In honor of Shark Week, I have decided to post a brief review of the Sharks collection by Play Visions, originally released in 1996. I collect sharks because they are animals, but I must admit it is a group, at least among common and familiar animals, that I have little experience and knowledge with.
Type: Set
Fleas, Lice, and Ticks (Play Visions)
5 (1 votes)
OK folks, here we are. I was finally able to complete this holiest of Holy Grail sets, thanks to STS forum member NMR_Okapi who found me the last missing figure! Most of you who follow me on the Blog and forums know I am a professional parasitologist, so it should be no surprise that this has been one of the most sought-after sets for someone like me.
Butterflies of the World Collectors Case (Safari Ltd.)
3.5 (2 votes)
This is a review of the complete Butterflies of the World set as part of Safari LTD’s Collectors Case series. The undersides of the figures are not detailed, so an overall review of the set seemed more valuable then doing reviews for individual figures. This is one of three butterfly sets by Safari.
Saltwater Fish in Colour Part 1, Part 2 (Yujin)
4 (3 votes)
Review and images by JimoAi; edited by bmathison1972
Continuing on the review of Yujin’s Saltwater Fish Part 1, here’s a look at the second half of the set.
Yellow Longnose Butterflyfish (Forcipiger flavissimus)
Size of figure: 4.8 cm
Size: 22 cm
Scale: 1:4
Color: yellow body with half black on top and white on the lower half of the head, transparent pectoral and caudal fin, pale blue on the end of dorsal and anal fin, and black eye spot on the either side of the anal fin
Diet: hard and soft coral polyps and small crustaceans
Species frequency in being made into toy form: rare
Base: sand with rock
Notes: a butterflyfish with a typical butterflyfish shape; not the most exciting butterflyfish for Yujin to go with but the reason why they went with this species might be because of the butterfly fish character in Finding Nemo is a yellow longnose butterflyfish.
Saltwater Fish in Colour Part 1, Part 1 (Yujin)
4.3 (3 votes)
Review and images by JimoAi; edited by bmathison1972
There are roughly 34,000 species of fish inhabiting the World’s oceans, seas, ponds, rivers, and lakes in the present, but many more species have already gone extinct or have yet to be discovered. In recent years, many figure companies have had their fair share of fish figures, although are usually outclassed by the more popular mammals.
Butterflies TOOB (Safari Ltd.)
4.3 (3 votes)
Butterflies are unquestionably the most popular and universally loved insects. You would be hard pressed to find someone that fears or loathes butterflies in the same way a lot of folk’s fear and loathe moths, for example. Even if butterflies are basically glorified, diurnal moths themselves. Butterflies and moths both belong to the order Lepidoptera and although moths first appear in the early Jurassic, 200 million years ago, butterflies don’t show up until the Paleocene, 56 million years ago, having evolved directly from moths.
Japanese Animals (Colorata)
4 (4 votes)
Well, here we are. I’ve reached a big milestone, my 50th review! I want to thank everyone who read, rated and commented on my reviews to this point. I also want to thank bmathison1972 for editing my work. For this milestone, I wanted to cover something well made and on the more expensive side, so I chose the Japanese Animals set by Colorata.
Dolphins TOOB (Safari Ltd.)
4.7 (7 votes)
Oceanic dolphins are among the most fascinating and exciting group of marine mammals. Delphinidae are the most species-rich family of extant cetaceans, with roughly 35 recognized extant species. This lineage arose roughly 10-17 million years ago during the Miocene, branching off from its common ancestor with porpoises and monodontids. This family is very diverse, ranging from the Hector’s dolphin (Cephalorhynchus hectori) that maxes out at 1.6 meters and 60 kilograms, to the killer whale (Orcinus orca) that can surpass 9 meters and 9 metric tons.
Marbled Flounder, Greater Amberjack, Splendid Alfonsino, Alaskan Pollock & Largehead Hairtail (Primary Saltwater Fish by Takara Tomy A.R.T.S.)
5 (2 votes)
Review and images by JimoAi; edited by bmathison1972
Over the last few years, various companies have given us a whole slew of fish figures: Yujin with their accurate depictions of the Finding Nemo characters, along with some obscure species like the pineapple fish in their first Saltwater Fish in Colour set; Kaiyodo pumping out obscure fish species like the dorado, Kidako moray, and the Clark’s anemone fish for their Aquatales lines; Colorata with their various fish sets: the Fossil Fish and Deep Sea Fish sets are two examples; Safari Ltd.
Endangered Species Reptiles Box (Colorata)
3.8 (4 votes)
Review and images by Lanthanotus; edited by bmathison1972
Colorata is a Japanese company that has been around for several decades. The internet and global market made their models available to the world outside Asia and the quality of their products made them desirable collector items. A lot of Colorata’s figures have been released as parts of a box, set, of which there are quite a lot to choose from, “fossil fish”, birds of prey, sharks, dinosaurs, cats and a lot more.
Butterflies (Junior Groovies by Innovative Kids)
4.5 (2 votes)
Today I will be reviewing a collection of butterflies by Innovative Kids. It is from their Junior Groovies collection, which is a lot like the familiar Groovy Tube Books collection, but for a younger audience (ages 3-6, or, in this case, 48-year-olds who collect toy insects). First of all, I should thank STS forum member Saarlooswolfhound for alerting me to this on Amazon.
Sharks of the World Deluxe Box Set (Colorata)
4 (4 votes)
Review and images by JimoAi; edited by bmathison1972
Sharks are master hunters. They have inhabited the world’s oceans since the Silurian period and are still standing strong today, even though their population is dwindling due to human greed. They have a basic body plan of a streamlined body, having cartilage rather than bone for their skeletal structure, external gill slits on either sides of the head, and pectoral fins that are not fused to the head.
ANIA Blind Box Series 3 (Takara Tomy A.R.T.S.)
4.7 (3 votes)
Review and images by JimoAi; edited by bmathison1972
ANIA is a line of animal figures released under Takara Tomy A.R.T.S. catered towards educating children about wildlife. These figures are highly detailed, inexpensive, and often accurate to the animals they are made to portray. The line has gained popularity in Japan, with them branching out to releasing bath bombs with little animals, gashapons, and blind boxes.
Backyard Birds TOOB (Safari Ltd.)
4.6 (5 votes)
Birds are without question the most prevalent tetrapod vertebrates in today’s world and for many people, especially in urban settings, birds are the most intimate link to the natural world available. Step outside, no matter where you are, you’re likely to see or hear a bird. Even as a write, I can see about a dozen birds at my bird feeder.
Butterflies to Go (Club Earth)
5 (1 votes)
I recently completed a Holy Grail collection, so I thought to share it on the Blog. I am referring to the Butterflies to Go collection by Club Earth. I am not sure when it was released, but it was probably alongside the classic Play Visions collections in the late 1990s. The set consists of 12 species of butterflies.