TBLeague Ramesses the Great Review

Introduction
TBLeague continues its line of imaginative Egyptian-themed mythological and historical characters with "Ramesses the Great." The set is offered in three versions, "white," "black," and "blue," distinguished by the different color scheme for parts or all of some of the items in it. The present review covers the "blue" version, as it provides the correct blue color for the included ḫprš crown (also known as the "blue crown"). The subject was already done by Mystical Forge, as Valley of the Kings Ramesses II (here, sold out), which came with additional pieces like a throne and footrest, and arguably better choice of weaponry (including also a bow, arrows, and quiver, and ḫpš sickle sword), but had a hard plastic visible-jointed body and lower production quality. The production quality of the TBLeague set exceeds that of its predecessor, as does the effect of the overall look. The choice in weapons is largely different, and in lieu of the throne and footstand, one gets a rocky base. Both figures are loosely inspired by Yul Brynner as Rameses II in The Ten Commandments, and even less accurate to the historical Egyptian king Rameses II (r. 1279-1213 BC, probably): both sets feature interpretations, simplifications, and fantasy elements. I rarely get TBLeague's boxed sets (though I sometimes partly reconstitute their figures with parted-out pieces), and this is their very first Egyptian-themed set I have purchased as such. And while I recognize its limitations (particularly in terms of historical accuracy), my expectations are not disappointed and I'm happy with my purchase.



Packaging

The set comes in a single cardboard shipper box with TBLeague's logo and product title, containing two items: the boxed figure and the "boxed" base. The latter is placed within a taped-up two-part styrofoam container. I hate dealing with styrofoam, but it works. The figure's box is of the type usually employed for TBLeague boxed sets. It has a completely removable triptych cover, the sides of which attach to the sides of the box with magnets. As usual, this is decorated only on the outer side (with a stylized image of the figure's head), missing the opportunity for a printed backdrop on the inside. Inside the box, beneath two thinner covers of black foam, are two black foam treys, containing the figure, head, and various accessories. Everything is collector friendly and safe.



Sculpting

The sculpted detail is, as usual, excellent in quality. This includes the head sculpt, which is quite realistic, even if ever so slightly stylized, as often the case with TBLeague's heads. The sculpted detail on the crown, ornaments, armor, weaponry, shield, etc, is beautifully executed, whether historically accurate or not. Some of the pieces are fairly soft plastic, whereas others benefit from some heating with a hair dryer to soften and put in place. The figure uses TBLeague's M33 body. The feet are sculpted with the sandals on.



Paint

The paint job in this set is also superb, and appropriate for it. The "metal" parts looks suitably metallic (even if they are all actually plastic), and also suitably worn. The ornate parts of the jewelry, armor, and weapons, as well as the shield, are quite intricate, yet very precisely painted, while also giving them an appropriate metallic and/or worn look. The most subtle detail is perhaps naturally found on the head sculpt. It shows, I think, an improvement in detail and realism to other male TBLeague head sculpts like their Alexander. The eyes are clearly done and glossy, the eyebrows and eyelashes have plenty of realistic detail, and the skin is painted very realistically, with spots and imperfections, but also suggestions of stubble on the beard, upper lip, and to indicate shaved hair (as opposed to a perfectly bald head). The color match between the plastic head, hands, and feet, and the M33 body is very good. Inevitably, a place where paint application precision has detectable, if minor, limitations, are the sandaled feet.



Articulation

The M33 boy has, of course, excellent articulation. Given the type of clothing (sleeveless tunic) and armor (upper body, lower arms, shins) worn by this figure, they do not impede this articulation much, except to a degree at the thighs, where the tunic would get in the way of very wide stances or splits. Nevertheless, the figure can be made to sit -- which may not be a particularly exciting example of articulation, but is often difficult enough with fully-kitted out figures. Photos of some other stances I meant to show did not work out in terms of picture quality, but the above description and the other photos should be indicative enough. Here he is on the inaccurate throne that TBLeague made for its Tutankhamun sets --



Accessories

The set includes a total of six interchangeable hands: pairs of relaxed and grip hands, a right pointing hand, and a left fist. The sandaled feet are removable. There is an elaborate stand, made up of a realistically-sculpted rock base on a round stepped pedestal and a dynamic (bendable) gooseneck with a clamp that can be screwed into the base. The other accessories include the crown, the broad collar, the upper body armor, the armlets, the vambraces, the greaves, the shield, the spear, a dagger, a sword, sheaths for both, and a letherlike belt with special loops into which the sheaths can be secured. The molded detail is very good, as its painting, giving it the look of slightly worn metal. The greaves and the vambraces are split in the back, to make placing them on the lower legs and lower arms easier; it helps to heat them up first to soften the plastic temporarily.



Outfit

The softer goods that I will classify as outfit as opposed to accessories are few: the sleeveless tunic, which is a reddish brown color in this version of the set, the leather armor for the neck, shoulders, and upper arms, and the belt and apron ensemble (made of thin soft plastic). The tunic and apron ensemble come already on the figure in the box, but the leather armor has to be secured with hooks and loops on straps, a somewhat annoying but not impossible process.



Historical Accuracy

This is, as usual, a weak spot for TBLeague's Egyptian-themed products, even if they are often striking and sufficiently Egyptian-like to seem passably identifiable as Egyptian at first glance. Even with more historical characters, they cannot help themselves from flights of fancy or straying into various inaccuracies. Here is a non-exhaustive list of issues I spotted:

• The crown is largely accurate (not so much when it comes to the detail on the back), but the serpent head over the brow (which may be placed just a little too high) should not be open-mouthed and snarling. Their treatment of this detail on the Tutankhamun mask was more accurate.
  
• The broad collar is more accurate than usual in that it lacks any unlikely and fantastical protrusions, but it does not really replicate any of the numerous examples encountered in Egyptian art or actual artifacts like those from the tomb of Tutankhamun. The detail is rich, but still implausibly sparse, especially at the bottom.
  
• The leather armor looks fantastical, and unlike known or suspected leather armor elements from the Ancient Near East (not depicted on Egyptian kings anyway).
  
• The cuirass, with its overlapping protective falcons, is probably also fantastical. The overlapping protective falcons are a genuine element of Egyptian royal attire, sometimes seen in a military context; but the actual example from the tomb of Tutankhamun is a hefty piece of jewelry, not armor -- although I suppose here we could pretend to be looking at jewelry over armor. The style of the falcon's body is un-Egyptian.
  
• The vambraces are largely fantasy, although at least in this case we have depictions of a single vambrace of remotely similar appearance being worn on the arm holding the bow (TBLeague did not include a bow and arrows).
  
• The greaves, although given a beautiful Egyptian-looking decorative detail, are pure fantasy. Greaves were not a feature of Egyptian armor, at least not before the importation of Greek mercenaries in the 7th and 6th centuries BC.
  
• The sandals, like those made for the Tutankhamun set (which were very different) incorporate some features of traditional Egyptian design (of which there were several types) and yet fail to replicate any historical piece, to the best of my knowledge, and certainly not the most iconic design.
  
• The armlets employ traditional Egyptian design elements. To what extent these particular elements would have been employed in a piece like this I'm not sure, although armlets and bracelets in general were real enough.
  
• I'm not certain we know enough about Egyptian military belts. Daggers were certainly tucked into the regular belt and apparently unsheathed. Sickle swords likewise, but TBLeague provided a very different, seemingly Aegean, sword type instead. Maces and axes (neither included in this set) are shown suspended, somehow, from the belt, and would have been far more common than any sword.
  
• The soft plastic pair of belts and apron assembly are more or less plausible in general. However, the horizontal cartouche ovals on the belts contain gibberish text (the top one is not even hieroglyphic -- it seemingly spells out ALB, if these were Latin letter forms -- though it looks almost proto-Sinaite, i.e., an intermediary between hieroglyphic Egyptian and alphabetic Phoenician); but that may be giving it too much credit. On the other hand, the cartouches placed vertically on the central section of the apron, however small and stylized, spell out Rameses II's most important royal names correctly: Wosermaʿatrēʿ-setepenrēʿ Raʿmeses-meryamūn. Now why couldn't they replicate other detail with this sort of accuracy?
  
• Neither the shape of the shield nor its otherwise gorgeous decorative detail can be called remotely Egyptian (perhaps with the partial exception of a lotus bloom).
  
• The spear is probably too long and has an implausible sharpened butt -- more appropriate for later Greek "lizard-killer" spear butts.
  
• In some instances (like the blades), perhaps a different metal color (for bronze) might have been advisable.
  

Fun Factor

While none of TBLeague's other Egyptian-themed figures has an obvious direct connection to Rameses II (and arguably the gods are even more fantastical than the historical characters), there is enough continuity in design and appearance, not to mention theme, to help integrate this product with others. For all of its historical inaccuracies (which are likely to be irrelevant or go unnoticed for non-specialists), the product has great quality, articulation, and selection of different accessories, allowing for a variety of display choices and interaction with other TBLeague (or other companies') figures. The figure's base is a cool display option, although I do not know how well it would match those that came with TBLeague's other Egyptian-themed sets -- I have not gotten any of those as such, but seem to remember a variety of styles.



Value

Retailing at around $220 (USD), this is not a cheap set, even by present standards. But it is not entirely excessive for what it is, either. The quality is excellent throughout, and the product matches what was advertised in the promotional images. There could have been arguably better choices, and ideally there could have been additional choices. Why no bow and arrows and/or other appropriate weaponry? Why not a better Egyptian throne than the one they made for Tutankhamun? Maybe even a chariot, but I guess the cost would have added up. My historical accuracy misgivings aside, I'm glad I got this as a boxed set, instead of trying to partly reconstitute it from parted-out parts as I so often do.



Things to watch out for

There is little here that is particularly fragile or tiny. But I would be careful with the armlets, vambraces, and greaves, lest putting them on or removing them damages the soft seamless body. The armlets are soft enough, but with the other pieces, I would warm them up with a hair dryer before putting them on or taking them off (as mentioned, they are split at the back, so one doesn't have to remove hands and feet to put them on or take them off). Similarly, I would warm up the crown before sliding it over the head -- just in case it scratches. The little leather-like straps for the "leather" armor are pretty fine, one should probably exercise a modicum of caution when working with them. It helps they work with hooks rather than buckles. The military belt requires some looping, but it is not too bad. Given their metal endoskeleton, TBLeague figures have a relatively high center of gravity and are not easy on the ankles -- something exacerbated by headgear, armor, shields, and protruding limbs and weapons. So be careful balancing your figure and accept the potential that it might fall over. An action figure stand would help -- the base and its stand are cool but perhaps unnecessarily elaborate.



Overall

Is this the perfect (and yes, for me that means historically accurate) Rameses II? No. Can it become that by skipping one or two fantastical elements (like the greaves, for example)? No, it would take more customization than that. But it is still a great looking set produced in great quality. Egyptian-themed design tends to be a tad too specific to allow turning this into a truly random fantasy character, but there is still plenty of potential for fun and appreciation here. Moreover, it is not excessively expensive, and it should still be readily available enough. So while I can probably find more things wrong or annoying with it than most others, I would still recommend it.



Where to buy?

They just started shipping a couple of weeks ago, and in some places are still on pre-order (but that also means they are not sold out); prices appear to vary between retailers and over time -- in some cases this might have something to do with whether the base is included or not, so check the listings carefully. Among other places, you can find them at the following online retailers:

GianToy has them for $250 (price has gone up, in stock) HERE

Big Bad Toy Store has them for $190 (but pre-order) HERE and HERE and HERE

Monkey Depot has them for $220 (but pre-order) HERE

Timewalker Toys has them for $214 (but pre-order) HERE

Here he is with my partly reconstituted Mystical Forge Valley of the Kings Ramesses II (on a TBLeague M33 body) and my customized TBLeague Tutankhamun (on a TBLeague M32 body) --



For more partly-TBLeague Egyptian figures and customs, see:

https://onesixthfigures.forumotion.com/t2573-tbl-fantasy-anubis-and-friends-updated
https://onesixthfigures.forumotion.com/t4985-custom-tbleague-pharaoh-updated-with-additional-images



I hope you found this review useful. As always, what do you think?

#productreview #tbleague #phicen #ramesses #male #historical #fantasy #egypt

Seems a good review, Ian. I'm no expert on historical accuracy for Ancient Egypt, but he does look good. Whether it is based on Yul is hard to say, as I don't see it in the sculpt at all; that being said, it is a good looking head sculpt. Have fun with him, should be interesting to see if you make any storylines with this guy as you've done with your "modern" and Star Wars figures.

Thorough review as always, and great photos! I think he looks really good all put together, very close to the promo pics. I think you also picked the best colour scheme of the three options -- that's the one I would have gone with as well, if I'd gotten the full figure. In the end I was able to just get the head, which is quite nice for what it is. I think it's the first male tbleague head I ever purchased , and I like it enough I might even try to pick up another one at some point. :3

skywalkersaga wrote:Thorough review as always, and great photos! I think he looks really good all put together, very close to the promo pics. I think you also picked the best colour scheme of the three options -- that's the one I would have gone with as well, if I'd gotten the full figure. In the end I was able to just get the head, which is quite nice for what it is. I think it's the first male tbleague head I ever purchased , and I like it enough I might even try to pick up another one at some point. :3

I'm curious to see what your plans are for that head.

Stryker2011 wrote:Seems a good review, Ian. I'm no expert on historical accuracy for Ancient Egypt, but he does look good. Whether it is based on Yul is hard to say, as I don't see it in the sculpt at all; that being said, it is a good looking head sculpt. Have fun with him, should be interesting to see if you make any storylines with this guy as you've done with your "modern" and Star Wars figures.

Thank you very much, Mark. I agree. I knew the limitations of this set (in terms of historical accuracy -- which matters to me more than to most others) before getting it, and apart from the expected superior design of some pieces (like the crown), it was its overall effective and striking look that led me to order it as a boxed set. The Yul likeness is here more removed than it was in the old Mystical Forge set; it occurs to me that TBLeague's Ramesses looks more like a lovechild produced by an illicit union between Yul Brynner and Matt Damon.

skywalkersaga wrote:Thorough review as always, and great photos! I think he looks really good all put together, very close to the promo pics. I think you also picked the best colour scheme of the three options -- that's the one I would have gone with as well, if I'd gotten the full figure. In the end I was able to just get the head, which is quite nice for what it is. I think it's the first male tbleague head I ever purchased , and I like it enough I might even try to pick up another one at some point. :3

Thank you very much, Sky. I'm glad you agree it is the best color scheme, as I think so too. The main motivator in choosing it was actually the crown (although I suppose one could always repaint the relevant parts if one got another version of the set). I do wish the tunic had been white -- and I got a parted-out white tunic on eBay. Even so, the tunic is probably atypical, at best, for Rameses, but it wouldn't make much of a difference under the other stuff. I think this may be their best male head in terms of quality and detail, but their Alexander head was also very good, although perhaps not ideal for Alexander himself (given that we have plausibly realistic depictions of him from his time and soon after). I also like their Barbarian Soul head. The Mr Toys Barbarians (Conan and He-Man) were made for TBLeague bodies and I wonder if the heads were not the work of the same design team and/or factory -- and therefore whether they might not be relevant here too. At any rate, they are also very good.

Stryker2011 wrote:

skywalkersaga wrote:In the end I was able to just get the head, which is quite nice for what it is. I think it's the first male tbleague head I ever purchased , and I like it enough I might even try to pick up another one at some point. :3

I'm curious to see what your plans are for that head.

Ditto.

Nice to have the figure put in context by an Ancient Egypt Specialist like you, all the details and differences explained in detail is interesting. Now I know what's written on his loincloth even.
(Would be curious to see your 'exhaustive" list of differences :p)

I think he would totally work as a fantasy person with another headgear etc. Too bad they didn't choose a bit of a darker skintone. But I think they might at least have been inspired by modern 'Ramses 2 face replication' pics.

Regarding my plans for the head..... I have tentative plans to use it for a fantasy character, but it depends on whether I can collect various other parts and pieces as well, so it might be a while before it actually materialises. But if that plan doesn't work out, I'm sure I'll still be able to find another use for him. : )

Ovy wrote:Nice to have the figure put in context by an Ancient Egypt Specialist like you, all the details and differences explained in detail is interesting. Now I know what's written on his loincloth even.
(Would be curious to see your 'exhaustive" list of differences :p)

I think he would totally work as a fantasy person with another headgear etc. Too bad they didn't choose a bit of a darker skintone. But I think they might at least have been inspired by modern 'Ramses 2 face replication' pics.

Thanks, Ovy. Yep, the apron bears his name (the loincloth is theoretically somewhere beneath the tunic -- I think they gave him a normal pair of the TBLeague's black undies instead). This happens on Egyptian sculptures, too (see example below). Whether it did so in real life in Ancient Egypt I don't know. The exhaustive list isn't much longer, there were some more nebulous observations in my mind, including the resemblance issue. Speaking of which, there is far too much variety in the modern reconstruction or comparison, based on the current condition of the mummy of the 90-something-year-old-corpse from 3200+ years ago. I mean, we have this



and this



and this



Here is one of the finest statues of a relatively young Rameses II, in black granite, in the Turin Museum



As for the skin color, I'm all for TBLeague providing more skin colors for their male and female figures. Their male "suntan" (used in this scale) is actually fairly dark, and reasonably suitable for at least some Egyptians (although certainly pale for others). Keep in mind that Egyptian artistic convention portrayed Egyptian males as brick-colored and Egyptian females as yellowish pale; but of course this was just convention (occasionally abandoned either for other convention or for attempts at realism). Also keep in mind that my lighting, purposefully strong for the purposes of making all details show as clearly as possible for the purposes of the review, makes the TBLeague body look lighter than it actually is. For comparison, here is an actual Egyptian (a Copt, moreover, therefore presumably less Arabic than otherwise), playing an Ancient Egyptian, in dimmer lighting --

Thanks for the detailed review Ian! I think it looks great, especially with the leather shoulder pad things, even though you mention they are not historically accurate. Congrats on the acquisition!

skywalkersaga wrote:Regarding my plans for the head..... I have tentative plans to use it for a fantasy character, but it depends on whether I can collect various other parts and pieces as well, so it might be a while before it actually materialises.  But if that plan doesn't work out, I'm sure I'll still be able to find another use for him. : )

I think it is a nice head, and unspecific enough to work for a variety of purposes.

csyeung wrote:Thanks for the detailed review Ian! I think it looks great, especially with the leather shoulder pad things, even though you mention they are not historically accurate. Congrats on the acquisition!

You are very welcome and thank you. I actually agree that the leather shoulder armor, while unhistorical, looks pretty sweet; I have no problem with them including extra fantasy pieces (provided there are enough historically accurate ones) -- here my only annoyance was struggling to attach the four sets of straps, although it was not extremely difficult in the end.

Thanks for this great review - you put in a lot of effort and thoughts, which is what our figures deserve  More time to appreciate it.
I especially liked the comparison with the historical accuracy. You always learn. 

He looks really good next to your other egyptian figures. 

Is this head an Arnold Vosloo lookalike from the Mummy movie or maybe Jeremy Meeks without blue eyes?   Well you said Yul Brynner, I didn't know him before, but he seems indeed the source of inspiration for this HS. 
I like it - a good HS improves figures much more than anything else. And while your mystical forge figure looks good, the head on the new one is already an eye catcher by itself.

Valiarde wrote:Thanks for this great review - you put in a lot of effort and thoughts, which is what our figures deserve  More time to appreciate it.
I especially liked the comparison with the historical accuracy. You always learn. 

He looks really good next to your other egyptian figures. 

Is this head an Arnold Vosloo lookalike from the Mummy movie or maybe Jeremy Meeks without blue eyes?   Well you said Yul Brynner, I didn't know him before, but he seems indeed the source of inspiration for this HS. 
I like it - a good HS improves figures much more than anything else. And while your mystical forge figure looks good, the head on the new one is already an eye catcher by itself.

You are very welcome and thank you for the kind words.
Normally this many inaccuracies for a historical character (and the absence of effective substitutes to rectify them) would have made me resent a figure, but it is still a remarkably good set.
I don't see any resemblance to Arnold Vosloo with any of these. Yul Brynner is a natural point of reference, in part due to the iconic status of the Ten Commandments, in part because its visual designers were more than usually attentive to expert advice -- not that they got everything right. I think the Mystical Forge figure actually tried (and to a great extent failed) to do a Yul Rameses. The TBLeague one only used him as a more general reference, following the concept (effectively bald head with a slide-on crown) but making its own random pretty boy face. It also had its own ideas about the style and choice of weapons and accessories, taking them another step or two away from the film and getting them more in line with their own earlier Egyptian-themed products. Which makes sense, in a way.

Here is Yul Brynner as Rameses (the apron and tunic are replicated by TBLeague more faithfully than Mystical Forge, but otherwise the reverse; the surface of the TBLeague crown is more accurate to ancient representations than the film or Mystical Forge's rendition) --

Great review! Thank you for all the historical (and fantastical) details!

vikkitx wrote:Great review! Thank you for all the historical (and fantastical) details!

Thank you very much, I'm glad you liked it. You can thank TBLeague for the fantastical details but otherwise you're welcome!

That pic of Yul Brynner you linked looks like a tbleague figure with face app on first view. So I think they did a good job with his clothes 

Valiarde wrote:That pic of Yul Brynner you linked looks like a tbleague figure with face app on first view. So I think they did a good job with his clothes 

Well, I think you're right that the look manages to convey the feel of Rameses, of something Egyptian, for sure.

A fantasy figure for sure but not a bad looking one if you are not interested in historical accuracy. Nice review as always Gubernator.

Thank you very much, I'm glad you liked it -- and the set.

Great review as always, many thanks!

Saturn wrote:Great review as always, many thanks!

Thank you very much, I'm glad you liked it.

Great thorough (and educational!) review as usual GF.

Dammit, I kind of wish I'd PO'd one of these instead of the Saintess Knight, now...

GeeWillikers wrote:Great thorough (and educational!) review as usual GF.

Dammit, I kind of wish I'd PO'd one of these instead of the Saintess Knight, now...

Thank you very much, I'm glad you liked it. And I'm sure there are still some available, although they will eventually run out and it looks like the prices are climbing. For example here, probably still much better deal than eBay, and reliable:
https://giantoy.com/products/1-6-tbleague-pl2021-182-ramesses-the-great-action-figure-a-b-c?variant=39455061049407 (blue and white versions showing as still in stock).

GubernatorFan wrote:

GeeWillikers wrote:Great thorough (and educational!) review as usual GF.

Dammit, I kind of wish I'd PO'd one of these instead of the Saintess Knight, now...

Thank you very much, I'm glad you liked it. And I'm sure there are still some available, although they will eventually run out and it looks like the prices are climbing. For example here, probably still much better deal than eBay, and reliable:
https://giantoy.com/products/1-6-tbleague-pl2021-182-ramesses-the-great-action-figure-a-b-c?variant=39455061049407 (blue and white versions showing as still in stock).

I definitely have my eye on the Blue one, but I'm all tapped out on preorders until April now unfortunately.

GeeWillikers wrote:I definitely have my eye on the Blue one, but I'm all tapped out on preorders until April now unfortunately.

Well, it is one of their better sets (despite my misgivings about certain points of historical inaccuracy), and excellent quality. I know I have other priorities than most, but between insanely fantastical gods and oversexualized cringely-implausible female warriors, I would prioritize this set. Get this, skip something else. Plus, he will give you an excuse to buy more (and better) female TBLeague bodies to build up his harem! With some 200 kids on record, Rameses II had a ton of wives.