NEW PRODUCT: TBLeague：1/6 Spartan Army Commander Spartan Army Commander (3 models in total) PL2020-165A/B/C）

A Warning To The Curious:

I just got my two pairs of loose sandals - turns out these are incredibly flimsy. So flimsy that one connecting strap snapped just by handling it, before I even tried to put one of the feet in there. It can be repaired, I guess, but that's hardly the point.

That isn't even the worst thing about these, though - both pairs of sandals are big, and possibly through some kind of precognition I got one pair of this model's feet to match them just in case. They were the huge Frankenstein's monster clod-hoppers you usually get with the S28/29 and S38/39 (and if I didn't know better I'd think they were actually from a male figure).  

Now those feet look clunky enough on the bodies they're intended for, so just imagine them on the less bulky S23 that this set seems to use. I sincerely hope these feet aren't about to become TBL 'standard' size or something (it wouldn't surprise me considering how eager they seem to be to push those seamless-footed models).

If this is how they're going to tackle sandal-type footwear in future, it pains me to say that they should just stick with the old moulded-on and painted method.


EDIT: Looking more closely again at the promo pics over the page, you can actually see that they are the bigger feet - the bulky leg armour is subtly offsetting their enormousness, so I may be over-reacting ... but unfortunately I wanted these as ordinary fashion-type footwear for a particular pair of ordinary dainty-type lady-feet. Looks like I might have to get there by a more expensive route.

I suppose I'll have to try them with the intended figure and live with it for a few days to see how much of a disappointment they actually are.

oof! Thanks for the warning GeeWillikers . Had thought of getting a pair at one point, although maybe it's better to just make one myself, at least I would know it'd fit properly.

Stryker2011 wrote:

That makes us two lmao

On a sidenote gentlemen, stay fair and open minded in your debates, I find them very enlighting until the moment when people start stating this or that NEVER EVER existed... When talking about a 3000 years ago, I strongly believe that even the best historians have to rely a little on their imagination to fill in the blanks. Seeing the level of ornaments in the Antic greece, I doubt armors were the exception, there are actually bronze highly ornated greek helmets in several museums in Athens, in Paris as well... Loads of vase and wall paintings also suggest greek were wearing clothes, again highly ornated depending on their social rank.

It has nothing to do with the ornamentation. It is the style of helmet. We have tons of examples of Greek helmets and none of them are even close to this one. It is just as easy to model an actual historical helmet (e.g. a Corinthian) as it is to invent a fantasy one. IMO Corinthians look just as cool.

With all respect Shazzdan, it has to do with your absolute statements over the style of a helmet on a bikini breastplate armored toy, and your final sentence about greeks not having ornated armors EVER...
if we were to talk about a museum replica I would find it interesting, but it's quite ridiculous in this specific case... And yet again you state that over the tons of greek helmets, "none of them are even close"... damn you were fast checking those tons of helmets in each museum on earth, and even faster to dig out the ones still sleeping underground...

It is good to keep an open mind but not so open that your brain falls out. The Greeks had plenty of ornate armour. Bronze Age armour was even more ornate than Classical Greek armour. But none of them looked even remotely like the armour in that offering. I didn't need to "fast check" those helmets because I spent a decade doing that before writing this textbook:

https://www.amazon.com.au/Bronze-Age-Military-Equipment-HOWARD/dp/1848842937


Advance royalties from that book were spent on this. It is a reconstruction of Agamemnon's armour based on archaeological examples from the same time period and the description in the Iliad. It is a good example of how ornate Greek armour could be.

http://myarmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t=28063

Ancient Warfare Magazine has an article about it (VIII.4)

https://www.karwansaraypublishers.com/issue-viii-4-2014.html

I just picked up the Gold and Black versions of the Spartan commanders, and my reaction to them in-hand was extremely positive... the leather skirt and accessory pieces are very well textured and detailed, and while both version share similar designs for the vambraces and greaves, the breastplates are (perhaps not surprisingly - this is  TBL after all) uniquely styled. I love the portraits for both ladies - they are each exceptionally gorgeous, and again in keeping with TBL's female character design ethos. As for the Golden version commander's portrait being a recycle of Red Sonja's, I can attest that while similar in the general face shape, they are in fact unique - Gold Commander sports a narrower mouth, more tapered jaw, and softer eyebrows. And I had no issues whatsoever with the sandals on both versions - they fit the feet perfectly on mine, and show no propensity for loosening so far. Overall I love both versions, and I am super happy to include them in my pantheon of TBL warriors... Here are some of my hero shots of both - I have taken the liberty of christening them as Alexandria and Persephone

They are gorgeous indeed -- provided we see them for the fantasy warriors they are -- and your photos capture them in all their potential glory and beauty as always.

Just a word of advice -- Alexandria (better Alexandreia) is a city name, the city (polis, feminine noun) of Alexandros (Alexander); the actual female name Alexandra is a derivative of Alexandros (its feminine), but has the dubious effect that it translates to "she who beats off men." As in repels them. As in fights them off. That last rendition might be suitable for a warrior, but generally an iffy name. Blame my Greek friends for having explained that to me.

GubernatorFan wrote:They are gorgeous indeed -- provided we see them for the fantasy warriors they are -- and your photos capture them in all their potential glory and beauty as always.

Just a word of advice -- Alexandria (better Alexandreia) is a city name, the city (polis, feminine noun) of Alexandros (Alexander); the actual female name Alexandra is a derivative of Alexandros (its feminine), but has the dubious effect that it translates to "she who beats off men." As in repels them. As in fights them off. That last rendition might be suitable for a warrior, but generally an iffy name. Blame my Greek friends for having explained that to me.

Thank you GubernatorFan, and Alexandra she is

My fav pic is the last one! I wished you have bought all 3, so they can become DersertDragon's Angels!

NSFW - Not Safe For Work

I recently purchased the Silver version, but my opinion is different.  I was overall disappointed.  I note that I'm not a photographer and only have a point and shoot camera, so these photos will be significantly lower quality compared to what was already posted.  


I was surprised that the armor was so heavily battle-worn nature (off white/stained white).  












It is not that visible in these photos, but her clothes are covered in dirt, rust, and/or dried blood.  

I initially purchased Golden version armor expecting to swap out the silver armor to create a White and Golden version, but I was disappointed that the color schemes were not compatible.  The Golden version appears more bronze than golden in person.  


For this picture, I laid the golden leg armor over the silver leg armor because mounting the armor requires tweezers and lots of patience.

The figure, however, goes well with the shoulder armor, helmet, sword, and shield of another set that I was not using.  




I purchased extra sandals (for golden and silver version) because I wanted to use these sandals for other figures (it is nearly impossible to find loose sandals from other TBLeague/Phicen sets).  However, the sandals require extra large feet and are not compatible with regular feet.  

Even though it is not historically accurate, the metal sword is probably the best thing about this set.  This medieval sword is the same sword as Athena and Silver Huntress except it is almost completely silver.

The lance, on the other hand, is plastic.  

The Silver version does not include a shield.  She does have a dagger and sheath, which clips onto any belt/strap.  

In this kitbashed photo, she wields a lance in her right hand and a sword in her left.  

She has a good headsculpt, especially when compared against other TBLeague/Phicen figures that were original creations (not based on a comic book character).  

If I probably had to choose between the three sets, I probably would choose the Silver version again.

RF20 -- why exactly were you disappointed? You actually have me thinking I should have picked this up after all... Thanks for the photos and comparisons (the sword is pretty great indeed).

Excellent photos, desert dragon. Gorgeous. Now I’m sort of bummed I only purchased one of these — though I still haven’t gotten it. Welcome aboard RF20, and sorry you are disappointed with her.

desertdragon wrote:As for the Golden version commander's portrait being a recycle of Red Sonja's, I can attest that while similar in the general face shape, they are in fact unique - Gold Commander sports a narrower mouth, more tapered jaw, and softer eyebrows.

Great pics as always.

It's actually the Black Commander that's a Red Sonja recycle (more of a 'remix' really), though - namely of the more unusual and slightly stylised 'Steampunk' Sonja, with the paintwork tweaked and softened very slightly and given a dark-haired replant. They also used another (almost identical to this but even softer) 'remix' of it for the promo shots of the S28/29 base bodies.

It's a gorgeous sculpt though, and I love the shorter hair.  I'm really looking forward to getting mine (if UK Customs ever let me have it   ).

desertdragon wrote:And I had no issues whatsoever with the sandals on both versions - they fit the feet perfectly on mine, and show no propensity for loosening so far.

I bought my sandals loose for kitbashing, to use with the smaller (or to be picky, mid-size) 'normal' TBL feet and they're quite a disappointment in that regard. They only fit these figures' feet because for some reason these figures - unusually for an S23-type - have the bigger feet that an S28/9 and S38/9 uses (I know, because I also bought the feet that go with the sandals). I don't know why they chose to do this here, but I hope it's not going to become their new normal as I don't like these larger feet much.

I wonder if they originally intended to use the larger more 'Amazonian' Viking woman-type body (which the big feet look OK on) for these figures, but were forced to reconsider for some reason...

GubernatorFan wrote: "she who beats off men."

That's a whole different H Rider Haggard novel

brassco wrote:My fav pic is the last one! I wished you have bought all 3, so they can become DersertDragon's Angels!

Thank you, and I love the group shot too - and I very may well end up with all three, much to the chagrin of my wallet :p Will definitely post shots of the trinity if I pick up the silver version!

Stryker2011 wrote:Excellent photos, desert dragon. Gorgeous. Now I’m sort of bummed I only purchased one of these — though I still haven’t gotten it. Welcome aboard RF20, and sorry you are disappointed with her.

Thank you so much as always Stryker! BBTS still has all three available, so hope is not lost I can highly recommend the black and gold versions

RF20 wrote:

Welcome aboard!

Which body are you using for Arhian Hunter there, it's not the original is it?

desertdragon wrote:

Stryker2011 wrote:Excellent photos, desert dragon. Gorgeous. Now I’m sort of bummed I only purchased one of these — though I still haven’t gotten it. Welcome aboard RF20, and sorry you are disappointed with her.

Thank you so much as always Stryker! BBTS still has all three available, so hope is not lost I can highly recommend the black and gold versions

I have the Black version on PO, but I already have so many “fantasy” Greek Hotties already, not sure I have room for more. I was planning to use this version as Athena, to go with the custom Aphrodite and Artemis I’ve been wanting to do for quite some time now (several years, in fact).

desertdragon-- as always, your tbleague photoshoots are stunning! This is probably one of my favourites of yours so far. The lighting is gorgeous, and poses you have them in are very well thought out and really bring them to life.

RF20 -- sorry you were disappointed. Though, as GF said, the figure and your photos look great to me. Was it just the armour colour scheme you weren't happy with? Either way, I think she looks fine and fits right in wih your other figures.

skywalkersaga wrote:desertdragon-- as always, your tbleague photoshoots are stunning! This is probably one of my favourites of yours so far. The lighting is gorgeous, and poses you have them in are very well thought out and really bring them to life.

RF20 -- sorry you were disappointed. Though, as GF said, the figure and your photos look great to me. Was it just the armour colour scheme you weren't happy with? Either way, I think she looks fine and fits right in wih your other figures.

I probably had unrealistic expectations from the Spartan Army Commander set.  This is a high quality set compared to what had released over the past few years.  The armor is the good quality hard plastic, some weapons are metal, the cape is made from cloth, the clothing is a quality pleather, the sandals are thick pleather and hard plastic, and the head sculpts are attractive.  I like this set more than other sets that I have purchased.  That said, I was expecting to be "wowed" when I opened the box, and I just didn't get that feeling this time.

It is the Viking Woman body.

RF20 wrote:

GeeWillikers wrote:
Which body are you using for Arhian Hunter there, it's not the original is it?

It is the Viking Woman body.

Thought so. I've got the same sculpt on my VW body (Viking Woman, not VolksWagen, that would be weird).

Great body isn't it?

The 'softer' Steampunk Red Sonja 'remix' sculpt that was used for the S28/29 base body promos and became the basis for the Black Commander sculpt. The eye colour and brow paint were changed and the hair is also a little shorter and less voluminous than BC.

If I were to pick any of these up, it’d be the black version. She looks the best IMO. Glad to see the head sculpts are actually quite nice (seen the parted out ones, guess the pics used weren’t the best lol). Alas, though to my wallet’s relief, she will wait. The Sideshow “The Child” is supposed to invoice this week according to BBTS and the new 2P Mai Shiranui won’t be far behind it from what I can see from other retailers. This time of year, I must be responsible enough to make up for the rest of the year :p

@desertdragon your pictures are sensationnal! What a gorgeous duo, thanks for sharing!

These figures and these photos are so ridiculously beautiful I'm having a hard time here.

Quick question... Is the body on the black spartan commander tan? I saw a lot of black spartan commander feet on ebay and need some to replace my steampunk boots

These are gorgeous by the way. I have been playing Assassins Creed Odyssey and an quite fond of greek style armour so I quite fancy getting one of these. Probably after I get a male figure.

Antmax wrote:Quick question... Is the body on the black spartan commander tan? I saw a lot of black spartan commander feet on ebay and need some to replace my steampunk boots

These are gorgeous by the way. I have been playing Assassins Creed Odyssey and an quite fond of greek style armour so I quite fancy getting one of these. Probably after I get a male figure.

It'll be suntan. Otherwise we would have heard by now, cause skin color is a big thing when it comes to TBLeague.

Diana wrote:

Antmax wrote:Quick question... Is the body on the black spartan commander tan? I saw a lot of black spartan commander feet on ebay and need some to replace my steampunk boots

These are gorgeous by the way. I have been playing Assassins Creed Odyssey and an quite fond of greek style armour so I quite fancy getting one of these. Probably after I get a male figure.

It'll be suntan. Otherwise we would have heard by now, cause skin color is a big thing when it comes to TBLeague.

Thanks Diana. It's for my first figure so I'm not too familiar with these things. I will order a pair and hope for the best, even if they are off, it's better than big boots all the time