Review of Phicen Super Flexible Seamless Male Body M34

Introduction

The fifth male seamless body produced by Phicen Limited over the course of a little over a year, PL2016-M34 (henceforth, M34) is the seamless action figure body collectors have been hoping for since the very start. Like its predecessors, M34 is a largely seamless action figure body (excepting the unavoidable attachable heads, hands, and feet), that conceals a well-articulated stainless steel skeleton within a sculpted medical-grade silicon “skin” or rather “flesh.” It is beautifully sculpted, very muscular without being grotesque, tall, not too pale, and comes complete with a fairly comprehensive array of basic accessories. These bodies are already arguably the best 1/6-scale male action figure bodies on the market, and even as a specific very muscular type, M34 continues this tradition of excellence. As I will be making occasional comparisons or contrasts to the earlier products, you might find helpful my reviews of M30 and M31, of M32, and of M33, all of them brought to you courtesy of Michael Crawford. Because this is a headless body, the expectations from most categories other than articulation and body sculpt would be rather different than those from a product that portrays a recognizable character’s appearance and accessories.

Packaging - ***1/2
M34 comes in the same rectangular glossy box with a stylized image of a muscular seamless body as its predecessors. On the box’s exterior, the only difference from the earlier releases in this series is the product’s name, PL2016-M34.

The inside of the box includes the standard Phicen seamless male body user manual sheet, and a system of transparent plastic trays, made up of a simple lid, a bottom tray, and a smaller intermediate lid covering the body itself. The accessories (the attachable extra hands and male parts) are placed in specially designated indents in the main plastic tray, while the clothing articles are placed inside a little seal-able transparent bag taped to the tray lid. The basic packaging accomplishes its purpose in protecting the product and everything is completely collector friendly.

Sculpting - ****
Like Phicen’s previous male seamless action figure bodies, M34 comes without a head sculpt, and here this category applies to the shaping and stature of the body. The stainless steel skeleton and the soft silicon “skin” give the body even more heft and realism than usual, due to its size and musculature. The muscles are larger and more pronounced than those of earlier Phicen male seamless bodies, and the veins are sculpted in even greater and more apparent detail; as usual, the nipples are also sculpted. In short, it is a work of art. Phicen’s promotional photos displayed M34 with an Arnold Schwarzenegger head sculpt suitable for such bodybuilder physique, but it would also work well with many others.

M34 stands about 29 cm (11.4 in) without a head (up to the top of the metal neck joint attached to the underlying steel skeleton) and about 30.5 cm (12 in) with an added head sculpt (the latter measurement varies depending on the choice of head sculpt, its hairstyle, and the position of the inside neck connector). This is the same height as M32 and ideal for the 1/6 scale. Collectors who were taken aback by the shorter stature of M30 and by the ankle extenders (“connectors” or “adapters”) that M33 needed to reach this height, can breathe a sigh of relief with M34.

Paint - ***
Because, like its predecessors, M34 is a headless base body, there is little to note in this category. It has an even skin tone which corresponds entirely or very closely to those for M32 and M33 (but is significantly darker than that for M30). M34 matches most Caucasian and Asian head sculpts fairly well. There is no guarantee, of course, that each and every head sculpt would match perfectly.

As before, Phicen sculpted the nipples on M34, but did not paint them. This remains disappointing, as it detracts from the realism of a body that is intended to convey exactly that. Phicen’s female action figure bodies and other companies’ male action figure bodies intended to allow bared chests (like ACI Toys, Hot Toys, Kaustic Plastik, World Box) have painted nipples. There is an easy fix (mix the desired combination of acrylic paints with clear silicon glue and apply with a tiny brush; proceed at your own risk!), but one should not need to modify what is supposed to be a realistic action figure body, especially one at this price point. This is why I continue to withhold the last star from this rating.

Articulation - ****
M34 is super-flexible like its predecessors, with nearly perfect articulation that is only minimally hampered by the bulkier musculature. Phicen’s male seamless action figure bodies are advertised as capable of achieving 90% accurate human movement; I imagine the percentage is actually better, at least if we are talking about average humans. Although they claim “only” 28 points of articulation, Phicen male seamless bodies compare favorably to such versatile bodies as TTM16 or TTM21 (with 38 points of articulation). There are still a few natural limitations. Because of the silicon skin, Phicen male seamless bodies cannot rotate freely around the waist, at the shoulder, at the upper arms or upper thighs, and its more realistic ankles cannot match the flexibility of the peculiar connection between the lower leg and the foot in the True Type bodies. However, since these limitations correspond to those of the actual human body, I do not consider them in any way detrimental to the body’s articulation. Another minor limitation of M34 are the feet (see under Accessories and Outfit below). While posing the body for photos and trying to replicate the appearance of Arnold Schwarzenegger from online images and screen shots, I noticed that, while all the muscles are there, they do not always align quite as they should. This is because the silicon “skin” is largely free from the underlying stainless steel skeleton and the “skin” (which includes the muscles and veins) rotates somewhat independently. There is probably no practical fix for this minor problem in this type of bodies or any other.

Accessories - ***3/4
As usual for this line of products, M34 comes with removable fist hands attached, and it is accompanied by a pair of relaxed hands and a pair of gun- or sword-grip hands. Two little sealed and semi-opaque bags contain (and conceal) one set of male genitals each. The removable feet come attached to the body.

The accessories are proportional to the body, unlike the oversized hands that are often provided for 1/6-scale action figures. The feet are also proportional, but in that they are slightly bigger than those for other companies’ action figures of this scale (which seem to be often undersized, so as to fit more easily within 1/6-scale footwear). Although not particularly numerous, the accessories that come with M34 are a sensible and fairly comprehensive choice. As before, there remains a little room for improvement. As in Phicen’s earlier male seamless action figure body releases, the solid feet look great, but present a limitation for poses in which the toes need to be bent. The best solution (in terms of aesthetics and stability) is to add an extra pair of feet sculpted with bent toes. Phicen has done this with those of its female bodies that come with detachable feet (like the recently released PLMB2016-S17B), and ACI Toys did this for some of its “Christian” medium built male bodies. Because of the absence of a bent toe feet option, I cannot assign this category a full four stars.

Outfit - ****
M34 comes with a pair of yellow shorts and with pairs of matching yellow wrist bands and ankle bands (“ankle supports”). The shorts are made of a stretchy material and fit the figure well but very tightly. Although they are not quite as detailed as the shorts that came with M32 and M33, they get the job done and work nicely. Considering that this is a headless action figure body that might have come without any clothing whatsoever (just like M30 and M31), the basic outfit is a welcome addition. For this reason, these few extra items give this category a full rating.

The rubbery silicon can be a little difficult to stuff into clothing, especially tight and long sleeves or trouser legs. Due to the larger bulk and muscles of M34, this issue is even more pronounced than usual, but with a little effort and patience (and perhaps silicon finishing powder), it is possible to dress the body in a variety of clothing. The feet that come with Phicen’s male seamless action figure bodies are slightly larger than those for other 1/6-scale action figures, to provide the right appearance and improve stability. As a result, it seems impossible to stuff them into the tight footwear designed at this scale. The solution I would recommend is to borrow compatible feet (from, e.g., World Box bodies), and use them for this type of footwear. Footwear that is designed to accommodate a peg rather than an actual foot (e.g., Hot Toys or Toys City combat boots), presents no difficulties with M34.

Fun Factor - ****
Provided that you are ready to outfit your Phicen seamless bodies and equip them with a head sculpt and other items, there is little or nothing you cannot do with these super flexible figures. And although these are not children’s toys, they are in fact surprisingly sturdy and resilient. Given the suitability (not to say intent) of this body for Arnold Schwarzenegger, whose career as bodybuilder, actor, and even politician has provided a vast array of appearances, collectors and customizers are bound to have a lot of fun with this product.

Value - ***
To the best of my knowledge, no other companies have produced male seamless action figures of this scale or quality, making this difficult to gauge, except against other Phicen action figure bodies. The prices for M34 vary widely between sellers (roughly speaking, $70 without shipping to $105 with shipping included; at the time of writing $86 with shipping included is fairly common on eBay). Although high, the price point for the new product is not much higher than those for the earlier releases when they first appeared on the market. At least with some sellers the prices of Phicen male seamless bodies lower after the appearance of the next release.

Things to Watch Out For -
Not much. Be careful swapping hands, lest you accidentally pull out the little metal wrist peg from its socket in the lower arm, although this do not seem to be a problem with this particular product (it was with M31). I recommend heating the hands (but avoid heating the silicon skin!) with a hair dryer before removing or placing. As a basic precaution, you should probably not leave your figures posed in a very extreme position for too long, although the usual issues with cracking rubbery “skin” might not apply here in normal conditions. Also avoid clothing Phicen seamless bodies in dark colors without having first tested whether they would stain in an inconspicuous spot. (Unless of course you intend to leave them covered up in that particular way permanently.) The silicon body might absorb the stain over time, and there are recommended fixes you could look up online, but proceed at your own risk.

Overall - ***2/3
M34 is not only an excellent product, but also one that 1/6-scale collectors have been hoping for ever since Phicen produced its first (and rather unfortunately short) male seamless action figure body over a year ago. While different in various ways from the already excellent M32 and M33, M34 is comparable in quality, detail, and accessories. Because of this, although it promises to be an even more popular product, I have rated it the same as its two immediate predecessors. I consider these the best action figure bodies of their scale, and the only reasons my rating is not a full four stars in each category, are the rather minor nits detailed above.

Score Recap (out of ****):
Packaging - ***1/2
Sculpting - ****
Paint - ***
Articulation - ****
Accessories - ***3/4*
Outfit - ****
Fun Factor - ****
Value - ***
Overall - ***2/3

Where to Buy 
Online options include these site sponsors:

- or you can search ebay for a deal.

Related Links -
A few months ago, I did a comparative review of Phicen’s seamless male bodies M30 and M31. More recently I reviewed Phicen’s seamless male body M32 and Phicen’s seamless male body M33.

A number of years ago, Michael did a comparative review of the very well-articulated but not seamless Hot Toys True Type 20, 21, and 22 bodies.

You should also hit the Search Reviews page, in case any other applicable reviews were done after this one was published.

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