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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