Review of the Super Flexible Male Seamless Body M32
Sixth Scale Action Figure

Introduction

Following up on its first two male seamless bodies, the muscular PL2015-M30 and the slender PL2016-M31, Phicen Limited has released a third product of this type.  The new body, PL2016-M32 (henceforth, M32), is described as depicting the generic tightly-muscled physique of Asian men. Judging by the head sculpts used in the promotional photos and informal product names, the body was designed (in part) to make possible a seamless action figure of Bruce Lee. Phicen’s earlier releases were already arguably the best 1/6-scale male action figure bodies on the market, and in most respects, despite its intended depiction of a very specific type, M32 represents a significant improvement on its predecessors. As I will be making comparisons or contrasts to the earlier products, I wrote a comparative review of M30 and M31 a few months ago.

Packaging - ***1/4
M32 comes in a rectangular glossy box with a stylized image of a muscular seamless body identical to those used for its predecessors. The only difference from the earlier Phicen boxes for male bodies is the product’s name, PL2016-M32, and the absence of any indication as to the skin tone.

The inside of the box includes a user manual sheet (identical to those for M30 and M31), and a system of transparent plastic trays, including a simple lid, a bottom tray, and a smaller intermediate lid covering the body itself.  This part of the packaging is identical to that for M31, with the shortcoming that the small lid covering the body is sculpted in such a way that you cannot store the body with a head sculpt of your choice without getting rid of that little lid (this was not a problem with the packaging for M30).  Despite this minor shortcoming, the basic packaging succeeds in protecting the product in full.

Sculpting - ****
Like its predecessors, M32 comes without a head sculpt, and here this category applies to the shaping and stature of the body.  Like all current Phicen bodies, M32 has a stainless steel skeleton encased within a soft and flexible silicon sculpted “skin.”  This gives the body has a nice feeling of heft and realism.  M32 has a very fine representation of muscles and veins, especially along the upper torso, arms, and legs, but some of this extends even to the lower arms and legs.  Like its predecessors, M32 has softly sculpted nipples.

M32 improves on its predecessors in various ways.  M30 was overly short, whereas M31 had a less detailed and generally less attractive sculpt.  The new body, M32, 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 cm (11.8 in) with an added head sculpt.  This is significantly taller than M30 and almost as tall as M31.  At the same time, both in general and in detail, the sculpting of M32 is superior to that of M31.  The lower legs of M32 do appear somewhat skinny in comparison with its predecessors, and one might say that what the French call the derriere is flatter.  But this is probably intentional and appropriate for the body type Phicen intended to portray.

Paint - ***
As a headless base body, there is little to note here. M32 has an even skin tone over its entire silicon body, which corresponds entirely or very closely to that for M31 and is significantly darker than that for M30.   This makes M32 easier to match with most Asian and Caucasian head sculpts.  There is no guarantee, of course, that each and every head sculpt would match perfectly.

Although Phicen sculpted the nipples on M32, just as in the case of its predecessors, it failed to paint them.  This is minor but continuous disappointment. 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.  Given that this is a seamless body aiming at realism, not painting this detail detracts from the body’s realism and appearance.  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.

Articulation - ****
In this M32 is near flawless, like its predecessors, and just as flexible.  It is described as capable of achieving 90% accurate human movement, and indeed it seems able to attain pretty much any posture possible for a regular human.  Although it has “only” 28 points of articulation, M32 compares favorably to such versatile bodies as TTM16 or TTM21 (with 38 points of articulation).  There are a few natural limitations.  Because of the silicon skin, M32 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 figures’ articulation.  Another limitation of M32 are the feet (see accessories).

Accessories - ***3/4
M32 comes without any hands attached, but it is accompanied by a pair of relaxed hands, a pair of fist hands, and two right hands with different fingers extended. A little sealed and opaque bag contains (and conceals) three attachable sets of male genitals in various attitudes (like M30 but unlike M31, which was missing these accessories). The removable feet come attached to the body.

All the accessories are either identical in shape and detail (e.g., veins, nails, knuckle lines) to those previously included with M30 and M31, or (in the case of the two extra right hands with different fingers extended) are sculpted with equal care and attention. They are also 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 action figures of this scale.

Despite the absence of a pair of gun- or sword-grip hands (these can be borrowed from M31 or other companies’ bodies), I consider the accessories that come with M32 an improvement on those that came with its predecessors, in that they are both sensible and fairly unique.  To be sure, there is room for improvement.  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 its “Christian” medium built male body.

Outfit - ****
M32 comes with a pair of yellow shorts with black trim that evoke Bruce Lee’s yellow jumpsuit from Game of Death, and are also somewhat similar to the yellow shorts he wears in the UFC 2 video game. The shorts are made of a fairly soft and stretchy material and fit the figure pretty well, though perhaps a tad loosely. Perhaps to avoid staining, the shorts are not on the body in the box. Nevertheless, I have not found any staining on the silicon skin since I have put them on the body. It is certainly very basic, but also well done and very suitable for what is otherwise a headless base body.

As always, the rubbery silicon can be a little difficult to stuff into clothing, especially tight and long sleeves or trouser legs.  Silicon finishing powder could help with that, but I noticed that this time around it shows on the body when taking photos with a flash.  

As mentioned above, M32’s feet (like those of its predecessors) are slightly larger than those for other 1/6-scale action figures.  As a result, it seems impossible to stuff them into the tight footwear designed at this scale.  The solution is to borrow compatible feet (from, e.g., Hot Toys, or ACI, or 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 M32.

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.

Value - ***
This remains difficult to gauge, because no other companies have produced male seamless figures of this scale or quality, to the best of my knowledge, and also because the prices vary widely between sellers (roughly speaking, $80 without shipping to $100 with shipping included).  Nevertheless, the price point for the new product is not very much higher than those for M30 and M31 when they first appeared on the market.

Things to Watch Out For -
Not a whole lot.  Be careful swapping hands, although the problem I encountered with M31 (the metal wrist peg remains attached to the wrist, and although easily repaired, leads to wobblier wrists) does not seem to be present here.  I would recommend heating the wrists (but not the silicon skin) with a hair dryer before removing or placing.  As a basic precaution, you should probably not leave your figures posed in an extreme position for too long, although the usual issues with cracking rubbery “skin” might not apply here.  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
In most respects M32 has improved on the already significant achievement of Phicen’s earlier male action figure bodies.  Its height and skin tone are more suitable for such figures than those of M30, while its detailed body sculpting and its more complete and more unique set of accessories excel M31.  The shorts are another welcome addition, that improves on both of M32’s predecessors.  After the relative disappointment of M31, I was apprehensive about M32, but am pleasantly surprised by the improved product.  I hope that Phicen’s next release, PL2016-M33, would live up to the precedent set by M32.

Score Recap (out of ****):
Packaging - ***1/4
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.
A number of years ago, Michael did a comparative review of the 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.

Discussion:
Want to chat about this review?  Try out one of these terrific forums where I'll be discussing it!

Enjoyed this review? Be sure to head back to the main page to find thousands more just like it!