Leopard Seal (Sealife by CollectA)

Review and images by JimoAi; edited by bmathison1972

We usually picture seals as these cute bumbling blobs that are clumsy and slow on land and behave like puppy dogs. Make no mistake: once they get into the water, they transform into fast moving predators preying on fish and invertebrates like cephalopods and crustaceans. The leopard seal (Hydrurga leptonyx), in addition to eating the usual fish and invertebrates, are the only seals to regularly prey on warm blooded prey such as penguins and other seals. They inhabit the Antarctic and Sub-Antarctic waters of the southern hemisphere and get to about 240 cm for males and 300 to 360 for females. These seals are the second largest seal in the Antarctic, only behind the southern elephant seal. Leopard seals are still preyed on by orcas despite their fearsome appearance. There have been a few recorded attacks on humans by leopard seals, and a fatality involving a snorkeler, presumably out of aggressive territorial behavior. However, these seals have been recorded presenting penguin corpses they have previously hunted to human divers, in attempt to feed them, a similar behavior which is shown in domesticated cats bringing prey to their owner. There used to be a Leopard seal on display at the Taronga Zoo but it was put down in 2014 due to illness.

About the figure: measuring along the curve, this ferocious pinnipeds measures 19 cm from nose to hind flipper, putting this figure at about 1:12 for a male and 1:15 to 1:18 scale for a female. This figure is sculpted with its mouth wide open, presumably to catch its prey, perhaps an unlucky penguin. The teeth do look a bit blunt out but that is for children’s safety, but they are of different sizes and painted a yellowish color.

Inside the mouth, the roof of the mouth along with a tongue is sculpted and painted a pink color. The main body has really good fur detail for a pinniped figure, and it is painted with a grey dorsal area with an off-white underbelly and a dark grey nose. There is some black speckling, and nearer to the base of the back flippers, there is some white speckling as well. A lateral keel is sculpted at the base of the back flippers. The eyes are painted a void black color and glossed out like many of CollectA’s figures, more prominently on their prehistoric line. The front flippers does have claws sculpted and painted in black paint.

This figure does look like a spitting image of a real leopard seal except for a major flaw: the neck does appear too thin which makes the head too noticeable, giving it a sort of ‘pencil neck’ like appearance. This does distract from an otherwise great figure and I will point out that this is out of scale with most medium to large mammal figures, which will deter those who are scale-conscious.

Overall, I think this is a good figure, although not too incredible. While those with the time and knowledge may customize the neck with something like epoxy putty, the fact that the figure needs customization to achieve a perfect status may deter collectors who just like to display figures the way they are. There are at least three other leopard seal figures out there: one by Kitan Club which is depicted chasing a Gentoo penguin and is quite small, a figure by Safari Ltd. in a neutral resting position, and a small Papo one. To me, Safari Ltd.’s version is the best, as it mixes good detail and good anatomy; the only thing I can complain about that figure is has a flat bottom which seems to be the norm for most pinniped figures, like Papo’s seal. This figure was made in 2017 and is still available in many places that sell CollectA or other animal figures for a relatively inexpensive price.

With the smaller and less-detailed Papo version:

Hunting a rockhopper penguin by Kitan Club for their Antarctic set: