Review and images by Fembrogon; edited by bmathison1972
There’s a Gashapon for just about everyone, I’d wager. Bandai’s trademarked capsule toy brand (an onomatopoeia name for the “gacha-pon” sound of the machine crank and tumbling capsule) has been running strong for over forty years, covering just about anything that can feasibly be made into a miniature – from company mascots and popular anime characters, to erasers and food items, to even highly realistic insects and lizards.
The great grey owl (Strix nebulosa) is a symbol of the vast northern wilderness that it ranges across, where it inhabits coniferous forests of the taiga around the entire Northern Hemisphere. As such it has many provocative nicknames including Phantom of the North, Lapland owl, and spectral owl.
The leopard gecko (Eublepharis macularius) is easily among the most popular pet reptiles in the world, and perhaps the most popular pet lizard. Entire industries exist that are dedicated to producing leopard geckos in the hundreds of different selectively bred color morphs they’re now available in and it’s unlikely that you’ll ever walk into a pet shop that doesn’t have them.
Although they look like lizards the tuatara (Sphenodon punctatus) of New Zealand is in fact the last living member of the order Rhynchocephalia and not a lizard at all. This order of reptiles, closely related to squamata (lizards, including snakes), had their heyday during the Mesozoic, getting their start in the mid-Triassic and achieving worldwide distribution during the Jurassic.
Review and images by JimoAi; edited by bmathison1972
Many fish toys made by toy companies like Lego and Playmobil are usually generic fish with little to no effort to identify them to any species and are usually accessories thus not much effort are put into creating them. A few exceptions do try, but they often nail the sculpt passively and the colours usually are hit or miss.
Review and images by Suspsy; edited by bmathison1972
A baby Indian rhino (Rhinoceros unicornis) is born after a gestation period of nearly 16 months. Its weight at birth ranges between 80-100 lbs and it can stand up sturdily on its own feet within an hour. The baby is cared for entirely by its mother, who will often trample down tall plants to provide food for her little one.
Thanks to its wide, loosely hinged mouth that makes up about a quarter of its total body length, the gulper eel (Eurypharynx pelecanoides) has become a poster child for the deep sea and the bizarre creatures that live there. No surprise then that Safari Ltd. included it in their Creatures of the Deep collection back in 1998.
Review and images by Suspsy; edited by bmathison1972
The king cobra (Ophiophagus hannah) of Southeast Asia is actually not a ‘true’ cobra in the genus Naja, but it most definitely lives up to the first part of its name. It’s one of the more deadly venomous snakes, fully capable of killing animals up to the size of Asian elephants with a single bite.
One of the most powerful animals in the Animal Kingdom, having a bite force of over 3,000 psi and able to hold its breath underwater for over an hour, the crocodile is an impressive animal that is feared and yet even revered in some cultures, notably the Ancient Egyptians who worshipped them.
Review and images by Fembrogon; edited by bmathison1972
G.I. Joe is not a franchise I have any prior affiliation with or affection for; it just never crossed my radar in any meaningful way growing up. Show me a big, articulated reptile toy, however, and I will gladly offer any merchandise brand a moment of my time.
Since getting into the animal toy hobby, I’ve seen this enigmatic toy fish discussed more than a few times, due to its ambiguous identity. Originally marketed as a blue groper (yes, that’s the actual name, genus Achoerodus) it appears to now be marketed as a blue grouper. A search on Fishbase indicates that the only fish for which that common name applies is the comet grouper (Epinephelus morrhua).
Hoppy Easter, everybody!
No animal better symbolizes Easter than the domestic rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus domesticus) which was domesticated from the European rabbit (O. cuniculus) at least as early as 1 B.C. The origin of the rabbit in Easter mythology is not completely understood, but it is believed to have started with Germanic Lutherans as a Santa Claus-like figure who judged children as good or disobedient during Eastertide, and rewarded the good ones with colored eggs and candy.
Review and images by Suspsy; edited by bmathison1972
The common or green iguana (Iguana iguana) is a reptile of many titles. It’s the largest member of the iguana family, measuring up to 1.7 metres from head to tail, with most of that length being tail. It has probably the widest distribution of any lizard, ranging throughout most of South America and all the way up into southern Mexico, plus it’s been introduced to places like Florida, Hawaii, Singapore, Thailand, and Taiwan.
Review and images by Fembrogon; edited by bmathison1972
If you were to ask me what my favorite owl species was, I think I could safely say the barn owl is my pick. The most famous and widespread of species under the Tyto genus, Tyto alba is iconic for its striking plumage, silent flight, and piercing cry – earning it the nickname “ghost owl”.
Review and images by Saarlooswolfhound; edited by bmathison1972
This article marks my first multiple model (Safari Ltd. TOOB) production! Presented here are 14 figures, 7 original pieces and 7 later re-released with updated paintwork. The Cryptozoology Designer TOOB by Safari Ltd. #677504 was originally released in 2013 with simplistic paintwork, then re-released a few years after retirement with much improved paint schemes for most of the figures.