Whatever your stance on religion, it is hard to deny the impact that the story of Noah has had on animal welfare and conservation. Zoos have been named in his honour, and peace symbols based on animals in his story. In the mid 2000’s it also inspired a toy line, Noah’s Pals, where animals are packed two-by-two and numbers based on their conservation status, educating children in a fascinating way.
Type: Figurine
Bongo Antelope (Wildlife by CollectA)
Review and photos by Okapiboy
The bongo antelope (Tragelaphus eurycerus) is one of the most beautiful, distinctive, and striking of all antelopes. It is also one of the most popular zoo animals.
Finally, a large figure of this species!
So it is puzzling that when it came to toy replica, the majority of today’s top companies haven’t produced one for the mass market.
Exotic Beetles (Play Visions)
This is a review of the set Exotic Beetles, released by Play Visions in 1998. This is was one many small theme-based sets released by Play Visions in the mid-to-late 1990s, and one of 6 that were arthropod-centric. Today Play Visions figures are among the most sought-after by collectors! This review today is a glorified version of one of my forum walkarounds, but I wanted to introduce Play Visions to the Blog.
Giant Eland (Wildlife by CollectA)
Grass has been an incredible influence on the world, and resulted in an incredibly diverse number of animals that could eat it: the grazers. Some of the greatest numbers of these animals come from the plains and savanna of Africa, with this review covering the largest of the antelopes, the giant eland (Taurotragus derbianus).
Leopard Shark, 2007 (Wild Safari Sealife by Safari Ltd.)
The first species of shark that I ever saw in person was a leopard shark (Triakis semifasciata). It was at The Nature Store in the Pougkeepsie Galleria in New York. This was in the early-mid 90’s and the place is probably shut down by now. The Nature Store was as much a museum as it was a conventional store, it was fun to explore but you could also potentially buy what you were looking at.
Galapagos Land Iguana (Capsule Q Museum: Reptiles Lounge by Kaiyodo)
Review and images by Lanthanotus; edited by bmathison1972
“Ugly” and of a “singularly stupid appearance“ were two of the things Charles Darwin had to say about the Galapagos Land Iguana, Conolophus subcristatus. His judgement about their more popular aquatic relatives, the Marine Iguana, Amblyrhynchus cristatus was not much better, those he describes as the “most disgusting”.
Monitor Lizard (AAA)
Today’s review concerns a toy that is very near and dear to me because it has been with me for nearly 30 years, and it is one of only a few childhood toys that I kept into adulthood. As such, the specimen in these accompanying pictures has a few city miles on it but that just shows the years of joy it has provided me.
Platypus (Wildlife by CollectA)
Review and images by jumboplayset; edited by bmathison1972
Ornithorhynchus anatinus!!! If this animal doesn’t send an electromagnetic current of the gleeful excitement of discovery up and down your spine, then you may be an invertebrate ! Along with the short-beaked and long-beaked echidnas, the platypus is the last of the monotremes.
Chinese Mantis (Living Things Series by Fujimi Mokei)
Review and images by Isurus; edited by bmathison1972
This figure today is “Living Thing Series No. 23 Chinese Mantis” from Fujimi Mokei. This figure is marketed as the Japanese giant mantis, Tenodera aridifolia, but was painted as the Chinese mantis, T. sinensis, since the species occurs here in Korea.
Life Cycle of a Praying Mantis (Insect Lore)
Insect Lore is a company that primarily makes products for the observation and study of living insects (nets, rearing containers, magnifying glasses, ant farms, etc.). In the 2000s, they made life cycle sets of select insects. These were really nice sets that featured original sculpts, including a couple rarely-made species (mealworm beetle, American painted lady).
Komodo Dragon (Wild Animals by Papo)
Dragons! Huge, powerful reptiles, with mighty claws and a flaming breath! They are known throughout the world….. as fictional creatures. Nonetheless, the repute of these mythical monsters have been passed to a few giant reptiles of the real world, those whose power, size and ferocity earn it the reputation. The most famous, of course, is the Komodo Dragon (Varanus komodoensis), a relictual species of monitor from a time when the world had many bigger monitors prowling around.
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.