I'm not into "dolls" per se, but I do appreciate good female action figures (of which I must admit there are rather few). And as much as I enjoy highly articulated figures for the "action"/posing aspects, it is nice to be able to show female characters in different gear without all the joints exposed once in a while.
So far, no company has attained the right balance of natural-looking skin and high articulation. Even a luxury brand like Hot Toys has to compromise with hybrid rubber and jointed bodies which allow certain parts of the figure body to be exposed for a natural look, while still allowing more freedom of movent with the arms and/or legs.
TBLeague is one of the few companies who are offering a near complete rubber body with no visible joints (except hands and feet).
I was pretty excited to receive these at first. The packaging is simple, yet functional, with a nice femme design on the front, discreetly covering the contents, yet allowing some peeking in to the figure inside.
The back has all the instructions and warnings--saves a bit of paper there, which is ok for the environment I guess.
Inside, the figure is fairly secure, but only has a single plastic to protect the HS from paint rubs (since I preordered early, I received the "free" head, feet, and extra gripping hands--nice as these are no longer available as a set at this time).
Out of the box, the figure looks ok--the odd ab lines from the proto/promo shots are considerably softer in-hand, so no more anorexic tummy for her now.
My main concern once I opened up the package and started testing out the articulation was that the "skin" around the elbow joints on my pale figure was thinner than anywhere else on the body. One side actually tore a bit after only a few bends and you can see the metal skeleton underneath--not good.
There's also more skin folding than with the original body around the armpits and belly. I'm not sure if it's because of the "tack-free", less-sticky material used, but I think the original figure was less wrinkly, ironically.
They did an ok job taking care of the flash and injection mold points, but there's something flimsy, or more fragile about this skin that I'm not comfortable with.
Overall the body is ok, if more delicate than I would've liked.
Some have mentioned that the smaller breasts don't look natural--another irony here--I don't know about that, but I will say that the butt area is natural-looking to me.
The "free" head is not bad. The hair is messy to deal with and she has more of a doll-y look, but it's a clean paint app.
A few more thoughts: the QC allowed for little bits of lint and things to harden in the mold. My copies also had some nail marks, scrapes, and dings in them where the rubber took some kind of unnatural pressure or stress.
Quickie verdict: Phicen has done a decent job with the seamless female body, but the technology is still not there to deliver the right comination of articulation and skin-realism.
I would only recommend this to folks who already tried the earlier phicen and liked it.
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| Extreme poses like this are not recommended! |
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| If she looks stiff, it's because I don't want the skin on her elbows to tear even more. :p |
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| I received a "Hindu" colored one--it is the same figure, but just chocolate-colored. The hair on this one has mild highlights, which I thought was a nice touch. |
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