Happy holidays to all, and welcome to this year’s first “Winter Wonderland”! At the moment though, it is also the last, as I kinda used up all I had for it last year. But, something is better than nothing, so here is a creature of the frozen heights of the Himalayas, the Snow Leopard (Panthera uncia). These gorgeous animals wonder the highlands of the world, hunting prey efficiently as the cat family often does. Sadly, these beautiful animals are losing their footing in the world, as habitat loss and poaching for their exquisite fur. This is why they feature in the Noah’s Pals line, which focuses on animals that are rare and need protecting, these ones being in the endangered line. Let’s take a look!
We start with Shawn, the male. The pose is great, as if stalking prey, looks fantastic! The fur colour is spot on, and the nature of the fur is nice and thick, as might be expected from an animal that lives in cold climbs. It is scale 1:24, measuring 3.4″ long and 2.9″ high. Looks really good, aside from the wonky painted eyes, but can’t win them all.
Next is our lovely lady leopard, Stephanie. She seems more alert, investigating her surroundings, seeing what may be coming. Once again the paint is spot on, having the natural greys of the species, as opposed to being pure white like some models. She is, as you may expect, smaller than her male counterpart, being 3″ long and 1.6″ high, but still works well.
All in all, this is a cute little set, with a pair of well sculpted and painted felids. The main issue is getting them, as the “vulnerable” line is limited to 10,000 copies of any set, making the models rare as the animals themselves. they are also discontinued, which doesn’t help. EBay is usually your best bet, and I feel these are worth grabbing at a reasonable price. They are no let down.
