Action Figure Glossary Part 1: Types, Materials & Joints

Here's the first in a multi-part series of commonly used action figure terms and their definitions.  Please feel free to add suggestions or corrections, as with any lexicon, different people have different definitions.  My hope is this will help foster good discussion on this blog, and there's a lot of terms I want to cover, so here we go!

TYPES OF TOYS

Action Figure - A figure of a character that is poseable through the use of joints and accessories.

Doll - The term "action figure" was invented as a way market dolls to boys.  (The belief at the time was that the word "doll" had feminine connotations that would embarrass young boys.)  Now, a doll, as different from an action figure, usually implies fibrous hair and cloth clothing.  They are also typically a larger scale than action figures.

Model - Kits that can be assembled into a number of different toy types, including action figures.  Sometimes requires glue and/or paint.

Plamo - Short for Plastic Model, usually refers to sci-fi or fantasy action figure models.  Robots from anime and manga are the most common plamos. 

Statue - AKA Inaction figure, staction figure, figurine or miniature.  A figure of a character that is not poseable.  It might have interchangeable parts or a joint-or-two, but for the most part, not poseable.

Toy - Originally intended as a plaything for children, toys have, over time, also been accepted as collectibles (primarily meant for display, not play).

Toys-to-Life - A new type of toy that contains data (that can sometimes be re-written) for a video game.  Buying new toy-to-life toys unlocks new features for its associated game.

MATERIALS

Plastic - The most common type of material used in action figures (and likely all toys for that matter).  Plastic is resilient, holds detail well and can be molded in any color (including clear).  There are many sub-types of plastic, here are some of the more common ones in action figures:

--- ABS (Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene) - One of the most common plastic types in figures (along with PVC), ABS is hard, shiny, a bit brittle, and can hold a sharp point.  Many action figures are primarily ABS.

--- PA (Polyamide) - Hard plastic that cannot be painted, used for parts that need to take a lot of wear and tear.  Fairly uncommon.

--- PC (Polycarbonate) - A brittle, hard plastic.  Used in clear parts and some joints.

--- PE (Polyethylene) - Rarely used, as far as I know, in action figures, it cannot be glued or painted, and can be made clear.  Common in figure packaging and "polycaps" for plastic models (plamo).

--- POM (Polyoxymethylene) - Very strong, slippery and tough.  Usually only in a few parts that need to move, like joints.

--- PP (Polypropylene) - A soft, less-common, material.  PP is sometimes used for accessories or joints in action figures.

--- PS (Polystyrene) - A very hard, brittle plastic.  Can be quite detailed and hold a sharp point.  Almost all model kits are primarily PS.

--- PVC (Polyvinyl chloride) - PVC is soft, can be made pretty flexible and typically has a matte finish.  Along with ABS, this is one of the most used plastic types in figures.  Figures made completely of PVC are very popular and can look quite beautiful and/or real.

Chogokin - Japanese for "Super Alloy", Chogokin is actually from the story of Mazinger Z.  It's commonly used to denote die-cast features in a figure.  Bandai owns the trademark to "Chogokin", so lots of lines use similar words for die-cast.

Cloth - Some action figures (mostly dolls) use woven cloth for clothing, the same as their real world counterparts.

Die-Cast - "Die-Casting" is actually a technique of injecting molten metal into a mold, but when used to refer to a material, it means a metal part made through that process.  Being a metal, it is hard, heavy and shiny.  It can lend sturdiness to a figure and is common in some robot figures.  It usually raises the price of the figure, so many toys that use it advertise it in the name or on the box.

JOINTS & POINTS OF ARTICULATION (POA)

Ball-Joint - In a ball-joint, one end of the joint ends in a sphere (the "ball") and the other has a socket that matches the diameter of the ball.  The ball, once inside the socket, can then move in several different directions.

Pivot-Joint - AKA Peg or Swivel.  Similar to a ball joint, but the shape of the inserted end only allows for rotation along the axis perpendicular to the connection.

Hinge-Joint - AKA Pin.  Like a door hinge, except instead of a door and the wall, either side of the hinge is a limb of the figure.  There's often a pin connecting the two ends of the hinge.

Point of Articulation - This is the location of a joint in a figure.  It's often used as unit, as in, "That figure has 26 points of articulation."

Revolver Joint - A combination joint that is universal (with color and size variations) to all Revoltech toys, a figure line by Kaiyodo.

Polycap - A polycap can be any kind of joint.  The word refers to the PS joint pieces used in plamo.

That's all for now, more to come in Part 2.

  

Welcome to Figure Base!

Hello and welcome to Figure Base!  This blog will be devoted to action figure news, reviews and general musings.  I always loved playing with action figures as a kid, and now I am a passionate collector.  The world of adult collector toys has never been more exciting, so let's get to it!