Alligator Gar, adult (3″ figure by Replica Toy Fish)

Here we are, working toward the last August 2015 releases from Replica Toy Fish, which is technically a pair of figures that use the same model but different colours. And more specifically, three inch figures that represent a species already seen as a six inch figure. That’s right, more figures of the the alligator gar, Atractosteus spathula. And in this instance, the two versions are meant to represent an adult and a juvenile. For this post, I will focus on the adult figure, the juvenile will come soon after.

I think I can forgo most of the discussion of what an alligator gar is…between the previous six inch Replica Toy Fish figure, the Bandai figure, and the Takara figure, I’ve covered almost as much as I think I need to. I will reiterate though that alligator gar have a wide range of colour possibilities–and that juveniles tend to demonstrate more markings on a brown or tan base, while large adults tend to be mostly green without much for markings. Which these figures more or less depict. Of course, large adults are also physically quite different from juveniles, but we won’t see that in these figures–as I mentioned, it’s the same model.

First, the model itself. The figure is 8.8cm (about 3.5″) long; of course the scale depends on the ‘age’ of the figure. Given that this is meant to be a large adult, around 3 metres (10 feet) long, the scale would be around 1:35. It is sculpted as a thicker, tubular fish, with a pointed face and broad snout, rounded at the tip. There is a slight tapering at the caudal peduncle, extending into a rounded tail fin.

The rays of the tail are effectively uniform, so don’t really represent the heterocercal fin we should see–but the base of the body does show a very slight extension at the top, which does properly give the heterocercal morphology. The dorsal and anal fins are place far back, opposite each other, with the anal fin slightly larger. The pelvic and pectoral fins are sculpted extended from the body, with the margin along the whole body. These fins should have a thicker lobe attached to the body, flaring into the fin rays, but most RTF figures do the same thing. All fins have well-defined fin rays.

The head is fairly well done–the mouth is sculpted slightly open (unusual for RTF), with the jaw tips apart and the upper jaw extended further forward. In the middle of the mouth, there is a block of plastic. This gives support to the figure, and allows the sculpting of teeth ever so slightly–but does look like a big mass stuck in the mouth. The eyes are pronounced with a slight ridge, but no nostrils are visible.

The folds on the lower jaw are visible, and extend back to the opercula. The head is otherwise smooth. The body is covered in small, diamond shaped scales throughout from the opercula to the caudal peduncle, less-defined on the belly. They are very small, but it appears that this might be the best ganoid scales of any RTF figure.

In general, this sculpt would be more appropriate for a large adult than a younger individual. The colour for the adult version looks more like one of course. The back, upper sides, and face are all a dark aqua colour, which stands out even if it is a bit much. There is some very light yellowish highlighting on the lower sides.

The belly and underside of the mouth are left unpainted. The fins are variably washed in blues and the yellow; one side has more of a wash in the fins, highlighting the fin rays. This is also true of the plastic within the mouth (the teeth are more visible in the unpainted side). The eyes are also painted well, yellow with a dark pupil.

For those who are familiar, the pattern is clearly based on artwork from Joe Tomelleri, a well-regarded artist with a great portfolio of fish. For those concerned, this was probably done on the up and up–in discussion with the owner of RTF, he had licensed the artwork for several fish species from Joe, so it’s not surprising that the artwork was also used as inspiration for the figure.

So this figure is one of the two versions of 3″ alligator gars. I will follow up soon with the ‘juvenile’ alligator gar (I just didn’t want this one to get too long). That one will be shorter of course. I will say that this version of an alligator gar is quite nice–despite being one of the smallest alligator gar figures, it represents a giant adult better than most (other than maybe the 6″ RTF figure). And at it’s scale–that is right in line with many dinosaur and prehistoric figures, so great for scale-oriented scenes and collections. A great figure, and I will follow up with the juvenile version soon!