Review and images by JimoAi; edited by bmathison1972
The goblin shark (Mitsukurina owstoni) is the only living member of the family Mitsukurinidae, with other members dating back to the early Cretaceous, which is in the order Lamniformes which includes such All Stars such as the great white, mako, basking, megamouth, and others. They, along with the frilled sharks, are the most fascinating sharks alive today. These sharks are deep water fish and their range is scattered along the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian oceans, although the majority of their sightings are around Japan. They most often inhabit over the upper continental slope, at depths of 270–960 meters, although the deepest one was found at a depth of 1300 meters. These sharks somewhat resemble sand tigers, albeit being pinkish grey, having a long rostrum, and having their caudal fin lacking a bottom lobe. They were once thought to be medium-sized sharks, attaining a length of 264 cm at maturity and up to 380 cm for the largest specimen. However, a large female was caught in 2023 off the coast of Taiwan measuring 469 cm (https://nypost.com/2023/06/20/super-rare-pregnant-devil-shark-snagged-off-taiwan/amp/), and in 2000 a female caught was estimated to be 600 cm long from snout to the tip of the caudal fin, showing how little we know about such animals living at those depths. Despite their nightmarish appearance, these fish aren’t a threat to humans and they mostly prey on other fish and cephalopods, with larger sharks being potential predators for smaller specimens. These fish do end up as bycatch for deep-sea trawling but despite that, they are listed as ‘Least Concern’ on the IUCN.
About the figure: the figure measures 13 cm from the tip of the snout to the tip of the caudal fin, placing it at the 1:20-1:46 scale depending on the size of the specimen you intend to reference. This 2022 figure is an articulated gashapon figure in the second version of Takara Tomy’s ‘The Sharks’ series, which also features a great white, a smooth hammerhead, and a megamouth. A third series is coming out this year. Like almost shark figures, this figure is a female due to the absence of claspers.
The main body clearly resembles a goblin shark with the iconic protruding snout, rounded fins, and elongated caudal fin without a bottom lobe. The color is creamy, akin to the Colorata figure, with the underbelly being a slightly lighter tone. Whilst it’s not fully definitive, as it is a deep sea animal that we still have lots to learn about, from what I’ve read they’re mostly a pinkish colour due to the animal having translucent skin with visible blood vessels. The eye is a void black as are the 2 nostrils. The teeth are painted white and the inside of the mouth and gums are a pink colour. I’m happy to report that there isn’t sloppy paint on mine! There’s a lateral line sculpted on this figure and I have to praise when fish figures have that, no matter how faint or pronounced it is.
Onto the articulation. The figure is divided into 5 parts: The head and torso, the tail, caudal fin, mouth, and lower jaw. Assembling the figure, there are a number of dividing seams, which do look distracting, although it is required to fit in the constraints of a gashapon capsule, and for a gashapon figure I am surprised at the sheer size of the figure which retails for only 300 JPY! Talk about a steal!
For articulation, the tail swivels from side to side and the lower jaw articulates, similar to many theropod figures from companies like Papo and PNSO. However, that’s only scratching the surface, and we’ll get into why this goblin shark is a standout amongst other shark figures. Because the jaw piece is assembled via a lever like system, the jaw is able to retract and extend, similar to how actual goblin sharks feed, which does add to both display and play value!
Now, let me get to the nitpicks. In terms of figure accuracy, there’s nothing really jarring except I do wish it was more of a pinkish grey. Most of the issues I have are relating to quality of the figure. Firstly, when the figure is posed with the jaw retracted, like how the shark is usually, the jaw piece would retract upwards, leaving a very noticeable gap in the figure, and it is very distracting indeed. The tail piece doesn’t always stay in place with the head and the torso, which ends up making the lateral line quite distorted and it leaves a small crack, albeit a distracting one. Lastly, the articulation of the caudal fin feels unnecessary and just gives us another eyesore of a seam, and if you detach and re-attach multiple times, it can wear down, and securing it without super glue an issue. The only thing that I can see improving all the factors is to make the figure slightly more expensive with better engineering, similar to the quality of the articulated animals Bandai has put out lately. The Takara Tomy articulated animals are seeing a dip in quality recently.
In short, this has to be the most unique takes on a shark toy I’ve seen! Despite the complaints in the build of the toy, I feel this is among the best figures of the species, second only to the CollectA figure, which was announced shortly after this one was announced and released. I feel the articulation is a drawback as it breaks up the mold, and it’s especially an eyesore considering it’s a sea animal which I feel is hard to justify articulation outside of jaw articulation. This figure is reminding me of Mattel Jurassic World figures, if they were engineered to be more fun. I do recommend this figure if you’re into action figures, but since it’s a gashapon figure, it does have a limited release, and adding to the fact it’s a Japan exclusive, it will be quite hard to source for cheap in the West even though the unique action feature does remedy the price by quite a bit. I would like to see Takara Tomy apply a similar function to a potential viper dogfish, but with better engineering. And it’s also worth pointing out that The Sharks series is not affiliated with the Takara Tomy Ania toyline, as the Ania toyline has a wider release and it’s meant for younger children while The Sharks has a leaflet that states it’s for 10 years and older, justified by more assembly needed with multiple small parts.
With the 2023 CollectA figure:
Great review! The working mouth on that figure is really cool, and it’s also cool that you were able to post a video of it working.
Yeah that was a neat effect! It was done using an animated GIF!