Today we are looking at a rather ingenious set of figures by Takara Tomy A.R.T.S., representing the golden-ringed dragonfly (Anotogaster sieboldii), that was released as part of their 2021 B.I.G. Insects collection. Every year, Takara releases a set of five large and articulated arthropods in the B.I.G. Insects series. Usually there are 3-4 scarabaeoid beetles and 1 or 2 non-scarabaeoids. In recent years, the non scarab figure has included a Japanese carpenter ant, Mexican red-kneed tarantula, Japanese giant mantis, and migratory locust. The 2021 set included today’s dragonfly. Distributed throughout East Asia, A. sieboldii is the largest dragonfly within its range. Adults are usually 9.5-10.0 cm in length and their large predatory aquatic nymphs are up to 5.0 cm in length.
What is most interesting about today’s review is not the species, but rather the ingenious design in the assembly and disassembly of the figures to create both the nymph and adult using common parts to both. The body of the adult (exclusive of the wings) fits INSIDE the nymph and the nymph’s legs become the adult’s legs. Essentially, you assemble a complete nymph and ‘peel away’ parts of it, revealing the body of the adult. You just add the wings, and the adult is complete. To display both stages independently, one needs to purchase two figure sets; I ordered two sets as I plan to display a complete nymph and adult as separate figures. I will be reviewing these figures as step-by-step instructions for going from nymph to adult!
The first step is to assemble the nymph, which consists of eight pieces: 1) the body of the adult, 2) two pieces for the head, 3) the mouthparts (labium), 4) two pieces for the thorax, 5) abdomen, and 6) legs (all one piece):
Notice the labium is articulated and can extend outwards, as if to capture unsuspecting prey!
The first step in revealing the adult is to remove the head and mouthparts of the nymph:
Next, remove the two pieces that make up the thorax (the legs have to come off briefly to accomplish this):
Next, remove the abdomen of the nymph:
Lastly, extend the tail and attach the wings. You now have an adult dragonfly!
The final product of the adult has a body length of 7.0 cm and a wingspan of 10 cm, making it slightly under 1:1 in scale. The final product of the nymph has a body length of 6.0 cm, making it slightly longer than 1:1 in scale. Both figures can probably fit alright into a 1:1 collection or on 1:1 shelves, for those of you who display your figures by scale. I must point out the detail in the wing venation is fantastic and appears accurate, and so was probably made from a printed pattern. Interestingly, the veins are textured on the underside of the wings but not the upper side, which is smooth.
This is a fun set, but as I mentioned previously, if you want to display an adult and nymph separately you will need to buy two sets, as a complete nymph or adult cannot be made without taking parts from the other. Also, the parts don’t hold together very securely. After this review is done, I am going to secure each figure with glue. There are plenty of other figures of this species available, including those by Furuta, Kaiyodo, and Rement. The best in terms of accuracy, of course, are the figures by Yujin, which were previously reviewed on the Blog by Beetle Guy.
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