Comparison of 1/6th scale 12-inch Action Figure Bodies: Hot Toys, X-Series etc - which is best?

Charlie's Angels these guys are NOT ;p I just wanted to do a quick comparison of some of the 12-inch male figure body types that are available in the 1/6 scale market and show which ones are the most articulated and which ones are lacking in articulation.

I'm only showing three types but they more or less represent what is available out there because a lot of the bodies out there are all very similar with the difference being only in the brand name and price. Alpha Toys B001 Narrow Shoulders Bodies are exact copies of Hot Toys TrueType TTM bodies except that they are much cheaper without compromise on quality. There are also the X-series 12-inch Bodies with a three-part upper torso. Last but not least, Kaustic Plastik muscle bodies represent the more muscular built body types that are also available.

Muscular bodies were created for the purpose of posing figures wearing short sleeve T-shirts, tank tops or just to go topless. They work well for gladiators and gladiator type kitbashes because you do not want to see the ugly joints which does not add realism to the figure. Some prime examples are Hot Toys The Expendables 2 1/6 scale Sylvester Stallone as Barney Ross 12-inch Figure (reviewed HERE and HERE), Hot Toys "X-Men Origins" 1/6th scale Wolverine Collectible Figure posted HERE and Hot Toys 1984 T-800 Terminator Figure reviewed HERE. Gone are the days when Hot Toys produced bodies with seamless joint-lines i.e. joints hidden under skin which were much more realistic. Check out the Hot Toys 1/6 scale Major Alan "Dutch" Schaefer 12-inch collector's edition figure HERE and Hot Toys 1/6 scale Collector's Edition Private Billy Sole 12-inch Action Figure posted HERE, both from the 1987 "Predator" film. The ULTIMATE 12-inch figure without visible joints has to be Hot Toys Movie Masterpiece Series MMS114 1/6 scale "300" King Leonidas 12-inch collectible figure - check out my review HERE

Now let's get back to the 12-inch figures that are currently available for us to choose from.

To demonstrate how much articulation you can get from a 12-inch figure, I decided to pose all three of them doing the now famous "Iron Man" landing pose from the "Iron Man" movies. Only one figure could achieve the pose comfortably and that's the X-Series body figure, all thanks to the three-part upper torso.

Scroll down to see the rest of the pictures :)

The three-part upper torso allows the 12-inch figure body to be more flexible and bend much more than the other 1/6 scale bodies

Here's the Hot Toys 12-inch TrueType TTM male body trying to achieve the same pose. It just looks awkward and un-natural because it doesn't have the extra cuts and flexibility that the X-Series body has.

From this particular camera angle, it looks like it has achieved the required pose but as you can see from the pictures above, this is just a camera trick and the X-Series body wins hands down when it comes to flexibility and articulation.

Last but not least, here's the Kaustic Plastik muscle body attempting the same pose

The problem with the elbow joints of muscular bodies is that the forearms can only bend 90 degrees. You can't really get dynamic poses with only 90 degree bends. That's the compromise for realism or realistic looking upper torsos and arms.

NEXT: Which 1/6 scale figure would you bring to a fight? Another toy blog post to show even more differences in articulation between these three 12-inch action figure body types.

Related posts:
July 4, 2010 - Hot Toys TrueType Figure Advanced version, TTM15 is 1:6 scale United States President Barack Obama buffed up (pictures HERE)
November 2, 2010 - Hot Toys "T2" T-1000 Motorcycle Cop REVIEW IV using the Hot Toys True Type TTM14 figure body (posted HERE)
December 22, 2011 - Review of Hot Toys TTM19 TrueType Muscular Body Figure (1/6 scale Jake Gyllenhaal) HERE
February 9, 2012 - Comparing Hot Toys TrueType TTM18 & TTM19 12-inch Figure Bodies + HeadPlay Heath Ledger (pictures HERE)
February 19, 2013 - Check out my toy blog post of Hot Toys 1/6 scale Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark head sculpt on a TTM18 12" figure body HERE
April 14, 2013 - Review of Customized 1/6 scale light up Mark VI Arc Reactor on Hot Toys TTM21 12" figure body HERE
April 21, 2013 - Reviews of Kaustic Plastik 1/6 scale Athletik Muscle Body KP03B Caucasian version HERE and HERE
April 23, 2013 - Review of Kaustic Plastik 1/6 scale Athletik Muscle Body KP03C Afro (African) American version HERE