Review and images by JimoAi; edited by bmathison1972
The goblin shark (Mitsukurina owstoni) is the only living member of the family Mitsukurinidae, with other members dating back to the early Cretaceous, which is in the order Lamniformes which includes such All Stars such as the great white, mako, basking, megamouth, and others.
The frilled shark (Chlamydoselachus anguineus) is an enigmatic anguilliform shark in the family Chlamydoselachidae. There is one other extant member of this family, the South African frilled shark (C. africana). They are considered among the most primitive extant sharks. Frilled sharks occur nearly worldwide, usually in the waters of the outer continental shelf and upper continental slope.
It must be Shark Week, one of those times that is able to get my to write again! And as seems to be my way, I’ll be looking at a more obscure figure of a more obscure shark species from a more obscure series, the Swellshark made by K&M International for their bulk Shark set.
Review and images by Suspsy; edited by bmathison1972
Well, here it is, my review of the final sample animal toy from Happy Hen Toys—for now. Once again I must express my deepest thanks to them for such wonderful generosity. And I’ve saved the very biggest for last: CollectA’s second version of the massive and marvelous blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus).
Recently, when forum member Suspsy reviewed the Papo emperor penguin, I made a comment that I also had this figure, and it was one of only a couple figures I didn’t initially retain from Colorata’s Penguins of the World box set. After I published that comment it got me thinking, and I revisited the three figures from that set I didn’t retain (the other two were the chinstrap penguin and rockhopper penguin, both of which I went with Safari Ltd.’s versions).
Review and images by JimoAi; edited by bmathison1972
While deep sea life figures are seen as a rare treat amongst the western market, Japan has been mass-producing them for many years since the early 2000s, where they have been made into both high quality figures for collectors and sometimes also cheap novelty toys.
Review and images by JimoAi; edited by bmathison1972
In the past reviews, I’ve lamented on how there isn’t enough rays represented in plastic. So far, in the last 3 years there have been quite a few cartilaginous fish figures made, some that are underrepresented: 2021 gives us a Helicoprion and Cretoxyrhina from PNSO, a really stylised great white shark branded as a megalodon from Papo, an awesome basking shark from CollectA, a set of stylized ray figures from Kitan Club, and a Xingu river ray by Kaiyodo.
Review and images by JimoAi; edited by bmathison1972
In a lagoon within the Great Barrier Reef, the little residents are out and about their colorful home doing what animals do to survive: eat, socialize, adjust to changes, reproduce, and not get themselves eaten. What appears to be a ball of hair is one of the more predatory residents: the sea anemone.
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.
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).
Review and images by JimoAi; edited by bmathison1972
Make no surprise there have already been multiple manta ray figures reviewed on this blog, with 3 from the big 4 already being tackled: CollectA, Papo, and Schleich. It is not surprising, as there is no shortage of manta ray figures, with a number of good and incredible figures in many different sizes: from tube-sized to standard-sized figures, across both the reef and oceanic mantas.
With its stout body, limb-like fins, large head, and perpetual frown, it is easy to see how the frogfish got its name. Frogfishes are members of the anglerfish family, Antennariidae. There are about 50 species of them, and they can be found in almost all tropical and subtropical waters around the world where they inhabit coral reefs and rocky habitats.
Review and images by JimoAi; edited by bmathison1972
Disclaimer: I’ll be covering Version 2 of the Safari Ltd. Venomous Creatures TOOB bat ray, as it is the only figure I have from the TOOB and rays are my specialty when it comes to animal reviews. Also, another review would likely do a run through the entire set with the other figures.
Review and images by JimoAi; edited by bmathison1972
Hound sharks have not been made into figures by any of the major figure companies, whether it be it by Western or Japanese companies, save for one: the leopard shark (Triakis semifasciata). It is a small- to medium-sized shark that inhabits temperate waters in the Pacific Coast of North America, primarily in kelp forests and reefs.
Nudibranchs, also known as sea slugs, are fascinating creatures. They come in a very wide variety of sizes, shapes, and colors, making them very popular with biologists, aquarium hobbyists, and collectors of toys representing interesting and unique animal taxa. There are over 3,000 valid described species! There have been several nudibranch-centric sets made over the years.
