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Hello! I have some questions. I’d like to buy male and female Phicen for art study, but I am BRAND NEW to miniatures like this.
1. Where do you guys buy your Phicens? eBay?
2. Is there a fan favorite Phicen that’s the best for posing?
3. Is there a custom clothing scene for Phicens? The actual fantasy figures with their beautiful getups are pricy.
4. Am I understanding right that you purchase heads separately from bodies?
Welcome to the world of phicens. Be warned up front, once you have the first one or two, they will begin to grow exponentially. So get ready to live on the balcony soon and deal with an empty bank account.
4) This is so common, but a bit difficult, because you can not always rely on the information.
1) A good example is Giantoy, although there is not so much choice of heads at the moment. Take a look at the versions TBLeague S34 to S45, which are available as a body alone or complete with a head.
2) They are all good, but there is a difference in the feet. Some have feet that clip on, those have a visible heel that can be annoying in places. Others have feet that are permanently attached, are nicer for photos, but then the doll can't stand without aids.
3) There are at the dealers such as Giantoy so-called character sets. These are sets with an outfit, a head and other things, where a body must be purchased. Do you really want handmade clothes, look over Instagram, there are many who sell something like that. Surely there is such a scene also in FB, but I'm not there.
Thank you, my friend! This was immensely helpful. I’ve been doing research all day and am blown away by the artistic value and anatomical sophistication of the dolls. I’m glad you know of Giantoy! I think I’ll be making my first purchase from them, so it’s nice to hear an endorsement; Reddit also seems to like their service. Insta is a great lead for custom clothes—l will def check it out. I’ve also had a look on Etsy and there seems to be a nice little Phicen costuming scene thriving there. Also good to know that seamless feet don’t allow for independent stability—I decided to grab the S42 who luckily comes with her own stand.
Can totally believe people end up living penniless on the balcony!
TBLeauge is the new brand name for the 6 and 12 inch Phicens, I have purchased all mine on Ebay, you can also find clothes and fantasy items for them on Ebay, like said before once you have one you will want more.
Just to piggyback on what the other two guys have said,
buying heads separately is desirable if you want to have different looks on the same body. But keep in mind also that throughout the entire line there are several bodies that are considered (at least from an artist perspective) desirable, due to their difference in shape and size.
Girls that are taller, shorter, there a girls with bigger bust, smaller bust, Girls more full figured.
But back to the heads. If you get one of the ladies or guys that come with the head you can rest assured that the color of the skin on the head and the body will match.
If you buy heads from various manufacturers, it's a crapshoot! Pure and simple. What I mean is skin tone, but they're still desirable, because you can get them with tongue sticking out, laughing out loud, vampire heads, zombie heads etc.
As far as the fantasy lines go, while you can buy individual items on the big three sales markets (eBay, Amazon, Ali express) it's hit and miss, (and if you want the whole thing all at once, Probably at a better price), get the whole set.
There are stores on Etsy that sell clothes for both 1/6 and 1/12 scale boys and girls. Same with the other "big three".
Be prepared to pay the same price for panties for your 30 cm gal as you would for your girlfriend. Or if you're a lady, for you! No joke.
If you should find yourself liking the 1/12 scale (15 cm) figures… The clothing available goes down considerably. The price does not!
What the guys are saying about catching the bug and not being able to stop procuring more and more… True statement!
There is so much variety that they're very much like the larger scale ladies. And because they're much cheaper (under $500) it's easy to get hooked, and find yourself with an entire production company, harem, small nation!
Good luck, have a blast! And take a look around the forum… Most everyone on here is a photographer. Albeit with varied skill sets, and experiences. Other places to look for stuff, giantoy has already been spoken about, big bad toy store is another. Any importer of Chinese toys, or Japanese toys, will likely have TB league or Fikan or similar figures. Keep in mind that once you get away from the TV league, they look pretty good, but the price and quality, well, you get what you pay for, Nuff said.
Phicen (the website) is a great place for information and knowledge.
Not so good for shopping… If they have anything available, it's old, and can be obtained elsewhere priced competitively.
Their figures sell out before the actual sell date even starts.
(I'm in this boat on two figures… One was discontinued five years ago, so I have to wait until somebody finds a new old stock, or wants to sell a used figure on the secondary market, the other one is for sale on the secondary market, but she's pushing anywhere between $300-$500.)
Anyway, that's a book, feel free to ask any questions. We, pretty much mostly all of us try to be very helpful. Wolferich and ShadowFun have helped me immensely, As more "elder" members come online, they'll chime in. But for now do as Wolferich suggested, stop by giantoy and take a look around.
Remember that the S42/43, but also the S38/39 is curvier and larger than the previous phicen.So it will be more difficult to find suitable clothing, especially shoes. Personally, I find the S43 beautiful, while the S42 is in the closet, but that's a matter of taste. The doll stands are also available for relatively cheap money on Ebay in transparent to buy, that is on the picture better than the blacks that are included.
A tactic to start with Phicen is to buy one matching set in Pale and one in Suntan. If you combine this with clearly different bodies (S21/S23 vs. S34/44/ or even S16/S24 vs. S39/S43) you have a good selection. If the third and fourth are planned, order only the head and check your existing bodies to see what might fit. Of course, you can also do it the other way around with the color assignments.
Thanks so much, everyone—especially John! All this guidance and advice has been tremendously helpful. I went and poked around Amazon and did indeed see that the head colors are a total crapshoot, so I’ll be mindful of that. Also, totally, the Phicen website itself is more like a reference library than a real shop. I really appreciate all the input. I can tell this is a very deep hobby, and getting started can seem intimidating without a sounding board.
I ended up buying the S42, a M34, and one of the Fire Phoenix armored knight guys to start. Pricey, but worth it, I think, to do studies (where I live we are still in pseudo-lockdown, so life drawing is limited—and models aren’t wearing armor at the best of times!). I know the community kind of frowns on this, but for clothes I’m going to start with cheap Barbie stuff and see if that looks good enough for sketching. Cross your fingers for me!
This is also a nice shop: www.machinegun-figures.com
It's in France, so if you're in the US, shipping cost more. But I think they substract VAT then*, so that compensates for shipping. Although you can get customscharges, so it's complicated
* At least I was told by someone in the US.
I have a dollalbum, with loads of nice pics. My twinsister Erika has her own album, which also has some pics of me hanging out with her. We have our own thread where we post our pics. Stop by and say Hi!
Don't forget to take a look at my girlfriend Juliana.
My Lexi visits lots of places. Allison is featuring in her travels. Allison has her own thread too.
If I can find a photo of the body comparisions I will post it. It shows older models vs the newer models in ascending order. The most notable differences is the addition of muscular bodies. The older models have a nicer color tone in Pale and Pink.
