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TBLeague / Phicen T03B 1:12 seamless female body and friends

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GubernatorFan

GubernatorFan
Founding Father
body - TBLeague / Phicen T03B 1:12 seamless female body and friends T03b0110

Introduction
TBLeague (formerly Phicen) has recently released its second 1/12 scale female seamless body (that is not part of a boxed set per se), and made it available in pale (T03A) and suntan (T03B) versions. The present review is focused on T03B, with a partial comparison to the previously released T01B. I've already reviewed the male figures HERE.

body - TBLeague / Phicen T03B 1:12 seamless female body and friends T03b0210

Packaging - 4/4 stars
Something I really liked about TBLeague's 1/12 figure packaging is how compact it was, in relatively small and sturdy plastic boxes with foam sheets to secure everything inside. This is still the case, except that the box is significantly larger than those that came with their previous 1/12 bodies. This is due mostly to the inclusion of additional items, most notably the base/stand, although I wonder whether a more compact package might not have been attainable. Still, the box and its several layers of foam keep everything snug and collector friendly. The instruction/warning sheet ("introduction") is located all the way at the bottom, beneath the last layer of foam.

body - TBLeague / Phicen T03B 1:12 seamless female body and friends T03b0310

Sculpting - 4/4 stars
T03B (and its paler counterpart T03A) stands just over 5.5 in (14 cm) tall, which is a little bit shorter than its predecessor T01B, which was about 5.75 in (15 cm) tall. T03B sports a more curvaceous body type and generally looks even better proportioned than its predecessor. The sculpting is very good and precise, something remarkably given the scale and silicone material. The same is true for the head sculpt, which looks much better than the rather bland and anime sculpt that came with T01B -- or it would, if had been professionally painted, but more on that below.

body - TBLeague / Phicen T03B 1:12 seamless female body and friends T03b0410

Paint - 1/4 stars
The silicone body and the harder plastic hands and feet, as well as the head sculpt, are given an even female suntan color. This is very good in itself, and as usual notably lighter than the male suntan (compare T03B to TM01A and TM02A). If there is any special coloring on the nipples and "secret woman parts," it is so subtle that I'm not sure I can really tell it is there. But what really hurts this category is the unpainted head sculpt. If they are going to include a head sculpt (and reflect that in the pricing), they ought to paint it, as they have done beautifully before for their boxed sets (I'm using one of them for the T01B body, but even the bland anime head that came with was given a nicely executed precise paint job). Paint a 1/6-scale head well is challenge enough, but doing that to a 1/12-head is almost a cruel joke. I can't claim to have done very well with it, but it gets the job done and is reversible (I didn't seal the acrylics and can easily scrape them off and start again). There are a couple of silver linings -- the basic color of the harder plastic head (and hair pieces) matches the body and the hands and feet, so you do not have to worry about matching the skin tone; and the hair pieces come off, allowing you to paint them thoroughly, and to expose the face completely so that you could paint it more easily (in relative terms).

body - TBLeague / Phicen T03B 1:12 seamless female body and friends T03b0510

Articulation - 3/4 stars
Like its predecessor and its male counterparts, T03B is remarkably well articulated for its size, but less well articulated than its 1/6-scale counterparts. That is not surprising in itself, but it can be disappointing, especially in relation to the apparent inability to achieve normal inwards motion with the lower arms. The instruction sheet claims otherwise, and you can get part way there by adjusting the arms from the shoulders, but it is not quite as effective. This is an issue with all TBLeague 1/12-scale bodies. Part of the answer may be provided by the diagram included in the "introduction" (instructions/warning) sheet, which shows that the body's active joints (in fact it makes me wonder whether there is a full stainless steel skeleton in there). You can see it in the photo under the "Things to watch out for" category.

body - TBLeague / Phicen T03B 1:12 seamless female body and friends T03b0610

Accessories - 3/4 stars
T03B comes with pairs of relaxed hands and flat feet attached, plus knife grip and pistol grip hands, as well as heel feet for swapping. Why there isn't a pair of first I don't know. There is also a stand, which constitutes a fine but pretty plain metal (?) circular base to which you can attach an adjustable bendable segmented rod with an adjustable clamp at the end. It is nice, but you can usually get the figure to stand on its own without too much trouble.

body - TBLeague / Phicen T03B 1:12 seamless female body and friends T03b0710

Outfit - 3/4 stars
This is a basic body and the inclusion of any outfit should be considered an option, a bonus of sorts. And so it is, but perhaps because of the greater scarcity of 1/12-scale garments that might fit, TBLeague has included at least some minimal clothing for all its 1/12-scale bodies so far. This is no exception, but whereas earlier sets included clothing made of cloth, T03B comes with clothing made of soft, stretchy plastic. This includes a two-piece bathing suit (red in this set, yellow with the pale T03A set), with matching wrist and ankle bands (which would help hide the joints between the seamless body and the removable hands and feet, but generally look a little silly). I'm not sure I'm loving this choice, but the pieces definitely look better cut and tailored than the cloth garments that came with T01B.

body - TBLeague / Phicen T03B 1:12 seamless female body and friends T03b0810

Fun Factor - 3/4 stars
With another female and two male seamless bodies in this scale already out there, the new release by TBLeague has natural playmates for your shelf or scene. The unpainted head sculpt and slightly restricted articulation (lower arms) are annoyances, but this is still a good figure that lends itself to customization -- you might have plans to use another head anyway. Finding clothing (especially clothing that will fit well) in this scale would be a bigger challenge than in 1/6 scale, and to some extent the same may be true for accessories and diorama pieces.

body - TBLeague / Phicen T03B 1:12 seamless female body and friends T03b0910

Value - 2/4 stars
Retailing at about $40 (USD), this is not a cheap base body, but then again it is seamless, very poseable, and has at least basic clothing (even if made of stretchy plastic), as well as a stand. Yet, we paid the same price for its predecessors, and although they did not come with a stand, they had finely painted head sculpts (whether we liked them or not) and actual cloth for the items of clothing. I don't know about you, but I would have preferred that over the stand.

body - TBLeague / Phicen T03B 1:12 seamless female body and friends T03b1010

Things to watch out for
Not a whole lot. Do heat up the hands and feet before swapping, and take care to not overstretch or twist the thinner parts of the stretchy plastic outfit. It might not snap very easily, but it might stretch out of shape and look off if you overdo it. I would also be careful when trying to achieve inward motion for the lower arms -- avoid forcing it, lest something snaps. Do check out the "introduction" (instruction/warning) leaflet at the very bottom of the box under all the foam layers.

body - TBLeague / Phicen T03B 1:12 seamless female body and friends T03b1110

Overall - 3/4 stars
TBLeague has produced another well articulated and attractive product in this small scale. It is not perfect and not as good as its 1/6-scale counterparts, but it is likely to take care of your seamless needs in 1/12 scale just fine -- for female figures anyway (these are more complete than the male sets). My only real disappointments here are the unpainted head sculpt (which is otherwise very nice) and the continued limited articulation of the lower arms.

body - TBLeague / Phicen T03B 1:12 seamless female body and friends T03b1210

Where to buy?
(NOTE: some of these are currently on Pre-Order)

Big Bad Toy Store for $40 (pale version HERE)

Cotswold Collectibles for $45 (pale version HERE)

Monkey Depot for $45

Timewalker Toys for $44 (pale version HERE)

I hope this has been helpful. What do you think?

#female #seamless #body #twelfth #scale #tbleague #phicen


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skywalkersaga

skywalkersaga
Another excellent review, thanks for this! Smile  I didn't rush out to get one of these after my frustrations with 1/12 as a scale in recent times, but I was nonetheless curious about them. The curvy shape is nice, and I think I could definitely use one of these for a character or two. I'm happy to see they are a bit shorter than the others.... that actually makes me a lot more tempted to go for one. 

I agree with you about the unpainted headsculpt -- it's a frustrating choice. Though I do like the fact that at least the hair is removable, which makes painting and/or customizing it in other ways much easier. But painting faces, especially eyes, at this scale is incredibly difficult, so I'm not looking forward to that part, lol. 

For what it's worth, you did a great job painting yours. She's really cute! :')


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"The happy ending of the fairy tale, the myth, and the divine comedy of the soul, is to be read,
not as a contradiction, but as a transcendence of the universal tragedy of man."

Ignoring current 'official' Star Wars content for my own sanity.

Stryker2011

Stryker2011
Founding Father
I think you did a good job. If I have one gripe about the head sculpt, it’s that they seem undersized for the bodies on both of the female figures. The male head sculpts seem appropriately proportioned.


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Mark

He who dies with the most toys wins!

body - TBLeague / Phicen T03B 1:12 seamless female body and friends C8485110

skywalkersaga

skywalkersaga
Completely agree with you on that, Stryker. I have the first 1/12 body, and I got a loose 1/12 Arkhalla Queen headsculpt to go with it, and even that one is also quite undersized, imo.


_________________
"The happy ending of the fairy tale, the myth, and the divine comedy of the soul, is to be read,
not as a contradiction, but as a transcendence of the universal tragedy of man."

Ignoring current 'official' Star Wars content for my own sanity.

Rogerbee

Rogerbee
Founding Father

Not bad, they actually look a little better in arms down poses than their 1/6 counterparts do.

skywalkersaga

skywalkersaga
Roger — most of the 1/6 tbleague bodies I own look fine with the arms down. But then , I mainly have the more petite female bodies (s25b and a27b). That said, even the few ‘normal’ sized female bodies I have aren’t bad in that regard. The only 1/6 female tbleague bodies that look awkward in the shoulder and armpit areas are the ones with too-wide shoulders, imo.


_________________
"The happy ending of the fairy tale, the myth, and the divine comedy of the soul, is to be read,
not as a contradiction, but as a transcendence of the universal tragedy of man."

Ignoring current 'official' Star Wars content for my own sanity.

Rogerbee

Rogerbee
Founding Father

This sort of shows what I mean, on the left is what Phicen do and on the right is how it should be:

body - TBLeague / Phicen T03B 1:12 seamless female body and friends Drawin10

GubernatorFan

GubernatorFan
Founding Father
skywalkersaga wrote:Another excellent review, thanks for this! Smile  I didn't rush out to get one of these after my frustrations with 1/12 as a scale in recent times, but I was nonetheless curious about them. The curvy shape is nice, and I think I could definitely use one of these for a character or two. I'm happy to see they are a bit shorter than the others.... that actually makes me a lot more tempted to go for one. 

I agree with you about the unpainted headsculpt -- it's a frustrating choice. Though I do like the fact that at least the hair is removable, which makes painting and/or customizing it in other ways much easier. But painting faces, especially eyes, at this scale is incredibly difficult, so I'm not looking forward to that part, lol. 

For what it's worth, you did a great job painting yours. She's really cute! :')

Thank you very much, and I'm glad you found it useful.

Stryker2011 wrote:I think you did a good job. If I have one gripe about the head sculpt, it’s that they seem undersized for the bodies on both of the female figures. The male head sculpts seem appropriately proportioned.

skywalkersaga wrote:Completely agree with you on that, Stryker. I have the first 1/12 body, and I got a loose 1/12 Arkhalla Queen headsculpt to go with it, and even that one is also quite undersized, imo.

I think you are both on to something. I got the Captain Sparta head sculpt specifically to use with this body (figuring that I couldn't paint the head as finely as TBLeague can, and that it would fit their own bodies well). But it looked very undersized on the T03B, and slightly better on the T01B. Some of this is due to the short hair style, but some of it is just the small size of the head...

Rogerbee wrote:
Not bad, they actually look a little better in arms down poses than their 1/6 counterparts do.

Now that you mention it, I think I agree; of course, some of this is in the posing, some of it in the mold -- this is a curvier body, and I suppose the muscular male ones are too; the traditional TBLeague female (and their first 1/12 attempt) were both thin and lanky, so the effect might have been exaggerated.


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Adeno


Very good and informative review! The reason why I didn't get these was the unpainted head. My painting skills match that of a 6 year old child... who has no interest in painting lol! I hope they go back to actually painting the heads next time.

Although I'm not a fan of the sculpted hair, I guess it's quite understandable since they're small and their hairstyle is short. Using the realistic hair thing on a short haircut will have a tendency to look like they're crazy. They also probably didn't want to put holes on the head where the hair would come out from.


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skywalkersaga

skywalkersaga
The worst thing about undersized heads (from my perspective) is that they make the already oversized busts look even bigger. Razz


_________________
"The happy ending of the fairy tale, the myth, and the divine comedy of the soul, is to be read,
not as a contradiction, but as a transcendence of the universal tragedy of man."

Ignoring current 'official' Star Wars content for my own sanity.

Ovy

Ovy
You sure had some fun posing! Very Happy

Great review. I was sure the headsculpt would be painted, though. 
But I have no use for those smaller seamless bodies... fortunately? Very Happy I mean you could do a lot. Some cloth, some hockey tape and some Star Wars guns to make rebels. Maybe some oil pastels for alien characters. But I better forget that idea right now!

Diana

Diana
Nice review! Thank you!

I really like this body now. I just... want to reduce my purchases... and this would lead to me purchasing a bunch of acrylics and brushes and... fabrics and...

@Ovy! Don't put ideas into my head!

skywalkersaga

skywalkersaga
LOL, Diana...that's how I found myself in the current mess I'm in. And I mean actual, literal mess. So many craft supplies I don't know where to put them all. Laughing

Ovy -- you don't need to put ideas in my head in that regard, since I'm already planning on doing just that! Wink


_________________
"The happy ending of the fairy tale, the myth, and the divine comedy of the soul, is to be read,
not as a contradiction, but as a transcendence of the universal tragedy of man."

Ignoring current 'official' Star Wars content for my own sanity.

GubernatorFan

GubernatorFan
Founding Father
Adeno wrote:Very good and informative review! The reason why I didn't get these was the unpainted head. My painting skills match that of a 6 year old child... who has no interest in painting lol! I hope they go back to actually painting the heads next time.

Although I'm not a fan of the sculpted hair, I guess it's quite understandable since they're small and their hairstyle is short. Using the realistic hair thing on a short haircut will have a tendency to look like they're crazy. They also probably didn't want to put holes on the head where the hair would come out from.

Well, I can't blame you, I was very unwilling to give it a try, but the other head I had handy would have looked very undersized so I had to suck it up and paint this head. I used sharp toothpicks, but there's got to be something better. There may be another way to hair these heads, but it might not be economically viable for a company.

skywalkersaga wrote:The worst thing about undersized heads (from my perspective) is that they make the already oversized busts look even bigger. Razz

I don't think you're wrong on that.

Ovy wrote:You sure had some fun posing! Very Happy Great review. I was sure the headsculpt would be painted, though. But I have no use for those smaller seamless bodies... fortunately? Very Happy I mean you could do a lot. Some cloth, some hockey tape and some Star Wars guns to make rebels. Maybe some oil pastels for alien characters. But I better forget that idea right now!

Sounds like you could have plenty of use for these... Smile Too late, now the cat is out of the bag. And thank you. Actually they gave me a bit of a Jersey Shore vibe as I was posing them together.

AerynDiana wrote:Nice review! Thank you! I really like this body now. I just... want to reduce my purchases... and this would lead to me purchasing a bunch of acrylics and brushes and... fabrics and...

@Ovy! Don't put ideas into my head!

You are welcome and thank you. Well, better get something you like than something else...

skywalkersaga wrote:LOL, Diana...that's how I found myself in the current mess I'm in. And I mean actual, literal mess. So many craft supplies I don't know where to put them all. Laughing

Ovy -- you don't need to put ideas in my head in that regard, since I'm already planning on doing just that! Wink

Somehow I knew Ovy would be a troublemaker... Smile But we'll probably thank him in the end for all the inspiration. Smile


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skywalkersaga

skywalkersaga
GF -- toothpicks are definitely a must for painting at smaller scales...especially for those who have unsteady hands like me, *sob*. I use them for painting certain small details on 1/6 heads, too. 

I guess another potential tool could be those mini q-tips, though admittedly I've only ever tried them on 1/6 heads, so perhaps they aren't quite small enough for 1/12. 

If you prime the head first with something that would give it a bit of 'tooth', you could also potentially use a finely sharpened watercolour pencil in certain areas, though you'd have to then finish it with either a spray varnish, or carefully applied brush-on varnish.


_________________
"The happy ending of the fairy tale, the myth, and the divine comedy of the soul, is to be read,
not as a contradiction, but as a transcendence of the universal tragedy of man."

Ignoring current 'official' Star Wars content for my own sanity.

Diana

Diana
GubernatorFan wrote:Well, better get something you like than something else...
That logic is unshakeable. Must go buy something NOW! Laughing Wink

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