Thanks to their poisonous nature the humble toad is steeped in myth and folklore, with a strong link to the occult, witchcraft, and the devil, particularly in Europe. Toads are a common ingredient in witch’s potions and folk medicine, and a popular choice as a familiar (animal servant). Indeed, in Shakespeare’s MacBeth one of the three witches has a toad familiar named Paddock and a toad is also used in one of the witch’s potions…
Round about the cauldron go;In the poison’d entrails throw.
Happy spooky season to everyone! I hope this article finds you in good spirits to enjoy a spooky old bed time story. The topic is on the Papo wolf pair (Canis lupus) introduced in 2022, #50283 and #50284 respectively, but our story begins in Europe… La Beté du Gèvaudan is a longstanding horror story from Southern France.
In what seems to have become an annual trend, I am reviewing a southern black widow spider (Latrodectus mactans) as part of the ‘spooky’ October reviews. In 2021, I reviewed one by Eastern Unlimited that was specifically sold as Halloween decor. Last year I reviewed Safari’s 1998 figure that was released for the Smithsonian Insects line.
Welcome to the spooky season series of articles! I hope you have had a nice time so far and will enjoy my contributions. My selection for my first article is the Papo “Cassis Lapdog” #54013. This model was released back in 2012 and retired in 2019. It appears to resemble a grizzled older animal with a dark coat washed with a lighter graying and special attention was given to graying brows and around the mouth of the animal.
What better creature to feature for spooky season than a parasitic blood sucking worm with important ties to antiquated and horrifying medical practices? Although there are 680 described species of leech what we’re looking at today is the European medicinal leech (Hirudo medicinalis) which is the species most used in medical practices, as both the common and scientific name suggest.
For my next October review I will be giving a brief overview of the entire 3D Dangerous Sea Creatures Pictorial Book collection by The Access (also known as Access Toys), which was released just a couple months ago this past August 2023. I was originally going to just review the jellyfish, but was convinced to review the whole set by forum member JimoAi.
Walk-around of the Safari Ltd. Creatures of the Deep Hatchetfish, cf. Argyropelecus sp. (but read on), originally produced in 1997. Total Length (TL) is 132 mm and Standard Length (SL, so without the caudal fin) is 111 mm. Since I wouldn’t go so far to try to identify it to species level the scale may be anywhere between approx.
Carrying on with Spooky Season here on the Animal Toy Blog, it’s time to look at the “big bad wolf” and based on its appearance, this one certainly fits that description. It’s the Schleich 2015 gray wolf (Canis lupus). If I’m being honest, it’s not a figure I would pick for my own collection.
I have decided to start my ‘spooky’ October blogposts with a trio of ‘diabolical’ insects! I am talking specifically about Idolomantis diabolica, commonly known as the Devil’s flower mantis or giant Devil’s flower mantis, one of the world’s largest mantids. It is native to the rainforests of East Central Africa, including Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Somalia, Tanzania, South Sudan, and Uganda.
Review and images by Suspsy; edited by bmathison1972
The maned wolf (Chrysocyon brachyurus) is the largest wild dog on the South American continent and with its very fox-like head and coloration, and long, spindly limbs, easily one of the weirdest-looking members of the entire dog family.
Released in 2013, the CollectA maned wolf is sculpted in a walking stance with its head turned to look to the right, its right front paw extended forward, and its left hind paw raised very slightly off the ground.
“They are the most ferocious fish in the world. Even the most formidable fish, the sharks or the barracudas, usually attack things smaller than themselves. But the piranhas habitually attack things much larger than themselves. They will snap a finger off a hand incautiously trailed in the water; they mutilate swimmers—in every river town in Paraguay there are men who have been thus mutilated; they will rend and devour alive any wounded man or beast; for blood in the water excites them to madness.
Having recently showcased CollectA’s small tortoiseshell butterfly (Aglais urticae) in my daily ‘Museum’ posts on the ATF, I thought it would be a good opportunity to review it for the Blog! I was contemplating just migrating over my forum walk-around, but I am not happy with those images, so I took new ones for a fresh review.
Walk-around of the Safari Ltd. Wild Safari Wildlife (male) Common Chimpanzee, Pan troglodytes (Blumenbach, 1776); item No. 224729, produced in 2016. Snout-vent length is approx. 72 mm, so the scale is somewhere between 1:9 and 1:13. The human figure (South American Father by Miniland “Los Amigos del Mundo”) is approx.
The monarch, Danaus plexippus, is probably the most commonly made species of butterfly. It’s been made by several major company, including CollectA, Safari Ltd (at least five times), Papo, and K&M International (at least twice), and is a common edition to insect and butterfly tubes, blister packs, and box sets ( couple examples on the Blog, here and here).
A walk-around of Papo’s Blue or Common Wildebeest, Connochaetes taurinus (Burchell, 1823) from the Wild Animals line or “Les Animaux Sauvages”, originally produced in 2009. The shoulder height of this figure is 79 mm, so corresponding to a shoulder height of adult specimens between 1.18 and 1.45 m the scale would be approx.