Carrying on with Spooky Season here on the Animal Toy Blog, it’s time to look at the “big bad wolf” and based on its appearance, this one certainly fits that description. It’s the Schleich 2015 gray wolf (Canis lupus). If I’m being honest, it’s not a figure I would pick for my own collection.
Classification: Carnivores
Maned Wolf (Wildlife by CollectA)
4.8 (8 votes)
Review and images by Suspsy; edited by bmathison1972
The maned wolf (Chrysocyon brachyurus) is the largest wild dog on the South American continent and with its very fox-like head and coloration, and long, spindly limbs, easily one of the weirdest-looking members of the entire dog family.
Released in 2013, the CollectA maned wolf is sculpted in a walking stance with its head turned to look to the right, its right front paw extended forward, and its left hind paw raised very slightly off the ground.
Giant River Otter (Wild Water Series by Yowie Group)
5 (5 votes)
Review and images by Sam; edited by bmathison1972
The giant river otter (Pteronura brasiliensis) is the world’s largest otter species as well as the longest member of the Mustellidae family. It originates from South America, and is listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List, with only 5,000 giant otters remaining in the wild.
Great Dane (Best in Show by Safari Ltd.)
5 (5 votes)
Before I start my review I would again like to thank our friends at Happy Hen Toys who donated this review sample for the Blog! It’s a figure I have been contemplating getting for a while, ever since I started added some dog breeds to my collection, so it was a joy to have the opportunity to get it from HHT!
European Animals TOOB (Safari Ltd.)
4.3 (11 votes)
Europe is a continent consisting of the westernmost peninsulas of Eurasia. It is said to be separated from Asia by a variety of natural features including the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, Ural River, and the Caspian and Black seas, among others. Truthfully though, the boarders between Europe and Asia, geological or manmade, are arbitrary.
Genets, Civets, and Mongoose (Play Visions)
4.6 (5 votes)
Review and images by Birdsage; edited by bmathison1972
Here’s my review of one of the most interesting sets from Play Visions’ Habitat: Earth line of animal figures: the “Civets, Genets & Mongoose” collection from 1998. All of these tube-sized models are between 6.5-8.5 cm (~2.5-3.5 in) long and are marked with a number from 1 to 8, ©, PV, 1998, CHINA, and the name of the figure.
Abyssinian Cat (Farm World by Schleich)
4.7 (11 votes)
Before we begin, I would again like to extend my thanks to Happy Hen Toys for donating this review sample for the Blog! Happy Hen Toys is a major distributor of animal figures and toys in the USA, and they sell products by Schleich, Papo, CollectA, PNSO, Safari Ltd., Mojö Fun, Breyer, Rebor, Eofauna, and Playmobil!
Bichon Frisé (Farm World by Schleich)
4.8 (6 votes)
Before I start this review, I would like to extend my thanks to the folks at Happy Hen Toys, who graciously donated this review sample for the Blog! When Schleich first announced their 2023 line-up, I didn’t initially have any desire to get this figure. However, after a walkaround of it was posted on the STS Forum, I decided I might add it to my collection after all.
Caracal (Wild Life Africa by Schleich)
4.3 (8 votes)
The caracal (Caracal caracal) is a small cat that lives over much of Africa (outside of rainforests and much of the Sahara Desert), the Arabian Peninsula, Middle East, and Central Asia to western India. It prefers scrub forest, thickets, savannas, marshy lowlands, rocky hills, and semi-deserts, generally in areas that are dry but offer sufficient vegetation for cover.
Northern Fur Seal (Enoshima Aquarium Series 2 by Kaiyodo)
4.2 (5 votes)
The northern fur seal (Callorhinus ursinus) is among the most widespread otariids of the North Pacific. This species, like other ”fur seals”, is more closely related to sea lions than to ”true seals”. This species is mostly pelagic, living across the North Pacific, Bering Sea, and Sea of Okhotsk.
Great Dane (Farm Life by Schleich)
4 (4 votes)
Review and images by Bonnie; edited by bmathison1972
I went dog figure hunting yesterday and I was surprised in the best possible way to find that our local Schleich shop had lots of the 2023 models in stock! I am happy to say that most of them look just as good if not better in real life, I didn’t look that closely but I think Schleich have released some beautiful models this year which is a good thing!
Black Wolf (Asahiyama Capsule Zoo by Kaiyodo)
4.5 (2 votes)
Review and images by Saarlooswolfhound; edited by bmathison1972
Another trip along the holiday trail, a hell hound has arrived on the scene for presentation… Not truly, instead, I have a very precious Kaiyodo Asahiyama Exclusive black phase wolf model. Reused from the Choco Q Animatales model #239 from series 11, the mold itself is precisely the same besides a color change.
Gray Wolf (Wild Animals by Papo)
4.4 (5 votes)
Rounding out my spooky animal reviews for October it’s time to look at one of the many renditions of the gray wolf (Canis lupis), an animal whose history is intricately woven into our own like few other animals. For much of human history, the wolf would have been a competitor and potential predator of humans.
Coyote (Wild Safari North American Wildlife by Safari Ltd)
4.6 (8 votes)
It was an early spring evening in 1999, in central New York. I was doing what I did most evenings back then, sitting quietly on the bank of an active beaver pond with a VHS camcorder in hand, waiting for whatever wildlife might stroll by. Off in the distance I could hear a pack of coyotes (Canis latrans), a chorus of high-pitched barks and yips.
African Wild Dog (AAA)
2 (4 votes)
When it comes to the predators of the African plains, the “Savanah Summer” always offers a variety, no matter how you rate them. The biggest? The lion. Most numerous? The hyena (ok, not done yet, but one day). But if you were to ask for the most successful, it isn’t a feliform, but a caniform, the African Wild Dog (Lycaon pictus) With their pack hunting, they succeed in near all their hunts.