing them (based on how he appeared in that scene in the film) is purposefully cropped so that you can't see that he's not wearing those pants. After lacing up the boots and everything, I really didn't feel like undoing everything to try getting these pants on. That does not mean they don't fit. I know they did fit on M34, though I don't recall how easily.
PS: I am assuming you are referring to the pants that came with the first barbarian fantasy warrior from Kaustic Plastik.

Yep. I should have known better than to feed Chung’s pervy side.

And yes, I’m referring to the Kaustic pants; it was a tight fit even on the 34, the 35 would probably require some serious work, and a lot of swearing, to get them on over those thighs.

Stryker2011 wrote:And yes, I’m referring to the Kaustic pants; it was a tight fit even on the 34, the 35 would probably require some serious work, and a lot of swearing, to get them on over those thighs.

Patience and swearing seem to be two of the most important tools for our hobby.

GubernatorFan wrote:

ReverendSpooky wrote:Damn man, that's a hell of a review.  I loved all the pics.  Not only were they a ton of fun, but really show off the versatility of this body.  And seeing it side by side, you really do show the difference from the M34.  I think I need to swap my Conan out to the M35, and then the old M34 will go to a custom Thor I want to do.  And I'll definitely need one of these for a truly hulking wastelander.  

Thank you very much, ReverendSpooky! Glad you liked it. Conan does look better with an M35 (though technically M34 wasn't under-muscled for him), but why doesn't Thor deserve one too (I assume you saw my Set 6 of the first posting above). Without being completely perfect, these super flexible seamless bodies are pretty damn awesome.

What's up GubernatorFan, you getting a cut of those M35 sales!? Lol.

No, I really do love all of the phicen stuff, and they've been a real game changer for me. And like you said, the M34 isn't necessarily under muscled. I think the M35 just conveys even more intensity. For Thor, he's huge, but he's a god, so a lot of his strength is kinda magical. And he's a bit laid back in a lot of ways, until he needs to get serious. But for Conan, a huge part of his character is just this crazy intensity. Howard always described him like a giant jungle cat, tense and ready to strike. So I think that the M35 more conveys that tense, rippling physique, in a way that isn't as necessary on Thor, or at least not in the same way.

ReverendSpooky wrote:What's up GubernatorFan, you getting a cut of those M35 sales!?  Lol.  

Alas, no. I have no contact/influence with or rewards from TBLeague. If I did, I might have seen to more improvements and variations.

But, yes, if you are keeping to just one M34 and one M35, I can't fault your logic. I couldn't stop at one. And since I will be trying out color modification on actual bodies soon, I think I need to get even more.

GubernatorFan wrote:I couldn't stop at one.

--

No kidding.

When it comes to PHICEN / TBLeague, no one can stop at just one.

M34, M35, and female seamless bodies: "Please.  Please.  Can we be put back into our boxes?  It's so boring just being displayed nude on the computer desk without any clothing."

Me: "Silence!  You'll just stay as is and like it!"