Komodo Dragon (Amphibians by Bullyland)

Review and images by Lanthanotus; edited by bmathison1972

Despite that the class of reptiles holds a much greater number of species than mammals (even if you do not count in the birds), the number of species represented in toy form is quite low comparatively, especially within the major toy brands. Lizards especially are not well represented, maybe due to their usually small size which makes figures vastly out of scale with other toy figures.

Within the group of lizards, monitor lizards, or goannas, show the greatest variation of body size within a single genus. While the smallest species reaches just a total length of 20 to 25 cm and a weight of around 20 g (Varanus brevicauda), the largest reaches more than 3 metres and maybe up to 100 kg (V. komodoensis). While this weight is certainly unsurpassed by any other extant species, the winner in total length may be actually the Malayian water monitor (V. salvator) of which a specimen measured 321 cm in 1912.

Nevertheless, the Komodo dragon is the one that gets all the attention, in media and in toy form. There’s hardly any other species in toy form around. AAA produced some casts of dead specimens of several species, but they are hard to find and their identification is often not correct to the actual species. Safari Ltd. produced a green tree monitor of fine detail and accuracy, at least in the first half of the body, but they strangely added a false tail to the species for unknown reasons. Some other, less popular companies, released some other species in toy form, but without wider distribution and not often very good in terms of accuracy (check out Toy Animal Wiki, it it a great source). Eventually, Southlands Replicas released a fine toy model of Australia’s largest goanna, the perentie, in 2018. All other goanna models are Komodo dragons; it is like the Tyrannosaurus rex of lizards, not least in terms of lifestyle.

There is so much about the Komodo Dragon than what you can see and get from your usual TV shows; if you are interested, try to get a look into Walter Auffenber’s The Behavioral Ecology of the Komodo Dragon, for example.

Now, what I like to introduce you to, is one of the early depictions of the famed Komodo Dragon. In 1999, Bullyland released its first version of the giant lizard, the one we are looking at today (Editor’s note: if you are wondering why Amphibians is in the title of the post, it is because at the time of its release, the line this figure was part of was called “Amphibians” but included both reptiles and amphibians). Bullyland is a German company that also produced their figures in Germany until after the year 2000. They made a great range of toy animals, both extant and extinct, and some of them are not only very good, but also much sought after by collectors. Others however, are quite average or even poor in terms of accuracy, but most at least have a certain charm to them. I would count this figure among these.

The “Comodo Dragon“ (as it is named on its belly) measures 25 cm in direct line which makes it certainly quite a big toy lizard (1:10 scale for an average male or 1:9 scale for an average female). It is made of a soft and lightweight material, probably PVC free as was and is advertised by Bullyland for years. Flexible, but very durable, this makes the figure a safe toy and paint does not rub off easily. The legs are extremely sprawled, a pose that cannot really be seen in the real animal. The feet are a tad bit too large, but the strong claws in the right number front and hind make the figure great for playing and ripping apart prey. The overall sculpting is comparable crude in comparison with today`s standards, but folds, wrinkles, muscles and ribs are visible and the whole body decked in small, round scales. The tail is much too long, half its size would have been more accurate. However, Bullyland remarkably added the low ridge to the tail. While that should actually be a double keeled ridge, this can be excused due to the size of the figure.

Would I recommend the figure… well, I actively sought it out to transform it into a Megalania prisca, but I know as a kid I would have killed my piggy bank to get that figure without hesitating. If you like Bullyland figures, then yes, by all means, search for it, if you just want a good Komodo dragon figure, I rather recommend the Colorata version or Papo’s (or Rebor’s, but that one`s huuuge).