Low budget jointed males review (head update)

Hey people, experimenting a bit with budget jointed male dolls, so why not share the results.

The presentation and professionalism of this review will be as low budget as the bodies, so no complaints. For accessories, check the eBay pics, I mixed them all up already. It's also a mix of $' GBP and € prices as I searched on multiple language sites. Prices are also changing all the time and from seller to seller, but mostly under 20 €.

So I ordered five headless bodies from eBay below 20€ each, intended to be used as fully clothed  exchangeable background characters. For the review I added a sixth one I have for some time now - from ZC toys,  I got him for 11€ on kghobby.
No idea of the other brands. One body had the name mx01, let us call him Max.

The legs are almost the same on all bodies, except ZC (BLUE) has thicker tighs and the purple one has restricted upper leg movement because of the 'plastic underpants'. All feet are jointed except the purple ones too.


I also realized I already owned the 'yellow' one from kghobby already. There it was called 'Custom'. Custom, is that a brand name? No idea. The others were advertised with lines like 'HOT TOYS SIDESHOW' (compatible...) Or 'for TTM19' in the description and no markings other than 'Made in China' on some.

I gave them color codes and stupid nicknames to identify them.
Black - The Rubberneckman, ~15€, five extra hands, tigh extenders

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1-6-Actionfigur-Muskeln-K-rper-Schmale-Schulter-f-r-TTM19-Toys-Head-Sculpture/402400929898?pageci=5868a424-8718-4e2d-ac5c-28a8581121a1

Red - Sir Stiffneck of Plastique, ~14€, three extra hands, tigh extenders
https://www.ebay.de/itm/1-6-Scale-PVC-Plastic-Narrow-Shoulder-Mens-Muscular-Body-Set-for-TTM18-TTM19/173833725522?pageci=9043c6cb-3192-43a1-b117-f1b52eb84d1e

Yellow - 'Custom', 9€ on kghobby, three extra hands, extra pegs, moveable neck option, tigh extenders https://www.kghobby.com/custom-1-6-nude-caucasian-action-figure-body-narrow-shoulder-version/

On eBay, ~13€
https://www.ebay.de/itm/Schmale-Schulter-1-6-Actionfigur-NUDE-MALE-Body-Fit-HEISSES-SPIELZEUG-TTM18/313189826324?pageci=50b07cab-39eb-4093-b94b-669216ccd46f

Green  - 'Body 4.0/MX02' 18,99$, 6 extra hands, moveable neck option, extra pegs, tigh extenders
https://www.ebay.com/itm/MX02-A-12inch-Europe-Skin-Male-Action-Figure-Body-Fit-For-1-6-Head-Sculpt-Toys/153388662904?pageci=1b3a71f6-60bb-45a7-830e-c37bb73871e6

Blue - ZC toys, 11€, 6 extra hands, more realistic texture and paint job
https://www.kghobby.com/zc-toys-1-6-scale-muscular-nude-action-figure-body/

Purple - Heavyboy , ~17,50€, six extra hands, moveable neck option, heavy material
https://www.ebay.de/itm/1-6-Male-Action-Figure-Durable-Flexible-Body-Model-Toy-12-Male-Body/324108898591?pageci=2708539c-e4f1-4589-a6e7-337b6073e219


It was important to me that they could all stand on their own, a test they all passed. Leg and feet joints are very tight, some only attachable with heating. They are all rather light, except the purple one which is much heavier.
Red is the tallest, he has longer lower legs.


Except Blue, they all have butterfly jointed arm/shoulders. They don't work on Black though because of his Rubbershirt.


Rubberneckman is also the only one failing the Laola test.


The kneeling posability is almost identical on all of them, except heavy purple guy.


Rubberneckman can move his rubberneck a bit. Sir Stiffneck can not, obviously.





The more joints in the arms, the more posing options obviously. Black and Blue sacrifice their swivel shoulder joints for more realism. Blue succeeds here a bit more because of the more consistent and less shiny color/paint job.


Except Blue, they all can bend their arms in an anatomically acceptable degree, some even more than that.


I wouldn't buy black and red again, the arm movement on black is far too restricted and the 'realistic' look is not good enough to have sacrificed so much poseability.

Red is ok, but I prefer softer necks to the hard plastic ones, you will need bigger headsculpts with larger gaps for this one.

Yellow is not bad, very cheap bonus to add on a kghobby shopping tour, with options for necked and neckless heads.

Green - Very good allrounder, very light, many options with hands and heads and even extra pegs. 

Blue - well, the upper body looks the most realistic, poseability is more restricted of course. If you don't want to see joints, he can still show some skin on the upper body. There is another version with a more realistic torso that has no belly joint in there. As the crunching ability is very restricted anyway, I would choose the body based on what outfit your character is wearing.
If the character doesn't show skin on the upper body, I would choose another body instead for more poseability.
The hands look very great though, good paint job there. But I am not sure about the 'hair texture' on arms, chest and hands as these are actually multiple little dents looking a bit like scars.

Purple is interesting, it's a heavy body and the best at standing on his own and stability. Neck options are nice too. Body is well defined, the texture/finish is very weirdly shiny though. Didn't try a Matte varnish. Recommended for fully clothed characters that don't meditate. Tight clothes will still look ok.

I might do a part 2 where I test the multiple types of headsculpts. You have a lot of options on the ones with detachable necks.

Feel free to add any other similar bodies or identify their brand names or the bodies that were copied, or ask for poses, they are not clothed and in use yet.


Also thought about getting a Coo, maybe someone has experience with these:
Coo https://www.ebay.de/itm/COOMODEL-1-6-Scale-Male-Body-Fit-HOTTOYS-HT-Action-Figure-Head-Toys-Collectibles/154002388388?_trkparms=aid%3D1110006%26algo%3DHOMESPLICE.SIM%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20190917065201%26meid%3D78f55afa6e2f493c8829ddb381e733b2%26pid%3D100935%26rk%3D2%26rkt%3D12%26mehot%3Dsb%26sd%3D283992605928%26itm%3D154002388388%26pmt%3D1%26noa%3D0%26pg%3D2332490%26algv%3DSimplAMLv5PairwiseWebWithDarwoV3BBEV2b&_trksid=p2332490.c100935.m2460

That’s a great review of cheap bodies. Thanks for doing this.

Thank you for the group review, photos, and links. I do occasionally pick up "jointed" bodies, but I tend to go for World Box (which is hardly a cheap alternative) or some parted out DAM, Coo, or Soldier Story ones, if the price is low. So it is useful to see what else is out there.
By the way, if Mx is Max, ZC could be Zack!

Thanks for the in depth look! Very useful information. I've only bought one budget body. I think it was the custom one for my tony stark and it works well enough for my kitbash as it's clothed and really just a standing pose.

Thanks for sharing!

Great idea for thread, and excellent overview of these bodies. Loved all your nicknames for them, too. ;D Definitely a helpful resource and one to bookmark for future reference. Thank you!

That's a good line up of possible figures, I usually go for any lose dragon bodies since I prefer working with them, something interesting in those is that Yellow and Green both seem to have hasbro style neck connectors, that means they also fit kenner heads.... so who wants to buy one of those and put a giant  gi joe head on one?

This is great! Thank you for this wonderful reference!

Stryker2011 wrote:That’s a great review of cheap bodies. Thanks for doing this.

Thanks, you're welcome.

GubernatorFan wrote:Thank you for the group review, photos, and links. I do occasionally pick up "jointed" bodies, but I tend to go for World Box (which is hardly a cheap alternative) or some parted out DAM, Coo, or Soldier Story ones, if the price is low. So it is useful to see what else is out there.
By the way, if Mx is Max, ZC could be Zack!

Thanks, yes I too got some unknown used jointed bodies from my custom deals. 

I also checked and compared the coos and the worldboxes with these bodies and found that the 'purple' one looks very much like World Box AT20, but without the paint job. A cheap twin almost.

Zack Bernthal it is then. You may guess's why.

csyeung wrote:Thanks for the in depth look! Very useful information. I've only bought one budget body. I think it was the custom one for my tony stark and it works well enough for my kitbash as it's clothed and really just a standing pose.

Thanks for sharing!

You're welcome. Some characters really only need something basic under the clothes.

skywalkersaga wrote:Great idea for thread, and excellent overview of these bodies. Loved all your nicknames for them, too. ;D  Definitely a helpful resource and one to bookmark for future reference. Thank you!

Haha, glad you enjoyed it. May it help you some day.

Theboo-bomb wrote:That's a good line up of possible figures, I usually go for any lose dragon bodies since I prefer working with them, something interesting in those is that Yellow and Green both seem to have hasbro style neck connectors, that means they also fit kenner heads.... so who wants to buy one of those and put a giant  gi joe head on one?

Thanks, dragons are all a bit more narrow if I am right, but very tight joints? 
And I don't own and won't own any GI Joes, but it might look interesting, their heads are bigger?

AerynDiana wrote:This is great! Thank you for this wonderful reference!

Thanks, may it help you!

A little update with heads now. Except the bald one and Elijah Wood these are heads I just bought without knowing if they will be significant characters or be doomed to be backgrounds characters.

The heads with necks work rather well on all neckless bodies, some might need tightening. The Bernthal head on the blue one has a very large opening, it was more problematic with the other neck bodies.


I was asked if they could use phones, so here some cheap phony poses. Because of our low budget + apocalypse we only have one Motorola available, Matt secured it for himself.


I swapped the hands on green, gave him female Triad hands. Everything very compatible and swappable regarding the hands.


As you see, except black and blue who are known for limited articulation, everyone can take a phone call without speakers.


MATT DAMON! Perfect phone call.

Interesting comparison.

-> Last picture.
He is MATT DAMON!

that's very cool of you to have made that group review, very informative, thanks a lot!!!

Personally I often grab that kghobby muscular from ZC, it's my "base" body on so many figures, even the dressed up ones, I really like the silhouette of it, and the price is a real bargain!
(I'm still looking for a muscular body for attached neck headsculpts, like the one for Doc Brown made by hot toys, I hope a brand will copy that awesome body)

thank you, these details help immensely when shopping for bulk bodies i.e for a zombie horde.
there certainly is a need for army building bodies that don´t necessarily need to be detailed or of higher quality, just hold a pose in the background and fit some heads and clothes.

oddly enough i haven´t found a neck that fit a certain leon kennedy head sculpt yet, it certainly is a cheap china knockoff but the opening for the neck is so small i had to dremel off quite a bit of existing necks, as far as i remember i had coo model and zc toys and one other brand i dont remember. all bodies for about 15-35€ a piece.

Tjolnir wrote:thank you, these details help immensely when shopping for bulk bodies i.e for a zombie horde.
there certainly is a need for army building bodies that don´t necessarily need to be detailed or of higher quality, just hold a pose in the background and fit some heads and clothes.

oddly enough i haven´t found a neck that fit a certain leon kennedy head sculpt yet, it certainly is a cheap china knockoff but the opening for the neck  is so small i had to dremel off quite a bit of existing necks, as far as i remember i had coo model and zc toys and one other brand i dont remember. all bodies for about 15-35€ a piece.

Was there room on the head sculpt itself to Dremel out?

Ovy wrote:

Theboo-bomb wrote:That's a good line up of possible figures, I usually go for any lose dragon bodies since I prefer working with them, something interesting in those is that Yellow and Green both seem to have hasbro style neck connectors, that means they also fit kenner heads.... so who wants to buy one of those and put a giant  gi joe head on one?

Thanks, dragons are all a bit more narrow if I am right, but very tight joints? 
And I don't own and won't own any GI Joes, but it might look interesting, their heads are bigger?

Yeah, dragon bodies are a bit narrow and tight jointed which I do like.

Most hasbro heads are in my opinion a bit smaller than dragon or any other heads out there, adapting them to other bodies is also difficult because they have very short necks. Most of the large hasbro heads I know off where done for star wars, for some reason they gave them bigger heads than those of their standard figures.

Boo-bomb -- regarding the too-short necks, you could get around that by removing the necks entirely (using an exacto knife) and then using the heads on bodies (like the ones in this review) that have necks (either the moveable or static types). GubernatorFan has a really good tutorial HERE on how to remove necks from 1/6 heads. Perhaps it would help make the Hasbro heads more adaptable? : )

Alternatively, sometimes there are certain 1/6 bodies that have a neck cavity that is a bit higher than others, so it might balance how the too-short necks. One brand that I've used before that seems to be like that is the CooMoodel bodies (the ones with removeable necks). I actually had to cut a 1/6 neck to be shorter before in order to use it with a CooModel body.

Thank you for the comparison review, this will make for a very useful resource.

Hey there! I was looking for a cheap body for an anime kitbash and came across this thread. Do you suggest the mx-02 body (green) or has someone got the coomodel body? Which is better between the two? or going for Worldbox is the best route? Thanks!

trick refuse - I've used Coomodel bodies and I like them a lot, however I cannot remember how they exactly compare to Ovy's criteria in this review thread. Also, bear in mind there are multiple versions of male Coomodel bodies, some with attached necks, some without, some that are regular height, some that are extra tall, etc. Some muscular, some more narrow, and so on. So just make sure you find the style that works best for your character.

skywalkersaga wrote:trick refuse - I've used Coomodel bodies and I like them a lot, however I cannot remember how they exactly compare to Ovy's criteria in this review thread. Also, bear in mind there are multiple versions of male Coomodel bodies, some with attached necks, some without, some that are regular height, some that are extra tall, etc. Some muscular, some more narrow, and so on. So just make sure you find the style that works best for your character.

Hi! I was planning to get the BD002 Tall (27cm) since it's the one available on my location. Oh also the MX02 Body is available, but not really sure on the quality.



My another option is WorldBox but idk if the skin tone will match the anime aesthetic because those bodies are used for realistic characters I think?

Btw this is the head of the character I'm planning to make, Sakuragi from the anime Slam Dunk. He'll be wearing a jersey and shorts so majority of his skin will be shown that's why I'm looking for a good body and similar skin tone before resorting to painting the body hehe maybe you have a body in mind?

Companies seem to be introducing newer/updated versions of their bodies, and CooModel is no exception. I haven't had the new ones in hand yet. The older ones are a little cheap (I don't necessarily mean in terms of money) but on the whole I like them well enough, if everything is going to be covered up. Here are some more recent bodies:
https://onesixthfigures.forumotion.com/t6256-six-new-ish-bodies-comparison

trick-refuse -- I don't mean this to sound discouraging at all, but if you are trying to match heads with bodies in terms of skintone, you might have a difficult time of it. It could be that you will have to repaint a body to get the exact skintone that you are after. That is what I would do -- I would just get the body that is most suitable in shape and size, and then repaint it. (Alternatively, I'd repaint the headsculpt to match the body, but that may be more difficult, depending your skill level.) But if you are willing to do that, then you'd need to make sure it was a totally hard/all-plastic body, and not one with rubber neck and torso area (since that is much harder to paint).

GubernatorFan wrote:Companies seem to be introducing newer/updated versions of their bodies, and CooModel is no exception. I haven't had the new ones in hand yet. The older ones are a little cheap (I don't necessarily mean in terms of money) but on the whole I like them well enough, if everything is going to be covered up. Here are some more recent bodies:
https://onesixthfigures.forumotion.com/t6256-six-new-ish-bodies-comparison

I'll check these out too. Sakuragi is gonna wear a jersey and shorts so most of the body is gonna be visible but no big deal because i'm prioritizing the cost and quality hehe

skywalkersaga wrote:trick-refuse -- I don't mean this to sound discouraging at all, but if you are trying to match heads with bodies in terms of skintone, you might have a difficult time of it. It could be that you will have to repaint a body to get the exact skintone that you are after. That is what I would do -- I would just get the body that is most suitable in shape and size, and then repaint it. (Alternatively, I'd repaint the headsculpt to match the body, but that may be more difficult, depending your skill level.) But if you are willing to do that, then you'd need to make sure it was a totally hard/all-plastic body, and not one with rubber neck and torso area (since that is much harder to paint).

oh yeah, I mean it's gonna be pretty impossible to find a perfect matching skin tone body, unless I get the one from Nova Studio (but unfortunately it's out of stock everywhere). I'll probably still paint the body I get, but you know if I get lucky with the body, if it's like similar to the skin tone of the head, it would mean less work hehe (I'm not really skilled in painting). I was planning on making a new thread 'cause I found a body that is similar to the Nova Studio mold-wise.

Actually, I checked, and it appears I do own a BD002 after all -- from a recent purchase of the parted out body (no hands, feet, neck). It is fairly tan, and if you and I have about the same complexion, it might be a close enough skin tone match for your Sakuraji head. But I don't know whether that is the case, and whether our computer settings are close enough for a reliable comparison.

GubernatorFan wrote:Actually, I checked, and it appears I do own a BD002 after all -- from a recent purchase of the parted out body (no hands, feet, neck). It is fairly tan, and if you and I have about the same complexion, it might be a close enough skin tone match for your Sakuraji head. But I don't know whether that is the case, and whether our computer settings are close enough for a reliable comparison.

Nice! Thank you very much! Now I'm deciding whether I would get BD002 or DID Adv Slim or Worldbox AT011 or AT020/AT025 (I'm not yet really sure what's is the major difference between the two)

trick.refuse wrote:

skywalkersaga wrote:trick refuse - I've used Coomodel bodies and I like them a lot, however I cannot remember how they exactly compare to Ovy's criteria in this review thread. Also, bear in mind there are multiple versions of male Coomodel bodies, some with attached necks, some without, some that are regular height, some that are extra tall, etc. Some muscular, some more narrow, and so on. So just make sure you find the style that works best for your character.

Hi! I was planning to get the BD002 Tall (27cm) since it's the one available on my location. Oh also the MX02 Body is available, but not really sure on the quality.



My another option is WorldBox but idk if the skin tone will match the anime aesthetic because those bodies are used for realistic characters I think?

Btw this is the head of the character I'm planning to make, Sakuragi from the anime Slam Dunk. He'll be wearing a jersey and shorts so majority of his skin will be shown that's why I'm looking for a good body and similar skin tone before resorting to painting the body hehe maybe you have a body in mind?

Hey,

I can only recommend Coomodel bodies and they are not that much more expensive than the ones presented here. I missed the opportunity to photograph posing tests with my Coos. The BD002 is now sealed in complicated Samurai armor. It's a really good sturdy and poseable body and quite lightweight. It's ankles can be shortened as he is really tall. It was the only body that looked good with the large head I used.

Here the Samurai thread were I used the 'green' cheaper body (orange armor) you considered and the BD002 (black armor):

https://onesixthfigures.forumotion.com/t4747-old-samurai-revival-the-war-club-5-15