It has been quiet on the Blog, so I thought I would put up a figure that just arrived in the mail today, the woodpecker finch (Camarhynchus pallidus) by Bandai from the Galapagos Nature Zone collection. The Galapagos collection is one of at least two geographically-focused sets in the Nature Zone series (the other I am aware of is for Australia).
Dubia Roach (Micky Maus by Egmont Ehapa Publishing Company)
5 (2 votes)
Micky Maus is a biweekly comic book series featuring Disney characters. It is published in Germany by the Egmont Ehapa Publishing Company. Some (all?) issues come with a toy of sorts and the February 7, 2020 issue came with large rubber cockroach. I have forum member widukind to thank for securing me a copy and mailing it to me!
Wombat (Wildlife by CollectA)
5 (6 votes)
Review and photographs by Suspsy; edited by bmathison1972
Along with kangaroos, koalas, and dingos, wombats are some of the most familiar and famous Australian animals. While they may look cute and round and harmless, they are not helpless when it comes to defending themselves. When confronted by a predator, a wombat will dash into its burrow and use its tough, round rear end to block the tunnel.
Brazilian Whiteknee Tarantula (Bullyland)
4 (3 votes)
Uninspired for what my next post would be, I decided to use a random number generator on the Arachnids sheet of my Excel collection database and landed on the Brazilian whiteknee tarantula (Acanthoscurria geniculata) produced by Bullyland in 2017. As Bullyland continued to fade over recent years, they continued to make really good arachnid figures, including a few that are ‘unique’ in toy/figure form.
Asian Elephant, cow and calf 2017 (Wild Life by Schleich)
4.5 (11 votes)
Review and photographs by Suspsy; edited by bmathison1972
The magnificent Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) is the second biggest of the three extant species of pachyderm, the second biggest land animal in the world, and the biggest land animal in all of Asia. It can be distinguished from its two African cousins largely by its domed cranium, smaller ears, and rounded back.
Timber Rattlesnake (Incredible Creatures by Safari Ltd.)
3.6 (9 votes)
Review and photos by Ikessauro; edited by bmathison1972
Editor’s comment: it gives me great pleasure to present the first Blog entry by forum member Ikessauro! Let’s hope this is the first of more to come!
I have been a prehistoric animal collector for the past 17 years now, and although I was always fascinated by toys of modern reptiles, I didn’t consider buying those, focusing my attention on prehistoric stuff.
Orangutan (Wildlife by CollectA)
5 (5 votes)
Review and photographs by Suspsy; edited by bmathison1972
The word “orangutan” means “person of the forest,” and you need only observe one of these beautiful and brilliant apes for a few minutes to see what a fitting name that is. There are presently three species: the Bornean orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus), the Sumatran orangutan (P.
Fischer’s Lovebird (Chocoegg Pet Series 2 by Furuta)
3.5 (2 votes)
Today is Valentine’s Day, and what better way to celebrate with a lovebird! Today we will be looking at Fischer’s lovebird (Agapornis fischeri) that was produced by Furuta for the second series of the Chocoegg Pet line. Fischer’s lovebird is endemic to the east-central African countries of Tanzania, Rwanda, and Burundi.
Blue Malayan Coral Snake (Animal Kaiser by Bandai)
2.7 (6 votes)
Today, another post, another Bandai Animal Kaiser figure. After talking about the Velez Ray I realized that there were several from the Animal Kaiser series that would be worth looking at. So I went over the ones I have to see what would be interesting. This one really stood out, so I decided to talk about it.
Indian Rhinoceros (Wild Life Asia by Schleich)
4.8 (12 votes)
Review and photographs by Suspsy; edited by bmathison1972
The Indian rhinoceros (Rhinoceros unicornis) derives its scientific name from its single nasal horn. A big male can weigh up to 2200 kg (4850 lbs), making it the second-largest land animal in Asia after the Asian elephant and the second-largest member of its family after the African white rhino.
Emperor Scorpion (Wildlife by Mojö Fun)
3.8 (4 votes)
The emperor scorpion, Pandinus imperator, is a large species of scorpion endemic to the rainforests and savanna of Africa. Because of their large size, hardy nature, docile behavior, and relatively mild venom, they are popular in the pet trade (I had them growing up). This species is no stranger to the toy animal industry, and today we are looking at the 2020 rendition of this species by Mojo Fun.
Siberian Tiger, 2015 (Wildlife by CollectA)
4.8 (8 votes)
Review and photographs by Suspsy; edited by bmathison1972
The tiger (Panthera tigris), with its magnificent orange coat and dark stripes, is the largest living cat, even larger the lion. And it is just as famous and revered in human society as its kingly relative, from its honoured status in Asian myth and art to memorable characters such as Shere Khan from The Jungle Book, Tigger from Winnie the Pooh, Hobbes from Calvin and Hobbes, Richard Parker from Life of Pi, and Tony the Tiger, mascot for Frosted Flakes cereal.
Cool Reptiles Bucket, Part 2 (COG Ltd)
5 (3 votes)
And now I complete the review started here of a set of reptiles and amphibians from weird toy maker COG Ltd. As seen before, it is a set of very small herptiles (I will revive that term!) composed of 9 reptiles and 7 amphibians. Part one was 1 crocodilian, 5 lizards, and 3 snakes.
Cool Reptiles Bucket, Part 1 (COG Ltd)
4.3 (3 votes)
I’m back! Again! And this time I decided to approach a unique set, one that I have had for some time. It’s a bucket set produced by COG Ltd called Cool Reptiles–as will be seen in part 2, this name is a major misnomer (this is when the term “herptile” would be so handy)…Today, I am going to look over the reptiles.
Spinifex Pigeon (Yowies Series 4 by Cadbury)
3 (2 votes)
When I first introduced the Yowies to the Blog, I started with a relatively recent figure from the US-based Yowie Group. Today we are going back to the Yowies’ Australian roots, when they were still being produced by Cadbury. Specifically, we will be looking at the spinifex pigeon (Geophaps plumifera) from Series 4.