Articulation is achieved with the various types of joints action figures have. You will find different types of joints at the shoulders, elbows, wrists, waists, knees, etc. I’ll go through the different kinds of joints that make your action figures posable.

1. Ball-In-Socket

Ball-in-socket joints function so that a ball fits into a socket (exactly as the name suggests). An example of this would be the top part of an arm of your action figure ending in a rounded off ball-like shape. That connects to the bottom half of the arm via a socket. Ball-in-socket joints can allow for a wide range of motion but can be popped out of place easily.

In my experience, ball-in-socket joints are likely to suffer from wear and tear over time, and these joints have the tendency to get loose over the years.

For reference, we have ball-in-socket joints at our shoulders.

2. Hinge

Think of the way your bones connect at the elbows and knees. This is the way hinge joints function. They allow for movement in one direction. As for the construction of these joints, think of the way a door hinge is made, and you will have an idea of how they work.

3. Swivel

The swivel joint is used for rotation. Two pieces are usually involved. One is shaped in a sort-of mushroom like fashion, and it plugs into another piece. For certain Transformers figures, we use the term “wrist-swivel” when talking about figures that had rotation at the wrist which is made possible through swivel joints. These types of joints are also frequently used where the head attaches to the body on Transformers figures.

4. Pivot

Pivot joints are somewhat like swivel joints. Think of how you’re able to twist your forearm. This is a pivot joint. Pivot joints allow for rotation along an axis. The motion is similar to that of the swivel joint, but the construction of the two joints is different. With a pivot joint, the focus point of the rotation is likely not at the center, unlike swivel joints.

Combination Joints

The four types of joints we’ve just covered are what some call primary joints. These four types of joints lay the foundation for action figure articulation, but it doesn’t stop there. Action figures combine these joints in a number of different ways to achieve maximum articulation.

Where one type of joint may be limited, another type of joint is added in the construction to compensate. Take the wrist of an action figure for example. As mentioned, many Transformers figures use swivel joints to achieve wrist rotation. What if the figure needs to have more mobility at the wrist other than just rotation? Well, this can be achieved by combining the swivel joint with a hinge joint, allowing the hand to go up and down (back and forth) along with being able to swivel at the wrist.

I’m not going to go through all the different combinations here. If you are interested, take a look at the most posable action figure you own and examine the different points of articulation. You will likely notice various different usages of the primary joint types being combine with one another.

If you would like to do more reading on this, I recommend checking out this post on Figure Realm. The writer breaks down the different types of joint combinations you might see in your action figures and assigns names to those various joint combinations.

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