This review is one of my walkaround carryovers from the Animal Toy Forum, presenting the red-clawed crab (Chiromantes haematocheir) by Kaiyodo, which was released earlier this year as part of their Revogeo line. I cannot find too much information on the Revogeo line. It appears to be an offshoot from their Revlotech line, which features large articulated sci-fi and anime characters. I do not think they had done much with animals until the release of these partially-articulated Revogeo arthropods earlier this year. They started with an emperor scorpion early in the year and then in the summer released the focus of this post, the red-clawed crab. Based on pictures of prototypes and teaser silhouettes, future figures include a Japanese giant water bug, giant Asian hornet, red swamp crayfish, one or two species of stag beetles, and possibly a mantis and mantis shrimp. It is possible that the release of future figures will depend on the success of sales of these earlier releases.
The red-clawed crab is a terrestrial crab native to East Asia. There is a population called yama-gani in Japan that lives on mountains 600 m above sea level. They will return to fresh water to moult and lay eggs, but they spend most of their time on land.
This is not Kaiyodo’s first release of this species. They released one in the original Chocoegg series and then an adult and juvenile in the Capsule Q Museum Japanese Crabs Collection set. This species was also made by Yujin (Shrimps and Crabs Collection) and Wing Mau (Aquatic Museum).
This figure has a carapace width of 5.0 cm making it 1.4:1 for a male or 1.5:1 for a female, so almost twice natural size. The maximum width the figure takes up is 14.5 cm. On this figure, only the claws are articulated; the walking legs are not (which is fine by me; honestly I am not a fan of articulated figures). The detail is exquisite, especially the spines on the legs. The color indicates the figure is an adult; juveniles are usually more uniform white to yellow to orange.
The Revogeo figures are large, articulated, and expensive. They are not children’s toys. These figures are for serious collectors, and since so far only arthropods have been released or announced, they may appeal most to those of us who have a predication for arthropod figures :). This figure comes highly recommended, but only if you are willing to expend the money (and devote the shelf space) for it.
Realy nice! I thought they were even bigger.
While a touch disappointed the legs don’t articulate at the base, that’s certainly preferable to poor articulation that makes it difficult to stand up. And the precious moving eye-stalks more than make for it.