Saturday, March 24, 2012

CmToys 1/6th scale 12-inch Figure Body REVIEW by Ted Menten

If you were to google Ted Menten, you'll discover that Ted Menten is a published author and an illustrator of children's books. Some of the published credits of Ted Menten include Merry Christmas! Stained Glass Coloring Book, Christmas Stained Glass Coloring Fun (Boxed Sets / Bindups), Ted Menten's Teddy Bear Studio: A Step-By-Step Guide to Creating Your Own One-Of-A-Kind Artist Teddy Bear, and Make Your Own Teddy Bear Calendar Coloring Book (Make Your Own Teddy Bear Calendar Coloring Book).

But what you wouldn't know is that Ted Menten was involved with action figures all the way back to the early days of G.I. JOE and had worked as a toy designer with Hasbro. Later he became partners with Don Levine (the “father of G.I. JOE) who headed up the G.I. JOE team at Hasbro and they created toy concepts together for several years.

I count Ted as a dear friend whom I've come to know from blogging. Ted visits my blog, reads my posts and writes to me with juicy stories related to that particular toy or topic. He has seen it all, having been in the TOY industry from the get-go and is still at it even now :) I want to be like TED haha

Anyways, to cut the long story short, Ted wrote me and offered to do a guest review of the CmToys recently released 1:6th scale 12-inch body which I myself didn't get because of my previous bad experiences with rubber bodies - see my post HERE of cracking rubber and disintegrating suits.

So here goes: CmToys 1:6 scale body packaging - NO head sculpt is included


Three different skin tones are available - Asian, African-American and Caucasian. Scroll down for MORE :)




Here's the body out of the box with 1/6 scale head sculpt taken from Hot Toys TTM19 TrueType Male Muscular Body Figure (reviewed HERE). The HT TTM19 has a Jake Gyllenhaal head sculpt


TED says: "I bought this CM body for a specific photography project that I felt would be more successful with a seamless body. Ordinarily I would not buy a rubber body figure because after years in the toy business I have seen them harden and discolor. Possibly the technology has improved but it is still to be determined over time."


The body is quite heavy and odd to the touch. Not quite sticky, but my guess is that it will be difficult to dress. Time for the baby powder I guess.


Despite the weight, the figure can free stand as the photos show. The arms and legs bend easily and can hold a pose. The arms can pose very close to the body which is an advantage for certain poses -- like touching his chin. The legs also bend easily and hold their pose.


The neck seems a bit short but that is not too much of a distraction. The body is not flexible at all and that does limit certain poses but that is not a serious problem most of the time. Most poses can overcome these two things.


This type of body is good for bare-chested warriors who don't wear much clothing. Any dressed warrior will be easier to dress and pose using a standard articulated body.


Just a note about the new CM bodies. Aside from the creepy feeling of the rubber, the body is quite flexible and holds many poses quite well. They are surprisingly heavy but the ankle joint is strong and tight enough to support and hold a pose. The arms can be held close to the body and the elbow and knee joints work well.


The only problem is in the body itself because it isn't very flexible so certain poses are not possible. The new photos you posted (pictures HERE) make the figure look totally weird but in reality he can assume some effective and realistic poses.



So there you have it :) A guest review by Ted Menten. A BIG thank you to Ted for his contributions to my toy blog and all readers / followers / visitors regarding this CmToys 1/6th scale 12-inch Figure Body.

5 comments:

alex teo said...

JOhnny Cheungkinmen commented on facebook: "Awesome. What I don't really like about the body is how the rubber bends at the joint, the elbow is pretty much non existent, but, eh, it's good to see other companies coming up with nude bodies, let's hope this figure's rubber body can withstand time and not wither away."

One Shot said...

hmmmmm I don't think I would use this for anything except maybe upgrading one of the older Ignite soldiers or something. I know the pose ability is rather limited but since I would basically be keeping the "Ignite upgrade" in an upright standing position I think it could serve it's purpose. The question is am I willing to spend the cost of one of these nudes to upgrade a rather inexpensive Ignite suit? maybe? if AZTECA gets them in stock I might want to try it out. All in all I am not overly anxious to get my hands on one of these. Now the HT muscular or regular nudes that are now available are pretty cool to have....just wish the price point wasn't so darn high.

Unknown said...

Hey Alex, thanks for Sharing...didnt know about this body...your info source is so valuable! cheers Andre

Anonymous said...

Hi alex, the body looks cool, do you know if soldier story or headplay head sculpts fit this particular neck joint as i have been fooled before. Many thanx
Ryan.

alex teo said...

Hi Ryan, the headplay heads I have all have the neck sculpted together with the head. That means you cannot use those heads for this body because it also comes with a neck. Most of Hot Toys heads (which only come with the head) may be used with this body. BUT Hot Toys TKD Lt Gordon was released also with a neck sculpted with the head which means it also cannot be used on this type of body. Only heads without necks can be used. Cheers