Komodo Dragon (GrabNGo by Rebor)

The GrabNGo Rebor Komodo dragon is available from Everything Dinosaur here .

Rebor are best known for their prehistoric animal models. Their gung-ho attitude in that arena has sometimes been controversial and even abrasive in the past: controversial because of the glee with which they have embraced certain anatomically inaccurate movie-inspired dinosaurs of the ‘awesomebro’ kind; abrasive because of their willingness to rub it in the faces of more palaeontologically-minded potential customers. But, wait, this is the Animal Toy Blog, we’re not here to talk about dinosaurs!

In recent years Rebor have been zig-zagging this way and that. In addition to their statues of Jurassic World-inspired monsters and originally designed dinosaurs, they have also produced an Alien-inspired creation and a growing number of oddities such as embryos in jars…and now extant animals. It is great to see Rebor suddenly branching out into this new realm. It’s difficult to get controversial when it comes to Komodo dragon anatomy and so it is easier for the skills of their sculptors to shine though all the background noise.

The GrabNGo Rebor Komodo dragon is a beast of a model. My figure is 47 cm long with the tail slightly curved, but it would be 50 cm with the tail outstretched. It is marketed at 1:6 scale, which would make the full size animal three metres long. That’s just right for a fully grown maxed out adult male. Males grow larger than the females, but otherwise don’t differ in any obvious way, so I suspect the Rebor figure represents a male based on size alone.

The figure is astonishingly detailed and I only have good things to say about it. Noteworthy features include drooping flaps of skin on its flanks, wrinkles around its neck, and impressions of muscles running along its back, tail, and ribcage. It may look emaciated at first glance, but those ridges on the side of lizards aren’t ribs – they are muscles. The texture is astounding, every scale is individually sculpted, even on the underside of the feet.

The glassy black eyes are also life-like, and the blue-grey colour is realistic. This is accentuated by a dusty brown coating that has gathered in the creases and between the scales, which make it feel like it has been rolling in dust and adds significantly to the realism. In my unboxing Youtube video of this figure I describe it as museum quality and I stand by that as a museum curator. This model looks almost like like a miniature taxidermy specimen. It lacks an obvious transverse slit-like cloaca, but there’s a seam in this position at the base of the tail, so whether by design or not, this may explain the missing orifice.

I’m presuming the Rebor Komodo dragon is representative of the GrabNGo line in terms of construction. It is made of hollow PVC and is a single piece without a base. The seams between the constituent parts are hardly visible, but you can just about make them out, one at the base of the tail and on each limb where it meets the body. But Rebor have done a great job of hiding the seams – I only noticed them because I looked for them.

The name of the line, ‘GrabNGo’, sounds more like a range of take-away tacos than a line of high-end animal sculptures. I guess it just means the figures aren’t statues, i.e. they are lighter and cheaper? The Komodo dragon looks much heavier than it really is, so its lightness does come as a surprise. The size and weight of the figure is most directly comparable to PNSO’s Family Zoo line. This lightness surely helps keep the price-point low and at ~£16 it is incredibly good value. This affordability also makes the model – or toy, I think it is safe to call it a toy – kid friendly. The Rebor Komodo dragon would hold up to a beating from young kids playing with it.

I highly recommend this Rebor model. Animal figures don’t get much better than this. I look forward to future releases in the GrabNGo series of animals, if they have any planned. Rebor don’t have a website or catalogue so it is difficult to get an overview of their seemingly higgledy-piggledy range of products. Many thanks to Everything Dinosaur for sending us a review sample for the Animal Toy Blog – The Rebor Komodo dragon is available from Everything Dinosaur here.