Common Snapping Turtle (Capsule Q Museum: Invasive Species and New Friends by Kaiyodo)

Review and images by jumboplayset; edited by bmathison1972

For me, my all time favorite animal is without question the common snapping turtle (Chelydra serpentina). I remember when I first saw the species in the wild, in a tiny creek down the way from my grandparents’ house. The creek ran between two streets but was unbelievably idyllic, glowing grass-green in the sun, the bubbling and smoothly flowing sounds of the little creek. And then, finally after several years of reading and rereading all of my reptile and amphibian guides and books, I see my first snapping turtle in person- in a quiet corner at the bottom of a muddy pool…

So years later I begin a quest to locate the best toy representation of C. serpentina I could find, and it didn’t take long to find the Kaiyodo Capsule Q Museum common snapping turtle.

It arrived and how surprised and deeply impressed by this model; I had no previous knowledge of these Capsule Q Museum sets, opened up the palm-sized brown plastic capsule. A tiny detailed catalog of models in this series which translates as ‘Foreign Invaders and New Friends’ depicts invasive animal species in Japan, with instructions on how to assemble the snapping turtle model.

This adds to everything about this high quality toy line; after fitting all of the separate parts to finish the turtle, I was giddy about everything this toy is doing. First, the gait of the animal is spot on; it really nails the look of how one of these impressive animals walks and props itself up on its massive dragon-like tail. Second, the paint detailing is beautiful, the colors are pretty accurate. This is the second common snapping turtle by Kaiyodo; the first (from the ChocoQ Animatales line) has the neck further extended.