Review and images by Suspsy; edited by bmathison1972
Well, here it is, my review of the final sample animal toy from Happy Hen Toys—for now. Once again I must express my deepest thanks to them for such wonderful generosity. And I’ve saved the very biggest for last: CollectA’s second version of the massive and marvelous blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus).
This toy was released back in 2018. It is significantly larger than the first one, measuring just about 29 cm long and about 9.5 cm wide at the tips of its flippers. This appropriately makes it the largest of all of the CollectA Sealife toys, although it’s still not in scale with the other big whales in the series. It does, however, scale pretty well with CollectA’s Argentinosaurus, which is presently thought to have been the biggest land animal of all time.
Like most whale toys, this one is sculpted in a standard swimming pose with its mouth shut, its flippers swept back and the tail downturned slightly and bent to the left. The base colour is dark grey with very light grey applied to the throat and to the underside of the flippers and tail flukes. The eyes are glossy black. And for good measures, very pale blue speckles are applied all over the back. Another big improvement over the old version.
As with nearly all whale figures, this one has smooth skin for the most part, but there are the trademark thick folds on the throat and some grooves on the tail flukes and on the bottom of the flippers. The keel running down the skull and the back is sharply defined, the twin blowholes are deep and correctly placed, and the tiny dorsal fin has the proper profile.
Moreover, in comparison to the old version, this blue whale’s head is better proportioned and more angular, the flippers are better defined and positioned further back from the head, and the tail flukes are better defined and proportioned as well.
In conclusion then, the 2018 CollectA blue whale is a significant improvement all around, and certain to please any cetacean fan. This one gets a strong recommendation from me! Thanks once again to Happy Hen Toys, where the toy can be purchased right here.
With the aforementioned Argentinosaurus:
…and the 2006 CollectA blue whale:
…and other cetaceans by CollectA, the 2014 bowhead whale, the 2009 humpback whale, and 2018 sperm whale:
this is the blue whale I have, too! Actually, in your last two pics, all four of those CollectA whales are the examples I have for their respective species!
What’s fascinating is that each model gets something different perfect. The second most recent Schleich blue whale had THE most beautiful pose of any whale toy.
The most recent Schleich blue whale had the most accurate tale and fin shapes.
This Collecta whale has the most accurate “snout” shape (Gothic arch-like).
If only there was a model that could be accurate in all these aspects at once!