Editor’s note: As one of the most prolific contributors to the Animal Toy Forum, Brontodocus has posted dozens of spectacular visual walk-arounds over the years. With the launch of the Animal Toy Blog he has kindly given the editors permission to migrate his walk-arounds from the forum to the blog. This post will therefore be the first of many!
Hercules Beetle (State of the Art – SO-TA)
5 (2 votes)
Review of one of three Hercules beetles (Dynastes hercules) from the (to me) new Japanese figurine company SO-TA (State of the art). The set of three include three of the same Dynastes hercules sculpts with colour variations of the wingcaps (elytra). There is a version with yellow, blueish gray and black elytra.
Red Kangaroo, male (Southlands Replicas)
5 (4 votes)
Review and photographs by Suspsy; edited by bmathison1972
The iconic red kangaroo (Osphanter rufus) bears the crowns of largest kangaroo, largest marsupial, and Australia’s largest native mammal. Exceptionally large males, also called bucks, boomers, or jacks, can weigh up to 200 lbs, stand about 6 feet tall, and cover a maximum distance of around 29 feet in a single leap.
Endangered Animals–Marine TOOB (Safari Ltd)
4.3 (6 votes)
So for my next foray into Animal Toy Blog I am going to discuss a full set of ten figures from a relatively new set from Safari Ltd, released in 2017 (but I only just discovered it…go figure). I’m going to come out and say, there will be brief parts (in point format) and longer parts (paragraphs) as I will discuss the toob figures individually (save two).
Blue-winged Goose (Rescue Series by Yowie Group)
5 (3 votes)
Yowies are small plastic figures sold blindly in chocolate-wrapped capsules, similar to Kinder Surprise toys. They originated in Australia in 1995 as a publishing brand by Cadbury and Kidcorp. The first four series consisted of 50 figures each represening species endemic to Australia. The figures had to be assembled and were often quite stylized.
African Civet (Wildlife by CollectA)
5 (6 votes)
‘Civet’ is a term used to refer to various small-to-medium sized, generally omnivorous feliform carnivorans, most of which are members the family Viverridae. One of the larger species encompassed by this grouping is the sub-Saharan African Civettictis civetta, otherwise known as the African civet. This is perhaps the most well-known species of civet amongst the general public, as civet musk is collected for perfume from this species more often than other species.
Perentie (Southlands Replicas)
4.4 (9 votes)
Review and photos by Suspsy ; edited by bmathison1972
The perentie, Varanus giganteus, is Australia’s largest lizard and the world’s fourth largest lizard after the Komodo dragon, Asian water monitor, and crocodile monitor. Growing up to over two metres in length, they inhabit hot desert regions and feed on virtually anything they can catch and kill with their sharp teeth and claws.
Slender Oarfish (Deep Sea Fishes version 2 by Colorata)
4.3 (6 votes)
After all of these years, I’m finally doing a blog post for the Toy Forums! It is of course a fish, and since it’s hard to decide I went with one that arrived only a couple of days ago–the updated Slender Oarfish Regalecus russelii (Cuvier, 1816) made for the revised Colorata Deep Sea Fishes box.
Red River Hog (Wildlife by CollectA)
4.8 (8 votes)
I wanted to introduce the first mammal to the Animal Toy Blog, so I used a Random Number Generator in conjunction with my Excel file database and here we have the red river hog, Potamochoerus porcus (Linnaeus, 1758) by CollectA. The figure was released in 2012 as part of their Wild Life line.
Coelacanth (Wild Safari Prehistoric World, by Safari Ltd)
4.9 (7 votes)
The coelacanth, Latimeria, is an iconic species of ‘living fossil’ and a text-book example of evolutionary stasis – an organism that has changed very little over millions of years. This is presumably why Safari Ltd picked this distinctive prehistoric-looking fish for their Wild Safari Prehistorics line, which is normally dedicated to prehistoric critters.
Praying Mantis (Wild Animals by Papo)
4.6 (7 votes)
Mantids are iconic insects. Anyone who has grown up looking at or collecting insects is familiar with them. They have interesting morphologies and biologies, especially with their predaceous and often cannibalistic habits. Mantids are not uncommon in toy form; most ‘bin-style’ sets of insects have one. Many of the more-familiar major companies make them too.
Frogfish (Chocoegg Funny Animals Series 6 by Furuta)
4.8 (5 votes)
All manner of bizarre-looking creatures lurk down in the darkest deepest oceans, but you don’t have to descend too far to meet the unusual frogfish. The Furuta version of the frogfish under review here is absolutely one of the best toys of its kind available.
The packaging doesn’t specify the species, but the Furuta frogfish is probably Antennarius striatus, the striated frogfish or hairy frogfish (thanks go to Brontodocus for the likely ID).